Holiday Tapas

 I am off for my holidays - a week in Spain to cure me of the respiratory illnesses I am in danger of developing from the wettest summer in Ireland ever. To celebrate, here are two recipes of my favorite Spanish snack - Patatas Bravas or more particularly for the sauce. One is from Cava, a very excellent restaurant in Galway that specialises in Spanish tapas with an Irish twist. The other is from a blog I love, The Winter Guest, a Spanish lady who posts many lovely Catalan tapas recipes (amongst other things). Both are excellent, one is pretty instant and the other requires putting the oven on but is pretty low maintenance as well. I often make the roasted garlic one with oven roasted potatoes to cut back on the deep frying thing and it is a lovely lunch on a winter day. The roasted garlic version also freezes very well which makes it a great standby. Happy holidays everybody!

Salsa Brava
400g crushed or pureed tomatoes
2 tbsp roasted garlic puree
1 tbsp virgin olive oil
1 tbsp sweet Spanish pimentón
1/2 tbsp hot Spanish pimentón (or a little more)

Roasted Garlic Puree
Preheat the oven to 150ºC and wrap 2 garlic heads in aluminum foil and put them into the oven when it's hot. Cook for one hour. When done, you'll find the garlic cloves have turned into a soft, fragrant and caramelized mass, that can be easily squeezed out of the clove - just open one end of the peel and squeeze the flesh out. Empty all the garlic flesh into a bowl, then mash it with a fork to make the puree.

Patatas Bravas
Ingredients (Bravas Sauce)
400ml mayonnaise
150ml tomato sauce
1 tsp sherry vinegar
1 tsp hot paprika

Method
Blend all ingredients for the sauce in a food processor. Rest and chill for 1 hour before serving.

Wash and chop potatoes into cubes (no need to peel). Fry cubed potatoes at 135˚ in a deep fat fryer until a cocktail stick can pass easily through the potato cube.

Season potatoes in a bowl with sea salt and smoked paprika. Allow potatoes to rest for 5 min.
Turn fryer up to 175˚ and fry potatoes until golden brown.

Season potatoes with hot paprika and some more salt.
Serve hot with a generous amount of Bravas Sauce or Salsa Brava