Filed under: Apples of the Earth | Tags: hungarian smoked paprika, jansen's temptations, potatoes
+ cream + paprika
The name says it all. Whoever Jansen was, he knew the way to everybody’s heart. My mother was introduced to this dish by my father’s mother and since then it has been a firm family favourite. Whenever we dream about what we want to eat that evening – Jansen’s Temptations takes us very softly to cloud nine. The secret to get there? Use real smoked Hungarian paprika, which you will definitely find at a good deli. You can add proper Hungarian salami, too.
To tempt 4 people you need:
8 big potatoes
500ml single cream
3 heaped teaspoons smoked Hungarian paprika
To start:
Step 1: Put the oven on 180 °C. Wash and peel the spuds. Place the peeled potatoes directly into another bowl and cover with water to prevent them from going oxidising and going brown. This is the toughest part of the entire dish!.
Step 2: Slice the potatoes lengthways (1/2 cm thick). In an ovenproof dish, start layering the slices, slightly overlapping them. Sprinkle half a teaspoon of paprika over each layer. Do this with all the potatoes. Ideally, you should get about three to four layers of potatoes.
Step 3: Oh, this is the fun part – pour the cream over the potatoes gently so that they are completely submerged.
Step 4: Sprinkle a last teaspoon paprika generously on top of the dish, cover with foil and pop it in the oven for one hour (the time will vary according to the potatoes you use, so start checking at 45 minutes). Check if it is ready by inserting a knife into the layers. If it slides in and out effortlessly, your dish is ready.
If you use salami, add a layer iinbetween every layer of potatoes, ending with potatoes.
I found a recipe for Bravas! It’s not the one Manna makes, but believe me, it’s also very good…
Chop up one small red onion and 2 cloves of garlic. Heat 2 lugs olive oil over a medium heat in a saucepan/ small pot and add the onion and garlic, as well as 1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika (try and get good ones, it really makes a difference) and 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper. Gently fry for 2min, then add 4 tamatoes (skins off – by making a cross on one end and placing it in boiling water for 1 minute) or you can use 1 can of tomatoes (but discard half of the juice, use only the other half) and one fresh bay leaf. Simmer that for 5 minutes on a low heat.
Now it’s ready to use as a sauce for Jamie O’s Patatas! Instant gratification insured!
So Uno and I go and eat at Manna Epicure today…we ate patatas bravas but we wondered – what can that spicy sauce be? It’s so yummy!
That reminded me of Jamie Oliver’s chips that are so good but they don’t require deep-fat braaiing… All thanks to Jamie – we love you.
Preheat the oven on 230 degrees C, put a baking pan in there. Put a deep pan with salted boiling water on the stove. Take 1/2 medium-sized potatoes per person and cut them in 1/3’s, lenthways, then cut the thirds in halfs (6 chippies),keep their skins on. When the water is boiling, chuck the chips in and par-boil for 10 min. Drain and rinse under cold water and let them cool, while you put a sauce pan with some olive oil and whole, unpeeled garlic on the stove. Let it get nice and hot, but don’t let the oil smoke. Then put the potatoes in there, toss so that the potatoes are well covered with olive oil. Now take out the baking pan and transfer the potatoes on there. Put it back in the oven and let it go for 20-25minutes. Take it out, let it cool a bit and then eat it. It sounds like a lot of effort for only healthy chippies, but try it and see for yourself. It’s good.
