Tonight we needed to break our non-cooking spell but didn’t feel like going all out. Especially given we had to go food shopping to pick up ingredients for the cookbook recipes we had planned. So, we decided to throw together some store cupboard ingredients and use up some leftover baked potatoes for a quick but yummy dinner.
What we did
- Preheat the oven to 200C fan.
- Prep your baking potatoes – prick them all over with a fork or sharp knife, drizzle some olive oil, sea salt and cracked black pepper then massage to coat fully. Place it in the hot oven and set your timer for about one hour so you can check whether it’s cooked through (this was the perfect timing for ours).
- Now for the sauce – in a small saucepan pop a tin of chopped tomatoes, rinse the tin out with about a quarter filled with red wine, sprinkle in some chilli salt (or sea salt and some dried chilli flakes), some cracked black pepper, a heaped teaspoon of chipotle paste, a teaspoon of smoked paprika, some dried oregano and a few drops of Worcestershire sauce. Start it on a gentle heat and bring it up to a simmer so it can bubble away and reduce by about one-third.
- Once the sauce is ready, taste again for seasoning. Drain and rinse a tin of Cannellini beans then add to the sauce once it’s cooled so the flavours can infuse. Once your potatoes are done, stick it back on the hob and heat until the beans are cooked through.
- Serve with some grated cheddar!
Our Verdict
Yummy! The potatoes were perfectly cooked with a crisp skin, the flesh was lovely and soft with a sweetness that really complemented the spicy beans. The sauce had a rich smokiness both from the spices used and the reduction process – my girlfriend described it as “warming and comforting” which is a win for me, especially in these cold January nights!
What we would do differently
Nothing jumps out at me but we did talk about trying it with dried beans rather than tinned to experiment with any differences in taste and texture.
Adventures in the Palace Kitchen 