Vegetarian Roasted Spanish Potatoes
These potatoes have wide appeal. The recipe is vegetarian, but the crumbly bread-based topping gives an almost chorizo like texture. This recipe only takes about an hour from start to finish and has the kind of result that leaves you wishing you had doubled the recipe so you could have leftovers.
Use a good crusty bread, like a baguette or a nice loaf of fresh Italian bread as the base for the topping. The topping is what gives this dish real character, so choose a good bread and pay attention to its consistency. Smoked Sweet Paprika is what gives the breading its vaguely sausage-like flavor, but you could use Smoked Hot Paprika if you wanted to spice things up a bit.
Prep Time: 20 min.
Cooking Time: 65 min.
Servings: 4
Cooking Method: Baking
Category: Quick and Easy, Vegetarian, Vegetables
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Ingredients:
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2 pounds small yellow potatoes, washed and cut into halves or quarters
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
- 2 pinches Saffron threads, crushed
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped, blanched almonds
- 1 1/2 cup baguette bread or crusty bread, torn into pieces
- 1 teaspoon Smoked Sweet Paprika
- Hot water
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Apply a thin coat of olive oil to a large oven safe pan that has an oven safe lid.
- Spread potatoes evenly in the pan and sprinkle with Kosher Salt, Ground Black Pepper, and Saffron.
- In a small skillet, heat 1 Tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat until very hot.
- Add garlic cloves and almonds and fry for a few minutes until golden. Move this to a food processor.
- Heat the remaining 1 Tablespoon of olive oil in the same skillet and add bread pieces.
- Cook, stirring often, until until golden brown and crisp. Remove the bread and add it to food processor.
- Add Smoked Sweet Paprika and a Tablespoon of hot water to the bread mixture in the food processor.
- Grind until a coarse paste forms, adding more hot water by the Tablespoon if mixture is too dry.
- Spoon the bread mixture evenly over the potatoes.
- Pour remaining water over the potatoes.
- Cover the potatoes and bake for 45 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and stir to incorporate the bread mixture into the dish.
- Cover again and return to the oven for 20 minutes.
- Potatoes will be done when they are tender and cooked through.
- Optional - to add a little more crispness, return the uncovered pan to the oven and set to broil for 2-3 additional minutes.
- Let stand a few minutes before serving.
