PAPAS WITH MOJO VERDE & ROJO

This dish is typical from the Canary Islands. The variety of potato they use is Bonita, it’s small, irregular in shape, with dark yellow insides, quite floury and with a strong flavour. It has a thick skin, which does actually wrinkle away from the flesh, though you may find you don't get the same effect with English potatoes.

READY IN

30 mins

COOKING TIME

20 mins

PREP TIME

15 mins

SERVES

Serves 4

ingredients

1kg Canarian papas, or English new or baby potatoes

Sea Salt

OUT OF STOCK

For the Mojo Rojo:

4 long guindilla chilli peppers

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

½ a red pepper

IN STOCK

¾ teaspoon fine sea salt

75ml wine vinegar

IN STOCK

200ml olive oil

IN STOCK

For the Mojo Verde:

4 cloves of garlic, peeled

100g bread, fried in olive oil and broken into small pieces

2 teaspoons ground cumin

6 tablespoons sherry vinegar

IN STOCK

4-6 heaped tablespoons of chopped coriander or parsley

Pinch of salt

300ml of arbequina olive oil

Method:

Put the potatoes into a pan with enough salted water to cover (use a ratio of 50g sea salt to 1.5 litres of water).
Bring to the boil and let the potatoes cook until they are just tender.
Drain them, leaving just a little water on them (as you would when draining pasta), then put them back into the pan over a very low heat. Don't cover them, just let them dry off for about 7 minutes, rolling them around in the dry pan so that they don't burn. You will see the salt crystallize around the potatoes.
Remove from the heat and cover with a tea towel for about 20 minutes, until there is a fine patina of salt on the skins of the potatoes. If you are lucky, they will also have wrinkled a little.
Serve with the mojo rojo and/or moio verde drizzled over.

Mojo Rojo:

Prepare the peppers by soaking them in warm water for 20 minutes.
Drain them and scrape out the flesh.
Grind the cumin seeds using a pestle and mortar and put through a fine sieve.
Return to the mortar with the rest of the ingredients, except the olive oil, and pound to a paste.
Add the olive oil slowly and work it in until well combined.

Mojo Verde: