Nigella's Potato And Pepper Bake

Mr P. gave me Simply Nigella - the divine Miss N.'s latest cookbook for Christmas. She looks very serene and lovely on the front cover.  I guess divorce has suited her well.   And I love the colours she uses in her book - lovely pastel shades of green and pink. She is delighting in the "joyful realities of making a new home," and tells us that the colours of her kitchen (which make her smile) are reflected in the colours of this book. You go girl!

I have meandered happily through her recipes, and have found lots to try out.  So for Mr P.'s birthday dinner on the weekend, we had potato and pepper bake - capsicums to us Aussies:)  Though I fear 'peppers' will soon become the norm as our language gets swamped in the global tidal wave of Americanisms.  "Sigh."  Sorry, where was I?  Oh that's right, about to peel and dice hundreds of potatoes - well, 16 actually.  Yep I counted 'em!  Why? you may well ask - 'cos I hate peeling potatoes so I counted them down.



ingredients:


2 kg. waxy potatoes - I used Ruby Lou, a good versatile spud

2 x 290g. jars of chargrilled capsicums

2 x 15mls tablespoons of coriander seeds

salt and pepper to taste

100g. fetta, diced (optional)


Method:

Peel and dice the spuds; Nigella suggests you slice them into 2.5 cm rounds then quarter them - it worked!

Spill them gaily into a large roasting dish

Toss on the capsicums (and their oil) that you have cut into strips, if they weren't already like that in the jars

In go the coriander seeds and salt and pepper

Toss everything together - or get Mr P. to do it with his hands

Bake at 220C for an hour

Lob on the diced fetta


Tips:


I could only find 280g. jars of capsicum; either go with this or throw in a bit extra from some brined strips like I did, that were already in my fridge

Nigella doesn't include salt and pepper but I feel salt especially is essential with spuds

The fetta was my idea and I think it gave a lovely bit of tang and interest to the dish

If you don't have a 15 mls tablespoon, just use 3 teaspoons per tablespoon instead

FYI - the roasted coriander seeds were really a delight - crunchy and tasty and added a lovely bit of texture

I had a bit of extra lime juice floating around from my salad dressing so I threw that on top of the finished dish too


This dish goes well with salad, and/or baked chicken or fish

simply Nigella indeed - only 3 ingredients   

 dice up the potatoes - or get Mr P. to do this too :=)       

snip up the bigger bits of capsicum with scissors    

throw on the coriander seeds

you guessed it - Mr P. did the tossing here  

add the fetta  

my tablespoon doodle