You may well have guessed that I am a little obsessed with roast dinner. And roast chicken. Living in Asia, quite frankly at certain times of the year there just is not enough air-conditioning in the WORLD to make it comfortable enough to eat a proper, piping hot, gravy smothered roast dinner.
Have no fear, for the summer sides are here!! (Sorry, shan’t do it again…)
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Summer Sides – Simple and Easy Roast Dinner Accompaniments
Smashed Potatoes – Better-than-Average Peas – Who-Needs-Hot-Gravy Vinaigrette
Servings: 2 people
Equipment
- Large frying pan
- Colander
- Potato masher (or rolling pin/wine bottle…!)
Ingredients
Who-Needs-Hot-Gravy Vinaigrette
- 1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 Stalk fresh parsley Roughly chopped
- 1 Stalk fresh thyme Leaves removed
- 1 Tsp. Savoury lemon curd Optional but highly recommended; substitute for 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice.
- Sea salt and coarse black pepper
SMASHED! Potatoes
- 5 to 10 Small potatoes; such as Yukon Gold, Seasons Gold or new potatoes
- Sea salt and coarse black pepper
- 1 Tbsp. Olive oil
- 50 g Salted butter, room temperature
- 2 Stalks fresh parsley Roughly chopped
- 2 Stalks fresh thyme Leaves removed
- 1 Tsp. Lemon zest (optional)
Better-Than-Average Minted Peas
- 1 Cup Frozen garden peas or petites pois
- 1 Tbsp. Olive oil
- 1 Banana shallot / 2 regular Finely chopped
- 1 Stalk fresh parsley Roughly chopped
- 1 Stalk fresh thyme Left whole
- 1 Stalk fresh mint Roughly chopped
- 1 Tbsp. Leftover herb butter (optional)
- 1 Tbsp. Wholegrain mustard
- Sea salt and coarse black pepper
Instructions
Let's get started.
- Remove the leaves from your thyme; finely chop your parsley.
- In a small bowl, mix together the oil, herbs, salt and pepper, lemon curd or juice and set aside to brew all that lovely flavour.
SMASHED! Potatoes
- Wash your potatoes and place them into a saucepan; cover with cold water, add a large pinch of salt, and place over medium heat.
- Boil for approximately 5 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through – be careful not to overcook them so that they start to fall apart.
- While the potatoes are cooking, finely chop your herbs and mix them into the butter; season with a little salt and pepper.
- Set the potatoes aside to cool.
SMASH!
- Lay each cooled potato on the flattest side and gently crush them with a potato masher so that they are approximately ½ inch thick. Don’t push down too hard and fast or you’ll end up with mash! Repeat with all of the potatoes.
- Brush or fork on a little of your flavoured butter across each potato.
- Warm some olive oil in a frying pan and add your potatoes, butter-side facing up. Over medium heat, gently fry the potatoes until they’re crisp on the bottom, carefully flip them over and get a nice crisp on the buttered sides. Set aside and cover loosely with foil if you want to keep them warm.
Now for the peas.
- Boil a kettle and add your peas into a colander. Pour the boiling water over the peas to defrost them.
- Finely chop your shallot into a 1cm dice; roughly chop your herbs (leave the thyme whole).
- Add some more olive oil into the frying pan over medium heat. Add your shallots and stir until just starting to get translucent (1 minute).
- Follow up with your peas and season with salt, pepper, any leftover herb butter from your potatoes and thyme stalks.
- Stir through for a minute and then add your parsley and wholegrain mustard; set aside in a serving bowl.
- Top with fresh mint right before serving.
Enjoy!
Video
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