Kinda, Sorta Patatas Bravas
A take on a favorite tapa — without the deep-frying.
Whenever I think of fried foods, I can’t help but think of two friends, whose opinions couldn’t be more divergent.
On one side, I have my buddy Ben of the blog, FocusSnapEat, who vows no fried foods will ever pass his lips.
On the other side, I have my friend Andrea Nguyen, creator of the Viet World Kitchen blog and a veteran cookbook author, who is an avid home-fryer and chides me for not wanting to fry my own chicken or spring rolls at home.
To Ben, I always say: Relax. A couple french fries or a doughnut now and then won’t kill you.
To Andrea, I always say: Ugh, the mess, the splatter, the leftover oil to deal with.
That’s why I love this particular recipe for patatas bravas. In this traditional Spanish tapa, potatoes are deep-fried, then drizzled with a creamy, smoky and gently spicy tomato-y sauce.
I always order it at Spanish restaurants. I have not made them at home, though, because of the whole deep-frying conundrum.
But “Kinda, Sorta Patatas Bravas” lets me have my crisp potatoes without a second thought because these potatoes are boiled, then roasted on high heat — not fried at all.