Patatas Bravas is a widely popular tapas item in Spain. It translates to "Fierce Potato". Crispy potatoes in a spicy tomato sauce and drizzled with garlicky mayo. I can say hands down it is one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten. I took a bite and just took a moment to reflect. Wow. Food like this humbles and inspires me. The most simple ingredient combinations can create flavour magic. Do yourself a favour, make this, eat this...you need patatas bravas in your life, I promise. 

You can either roast the potatoes or deep fry them. I have tried both ways, and OK for sure the deep fried are extra good, but if that doesn't work for you, roasting them gives you pretty great results too.

I find you don't need as much sauce as you might think. You want the tomato sauce to mix with the mayo with every bite you take. It honestly reminds me of rose sauce one would make for pasta. Really good. 

TIP
A good trick is to cook the potatoes in salted boiling water first with baking soda. When you dump them into the strainer, shake the strainer around so the potatoes get "roughed up". This creates a surface area conducive to getting nice and crispy. Cool potatoes, then roast or fry to crispy spud perfection. 

Difficulty : ​Easy
Serves : ​4

Tomato Sauce

     Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 onion, diced (225 g)
• 1/2 tsp chile flakes (this was the perfect heat level for me, I found it spicy & I consider myself to have an average tolerance to heat)
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 796 ml can whole unsalted tomatoes, crushed before adding to the pot, (or a can of diced or crushed tomatoes.)
• 2 tsp raw sugar
• 1.5 tsp salt (or to taste)

 
       Method:

1. Sweat onion in EVOO over medium heat until softened. Add chile flakes and garlic. Give those a couple minutes giving it a few stirs. (you don't want colour on anything, lower heat if things are browning)
2. Add your can of tomatoes (along with extra splash of water to rinse out the can) smoked paprika, salt and raw sugar. 
3. Cook this out over medium heat. I don't babysit it at this point. I like to let the flavours merge together and I'll go do another task and come back to give it a stir here and there for a half hour or so. 
4. Now using your immersion blender, blitz the mixture until it is as smooth as you can get it. You might have to tilt your pot on it's side (I had to) so that you can actually do this.
5. Then I let it cook out and reduce a bit more. The idea is to have a fairly thick sauce for this dish. Adjust the seasoning. Cool and reheat or use straight away. 

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Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 3lbs lbs roasting potatoes (russets) , cut into 2 inch chunks
• 3 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• Veg oil for roasting or deep frying (Start with at least 1/4 cup for roasting...I added in a few extra drizzles)

Method:

1. Get a pot and put your potatoes into it. Cover them with cold water and season with salt and a and add baking soda
2. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until tender. Keep an eye this happens pretty quickly. 5 to 10 min after coming to a boil. 
3. Put your strainer in the sink and strain potatoes when ready. Now shake your strainer around with the potatoes inside to create a rough texture as I mentioned above. This rough surface area helps them to get really crispy when roasting or frying. 
4. Cool potatoes. 
5. When you are ready to make the patatas bravas you can either roast the potatoes in a hot   425-450 F oven OR deep fry them at 350F . If you are oven roasting, toss them with 1/4 cup veg oil and season with salt. Spread them onto a sheet pan. (don't line with parchment) The trick with roasting in the oven is to make sure they get a brown crust before you toss them around. 15-20 minutes without moving them. Then you can give them a toss to finish cooking. Another 20 minutes or so. If you have cast iron pans they are a great vessel for roasting potatoes. You can even heat them up before  

Garlicky Veganaise
Ingredients:

• 1 cup vegan mayo
• 6-8 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• pinch s&p

Method:

1. Simply stir ingredients together. I like to keep it in a squeeze bottle for easy drizzling​

1. Have your tomato sauce hot as your potatoes finish roasting/frying. 
2. Spoon a ladle full of sauce in the bottom of four bowls. There might be leftover sauce. 
3. Top with the crispy potatoes.
4. Garnish with generous drizzle of garlic mayo and chopped parsley or cilantro. Serve extra mayo and sauce along side.

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Recipe Difficulty: Easy

Recipe Tags:

• Vegan Banana Bread
• Banana Loaf
• Banana Bread with Walnuts and Dried Cranberries
• Whole Wheat Flour Banana Loaf

​This recipe is exactly what you'd hope for in a classic banana bread. Banana-y and super moist. You can add in nuts, dried fruit or chocolate chips if you'd like. My fav combo is walnut and dried cranberry. This recipe uses 100% whole wheat flour, and it's delicious. I use whole grains in baking when it works, and in this recipe it really does. 

History of Banana Bread
I learned that there are two theories about how the introduction of banana bread happened in the 1930's. Wiki says it is probably a combination of both, and I would probably agree with that sentiment. Banana bread was potentially a byproduct of the great depression. Home makers not wanting to waste anything, would turn too ripe bananas into a quick bread. Seems logical to me. The other idea points towards the corporate world developing the concept of this bread to promote their products, as baking powder and baking soda became popularized around this time. Either way it's interesting to consider the origins of this ubiquitous staple loved by so many of us. I certainly can conjure up childhood memories of my mothers banana bread. I'd like to point out that this recipe really tastes just like I remember banana bread always tasting (it wasn't vegan). So that is a win in my books.