In honor of Quarantine cooking, we bring you a week of Smarty Erin’s delicious recipes! We love everything she makes, follow her culinary treats at campbrighton.com.
One of my favorite restaurants in Charlotte is Bulla in SouthPark – pronounced – Boo-yah! The menu is full of tasty Spanish tapas choices to share with friends over cocktails or with your kids on a fun dinner out. Every time we eat at Bulla, as soon as the server fills our water glasses, one of the kids puts in the first part of our order – “Two orders of patatas bravas, please.”
Patatas bravas are basically crispy potatoes topped with a slightly spicy, smoky paprika sauce. So good! Even if you don’t want to make patatas bravas and you are just looking for a delicious sauce for dipping your french fries … this recipe will come in handy. I promise that patatas bravas are kid – and adult – approved – and super easy.
One of my favorite tricks for making easy potato side dishes is to bake extra white potatoes whenever I have some on hand. For this recipe, I had 5 pre-cooked baked potatoes sitting in the fridge, begging to be used.
To make the potatoes ready for patatas bravas:
I chopped up my leftover baked potatoes into neat chunks and cooked them over high heat in hot butter. Keep the skin on. Let them get crispy and then flip them over. That’s it. I can’t even write up a recipe for that because it’s so easy. I will, however, share my recipe for the amazing bravas sauce. Bravas means fierce or courageous in Spanish, so the sauce should have a little kick.
If your kids don’t want the sauce – leave it off. The potatoes will still be delicious.
Patatas Bravas Sauce
Ingredients:
4 cloves garlic
¼ red onion, sliced
3 T tomato paste
¾ c mayonnaise
1 t apple cider vinegar
Splash siracha
1 T paprika (ground)
1 T olive oil
Instructions:
Process 4 cloves garlic and ¼ red onion and salt in a food processor. Add 3 tablespoons tomato paste, ¾ c mayonnaise, 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar, a splash of siracha, and 1 tablespoon paprika. Food process again. Add olive oil to smooth it out so it’s creamy. Process again. Taste! Add more salt, if necessary. Serve over crispy potatoes.
If you need a cocktail to go with your taste of Spain, visit Bulla Restaurant in Southpark (when it reopens) or check out my Spanish sangria recipe.
If you want to plan your own Spanish adventure, read about my trip to Barcelona with my twins.
