POMMES et POMMES

One of my finer moments was coming up with the apple and potato hash. Argue with me, I'm sure someone has already done it, and finished it off with mirco herbs but this one was all me. Moi-meme. Steak cooked a point on a bed of creamed spinach with apple and potato hash:



Apple and Potato Hash:
You need:
-3 potatoes
-3 apples
-Oil/Butter
-Salt and Pepper
-Cayenne

Peel your potatoes and apples, and cube them to 5mm pieces. To prevent them from oxidizing, put them in a bowl of water with a squeeze of lemon juice if you have some. Heat oil and butter in a sautee pan and on low heat cook your seasoned potatoes first without letting them brown. Now the trick to getting the hash so well coated and flavorful is to sautee them, or literally "jump" them in the pan; make them fly into the air and back down into the pan, like a pan cake. This is the best technique to get them to cook thoroughly. Once the potatoes are soft to the teeth, add your apples and continue to jump them without letting them get mushy. Done.

Creamed Spinach:
You need:
-1 bunch of spinach
-2 cups of cream
-1 tbs Butter
-Salt/Pepper
-Nutmeg
-1/3 C. Parmesan Cheese

Boil water and blanch your spinach until it is bright and soft. Cool it in ice and then squeeze out the excess water. Heat butter and cream with nutmeg, salt, and pepper letting it come to a boil. Let it thicken about 5 minutes and then add your spinach. This mixture then just needs to cook until it is a thick pasty mixture - creamed spinach. At the final moment add your Parmesan cheese, then remove from heat.

I served this dish with a seared steak but Nick is a non-beef eater (freak) so he had a seared portabella mushroom steak instead. This went well with a bottle of Syrah.

BON AP!