Prior to the pandemic, patatas bravas were one of my must-have dishes when dining at tapas bars. These days I’m making them at home, along with many other restaurant menu favorites.
The biggest challenge with quick patatas bravas is the potatoes themselves. Even finely diced potatoes are not particularly speedy to cook, especially when you consider that most recipes for the dish use twice-cooked potatoes — boiled then fried. Do you want to deep-fry on a Wednesday night? I don’t either.
Enter shredded, frozen hash browns. I keep a bag in the freezer these days for when Waffle House craving hits, and they make just as good of a base for dinner as they do for breakfast, especially when you cook the potatoes in quality extra-virgin olive oil instead of butter. The only trick to cooking these hash browns properly is to not overfill the skillet. For every two servings, you’ll need a separate medium- to large-sized cast- iron skillet to ensure quick cooking and proper texture. Feeding a family of four or more? Pull out a pancake griddle or a second skillet; the results are worth the extra clean-up.
Patatas bravas often come with a duo of sauces: a flour-thickened red chili sauce and an aioli. Both can be prepared with pantry staples while the potatoes cook.
Credit: Henri Hollis
Credit: Henri Hollis
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