This is a very easy way of cooking potatoes – no peeling involved of course. I have called them ‘eastern European’ because of the caraway…. But you could transform them into Indian potatoes by using cumin – see the post, What is the Difference Between Cumin and Caraway to brief yourself if you are interested.

In any case it’s the paprika that gives these potatoes their smoky taste – you need to use paprika which comes from the La Vera region of Spain where the chillies they use are smoked first before being ground to a powder – follow this link for an account of a visit to the Las Hermanas factory there.

These potatoes go well with roast lamb.

Got any leftover? Turn them into a bunch by adding smallish chunks of chorizo, and a garlicky yoghurt dressing….and topping with a fried egg.

Recipe for smoky eastern European potatoes

Serves 5

Ingredients

• 500g/1 lb 2 oz small baby potatoes
• 3 red onions
• 3 tsp caraway seeds
• 3 tsp Spanish bittersweet smoked paprika from the La Vera region
• Smoked salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Olive oil for roasting

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 210ºC. Put the caraway seeds into a roasting tray, large enough for the potatoes and put in the oven.
2. Peel and slice the onions.
3. Cut any extra large potatoes into half.
4. Take the tin out of the oven, and put the caraway seeds into a pestle and mortar. Reduce the oven to 180ºC. Put the vegetables into the roasting tin.
5. Drizzle over a generous amount of olive oil, to coat everything.
6. Roughly pound the caraway seeds in the pestle. Add the paprika and seasoning, mix well. Pour the lot over the vegetables and mix well, again to coat.
7. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring after fifteen, and adding more oil if it looks a bit dry.
8. Serve.