[simonj]

After my disasterous attempt to pickle turnips to a sephardic recipe, I was determined to make a go of something with a sephardic theme.

This recipe for potatoes, if not strictly a saphardic one certainly has all the right elements, horseradish and lemon.

At Seder, or Passover, horseradish is chewed
- this is to symbolize the bitterness and harshness
of the slavery the Jews endured in Egypt.
I like the idea of the Seder plate, where you have bitter herbs and sweets
- it is used as a way of explaining to children that in life
you have take the bitter and the sweet.
Lemon is used during rituals in the Yom Kippur fast, often
as a kind of posie to smell, apparently this helps witht the fasting.


Of the potatos I grew this year, my pride and joy are the
Mr. Little's Yetholm Gypsies, a rare old English variety
that were very hard to get,
they grew reasonably well - even if the yield was a little dissappointing,
but I put that down to the dry early part of the summer.
They are a waxy potato that are a riot of colour, the skins being 3 tone.

It was developed in the Border Village of Yetholm,
which is the Gypsy capital of the borders by the Little Brothers.
It is unusual because it is the only potato to show red white and blue skin.
It is best boiled, steamed or baked with the skin on ,
and the colour remains ,
the flavour is a mealy and quite delicious.

Its a great little recipe for using up small spuds

Ingredients
1/4 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh horseradish
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 pounds small new potatoes, unpeeled

I always throw in a pinch of Rosemary and Carraway seeds

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Melt butter in a 2 quart casserole dish in the oven.
Stir in salt, pepper, horseradish and lemon juice.
Place potatoes in dish and toss to coat with butter mixture.
Cover and bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until potatoes are tender.

I served this with Polock Almondine and a warm salad -
For the fish recipe see
http://connemaracroft.blogspot.com/2010/08/paprika-pollack-almondine-with.html



Also good with Beef

Served here with all home grown veg