Pan-Fried Potatoes with Garlic and Sherry Vinegar Sauce (Spanish Patatas en Adobillo)

These Spanish Garlic Potatoes, known as Patatas en Adobillo, are packed with so much garlic goodness, they're super easy to make and done in about 30 minutes. The perfect potato dish for any meal of the day. This recipe hails from the region of Andalucia in the south of Spain. It's typically served as a tapas appetizer, but you can certainly serve it as a side dish. Either next to some Spanish eggs or even some pan grilled salmon. To make this dish, I left the skins on the potatoes. As it keeps more of the nutrients in the potatoes and gives the dish that classic rustic flavour. However, if you prefer, you can peel the potatoes. What flavours these potatoes is the garlic and sherry vinegar sauce. Made with just garlic, bread, paprika, cumin and sherry vinegar. I used a pestle and mortar to mix all the ingredients, but you can also use a food processor.

½ cup extra virgin olive oil (125 mL)
3 potatoes
6 cloves garlic
1 slice baguette, 1" (2.50 cm) thick
1 tsp. sweet smoked Spanish paprika (2.30 g)
½ tsp. ground cumin (1 g)
1 Tbsp. sherry vinegar (15 mL)
1 cup water (240 mL)
handful fresh parsley
pinch sea salt
dash black pepper, freshly cracked

Wash and pat dry the potatoes, then cut each one into ¼" (.635 cm) thick rounds, remove the skins from the cloves of garlic and finely chop the slice of baguette.

Heat a large fry pan with a medium heat and add in ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil.

After 1 minute add in the cloves of garlic, mix continuously, after a couple minutes and the cloves of garlic are lightly browned, remove them from the pan and transfer into a mortar, set aside.

Using the same pan with the same heat, add in the slices of potato, all in a single layer, cook in batches, fry between 4-5 minutes per side or until golden fried, as you finish each batch, transfer the fried potatoes over a wire rack, once again in a single layer.

Meanwhile, add the finely chopped slice of baguette into the mortar with the fried garlic, along with 1 tsp. sweet smoked Spanish paprika, ½ tsp. ground cumin, sea salt and black pepper, using a pestle pound down on the mixture until you form a paste, then add in 1 Tbsp. sherry vinegar, mix together and set aside.

Once all the potatoes have been fried, season them with sea salt and black pepper.

Drain the olive oil in the pan and discard for the rest of the recipe.

Heat the same pan with a medium heat and add in the garlic mixture, along with 1 cup of water, mix continuously, once it comes to a boil and the liquid has slightly thickened, add in the slices of fried potato, in a circular design and all in a flat layer, then lower to a low heat and simmer, gently shaking the pan once in a while.

After 4-5 minutes and the sauce has really thickened and incorporated into the potatoes, remove the pan from the heat, sprinkle with finely chopped parsley and serve.

Makes 4 servings.