One of our favourite dishes for the summer, this extra virgin olive oil based dish is regularly cooked up and down the country during the hot months and as with all ladera dishes (these based on ‘ladi’ which means oil) is almost always accompanied with feta, unless fasting or on a plant based diet.
In this dish, I love using the onion as one of the vegetables so cut in chunky pieces and caramelize quite a bit before adding the remaining ingredients in.
Ingredients (serves 2)
- 250g frozen peas
- 250g potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-size chunks
- 1 large onion, roughly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, sliced
- ½ tbsp tomato paste
- 150ml passata
- 1/3 tsp sweet chilli flakes
- 1/3 tsp sweet paprika
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, and extra for drizzling
- 1 tsp runny honey
- Lemon juice to taste
To serve
- 100g Feta cheese
- 1 tbsp almond flakes, toasted
- A few Greek basil leaves
Method
Bring a pan to a medium heat and add the olive oil and onion. Stir the onion to coat with the olive oil, lower the heat and caramelise for a few minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes before adding the potatoes and sweet peas. Toss in the oil, add the tomato paste, paprika and sweet chilli and cook stirring continuously for a couple more minutes before adding the crushed tomato, stock, honey, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bring to the boil, cover the pan, lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the frozen peas and continue cooking for another 10-15 minutes till the potatoes are soft and the sauce is lovely and thick. Adjust seasoning and flavour with a drizzle of lemon juice.
Divide the meal between two plates, cut the feta piece into 6 portion and add 3 to each plate. Scatter the almond flakes, basil leaves and drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil.