Harvest of Hope (Potato Bake)

After about two years of procrastinating (and watching my friends receive weekly boxes of fresh veggies), I finally signed up for Harvest of Hope.

Harvest of Hope (www.harvestofhope.org.za) is a project by the non-profit organisation Abalimi Bezekhaya which supports residents of townships such as Nyanga and Khayeltisha to grow their own organic vegetables to support their families. Some of these microfarmers now produce enough to feed their families and sell to their neighbours but have little access to markets to sell the remainder of their produce.

This is where Harvest of Hope comes in. They help to distribute the extra vegetables through a box scheme where members sign up and pay for their boxes monthly and pick them up weekly at designated locations in Cape Town (these are distributed all the way across the Southern Suburbs from Tokai to Seapoint).

There are two sizes of boxes - medium and small. Although the small box would probably be enough for the two of us, I like the variety in the big box (and it pretty much forces me to make vegetables every day).

Last week we got a packet of lettuce, a large packet of basil (already in pesto form - will recorded and post recipe next time), 1/2 dozen eggs, butternut, 2 pretty red chillies, 2 eggplants, about 6-8 brown onions, potatoes, green peppers and leeks.

About 2 weeks ago when I got my first box, I had leeks and potatoes and decided to try my hand at a potato bake. I have always been a bit scared of potato bakes -perhaps because I made them with raw potatoes and then they take ages to cook.

But this time I hit on an amazing recipe which used just the ingredients I had in my fridge. As soon as I had tasted it, I decided it was definitely blog-worthy. So I waited for the next bunch of leeks to come along - and sure enough, last week I got both leeks and potatoes.

I happened to have The Photographers favourite sausages in the fridge at the time I first made this. But you can make a vegetarian version, substituting hard boiled eggs for the sausage(The Photographer likes that version too, but not as much as the one with the sausages , of course).

Ingredients

9 firm potatoes (e.g. Nicola)

½ packet of Mettenden or Chorizo

1 bunch of leeks

½ cup of cream cheese

1 cup of grated cheese (I use white Gouda from Woolworths)

1 cup of milk

1 tsp paprika powder

1 tablespoon of butter

1 tsp of flour

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 180ºC

Peel the potatoes. Place the potatoes in a microwave steamer with ½ cup of water on 80% power for 12 minutes or until a sharp knife poked into the centre of the potato goes in easily.

Alternatively place the potatoes into a heavy based saucepan and ½ cup of water and the lid partially on. Cook for 15-20min or until a sharp knife poked into the centre of the potato goes in easily.

Allow to cool.

Cut the some of the green off the tops of the leeks so that the softer green and white parts remain. Slice thinly. 

Place in a colander and rinse thoroughly.

Preheat a pan on medium heat. Place the butter in the pan. Add the leeks to the pan and fry until soft.

While the leaks are frying, slice the sausages into thin slices. 

Take the leaks out of the pan and place on a plate

Add the sausages to the pan and fry until browned.

Place the milk, cream cheese flour and paprika powder into a food processor. Process until smooth. 

 (If you don’t have a food processor, place the cream cheese into a bowl. Add the milk gradually stirring until all the milk is mixed in. Add the paprika and flour and mix in).

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Slice the potatoes into 1/2cm slices.

Place the potato slices into an ovenproof dish(approximately 10x20cm) in one layer until the bottom is covered. 

Evenly distribute ½ of the sausage and ½ of the leeks over the potatoes.

Pour 1/3 of the milk mixture over the potatoes. 

Sprinkle a ¼ of the cheese over the potatoes.

 

Repeat this to make another layer.

 

Spread the remaining potatoes over the dish. Pour the remaining milk mixture and cheese over the dish.

Bake in a preheated oven for 20min until bubbling and slightly browned on the top.

=

 Serve with a green salad and/or pan-fried chicken breast or steak. (I happened to have some lovely pieces of fried duck.)