What We Ate Wednesday--Quickie Mexican Beans with Roasted Potatoes and Cheese Sauce

Hello lovelies. I have recently found a new way to roast potatoes that is so quick and easy and tastes nom nom nom (technical term) that I am always on the lookout for ways to use this as a side dish.

Basically, I coat the potatoes with my homemade broth powder and they roast up all savoury and crazy delicious. I started making my own stock powder years ago after refusing to buy the stock pots because they were owned by Unilever who have a very poor track record in animal welfare. Then I moved on to Marigold, a more ethical brand, but they used palm oil and we just got to the point where we avoid it as much as we possibly can as palm oil is responsible for a great deal of rain forest destruction and certainly is single-handedly displacing orangutans whose trees are being cut down to make way for palm oil production.

You can read my recipe for broth powder HERE. These days I make it with 1/3 cup Himalayan Pink Salt not 1/2 cup sea salt.  We don't notice any difference in the saltiness.

So, right now with Christmas approaching and days being busy I am looking for quick meals where I don't have to follow a recipe. I can just throw it together and read a book while it cooks. Or frantically tidy up because we are expecting company the next day. Or frantically write Christmas cards that are very late getting out. I prefer the putting my feet up and reading bit, but sometimes you just to run frantically around your house shouting "Where's my red thread??? I was just sewing with it the other day. I *need* it to finish that order for my shop. Where the hell is it????"

You get the picture.

So this is basically Savoury Roasted Potatoes that cook in a hot oven with a tin of black beans and a jar of salsa heated on the hob. I had about a quarter cup leftover QUICK AND DIRTY CHEESE SAUCE lurking in the fridge so I thinned it with a bit of milk and made a sauce.

Quickie Mexican Beans with Roasted Potatoes and Cheese Sauce
For the potatoes:
Preheat the oven to 220C/425F. Line a large roasting tin with parchment paper.

400g potatoes, cut into chunks
1 TB starch (arrowroot, corn flour (cornstarch to my American peeps) or tapioca starch)
2 tsp broth powder
1 TB oil

I have found the best way to do these is to use a small compostable bag rather than a bowl. It works a bit like shake-n-bake--you really can coat everything better than with a bowl and a spoon.

Put the potatoes in the bag and sprinkle in the starch and broth powder and holding the bag shut, shake to coat the potatoes. Then add the oil and shake/rub the bag to coat to powdered potatoes. Pour into roasting tin and roast for 13 minutes, take out and stir and roast 13 more minutes.

Meanwhile, throw a tin of black beans and a jar of salsa in a pan and heat.

Make your Quick and Dirty Cheese Sauce. Or just use some leftovers already in your fridge.

Serve by layering potatoes, Mexican Beans and Cheese Sauce. If you happen to have some plain soya yogurt lurking in the fridge, throw on a dollop and pretend it's sour cream.

Then relax.

Or go look for your red thread.