A little something from the Canary Islands.

This is almost certainly the smallest cookbook we have. It contains recipes for some amazing sauces that are popular in the Canary Islands, and I brought it back from Fuerteventura a few years ago.

I wanted very much to make Almogrote Gomera, a cheesy, garlicky dip, but didn't have the necessary beef tomatoes. I decided to use red pepper instead, as we just happened to have one handy. As you can see, here, I've scorched the skin to get the peel off. To do that, once it is nicely blackened, it goes into a plastic bag to cool down.

Once it is cool, the skin can be scraped off with a knife, to reveal the cooked interior. The stem, seeds and any big pithy bits are disposed of.

The grated cheese, crushed garlic (lots), salt, pepper, well soaked dried chillis, and  olive oil just need to be mixed to a paste with some suitable device - here is our trusty Bamix.

I also made some papas arrugadas, which translates as wrinkly potatoes. There is so much salt in the water that the potatoes actually float! Cook for about 25 minutes, tip almost all the water away, and heat gently, shaking the pan, to crystallise the remaining salt on the potatoes.

Snack attack! Papas Arrugadas with Almogrote Gomera. Surprisingly, the potatoes are not as salty as you would expect. As soon as I can get hold of some more dried chillis, I intend to make my favourite Canary Islands mojo, which is mojo picon.