Baked Potatoes Wedges with Kräuter-Quark

Sunny boy is in bed sleeping, finally, after my third attempt after he got up and came out of the room everytime, I have hung the last round of clothes on the clothes horse, and now I'm sitting with the laptop on my knees. Hubby, after giving up on TV and going through some of our old CDs has put a CD of Sade in the player and I just can't stop moving my shoulders to the rhythm of it. LOL!
I knew that it was going to be a potato day, or should I say, a potato evening. I had bought a new packet of floury potatoes though I had not finished off my previous batch of (waxy) potatoes. So, I knew before I forget it and have to throw away these organic potatoes, better make something. I was going through this cookbook on potatoes (I always drool at the pictures in this one) this weekend when I came across this picture of Creole potatoes wedges and I realised that I haven't made baked potatoes since quite a while now.
So, when the time came to start preparing food in the evening sunny boy came asking to help me. I was happy as he had not been showing much interest lately with helping me prepare food like before. Cutting potatoes is one of his hobbys. :) But, unfortunately he has had two bad experiences with cutting up his finger with the potato peeler, so he didn't want to do that part. I think, at three I don't really expect him to be an expert, but he does a wonderful job at cutting the potatoes with a (comparatively-) sharp table knife. The only problem is to prevent him from keep cutting the vegetable into smaller and smaller pieces. LOL!

I wanted to make a simple dish with only very few spices but still, it had to be flavourful. To achieve this I just choose to add rosemary and used olive oil and the problem was solved. Simple, don't you agree?
I also chose to make a "Kräuter-Quark" with it. Typically Kräuter-quark is eaten with "Pellkartoffeln" (potatoes boiled with skin) as a complete main course dish here. But I feel it goes well with all types of potato dishes. It is simple to make, a quick fix and healthy at that.

Here are a few points I wished to put down here ( simple, dry facts) on potatoes:
Potatoes are high in carbohydrates which is mainly present in the form of starch. These tubers are the storage organs of the plants which are produced in response to decreasing day lengths. Starch is a typical form of carbohydrate energy reserves of plants and is composed of two main molecules: amylose and amylopectin. Both in turn are composed of one monomer sugar molecule - glucose. Amylose is a straight chain of glucose molecules while amylopectin branched. Depending on the ratio of amylose and amylopectin the potatoes are classified as floury or waxy or somewhere in between like I come across some varieties which are classified as "vorwiegend" ( predominantly) waxy here. Higher the amylopectin(branched) the more waxy the potato is, i.e., it does not fall apart while cooking and keeps its shape unlike the floury variety.
Personally I like floury potatoes a lot because of their floury texture once cooked through. Since they aren't as easily available as the waxy ones everywhere I'm always happy when I have them.
So, here comes the recipe:

Baked potatoes with Kräuter-Quark

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories


Ingredients:

Baked Potatoes:
10-12 small to medium potatoes*, washed, scrubbed or peeled and cut into 4-6 long wedges
1 large organic red bell pepper, washed, seeded and cut into large pieces
200 g small crimini mushrooms (brown), cleaned, and if required, halved or quartered
2 medium red onion, peeled and cut into thick wedges
4-5 small / thin garlic cloves, sliced into thick long pieces
5-6 sprigs rosemary, coarsely broken into large pieces
salt and pepper (optionally chilli pepper) to taste
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (I used it mixed with cold pressed rapeseed oil this time)

Kräuter-Quark:
250 g Quark
50 g yoghurt (optional)
50 g heavy cream
a few tbsp parsely, chopped (or herbs of choice; I used frozen parsely)
salt and pepper (optionally chilli pepper) to taste

Method:

• In a good sized baking dish mix all the ingredients for the baked potatoes together and bake in a preheatedoven at 210°C (190°C convection) till done
• for the first 30 to 40 minutes of baking cover with a baking sheet
• mix everything once in between
• bake further uncovered for another 15 to 20 minutes or until done
• for the Kräuter-Quark mix all the ingredients together with a small whisk untill a smooth and creamy texture appears and store in the fridge until served
  
• serve the potatoes withthe quark and maybe a warm bread to accompany it

*I had used in addition to the waxy potatoes a couple of the floury potatoes I mentioned in the beginning of this postand found that both the varieties tasted good in this combination.

By the time the potatoes were done, the kitchen was filled with the wonderful aroma of baked potatoes. We were hungry but nowhere near like my son this time. I have honestly never seen my son eat so much in one go. He ate three servings and didn't leave anything behind (except for onion and bell peppers, of course!). And I know this wouldn't have happened if he hadn't liked it. It really was delicious. I was more than satisfied with the results. All three of us enjoyed the meal.
I'm two days too late in posting this as I didn't get the time to post the pictures. Now that I'm done, I'm sending this to Meeta's Monthly Mingle at WFLH which is being guest hosted by Michelle at her What's Cooking Blog. I think this qualifies well for a Healthy Family Dinner.
Just in time!

Couscous salad

Easy to make.
Cook couscous in water (do not soak) with salt till done.
Soak chickpeas overnight and change water a couple of times before cooking it in a pressure cooker (is much faster) for about 10 minutes with salt and turmeric.
Clean the Mushrooms with a wet paper towel and cut into halves or quarter and fry in the pan in olive oil with onion, grated garlic and ginbger. Add coriander powder, turmeric, salt.
Once done mix with couscous.

Salad: I used lamb's lettuce (corn sald)-German: Feldsalat, avocado, tomatoes, spring onion, the round red radishes and an oliveoil-lemonjuice dressing (vineagrette) to which I also added roasted cumin powder.
We ate it with joghurt.
Despite the cuscous being a bit too sticky it tasted good to me.
Warning!: It was not appreciated so much by my family. So, I'll have to try out something new next time.
I still don't know how people make the couscous so that it does not turn sticky. Maybe I should add the couscous after the water starts boiling, just like with pasta. Or I took too much water.

Tips:
1. Bulguar can also be used instead of couscous.
2. Precooked (canned) Kidney beans instead of chickpeas would have made a good combination with it as well. (I have previously tried a recipe with Bulguar, ehich also does not turn so sticky somehow)