( For more recipes, take a look at my Flickr "food" set. The previous recipe on this site was Chicken Chow, a simple variation on chow mein. )

Since watching this "perfect steak" episode of The Food Mob on Revision 3 (see video about 3 minutes in), I'd fancied trying these oven baked potato wedges. This is a slight variation based on the original, having also read up on some other Internet potato wedge recipes. On this occasion I overdid the spices, so it needs to be toned down for next time. But, in principle I think this is a great side dish; very quick and easy to prepare, and lends itself to numerous variations.

PART I - Preparation

You'll need to have the following ingredients to hand:

• Potatoes
• Smoked sea salt
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Crushed black pepper
• Paprika
• Cumin
• Coriander
• Chilli Powder (which I'll probably omit next time, but do whatever you think best!)

Traditionally, the potatoes should be a decent size and cut into wedges. We had plenty of potatoes, but all fairly small, so I pretty much cut them into random cubes. Scrub them and cut out any undesirable bits! You'll need a baking tray and I wish I'd used a non-stick, but it was OK anyway.

Pre-heat the oven to about 220 Celsius, that's 493 Kelvin, or 430 Fahrenheit.

PART II - Cooking

After you've cut up the potatoes, put them in a baking dish and sprinkle with extra virgin olive oil. Toss them until they're lightly coated. Season with sea salt and crushed black pepper. Again, mix well.

I then sprinkled on about a three-quarter teaspoon of each spice, mixing constantly to try and ensure an even coverage. With hindsight, next time I'm going to pre-mix about half a teaspoon of each spice (either omitting or cutting back on the chilli) and then lightly coat the potatoes with this spice mixture. For my taste, we had some segments way too heavy on certain spices and others that seemed to have missed out altogether.

Put them in the oven for about 40 minutes.

I mixed them a couple of times during the cooking, and about halfway though I sprinkled on some more olive oil.

The meat is cubed sirloin steak prepared in a garlic and peppercorn sauce, which was also very nice. Fry up some chopped garlic in extra virgin olive oil, and cube and season the steak with salt and pepper - cooking it with the fried garlic. Add more crushed black pepper, a dash or Worcester sauce, and a couple of minutes before serving, pour in a little double-cream; might want to turn down the heat somewhat. I microwaved some asparagus and served that with a knob of butter. Simple, but effective! All in all, a very tasty teatime snack.

PART III - Eating

The steak and asparagus is not new, but I was very pleased with this first attempt at potato wedges/cubes. Definitely one to add to the repertoir! On this occasion, I slightly overdid the spices and that was mainly down to underestimating the chilli powder. However, just break open a couple of ice cold lagers and I think you'll find it's not a problem. Enjoy!