Caraway potatoes with quark (kümmelkartoffeln mit Quark)

Here's a German vegetarian dish that's a cinch. Plus, the sweet-tasting potato combined with the creamy quark makes for a wonderful snack or side dish with meat. Cottage cheese also works if you can't source quark.

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  1 hour

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 4 potatoes, about 250 g each (used desiree for shoot)
• rock salt, for roasting
• 2 tsp caraway seeds
• 2 tbsp butter, chopped
• 250 ml (1 cup) quark (see Note)
• 60 ml (¼ cup) single cream
• salt, to taste
• 1 tbsp linseed oil (see Note)
• 1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley

The following recipe has been tested and edited by SBS Food and may differ slightly from the podcast.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200˚C.

Wash the potatoes, leaving them in their jackets, cut in half lengthwise. On a large baking tray, make a bed of rock salt and place potatoes down, cut-side up. Sprinkle potatoes with caraway and butter, and bake for 50-60 minutes or until golden brown and tender.

Push quark through a sieve with the back of a large spoon into a mixing bowl. Add cream and salt, mix until well combined.

Serve baked potatoes topped with the quark mixture. Make a well in the centre of the quark, drizzle with linseed oil and scatter with parsley.

Note

• Quark is a German and Austrian sour milk cheese, can also be described as a cross between yoghurt and cottage cheese. It's available at selected delicatessens. Linseed oil is available at health food stores.

Photography by Alan Benson. Styling by Michelle Noerianto.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.