Tortilla Española

I'm a sucker for Spanish food.  I've been to Spain a number of times, and I love the flavor-rich tapas you can get at a corner café.  Even at home, I love the smell of Olive Oil and Garlic filling the house.  A Tortilla is one of my favorite tapas to eat and to make.

When you say to most Americans "Tortilla", the first thing to come to mind is a flour or corn flatbread that is indigenous to our continent - south of the border.

 

The word "Tortilla" means "Little Cake", and in most countries refers to what I'm going to show all of you today.  A Tortilla or Tortilla española (Spanish Tortilla) is like a potato omelet.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. Potatoes - any kind
*About 6 or 7 small potatoes, or 3 or 4 large potatoes.

1 small Onion - any kind

4 Cloves of Garlic

6 Eggs

1/2 c. Milk

1/4 c. Olive Oil for sauteéing

2 - 3 T. Olive Oil for the platter
*I'll explain later

Salt to taste

Directions:

1.  Slice the Potatoes into 1/8" slices.  Some slices should be halved or quartered, so that they're about 1 - 2 square inches in area.

2.  Chop the entire Onion.    Mince the Garlic or use a garlic press later.

3.  Heat the 1/4 c. Olive Oil in a 10" Teflon skillet on medium heat.

4.  Put the chopped Onion and minced Garlic into the oil.  Let them sauté for about 1 minute.

5.  Put the sliced Potatoes into the oil.  Salt the mixture.  Stir the potatoes and Onions together until the Potatoes are completely covered in oil.  Cover with a lid and let the Potatoes cook, uncovering occasionally to stir until the Potatoes are soft and slightly browned - about 30 min.

6.  While the Potatoes are cooking, beat the Eggs and Milk together.

Just in case you didn't know what beaten eggs look like.

7.  When the Potatoes are soft and slightly browned, pour the Egg Mixture into the Potato Mixture.  Then, cover the skillet.

8.  When the eggs are beginning to cook, run a rubber spatula around the edge to just separate the eggs from the edge of the skillet.  Cover again and cook until the egg is completely cooked on the top.

9.  While the eggs are cooking, spread the 2 - 3 T. of Olive Oil on a large, round platter (12" + dia.).

10.  With this step, you're going to have to be very careful.  Uncover the skillet, and place the oiled platter on top of the skillet.  Now, holding the platter to the skillet, carefully turn the skillet upside down over the platter.  If you need, shake the skillet a little to make sure the Tortilla is completely unstuck from the skillet, and onto the platter.  Remove the skillet, and place the skillet back onto the stove.  Now, carefully slide the Tortilla back onto the skillet, slowly pushing it with a spatula.

11.  Cook the Tortilla uncovered on its flip side for another 5 minutes.

12.   While the Tortilla is finishing cooking, wash and dry the platter.  When the Tortilla is ready, slide it from the skillet onto the platter, using the spatula.  Slice the Tortilla like a pie to serve it.

Caraotas Negras

Probably the standard for Latin - especially Caribbean cooking - is Black Beans.  This is one of those dishes I learned while living in Venezuela.  The word for the type of bean that is a Black Bean in Venezuelan Spanish is "Caraota".  In Puerto Rico and the Dominican Rebublic, it's called "Habichuela".  But, please don't call them "Frijoles" unless you're in Cuba or Mexico.  Elsewhere, a frijol refers to a white bean.

This is a pretty simple dish to make, and incredibly versatile too.  The recipe is basically the same as my Basic Beans post, but with a little extra going on.

Ingredients:

2 c. Dried Black Beans

10 c. Water

1 t. Salt for boiling the beans

1 T. Olive Oil for boiling

1/4 c. Olive Oil for sautéeing. 

1 sm. Yellow Onion

1 large Bell Pepper

1 or 2 Chile Peppers (Optional)

3 or 4 cloves of Garlic

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  Soak the beans in the 10 c. of water over night.  You may put in a pinch of Fennel Seed and a pinch of Baking Soda while soaking them.  It might be helpful to review my post on how to make beans before doing this part. 

2.  Add the 1 t. of Salt and the 1 T. of Olive Oil to the soaking beans.  Then, cook the beans on high, and boil them for 1 - 1 1/2 hours, or however long it takes to soften them.  As it's boiling, you will probably need to scoop the gray foam off the top before it boils over. 

3.  As the beans are boiling, mince the onions and garlic finely and set them aside.  I have found you can do this in a food processor on Pulse.  Do not turn the food processor on full or it will liquefy the onions.

4.  Quarter the Bell Pepper and remove the seeds and stem.  There's a helpful hint on chopping peppers in my post on Hummus. 

If you are using the chile peppers, cut the tops off, cut them in half and de-seed them.  Next, finely mince the peppers.  Again you can use a food processor on Pulse, but be especially careful with peppers as they will liquefy very easily.  Set the minced pepper aside.

5.  Heat the 1/4 c. of Olive Oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add in the minced Onion and Garlic.  Let them sauté until they begin to brown a little.  Then, add the peppers and continue to sauté them, stirring occasionally.  Cover the onion/pepper mixture with a lid while it cooks, continuing to stir occasionally.  Cook the mixture until all the ingredients are soft.  This is called the "alineamiento" (I don't know an English word for this).

6.  When the beans are soft, add the alineamiento to them and simmer together for apx. 1/2 hour.  They should thicken a bit.  You can cook them to desired thickness.  Add salt and pepper to taste before serving.

*There are various ways to serve Caraotas Negras:

1.  You can eat them as they are, like a soup.  This is commonly called "Turtle Soup."

Despite what your favorite cartoon about ninja turtles taught you, Turtle Soup does not contain turtle meat.  It's called that because black beans are sometimes called "turtle beans".  

2.  You can serve them over rice.

Like this.

3.  A very typical thing done in the Caribbean is to serve caraotas negras over spaghetti noodles, and then add a Tablespoon of Mayonnaise and Ketchup.  You then, stir the mayo and ketchup into the beans before eating.  

Don't judge it until you try it!!!

Matemales

This week's recipe is my (Matthew=Mateo) own version of Tamales.  A number of Latin-American countries have their own versions of Tamales.  Most Americans are familiar with the Mexican Tamal (The singular is Tamal, not TamalE).  In Venezuela, there is a typical Christmas dish called Hallaca, which is basically a Tamal wrapped in banana leaf, instead of corn husk.  I have eaten tamales filled with meat, fruit, beans and a number of other fillers.  The basic idea is the construction of the dish.  This recipe is a hybrid of a few different types of tamales that I have had over the years.  There are elements from different countries in this recipe.

One note about my recipe is that I use foil instead of corn husk for the wrapping.  This was a trick I learned from a friend at Cristo Rey, a church I attended in Chicago for a couple of years.  I know how to do this with corn husk, but it's really time consuming and doesn't add anything to the dish as far as I can tell.


Ingredients:

For the Masa (Dough):

4 c. Very Warm Water

1 T. Salt

1 T. Corn or Canola Oil

3/4 c. or one ear of Corn

Because I just can't do things the easy way!

2 c. Precooked Corn Flour
*Don't use a course corn meal, or it won't absorb the water.  A brown corn flour works, but the best kind I have found are two Venezuelan brands.  There is a way to make it from corn and from corn meal, but it's another thing that's rather complex.  Perhaps another day.

Most common/popular brand - white corn

My favorite brand - yellow corn

For the Filling:

2 T. Corn or Canola Oil

1/2 med. Yellow Onion - Chopped

2 sm. Chile Peppers - minced

1 c. Vegetables of your choice - Chopped

3/4 c. or one ear of Corn

1 c. Beans - any kind - boiled and drained

2 cloves of Garlic - Minced

1 T. Chile Powder

1 t. Cumin

Salt - to taste (if desired)


Directions:

1.  To make the filler, heat 2 T. of Oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Sauté the Onion, adding the Garlic, Chile Powder, Cumin and Salt.  When the Onions begin to soften, add the Chiles.  Then add the Vegetables and 3/4 c. Corn.  Sauté over med-low heat until they soften, stirring occasionally.

2.  While the vegetables are sautéing, put 4 c. of Hot/Warm Water in a medium to large mixing bowl.  Add 1 T. of Oil and 1 T. Salt.  Then, add the 3/4 c. or Corn.  Next, stir the water with your hand, and slowly mix in the Corn Flour, stirring, then kneading it until it gets to be a sticky, doughy
consistency.

Mixing flour into water/corn mixture

Kneading the masa

What it should look like

3.  Add the beans to the sautéing filler.  Stir the filler well, and let it cook for apx. 1 minute.  Then, remove from heat.

4.  Put a large pot on the stove on high, about 2/3 full of water.  Heat it to boiling

5.  While the water is boiling, cut about a 12" long sheet of aluminum foil.  Press apx. 1/2 c. of masa onto the foil to where it's about a 1/4" thick.

6.  Put 1/3 c. of filling onto the masa.  Then cover filling with another layer of masa, trying to seal the filling completely inside of the masa.

It doesn't have to be pretty at this point.

7.  Fold the aluminum foil up over the filled masa, so that the two edges are together.  Then, fold one edge over the other a few times, until the foil is wrapped tightly around the masa, like a tube.  Next fold the ends of the foil tube in, until the masa is completely wrapped tightly into the foil.

This is what I mean

This is what it should look like wrapped.

8.  Repeat steps 6 & 7 until the masa is completely used up.  It should make 4 to 5 tamales. 

9.  When the water in the pot is boiling rapidly, drop the tamales into the boiling water.  Boil for 20 - 25 minutes.  At least once, turn them over, while they are boiling, so that they cook evenly.  A good indicator that they're done is when the aluminum foil turns brown.

10.  Unwrap the Tamales, and serve.  Be careful, because they are very hot!

Done!

Gazpacho

So... The secret 2nd. part to last week's Tomato Juice recipe is...

¡Gazpacho!

This is quite possibly one of my favorite foods.  It's full of crunchy vegetables, it's healthy, it's refreshing and it's delicious.  I love Gazpacho, partly because of my love of Spain. 

Like so many recipes, there are scores of different ways to make Gazpacho.  Some people like it chunky (as this recipe does), others puree it to be drinkable.  Sometimes, it's puréed with vegetables added afterward.  Some recipes call for bread, either blended or left in chunks in the juice.  This recipe is one that my (not Spanish) dad has been making for years.  His recipe calls for beef broth.  So, I modified this one to be vegan.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. Tomatoes
*Appx. 4 large tomatoes.

1 Cucumber (Which has a much funnier name in Spanish: Pepino)

1 Bell Pepper - Any color
*For this recipe, I chose red

1 Bunch of Green Onions

1 t. Celery Salt

6 c. Tomato Juice

3/4 c. Condensed Vegetable Bouillon
*If 1 Cube makes 2 c, boil it down to 1 c.  Makes sure it's room temperature before adding it to the mix.

3 T. Olive Oil

2 T. Red Wine Vinegar

1 t. Black Pepper

A dash of Hot Sauce (Optional - but why wouldn't you?)

Salt - to taste
   

Directions:

1.  Chop the tomatoes, discarding the green parts.

2.  Peel and de-seed the cucumbers

3.  Chop the green parts (tops) of the Green Onions. 

4.  Chop the Bell Pepper into large chunks

Yummy vegetables!

5.  Mix the vegetables, and Tomato Juice together in a very large bowl.  Add the Bouillon, Olive Oil, Vinegar, Hot Sauce, Salt and Pepper.  

6.  Let chill for at least two hours in the refrigerator before serving.  

Homemade Pizza

I just thought today, I'd go with a standard.  I've been trying to make Pizza for a few years, and I've found things I've liked in various recipes, and things I haven't liked.  The recipe for the dough is a variation on a couple different recipes.  The method for cooking it is a variation on something I found in a Mario Batalli cookbook, although pretty liberally adapted.  This recipe calls for vegetable toppings, but you can really top it with whatever you want.  So, here goes:

Ingredients:
Dough:
1 1/4 c. Hot Water

2 1/2 t. Active Dry Yeast

1 1/2 t. Sugar

2 c. Whole Wheat Flour

1 1/2 c. All Purpose Flour (I prefer unbleached)

1 1/2 t. Salt

1/4 c. Olive Oil

Toppings:
1 c. Marinara Sauce  
(I know, it breaks my no-can rule, but I'll post a recipe for it later)


Various Vegetable Toppings
(Or meaty toppings, if you like)
*In honor of Trinity Sunday, I'm doing THREE vegetables: Squash, Onion and Bell Pepper. 

2. T. Olive Oil.

2 c. Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

1 T. Garlic Powder

1 T. Oregano

Directions:
1.  Wisk the water, Sugar and Yeast together.  Set the mixture aside for 10 min. until it gets foamy on top.

2.  Put the Flour and Salt together in a Kitchen Aid Mixer with a dough hook.  Start it on low, and slowly pour in the Yeast mixture and Olive Oil.  Let it mix together thoroughly.
*You can do this all in a large mixing bowl.  Use a wooden spoon to stir everything together and then knead for 8 - 10 min.  

3.  Oil a large mixing bowl.  Put the dough in it.  Turn the dough over once, to cover it in oil.  Cover with a tea towel, and let it rise for 1 - 1 1/2 hrs.

Dough!

4.  Just before getting ready to roll out the dough, preheat a large oiled cast iron skillet over medium-low heat.  Let it get as hot as possible before cooking.

5.  Punch the dough down.  Cut it in half.  Put half in the refrigerator for later use or use it for bread sticks.  With the remaining dough, roll it into a ball.  Then, with a rolling pin, roll out on a well-floured surface into a large round pizza crust shape.

6.  Carefully place the rolled out dough into the preheated cast iron skillet.  Move it around as quickly as possible to center it, as it will start cooking immediately.  With a fork, press the dough around the sides of the skillet to create a lip around the edge of the dough.  Then, stab several holes on the bottom of the crust to keep it from bubbling up.

7.  Cook the crust apx. 5. min. until dark brown on the bottom, when you lift it.  Then, transfer the crust to a pizza stone or grill.

Trinity of Vegetable

8.  In the skillet, heat 2 T. of Olive Oil, and sauté the vegetables, just enough that they stay a little crisp, but are hot.

9.  Preheat an oven with a broiler to 350ºF. (177ºC).  

10.  With a spoon, spread the Marinara Sauce onto the Pizza crust.  Then, top it with the sautéed vegetables.  Sprinkle on the Garlic Powder and Oregano.  After than, sprinkle the cheese on, covering the pizza evenly, making sure you cover it to the edges.

Sans Cheese

11. Place the Pizza on the stone or pan on the top rack of the oven.  Then, set the broiler to low.  Broil it for about 4-5 minutes, just to where the cheese is melting.  Turn the Pizza 1/4 Turn and continue to broil the pizza until the cheese starts to brown.

12.  Take the Pizza out.  Slice up and enjoy!

Kristen nom-nom-noming her first piece

Tongues of Fire Pentecost Lentil Soup

Today is the feast day of when, according to the Book of Acts, the Holy Spirit came down like tongues of fire in Jerusalem.  So, in honor of this feast day, I wanted to feast on something Middle Eastern that would set all of our tongues on fire.  This recipe is a variation on a pretty standard lentil soup recipe.  Often lentil soup calls for spinach; I am opting for Kale, as it's a little more substantive.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. Brown or French Lentils

6 c. Water

1 t. Olive Oil (For boiling)

Already turning red for Pentecost

1 small Yellow Onion - Chopped

1 1/2 c. Sliced Carrots

3 Chile Peppers - de-seeded and chopped
*You can use fewer if you want tone down the spice.

2 cloves Garlic - Finely chopped

1/2 c. fresh Ginger root - finely chopped

1 T. Curry Powder

1 T. Olive Oil (For Sautéing)

1/2 Bundle of Lacinato Kale
*Apx. 6 c. after removing the stems and chopping

1/4 c. Balsamic Vinegar

1 t. Salt

Directions:
1. Soak the Lentils over night in the 6c. of water.  See my post on cooking legumes.  The lentils will expand to several times their size.

2.  Boil the lentils on medium heat with the 1 t. of Olive Oil for apx. 20 min.

3.  While the lentils are boiling, chop and prepare the Onion, Carrots, Chiles, Garlic, and Ginger.  Heat the 1 T. Olive oil in a pan.

3.  Sauté the Onion, Carrots, Chiles, Garlic, and Ginger well.  Add the Curry Powder.  Continue to sauté the vegetable mixture until the vegetables are soft.  Then, add the vegetable mixture to the lentils, and simmer on low for apx. 1/2 hr.

4.  While the lentils and vegetables are simmering, remove the stems from the Kale and chop it, not too small.

It's Blurry Soup

5.  After the lentils and vegetables have simmered, turn off the burner or keep it on Low to where it's not boiling.  Add the Kale, Balsamic Vinegar, and Salt and let sit for 5 min.  Serve.