Torta Espanola

A perfectly crisp-and-soft Spanish tortilla, smelling of olive oil, eaten at room temperature. 

Delicious and perfect. 

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been cooking tons of meat lately. A great many pounds of muscle tissue have been turned into dinner in the last couple months, when I was too stressed from school to bother posting anything. Of note, there was: 

1. An enormous brisket, which I pickled into corned beef, then turned into pastrami for Passover seder. This picture is me searing a 16 pound brisket at 4:30 am, because it needed to cook slowly all day, and I had to leave for work at 7. This turned out fabulous and I wish I would have gotten a picture of the finished product, but I was too busy telling hilarious and clever afikoman jokes. 

2. Carne Asada, which I made to celebrate my brother's arrival in Denver. I marinated it in orange, lime, beer, garlic and other spices for a few days, then grilled it, and made my customary array of sauces: rojita, chimichurri, and guacamole. 

3. My brother grilled some beef heart--a dish he came to love while studying in Quito. 

4. Orange-soy braised pork, which I made to take to a coworker who'd recently had a baby. I made an extra-large batch so we had it for dinner, too. This cabbage slaw with peanut vinaigrette is one of my favorite salads. 

On top of all this, there was the beef brisket, glazed pork, pork belly and gallons of accompanying booze for merriment in the backyard. 
Is reading this giving you meatsweats? Me too. Today I was mildly ruminating on what to make for dinner. It's summer, so I have a great many free hours to contemplate exactly what I want for dinner. And the thought of meat was entirely off-putting.
So I decided to make a couple of recipes from a cookbook I recently purchased in the bargain section of Tattered Cover. 

I couldn't resist purchasing this, despite the fact that I've already read the majority of these recipes and essays in Elizabeth David's other books I already own. She's tied with Jeffrey Steingarten as my favorite food writer of all time (I love a prickly, disdainful voice in food writing).  The pictures were beautiful. And the recipes, though nothing I don't already know how to cook un-guided, are oddly comforting to read. If you've never read any Elizabeth David, I recommend An Omelet and a Glass of Wine--it's my favorite.  
Anyway, I settled on a Spanish tortilla and a Greek baked-eggplant in tomato sauce. 

Both turned out fabulously. 

A delicious summer dinner. 

I preferred the eggplant dish--eggplants fried in olive oil, then baked under a Greek tomato sauce I made with ripe summer tomatoes, capers, olives, anchovies and garlic. But eggplant has long been my favorite vegetable. I love, love inky, sticky fried eggplant skin. 

But my husband and brother both loved the torta more. 
We ate it with some sour cream and an extra-burning (nearly inedibly hot, really) salsa I got from a carniceria. 

Arugula with balsamic, Greek baked eggplant, torta Espaniola. 

This was a fabulous dinner, and a welcome relief from the shameless meat frolic of the summer so far.

I copied the recipe exactly, but didn't soak the potatoes (???this seems stupid) added half an onion, diced, and scattered the top with some parsley and chives. 

Elizabeth David's Spanish Tortilla

A Spanish tortilla is a thick, flat omelette, consisting only of eggs, potatoes and seasonings. It is cooked in olive oil, should be compact and have almost the appearance of a cake, can be eaten hot or cold, and makes a splendid picnic dish, especially for a car journey. A big tortilla will keep moist for three days.

The following recipe, in note form, is exactly as I wrote it down while watching Juanita, the village girl who once cooked for Anthony Denney in his house in the province of Alicante. The notes seem to me to convey the eessential points about making a tortilla more vividly than would a conventional recipe, and I have used them often without in any way altering the method, except to cook the potatoes rather more gently than Juanita did - she was never a patient girl.

Serves 4-6

about 1lb/450g of potatoes for 4 eggs

potatoes all cut up small, soaked in plenty of water (like for gratin Dauphinois)

Cooked in olive oil (she lets it smoke) in shallow earthenware dish directly on Butagaz. Tiny piece of garlic. Stirred fairly often, and pressed with flat iron spatula-spoon. Salt. In the end the potatoes are almost in a cohered mass. If any pieces too big she cuts them as they cook with her iron implement.

She beats the eggs in a bowl, dips in the potatoes (slightly cooled; they have been transferred to a bowl) and mixes them well.

The tortilla is cooked in an iron omelette pan with smoking oil. It puffs up. She holds a deep plate in her left hand and turns the tortilla into it. Then back into the pan. And process repeated (sometimes twice, it depends if she is satisfied with its appearance).

Notes: as a tortilla is a very filling dish, I find that half Juanita's quantities, ie approximately 12lb/225g of potatoes and two eggs makes enough for two or three people. It is, of course, easier to handle in this smaller form, for which I use an iron pan of 20cm diameter, measured at the top. For a four-egg tortilla use a 22cm or 24cm pan.

For the initial cooking of the potatoes I still use a Spanish earthenware dish over direct heat, as did Juanita (it is a delicious way of cooking potatoes, and need not necessarily be reserved for the tortilla), although an ordinary frying pan serves perfectly well.

About the spatula spoon: this is a charctertistic Spanish kitchen implement, a round, flat pusher, as it were, with a long handle, used mainly when the paella is cooking, and just right for moving the rice and other ingredients around in the pan. I use a thin, wooden spatula or palette knife instead.

Really fresh eggs are necessary for a tortilla. Stale ones don't puff up, and so produce a flat omelette.

This recipe is easy, cheap, delicious and elegant. Can be eaten for any meal, hot, cold or room temperature, slathered with sauce or accompanied by some salami or anchovies, or just a salad. 
Wonderful. 
Enjoy!

Chicken Thighs and Onions in Mustard-Tarragon Wine Sauce

Chicken thighs and red onions cooked in wine, mustard and tarragon. 

I made this for dinner on a Tuesday night, and it was exciting for two reasons--1. it was a new recipe, and came out excellently--certainly something I'll be making again and again2. it was the first night of the year warm enough to eat on the deck. In the summer, we eat dinner on the deck every night we eat at home. Eating outside made me want to move from ski season to gardening season (and especially gardening-and-not-working season). 

Anyway--this recipe was great. Very big flavors with the wine, mustard and tarragon--and very easy, too. Would have gone perfectly with just a baguette--next time I make it I'll bake some bread, too. This chicken, good bread, and a salad would be a completely perfect weeknight dinner. 

I originally found this recipe on the NYtimes website, where it called for shallots. I stopped at the grocery store by my school after work for ingredients--and at this store they don't carry overpriced white people ingredients like shallots, so I just used red onions. It was still fabulous. I would use them again next time, too.

OK it looks much prettier in the Times' picture.

Another thing--if you spend the money to buy one of those plastic packets of herbs, just go ahead and use ALL the tarragon. Put half in the sauce and sprinkle the other half on top when serving. It drives me nuts spending money on tiny amounts of herbs in plastic packages--another reason I'm excited for gardening season.

INGREDIENTS

• 8 bone-in chicken thighs
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 12 to 15 whole medium shallots, peeled
• 2 cups white wine
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 sprigs tarragon
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half.

PREPARATION

1.

Rinse chicken thighs in water, and pat them very dry with paper towels. Sprinkle over them the flour, salt and pepper.

2.

Melt the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pot or skillet set over medium-high heat. When the butter foams, cook the chicken, in batches if necessary, until well browned and crisp on all sides. Set aside.

3.

Add the whole shallots to the pot and sauté them in the butter and chicken fat until they begin to soften and caramelize, approximately 10 to 12 minutes. Add the wine to deglaze the pot, stir with a large spoon, then add the mustard and tarragon, then the chicken thighs. Cover the pot, turn the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.

4.

Remove the lid, and allow the sauce to reduce and thicken, 15 to 20 minutes.

5.

Add the cherry tomatoes to the pot, stir lightly to combine and serve immediately.

The whole dinner--enjoyed on the deck! Chicken, roast carrots, potato gratin. 

Enjoy!

Roasted Shrimp Cocktail

This is an Ina Garten recipe--I've been wanting to try it for a long time. Basically, it's just a regular shrimp cocktail, but the shrimps are roasted instead of steamed. 

Tonight was the perfect night to try this recipe--I'd been at school late, tutoring kids for my final exam in the morning. It takes less than 15 minutes all together. 

This came out DELICIOUS. I made a pound and a half of shrimp, and Adam and I had it for dinner, rather than an appetizer. 

So easy, so yummy--make immediately! 

Ingredients! You probably have most in your fridge already. Not picture--Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce (I used Sriracha) 

Ingredients
For the shrimp:
2 pounds (12 to 15-count) shrimp
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


For the sauce:
1/2 cup chili sauce (recommended: Heinz)
1/2 cup ketchup
3 tablespoons prepared horseradish
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce (recommended: Sriracha)


Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Peel and devein the shrimp, leaving the tails on. Or--buy cleaned, frozen shrimp and just rinse under cool water. 

Defrosted and rinsed shrimp. 

Toss shrimp in a bowl with butter, salt, and pepper. Spread on a roasting sheet in one layer.  Roast for 8 to10 minutes, just until pink and firm and cooked through. Set aside to cool.

Roasted shrimp! This pan has seen a lot of wear and tear. 

For the sauce, combine the chili sauce, ketchup, horseradish, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce. Serve as a dip with the shrimp.



This is a SUPER easy weeknight dinner--pair with your favorite cheap white wine.
Enjoy!