Tortilla Española

I had really high hopes for this Tortilla Española and I was not disappointed! The only disappointing part was eating it alone. But I guess when one decides to cook at 10:30 on a Wednesday morning, eating alone is usually part of the bargain.

There are tons of good-sounding recipes for Tortilla Española. José Andres has a few good ones in Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America and I almost always refer to Penelope Casas' The Foods and Wines of Spain for anything Spain-related. I also recently picked up 1080 Recipes by Simone Ortega and Inés Ortega for a mega-deal off Gilt Group! Basically after doing tons of reading and remembering my friend Laura Smith's improvised Tortilla during our United Nations party in Brazil, I tackled the farmers market potatoes, onions and eggs to make my own.

I had 10 eggs and a buttload of potatoes so I just sliced up as many potatoes as would fit in my skillet. I think it was probably about 3 pounds. I used that amazing Japanese slicer to make them as thin as potato chips since José Andres has a quick tortilla recipe that starts with potato chips. The onions I sliced by hand. Filled my straight-sided skillet about 1-inch deep with a mix of vegetable and olive oil, turned it to medium, and let the potatoes and onions do their thing until the potatoes were soft. The key is to almost poach them in the oil, not fry - otherwise they will be too crispy and won't acheive the proper tortilla texture. In a separate bowl beat up all the eggs with a pinch of salt. When the potatoes and onions were ready, I let them cool for a second and then mixed them into the bowl with the eggs. Season again with salt.

Here's where all the authors were adamant: wipe out the skillet and heat it HOT. If the skillet is not hot enough, the tortilla will not develop the crust and it will stick to the pan. The skillet was smoking hot - I REPEAT HOT. Slide the egg-potato-onion mix into the skillet -- it will smoke -- and keep running a spatula around the edges to be sure those aren't sticking. When it looks like the edges are set, it's time to flip.

Put a big plate over the top of the skillet. Using two hands (or more if you have helpers!) invert the skillet really quickly so the tortilla falls onto the plate. Slide the tortilla back into the skillet so the uncooked side is now face down. Put it back on the heat, cook for a few minutes until the whole thing is set, and invert again onto a plate to cool.

The whole process takes maybe 45 minutes if you are a newbie (like me) but for an experienced Spaniard I can see this being maybe a 20 minute process. It really isn't that much harder than making an omelet except you have to do some flipping. I guess you could also do this frittata-style and put it in the oven instead of flipping, but then it would be a frittata and not a tortilla. The Spanish and the Italians would get in a row and someone would probably throw the hot whatever-it-is in someone's face and all your hard work would go to waste. So call it what it is, ok? Gracias.

Pão de Queijo, Gougére-style

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD!

I love bread, and I love cheese. So one of my favorite things about Brasil was the Pão de Queijo, or cheese bread. Salty, dense, gummy (in a good way), cheesy, totally addictive. They are made with savory tapioca flour, which gives them the gumminess, and Minas cheese (or mozzarella, for the less traditional and in my opinion not-as-good ones). Hard to find the fresh ingredients or the frozen dough balls outside Brasil unless you have a Brasilian grocery store. Which we did in Ann Arbor, but there are very few here in Chicago and I haven't had the energy or time to venture out hunting.

I was feeling some serious saudades when one day my sister said, hey do you have any of those frozen cheese balls? I said, no but I could try making some even though all we have is Kraft shredded cheddar and regular flour. So I looked up a recipe for gougéres in -- what else -- the French Laundry cookbook, and used shredded cheddar and parmesan instead of the Gruyére. And 45 minutes later, we busted into these cheesey orbs of goodness!! I think we each ate three, including my 2-year-old niece. Even though the recipe is from the French Laundry Cookbook, I have changed (read: bastardized) it enough to post it as a different recipe. I'm sure Thomas Keller would cringe at the association. But these pão de queijo certainly mataram meus saudades...pelo momento...

Pão de Queijo, Gougére Style (inspired / adapted / bastardized from the French Laundry Cookbook)

1 cup water
7 tablespoons (3-1/2 ounces) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt, or more to taste
Pinch of sugar
1-1/4 cups (5 ounces) all-purpose flour
4 to 5 large eggs
6 oz grated cheddar and parmesan, combined in about a 2:1 ratio

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with Silpats.

In a medium saucepan, combine the water, butter, salt, and sugar and bring to a boil. Add all the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium, and stir with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes, or until the mixture forms a ball and the excess moisture has evaporated (if the ball forms more quickly, continue to cook and stir for a full 2 minutes).

Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle and beat for about 30 seconds at medium speed to cool slightly. Add 4 eggs and continue to mix until completely combined and the batter has a smooth, silky texture. Stop the machine and lift up the beater to check the consistency of the batter. The batter in the mixing bowl should form a peak with a tip that falls over. If it is too stiff, beat in the white of the remaining egg. Check again and, if necessary, add the yolk. Finally, mix in the majority of the cheese, leaving about 1/4 cup for sprinkling on top of the dough.

Spoon a golf-ball sized round of dough onto the baking sheet. Each sheet should hold about 12 dough balls. Sprinkle the top of each gougère with about 1 teaspoon of the remaining grated cheese and bake for 9-10 minutes, or until they puff and hold their shape. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F. and bake for an additional 30 minutes. When the gougères are done, they should be a light golden brown color. When you break one open, it should be hollow; the inside should be cooked but still slightly moist. Remove the pans from the oven and serve the gougères while hot.

Waffles!!!!

This is how you know it's Christmas at the Miller house:

Roasted Veggies

New potatoes, carrots and sage. Not a whole lot to say besides mmmmmm good, when your mouth is full! I usually roast veggies on high heat (400 - 425) but because of oven space at Christmas, we had to improvise with temperatures and rack swapping. Which ended up with surprisingly good and unexpected results, re: the veggies. Started them at 350, with plenty of olive oil on the pan, and roasted for about 30 minutes. Then transferred them to a 425 oven (could just kick up the heat, too) and roasted for another 15 minutes or so.

The result: creamy and rich on the inside, caramelized and crunchy on the outside. I did them again just to be sure and it seriously is a winning combo! And very little risk of burning, which is nice. I would hesitate to extrapolate to all vegetables, especially the ones that tend to overcook or lose lots of water (brussels sprouts, green beans, zucchini, etc). But for vegetables that benefit from deep, concentrated flavor and heat, the results are totally worth it.

Baked Polenta or Cheddar Grits -- depending on your origin

I first made these grits when tweaking recipes for a coffee shop in Detroit, MI. Naturally we called them Cheddar Grits and served them with a side of or topped with country ham. But at home with my Italian brother-in-law we call it baked polenta. It tastes the same, although polenta makes it sound classier.

Speaking of being classy, the nice thing about this recipe is you can make it with the cheapest grits, pre-shredded cheddar, butter and eggs or the fancy organic, stone milled "polenta", sharp white cheddar, organic eggs and farmhouse butter - and it will taste great either way. It depends on your tastes. I like sharp white cheddar. If you are a fan of typical grilled cheese (white bread, Kraft singles) you might like shredded yellow cheddar better. Versatility is a virtue.
The picture doesn't do them justice. Creamy yet firm, salty yet deep, a bit peppery and all around finger- (or spoon-) licking good, these grits/polenta are delicious hot, at room temperature, or even cooled and reheated by frying them into a sort of polenta pancake. Great as a breakfast dish, a side dish to just about any food, or a base for sauce or roasted veggies. But they are seriously awesome scooped into a bowl and eaten just by themselves, whenever.

Cheddar Grits / Polenta
6 cups water
1 1/2 cups grits or polenta (I use Bob's Red Mill)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2-4 cloves garlic (depending on how much you like garlic)
1/4 cup butter
1 lb cheddar cheese, shredded (I use a mix of sharp and mild white)
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 and butter a 9 x 13 casserole dish.

Bring six cups of water to a boil. Add the grits all at once. Turn the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, for about 10 minutes or until the grits are almost done. They will lose their raw corn flavor and become very thick. Add the eggs, garlic and butter and cook for another few minutes until the grits develop a garlicky flavor. The grits should taste ready to eat with the exception of seasoning. Add the cheese and season with salt and plenty of pepper. Pour the grits into the casserole. Bake for 1 hour until the top is browned and the grits are set. Let cool for a few minutes before serving.

A Really Awesome Birthday Cake

This is the lemon raspberry cake I made for my sister's birthday in early December. Four lemon cake layers filled with lemon curd and raspberry jam, frosted with lemon cream. Not too sweet, very moist, and very lemony and balanced.

It was a conglomeration of a few different recipes plus my own tweaking. So I guess I can call it my own, but the original sources are also cited. The decorations were wholly ridiculous and fantastic - sprinkles, squirt cupcake icing and squiggly trick candles. But the cake was actually completely delicious and well worth making again, even for a fancier occasion.

Lemon Cake Layers
(inspired / tweaked from Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts - Coconut Lemon Layer Cake)

1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
1 cup milk + 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (in the same measuring cup)
2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 egg whites at room temperature (save the yolks for lemon curd)

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter and flour 2 8-inch round cake pans.

Beat the butter and sugar in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Add half the milk mixture to the butter and sugar mixture and beat until well blended. Into another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the sifted mixture to the butter mixture and mix on low speed. Thoroughly mix in the remaining milk mixture. The batter will be quite thick.

Using a hand mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold the beaten whites into the batter until no trace of white remains - be diligent. The whites will deflate but the batter will be lighter in color and texture. Pour the batter into the cake pans and bake until the tip of a knife or a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool on a rack and remove from the cake pans when completely cool.

Lemon Curd
(From Luscious Lemon Desserts - Lemon Curd)

1 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (2-3 lemons)
3 tablespoons or more finely grated lemon zest (zest all the lemons that were juiced)
pinch of salt
6 egg yolks (reserved from the cake)

Melt the butter in a heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat.

Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the sugar, lemon juice, zest and salt. Whisk in the yolks until smooth.

Cook the mixture, whisking constantly, until it thickens and leaves a path on the back of a wooden spoon when a finger is drawn across it; do not allow the curd to boil. Note that it will be thinner when hot than when it cools, but be sure that it is thick enough when removed from the heat. You do not want the curd to be runny when cooled.

Immediately pour the lemon curd through a strainer into a bowl. Use a spatula to push it all through and get any chunks out (sometimes eggs can curdle and leave chunks behind). Refrigerate, with plastic pressed onto the surface of the curd.

Frosting
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup lemon curd

Whip the cream using a hand mixer or a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Add the lemon curd bit by bit as you are mixing the cream. The cream will take a little longer to obtain the texture of whipped cream, but it should get relatively stiff and spreadable. Refrigerate before frosting the cake for a firmer texture. Taste as you beat and add a few more tablespoons of lemon curd if you like it even more lemony (but this is a very lemony frosting).

Assembly

Buy a jar of really good raspberry preserves (I am partial to Bon Maman). Or make your own if you are lucky enough to have fresh raspberries. It is December in Illinois, so store-bought jam it is.

Slice each cake layer into two layers. Place two pieces of wax paper next to each other on a cake stand or plate. Place the bottom layer on top of the wax paper so each piece can be pulled out sideways when the cake assembly is finished.

For filling, you have two options: fill the bottom and top layer with lemon curd and the middle with jam, or vice versa. I filled two layers with jam and the middle with lemon curd, and it was a nice contrast. Depends how much you like raspberry and/or lemon.

Spread your filling of choice (lemon or raspberry) generously but not overflowing-ly onto the cake layer. Top with the second layer. Spread the opposite filling, again generously but not overflowing, onto the second layer. Top with the third layer. Spread the first filling on the third layer, and add a little more since it is on the top and the filling is always the best part! Top with the final cake layer. If any filling squeezes out, scrape it off with a knife or a small spatula.

Spread a thin layer of the frosting around the entire cake. This is somewhat like a crumb coat, and will help to keep any escaped filling or crumbs out of the final frosting layer. An offset spatula is best, or a butter knife, but a rubber spatula is a little too much for this cake (it pulls crumbs off and makes things clumsy). After the entire cake is coated, spread on more frosting all over the cake and smooth it out. Refrigerate the cake for an hour or more.

For decorating, use your creativity! I used the store-bought cupcake frosting because I was short on time, but you could also make some extra whipped cream frosting and pipe rosettes around the edges. The sprinkles made it really fun and colorful and looked great when the cake was sliced with yellow and pink/red on the inside. It also looks great just white and simple.

Pizza!

Caramelized onions, goat cheese and arugula
Margherita (Fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil)
Mozzarella, tomato and sea salt