Tortilla de patata - Spanish Tortilla

I LOVE Spanish tortilla. I love that it is firm enough that you can slice off a piece and it holds together, with a beautiful potato-ey cross-section. I love that you can eat it cold or hot, and I love that the Spanish put it in sandwiches (yes - a starch-on-starch sandwich). I love that you can eat it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I've only it attempted it at home once or twice, however, and the results were a decided fail. It's hard to get the tortilla to stay in one piece, and if it breaks, you end up with a still good-tasting, but non-sliceable potato-egg scramble.

Cooks Illustrated published a recipe for Spanish tortilla in this month's (July) issue. I tried it out and got a tortilla that stayed in one piece on the first try. Success! They claimed the key to get it coming out right without using half a bottle of oil is to use Yukon Gold potatoes, which don't stick as much and therefore don't require as much oil. They also recommend doing a two-step flip to get the tortilla turned over: after using a spatula to loosen the tortilla from the pan around the edges, you slide it onto plate #1, cover it with plate #2, quickly flip over, remove plate #1 (which is now on top), and carefully slide the tortilla back into the pan so that the second side can get cooked. My tortilla had a couple of minor tears in it, but cooking the second side mended them.

The two final recipes that the article offered include added ingredients: roasted red peppers and peas, and chorizo and scallions. They sound good, but I was just after the traditional, no-frills recipe, which is the one I'll post here.

Ingredients
-6 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

-1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes (3 to 4 medium), peeled, quartered lengthwise, and cut crosswise into 1/8-inch-thick slices
-1 small onion , halved and sliced thin (seriously, slice them really thin if you can. You don't want to be able to say "hey, these are onions" when you bite into the final product. They should all but melt away)
-1 teaspoon table salt (I used kosher because it was all I had. It came out fine)
-1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
-8 large eggs

Instructions
1. Toss 4 tablespoons oil, potatoes, onion, ½ teaspoon salt, and pepper in large bowl until potato slices are thoroughly separated and coated in oil.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Reduce heat to medium-low, add potato mixture to skillet, and set bowl aside without washing. Cover and cook, stirring with rubber spatula every 5 minutes, until potatoes offer no resistance when poked with tip of paring knife, 22 to 28 minutes (it’s OK if some potato slices break into smaller pieces).


2. Meanwhile, whisk eggs and remaining ½ teaspoon salt in reserved bowl until just combined. Using rubber spatula, fold hot potato mixture into eggs until combined, making sure to scrape all potato mixture out of skillet.

Return skillet to medium-high heat, add remaining teaspoon oil, and heat until just beginning to smoke. Add egg-potato mixture and cook, shaking pan and folding mixture constantly for 15 seconds. Smooth top of mixture with rubber spatula.

Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook, gently shaking pan every 30 seconds until bottom is golden brown and top is lightly set, about 2 minutes.

3. Using rubber spatula, loosen tortilla from pan, shaking back and forth until tortilla slides around freely in pan. Slide tortilla onto large plate. Invert tortilla onto second large plate and slide it browned-side up back into skillet. Tuck edges of tortilla into skillet with rubber spatula. Return pan to medium heat and continue to cook, gently shaking pan every 30 seconds, until second side is golden brown, about 2 minutes longer.

Slide tortilla onto cutting board or serving plate and allow to cool at least 15 minutes. Cut tortilla into wedges.

You can see that I got our tortilla a little more brown than would have been ideal - but it was all in one piece and tasted great, so I was happy. It keeps really well under a plate in the fridge for at least two or three days - after that, it still keeps, but the condensation makes it a little less appetizing to eat cold.

We had our tortilla with a roasted beet salad (which was pretty good - I'll post the recipe separately) and some gazpacho for me - Mike's not a fan of chilled soups and it wasn't really tomato season yet, anyway.

Corned Beef, continued

Well, life has been busy and it's been forever since I've posted something. I left off with homemade corned beef. A corned beef posting on April eighth isn't actually quite as outdated as it seems, because we didn't have it until several days after St. Patrick's Day. But still... it's been awhile.

This was my third try making my own corned beef. I wouldn't make it all the time, because it creates a lot of leftovers that we have trouble using up (especially since we don't have a microwave). But when I do make it... oh, man. Corned beef is addictive, isn't it? And the broth makes the best danged vegetables you've ever tasted.

You'll need a beef brisket for this. The recipe I use (citation below) asks for a 4-6 pound brisket, "preferably point cut, trimmed of excess fat, rinsed and patted dry." The author adds:

"If you prefer a leaner piece of meat, feel free to use the flat cut. In fact, we found more flat cut than point cut briskets in supermarket meat cases, so you’ll probably have to ask the meat department attendant or butcher to bring you a point cut. Leave a bit of fat attached for better texture and flavor."

Sure enough, I've always just used a flat cut, and I can't imagine the result being much more flavorful than it is (and I'm not bragging - it's all about the goodness of beef that has been covered in salt and spices for seven days). The flat cut seems to have plenty of fat on its own.

I use a recipe from Cooks Illustrated. Here's the recipe for the stuff that gets rubbed into the brisket to allow it to cure (originally published March 1997):

Ingredients for salt mixture:
-1/2 cup kosher salt
-1 tablespoon black peppercorns, cracked
-3/4 tablespoon ground allspice [Carrina's note: I was running low on ground allspice but, surprisingly, had some whole allspice berries, so I went halvsies on the ground allspice and cracked some whole berries as well. Seemed to work out fine]
- 1 tablespoon dried thyme
-1/2 tablespoon paprika
-2 bay leaves , crumbled

Here are the instructions on preparing the brisket. Note that this all happens 5-7 days before you serve it.

1. Mix salt and seasonings in small bowl.
2. Spear brisket about thirty times per side with meat fork or metal skewer [Carrina's note: don't forgot the spearing step - but if you do, just spear the brisket before you throw it in the pot to cook it, and it will be fine. I speak from experience]. Rub each side evenly with salt mixture; place in 2-gallon-size zipper-lock bag, forcing out as much air as possible. Place in pan large enough to hold it (a jelly roll pan works well), cover with second, similar-size pan, and weight with two bricks or heavy cans of similar weight [Carrina's note: yeah, we live a 700sqft apartment and we DON'T have bricks. Just pile a bunch of heavy stuff on top of the second pan, and you'll be fine]. Refrigerate 5 to 7 days, turning once a day.

Here's the brisket on day 2 or 3:

And here's the brisket on the morning of day 7... or maybe day 8. Even though I only had a half-brisket (3 lbs) to begin with, I still had to cut it in half to make it fit in the pot I used. I love pictures of cross-sections!

Okay, when the brisket has reached at least day 5 and you're ready to cook it, here are the instructions. Of course, if you're just cooking the meat by itself (no vegetables or cabbage), you can just rinse it off, through it in a pot of water that completely covers it, and simmer it for 2.5 hours or so. But if you want to cook it with cabbage and/or other vegetables, Cooks Illustrated comes up with this deceptively complicated set of instructions that basically boils down to these steps: 1) Cook meat in water. 2) When meat cooked in water is done (nice and loose but not totally mushy), keep it warm somewhere and cook vegetables in the meat water. Put root vegetables and other tough vegetables (carrots, potatoes, onions) in 10 minutes or so before more delicate vegetables (cabbage, brussels sprouts).

Here are the instructions for cooking the meat and veggies. I'll include the list of vegetables that CI includes, since they refer to "Category 1" and "Category 2" vegetables. The recipe calls for 7-8 pounds of vegetables total.

Category 1 Vegetables
carrots, peeled and halved crosswise, thin end halved lengthwise, thick end quartered lengthwise
rutabagas (small), peeled and halved crosswise; each half cut into six chunks
white turnips (medium), peeled and quartered
new potatoes (small), scrubbed and left whole
boiling onions, peeled and left whole

Category 2 Vegetables
green cabbage (small head), uncored, blemished leaves removed, cut into six to eight wedges
parsnips , peeled and halved crosswise, thin end halved lengthwise, thick end quartered lengthwise
Brussels sprouts, blemished leaves removed and left whole

Instructions
3. Choose 7-8 pounds of vegetables of your choice from categories 1 and 2, prepared as described in the ingredient listing.
4. Rinse the brisket and pat it dry. Bring the brisket to boil with water to cover by 1/2 to 1 inch in large soup kettle or stockpot (at least 8 quarts), skimming any scum that rises to surface. Cover and simmer until skewer inserted in thickest part of brisket slides out with ease, 2 to 3 hours.

5. Heat oven to 200 degrees. Transfer meat to large platter, ladling about 1 cup cooking liquid over it to keep it moist. Cover with foil and set in oven.
6. Add vegetables from category 1 to kettle and bring to boil; cover and simmer until vegetables begin to soften, about 10 minutes. Add vegetables from category 2 and bring to boil; cover and simmer until all vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes longer.

7. Meanwhile, remove meat from oven and cut across the grain into 1/4-inch slices.
8. Transfer vegetables to meat platter, moisten with additional broth, and serve.
9. Serve this dish with horseradish, either plain or mixed with whipped or sour cream, or with grainy mustard.

We had our corned beef and vegetables with soda bread. I used a Cooks Illustrated recipe for this, too! I'm not a fan of baking, but this bread was super easy, once I decided to ignore the instructions telling me to knead the dough (maybe it's because I used all regular flour insted of part regular, part cake flour, but the dough was so RIDICULOUSLY sticky that half of it was stuck to my knuckles after a single kneading motion). This bread also froze really, really well. A couple of minor words of wisdom: I vaguely remember using this same recipe a couple of years ago. The bread came out like an injurious rock. So, don't do these things: 1) substitute milk for buttermilk, 2) over-stir or -knead the dough, or 3) leave it in the oven until the top looks toasted. Just be gentle with it and it'll be fine.

Here's the recipe (originally published March 1997):

Yields 1 loaf.

Ingredients
-3 cups bleached all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
-1 cup cake flour
-2 tablespoons granulated sugar
-1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
-1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
-1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
-3 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 tablespoons softened + 1 tablespoon melted)
-1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk flours, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt in large bowl. Work softened butter into dry ingredients with fork or fingertips until texture resembles coarse crumbs.
2. Add buttermilk and stir with a fork just until dough begins to come together. Turn out onto flour-coated work surface; knead until dough just becomes cohesive and bumpy, 12 to 14 turns. (Do not knead until dough is smooth, or bread will be tough.)
3. Pat dough into a round about 6 inches in diameter and 2 inches high; place on greased or parchment-lined baking sheet or in cast-iron pot, if using. Place the loaf on a cookie sheet and cut a cross shape into the top.
4. Bake until golden brown and a skewer inserted into center of loaf comes out clean or internal temperature reaches 180 degrees, 40 to 45 minutes. Remove from oven and brush with melted butter; cool to room temperature, 30 to 40 minutes.

sneak peek at the McNerneys' St. Patrick's Day late bloomer...

Here's what we're having for dinner tomorrow!

Actually, that's kind of a trick photograph. The pile-o-broth has been weighting down some brisket that has been corning (is that the verb?) for 6 days now. It'll finally be ready tomorrow, and I'm PUMPED! I picked up the cabbage, brussels sprouts, carrots, new potatoes, and pearl onions (fancy!) today. Our dinners (and my work lunches) for next week are set!

More tomorrow!

The Good Shepherd's pie (with Guinness!)

I first made shepherd's pie about a year ago, and we've had it three or four times since then. I'm not normally a huge fan of lamb, but I do like it in the context of stew (and while this isn't exactly stew, it's pretty darn close). My husband loves lamb, though, so we both win: I get to make something like a stew, where I don't have to worry about whether the meat is done or not (because after 2 hours in the oven, it'd better be done), and he gets lamb. So there.

Every time I've made shepherd's pie, I've combined some techniques from this recipe with most of the ingredients of this one and this one (I found them all on epicurious). Each recipe alone seems to have some little twist that sounds like way too much work (such as the venison the first recipe calls for - what now? I'm not on the Oregon Trail here! [although Johnny does have dysentery]). But from the three of them, I've been able to cobble together a process that works for me. And frankly, although I always toggle between the recipes to make sure I'm not forgetting something, I would have to do something horrendous to screw up shepherd's pie. Like, put in soy sauce instead of Guinness. That's literally the only thing I can think of that would make it bad.

Anyway, I thought I'd do myself a little service here and write down what I actually do, so that I don't have to go between the three recipes anymore. Next time I can just refer to... my own notes! Hey, there's a novel idea.

To make this recipe, you'll need a heavy dutch oven or some other pot that you can throw into the oven after cooking with it on the stovetop. Or, if you have two mutually exclusive pots, you could simply transfer the lamb stew mixture from the stove pot to the oven pot.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 pounds of boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 3/4-inch cubes. Already, we face some ambiguity here. One of the three recipes calls for 2 pounds of boneless lamb shoulder. Well, 2 pounds seems like a lot of meat to me. I've used 1 pound before with no sacrifice to flavor. In addition, I'm only able to find bone-in lamb shoulder, and the last time I used bone-in shoulder for shepherd's pie, I shaved some bone into the meat with my knife before I noticed what I was doing. So this time I picked up some lamb from Sheridan that had already been cut into large stew-like hunks. Honestly, I'm not sure what part of the lamb it was from, but it looked good and fresh, and it was delicious. I'll figure out the anatomical origin next time. ANYWAY, once you figure out what cut of lamb you're using - probably something that starts out all tough but softens with extended cooking is best - then cut it into 3/4-inch cubes. Or, if you don't mind happening upon enormous hunks of meat mid-bite, then make them 1-inch cubes like the epicurious recipes say. I myself find that to be a little too big.
• 5 tablespoons flour
• olive oil to brown the lamb in
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup beef broth (reduced sodium works great, if you have it)
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup Guinness, or other stout/porter
• 1.5 tablespoons tomato paste
• Fresh thyme from 3 or 4 sprigs
• 2 pounds baking potatoes
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup milk (enough to mash the potatoes with - you might need a little more, or less)
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 5 carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally
• 4 leeks, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 2 turnips, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
• 1/2 cup of cheese curds, or medium cheddar cheese if you can't find cheese curds (Trader Joe's sells them, as does New Seasons and probably any grocery that has a fancy cheese section).
• 1 cup frozen peas, or whatever quantity is left in the frostbitten bag you need to use up

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. If necessary, move oven racks around so that your dutch oven will fit into the oven when the time comes.

2. Heat a tablespoon or two of the olive oil on medium heat, or lower if your stove is hot and your pot is thin.

3. Put the flour and some salt and pepper in a plastic bag large enough to hold the lamb. Put the lamb in, seal the bag, and shake it around until the lamb is coated in the flour.

4. Once the oil in the dutch oven is hot, add half the lamb and brown on all sides, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer the browned lamb to a plate and repeat the process with the other half of the lamb (if your pot is huge, you might be able to brown all the lamb at once).

5. When all the lamb has browned, reduce the heat to medium-low, put the plated lamb back into the pot, and add the 5 minced garlic cloves. Cook, stirring well so the garlic doesn't stick and burn, for 1 minute or so, until the garlic starts to smell good. Remove the lamb-garlic mixture to the plate once again, retaining the cooking liquids in the pot (if possible).

6. Add the Guinness to the pot. Boil over high heat for 1 minute, scraping up any brown bits. Stir in tomato paste and boil until mixture is reduced by half - 2-3 minutes.

This seems as good a space as any for a brief intermission of produce photos - yay, turnip! Hurray, leek!

...and, we're back.

7. Add beef broth, water, thyme, lamb with any juices on the plate, leeks, carrots, onion, turnips, and a little salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Bring mixture to a simmer, then remove from heat.

8. Cover pot with foil before putting the lid on, if your dutch oven is sneaky like mine and allows a good amount of air to get through. If you have a fancy Le Creuset casserole dish with a lid that weighs more than the average household pet, then you probably don't need to bother with foil.

9. Put the pot into the oven. Simmer for 1.5-2 hours, stirring once or twice (I usually let it take the full two hours).

Here it is: your last chance to opt out of having shepherd's pie tonight! (not that you would want to do that). At this point, if a better offer comes along you can just cool the lamb mixture once it is done, refrigerate it, and reheat it the next day to add the frozen peas and assemble the pie.

Otherwise, carry on to make the mashed potato topping:

10. When the lamb mixture has about 45 minutes to go, put on a pot of water to boil for the potatoes. Peel and chop the potatoes. Add them to the boiling water, or heat them up in the cold water - however you normally make mashed potatoes. When the potato chunks are soft enough for mashed potatoes, drain them, return them to the pot, and mash in the butter, a little milk at a time, and some salt and pepper. Note: you do want the potato topping to end up slightly soupier than you might prefer your mashed potatoes to be normally, so that you'll be able to spread it over the lamb mixture. Normally I don't like over-processed mashed potatoes, but I force myself to make an exception in this case.

11. When the lamb mixture's two hours are up, pull it out of the oven and stir in the frozen peas. If you do it right away, you shouldn't need to put the dutch oven back on the heat. If the mixture looks really soupy, you can put it back on the heat and stir in a little flour. Otherwise:

12. Move the oven racks around (AGAIN) so that whatever (broiler-safe) baking dish you use for the pie will be about 3 inches away from the broiler. Preheat the broiler.

13. Spoon the lamb mixture into a traditional broiler-safe pie pan, if that's what you're using, or into multiple smaller casserole dishes. Really, you might just need to eyeball the quantity of lamb mixture you ended up with and compare it to the various sizes of baking dishes you have lying around. It's pretty flexible.

14. Spoon the potato mixture over the lamb mixture, spreading it around with a spatula or spoon until the mixture is covered. If you want, use a fork to make fun little hatch-marks in the potato - it looks cool once the broiler has done its magic.

15. Grate the cheese curds or cheddar over the potato topping (note: if you have a grater that will produce microscopic chips, instead of long strings that cling together, that would be best. When the cheese gets shredded instead of grated, it tends to ball up in clumps, which produces the unevenly-broiled appearance that appears in my picture below).

16. Broil the pie for about five minutes, until it's golden-brown and bubbly on top. Don't pay any attention to the anemic appearance of the pie in the picture - it suffered the cheddar-clumping fate described above, and was also under-broiled the first time around, and then reheated the next day.

Spoon onto individual plates, and enjoy! This recipe makes 6-8 servings.