Spanish tortilla - a perfect picnic food!

We were meeting friends for a picnic in Prospect Park and to see the Low Anthem and Swell Season last night - finally a gorgeous, cool night!  I decided to make a homemade hummus and this Spanish tortilla - basically a frittata with sliced potatoes, onions and garlic that have been slowly cooked/poached in olive oil.

Here's a simple method for making Spanish tortilla - you can experiment with adding other flavors and ingredients, but I really do love the simplicity of the traditional potato and onion tortilla.

I used a small nonstick pan and made two small tortillas, and then cut into wedges, wrapped in foil, and brought to the picnic and served at room temperature.  If you want to turn your broiler on, you could also make a big tortilla in a larger pan, or a thicker tortilla and just cook the top under the broiler for a few minutes.

Whenever I do a tapas spread with lots of other foods, I often make a roasted red pepper aioli to serve alongside as well, but given that I only made the tortilla this day, I didn't and it's still great on it's own.  However, if you wanted to make a simple little sauce, in a mini-prep or blender, mix together a little mayo, smoked paprika, a tiny bit of salt, and a few pieces of roasted red pepper or piquillo peppers and puree until smooth.

• 1 lb. or 2-3 medium-sized yukon gold potatoes, washed and scrubbed, thinly sliced, about 1/8" thick (a mandoline slicer can make this pretty quick work)
• 5 extra large eggs, or 6 large
• 1 large onion, cut in half lengthwise and thiny sliced crosswise
• 4 - 5 cloves garlic, finely minced
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil for cooking vegetables

In a large skillet, pour enough olive oil until you have about 1 inch and heat over medium heat.  Scatter sliced onions throughout the skillet and cook slowly for about 2 minutes.  Add potatoes and garlic and mix everything well into the oil, spreading everything as evenly as possible.  Add a little more oil if needed until it just reaches the top. Sprinkle a good pinch of salt and pepper over the top.  Let everything poach slowly, stirring and flipping everything gently a few times throughout the process, sprinkling a little more salt and pepper each time you flip the potatoes, until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.  Remove the pan from heat.  Taste and add more salt if needed.

In a bowl, gently beat the eggs with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Heat a small nonstick pan over medium heat.  Add half the potato, onion and garlic mixture and a bit of the olive oil to coat the pan.  Spread out into an even layer.  Pour half of the egg mixture over the top, and with a spatula, lift the bottom of the potatoes a little and get the egg mixture evenly distributed.

Cook for a few minutes, pushing the sides in a little and swirling the pan to get some of the runny egg underneath to cook.  When there is only a little runny egg on top, about 2 -3 minutes, put a plate over the pan and flip over. Slide the tortilla back into the pan and cook another minute or so.  Turn out onto a cutting board or plate - flipping it out will look the neatest and nicest but its not necessary.

Repeat with the rest of the potato mixture and eggs to make your second tortilla.  Slice into wedges to serve.  Serve as part of a tapas spread, an easy breakfast or brunch, or bring along for a picnic!

Also, save and re-use the olive oil leftover from cooking the potato mixture - it's now really tasty after cooking all the onions and garlic.  I used the leftover olive oil in the hummus and it was delicious!

Beets with soy, garlic and scallion vinaigrette

People don't often think of beets with Asian flavors but they are great with this simple sweet, salty and tangy dressing of soy sauce, garlic, and scallions.  Serve alongside meals with Asian flavors, like a simple stir fry and rice, to round out your meal.

You can use this simple vinaigrette over lots of vegetables - try it with thick slices of cucumbers as a side, or use it to dress a simple salad of greens, watercress, cucumbers, carrots, onions, tomatoes, and some hard-boiled eggs.  This was one of the salads I grew up eating most - so good!

• 1 large bunch of beets, trimmed

Boil beets in a medium saucepan until tender.  Drain and soak in cold water to cool down for about 5 minutes.  Slip of skins and cut beets into wedges.  Dress while the beets are still warm to soak up the flavors.  Let the beets sit for anywhere from 30 min. to overnight before serving.

Soy, garlic and scallion vinaigrette

• 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp. white vinegar
• 4 Tbsp. canola oil
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2-1 tsp. Sriracha, depending on your taste for heat
• 1 large clove of garlic, finely minced
• 1 scallion, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp. freshly ground pepper

Whisk all ingredients together until sugar is dissolved.  Taste and adjust seasoning to your own tastes - I like it pretty tangy with vinegar, but feel free to whisk in more oil to balance the flavors.

Braised chicken with Mexican spices

So, I often go on taco kicks - I'll slow cook a pork shoulder, and we'll have enough to freeze half and still have tacos for days, or sometimes I'll braise a big pack of chicken thighs.   I also make lots of versions of fish tacos, which I just posted about recently here, or an earlier post for roasting a whole red snapper for tacos here.  The other weekend, we bought a large pack of chicken thighs and cooked a pound of pinto beans and made plenty of chicken and beans for tacos, tortas, and chilaquiles.

This recipe is for a larger pack of chicken thighs, about 4-5 lbs. or about 8 thighs, but could be easily halved for a single 4 thigh pack, about 2 lbs.  You can also make a large batch, and after shredding the chicken, you can freeze a portion.  I also often make a whole bag of beans and freeze half for another time.

Chicken and bean tortas

I came home to a box of Nature's Pride Premium Harvest buns and rolls through Foodbuzz's Tastemaker Program.  I decided to make some quick tortas with some braised chicken and beans I had made the day before for tacos.  I toasted up a few of the Country White Deli Rolls, first pulling out a bit of the inside as the buns are pretty big, but also to have a nice little well to mash up some beans in.  I heated up some beans and chicken, mashed the beans on that top half and a little avocado, put the shredded chicken along the bottom part of the bun, and topped with some pickled red onions, cilantro, a drizzle of salsa, and mashed the whole thing together - a quick, delicious sandwich!  The bread held together well and stood up to the fillings.

I also received some whole wheat hamburger buns, and country white buns.  I made some turkey burgers, and we decided that we preferred the regular hamburger buns.  The whole wheat buns are pretty hearty and are a pretty large bun - might be a little more bread than you need for a reasonably-sized turkey, veggie or hamburger patty.  But both buns hold up well and are nice a little bit toasted.  I have a few more still and will try them again with something saucier, maybe a batch of turkey sloppy joe's.

Piccolo Restaurant on Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations

If you have it on your DVR or TiVo still, watch last night's episode, July 12, on the Heartland.  The last restaurant featured is Piccolo, the restaurant where my sister Linh cooks!

Tony Bourdain gives them all kinds of love!  Congratulations to the chef Doug Flicker and the Piccolo team!

You can read about our meal at Piccolo here.

All you peeps in the Twin Cities - go there!

Vegetable and sesame noodles - japchae

This is a dish inspired by Korean japchae -  I just throw together with whatever I have on hand together with some bean thread noodles, and then soy and sesame oil. Korean japchae uses these great sweet potato noodles but I rarely have those on hand.  Bean thread noodles,  or mung bean noodles, found dried and sold in little bundles, are always in my pantry so that's what I typically use.  If you can get the Korean sweet potato noodles, use them - they have a much firmer texture and are really nice.

• 4 bundles of bean thread noodles, soaked in hot water until soft and then drained, or if using sweet potato noodles, use 1 pkg. and boil for about 5 minutes, drain and rinse with warm water, then drain and rinse with cold water, and then toss with a little sesame oil and set aside
• 1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 4-5 scallions, sliced on the diagonal into 1" lengths
• 2 cups of sliced greens of your choice - spinach, bok choy, or here, I used the leafy tops of chinese broccoli, or gai lan
• 3 medium carrots, peeled, trimmed and thinly sliced or julienned if you prefer
• 8-10 shiitake mushrooms, either fresh or reconstituted from dry, and sliced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1-1/2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 3 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 3 Tbsp. soy sauce, I prefer Pearl River Bridge
• 1 Tbsp. brown or white sugar, or substitute with kecap manis, Indonesian sweet soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp. sesame seeds, toast for a few minutes in dry skillet until fragrant and lightly browned

After soaking bean thread noodles, or cooking sweet potato starch noodles, cut the noodles into shorter lengths with scissors.  Mix soy sauce and sugar and half of the sesame oil together in a small bowl.  Or, sometimes I add a little kecap manis for the sweetness, which is an Indonesian sweet soy sauce, instead of sugar.

In a large skillet, heat the canola oil over medium high heat and when the oil is hot, add onions and carrots and stir fry for about 1-2 minutes. Add garlic, mushrooms and scallions and saute with everything else until garlic is fragrant.  Add the greens, the soy sauce mixture and the noodles and cook for a few more minutes.  Toss with the other half of the sesame oil and the toasted sesame seeds and serve.  It's so good and so simple, and you can really add any veggies, and a protein like chicken or beef or tofu if you like.

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June restaurants

June started out with a few meals in Toronto, and then Kenosha, WI and then DC.  And then after that, we tried to be good and eat mostly salads at home for a while!  We still managed to venture out to some new places this month, mostly exploring new places in Brooklyn - Bark, Marlow and Sons, Sushi D, Aqualis Grill and Blue Ribbon Sushi (the Brooklyn location).