All the Pretty Tortillas

In the two months we’ve been here in Denmark I’ve managed to perfect my big pot of beans and homemade flour tortilla making skills. Not the culinary turn you would expect when in the land of pickled everything and amazing rye bread, but Denmark is EXPENSIVE. And, when food budgets get tight you have to get a little creative. A little inspiration was provided by Ryan’s reading list. Ryan has been on a Cormac McCarthy kick lately. While most of McCarthy’s novels are a little on the dark and violent side for my taste, Ryan claimed the McCarthy got “a bit soft” when he wrote All The Pretty Horses which allowed me to indulge in one of my favorite guilty pleasures: monopolizing other people’s library books. 

All The Pretty Horses was fantastic. The prose is poetic. The characters are the kind of people you wish you could meet. And all throughout the book are wonderful descriptions of food. I became obsessed with the never-ending supply of beans and tortillas enjoyed my the main characters and they journeyed across the border and into Mexico.

So inspired, I dove into the task of making huge pots of pinto beans on a weekly basis. This proved to be both very cost effective and successful in rounding out my little bean-loving Ella’s diet. Then came the homemade tortillas. I used butter instead of lard or Crisco, since my Israeli conditioning makes me cringe at lard and my small knowledge of nutrition has forced me to ban Crisco from our diets completely. I found the tortilla dough-making process to be very similar to biscuits and pie dough. I worked the fat into the flour/salt/baking powder mixture and then added some warm water to turn it into dough. I let the dough rest, form it into balls, roll them out into admittedly misshapen tortillas, and then sort of toast them in a hot skillet (letting the first side cook until it bubbles in the most magnificent way).

The big pile of tortillas disappears quickly filled with beans, sautéed onions and bell peppers (What isn’t improved by deliciously caramelized onions?), avocado, and sharp white cheddar cheese. The last couple of tortillas we hold in reserve to be buttered and honeyed for dessert. Not a bad way to stick to a budget. 

Ps. I would have included pictures... but hot tortillas disappear too quickly.

Awesome Asian Salad

I made this salad for dinner. It was SOOOOOOO good.

Curried Millet, Shiitake, and Corn Salad (gluten free)

This was my first time cooking with either millet or shiitake mushrooms. I rather randomly purchased a bag of millet last time I went to my local health food store. Looking for a way to use it I came across the following recipe at epicurious.com. I made it tonight for dinner paired with some stove-top-steamed sweet potatoes (my oven is broken) and it was fantastic. I doubled the final ingredients (curry powder, rice vinegar, and soy sauce) since a reviewer had recommended it and I think it was just the right amount of flavor. I'm looking forward to eating the leftovers as a cold salad.

Update: I forgot to mention that I used 2.5 cups of water instead of 2 following the instructions on the bag.

Curried Millet, Shiitake, And Corn 

Salad Restey 

Gourmet | January 1996 

by Mark Restey: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

Millet is a small round golden grain that has a high vitamin and mineral content. Although millet is 

unfamiliar to most people in this country, it is a staple throughout Africa, India, and Asia. 

Yield: Serves 4 to 6 

4 tablespoons vegetables oil 

1 cup millet* 

2 cups water 

1/2 onion, chopped fine 

1/4 pound fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded and caps chopped fine (about 1 1/2 cups) 

2 cups fresh corn (cut from about 4 ears), or frozen, thawed 

1/2 teaspoon curry powder 

1 tablespoon soy sauce 

1 tablespoon seasoned rice-wine vinegar 

1/3 cup fresh parsley leaves, washed well, spun dry, and chopped fine 

*available at natural foods stores 

In a large skillet heat 1 tablespoon oil over moderately high heat and cook millet, stirring frequently, about 3 

minutes, or until it makes popping sounds and begins to turn golden. Remove skillet from heat. 

In a small saucepan bring water to a boil and stir in millet. Cook millet, covered, over low heat 20 minutes, or 

until water is absorbed. Transfer millet to a large bowl and fluff with a fork. 

In cleaned skillet heat 1 tablespoon oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and sauté onion, 

stirring, until softened. Add shiitake and cook, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add corn and cook, 

stirring, until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Still in curry powder, soy sauce, vinegar, remaining 2 

tablespoons oil, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste and add to millet.

Juicing...

I never thought of it as anything other than a health craze. But, this changed my mind. I'm going to have to experiment...

Cranberry Orange Scones

So I promised Sassy my recipe a while ago...

2 cups all purpose flour (I always use unbleached).
3 Tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
5 Tbsp Butter
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup chopped cranberries
The zest of one orange

Raw sugar for topping

Mix flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Cut in the butter. Stir in cranberries and orange zest. Stir in Cream. Spread dough on floured surface about one inch thick. Use a biscuit cutter to cut out scones and lay them on baking sheet. Sprinkle scones with raw sugar. Bake for ~15 minutes (until golden) @ 375 degrees.

I adapted the recipe from here.

Thanksgiving Dinner

So I pulled off my first Thanksgiving dinner without a hitch. My 16lb free-range turkey came out moist and full of delicious stuffing (Mom's recipe). My Challah bread was a hit - especially with the toddler's. We had Cajun dirty rice, mashed potatoes, gravey, green-beans & carrots and three kinds of pies. But, at the end of the day I was most proud of my Pecan pie.

I found a recipe online from Food.com and edited a bit to suit my tastes and my deep dish pie pan..

Ingredients 

1/2-1 cup margarine  (I used 1 cup Butter)

2 cups light brown sugar, packed (I used 3 cups)

3 eggs (I used 4 eggs)

1 (9 inch) pie shells (I used Mom's pie crust recipe except I substituted frozen butter for the shortening.)

1/4 teaspoon salt 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla (I always add extra vanilla.)

1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped (I used 3 cups of Pecans.)

Directions 

1. In a saucepan, melt margarine with brown sugar. 

2. Add eggs, salt, and vanilla and mix well. 

3. Add pecans. 

4. Pour mixture into an unbaked pie shell. 

5. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. (obviously I needed a longer bake time.)

Mustard BBQ Sauce & Fried Fish

Last weekend Ryan, Ella and I went to Urbana, Illinois for Ryan's conference. Although, neither the drive nor the conference itself were delightful, we did have lunch/dinner at this little BBQ place that turned out to be wonderful. The best surprise was the fried Catfish which Ryan only ordered because we knew Ella eat it. The waiter recommended that he choose the mustard BBQ sauce to go with it and the combination was amazing.

So, tonight for dinner I tried to recreate it. I fried up some Tilapia  (dipping it in a little milk and then lightly flouring it in a flour/salt/pepper/cyan mixture). And, to go with it I made the following mustard sauce:

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Yield: Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients:

• 1 cup prepared yellow mustard
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon cayenne

Preparation:

Mix all ingredients together and simmer over a low heat for 30 minutes.

The sauce was so good we ended up putting it on our wilted spinach and baked potatoes too.