Arepas

These recipes are from The South American Table.  I love these.  These are made with cheese and are the Colombian version.  I will also give the instructions for the Venezualen version, which is thicker and I assume will be better for splitting and filling.

Masa de Arepa

Stir together 1 cup arepa flour (do not use masa harina for this recipe.  I used a brand named P.A.N. that I ordered on Amazon.) with 1/2 tsp salt and 1 1/2 cups hot water.  Stir together and let sit, covered, for five minutes.  Knead for 3 minutes.  It should be the consistency of mashed potatoes. 

Form into disks.  I divided my dough into 12 golf ball size balls.  Cut a sandwich baggie into 2 pieces, leaving one side connected.  Place the ball between the baggie pieces, then press into a disk about 3-4 inches wide and 1/4 inch thick.  (For the Venezualen version, make it 3/4 inch thick.)  I used my tortilla press to very gently press the dough, not using the handle.

Cook the arepas.  Heat and lightly oil a griddle.  Cook on med heat, flipping a few times, until golden brown.  This will take about 10 minutes.  (For the thicker Venezualen arepas, at this point put them in  a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.  They should sound hollow when you tap them.)

Split open and fill with butter, cream cheese or picadillo.

Arepas de Queso

Use the recipe for the masa de arepa and add 1 egg yolk, 2 tbsp softened butter, and 2 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese.  Knead into the dough.  Then cook as above.

Soft dinner rolls

Soft Dinner Rolls

Mix in a stand mixer 1 tbsp yeast and 1/2 cup warm water.  In another bowl combine 1/2 cup milk, 1 egg, 2 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp salt and whisk.  Add to yeast and stir.  Add in 3 cups of flour.  Mix with dough hook on medium, adding up to another 1/2 cup of flour as needed to keep dough from sticking to bottom of mixer.  Mix for 10 minutes.  Cover and let rise for 1 hour.  Divide dough into 12 round dough balls.  Place in a parchment lined baking pan, leaving a little space between the balls.  Let rise another 45 minutes or so.  Brush the tops with butter and bake at 375 degrees for 18 minutes.

Flour tortillas

I have been searching for a flour tortilla recipe.  I think this might be the one.  I used this one to make breakfast burritos for the kids.  Next time, I might try to sneak in some whole wheat or oat flour...

Combine 3 cups of flour in a mixer with 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp baking powder.  Mix.  Add 1/3 cup olive oil and 1 cup warm water slowly while mixing with a dough hook on medium speed.  Reduce to low and mix another minute or so, adding more flour as needed so it comes away from the bowl.  Separate into 12 dough balls.  Flatten each dough ball and cover with a towel for about 15-20 minutes.  Then heat a griddle, or pan, on high heat and roll out the tortillas until they are very thin.  They should be 8-10 inches in diameter.  Place on hot griddle for about 1 minute.  Little golden spots should appear and bubbles on the surface.  Turn over for 30 seconds, then wrap in a towel and repeat.

Middle Eastern Pizza

I love these little pizzas.  The crust is what really makes it for me.  They are perfect to make ahead, then after they cool, wrap individually to take in the kids' lunch.  Jack reheats them at school, Sam eats them at room temperature.  Either way, they are good with a little dollop of plain yogurt.  I used pork because it was all I had and I didn't want to go to the store.  The next time I will definitely use beef or lamb.  The pork was a little too mild.  This recipe is from The New Mediterranean Cookbook.  These would be good with any filling, but I like the two below because they are a little different then your average pizza.

Middle Eastern Pizza

Combine 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour with 1 tbsp salt.  Make a well in the center.  Pour in 1/2 tsp yeast dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water.  Flick flour over it and let sit for 10 minutes.    Put in mixer (or by hand) and stir.  Slowly add 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil and 1/2 cup plain yogurt.   After that the dough is pretty stiff.  Slowly add 1/2 cup warm water til dough is soft, you might not need all of the water.  I didn't.  Let mix with dough hook for 10 minutes or until the dough is soft and smooth.  Let sit covered for an hour.  Meanwhile you can make the topping.

This is the Palestinian variation (except of course for the pork.)

Cook 1/4 cup pine nuts in 1 tbsp olive oil until golden.  Remove.  In a bowl, mix 2 chopped tomatoes (the recipe called to peel and seed these, but I didn't and couldn't really tell a difference), 1 minced onion, 3 minced garlic cloves, 1 minced serrano pepper, 3/4 pound ground beef, salt, pepper, 1/2 tsp allspice.  In another bowl whisk 1/3 cup tahini with 2 tbsp white wine vinegar.  Add to meat mixture and combine.

Another topping that I like.  

Cook 1/2 cup pine nuts in 2 tbsp olive oil until golden.  Drain.  Cook 2 chopped onions about 15 min on low.  Cool and combine in a large bowl with the pine nuts, 3/4 pound ground lamb or beef, 1/2 cup finely chopped red pepper, 1 cup drained and chopped canned tomato, 1 cup chopped parsley, 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp allspice, 2 tbsp tomato paste, 1/2 tbsp lemon juice, 1/2 tsp red chili flakes and freshly ground black pepper.

To finish

Divide the pizza dough into small dough balls. (Mine made 15).  Roll them out to be about 5 or 6 inches wide.  Place on greased cookie sheet.  Top with meat mixture.  Bake at  450 degrees for 10 minutes.  ( I cooked mine a little longer to make the sure the pork was cooked through.)

Bialys

I love these morning rolls.  I like them much better than a bagel.  The bottom image is my first attempt.  I filled the center with a poppy seed and onion mix.  The top image is without the filling.  Sanford called them my butthole rolls.  These are very simple to make.

Bialys ( From The Bread Bible)

In a stand mixer add 300 grams bread flour (2 cups) and 1/2 tsp yeast.  Mix.  Add 1 tsp salt.  Stir.  Add 206 grams room temperature water slowly over a minute while the kitchenaid is mixing.  Mix on speed 4 for 7 minutes.  Put in a greased bowl, cover and let rise for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. 

Punch down dough.  Cut into 6 equal pieces.   Make into 6 little dough balls, rounded on top with the bottoms pinch together.  Place on floured cookie sheet, cover and let rise another couple of hours.  Take each roll and pinch together the center while gently stretching it til it's about 5 inches wide.  (This is where you would fill it if you are filling it in it's little crater).  I put them on the pan above (a pizza pan with holes in it.  It seems to work as well as a baking stone to me.

Preheat oven for 1/2 hour to 475.  Place a cookie sheet in the bottom of the oven.  When oven is hot, throw a handful of ice into the bottom cookie sheet and bake the biayls for 6-10 minutes.  Remove and serve warm.  (We toast ours in the morning.)

Dutch oven bread.

This bread recipe comes from Michael Ruhlman's Twenty.  I keep coming back to this bread for an everyday bread.  It's super easy to make.  The kids like it for sandwich bread for their lunches, and it's pretty.  I have substituted up to half of the all purpose flour for other flours with some mixed results.  I have used atta flour and whole wheat.  Today I made it with half brown rice flour.  It stuck to the pan, but still was pretty good.  It is best so far with all white flour.

Mix together 4 cups flour, 1 tsp dry yeast, 1 1/2 cups water and 2 tsp salt.  Mix with dough hook for about 10 minutes.  Place in dutch oven and let rise for a couple of hours.  Punch it down and make a ball then let it rest for another 15 minutes.  Shape it into a tight ball.  Oil the dutch oven and put the dough ball in it.  Cover and let rise another 1/2 - 1 hour.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Oil the top of the bread, cut slits in it and sprinkle with salt.   Put covered dutch oven with dough in it into oven and bake for 30 minutes.  If it is done, reduce heat to 375 and uncover and cook until finished.

Sardinian sheet music

This recipe comes from CIA's Mediterranean Cuisine cookbook.  They are more cracker like than bread.  We loved them.  

Sardinian sheet music

Mix:  1 cup flour, 3/4 cup water, 2 tbsp olive oil and 1 1/2 tsp salt in kitchenaid for 5 minutes.  (It should resemble a soft pasta dough.  I had to add much more flour to get that consistency, the recipe says to add more water or flour as needed).  Let rest 30 minutes.

Make 5 3 oz dough balls.  Roll through pasta roller.  ( I rolled them out to the setting of 7).  Place on cookie sheet.  Prick holes in them.  Cook at 450 for 4 minutes.  When they come out of the oven, brush olive oil on them and sprinkle with salt.

Apple pancakes/Apple turnovers

No pictures for this entry.  Last night I made apple turnovers for the boys' lunches.  I used Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.  For the turnovers I used his recipe for puff pastry and his apple turnover recipe for the filling.  I had about half of the filling left over, so I put it in pancakes this morning.  This was amazing.  I think letting the apples sit overnight in the refrigerator mixed with the sugar, cinnamon, etc helped develop the flavor.

Puff pastry

Mix 1 1/2 cups flour with 1 tsp salt in food processor.  Add 1/4 stick of butter.  Pulse until combined.  In a bowl add about 1/4 cup ice water to make a dough.  Knead lightly for 2 minutes, then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1/2 hour.

In a kitchenaid mix with a paddle 1/2 cup flour and 3/4 cup butter until smooth.  Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.

Roll the flour mixture (1st) out into a 4x8 or larger rectangle, 1/4 inch thick.  

Roll out butter mixture into 2x4 rectangle, or slightly larger, 1/4 inch thick.

Place the butter mixture on the flour mixture.  Fold the corners in to make a hexagon.  Pat into a rectangle.  Chill 15 minutes.  

Remove, roll out to 1/4 inch thick, making sure to keep the thickness uniform.  Fold the short sides in to the middle.  Roll again.  Fold the short sides in again, like a letter with the sides on top of each other.  Roll out, cover and refrigerate.

Repeat the last step 2-4 times, refrigerating for 30 minutes between each rolling.

(Or you can just buy puff pastry)

Apple turnovers

Grate 4 cored and peeled apples.  Add 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp cornstarch, 1 tsp grated lemon zest, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 cup sugar.

Roll out puff pastry.  Cut into 12 4x4 squares.  Roll out each square a little.  Put 2 tbsp apple mixture into square and fold over.  Seal with a little water around the edges.  Poke a couple of holes in the top, brush with water and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Pancakes

Mix 2 cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tbsp sugar.  

In another bowl mix 2 lightly beaten eggs, a little olive oil, the leftover apple mixture including the liquid, and about 1/3 cup of milk.  

Mix into dry ingredients and mix until moistened.  Add enough milk to make it a pourable batter.  Cook the pancakes in olive oil.

Frittata

I am not in love with frittatas.  They are often too dry and often bland.  But I love this recipe.  It reminds me of a tortilla espanola.  It comes from Ciao Italia.

Frittata

Microwave or boil 4 med potatoes until tender.  Cool, peel and dice.

Heat 1/3 cup olive oil in a pan.  Dice one large onion and add it to the oil.  Cook about 8 minutes, or until soft.  Add diced potatoes and cook until the potatoes are starting to brown.  

Beat in a bowl:  5 large eggs, 1/4 cup chopped parsley, 1/4 cup grated parmigianno reggiano, salt and pepper.  

When potatoes are ready, pour egg mixture evenly over potatoes.  Treat it like an omelet, tilting the pan and pushing the edges toward the center, so that the uncooked egg slides under the cooked part.  When it's almost cooked through (when you shake the pan and it moves as one unit) put a plate over the pan and invert it, then slide it back into the pan and finish cooking for about 3 minutes.

Masa noodles

Masa Noodles:  Mix 1 cup masa harina with 1/2 cup water, 1 egg and 1 tbsp chili powder.  Stir.  It should be very dry, clumping when squeezed together.  Form walnut size balls and drop in the extruder.  Run kitchenaid on 8.  Cut into 9 or 10 inch lengths.  Have it drop into masa or flour and form into nexts.

Boil like regular pasta, only takes a minute.  Ours broke into small pieces.  I am not sure why.  We tossed ours with some leftover ancho paste and olive oil.

Overall, it was unusual.  Really tasted like corn noodles.  We will try it again tonight with a saucy mexican dish.

Chorizo potato tacos with escabeche

All of these recipes, and probably for the next few days, come from Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen.  I love this book.  

Roasted tomatillo-serrano salsa

Preheat broiler on high.  Put rack as high as it will go.  On a large cookie sheet place 6-8 tomatillos (husks removed and washed), 3-4 large garlic cloves, unpeeled, 3-4 serrano peppers and broil until blackened.  It takes my oven about 8-9 minutes on one side, then flip and cook for another 6-7 minutes.  Put the tomatillos and their juices that are in the bottom of the pan, along with the garlic (peel it first), and the serranos (with the stems removed.  I leave the seeds in them) into a food processor.   Add a chipotle in adobo.  (I like it for the smokiness)   Process until smooth.  Meanwhile chop about 4 oz of onion into a small dice and rinse under cold water.  Pour the tomato mixture into a large bowl.  Add the onions, 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, 1 tsp of salt or to taste, a couple of capfuls of apple cider vinegar and a tsp of sugar.  Stir.  Cool and serve.

This is the basic recipe that I use for all my salsas.  The tomatillos can be replaced with roma or use a combination.  I have even made it with canned tomatoes and only roasting the chilis and the garlic.  Any fresh pepper would work also. 

Pot of Mexican Beans

Usually I pressure cook my beans, but since it's cold and snowy I decided to make these on the stovetop.  I only soaked these for about an hour.  I don't think soaking really makes much of a difference.

In a large pot, I browned about an ounce of chorizo and a cut up slice of bacon in a little olive oil.  Then add 1 cup of chopped onion.  Cook until soft.  Add your drained beans.  Cover with water.  Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer for a couple of hours.  Season with salt, then cook another 15-20 minutes.

Green Poblano Rice

Simmer 2 chopped poblanos in 1 2/3 cup chicken broth for 10 minutes.  Put in food processor with a handful of cilantro and salt to taste.  Process, then strain through a mesh strainer.  In a pot, saute 1 cup rice and 1 small diced onion in 1 tbsp olive oil for about 5 minutes.  Add 5 chopped garlic cloves.  Add the poblano broth to rice.  Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes covered.

Chorizo Potato Tacos with escabeche

These are easy, and I love them. 

Boil 4 potatoes whole until tender.  Remove let cool, then dice into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces.  

Brown 6 oz Mexican chorizo until cooked through.  Remove with slotted spoon, leaving as much grease in the pan as you can.  You may need to add a little olive oil.  Add potatoes.  Let brown, turning occasionally.  When finished, add the chorizo back to the potatoes and warm through.  Serve on corn tortillas with escabeche

Escabeche:  Dice and peel one med carrot.  Put in a large skillet.  Drizzle with 1/4 cup olive oil.  Cover and cook over med heat about 5 minutes, until crisp tender.  Stir in 2 peeled and diced garlic cloves, 2 bay leaves, 1/3 cup cider vinegar, 2 tbsp dark brown sugar and 1/4 cup water.  Simmer until sugar is dissolved.  Add 1 thinly sliced red onion ( I used white since that was all I had).  Stir and let cool.  Flavors will improve with time.

Spaghetti alla carbonara

This is originally is a Mario Batalli recipe.  Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Cook 1 pound spaghetti until al dente, reserving about a cup of the pasta water..  Cook 5-6 oz of diced pancetta in 1/4 cup olive oil.  Separate 6 eggs.  When pancetta has browned, stir in 1 tbsp freshly grated pepper.  Turn off heat. Add 2/3 cup pasta water and bring to a simmer over med heat.   Whisk rapidly and add the egg whites, whisking for about a minute.  (You want it frothy, not set.  We did not achieve frothy, but it was still delicious)  Add the pasta, stirring well. Add 1/2 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano and 1/4 cup pecorino romano.  Keep stirring.  You can then put it into 6 serving bowls with an egg yolk in each one, instructing your guests to stir rapidly.  This was a bit too precious for Sanford for lunch, so we added all of the egg yolks while it was still in the pan and stirred, then served. 

Homemade spaghetti.  I was lucky enough to receive a pasta extruder for christmas from my in-laws.  I have been struggling with the right recipe.  This spaghetti took me two tries.  First I mixed 2 cups semolina with about 1 cup of water which is from a recipe I found for extruded pasta.  ( I tried the kitchenaid egg noodle recipe.  It was too wet.  The pasta was fine, but not quite right.  Also, the instructions say to let dough dry on the extruder then "brush it off" the next day.  This is a joke with this recipe.  It dried like cement.  It took about 1/2 hour the next day of digging out the dough with a toothpick and skewer!  The recipe I used last night was much better for the cleanup.  I was able to "brush the dough " of the extruder with only a little bit of toothpick use)  Anyway, I added some all purpose flour and mixed in the kitchenaid for about a minute.  I put it in the extruder.  It came out correctly, but immediately stuck together.  So I gathered all of the extruder pasta, put it back in the kitchenaid mixer with more flour.  This time I made a dough that did not stick together unless you squeezed it into a ball.    I formed into walnut sized balls and dropped them in.  This time they came out perfectly and didn't stick together.  I don't have an exact recipe for this at this time, but next time I will measure!