Tortilla Espagnole

Penelope Cruz winning her Oscar last month sent me back to her last great performance in the wonderful Pedro Almodovar film Volver where her character accidentally ends up running a restaurant (having hidden a dead body in their freezer – trust me it makes sense in the movie). In the film she cooks Tortilla and other classic Spanish dishes.

A Spanish tortilla is simply a potato omelet and is no relation to the Mexican tortilla. Tortilla is impossible to avoid in Spain, no matter the region; every family home, pub or restaurant will have their own version.

Most Spaniards believe it should be kept simple with just potatoes, onions, eggs and a little salt, but don’t be afraid to experiment.
Optional ingredients include fresh herbs, paprika, chopped tomato, red or green peppers, Chorizo, cooked ham, mushrooms etc. Try not to overload the omelet however, as potato and egg are the stars of the dish.
The quick and dirty version is to fry some chopped cold (cooked) potatoes with some onions, add some beaten eggs and cook as you would any omelet. However for best results cook the potatoes from scratch as in the recipe below.
Spanish Omelet
Gently heat 100ml of Spanish Olive Oil in a small frying pan (7-8 inches). Peel and slice 200g medium potatoes and cook in the olive oil until soft, turning occasionally (this may take up to 25 minutes).
Once the potatoes are almost cooked add a large sliced onion and cook until translucent.
Add 6 very fresh eggs to a bowl with a good pinch of salt and pepper and whisk with a fork. Remove the potatoes and onions from the pan with a slotted spoon and mix well with the eggs. Remove half the oil from the pan to a cup and turn heat to high for 30 seconds. Pour the eggs and potatoes onto the pan, reduce the heat and cook gently until the omelet has set and is golden underneath.
Place a large plate on top of the pan and flip out the omelet. Add the remaining oil to the pan, heat until sizzling, and slide in the omelet to cook the other side. Remove when golden underneath and eat hot or at room temperature with a glass of young Tempranillo.

Scoil Mologa Food and Wine Matching Masterclass

Scroll to the bottom of the next post for links to recipes for Orange cake and smoked salmon quiche.

Wines from last night's tasting were as follows -
Crement de la Loire, Chateau de Putille, bought from the producer for €6.40. They are based about 45 minutes from Nantes near Angers in a small village called La Pommeraye.
Food - Romanian Pork Sausages bought in Troyes Butcher on Moore St.
- Smoked Salmon and Dill Quiche. recipe at the bottom of the next posting.

Santa Rita Reserva Sauv. Blanc, Casablanca Valley, Chile – 13.50 in Dunnes
Penne with chicken and mushrooms in a creamy sauce

St Halletts Poachers Blend White, Barossa Valley, Australia – 64% Semillon 23% Sauvignon Blanc and 13% Riesling
Served with Egg Fried Rice

Sangre de Toro Torres 10.70 in Dunnes
Garnacha and Carinena (Grenache and Carignan)
Tortilla Espagnole - Spanish Omelette

Parallel 45 Cotes du Rhone Paul Jaboulet
Rare Steak - tanins and steak go particularly well together

Santa Rita Medalla Real Cabernet Sauvignon 2004
Cous Cous with Merguez Sausages and Preserved Lemon

Anjou Coteaux de la Loire, Chateau de Putille, Chenin Blanc Moelleux
Orange Cake
White Chocolate

Bonnezeaux Domaine des Petits Quarts 2001

On Phylloxera I mentioned the following book
Phylloxera: How Wine Was Saved for the World by Christy Campbell
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Phylloxera-How-Wine-Saved-World/dp/0007115369

Wine and Food Matching

Below is a copy of the wine and food evening I conducted at Next Door Enfield on Thursday last March 26th. Recipes and links are below the text.

Few other topics in the wine world bring forth as much discussion as the great debate on what food should be served with what wine. The most important thing to remember when considering this subject is that there are relatively few certainties in food and wine matching and much is down to personal taste.

The first myth to dispel is “white wine with fish and whit meat, red wine with red meat”; while true in many instances this is simply too broad a statement. Oily fish such as salmon or tuna both go extremely well with lighter red wines such as those made from pinot noir or even light Bordeaux. Consider the weight of the food not the colour.

Similarly, rich white wines such as Pinot Gris from Alsace can be an interesting combination with lighter red meats and other savoury foods we traditionally associate with red wine such as game birds.

One useful tenet to remember is that wine should either complement the food or offer a contrast. Hence a creamy pasta sauce will go well with a light refreshing white wine such as Orvieto or Verdicchio from Italy, but can also go well with a richer ‘creamy’ wine such as a Chardonnay.

A food high in acidity and sweetness such as a granny smith apple could cause a rich wine to taste thin and metallic, while a savoury food such as mature hard cheese can make a lighter wine taste fuller and softer.

A salad dressing made with vinegar or lemon juice can make a cheap, acidic wine taste fuller and richer; while simply overpowering the taste of a top quality mature red wine making it taste somewhat bitter.

If the wine you have chosen seems too astringent and tannic adding a little more salt to your food will make the wine taste softer. Salt also brings out the residual sugar in a wine such as an Alsatian Gewurtztraminer making them taste sweeter.

Tannins in red wine combine well with the flavours we find in rare steak, the two textures seem to merge causing the tannins to soften and melt into the other flavours. Tannins can however overpower the delicate texture and flavour of a simply cooked white fish such as sole when what you really need is something acidic and crisp (in the same way that we sometimes squeeze lemon juice on our fish) that will lift and emphasise the delicate flavours.

If however the fish is served with a tomato based sauce (which of course adds acidity to the dish) then a red wine will often work better such as a Chianti or light Merlot. A wine light in tannins such as Beaujolais can work quite well with many fish dishes.

Salty and richly savoury food such as mature cheese (and especially blue cheese) will generally go very well with a sweet white wine, which can cope with the richness much better than a dry white wine, or a mature soft red wine. Salt in food seems to make a sweet wine taste even sweeter as mentioned above and as most cheese contains salt a dessert wine almost always works well cheese.

Champagne works surprisingly well with sausages as the bubbles and acidity cut through the grease of the sausages and lift their flavour; proving once again that Champagne is the perfect breakfast wine. Scrambled eggs with smoked salmon also goes very well with Champagne (making an excellent Valentine’s breakfast).

Serving wine with dessert can prove difficult. Any dry wine will of course taste bitter but many sweet wines will also taste unpleasant if they are not sweeter than the dessert. Lemon tart for example will simply kill a wine like Sauternes or Coteaux du Layon but can work with a very sweet Riesling or Hungarian Tokaii.
Chocolate is notorious for killing the flavour of wine, mostly because of its rich texture and sweetness. Powerful sweet wines such as Banyuls, the rich fortified wine from Provence can go very well with chocolate as they are simply sweeter and richer. Australian Liqueur Muscat from Australia also works well as can young sweet port. The rich texture and bitterness in Guinness works surprisingly well with chocolate as anyone that has eaten a snack bar with a pint in a pub will attest.

Sometimes it is best not to serve any wine at all (for example with ice cream) and you may find beer works better with oily savoury flavours such as those found in Chinese food. Beer can also work well with Indian food for the same reasons but personally I think a dry Rosé is the best choice with good quality Indian Food.

Simple flavours such as roast chicken will take almost any wine type as they act as a blank canvas on which the wine can work its magic.

If you ever find yourself lucky enough to have very old rare wine to drink, such as 20 year old Bordeaux, you are probably best to stick with simple flavours such as plain grilled steak or roast beef to allow the wine to shine.

In conclusion, try to think about the flavours of the wine or the food you are trying to match and initially decide whether you would like to contrast or complement the flavour. If in doubt open one of each and let your guests decide which combination they prefer.

If you find you have made a bad choice and the combination is not working try adding salt to the food as this can counteract and soften the flavours that are jarring. Also try not to fret too much as sometimes the wine you like best will go best with the food you like best.

Wines
Graham Beck Brut South Africa. 23.99
Smoked Salmon and Dill Quiche (recipe below). Pork Sausages.

Iona Sauvignon Blanc, South Africa – RRP €16.59
Penne with chicken and mushrooms in a creamy sauce. fry a shallot, a cubed chicken breast, some mushrooms. Add some white wine and boil it off a bit. Add a couple of spoons of creme fraiche and mix well. Add to the drained pasta while still hot and stir.

Chateau Tahbilk Marsanne '06 Australia. RRP €11.99
Ray and beurre noisette

Chateau Pique Segue '05, Bergerac, South West France RRP €11.50
Rare Steak - tanins and steak go particularly well together

Huia Pinot Noir '06 New Zealand RRP €19.99
Braised Rabbit. Duck breast.

Lehmann Barossa Shiraz 05 RRP € 10.99
Cassoulet. Cassoulet recipes are all over the internet or in any French cookbook. This is a passable one from the bbc website. leave out the duck legs or replace them with confit duck legs from a tin -

Lehman Botrytis Semillon 06 RRP €10.79
Orange Cake - This is a Claudia Roden Recipe from her Book of Middle Eastern Food. recipe is here:
Nigella's version (which I cooked because my clementines were in better condition than my oranges) is here: http://www.nigella.com/recipe/recipe_detail.aspx?rid=20002

--------------Recipes-------------------
Smoked Salmon and Shallot Quiche (adapted from Sophie Grigson)
Pastry: (bought short crust can be used)
200g plain flour
100g butter
1 small egg.

Filling:
100g shallots, sliced
30g butter
3 medium egg yolks
225ml Crème Fraîche (1 tub)
1tbs chopped dill
Finely grated zest of 1 large or 2 small organic lemons
Salt and Pepper
100g Smoked Salmon cut in strips

Pastry: Whiz the flour and chilled butter in a food processor for 15 seconds and add the egg. Continue to blend for around 40 seconds until the pastry has formed a ball. Remove, wrap in cling film and leave to rest for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.

Pre heat the oven to Gas 6, 200C. Line a greased 8 inch tart tin with the pastry, prick all over with a fork, cover with tinfoil and weight down with old beans or rice. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, remove the tinfoil and beans/rice and replace in the oven for a further 5 minutes to allow the pastry to dry. Allow to cool until lukewarm. Turn the oven down to Gas 4, 180C.

Gently sauté the shallots in the butter until soft and translucent. Beat the egg yolks with the crème fraîche, dill, zest and salt and pepper. Spread the shallots and smoked salmon around the pastry base, pour on the cream, egg, dill mixture and bake in the oven at Gas 4, 180C for around 35 minutes until the quiche has set. Serve hot or lukewarm as preferred.

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credit crunch cooking

From the Evening Herald, 2nd Feb, 2009.

As more bad financial news is announced, the one thing nobody should compromise on is food. You can save a fortune if you just spend a little longer in the kitchen, change the cuts of meat and fish that you buy, and avoid convenience food and eat more pulses.

Your local butcher is almost always cheaper than supermarkets (besides good special offers) ; the quality should be higher, they will do bulk deals for freezing and advise you on cooking cheaper cuts like skirt, belly and brisket (which supermarkets don't stock).

Always cook in bulk; a frozen lasagna popped in the oven on a cold, wet winter evening can be served in 25 minutes. It will make you a bone fide hero to your family.

Making your own brown soda bread takes about five minutes preparation time and costs as little as 50p per loaf -- use brown bread mixes (eg Odlums) to save even more time.

The recipes below are relatively conventional but should feed a large group of people of between six and 12, for around one euro per head.

CREDIT CRUNCH COOKING TIPS
Eat lots of slow release carbs – porridge, lentils, beans
Buy vegetables in season
Learn to love root veg, particularly turnips.
Buy in bulk from Smithfield and markets
Buy from ethnic shops and importer shops (e.g. Little Italy in Smithfield)
Follow the immigrants – the Chinese and Nigerians know where to find cheap food
Buy large amounts of fish on Moore Street or Howth pier and freeze it
Buy whiting instead of cod, chicken legs instead of breasts
Buy or order unusual cheaper cuts of meat from your butcher and ask for advice
Learn to love offal – liver, kidneys and hearts are delicious if cooked correctly
Discover the joys of slow cooking – shin of beef, breast and neck of lamb, belly of pork
Buy lots of special offer meat and freeze what you don’t use
Always check the “reduced to clear” section of supermarkets
Always cook in large quantities and freeze leftovers
Avoid all convenience food – it will not fill your teenagers.

Recipes

Smoked Mackerel Pâté (serve with Champagne)
250g Packet of Smoked Mackerel
125g Mascarpone Cheese
1 lemon
½ French Baguette cut into rounds and toasted

Remove the skin from the fish and chop. Using a fork, mix with the mascarpone and the juice of ½ a lemon until smooth. Place the pâté on a plate and arrange lemon wedges and toasted baguette around the plate and serve.


Slow Roast Pork Belly
You can rub spices such as star anise or szechuan chili into the skin to add exoticism. Have your butcher deeply score the skin of the belly or do it yourself with an electric knife or sharp blade.

1.5kg Piece of Pork Belly
1 large Onion roughly chopped
Rock Salt
Place the chopped onions in a roasting tin. Rub the salt into the skin of the pork and place on top of the onions. You can also rub in some other flavourings such as coriander, star anise, grated lemon rind, chopped herbs etc.

Add a glass of water and roast at 180C for 2½ -3 hours until the flesh is melting and the top is crisp.


Stuffed Breast of Lamb
Use a piece of lamb breast around 10 inches long. First remove all the bones including the softer ones which you will find if you press the meat. Cut off any white fat from the meat side, digging in with a small knife, and tidy up the edges.

To make the bread stuffing fry a finely chopped medium onion in 30g of butter until soft. Blend 2-3 slices of day old bread along with whatever fresh herbs you have to hand (e.g. parsley, thyme, mint, rosemary etc.). Mix the onions and their cooking fat with the breadcrumbs and add some salt and pepper.

Season the meat and add the stuffing to the centre of the breast. Roll the meat around the stuffing and hold it in place with a couple of skewers while you tie the meat with string to ensure it holds its shape. You may need some extra skewers or cocktail sticks to keep the stuffing from leaking out the ends.

Roast at 190oC for 2 hours until the skin is crisp and the meat tender. Slice into rounds of moist meaty goodness and serve with Dauphinoise potatoes and roast vegetables.

Wine Recommendation: Tesco Montepulciano D'Abruzzo - €4.79-5.29.

For more click here:

Caesar Salad

This first appeared in the Evening Herald HQ supplement on the 26th February 2009.

Caesar Salad is the classic American Salad and appears on a huge percentage of restaurant menus. Sadly it is usually pretty awful thanks to laziness and cheap ingredients.

Caesar Salad is said to have been created in Tijuana by Caesar Cardini who was forced to invent the dish to cope with a rush of extra customers on July 4th weekend in 1924.

A true (quality) Caesar Salad must be made using raw egg in the dressing (as you would for homemade mayonnaise), the lettuce must be Cos lettuce and the Parmesan must be fresh grated Parmesan.

In US restaurants the salad is often made at the table with elaborate ritual as garlic cloves are rubbed around the bowl and the dressing is emulsified and the salad tossed in front of you; partly for theatrical effect but also to prove that it was freshly made.

Once you taste a good version like this one you will be very wary of ordering it in an Irish restaurant again.

Feel free to omit the sautéed chicken which is neither necessary nor traditional.

First cut 2 chicken breasts into thin slices and marinate in a tablespoon of olive oil, a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar, a dash of Tabasco and some salt and pepper. Coat the chicken in the dressing and leave to marinate for 20 minutes or longer.

Wash 1 medium head of Cos lettuce and tear into strips. Mash a large clove of garlic with the blade of a knife and add to a pestle and mortar with a tsp. of Dijon mustard, a tbs of lemon juice, an egg yolk, a dash of Worchester sauce and 5 anchovy fillets. Pound until you have a smooth paste. Gradually add 100-125ml of olive oil, whisking all the time with a small whisk until you have a thick creamy dressing.

Make some croûtons by frying cubes of white bread in oil until browned and rub each cube with a cut garlic clove.

Sauté the chicken pieces in very hot oil until browned.

To finish the salad toss the leaves coat them generously with the dressing. Top with lots and lots of shaved Parmesan (use a potato peeler), the chicken pieces, the croûtons, and some extra anchovy fillets.

Celeriac

The following appeared in the Herald on Feb 5th last

Celeriac is one peculiar looking vegetable – it looks little like a large white turnip with a terrible skin disease.

Celeriac is a type of celery grown for its root rather than for its stems and leaves and tastes fantastic at this time of year – a winter highlight. It is relatively low in calories (half that of potato) and tastes (unsurprisingly) of celery, albeit with the texture of potato.

Cookbooks tell you to peel a celeriac like a potato but I find it easier to diagonally slice off the gnarly root end and then slice it in rounds and cut or peel off the outer skin.

Treat the celeriac like any root vegetable – once peeled it can be blanched for 5-8 minutes in boiling salted water and served with a knob of butter.

Alternatively, cube it and braise it in a covered saucepan in a little butter on a low heat for 20 minutes, or cook finely chopped with a little stock until soft and then buzz to make a purée (add cream and butter if you want to make it richer).

For Celeriac croquettes; mix cooked mashed celeriac with mashed potato (half and half) and an egg yolk (1 egg yolk per 250g) and then roll in breadcrumbs, and deep fry.

My favourite thing to do with this veg however, is to make soup:

Celeriac Soup with Garlic Cheese Croutons

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Fry a finely chopped medium onion in 50g butter for 30 seconds in a large saucepan. Add 200g of peeled diced potato and 500g of peeled diced Celeriac and stir for 30 seconds.

Allow to cook with the lid on for at least 20 minutes at a low heat, stirring or shaking occasionally to prevent the veg. from sticking.

Next add 600ml Stock (veg. or chicken) and 200ml Milk and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Buzz the soup with a stick blender or push it through a sieve.

For the croutons: toast 12 x 2cm slices of French bread (use the grill) and rub each with a cut clove of garlic. Next mix 50g grated gruyere cheese with 1 egg yolk, spread the cheese egg mix on the rounds of toast and grill until sizzling. Serve the croutons floating in the soup or on the side.

Game, Wild Food. Herald Jan 29th

The Following appeared in my column in the Evening Herald on Jan 29th last:

Wild Food
Wild food always sounds more interesting than farmed and with good reason – it is usually tastier and healthier. Wild mushrooms, wild garlic and wild fish are obvious examples but don't neglect Ireland's fantastic game birds and animals.

Many of us associate game with Christmas and the Autumn but the shooting season for pheasant, partridge, woodpigeon and wild ducks such as mallard or widgeon does not close until January 31st. and deer are culled until the end of February. Wild rabbit can be eaten all year round (but you need to know a farmer with a gun).

Wild ducks and pigeons are significantly stronger tasting than farmed birds and should be eaten rare – just season and brown them in a pan and roast them for 15-20 minutes depending on the size of the bird.

Pheasant is much milder and is the best place to start your game exploration. Most good butchers will be able to source pheasant or visit a good craft butcher such as FX Buckley on Moore St., Lawlors in Rathmines, Downeys in Terenure or Ennis's in Rialto.

Strictly speaking most pheasant is not wild as most are reared by shooting clubs and then released for the season. In addition they are fed during the season to stop them straying too far from the shoot's land. Some do escape the January deadline however so you might bet lucky. In any event they still taste better than any chicken – if a little dryer.

Pheasant with Calvados and Cream

Season a pheasant inside and out and fry in 50g butter in a casserole until browned on all sides. Add a splash of Calvados, put on the lid and place in a 200C oven for 40 minutes. Remove the pheasant and leave to rest in a warm place covered loosely in tinfoil.

Add a good splash of Calvados to the juices in the casserole and flame or boil off some of the alcohol. Add about 150ml of cream and cook on low heat until the sauce thickens and reduces a little. Taste and adjust the seasoning with more salt and pepper.

While the sauce reduces, peel and dice two eating apples and fry the cubes in butter until golden brown.

Carve the pheasant, remove the legs and arrange on a warm plate. Pour the sauce over the meat and sprinkle with the cubed apple. Serve with buttered carrots and roast or boiled potatoes.