Recipe Time!
Okay, so I have a lovely Spanish friend who
taught me how to make a real-deal Spanish Tortilla. The way he showed
me there weren’t any measurements or the like. Basically make sure your
potato to onion ratio is about 3:2 and that your potato/onion to egg
ratio is about 3:2. Basically you need to make sure you don’t over egg
it, the perfect ratio is what makes it sooooo good! This dish can be
eaten alone, in a sandwich, with a salad or as a side to grilled meats.
It is super versatile. It pairs well with many wines, including
Tempranillo or Verdejo (try the Spanish Vicente Gandia)
or with a good Reisling (try the Hochkirch). It also goes well with
lighter style reds like a Grenache or a light red blend, check out our full selection here.
My own
tip is to choose your fry pan carefully. I usually cook up my potatoes
and onions in a large wok (enough for several tortillas!), and then
cook the actual tortilla in a smaller pan that I know inverts easily and
isn’t too heavy for me to manage. A non-stick pan is essential.
I also know the capacity of my smaller pan, so when I am making my
egg/potato/onion mix I make it to the exact quantity that fits in my
pan. I have a large measuring-mixing jug where I combine the
ingredients before pouring into the hot pan. If you are making enough
for more than one tortilla I recommend combining the egg and veg for
each tortilla individually, that way the heat of the vegetables won’t
cook the eggs before you get it onto the stove!
Below are ingredients for one tortilla
500g potatoes (I haven’t been fussy about what kind, I usually buy mine from a local organic veggie seller who drives around our neighbourhood in his ute!)
1-2 onions
Olive oil
3 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley (optional)
6 eggs
Method
1. Peel the potatoes or leave the skins on, if you prefer. Cut them
into 5mm slices. Cut onion into half rings of the same thickness
2.
Heat a good slug of oil in a large frying pan, add the potatoes and
onion and stew gently, partially covered, for 30 minutes, stirring
occasionally until the potatoes are softened. (add more oil if it’s
sticking or looking dry).
3. Beat the eggs separately, then stir
into the potatoes with the parsley if you like, and plenty of salt and
pepper. Heat a small amount of olive oil in a smaller pan. Tip
everything into the pan and cook on a moderate heat, using a spatula to
shape the omelette into a cushion.
4. When almost set, invert on a
plate and slide back into the pan and cook a few more minutes, until the
middle of the tortilla feels firm, this indicates the egg is all
cooked. Some people prefer to leave it a bit gooey in the middle, this
is up to you! Slide on to a plate and cool for 10 minutes before
serving.
* Variations on this dish are endless! Sometimes I cook
slices of red capsicum with the potatoes and onions, or I add a small
amount of chorizo or some olives. I also like to place some slices of
tomato or some sage leaves in the bottom of the small pan before
carefully pouring the mixture over them, this makes a lovely pattern on
top of your tortilla for serving! It's Spanish goodness on a plate, served with Spanish goodness in a glass!
Today I'm sharing a recently discovered recipe which has become a total fave. It's an amazing Crushed Lentil and Cumin dish from Yotam Ottolenghi's 'Plenty More'. For those of your unfamiliar with Ottolenghi (have you been living in a cave somewhere??) 'Plenty More' is a book filled with delicious Middle Eastern inspired vegetarian recipes. I would like to add that I am not a vegetarian, but if someone cooked me food like this every day, I'd be tempted to convert!
This was an easy to prepare dish (I doubled the quantities and have loads to get our family through the week, as well as a container for a sick friend). I'm planning to pair it with a light red wine tonight - the awesome Kalleske Clarry's GSM which you can buy here: http://bit.ly/24XbiUd. You could also choose one of our Pinots, The new Huckleberry Hustle by Temple Bruer, a Tempranillo or a red blend like the Gemtree Phantom. Winner.
Crushed Puy Lentils with Cumin
Ingredients:
200g puy lentils
30g unsalted butter
2 tbsp olive oil , plus extra to finish
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
3 medium tomatoes, skinned and cut into 1cm dice
25g coriander leaves, chopped
4 tbsp tahini paste
2 tbsp lemon juice
Salt and black pepper
½ small red onion, peeled and sliced very thin (I pickled this in a mixture of red wine vinegar, water, salt and sugar...I found that it added a real zing to the dish...delicious!)
2 hard-boiled eggs, quartered
This sustaining meal-on-a-plate is a little bit like hummus, though much easier and quicker to prepare. With warm flatbread, I could eat this every day. Serves two as a main, or four as a starter.
Method
Bring a medium pan of water to a boil. Add the lentils and cook for 15-20 minutes, until completely cooked, drain and set aside.
Put the butter and oil in a large sauté pan and place on a medium-high heat. Once the butter melts, add the garlic and cumin, and cook for a minute. Add the tomatoes, 20g of coriander and the cooked lentils. Cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes, then add the tahini, lemon juice, 70ml of water, a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of black pepper. Turn down the heat to medium and cook gently, stirring, for a few minutes more, until hot and thickened. Roughly mash the lentils with a potato masher, so that some are broken up and you get a thick, porridge consistency.
Spread out the lentils on a flat platter, run a fork through to make a wavy pattern on top, and scatter on the sliced onion, the remaining coriander and a final drizzle of olive oil. Serve warm with the hard-boiled eggs alongside. (I served this with a slice of Spanish Tortilla...I will post the recipe for that next time...I was taught to make the perfect Tortilla by a Spanish friend and I think I've got it just about right!).
Enjoy with a light red from our selection. Scrumbo!
Being a left-leaning, middle class, inner city dweller it should come as no surprise that I subscribe to The Saturday Paper, the paper put out by the publishers of The Monthly and The Quarterly Essay. It is lovely to read a paper that affirms all of my own beliefs, and makes it easy to forget that there are other people out there who don't share them. But, if I really had to admit why I love The Saturday Paper so much (aside from the quiz), I would confess that I actually have a super foodie crush on Andrew McConnell, and he is their weekly food and recipe columnist.
For those of you not familiar with Andrew, (SHAME ON YOU!) he is part owner of Cumulus Inc, Cutler and Co, and Super Normal. His food really ticks all the right boxes for me. He's moved away from all that 'molecular gastronomy', foams, deconstructed this and that, and makes delicious dishes that are both delicate and hearty at the same time. The parfait at Cumulus Inc. is like fluffy pate goodness, and is enjoyed with a glass of Prosecco is pretty much the nearest thing to heaven on Flinders Lane.
This week Andrew's column was a recipe for Baked Beans with ham hock. Now, I've made baked beans from scratch several times, but these ones seemed just too easy! Limited ingredients, using time and care to make them taste amazeballs. Off I trotted to get the ingredients and after a day of boiling a hock, lovingly soaking beans and preparing an uber tasty tomato sauce the beans were served. SERIOUSLY GOOD. I doubled the quantity, which means we've been eating beans all week in various guises. These babies were plump, soft, yet still in shape, and nothing at all like the mush that comes from a can.
I served them a number of ways:
1. As a dinner, straight up with chunks of toasted ciabatta.
2. As lunch, with pan fried mushrooms and spinach.
3. As dinner, with a couple of poached eggs and some crumbled fetta cheese.
I've still got some left, and am debating whether or not to experiment with freezing a container full, I'm unsure if the beans will survive a defrost...
What did I drink with these beans I hear you ask? Well, on the first night, I had slaved over these beans, and felt they were worthy of a kicking big red, so I cracked open a Paxton MV Shiraz. It was recently awarded 95 points by James Halliday. James say on his website: 'The grapes come from four estate biodynamic vineyards, plus two contract
biodynamic vineyards; separately fermented and matured in new and used
American oak. Deep, dark crimson... with
waves of sultry black fruits and bitter chocolate, the oak not blunting
the delicious savoury nature of the wine...'
I love this wine. David Paxton really knows his stuff, which is why we stock quite a range of his wines. You can buy it now on our website!
More thought into food and wine matching lead me to Tempranillo for subsequent meals. This savoury drop goes well with spicy, tomatoey food - especially Spanish food. We've written a 101 lesson about Tempranillo on our website. Basically, it is a champion with food. Four Tempranillo (or tempranillo blends) are currently gracing our shelves. You can peruse them here. I opened a Vicente Gandia Tempranillo from Spain. It's as cheap as chips, and really tasty. It's often my fall back wine for quaffing, or with a thrown together meal. It's full of the intense aromas of cassis combined with black currant.
To taste there are liquorice and black currant notes. It is a well balanced wine, and stands up to rustic food flavours. Perfect with my beans!
I'll include Andrew's winning recipe below. I only made minor changes (I doubled the herbs and added 4 anchovies to the tomato sauce for a bit of extra zing).
Andrew's Baked Beans.
Ingredients:
1 smoked ham hock
1 cup dried white beans (soaked overnight). Andrew recommends cannellini beans - the smallest you can find.
1/2 brown onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, sliced (I used more)
2 tbsp grapeseed oil (I used olive oil)
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp brown sugar
2 tbsp brandy (I used Armagnac)
100 mls white wine
1 tin diced tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 sprigs fresh thyme (I used more because I have an awesome thyme bush)
1 Bay leaf (I used more for the same reason as above)
salt
fresh ground black pepper
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Method:
Place ham hock in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring the water to the boil and then lower the heat and simmer the hock until it is tender (about an hour and a half).
Preheat oven to 140 degrees C.
Cover your drained beans in cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes and drain.
In an ovenproof saucepan gentle saute onion and garlic in the oil. Once soft add the praprika and sugar and fry for one minute. Add brandy and reduce by half. Add wine and reduce by half again. Add drained beans, tinned tomatoes, tomato paste, thyme sprigs, bay lead and enough ham stock to just cover the beans. I added the anchovies at this point.
Bring beans to a simmer, cover with a tight fitting lid and put in the over. While they are cooking (for about an hour), pick the ham from the bone and shred. Once the beans are meltingly tender, but not disintegrating, pull them out, stir through ham and cook for a further 5 minutes.
I needed to add extra ham stock during the baking process, so keep an eye on the pot!
Season with salt, pepper and red wine vinegar. Serve as you like (see suggestions above).
Happy drinking!
My own
tip is to choose your fry pan carefully. I usually cook up my potatoes
and onions in a large wok (enough for several tortillas!), and then
cook the actual tortilla in a smaller pan that I know inverts easily and
isn’t too heavy for me to manage. A non-stick pan is essential.
1. Peel the potatoes or leave the skins on, if you prefer. Cut them
into 5mm slices. Cut onion into half rings of the same thickness
