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So, remember I was telling you about all the grilling we’ve been doing?  Often times, the leftover grilled meats and vegetables are less than appealing, am I right?  I mean, who wants to eat a cold chorizo?  Chorizo is one of the best things EVAH just off the coals, but later?  Not so great.  They tend to be dry when reheated, and generally not the most appetizing of foods.  Other ingredients are easier to find uses for, like roasted peppers and baked potatoes for example.  Potato salad, anyone?  But, I was feeling guilty about tossing all of those lovely chorizos after our barbecues…there must be *some* way to salvage them?  Well, there is.  And it’s delicious!  And they are revived to their delectable juicy selves.  Awesome! :D  Just look at these tasty little bites of goodness:

There are many names for this particular style of egg dish.  Here in Spain, we call it a “tortilla,” whereas in Italy, it’s called, “frittata,” and in the States it’s generally referred to as an omelette (depending on your heritage, that is. lol).  The funny thing is that tortillas are made with eggs, but it’s really about the ingredients you add to them.  Traditional Spanish tortillas are all about the potatoes.  This one includes the conventional potatoes, but also includes delicious toasted garlic, onion, roasted red peppers and grilled chorizo to make for a mighty tasty, wonderfully easy meal.

Ingredients:

2-3 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 large Spanish onion, minced
3 baked potatoes, skin removed and roughly chopped
3 chorizos, grilled and chopped
1 roasted red bell pepper, chopped
8 eggs, beaten
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Heat the olive oil in a medium sized, deeper saute pan.
Saute garlic until golden, then add onions and continue to saute until translucent.
Add potatoes, chorizos and peppers and heat through.
*note* if you don’t have leftovers, I suggest baking the potatoes in the microwave or oven until done, and cooled, using canned roasted peppers, and for the chorizo, just saute it until cooked through before adding the potatoes and peppers)
Meanwhile, beat eggs with salt and pepper until beginning to froth.
Reduce heat to low, and pour eggs over meat and vegetables.
Stir around a bit, to permit egg to solidify slightly, then cover.
Using a spatula, press egg toward center occasionally, to form the rounded edge.
After about 10 minutes, when egg is beginning to set, carefully place a large plate over the saute pan (one that larger than the pan).
This is the tricky part.
I usually count to three and flip the tortilla onto the plate.
Please be careful not to burn yourself! It’s also important to make sure the egg is beginning to set before doing this, or you’ll have egg all over the place. Ask me how I know this. LOL
Wipe out saute pan, and add a bit more olive oil.
Slide the tortilla back into the pan and cover.
Repeat the pressing of the sides occasionally, and when the egg is really looking like it’s set, sort of “shake” the tortilla around in the pan a bit to prevent sticking.
This should take about 10-20 more minutes, depending on the size of your pan.
Repeat the “flip” process (I find that it looks prettier when you flip a second time).
To see what a finished tortilla should look like, have a look HERE.
Serve as desired. Here I’ve cut the tortilla into cubes to serve as tapas.

Elle.  She is SUCH an amazing cook, and one of my very bestest friends in the whole wide world.  We met long, long ago at a recipe site, and have been friends ever since.  She’s like my internet sister.  I mean really, we have so much in common it’s scary.  Well, not *scary* really, just uncanny.  lol  So, I’ve posted many times about my dear friend’s recipes, and am SO happy that she’s finally started a blog of her own to share her amazing recipes and photos.  Last week, she posted a recipe that made me want to run–not walk–to my grocer to buy the ingredients, like, right then.  Seriously.  But, since my food budget had already gone over for the week, I had to wait until this week to make her recipe.  MAN that sucked to have to wait, but you know what?  It was SO worth it.  This one is going into regular rotation, folks.  It’s quick, easy and absolutely fabulous. I made a few slight changes to the recipe, as noted below.

Ingredients:

2 pounds (1 kilo) chicken fillets (fairly thin fillets)
2 eggs + 2 tablespoons water, beaten
2 cups seasoned bread crumbs
olive oil for frying
1/2 pound (100 grams) provolone cheese, sliced or grated
1/4 pound (50 grams) ham, minced (I just used a thick slice and minced it)
1 small can roasted peppers (I cheated and didn’t roast my own :O lol)
1 handful of chopped chives

Preparation:

First dip chicken in beaten egg, then dredge in bread crumbs.
Season with salt and pepper and reserve on a plate.
Repeat with all fillets.
Heat oil over medium heat in a larger skillet.
Fry fillets about 4 minutes per side, or until golden and cooked through.
While frying, preheat the broiler in your oven.
Remove chicken fillets to a paper towel lined plate to drain off excess oil.
Line a baking sheet with foil, and then arrange cooked chicken on the sheet.
Top with peppers, ham and cheese.
Season with a little oregano if you like.
Broil for about 5 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.
Sprinkle with chopped chives and serve.

Potaje (pronounced po-TAH-hay) is a delicious multi vegetable stew very typical of the Canary Islands.  Here, rather than have all the food served at once, meals are served in courses.  Generally a first course, which can be either a soup, stew, salad, or pasta and is then followed by the main course and of course following that, dessert and coffee.  Many restaurants in Spain offer a lunch “menu,” where you can choose a first and second course from the day’s specials, and it comes with a beverage and dessert.  I’m pretty sure that the variety of potajes are as varied as the chefs that prepare them.  There are lentil potajes, watercress potajes (look for this one soon), corn potaje…the limit is your own creativity, much like soups and stews everywhere else in the world.  Let me share with you my mil’s recipe for Potaje Canario….

Ingredients:

*note, add or subract at your preference, the amounts are approximate.

2 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon smokey paprika
2 ripe tomatoes, skinned, seeded and diced
1 onion, diced
a few sprigs of thyme
1-2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
1 cob corn, broken in two pieces
3 zucchini, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 large handful green beans, trimmed and cut into bite sized pieces
1 large handful of fresh pinto beans, shucked (you can also use canned)
2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 of a sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 chunk of pumpkin, peeled and diced (about 2 cups)
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
1 thick slice of bacon, sliced (omit for vegan/vegetarian)
enough broth to generously cover vegetables (I used about 3 1/2 quarts I’d guess?)

Preparation:

In a large stockpot (this makes a LOT!), heat olive oil and saute garlic just until golden.
Add tomatoes, onions, paprika, thyme and bay, then season with salt and pepper.
Saute until vegetables are tender (this is called the “refrito.”)
Add remaining ingredients and generously cover with stock.
Season with salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer about 30 minutes.
Remove lid and simmer another hour or so, until the stew begins to thicken.
Adjust seasoning.
Serve with Queso Fresco and nice crispy baguettes.

Minestrone is such a great soup for winter, isn’t it?  It has a little bit of everything in it, and is so versatile.  The ingredients can be changed up to fit anyone’s tastes, whether you like it with bits of ham or bacon, with cheesy tortellini (as I’ve done here), or easily made vegan as well.  This is a great recipe if you have a bunch of odds and ends in the refrigerator that  you’re looking for ways to use, too.  Don’t be frightened by the long list of ingredients, this is one of the easiest things in the world to make, and not only that, it’s hearty, delicious, and warming for those icky cold winter blahs.

Ingredients:

2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
1 bell pepper of choice, chopped
1 16 ounce (400 grams) can plum tomatoes, crushed
1/2 head cabbage, roughly chopped
2-3 ribs celery, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced
a generous handful of green beans, trimmed and cut
a generous handful of pinto beans, shucked
2-3 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 small acorn (or other) squash, peeled and diced
2-3 zucchini, washed and chopped
1 large bunch spinach, washed and chopped
1 cup peas
1 cup corn
3 quarts vegetable broth (or more to generously cover vegetables)
oregano, basil and thyme to taste
salt and pepper to taste
1 bay leaf
2 cups tortellini

Preparation:

Using a large stockpot, saute garlic in olive oil until golden, then add onions and stir around a bit.
Add remaining ingredients except tortellini and bring to a boil.
Cover and reduce heat to low.
Cook about an hour then add tortellini.
Bring back to a boil, then cover and remove from heat.
Allow to stand about 30 minutes (to cook tortellini).
Serve with freshly grated parmigiana if desired.

Hee!  I must be a little giddy or something…my kids went back to school today, and I finally have a chance to post and ding around on the computer! LOL  While I haven’t been posting, I certainly have been cooking, and taking pics.  I mentioned a couple of soup recipes, but those will have to wait, because the calzones….my jeebus, the calzones…well, they just happened to rock my world, so they beat out the other contestants for first new food post of 2008.  Cuz there was, like, a competition and stuff.  Well, at least in my head there was.   And these won.  Just like any pizza recipe, you can add and subtract ingredients according to preference, but I have to say, this combo knocked my socks off, and my daughter’s too!

Ingredients:

1 pizza crust of your liking (I use a recipe for my Thermomix machine, so my recipe probably won’t be helpful to you if you don’t have one)
1/2 cup pizza sauce
1/2 cup chopped ham
1 cup sliced mushrooms
sliced olives to taste
anchovies to taste
2-3 tablespoons sliced red peppers
2-3 tablespoons onion slices
2/3 cup grated Gouda cheese

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 425-450ºF/225ºC.
Line a baking sheet with foil and drizzle with olive oil.
Spread pizza dough out on sheet in a large circle.
On half of the circle, layer all ingredients, sauce first, cheese last.
Fold “naked” half of pizza dough over dressed half, and seal edges shut (I sort of roll and pinch if that makes any sense).
Bake about 20 minutes or until crust is golden.

In our house, rare is the day that everyone at the table likes the food I’ve prepared…Each person has their own special quirks, likes and dislikes…myself included.  On quiche days, however, everyone tends to be happy…I make at least 2, sometimes 3 or more…One of our favorites is my Spinach and Feta Quiche, which has to be made every time. lol  There are several ways to make quiche, the fillings can be as varied as the imagination permits…this time, we’ve got an abundance of peppers, onions and leeks that were beckoning me at the fruit and vegetable vendor….Since I’ve been making a lot of kebabs lately, I thought maybe a change of menu was in order…lol  And so, this time, I threw it all together in a quiche.

Ingredients:

crust for one pie
2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks (reserve whites for another purpose)
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
1/2 of 1 red pepper, chopped
1/2 of 1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 small-medium red onion, minced
1 leek, white parts only, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2/3 cup chopped ham
2/3 cup Gouda cheese, shredded

Preparation:

Par-bake crust at 425ºF (200ºC) for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk eggs with some salt and pepper until frothy.
Add in cream and milk and continue whisking until fully combined.
Add vegetables, ham and cheese and stir to combine.
Pour egg mixture into prepared crust.
Bake at 425ºF (200ºC) for about 45 minutes, or until just set in the center (it may still jiggle a little).
Allow to rest 10 minutes before slicing.