Tortillas

Tortillas in a towel I wove in the early 1980s

Princess Lisa called me this morning, she and Doug were on their way to China Peak to ski for the day. In her sweetest voice she suggested I come over when the boys get home from school. "And maybe you can make dinner for us," it was a statement, not a question.

By noon I was craving the home-made chorizo that was in their freezer, left over from Christmas brunch, none in my freezer. Eggs and chorizo burritos with home made tortillas and a bowl of fresh pinto beans would be great this cold winter day. Breakfast for dinner is fun on occasion.

Let's make tortillas. Watch the videos on rolling and baking tortillas.

This recipe calls for lard, don't panic, it is only 2 tablespoons to 4 cups of flour, very little. During my years of cooking lard was used, then for many years margarine was recommended, then butter and now we are full circle, lard is no worse than butter. For tortillas lard is the traditional fat.

Tortillas

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 and 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons lard (do not use oil or shortening, use lard)
water, about 1 and 1/4 cups, more or less

Whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a mixing bowl.

Dough is smooth and elastic

Mix in the lard with your fingers until the flour resembles cornmeal.
Add water and mix until the dough comes together.
Place on a lightly floured surface and knead a few minutes until smooth and elastic, or put in mixer bowl with a paddle attachment and mix till smooth and elastic.

Cover the dough and let it rest 15 minutes, it must rest.

Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball, lay on a cookie sheet so they do not touch.


Cover and let rest 20 minutes, don't skimp on the rest period.

Cover balls with plastic

Preheat a flat iron grill, see mine on the November 30, 2010 entry about iron cookware. Heat to medium to medium-high, it depends on your stove and grill, too hot and tortillas burn quickly, too cool and they take to long and will dry out.

Start rolling from the center, up then center down

Sprinkle a little flour on board, smooth out to even layer, lightly flour a rolling pin.
Roll from the center of a ball of dough and up, then roll from center and roll down.

Turned, ready to roll from center up and center down

Turn halfway, again continue rolling in same manner till tortilla is thin, 1/8 inch thick or less.

Getting bigger, ready to turn

Keep repeating same sequence

Roll till less than 1/8 inch thick

Flip onto grill and cook until bubbly and golden; flip and continue cooking until golden on the other side. 

Place the cooked tortilla in a folded dish towel.

Continue rolling and cooking the remaining dough balls.

Making a batch of tortillas has always been great mental therapy to me. There is nothing more comforting than a tortilla off the grill with a light coating of butter. If the weather is hot I keep a glass of iced tea handy to sip while rolling and baking tortillas. 

After dinner the cooled tortillas can be put in a zip lock bag, without the towel.

For a sweet treat you can heat a tortilla on the hot grill, smear a layer of butter on and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, yum yum.

Finished stack ready to go

Under side of my board has hard rubber feet

Feet keep board from moving back when rolling

I wove the orange linen and cotton towel in the early 1980s when I was weaving for fun with a group of ladies in China Alley in Hanford, California. The towel just feels good and it's been my tortilla towel ever since.

Please leave a comment if you try my tortilla recipe.

Poffertjes

Dutch poffertjes were a big hit over the holidays, Lisa has been raving about how much she likes them. Here is a partial batch being made in my little iron poffertjes pan, it was shown in the iron cookware entry.

Poffertjes are little puffy pancakes, recipes vary, with yeast or with baking powder. These luscious little babies are a yeast batter and I served them with cherries and powdered sugar, the only snow we've had in Fresno.

In Holland during the summer months you often see a poffertjeskraam in large parks or events. Our favorite was in Laren, it is up from March to September. Their history is more than 100 years, see their website. http://www.poffertjeskraamlaren.nl Notice the huge antique stove with rows and rows of depressions.

Iron Cookware and Corn Stick Recipe

My iron skillet was banned to the dark corners of cupboards for years when I went through the phase of non-stick skillets, they seemed like magic, they were so lightweight. Non-stick skillets seemed great at first but they chipped and warped quickly, even when you were careful not to use metal utensils. After some years I realized certain foods just did not cook properly or tasted as good. Besides that there are health benefits to cooking in iron.

I went back to my iron skillet in the late 1980s and realized it was non-stick also. There are two important things about iron cookware. One is the skillet must be seasoned, some iron cookware comes pre-seasoned. There are many directions on the internet for how to season iron cookware so I won’t go into that. Secondly, the cookware must be properly heated to prevent sticking. Let it preheat well starting on low, heat at least 5 minutes and it will be non-stick, even cheese will pop right off on a well heated and seasoned skillet. Notice the following two photos, at the front is a piece of cheese directly on the skillet and after popping it up, yummy cheese wafer. Preheating the skillet to prevent sticking is not often mentioned, that had been my problem many years ago.

While putting away an iron skillet I realized how much iron I have, here is my selection.

On the left are three corn stick pans and three skillets. There is nothing like good crunchy corn sticks to go with soup, stew or chili. I started with only one pan in the late 1960s but seven little corn sticks is not enough so over the years I bought a second then a third, all three fit in the oven with an inch between for heat circulation. When making corn sticks or cornbread put the cookware in the oven while it preheats. Pull it out, oil the cookware then add the batter, you will have nice toasty food.

Next are the three iron skillets under the corn stick pans. One is thinner, Wagoner brand, I don’t like to use it. My favorite is my newest Lodge skillet with a long handle on one side and a loop handle on the other side, it makes lifting and moving it much easier.

On the back right burner is a wok I purchased when we lived in Holland between 1990 and 1993. I had never seen an iron wok before and bought it new at Hema, a chain department store. In the wok is a Lodge 4 quart Dutch oven that Hubby uses for no-knead bread.

The pan with 19 shallow round holes is a poofertjes pan, not an ebelskiver pan. I bought it at a rommelmarkt, flea market. Dutch Pooferjes are more shallow than Danish ebelskivers. Pooferjes are little puffy pancakes made with a yeast batter and served with butter, powdered sugar and often with strawberries. Check out pooferjes on YouTube, the professionals bake 100 or more at a time. They go down the rows, flip flip flip flipping each to the other side.

The flat grill in front is for making tortillas, I’ve owned it at least 30 years. Flour tortillas are made on a dry flat top, no oil. Another day I’ll go into tortilla making.

 A myth about iron cookware is that you cannot wash it with soap and water. Of course you can, just do it quickly and dry it immediately, we set the pan on a burner to dry it well. Too many times we have forgotten that a burner was on so we set a timer for several minutes to remind us to turn it off. Iron does rust so don’t let them sit in water. A blue Scotch Brite non-scratch scrubbing pad works well to clean and not damage the seasoning.

Corn Sticks Recipe

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 cup milk, microwave a few seconds to slightly warm

Put two corn stick pans in oven to preheat to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a mixing bowl mix the 5 dry ingredients, a whisks works well.
In a small bowl whisk the eggs, add slightly warm milk and melted butter.
Pour wet mixture into dry ingredients and whisk together.
Pull out hot pans, oil each corn stick depression, use a heat resistant brush.
Pour batter into corn stick pans.
Bake 18 to 20 minutes till lightly browned.
Turn out onto a rack and eat immediately, they are best still warm.

 Reese and Davis last week with basket of corn sticks.

Lisa and Doug with a tummy warming meal of lentil stew,

corn sticks and red wine.

Pecan Pie

Precious daughter-in-law, Lisa, called about 8 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning to Facetime me. I looked like crap at 8 a.m., had just quickly brushed my teeth and brushed back my hair to get started baking pies for our Thanksgiving meal in Hanford at my sister’s. With iPhones in hand Lisa and I could see each other’s morning loveliness, she was still laying in bed. I reversed the camera so she could see the kitchen counter mess of ingredients for the pumpkin and pecan pies.

I’m the pie lady every year. We must have two pumpkin and two pecan pies. The pumpkin pies are made from the recipe on Libby’s Pumpkin, not the pre-made pie filling. One difference I make is to increase the spices a little, make the teaspoons slightly heaping.

Everyone loves the pecan pies. I’ve been using the Dear Abby recipe since the 1960s.  Abigail Van Buren had an advice column for years. Every year her recipe appeared and several times I cut it out, here is a scan of a clipping.

There was one thing Lisa complained about every year since she and Doug married in 1993, the whole pecans in the pie. Every year she kept telling me I should chop the pecans, chop the pecans, chop the pecans. So, maybe I was trying to make points, one year I did make them with chopped pecans and only a scattering of whole pecans on top for decorating. She still complained! She wanted every pecan chopped. I came around and must say, it is better with chopped pecans. Pecans float and every bite will have an equal amount of chopped pieces. Here is the recipe the way we like it.

Deluxe Pecan Pie

3 eggs
1 cup dark Karo corn syrup
1 cut brown sugar, not packed
2 Tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
a pinch of salt, that’s a little less than 1/4 teaspoon
1 1/2 cups of chopped pecans, don’t skimp on pecans

Prepare a 9 inch pie shell, uncooked. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl, beat slightly with a whisk.
Add the syrup, brown sugar, melted butter, vanilla and salt, whisk together, then stir in the chopped pecans.

Pour filling into pie shell, bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a butter knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out wet but not brown syrup clinging.

Bean Taco Night

Yes, bean tacos!  

They are so simple, such wonderful peasant food, I adore them. My Dutch hubby prefers them to meat tacos. Before I left for a few hours at the office we talked about what we would have for dinner, I wouldn't be back till 6:15 and hubby had a Bible study to go to by 7 p.m. so bean tacos fit the schedule.

Before I got home hubby made salsa, graded cheese, chopped onions,  sliced lettuce, opened a can of re-fried beans and had one of my iron skillets hot and ready. I poured about an eighth inch of vegetable shortening in and heated to medium high. Spoon a small amount of beans in center of a tortilla, see note at the end about what type of corn tortillas to buy. Don't use too much beans, about two tablespoons.

 

Using tongs fold the edges up, and rest bent bottom in hot oil so it will not crack, hold till folded side is well set and firm, then lay taco in oil on its side and do two more, three will fit an average skillet.

Continue cooking till they are toasty hard on both sides. Add oil as necessary but not much, you only need enough to cover the bottom of the pan.

Drain on paper towels, open up each taco and add cheese first to melt into the hot beans.

Add whatever else you like, I just add lettuce then hubby's flavorful salsa made with canned chopped tomatoes, cilantro, jalapenos, onion, lemon or lime juice and garlic. Three glorious little bean tacos are just right for a light meal.

Tortilla buying tip, for best flavor and no aftertaste, buy tortillas with no preservatives. They should have only three ingredients, ground corn, water and a trace of lime. As far as the beans, canned Rosarita are just fine.