Corn Tortillas

Every time I see a tortilla press somewhere (Mexican grocery stores, thrift stores, etc...), I want to buy it.  I am normally not a fan of one-use kitchen gadgets, but for some reason the tortilla press always calls my name.

At some point, I decided that if I ever started making corn tortillas regularly, I could justify having a press.  That was many years ago, and I never once made any tortillas.

Until now.

Connie, one of our interns this year, wanted to make some enchiladas for lunch.  She put corn tortillas on the grocery list, but I decided that the time had come for me to make them!

Instead of the tortillas, I bought this:

The recipe on the bag said 2 c. of the masa, 1/8 tsp. salt, and 1 1/4 c. water.  Mix together, divide it into 16 little balls.  Cover the yet unused balls with a damp cloth while you roll them out.

Normally you would use a tortilla press (http://www.amazon.com/IMUSA-VICTORIA-85008-Tortilla-Pre-Cured-8-Inch/dp/B00164T384/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361195884&sr=8-1&keywords=tortilla+press) and press the little balls into tortillas (between two sheets of plastic wrap).  I expiremented with a few different ways of properly flattening them, and decided this way worked the best for me:

 

Put the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap and flatten evenly with something heavy and flat-bottomed.  I used a frying pan.  This is how it ended up:

Too thick.  I then used a rolling pin to slowly press it out further.  I thought that starting with a rolling pin might also work, but it didn't.  The combination of the two pressing methods definitely worked the best for me.

You need to be gentle with this dough.  Unlike a wheat flour dough that stretches as you roll it out, this dough will just flatten into nothingness if you press to hard.  And if you roll too quickly, the edges of the dough ended up really ragged.  Slowly and gently, roll out the dough from all angles until the dough is very thin, somewhere between the thickness of a dime and a penny:

Next, cook them in a medium-hot, ungreased skillet.  It took about a minute on each side for me.  They turn a more opaque white when cooked.

They tasted soooo good.  And were simple enough that I might actually start making them regularly and will then be able to buy a press!

Note: I made three batches of dough.  The first batch was too dry, and the edges of the tortillas cracked a lot when I rolled them out.  The next to batches had more like 1 1/2 cups of water in them and worked a lot better.  Start with the 1 1/4 c. and try rolling out one ball.  If it seems too dry, a bit of water to the rest of the batch and try again.

Making Yogurt

Making your own yogurt is fairly easy, and can save you a LOT of money if you eat yogurt a lot.  A gallon of milk generally goes for $2.50-$3.00 around here, and makes the equivalent of about ten and a half of those little 6-oz/ yogurt cups that you buy (for probably $6-7), or two of the 32-oz. tubs (around $6).

I was first inspired to make yogurt by my 2012 intern, Megan.  Since then, a lot of other have been asking me about it, and I refer them to various blogs and online instructions that I have found.  With all of the information out there, however, everyone just asks me how I do it, what works for me.  And this is it:


First, you need to heat your milk.  I use a homemade double boiler with several inches of water in the lower pan:

If you don't have two pans that fit inside each other, you can use a metal bowl in place of the upper pan.  It it important that the two pans (or whatever you use) fit tightly together so the heat doesn't escape out the sides.  If there are large gaps, use foil to close them.  Or just heat your milk in the microwave.  Some people do the whole yogurt-making process in a crockpot, but I have never tried that, as I make a LOT of yogurt at a time.

I usually make somewhere between 1-3 gallons of yogurt at a time.  The smallest amount I have made is half a gallon.   Whole milk will make a thicker yogurt, skim milk will make a thinner yogurt; anything will work.  For this batch, I used half a gallon of whole and one gallon of 2%.  For home, I usually use skim or 1%, but for work I make it a little richer sometimes.

Heat your milk, covered, to 180 degrees.  Some people say you need to (to change the proteins in the milk to something that will solidify better), some people say you only need to heat it to 110 degrees.  Whatever the case, I heat it to 180.  Ideally, you would use a thermometer to check the temperature, but I have found that it is ready when it looks like this:

Lousy cell phone camera.  You can sort of see little bubbles on the milk.  When those little bubbles are across the whole surface of the milk, it is ready.  It is not boiling, just has little bubbles everywhere.

Next, remove the upper pan from heat, and cool it quickly to around 110 degrees.  I put mine in a sink full of cold/ice water:

If you are using as much milk as I do, you may need to stir the milk and/or change the water once or twice during the cooling process.

Once again, you would ideally have a thermometer so you would know what the milk is at 110, but if you don't, cool the milk until it is still warm, but you can hold a (clean) finger in the center of the milk comfortably.

Next, you inoculate (I love that word!) it with yogurt cultures.  I use one cup of yogurt per gallon of milk, some people use less.  Once you have made a batch of yogurt, just use some of that for your next batch.  Now, yogurt cultures do die after about two weeks, so if it has been much longer that that since you made your last batch, you might want to buy some new yogurt.

What kind of yogurt should to buy?  This is what I usually start with:

You can buy smaller single-serve yogurts also.  The important things to remember is that it needs to be plain, it needs to contain active cultures (it will say on the package somewhere), and it needs to not be past its expiration date by the time you will use it.  Some people say not to use lowfat yogurt, but I will use it as long as there aren't lots of weird ingredients like gelatin and other thickeners.  If the ingredients are basically just "milk" and "active cultures (of some sort), I will use it, whether it is nonfat, greek, all natural, or whatever.

To inoculate it, put the yogurt in a bowl and add a little of the warm milk to it.  Whisk away any lumps, then add it to the rest of the milk, whisking well.  If you used a lowfat/nonfat milk, you could add some dry milk powder to it if you want your yogurt to be a little thicker.  Some people will add gelatin, but I prefer not to.

Next, you need to incubate your yogurt.  You could leave it in the pan, you could pour it into clean glass jars, or whatever you want.  The milk now needs to stay at 110 degrees for a while to allow the little yogurt bacterias to multiply properly.  There are various ways to do this:

• many ovens will be 110 degrees just with the pilot light on.  My oven at work is like that.  But you should find out for sure with an oven thermometer.
• turn your oven on low, then turn it off.  Wrap your yogurt containers in towels (I use an old comforter when I make it at home!) and put it in the warm oven.
• wrap the containers in towels and place in a cooler.

Again, some people use crock pots for the whole process, but I have never looked into it and therefore don't know the instructions for that.  I have always used the pilot light method or the towels/oven method.

If there is any chance that someone might come in and turn on the oven without checking inside first, put up a warning sign so they will leave your yogurt alone!

The yogurt needs to incubate for at least 4 hours, or up to about 20 hours, depending on how tart you like it.  I usually leave mine for 12-16 hours.

When you take it out of the oven, the yogurt will be solid, probably with a little yellow whey on the top. 

For it to thicken the rest of the way, the yogurt needs to be thoroughly chilled.  Just chill it in whatever container you used to incubate.

After it is chilled, it is ready to eat!  You could flavor it at this point, too (vanilla and sugar, strawberry jam, honey, etc.).

Pancake Toss at P. Graham Dunn

This is the last food-related picture on my phone.  Now I just need to start a blog for pictures of Maggie :o)

When many of us Faths were at Grandma and Grandpa's for Thanksgiving, there was a $1 All-You-Can-Eat-Catch-Your-Own-Pancake breakfast.

You go in, pay your dollar, and get a plate.  And then they start tossing pancakes at you!  The ones that fall on the ground get scooped up and fed to pigs later.

Then you go through a buffet line to get sausage links, butter, syrup (and blueberry syrup), orange juice, and coffee.  Oh man, I drank a lot of coffee and ate way too many pancakes.  And we did this two days in a row.  I don't usually have blood sugar issues, but a few hours after these pancakes, I thought I was going to die!

Another Mystery Photo

I found this picture on my phone.  It looks exciting, and I am trying hard to remember the occasion.

Clues:

It was probably not too long after we started moving stuff into our house, because the china cabinet isn't in the background.

I am remembering the food: lentil stew (North African spices), pickled onion salad, pita.  And olives. 

Oh, those were the olives that Lydia gave me for Christmas, so it must have been late December/early January, because olives never last too long in our house.

That might be yogurt in the foreground, and it is probably homemade yogurt, which means that Megan (my 2012 intern) had arrived, so it must be early January.

I'm guessing the strawberries are from an Aldi dumpster.

Mmm, Turkish tea.  This must be lunch, since us old folks don't drink caffeine in the evening very often.



Well, I am thinking the occasion was simply that we were both home and it was lunch time.  Not very exciting, but I do remember that the lentils were REALLY good with those onions....

Lunchables

Denise (intern 2012) loves Lunchables, and when she heard that we never had them growing up, she bought me one.

 

They tasted sort of like cold bread with sweet, chemically tomato sauce.  Mmm mmm mmmm :o)

Thanksgiving Dinner at Pam's

We had a Thanksgiving dinner with Zach's siblings, his mom, her husband, and some of their friends.  Pam had to work a ton the day before, so I went over to their house the morning of the feast to help out.  I took these photos primarily to make Zach hungry so he would hurry up and come over:

Five-Spice Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Pretty table

Cider and Sage Butter Turkey

Amazing bread recipe via Anna's Pinterest (recipe at http://www.simplysogood.com/2010/03/crusty-bread.html)

We also made Rosemary-Garlic Scalloped Potatoes, Sweet Potato Stuffing with Sausage, and a broccoli dish with bacon, vinegar, and toasted almonds.

BLT Sandwich and Hearty Winter Soup

When I told Zach I was doing this blog thing with all of the food pictures from my phone, he sent me this picture from his phone:

 

Our table looks much nicer with fancy wedding gifts on it: placemats, silverware caddy, pepper grinder

This is one of Zach's favorite meals that I have ever made.  Also, one of the more American meals I have ever made of my own free will.  Not that he doesn't like the normal foreign fare, he just really liked this sandwich.

I had the day off and had this waiting for him when he got back from work.  A BLT made from homemade bread, tomatoes from our garden, thick-sliced bacon, sriracha aioli, and some sort of lettuce (duh).  And Hearty Winter Soup made from butternut squash from our garden, potatoes, chicken (freezer--past manager's special), smoked sausage (current manager's special), and corn.  And iced tea, because you can't have such an American lunch without iced tea.

Wedding Cake

This was our wedding cake, made by my friend Cassandra.  This picture doesn't do it justice:

 

Henna designs

It was a ginger-orange cake, and there were also chocolate-espresso sheet cakes at our wedding.  They were gooooooooood.

Turkish Breakfast

Nothing is better than Turkish breakfast on a warm summer morning.  Remember, these are old pictures from my phone.

 

Menu:

Bread (Italian bread from Kroger is the closest to Turkish bread that I've found)
Feta Cheese
Olives
Sliced Tomatoes
Sliced Cucumbers
Yogurt
Sliced Avocados (not a normal part of Turkish breakfast)
Jam
Turkish Tea

Green Tomato Canning

We had way too many green tomatoes at the end of gardening season.  I wanted to make/can green tomato salsa and chutney, and had a hard time finding recipes for the kind of salsa that I wanted.  Though I usually don't use recipes for anything, when it comes to canning I am much more careful.  So I ended up combining a bunch of different recipes to make sure I had the acid levels, salt levels, and processing times right.  I think it turned out okay.  I gave little jars of these away for Christmas gifts.

(in my messy office)

 I started off with the same base for both: green tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, garlic, salt.  Cooked together, cooled then pureed.

For the salsa, I added to the base:
Cilantro
Lime juice
Citric Acid
Cumin

For the chutney, I added to the base:
Cilantro
Coriander
Tamarind paste
Cider Vinegar
Raisins

I wish I had written down amounts for next year.  I guess I will have to figure it all out again.  One thing for sure: I will never can regular salsa again.  This is so much easier, and I like it a lot more.

Food Photo "Mystery"

I found this food picture on my phone and couldn't remember what it was for:

I looked at it more closely.  Okay, what is in this picture...some sort of fresh salsa, maybe a mango salsa.....rice and beans....coffee....why is there a cup of coffee at the stove?

Aha, this must have been taken to make Nathanael come over.  My brother will come over to our house if there are rice and beans and/or coffee.  End of story.  He forgets that Zach will make him do work.  All he remembers is the food and the coffee.

Eggs Cooked in Avocado Rings

We saw Zakarian make eggs cooked in rings of avocado on Next Iron Chef last season and decided to try it:

Egg in avocado ring, egg in pepper ring, toast, apple butter, avocado slices, sauteed pepper slices, fruit salad, coffee

You slice the avocado, leaving the skin on.  I think I got two slices out of one large avocado (because, let's face it, avocados are too expensive for each of us to have one to ourselves).  You put them in a pan and crack eggs into the holes.  Then end.  Pretty simple.  Cover them while they cook so that the top of the egg is done and you don't have to try to flip them.

Since I had a ton of yellow peppers on hand (Meijer manager's special), I did the same thing with some peppers....thick slices, crack eggs, cover while cooking.

They look really great on the plate, but to be honest, this wasn't my favorite.  Raw avocado is infinitely better than cooked avocado, in my opinion.  The peppers were good, though.

Sauteed Baby Kale for Lunch

Oh man, this was so good:

We had a surprising variety of fresh vegetables around, including a container of baby kale that I had found on manager's special and hadn't used soon enough to make a salad out of it.  Just a tiny bit wilty.

So, for lunch the other day, I caramelized half an onion, added a julienned carrot, half a sliced red pepper, some grape tomatoes, and garlic; I sauteed those for about a minute.  Then I added the kale and cooked for less than a minute.  Meanwhile, I cooked eggs (started in cold water, boiled 4 minutes....whites hard, yolks runny) and toasted some bagel pieces for croutons (we were out of bread).

SOOOOOOO good.  The bitterness of the kale with the sweetness of the peppers and the richness of the yolks......

Perspectives V and Mesir Wat Recipe

Ethiopian food for the fifth Perspectives meal.



 

 

Injera with Mesir Wat (lentil stew) and Spinach-Sweet Potato Wat...I should probably not mix languages so often in recipe titles.  I am assuming mesir might mean lentil, though in my mind it should refer to corn (Uzbek?  Turkish?)

The camera on my phone is clearly not the greatest...

Injera is a spongey, sourdough flatbread made of flour from a grain called teff.  I have expiremented a little with making injera, with no real luck as of yet, so I meanwhile continue to buy it from an Ethiopian store nearby http://www.yelp.com/biz/addisu-bakery-and-carryout-columbus.

The Mesir Wat recipe is also (based on the one) in the RIC cookbook http://www.yelp.com/biz/addisu-bakery-and-carryout-columbus.

MESIR WAT

• 3 onions, chopped
• 1/4 c. oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 T. ginger, peeled and minced
• 1 1/2 T. paprika
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2-2 tsp. cayenne pepper, spice to taste
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 3 c. water or vegetable broth, plus extra as needed
• 2 c. split red lentils, rinsed well
• salt to taste

In a large stock pot, heat oil and cook the onions on medium/medium-high heat for several minutes, stirring frequently, until they begin to soften and turn translucent.  Add the spices and allow the ingredients to simmer together for a few minutes.  Add the tomatoes, lentils, and water and bring to a boil.  Turn the heat to low-medium and simmer about 30 minutes or until lentils are completely tender.  Add more water as needed so that it does not dry out.  Salt to taste.  Should be like a medium stiff porridge.

Som Tam Recipe

Som Tam (Som Thaam, Som Taam, etc...) is a green papaya salad that I made for a Perspectives meal, and it is gooooood.

The recipe is (based on the one) in the RIC cookbook
http://rosedalemennonitemissions.org/w2/getInvolved/cookbook.html,
and was submitted by my 2011 intern, Samantha Yoder.



SOM THAAM

 

• 1/4 c. peanuts
• 1 T. oil
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 lg. pepper, chopped
• 6 fresh green beans, cut into 1/2" lengths
• 1 sm. tomato, chopped
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 green papaya, peeled, seeds removed, and shredded or julienned
• Juice from one lime
• 2 T. fish sauce
• 1 T. sugar

Fry peanuts in oil.  Cool.  Mix all remaining ingredients together and muddle, either with a mortar and pestle, or in a large bowl with a heavy spoon.  Mixture will be soft and juicy, but not completely smooth.

 

 

 

Since I made it for 40 people, I bought pre-julienned papaya from a Laotian store nearby.  The lady there saw all of the papaya I was buying (along with a 25-lbs. bag of sticky rice) and asked if I was making chicken wings to go with them.  Apparently in Laos, you eat chicken wings with sticky rice and som tam.  Sounds good to me!

Perspectives Meals

First of all, I'm not sure if I need an apostrophe in the title.  I think Perspectives is simply a proper noun in this case, and I can say Perspectives Meals like I can say RIC Meals.

 

If I had thought about this earlier, I would have taken pictures of all of the meals for the Perspectives participants....

 

A group of 65ish people attend a Perspectives class at the RIC every Tuesday evening (January-April) this year, and 35ish of them eat dinner beforehand.  I choose the menu based on what part of the world the speaker has been to.  Here are the weeks that have already passed:

 



 

 

Week I Menu (Turkey):

 

Guvech (baked stew of chicken, eggplant, zucchini, peppers, potatoes, and carrots, with lots of red pepper paste and garlic)

Rice Pilaf

Mediterranean-Style Salad (Romaine, tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onions, with olive oil, red wine vinegar, and oregano)

 

 

Week II Menu (Afghanistan):

Qabili Palau (rice pilaf with chicken, carrots, onions, and raisins--and cinnamon, coriander, cumin, all spice, and cloves)

Tomato-Cucumber-Radish Salad (with red onions, lime juice, and cilantro)

 

 

Week III Menu (Identifying with the Poor):

Black Beans

Steamed Rice

Bananas

 

 

Week IV Menu (Thailand):

 

Sticky Rice

Laab Turkey-Beef (ground meat with green onions, mint, cilantro, lime, and brown rice powder)

Som Tam (pounded green papaya, carrots, green beans, and peanuts with fish sauce, lime, and sugar)

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday Breakfast at Home



With our work schedules, Zach and I rarely get to sleep in and have breakfast together, much less on a Saturday. 

 

We had an abundance of sweet potatoes that needed to be used quickly (can anyone say "Aldi Dumpster?"), and avocados had been on sale at Meijer recently.

 

I took this picture partially because avocados always look cool, and partially to make Connie (a 2013 intern) jealous.

 

Menu:

Sweet Potato Hash with Caramalized Onions
Fried Eggs
Sliced Avocados
Whole Wheat Toast with Apple Butter
Coffee (probably)

New Year's Day Brunch with the Persons

The Persons stopped by our house for a night and a morning and rang in the new year with us.  The next morning, we made brunch.

 

 

 

Featuring the coconut syrup that my sister-in-law (Miranda) got me for Christmas

 

 

Menu:

 

French Toast

Pineapple-Ginger Syrup (we had nothing fresh in the house with which to make a fruit topping, so I used canned pineapple and FINALLY used my new microplane to grate in some ginger.  That thing was well worth the wait!!)

Coconut Syrup (really good mixed with the pineapple)

Bourbon-Vanilla Syrup (the basic homemade syrup with bourbon and vanilla in it instead of maple)

Ahmad Cardamom Black Tea

Some Random Fruit Tea


Here is a picture of Miranda in the Renaissance Festival costume that we sewed/made for her at the last minute in the fall sometime:

 

 

Note to self: dying synthetics with coffee is not the greatest idea you have ever had.

 

Turkish Meal with the Interns

Now I am going to start uploading pictures from my phone.

 

 

Remember these guys? 

 

2012 Interns, finally at our house during their last week of internship.  We had a Turkish feast, a "drinks tasting," made cranberry-popcorn chains, and decorated our Christmas tree.

 

 

 

Jess, Janae, DENISE!, Jared, Ryan, Megan, and Zach

 

 

Our menu was:

 

Turkish Tea (duh)

Manti (little meat dumpling things in garlic yogurt, drizzled with paprika-cumin oil)

Mercimekli Kofte (lentil....patties)

Kisir (Turkish version of tabouli, eaten out of little lettuce cups)

Haydari (my version this time: strained yogurt with dill, garlic, and toasted pine nuts)

Patlican Salatasi (my version this time: fried eggplant cubes, red peppers, garlic, parsley in a tomato-ey sauce)

 

 

Goodness, I can't even remember.  This was too long ago.  There may have been some sort of spinach-feta borek.  I would have made them (Megan loved them) unless something prevented it.  There also may have been hummus and/or baba ganoush.

Let's give this a try....

I am starting this blog as a place to keep track of various food-related things--recipes, dinner parties, the food photos in my phone that I take and then do nothing with, etc.....

When I say "I am starting this blog," I mean that I actually technically started it a few years ago, made one entry and saved it as a draft, and then here I am today.  We shall see if it sticks this time.