Alamo Square Tortilla

When I visit San Francisco with my dog we walk on the beach. But if I'm there alone I love to go to Alamo Square and see the Painted Ladies close up. The panorama of the city from the park is magnificent, making this a great picnic spot. And what better picnic food to eat in San Francisco than a real Spanish tortilla.

Ingredients for a big one:

6-7 eggs
1-2 spicy sausages or 1/2 pound bacon, chopped
1/4 pint milk
1 tsp paprika
1 large onion, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
olive oil for frying
pinch dried oregano and basil, or a handful if fresh
1 green and 1 red pepper, finely chopped
1 pound of potatoes, parboiled in their skins
handful of fresh parsley and/or coriander

Method:

In a large, ovenproof pan fry onion and garlic on stove top in olive oil until soft and transparent. Add peppers to the pan and continue cooking. After a few minutes add meat. After another few minutes add potatoes (skins removed, and sliced 1/4 inch thick). You may need to add more olive oil before putting the potatoes in - it will depend on how much fat your meat releases. Continue frying until all is cooked. Add parsley/coriander. Meanwhile beat eggs with milk and remaining seasoning. Add salt and pepper to taste (bearing in mind the degree of spiciness/saltiness of the meat ingredient). Pour egg mixture into pan, stir to mix. Continue cooking gently until the eggs just set. You can also finish under a hot grill to cook the center and brown the top.

Allow to cool and cut into wedges. It's also great between slices of sourdough, and more portable for a picnic that way.

Shortbread

These all-butter cookies are easy to make, great for a tea-time snack, but also elegant enough to serve with ice cream at a dinner. As you can see from the photo they make great gifts too. Try to obtain Plus Gras or European butter - it contains less water and gives a much better texture.

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup rice flour

1 cup white sugar

Demerara sugar for dusting

Cut butter into small chunks and process with remaining ingredients except Demerara. Press into a tin lined with baking parchment and prick all over with fork (this will make the surface look messy, but it will settle down in the cooking). Bake in slow oven for 30-40 minutes, until pale brown. Remove from oven and score into appropriate pieces. When cool cut completely.

Vegetable Samosas

OK, so I know I promised you recipes that would not tax the beginner, and you're taking one look at these instructions and calling me a liar. Can I just ask you to trust me, especially as the results are so delicious (washed down with an ice cold beer as a reward for your labors, perhaps) that you may just want to give this one a try anyhow.

Pastry

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup bessan (garbanzo flour)
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
Groundnut oil for deep frying

Filling

1 pound potatoes, boiled in their skins, peeled and chopped
2 onions, finely chopped
2 cups frozen peas
1 bunch flat-leaved parsley, minced
4 cloves garlic
2 fresh green chiles, chopped
2 limes, juiced
4 tbs sunflower oil
salt to taste
4 tsp cardamom pod seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp each cumin, black mustard seed, turmeric, paprika, garma masala
2 bay leaves

Method: Pastry

Sift flours, spices and salt in bowl. Make a well in the center and add sunflower oil and enough chilled water to mix into a stiff dough. Knead until smooth. Divide into walnut-sized pieces. Form each piece into a ball, flatten and roll on a floured surface into a thin, circular pancake. Cut each circle in two.

Method: Filling

Grind or blend whole aromatics, and fry all spices (except garam masala) in sunflower oil for a few minutes. Add onion and fry gently until soft and translucent. Add potato, peas, garlic, chiles, bay leaves, salt and lime juice. Cover tightly and simmer 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover for last few minutes to thicken. Stir garam masala and parsley into mixture.

Assembly

Have a bowl of iced water ready. Dampen edges of a dough semi circle with water. Take one corner (A) and draw it over to a point 2/3 of the way along the round edge (B), then take the second corner (C) and fold over to form a triangle. Fill with a spoonful of stuffing. Press edges and seams carefully, dampening again if needed. Deep fry samosas in small batches in groundnut oil until dark golden. Drain and keep warm while frying the rest.


Serve hot with mango chutney and yogurt flavored with fresh mint - and a glass of ice cold beer.

My Bloody Mary Recipe, with a Nod to the Master

Today I'd like to pause a while and raise a glass to all my followers who've been trying out my recipes and giving their generous feedback - and why not a glass of Bloody Mary?

It is thought the name came from England's Mary Queen of Scots and the drink is said to have been made first at Harry's Bar in Paris, France, in the 1920s. Hemingway may not have invented it himself, but he sure did a lot for its popularity.

Per glass:

2.5 oz vodka
3 oz chilled tomato juice
a dash Worcestershire sauce

1/2 oz fresh lime juice
Pinch celery salt
Pinch black pepper
Several drops Tabasco

Pour ingredients into a highball glass containing a large piece of ice. (I keep a bottle of Absolut vodka in the freezer compartment in case of emergency.) Garnish with a stick of celery.

You can adapt this recipe to suit your taste, of course- a little more vodka, a little more spice, or to quote the great man:

“Keep on stirring and taste it to see how it is doing. If you gets it too powerful weaken with more tomato juice. If it lacks authority add more vodka.”

Variants:

• Respect abstinent friends with a Virgin Mary
• Add carrots, pickle to the garnish for a wholesome brunch
• Use Clamato in place of tomato juice for a Bloody Caesar
• Add a little extra spice by persuading your other half to pose as a waiter, complete with freshly laundered, starched napkin, and present your drink on a silver tray

Cheers!

Jesse

Grant Family Oatcake Recipes

These recipes have come down the Grant line - they say my Scots-Irish ancestors brought them to the US a couple hundred years ago. They are quick and easy to make. There are no chemical preservatives hiding in these cookies yet they last for weeks in an airtight tin - if you can keep them that long! I list raisins in the ingredients because that's how the recipes came to me, but these cookies taste great if you substitute craisins (dried cranberries) or other dried fruit, and maybe some nuts. If you like citrus candied peel works well and there's a great - and none too taxing - recipe here.

Version 1 Ingredients/Method

3/4 cup fork stirred all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cup light brown sugar (firmly packed)

1 1/2 cups oats

1/3 cup corn oil

1 egg

1 tbsp water

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup raisins

- Mix dry ingredients and stir until lump free. Make well in center. Add raisins, oil, lightly beaten egg, water, vanilla. Mix well but gently.

Version 2 Ingredients/Method

1 cup softened butter

1 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups oats

1 cup raisins

Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs, vanilla. Beat well. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt. Mix well. Stir in oats and raisins.

Baking the Oatcakes (makes 30 or more cookies depending on size)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Drop spoonfuls of mixture onto a lined cookie sheet a reasonable distance apart (a small ice cream scoop works real well). Now comes the fun bit...dampen the palm of your hand with cold water from a bowl, then 'splat' each blob of mixture to flatten. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned. Allow to cool and stabilize for a few minutes then transfer to a rack.

Pizza Fatta in Casa

That’s Italian for ‘pizza made at home’, not ‘pizza ordered in’!

Pizza consumption in the US is enormous. 93% of us eat at least one pizza a month, says one website and an incredible 5 to 6 million pizzas are sold each day. But how many of us make one pizza a month? If I can show you that it’s almost as easy as picking up the phone and a whole lot more fun, will you give it a try?

Pizza dough:

For a thin crust pizza on an 11 or 12 inch pizza plate (ovenproof earthenware or metal) you need about a cup of flour (King Arthur unbleached bread flour works well),  1 tsp instant yeast* (Fleischmann's Quick-Rise Instant Yeast is perfect), 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, 3 tbsps good olive oil, ½ cup warm water (so you can just hold your finger in it).

*There are plenty of yeast brands from plenty of companies out there. But trust me on this, the instant variety is the one to go for.

I mostly use my Kitchen Aid, but kneading with your hands sure beats therapy and if you increase the quantities to feed the family you get a great workout too. Mix the dry ingredients. Stir in the oil. You want to end up with a dough that is springy and elastic after five minutes of kneading, not sticky, but not cracking from being too dry either, so go easy with the water, otherwise you’ll be adding more flour down the line. Let the dough rise in a warm place for an hour or more until doubled in size, then knead again briefly.

Oil your pizza plate. Now the test: if you’ve treated your dough right, if it has been worked enough, it will be ready for s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g. The Italians do it just with their hands. But I cheat a little – I use a rolling pin to make the dough into a big circle, like for a pie crust. Then I stretch the edge all the way round. That way the dough doesn’t shrink back from the edge of your plate, the crust is authentic and not too thick.

Filling:

Restraint is key. Toppings contain moisture and you want to avoid moisture because moisture makes bad dough. Tomato paste makes a great base to spread on your dough because the water has been removed. Pepperoni  and onion should be sliced thinly, same for bacon and sausage (try part cooking so fat runs off before adding). I find that slicing mushrooms ahead of time then letting them dry out in a warm place works real well. Anchovies, black olives, capers are traditional Italian additions, but dry them on kitchen paper before adding.  A word on cheese: your artisan pizza deserves the best mozzarella. Look out for it at specialty retailers, and don’t buy pre shredded.

Baking:

Heat is key. Crank your oven up as high as it will go and place your pizza in the hottest part. Placing it on a pre heated metal sheet is another good tip I'll share - to encourage a crispy base. The pizza should take about 15-20 minutes to cook.

My favorite pizza would always have a tomato paste base, freshly grated mozzarella, a few anchovy slices, a small handful of capers and black olives, a sprinkling of oregano, black pepper,  a splash of olive oil and some shaved parmesan. It would not have more than one or two other ingredients (so pepperoni or mushrooms, with a few slivers of onion, say). Oh and folks, it would never have…pineapple.

Lemon Cake

Whether it's lemon drizzle cake or iced lemon sheet cake, there is no happier marriage than sponge and citrus. Today's recipe is based on Martha Stewart's Sour Lemon Cake, which appears in Martha Stewart's Christmas - my copy of which is stained and collapsing from over use!

I cannot continue without paying special tribute to the doyenne of...well, of too many areas to list here. I just want to take a moment to express my admiration and my gratitude for Martha Stewart's phoenix-like resurrection from the securities fraud and insider dealing charges, for her strength and determination in surviving the harshness of both the prison sentence and the press, and for the significant contribution that her body of work represents.

Here then is my take on Martha's recipe, made in my little angel cake mold: a fitting tribute to one of our culinary greats. I halved these ingredients for my small mold.

1 cup/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
grated rind of 2 lemons

glaze: 1/3 cup limoncello*, 1/3 cup lemon juice, 1/ cup sugar

*purchase this delicious lemon liqueur from southern Italy at any good liquor store, or at Wegmans if you are lucky enough to be on the East Coast near one

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9" cake pan. (If you are using an intricate mold be sure to do this very thoroughly.)

Cream butter and sugar for 5 full minutes (no shirking - treat it as a workout if you don't have a Kitchen Aid). Beat in eggs, one at a time. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt. Add to butter mixture alternating with milk. Stir in lemon rind. Pour batter into pan. Bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to sit for a few minutes before turning onto a cooling rack. For an intricate mold leave 15 minutes, give a sharp tap, then unmold.

Stir glaze ingredients together until the sugar dissolves. Brush on while cake is still warm.

Other recipes suggest hiding a whole lemon in the center of the cake, but I think that's a surprise too many. Stick with Martha.