Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish Potato Omelette)

This recipe is not from my Tata, it is actually my mother's (yes she's Mexican) the recipe comes from my grandmother from my mother's side, my mom in Mexico remembers her mother always making the basic "Tortilla de Patatas" which is just eggs, potato, onions, and salt. Sometimes though she remembers my grandmother adding ham to it which is optional, and my mother being a lover of garlic just as much as me also adds garlic to it which is optional.

I know you guys would expect the recipe to come from my Tata since it's Spanish, but it happened to come from my mother, who knows maybe this recipe got passed from my mother's great great grandparents whom where from Spain, although the simple "Tortilla de Patatas" is common or known in some Mexican households and families as well.

Ingredients:
-4 large potatoes or 8 small ones, peeled, and cubed
-12 eggs beaten
-1 large onion diced
-1-2 cups diced ham depends how much you want (optional)
-6 cloves garlic (optional)
-oil to fry omelet and potatoes

Directions:
(1) Heat cooking oil enough to pan-fry/ deep-fry cubed potatoes, when oil is hot enough (test it with a wooden spoon if it bubbles around it's ready). Add your potatoes and fry them this may take 20 minutes, meanwhile you can prep everything while the potatoes fry. When potatoes are done set aside in a plate with paper towel on bottom, very lightly salt them.
(2)Heat oil on medium high heat brown ham slightly and sautee onions until tender and translucent about 5-7 minutes, then add garlic and cook another 2 minutes.
(3)Transfer sautee of onions, garlic, and ham into a large bowl and add beaten eggs and fold everything well until incorporated, add salt to taste.
(4)Now heat oil in a large pan on medium high, not a lot just enough to lightly coat, add the egg mixture, don't touch it, gently push around a little every time the egg slightly cooks to allow it to cook sort of evenly, be patient, push in sides gently try to let the egg kinda flow and slowly cook but don't break into it, then set heat on medium and cover with a large plate, let it cook on medium to medium low for about 6-7 minutes, uncover, see if it settled a bit and is more firm but not fully cooked it so now do the following.
(6)Turn off heat, place plate over it, use a large towel to hole the plate onto the pan and grab the pan, flip it over so you flip the omelet on one side, now turn pan back on lightly oil with extra-virgin olive oil, gently slide it back in slowly, shake the pan a bit not the omelet, cover for 5 more minutes to fully cook on other side.
(7)Turn of heat, clean the large plate you used, now use it again to flip the omelet into it, or if your scared you can simple leave it in the pan and slice it and get it from there if your scared you'll break it, we never break it though it's experience ha ha.
(8)Serve by cutting big cake like slices and serve, in my household it can stand alone it doesn't need any side dishes. It can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner, whenever, hot, cold, room temperature, as a side or as a main dish, even cut into little squares for appetizers. It's all up to you.

P.S.
The garlic is optional, but everything is better with garlic, the ham is optional to, but I love biting into the salty ham.

If interested in my Tata's version I already posted it in my blog which is as Nuria told me, a combination of "Tortilla a la paisana + Tortilla de chorizo and Tortilla Española"

http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2008/08/tortilla-espaola-spanish-frittata.html

Ossobusco de Res En Salsa (Beef Shank with Carrot and Potatoes)

Awhile back my mother bought some beautiful beef shanks, this cut of beef lends itself well, it's meaty, marbled, has bone, and marrow which makes very flavorful rich stews and soups, especially if the marrow cooks into the stew or soup.

We had it in the fridge for awhile, but lately my mom had been craving it in a typical tomato based sauce with carrots and potatoes accompanied by some fluffy white rice maybe a salad and if you have the stomach and space some black bean soup. So one morning we decided to just cook dinner in advance so we could take that of our hands for the rest of the day.

My mother was thinking of preparing it the same way my grandmother makes "Carne Con Papa" (Cuban Beef and Potato Stew), but I was in the mood with something of a more Spanish flavor, more specifically the wonderful smell and taste of "Pimienton Dulce de la Vera" (sweet smoked spanish paprika from La Vera) the wonderful spice that makes Spanish chorizo so delicious which is much more flavorful and robust than the bland American paprika. (do not subsitute this paprika for the American one it will not be the same)

So we ended up deciding to make my grandmother's recipe for "Carne Con Papa" just using beef shank instead, as well as seasoning it differently (instead of using bay leaves, cumin we used sweet smoked spanish paprika and black pepper) and let me tell you the results did not dissappoint. It was a hit :)

The recipe was also inspired by this recipe of "Pollo en Salsa" from Monica and her blog Secretos de Cocina, Enyesques y Algo más whom resides in Canary Islands, whom gave me the idea of seasoning braised meats with salt, paprika, and black pepper as well.

Ingredients:
-3 beef shanks
-1/4- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil as needed
-1 bell pepper minced
-1 onion minced
-1/2 head garlic minced or mashed to paste
-1/2- 1 cup red wine
-3 large ripe tomatoes pureed or 1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce
-2 cups water
-salt to taste
-freshly ground black pepper to taste
-1 tablespoon sweet smoked spanish paprika
-3 potatoes cut into chunks
-6-8 carrots cut into large chunks peeled
-1 bunch of washed cleaned cilantro roughly chopped

Directions:
(1) Heat a large metal pot WITHOUT ANY OIL until it's really hot on very high heat, to see if it's hot just sprinkle some water and if the water dances or instantly disappears it's ready, add the meat it should make like a screaming noise from the high heat, not a sizzle but a thunder like sound, do not move the meat let it brown for 5 minutes un-touched in one side, then flip it quickly to brown on other side. Set aside

(2) You want the pan should have a blackish browning on the pan, this is gonna lend the dish great strong beefy smokey flavor.

(3) Lower heat to medium high and wait a little, add your extra-virgin olive oil and immediately add your onions and bell pepper diced up, sautee for about 6 minutes until translucent scrape with a wooden spoon to pick up drippings, add garlic sautee 1 minute until you can smell the garlic.

(4) Add red wine, bring heat back to high and scrape to deglaze with further with a wooden spoon, add tomato sauce bring to boil, now add water to dilute sauce, add salt to taste, black pepper, and tablespoon of sweet smoked spanish paprika bring to a boil again, add the meat back spoon some of the sauce over and cover then lower heat to medium low to simmer. Cook until meat is tender about 1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes.
(5) Add the potatoes and carrot afterwards and cook maybe another 30 minutes or more to get the potatoes tender as well as the carrots.
(6) Garnish with fresh cilantro to add some freshness and lighten up the dish.
P.S.
You can buy the sweet smoked Spanish paprika from "La Tienda" (I have the banner on top of my page click on it if you want to check it out) or if your lucky buy it from a store near you if available locally.

Potaje de Frijoles Blancos (White Bean Stew)

"Potaje de Frijoles Blancos" or "Potaje de Judias" or "Potaje de Alubias Blancas" whatever you want to call it hsimply means "white bean stew."

There are many variations of spanish/ cuban white bean stews depending your families tastes, where you come from, etc. when we simply say "Potaje de Frijoles Blancos" in my house we think of this stew I am posting here.

It's a delicious simple white bean stew made with either large white beans or small white beans (your preference), hardy with chunks of calabaza, potatoes, chorizo, beef, and a strong sofrito without tomato some salt and cumin nothing more nothing less unless you want to add soem bijol or saffron to make it a strongey yellow (which is occasionally done in my house to bean stews that are white without the addition of tomato). We make other white bean stews in my house using it that go by different names but those will be for another post on of them I have posted though which is my Tata's version of "Caldo Gallego" (Galician Stew).

The first time I had this I remember it being a hot summer in L.A. (back when I lived in Midwilsher area of West L.A. now I'm in the SF Valley) I was about 5 years old maybe younger my Tata made this and for some odd reason I was being a spoiled brat. I refused to eat the Potaje "Yo no queiro FRIJOLES BLANCOS tan raro, dame de comer otra cosa" (translates to "I don't want white beans, so weird, give me something else") because the beans where white, and I haven't ate white beans before. Of course I was being a hot headed spoiled brat screaming in Spanish, my Tata looked at me and said "Anda estan buenos chico dejate de malcriadeses" (stop being a spoiled brat and eat) and I simply said, "No!" my Tata being at times the hot headed woman she is told me, "Coño chico, no te voy dar na'ma caprichudo, pasa hambre bobo quando ya no aguantes te lo' va tragar todo, caray que ni lo quieres probar" (something along those lines which means, "Fuck boy I'm not feeding ou anything, go hungry dumb ass and then when you starving your gonna chomp that down, shit you don't even want to taste it"... I know it sounds harsh but Cuban spanish can be harsh and no hard feelings among family when talking. It doesn't translate so nicely directly to english but it is much less harsh than what it sounds.

Later that day I was super hungry and said, "Bueno esta bien ya traimelo tengo hambre" (meaning "Fine bring it I'm hungry") and here comes to the table in a bowl a small mountain of delicious steaming hot fluffy white rice topped with the Potaje, I took my first spoon and wow I LOVED it and finished my bowl clean then my grandma waid, "Ya ves chico estaba bueno" (translates to "See boy it's good")

I don't remember ever eating that Potaje since that day many many years ago, and last week I decided to make some on the weekend using my Tata's recipe and it stirs up memories of my childhood when I lived back in West L.A. always close to my Tata...

Ingredients:
-1 lbs. white beans (large or small I only had small and remember them being small)
-1 1/2 lbs. beef stew meat cut into 1 inch cubes
-3 small spanish chorizo's or 1/2 a large one casing removed cut into rounds
-1 green bell pepper minced
-1 onion minced
-1/2 head garlic mashed to a paste (garlic press or mortar and pestle)
-1 lbs. Calabaza cut into chunks (use Banana, Kabucha, Butternut, Hubbard squash, etc.)
-2-3 medium potatoes peeled cut into chunks
-salt to taste
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-extra-virgin olive oil or lard as needed

Directions:
(1) Bring beans to a boil in enough water to cover them about 2-4 inches (eyeball it) when it comes to a rolling boil add beef stew meat and season with salt (normally we do not salt beans until fully cooked but if you don't salt it when there's raw meat then the meat will be bland no matter how salty the stew is). Cover and let boil until beans are tender at medium low heat (it only took me 1 hour using the small white beans)

(2)When beans and beef are tender and cooked heat olive oil or lard in a large pan and start the sofrito by sauteeing some Spanish chorizo at medium high, when the oil turns redish add onions and bell pepper and cook for about 5 minutes or more until translucent then add garlic and cook another 1-2 minutes until fragrant, turn off heat your sofrito is done. Throw the sofrito into the pot of beans and beef, throw in the Calabaza and potatoes along with cumin and more salt if necessary (taste the liquid) bring back to a boil and cook together until Calabaza and potatoes are tender, be sure to boil uncovered after adding the sofrito and all so the stew can reduce and thicken if necessary.


(4)Serve with white rice or good bread if you wish also a salad but not necessary.

Please Note:
*Potajes for us is thick bean stews like these, they are not suppose to be soupy and thin, a potaje is rich, somewhat thick but not so thick it's a paste just a rich body with a consistency where it's thick enough to not sink right through the rice, and to envelope a nice piece of bread in a thick rich coating. Just add enough water using some judgement, you can thicken it up by mashing some of the beans in teh pot with a wooden spoon and cooking the potatoes and calabaza longer just be careful not to cook them so much they disappear into the stew.