mankycat, posts by tag: recipe - LiveJournal

It's a pretty quick and easy process. You can tell who hasn't made it when someone tells you that corn tortillas are too hard to make. If I can make them to accompany dinner while my baby is clinging to me after a long day at work... Well, that says how easy and fast they are.

Ingredients
2 cups masa harina*
1.5 cups water**
1/8 tsp baking soda (optional)

Directions
Put masa harina in a bowl; mix in the baking soda, if using. Add water and mix for no less than three minutes. If the dough seems too dry, add some water. If too wet, add more masa harina.

Roll dough into balls, approximately golf ball sized. Press flat with a rolling pin, tortilla press***, or both. (I first use the tortilla press and then use a rolling pin to make them just a bit thinner. Takes just a few gentle swipes and very little time to do so.)

Heat a griddle or shallow pan to medium-high heat. (Don't add oil; don't grease the pan.) Add one tortilla and cook for 30 seconds. Flip and cook other side another 30 seconds. Flip and cook both sides 15 seconds longer. Take out of pan and place on a plate. Place paper towel over it to keep it warm. Repeat cooking procedure until all tortillas are cooked.


Once you get the hang of making these, you can really cut down the time. I cook a couple tortillas while pressing the next few to cook. Takes little time, little effort and the results are much better than the stuff you get at the store. These were bouncy, flexible... almost like flour tortillas without the gummy texture. What's better than tastier food that's healthier, better, and far less expensive than the store bought stuff?

*Masa harina is a very fine cornmeal that was treated with lime. You cannot substitute regular cornmeal, cornstarch, or corn flour for masa harina. You can find masa harina in grocery stores, though it is more available and better priced at ethnic food stores. (Make sure to follow the package cooking directions first, and then adjust the ingredients accordingly. I added baking soda the first time, but followed everything else. Adjustments to the package I used are already included the directions above.)

**Baking soda adds "bounce" to the tortillas. It is not required and may be left out.

***You can find tortilla presses in a number of grocery stores, though the best prices are found at ethnic food stores.

I swear that this last batch of corned beef we made was the best I've ever had. It was very simple.

Basically, heat up some olive oil (or veggie oil) in a heavy pan. Do not use a non stick pan. Rinse and dry the slab of corned beef and place in the pan. Brown all sides, turn of stove, and place the beef in your slow cooker. If you wish to use a corned beef spice mix (homemade or the packet that comes with it), pour it over the beef. Deglaze the pan by adding approximately one cup of hot water and gently scrap the meat bits off the bottom. Pour the liquid over the beef. Add enough water to submerge the beef and place the lid on the slow cooker. Cook on high head for 4 to 4.5 hours or until the meat registers at 160+ degrees F. Turn off slow cooker, carefully transfer the beef to a large plate, slice, and serve.

And keep in mind, with this type of cooking, the cheap stuff works damned well. I tend to prefer thick cut, well marbled beef, but you can go for thinner and/or leaner cuts.

Notice, no beer or stout was used. Reason? I feel it takes away from the flavor. My mother used ot make it this way and even though I liked it a lot, I can honestly say I prefer just using water and the meat's juices! The flavors are more intense and you don't have any flavor being covered up by the alcohol flavor. (JB made some earlier this week with gluten-free beer we had on hand, and we both agreed that the simpler, cheaper version I made after was far better!)

I plan to make Corned Beef Stuffed Cabbage and/or Corned Beef Shepherd Pie. I'll post the "how to" when I do so. The later was done years ago and was so easy to make and absolutely delicious. The former is a concept I came up with the other day and I believe will be just as tasty and even easier! Also a Corned Beef flavored soup... though that might a day or two away.

I am using as much from these chunks as I can. We are going to cook with the juices, use the fat chunks for flavorings (especially while cooking beans, being sure to remove the fat chunks before serving), and being careful with how much we eat of the meat per meal. Let me tell you, I'm feeling darned decadent right now and all without spending much money.

Eventually, I plan to try corning (brining) the beef myself. One day...

(Did I mention that we hope to grab even more corned beef and cabbage? Freeze the corned beef and make lots of cabbage things for a while. That's if there's still some left at the stores. Can't beat some of those prices right now.)

Btw, JB and I each had a can of soda last night while visiting with my mom (picking up the baby at the end of his "Grammie Night") and let me tell you... we both felt gross after. Our stomachs were very unhappy with us and felt very acidic, with some pain, and a bit of other nastinesses. Didn't help my nausea. Guess our bodies are trying to tell us something.  :-p

Before I finally go to bed... I thought I'd quickly write an entry on Mussels.

JB and I decided to have a mussel feast for Valentines Day. My mother had our son for a few hours, so we went and gathered up food supplies for dinner and dessert (some we didn't have time to prepare yet and will have tonight (Monday) for our date night.

It still amazes me how easy mussels are to cook. Rinse, check (to see that they close tightly when tapped), put into a covered pot, and cook at medium to medium high heat for only a couple minutes. If they are gritty or dirty on the outside, they will need to be scrubbed before cooked and the beards removed, but the ones I typically get are very clean and don't seem to have the beards to cut off (probably because they are not wild mussels). After they open, they are done. Toss any that did not open. From here you can add them to a number of recipes (or just eat as is).

What I decided to do was two experiments.
 
First, I removed half the shell from 24 mussels and lined the half that  still had the mussel in them on a cookie sheet. I cooked some minced garlic in melted butter and brushed the mixture on each of the mussels, making sure each had some garlic pieces as well. I filled each half shell with cheese (8 with dubliner, 8 with gruyere, and 8 with smoked gouda). I baked them at 250 degrees F for a couple of minutes until the cheese melted (one didn't melt) and then broiled them for a few moments (until the unmelted cheese toasted a bit). Then we ate them. Ooh, so decadent!

Second, I cooked more garlic in some butter and tossed in some diced onions. When the onion pieces turned translucent, I added some white wine vinegar and the liquid from the cooked mussels. I took a bunch of mussels, deshelled them, chopped two thirds of what I deshelled (leaving 1/3 whole), and added them to the pot. I added some heavy cream and two more mussels (cooked and still in the shell). When it was heated through, we tried some. Yum! Didn't need any salt or pepper. Next time I would use less white wine vinegar and would love to add some diced potatoes and maybe a few other ingredients (diced carrots, celery, etc?). It was so tasty though!

We still have a bunch of cooked mussels left that we need to eat. I'm thinking more cheesy mussels for breakfast... hee hee. :-)