So............
Christmas Dinner! Finally.
We woke up pretty early and had cereal and juice and watched Christmas specials and sang Christmas carols and opened tons up presents from under our beautifully and lavishly adorned Christmas tree. Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhht!
We did indeed wake up early. Every holiday that we have off, we generally get up early and start cooking and drinking. If only we could make a living off it. Oh, yeah, we do....except we don't drink as much as we used to, and maybe that's why we don't make as much money as we used to (relatively speaking). Well I don't. But this is not the bitch about your job blog. This is the good feelings Christmas Day memories blog.
We woke up early and we had to kind of finish cleaning the apartment. If you're new to this blog, then you probably don't know that we are pretty much dirty slobs. But we've been reforming a bit - what with downsizing to a one bedroom apartment, we don't have as much space to leave shit around.
So anyhoo, we went from coffee straight to mimosas. Although I tried to wait a bit, because it was going to be a long day. I didn't want to embarrass myself or anything...
So I was just out of the shower when I heard the FP talking to another male. So first to make it was the person farthest away. We'll name him Indus. He lives in Glendale. He was a friend during high school. A skater kid. My bf and I were into skaters so we hung out at the Ames where they all hung out and watched them skate, and watched them get girlfriends, alot of them stupid and skanky, of course. So anyhoo, Indus showed up with a bottle of knob creek and a box of cinnamon pita chips.
So it was noon. He started drinking, as we were also drinking. A bit later, Mr. HRFM showed up. So we were mainly talking shop - music. Indus had been in bands, plays guitar, does industrial music. So it was fun. The alciehall flowed on that day, the joyous birth of Jebus.
I really am not sure who showed up next. It was either Prima Drumma or Metal Flip. Either way, PD was one of our previous drummers, and Metal Flip is the guitarist of Suspects of a Crime, a metal band that practices at the same practice space where we practice.
So anyhoo, it was a bunch of music people. Drinking. Talking shop. The FP and I were mostly done with our prep, so we could sit more than usual and shoot the shit. So we were waiting on Tsunami and her girlfriend.
So we put out some food. It was kinda pretty much a greatest hits list. We did a spanish/north african theme. Basically all food from Vega Tapas Cafe, maybe a little altered here and there. But easy stuff that we could almost do in our sleep well, definitely hungover, as we usually were at Vega.
Eggplant dip
4 eggplants - cut in half and roasted
4 tomatoes small diced
1/2 red onion small diced
juice of 2 lemons
1/2 c red wine vinegar
1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
2 new mexico chilis rehydrated and seeded
1 T garlic
salt
pepper
1 bunch cilantro chopped
So I pretty much stole this from Vega Tapas Cafe and modified it. Because I like to find the lazy way of doing things, or as they say in the business, I "shoemake", I took the eggplant and red onions and garlic and pureed it in the food processor. If you've never had it, you wouldn't understand what the difference is between hand chopping and processing. It's a textural thing. Anyhoo, you just take the rest of the stuff and mix it all together in a bowl. Voila!
Cracker Bread or as we used to call it - Crackle Bread
4 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 c lukewarm water
salt
So basically, you knead it into a dough. Then you divide it into dough balls and let it rest for a bit. Then you crank up the oven to like 375 - 400. You roll out the dough balls to as thin as possible. You can stretch it with your hands to get it thin. If you are fancy enough to have a pizza stone, get that in the oven heating. If not, a sheet pan does the job. So then you put the thin bread in the oven and bake until crispy. Keep the pan in the oven, and take the bread off of it while you bake multiple wafers. This shit is just wonderful, and it stays crispy for days!
The FP's Mushroom Manchego Toast.
I won't reveal his secret recipe. Okay, I'm really just too lazy to even shoemake his recipe. It's delicious though. Trust me. You'll just have to experiment in your kitchen. I'll give you some hints. There's mushrooms. There's Manchego. There's sherry. There's cream. There's toast.
Sweet Potato Tortilla Espanol
2 red onions, thin sliced
1 big sweet potato, small diced
4 big russett potatoes, small diced
12 eggs
plenty of extra virgin olive oil
So you know how Mario Batalli sautees everything with extra virgin olive oil. I'm not a big proponent on that. Because I'm cheap. No, some things just don't need it to saute with. You don't want that much flavor. Plus the flavor of the oil is destroyed upon heating, thus "cold pressed extra virgin olive oil". Oh, and it's expensive. So Tortilla Espanol is one of those things where there's an exception. The first step is to get a large saute pan that can go in the oven. Now put a lot of extra virgin olive oil in it. Heat it up. Put your sweet potatoes in and fry them. Move them around so they don't stick. Keep your heat at medium. Fry them until they are tender. Taste one. Pretty good, huh? Then take em out with a slotted spoon. Put your potatoes in and cook those. Take those out. Now, there won't be as much oil as when you started, but don't worry. It's olive oil. It's good for you! You can drink a cup a day! So then you are going to cook the onions in the oil. Turn the heat lower, and let them carmelize a bit. When they are translucent, they are done. So now. If you have potato and sweet potato starch sticking to your pan, you have to clean it off. So empty your oil into some container that won't melt. Clean your pan. Clean it good. Dry it thoroughly, so you don't splatter yourself with hot oil. Reheat your pan. Coat it with some of the olive oil. The rest you can save for other stuff. Get your pan hot. Keep the heat at medium. Mix your onions and potatoes and sweet potatoes and toss them in your pan. Let them get hot. Then add the egg. Let the egg ooze into the gaps. Turn the heat to medium low. As you can tell that the bottom is done, you can do 2 things. Either you can get a big plate and put in on the pan and flip it and put it back in the pan upside down, or you can not risk that and just put it in a lowish oven - 325 and let it cook the rest of the way. It's up to you. Either way, if you have a nice clean non starchy pan to start with, it shouldn't stick. Anyway, when it's done, this will be the best omelettey thing you've ever made or tasted!
TBC
Christmas Dinner! Finally.
We woke up pretty early and had cereal and juice and watched Christmas specials and sang Christmas carols and opened tons up presents from under our beautifully and lavishly adorned Christmas tree. Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhht!
We did indeed wake up early. Every holiday that we have off, we generally get up early and start cooking and drinking. If only we could make a living off it. Oh, yeah, we do....except we don't drink as much as we used to, and maybe that's why we don't make as much money as we used to (relatively speaking). Well I don't. But this is not the bitch about your job blog. This is the good feelings Christmas Day memories blog.
We woke up early and we had to kind of finish cleaning the apartment. If you're new to this blog, then you probably don't know that we are pretty much dirty slobs. But we've been reforming a bit - what with downsizing to a one bedroom apartment, we don't have as much space to leave shit around.
So anyhoo, we went from coffee straight to mimosas. Although I tried to wait a bit, because it was going to be a long day. I didn't want to embarrass myself or anything...
So I was just out of the shower when I heard the FP talking to another male. So first to make it was the person farthest away. We'll name him Indus. He lives in Glendale. He was a friend during high school. A skater kid. My bf and I were into skaters so we hung out at the Ames where they all hung out and watched them skate, and watched them get girlfriends, alot of them stupid and skanky, of course. So anyhoo, Indus showed up with a bottle of knob creek and a box of cinnamon pita chips.
So it was noon. He started drinking, as we were also drinking. A bit later, Mr. HRFM showed up. So we were mainly talking shop - music. Indus had been in bands, plays guitar, does industrial music. So it was fun. The alciehall flowed on that day, the joyous birth of Jebus.
I really am not sure who showed up next. It was either Prima Drumma or Metal Flip. Either way, PD was one of our previous drummers, and Metal Flip is the guitarist of Suspects of a Crime, a metal band that practices at the same practice space where we practice.
So anyhoo, it was a bunch of music people. Drinking. Talking shop. The FP and I were mostly done with our prep, so we could sit more than usual and shoot the shit. So we were waiting on Tsunami and her girlfriend.
So we put out some food. It was kinda pretty much a greatest hits list. We did a spanish/north african theme. Basically all food from Vega Tapas Cafe, maybe a little altered here and there. But easy stuff that we could almost do in our sleep well, definitely hungover, as we usually were at Vega.
Eggplant dip
4 eggplants - cut in half and roasted
4 tomatoes small diced
1/2 red onion small diced
juice of 2 lemons
1/2 c red wine vinegar
1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
2 new mexico chilis rehydrated and seeded
1 T garlic
salt
pepper
1 bunch cilantro chopped
So I pretty much stole this from Vega Tapas Cafe and modified it. Because I like to find the lazy way of doing things, or as they say in the business, I "shoemake", I took the eggplant and red onions and garlic and pureed it in the food processor. If you've never had it, you wouldn't understand what the difference is between hand chopping and processing. It's a textural thing. Anyhoo, you just take the rest of the stuff and mix it all together in a bowl. Voila!
Cracker Bread or as we used to call it - Crackle Bread
4 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 c lukewarm water
salt
So basically, you knead it into a dough. Then you divide it into dough balls and let it rest for a bit. Then you crank up the oven to like 375 - 400. You roll out the dough balls to as thin as possible. You can stretch it with your hands to get it thin. If you are fancy enough to have a pizza stone, get that in the oven heating. If not, a sheet pan does the job. So then you put the thin bread in the oven and bake until crispy. Keep the pan in the oven, and take the bread off of it while you bake multiple wafers. This shit is just wonderful, and it stays crispy for days!
The FP's Mushroom Manchego Toast.
I won't reveal his secret recipe. Okay, I'm really just too lazy to even shoemake his recipe. It's delicious though. Trust me. You'll just have to experiment in your kitchen. I'll give you some hints. There's mushrooms. There's Manchego. There's sherry. There's cream. There's toast.
Sweet Potato Tortilla Espanol
2 red onions, thin sliced
1 big sweet potato, small diced
4 big russett potatoes, small diced
12 eggs
plenty of extra virgin olive oil
So you know how Mario Batalli sautees everything with extra virgin olive oil. I'm not a big proponent on that. Because I'm cheap. No, some things just don't need it to saute with. You don't want that much flavor. Plus the flavor of the oil is destroyed upon heating, thus "cold pressed extra virgin olive oil". Oh, and it's expensive. So Tortilla Espanol is one of those things where there's an exception. The first step is to get a large saute pan that can go in the oven. Now put a lot of extra virgin olive oil in it. Heat it up. Put your sweet potatoes in and fry them. Move them around so they don't stick. Keep your heat at medium. Fry them until they are tender. Taste one. Pretty good, huh? Then take em out with a slotted spoon. Put your potatoes in and cook those. Take those out. Now, there won't be as much oil as when you started, but don't worry. It's olive oil. It's good for you! You can drink a cup a day! So then you are going to cook the onions in the oil. Turn the heat lower, and let them carmelize a bit. When they are translucent, they are done. So now. If you have potato and sweet potato starch sticking to your pan, you have to clean it off. So empty your oil into some container that won't melt. Clean your pan. Clean it good. Dry it thoroughly, so you don't splatter yourself with hot oil. Reheat your pan. Coat it with some of the olive oil. The rest you can save for other stuff. Get your pan hot. Keep the heat at medium. Mix your onions and potatoes and sweet potatoes and toss them in your pan. Let them get hot. Then add the egg. Let the egg ooze into the gaps. Turn the heat to medium low. As you can tell that the bottom is done, you can do 2 things. Either you can get a big plate and put in on the pan and flip it and put it back in the pan upside down, or you can not risk that and just put it in a lowish oven - 325 and let it cook the rest of the way. It's up to you. Either way, if you have a nice clean non starchy pan to start with, it shouldn't stick. Anyway, when it's done, this will be the best omelettey thing you've ever made or tasted!
TBC
Comments
i just bought some sort of spanish cheese last week - hmmm, spanish cheese sandwich with serrano ham!
we went to el salvadoreno again. i'm hooked! i can't stop thinking about pupusas...
yum. Love spanish cheese. I miss working with it and being able to snack on it whenever I want.
El Salvadoreno is pretty addicting.....