Tortilla de Patatas

Quite distinct from the Mexican version, Spanish tortilla has been a favorite of mine for a long time. It takes some dedication and time to prepare properly, but is well worth the effort. The dish is a simple but elegant use of potatoes. With relatively few ingredients, each gets to shine. Tortilla is characterized by the layers of fried potato slices, and with enough potatoes on hand, can get very tall. You can see the layers in the photo below, though mine only had two layers.

Ingredients

• 5-6 potatoes
• 1/2 onion
• 6 eggs
• Salt, pepper, and oregano to taste
• Olive oil

Instructions

Dice onion. Heat some olive oil in a nonstick pan. Saute onions until soft and translucent. Set aside. While onions are cooking, peel the potatoes and cut into thin slices. Working in batches, fry the potato slices. Try not to let the potato pieces overlap in the pan. Cook on both sides until they are soft enough to poke a fork through easily, and the edges are a little browned. Add a little more olive oil for each batch. Set aside and dry with a paper towel. 

Once all potatoes are cooked, transfer the onions back to the pan. Spread out evenly. Cover with a layer of potatoes, overlapping slightly. Add a little salt. Continue adding layers of potatoes until you run out. The thickness of the tortilla will depend on the area of your pan. Some tortillas can be very thick, though mine was not.

Beat the eggs and season with salt, pepper, and oregano (if desired). Pour the eggs over the potatoes and shake the pan a bit to ensure the eggs permeate. 

Perfectly golden brown.

Cook on the stove top for a few minutes, until the eggs have visibly set on the bottom. Transfer to broiler and cook until eggs are firm, and the tortilla is nicely browned. Slice and serve. Complete your Iberian feast with a cold glass of Sangria.

Scalloped Potatoes

My apologies, my dear readers, I haven't been feeling too inspired to do a lot of great cooking recently. You won't be disappointed by this one, though. Scalloped potatoes are another family favorite, and I've eaten them going way back. I consulted a bit with mom, though I was winging it quite a bit here. While my first attempt was not 100% successful, I present here the "lessons learned" version. You can use whatever kind of potatoes you like. I used the ever-versatile Yukon Golds. I also want to make a note about turkey ham. When I was younger, we always had a block of this stuff on hand, and we used to put it on everything - sandwiches, Ramen, mac and cheese, even quesadillas. It's a little lighter in flavor than regular ham, and very inexpensive. Still today, it often catches my eye in the grocery store.

Ingredients

• 4 good-sized potatoes
• 1 cup diced ham or turkey ham
• 2 tbs butter
• 1 1/2 cups skim milk
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 2-3 tbs flour
• Diced onion (optional)
• Grated Emmentaler or other hard cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Peel potatoes and cut into thin slices. Dice ham and onion (if using) into small cubes. Add just a little milk to a bowl, and stir the flour in to form a slurry. Mix the milk and half and half together, then add the thickening slurry.

Cover the bottom of a casserole dish with potato slices, overlapping them slightly. Use about one third of the potatoes. Sprinkle about half the ham and onions over the potatoes. Cut the butter into thin slices (it's easier if the butter is cold), and strategically place about half of it. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Pour some of the thickened milk mixture into the dish.

Cover everything with another layer of potato. Add the remaining ham, onions, and butter. Season this layer, and pour in more of the milk mixture. Cover with all remaining potatoes, season, and pour the rest of the milk in. Cover the top with grated Emmentaler (or a cheese of your choice). Bake until potatoes are soft, about 60 minutes.

Curry Fried Rice

The theme of this week is making twists on classic dishes, while keeping it simple and easy. I've already done two Chinese-style fried rice dishes here on No Free Lunch. Today, my aim is to call to mind some flavors of southeast Asia, with a good dose of curry powder and Sriracha. Fried rice is so versatile, and it's a great way to use leftover rice. I always make a big pot of rice that lasts me the week, and it's a good time saver.

Ingredients

• 1 tbs curry powder
• 1/2 big vidalia onion
• 1 red bell pepper
• 2 carrots
• 1/3 pound ground sirloin
• 1/3 pound ground pork
• 5 cups cooked white rice
• 1/2 tbs Sriracha sauce
• Salt and pepper
• Canola oil

Instructions

Dice the onion. Remove stem and seeds from the pepper and dice. Peel and chop carrots. Heat wok with some canola oil on medium-high. Add the curry powder and swirl it around the wok a bit. Add the vegetables, and stir fry until nicely softened and coated with the curry oil. Mix salt and pepper into the meat. Add to the wok with the vegetables. Turn up the heat a bit. Break up the meat with your scraper, and cook this until the meat is well-browned. 

Remember that rice at least a day old will give you the best results for fried rice, as it doesn't stick together as much. Thoroughly break up the rice with your fingers, so that there aren't any clumps. Add the rice and Sriracha to the wok. Mix everything together, then let it sit on the heat for a few minutes. Check your email and come back and scrape the stuck rice, turn, and let sit again. Scrape one more time and serve.

Bacon White Beans

Many of the dishes I post here are premeditated and (usually) well thought through. Making just a few posts a week doesn't give a great idea of how I eat every day. Rice and beans is a very typical lunch for me. Easy and quick to make, and beans are good for you! You can use whatever kind of beans you like. This version is a little elevated using bacon and carrots. I like carrots, and I'm discovering you can add them to just about anything. I tried a few other new things with this one, creating a simple sauce with a little chicken stock and tomato. The end result is simple and hearty, but very tasty.

Ingredients

• 3 strips thick cut bacon
• 1/2 small onion
• 2 carrots
• 1 can cannellini beans
• 1/4 cup crushed tomato
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• 1/4 cup water
• Salt and pepper
• Chopped parsley

Instructions

Cut the bacon into 1 cm wide strips. The easiest way to do this is with a good pair of kitchen shears. Spread out the bacon into a pan and cook on medium heat until the bacon is lightly crisped and the fat is rendered out. Stir and turn frequently so it doesn't burn. Remove the bacon from the pan, but reserve the fat in the pan.

Dice the onion and carrots. Turn the heat up a little and add onion and carrot. Saute until softened and nicely browned. Drain and rinse beans, then add to pan. Add crushed tomato, water, and chicken stock. Cook to heat beans and reduce the sauce. Add bacon back in. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook until sauce is thickened and sticks to the beans. 

You can make this a full meal deal by pouring it over rice and topping with chopped flat-leaf parsley.

Cashew Chicken

I've showcased many traditional Chinese foods on No Free Lunch, but now it's time for a takeout classic. Chinese takeouts and buffets, while not authentic by any stretch of the imagination, are truly an inescapable component of American cuisine. And sometimes we all have to scratch that itch. Making a dish for the first time is a little scary, but it's also pretty exciting. I created my version of Cashew Chicken mostly on the fly with ingredients I happened to have in the kitchen. I'm very pleased with how it turned out; the chicken is tender and juicy, and the vegetables and nuts give you a nice crunch. The ground bean sauce is the same that I used in the char siu in March. The sherry is an inexpensive Osborne cream sherry which adds a little sugar to the dish.

Ingredients

• 3 chicken thighs
• 1/3 cup whole cashews
• 3 stalks celery
• 1 onion
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 clove garlic
• Canola oil

Marinade

• 2 tbs ground bean sauce
• 2 tbs sherry
• 2 tbs chicken stock
• 2 tsp corn starch
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

Cut off the skin from the chicken and discard. Cut the meat off the bone and cut into small chunks. Combine chicken and all marinade ingredients in a large plastic bag. Seal the bag and mix thoroughly. Let marinate for 30 minutes. 

While chicken is marinating, prepare the vegetables. Dice the celery, onion, and pepper. Mince the garlic. Heat wok and a little canola oil on medium high. Toast the cashews to golden brown, stirring frequently to avoid burning. Set aside. Add all vegetables to the wok and turn heat up. Stir fry until lightly browned.

Add chicken and all excess marinade from the bag into the vegetables. Push the chicken pieces to the bottom of the wok. Cook covered for a few minutes on high heat. Turn the chicken and cook covered until cooked through. Add cashews and stir fry everything a bit more. Serve over rice.

Fettuccine in Tomato Sauce

This recipe is an illustration of how the same classic techniques and ingredients can make completely different dishes. Last week, I used a mirepoix to form the base of the sauce for a lamb shank. Here, I've created a classic, simple tomato sauce. I think the ratio of sauce to pasta is important. There's just enough here to lightly coat the fettuccine, rather than have it swimming in sauce. The sauteed vegetables give the dish  texture. Note also that when I make tomato sauce, I always prefer to use crushed tomatoes or chopped tomatoes, rather than tomato paste. This will give you a lighter, runnier sauce than the intense tomato paste. You can leave the dish as a simple and elegant pasta course, or you can make a meal of it by adding some Italian sausage, some pan-seared ham, or whatever meat you like.

Ingredients

• 1/2 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 carrots
• 1 stalk celery
• 2 cups crushed tomatoes
• Dried oregano
• Salt and pepper
• 3/4 pound dry fettuccine
• Fresh flat leaf parsley
• Crumbled Parmiggiano-Reggiano

Instructions
 

We'll start by preparing the mirepoix. Heat some olive oil in a saute pan, medium-high heat. Dice the onion and add to pan. Peel and dice the carrots and add. Peel, then crush or mince the garlic and add. Finally, dice the celery and add this as well. Thrown in some oregano. Cook everything, tossing frequently, until lightly browned. 

Add the crushed tomatoes and simmer for about 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Make sure to taste the sauce as you go along.

Cook the pasta in the usual way, 10 minutes in boiling salted water. Drain, rinse. Once the sauce is done, pour it into the pot with the pasta. Toss well to coat over heat for a few minutes. Serve with parsley and crumbled Parmiggiano.

Wonton Noodle Soup

The arrival of this recipe on No Free Lunch is long overdue. Every time I make wonton noodle soup, I strive for it to be "as good as grandma's," and this time came pretty close. In her own words, real Cantonese wonton noodle soup is characterized by thin skins and lots of shrimp inside. These are nothing like the big, doughy wontons you find at the Chinese buffet. Just like any Chinese dumpling, you can make these by the dozens and freeze the ones you aren't going to eat right away. Wontons have a long history in the Wai family. It was always a special treat going to Grandpa and Grandma's house for wontons. Grandpa told us when he was young in Hong Kong, a guy would walk around in front of the apartment buildings selling snack-sized bowls of wontons at night, much to his delight. Take a hint, West Lafayette.

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground pork
• 10 large shrimp
• 2 tbs soy sauce
• 3 tbs chopped chives (or green onions)
• Salt and pepper
• 50 wonton skins
• Chinese egg noodles
• Chicken or seafood stock
• Fresh parsley or bean sprouts
• Chili sauce to taste

Instructions

Remove shells and veins from the shrimp. Cut into small pieces. I sliced each shrimp cross-wise, then sliced each piece in half. Combine shrimp pieces and pork in a large bowl and mix together. Add soy sauce, chives, and a little salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly.

Prepare an open workspace with a large sheet pan and a bowl of water. To assemble each wonton, peel off a skin and spoon a small amount of the filling into the middle. Less is definitely more here. Too much filling and it will be difficult to close the dumpling. Make sure each gets a couple pieces of shrimp.

Dip your finger in the water and run it around the outside edges of the wrapper. Fold each corner together, forming a sort of star shape. Each arm of the star should meet at the middle of the wonton. There are many ways to fold wontons, but this is a simple and easy way to do it. Press each fold firmly to prevent them from opening while cooking.

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Drop the wontons into the water and boil until cooked through. This will take several minutes. One thing you can do to get a feel for it is to drop an unwrapped ball of filling in with the wontons. You can break this open to test for doneness. At the same time, cook the egg noodles for about 3 minutes. When the wontons are done, remove them from the water.

In a large bowl, combine several wontons, noodles, and hot stock. Add chili sauce to taste. I use the ubiquitous Sriracha, but feel free to go stronger if you wish. Top with fresh parsley or bean sprouts. I like to have some kind of greens in the soup, as it adds another dimension of flavor while also being visually appealing. If you want to freeze the remaining uncooked wontons, lay them out on a large sheet so that they are not touching. Once they have been in the freezer a while, you can safely transfer them to a plastic bag, as they will not stick together.