International Tacos Incident Party

Welcome to the tacos edition of the International Incident Party. We had noodles, we had dumplings, we had pizza pie, we had gnocchi, and now it's time to taco it up.

On offer for the party today, I have tacos de lengua. They sound much more attractive in Spanish, since tacos de lengua means tongue tacos. And they are delicious - no really!

Tongue is one of my most favourite things to eat. I think many people have childhood memories of tongue being chewy and tough, but when it's cooked properly tongue becomes tender and rich, with a wonderful buttery texture.



For these tacos, I cooked a whole tongue in water until it was soft. When it was tender, the diced meat was fried with onions, (rather a lot of) garlic, red and green capsicum, as well as cumin, paprika and cayenne pepper. After that I stirred through some chopped up coriander and served them in home made tortillas. The seasoned tongue was spicy and tender, and the home made tortillas were definitely worth the effort.

Although to tell the truth, there wasn't that much effort in making the tortillas - they were easy! The dough was basically just masa harina (maize corn flour) and warm water. I don't own a tortilla press, so I improvised by flattening golf ball sized balls of dough with a large cookbook (The Cook's Companion!) and then thinning out the circles even further with a rolling pin. This helped keep the tortillas round(ish). Next time I'll add a pinch of salt to the tortilla dough, but a warm tortilla straight out of the frying pan was bliss. And they taste like corn chips! Amazing.

After the tongue had been cooked and diced, it looked like any other meat - except more delicious! Alastair, who doesn't really like tongue, tried a taco and he seemed to enjoy it (don't worry, he didn't miss out completely - I made a pork version for him to eat. What a good wife.). If you're not a tongue lover, I hope that I may have inspired you to give it a go. And if not, well I guess that just means there's more for me!

Check out the other attendees to the party below:

Tacos de lengua - tongue tacos

Makes rather a lot - serves 4-6?

1st step:
1 cow/ox tongue
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, roughly crushed
10 peppercorns, roughly crushed
salt

2nd step:
1 onion, peeled and diced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 red capsicum, diced
1 green capsicum, diced
1 chili, diced
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper
1 bunch coriander, well washed
A packet of tortillas - or make your own!
Lemon/lime juice

Place the tongue in a large pot and cover with water. Add the onion, garlic, pepper and salt. Cover the pot, bring the water to a boil, and then turn down to a simmer. Cook for the tongue for several hours, or until it is soft (I did mine in a thermal pot overnight, so am not sure how long it would take on the stove. You can tell when it's soft if you can stick a chopstick into it easily!)

Remove the tongue from the liquid and set aside to cool. Peel the thick skin off the tongue, and dice the meat into cubes.

Heat some oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and onions, and cook until soft. Turn up the heat and add the diced capsicum, the diced tongue, and the spices. Season with salt and pepper and cook for another 5 to 6 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir through the chopped coriander.

Build the tacos by placing the meat mixture into a tortilla and serve with a squeeze of lemon/lime juice.

Cookbook Challenge: Week 35, Spanish

Hola! Welcome, welcome! Come in, take a seat, and get comfy. I would feed you all if I could, but unfortunately because technology hasn’t quite progressed to that point, you’ll just have to read all about the following lunch, and wish you had been there!

The theme for this week's Cookbook Challenge is Spanish, and last Sunday a few bloggers came over for a Spanish themed potluck lunch. At first I really struggled with the Spanish theme and wasn't sure what to make. I don’t own any Spanish cookbooks, and couldn’t find anything in any of my other cookbooks that wasn’t paella. I didn't want to make paella, and interesting no one else made it either - we really needed Kat to come and cook it for us!

After a whinge on twitter, I received some good suggestions from @gastromaniac, which helped me decide on one dish - salted wrinkled potatoes with mojo verde. The following day, I went to the library and while I couldn’t find any Spanish cookbooks, I borrowed Saffron and Sunshine which contained assorted recipes from around the Mediterranean. When I flicked through it, I realised it was a goldmine and I came away with four additional recipes I wanted to make. So um, that would be five recipes altogether. Uh oh. I did consider culling my number of recipes but I really wanted to make them all.

So I did! My five recipes were:

Wrinkled salty potatoes with mojo verde
Andalusian chickpea stew with chorizo
Andalusian spiced oxtail casserole (which was actually beef)
Catalan lemon tart
Catalan cream fritters

Wrinkled salty potatoes with mojo verde




I followed a recipe out of The Cook's Companion for the potatoes, which basically said to boil the washed, whole potatoes in a pot of salted water. One cup of salt is used per litre of water (Yes, that’s one whole cup). When the potatoes were soft, they were drained, and sat in the uncovered pot on the stove on a low heat until all the liquid evaporated and they were covered in a thin film of salt.

These were served with mojo verde, which was made with a cup of coriander leaves (I just used the entire bunch, roots and all, well washed of course), ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil, a small crushed garlic clove, ½ teaspoon of ground cumin and 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar. All the ingredients went into a food processor and were processed until smooth.

The potatoes were really nice – surprisingly not too salty, despite the amount of salt in the water! Because I reheated them in the oven when everyone arrived, they lost their film of salt, but you can see it in the photos. The mojo verde went very well with the potatoes, but coriander haters might think otherwise!

Cocido con chorizo - Andalusian chickpea stew with chorizo



I am a big fan of chickpeas, but normally I go for the tinned version. However, I decided to go to the effort of using dried chickpeas for this recipe because they are cooked with ham bones and chorizo, and I thought that the slow cooking for dried chickpeas might help infuse them with some porky goodness. I think it worked. I thought they were pretty tasty, but like I said, I do love chickpeas. Although now that I've reread the recipe while typing up this post, I realise that I forgot to add potatoes to the dish. Whoops! I don't think the potatoes were missed, but for the recipe, see the end of this post.

Rabo de buey cordobes - Andalusian spiced oxtail casserole



This was meant to be an oxtail casserole, but when I went to the butcher they had sold out of oxtail (they had some the day before too – grr!). So I just picked up some gravy beef and made the dish with that instead. The meat is slow cooked in a red wine sauce and spiced with paprika, cinnamon, and cloves. I added a small amount of chilli flakes just to give it a tiny bit of kick. This was a savoury rich stew and I cooked the meat until it was very tender. It would make this again - it was delicious. For the recipe, see the end of this post.

Tortell de limon - Catalan lemon tart



Okay, on to dessert! I made two desserts - the first being a lemon tart. To be honest, it was okay but it wasn't the best lemon tart I've ever made so I won't post the recipe. It had a very short, biscuity pastry, and a sweet but very tart filling. The top was sprinkled with sugar which was blow-torched to caramelise it.

Leche frita - Catalan cream fritters



And finally, the second dessert was Catalan cream fritters, which is basically a very thick custard, egged, breadcrumbed and DEEP FRIED. OH YES. I made a very thick custard, flavoured with a touch of lemon zest, and then poured it into a mini cupcake tin to cool and firm up in the fridge overnight. If anyone is keen on making these, I would suggest putting the custard in the freezer - I wish I had! After we had all eaten lunch, I spooned the custard out of the tin, dipped it in egg, then panko and into a pot of hot oil. They are very delicate, so I had to be careful not to break the crust. They were served dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon. They were very small little morsels, but very rich, as you can imagine! For the recipe, see the end of this post.




And as if that wasn't enough food - check out what the other bloggers made!

April brought along garlic and chilli prawns, plus home made bread rolls and chocolate chip friands.

Penny brought along octopus with olives and chorizo, buttered garlic mushrooms and baked sardines with white wine.




Ange made us a roasted pepper, garlic, onion and tomato salad with a sherry vinegar dressing.

Cherrie made morcon, which were Filipino beef rolls - a dish influenced by the Spanish!

And Leigh brought over chorizo and pea parcels, plus three kinds of Catalan biscuits. (I didn't take photos of the biscuits because I was too busy deep frying!)

PHEW. You can understand why I was highly tempted to have a nap after everyone left! Particularly since there were very little left overs - yes we ate almost everything. A big thanks to everyone who came to lunch, it was a blast!

See previous Cookbook Challenge posts here.

Cocido con chorizo - Andalusian chickpea stew with chorizo

From Saffron and Sunshine

Serves 4-6

350g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
1 whole small head of garlic
2-3 links of chorizo (about 100g)
a short length jamon serrano bone or bacon knuckle
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 dried red pepper, torn into pieces of 1 tablespoon paprika
1-2 bayleaves
1 teaspoon coriander seeds, roughly crushed
13 black peppercorns, roughly crushed

To finish
1 large tomato, skinned, deseeded and chopped
1-2 potatoes, peeled and chunked
a handful of spinach or chard, rinsed and shredded
salt
2-3 tablespoons olive oil

Drain the chickpeas and put them in a large pot with enough cold water to cover generously. Bring the water to the boil and skim off the foam that rises.

Meanwhile, roast your garlic - the book recommends doing this by charring it over a flame. Personally, I would just skip this step and peel and roughly crush the garlic.

Drop the garlic and remaining ingredients into the pot. Turn up the heat and bring it up to the boil. Cover the pot loosely, and lower the heat to a simmer, and let it cook for about 1&1/2 - 2 hours, or until the chickpeas are quite soft. Add water if necessary.

When the chickpeas are soft, add the chopped tomato and potatoes. When the potatoes are just soft, add the spinach, bring the pot back to the boil and cook until the leaves are wilted.

Taste and add salt if necessary. Remove the ham/bacon bone, stir in the olive oil and serve.

Rabo de buey cordobes - Andalusian spiced oxtail casserole

From Saffron and Sunshine

Serves 4-6

1 whole oxtail (about 1.5 kg) cut into its natural sections (alternatively, use 1 kg of gravy/stewing beef if you can't find oxtail)
2 tablespoons olive oil
50g diced jamon serrano or prosciutto scraps or bacon
1 large onion, peeled and diced
1 clove garlic, crushed with 1 teaspoon salt
1 stick celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3-4 cloves
1 bayleaf
150ml red wine

Wash the oxtail and trim off any excess fat.

Heat oil in a large casserole. When the oil is hot, brown the oxtail in batches, removing from the pan and seeing aside.

Add the ham/bacon, onion, garlic, celery and carrot to the pan drippings and cook gently until the vegetables are soft. Return the oxtail to the casserole, adding the spices, seasoning and red wine.

Turn up the heat and add enough water to cover the meat. Bring it up to the boil and then down it down to low, putting the lid on and leaving it to simmer gently for about 2 hours, or until the meat is falling off the bones.

Check it occasionally, adding more water if necessary. Taste it when it is ready to serve, adding more salt and pepper if necessary. Add a small amount of chilli flakes if desired.

Leche frita - Catalan cream fritters

From Saffron and Sunshine

Serves 4

600ml milk
25g butter
75g flour
1 pinch ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons caster sugar
3 egg yolks
finely grated lemon zest from a lemon

To finish
1 whole egg
2 tablespoons milk
breadcrumbs for coating (I used panko)
oil for frying
sugar and ground cinnamon for dusting

Place all the ingredients except the lemon zest into a saucepan. Heat it gently over a low heat, whisking and stirring constantly so it doesn't stick. Just before it comes to the boil, add the lemon zest and simmer until the mixture is very thick. Note: my mixture never came to the boil, it suddenly thickened, so I turned down the heat at that stage.

Pour the custard into a lightly oiled dish in a layer as thick as your thumb - I poured it into mini cupcake moulds. Wrap it with clingfirm and leave to cool and firm overnight in the fridge. You might want to try the freezer.

Mix the egg with the milk on a plate and spread the breadcrumbs on another plate. Cut the custard into bite-sized squares. Dip the squares into the egg, and then into the breadcrumbs.

Heat a generous amount of oil in a heavy frying pan. When hot - if you add a cube of bread it should immediately sizzle - carefully slip in a few of the breaded custard squares. Turn them once, being careful not to break the crust. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper while you fry the recipe.

Serve sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.

Chocolate High Tea at the Aria Bar, The Langham

Disclosure: I attended the Chocolate High Tea courtesy of The Langham and Nuffnang.

Last month I was invited to a food and fashion bloggers’ chocolate morning tea at the Langham, organised by Nuffnang. I don’t normally stuff myself with cakes and chocolates for breakfast – but you know what they say about not turning down an opportunity.

When I arrived, I walked past this table and thought, “Ooooooh is that for us?” And what do you know – it was! We were introduced to the German pastry chef, Chef Markus Bohm, who talked us through the various treats on offer. All of the items used a different type of single origin chocolate (apart from the Lindt and Callebaut) with the cocoas from places like Yucatan, Costa Rica and Madagascar. We'll take a closer look in a moment.




Our table was prettily set up, with napkins and mad hatter napkin rings, silver sugar pots, flowers and delicate plates under an LCD TV showing an image of a roaring fire. It was a shame it wasn’t a real one, because it was freezing. Never mind, a bit of tea helped warm me up!




We were asked if we would like tea or coffee – I requested Earl Grey, which came out in a cute little silver teapot and a little biscuit on the side.




Let's check out some of the food. These little cakes were the Langham torte, a marizpan and almond-cake covered with two different kinds of chocolate.




These little strawberry tartlettes with a white chocolate shell were one of my favourite items. They had a fresh creamy strawberry filling, with the tartness of the berries helping offset the sweetness.




The lemon, lime and bitters curd tarts were also favourites of mine. Aren't they just gorgeous? They had a very smooth, tart curd, and were topped with a blueberry.




On the left we have Jaffa chocolate shots. To be honest, I'm not a fan of chocolate and orange together, but they were very well done - smooth layers of jelly and mousse topped with a raspberry.

And on the right are Amarascata roulades with cocoa nibs. I really liked these too. They looked gorgeous, with the cherries encased with cream and a light sponge.




On the left we have the Chocolate marquise gateau with passionfruit mirror glaze. Beautiful, isn't it? It took a while before anyone dared take a slice of the cake - it was too perfect! Inside was a smooth chocolate mousse, with the passionfruit glaze providing a bit of tartness.

On the right were warm rich chocolate puddings. They were delicious - rather rich, but not too sweet because they were so dark. I would be super happy to produce a chocolate pudding like this.




Somehow I seem to be missing detail shots of several of the other items! On the left, you can see almond florentines, made with caramelized almonds and dipped in milk chocolate at the front.

On the right, behind the strawberry tarts, are granola clusters with Lindt milk chocolate. I don't think I managed to try this item.

Other items I didn't get a shot of were hazelnut chocolate éclairs, mixed nut biscotti dipped in Michel Cluizel chocolate, and the Alpine rocky road made with Lindt white chocolate. Not sure what happened there - can I blame too much sugar?




But WAIT. In case all of that wasn't enough, THERE WAS MORE. Chef Markus Bohm started cooking up individual passionfruit and chocolate chip souffles in a little portable oven. And out also came several tiered trays of scones and sandwiches.




Let's have a closer look at the scones. There were plain and fruit versions, served with jam and clotted cream. They were pretty good scones, with a firm crust and fluffy insides.




One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn't belong. Can you tell which thing is not like the others by the time I finish my song? Oops! Sorry, trip down memory lane there. But yes, being the only savoury items, the sandwiches were the odd ones out. They were certainly welcome though! There was an assortment of flavours: smoked salmon, tomato and goat's cheese, chicken, plus cheese and prosciutto, and they all tasted fresh and looked appropriately dainty.




And finally, let's have a proper look at the souffles - oooh ahhh. Sadly, by the time I received the souffle I had eaten far too much and could only manage a couple of spoonfuls. This was the only thing I found a bit too sweet for me, which is pretty good considering all the decadent sweet treats on offer.

I really enjoyed the morning tea, although I wouldn't recommend eating such a decadent, indulgent breakfast every day! It's normally an afternoon tea, which to my mind and stomach is much more reasonable. It would be a very nice way of spending an afternoon. Although I must add that I would have loved a few more savoury items - so the poor sandwiches didn't feel so left out and to counteract all the sweet stuff!

For other posts of the morning, see:

Sarah Cooks
Melbourne Hot or Not
Addictive and Consuming
Nuffnang
Violet Le Beaux
Much Love

Aria Bar & Lounge
The Langham Melbourne
One Southgate Avenue
Southbank 3006
Ph: 1800 641 107

Cookbook Challenge: Week 34, Soup

Recipe: Spicy tomato soup with chorizo
From: Soups

This week's Cookbook Challenge theme is "soup". Last winter I made a lot of soup - pretty much every Sunday for a couple of months - see the Soup Sunday posts. This winter, I've barely cooked any soup, most likely because I'm busy cooking up the various themes for the Cookbook Challenge. So I'm glad that soup is one of the themes - it's like revisiting an old friend!

Yesterday (when I made this soup), I spent a lot of time cooking for next week's theme - Spanish. Rather a lot, actually - you'll see what I mean next week! I didn't have much time left over to do a complicated soup, so I pulled out the Soups cookbook and flicked through it. I decided on this soup because I had left over chorizo (from my Spanish dishes) and because it looked pretty straight forward.

Well, I say it was straight forward, but the recipe has a weird way of cooking the chorizo - they are simmered in water until all the water evaporates and then they are fried in the fat that is left over. Honestly, if I was to do it again, I would just fry the chorizo in a pan and then throw it into a pot with the rest of the ingredients. Seriously, why go to all that kerfuffle? It's soup! And a rather good soup too, if you like tomato based soups, and you like it spicy. Plus if you need some warming up, it'll certainly help as it has a decent heat to it.

Stay tuned for a mammoth Cookbook Challenge post for the Spanish theme next week. We ate... boy did we eat! And see previous Cookbook Challenge posts here.



Spicy tomato soup with chorizo

From Soups

500g chorizo sausage
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 onions, halved and sliced
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1-2 small red chillies, seeded and finely chopped
1.5 litres chicken stock
800g tinned chopped tomatoes

Fill a large frying pan with about 3cm of cold water. Add the chorizo sausages and bring to the boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and let the water reduce, turning the sausages occasionally, until all the water evaporates. Allow the sausages to cook in any fat left in the pan for several minutes, or until they are lightly browned. Allow to cool and cut into bite sized pieces.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the onions and garlic. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until they are soft. Stir in the cumin and paprika, chilli, chicken stock, and tomato. Bring to the boil and add the chorizo. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Check the seasoning - adding salt and pepper to taste - and serve.

Cookbook Challenge: Week 33, Seafood

Recipe: Sardine Tagra
From: Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escapes

Occasionally I've made things for this blog that seemed like a good idea at the time. And then afterwards, I've thought, "What on EARTH was I thinking??" See recent examples: hand pulled noodles, xiao long bao, ladybird cupcakes, to name just a few. I suspect this recipe will join those entries. Why? Well, tell me - have you ever butterflied sardines before?

The theme for this week's Cookbook Challenge is seafood, and I knew that I wanted to make a recipe from Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escapes. I selected a recipe for sardine tagra and purchased the necessary twenty fresh sardines for it. When I started the recipe this morning, I reread the instructions and realised that I needed to clean, gut and butterfly the sardines. Doesn't sound that hard, right? How long could it take to do twenty sardines? The answer to that question is - at least one and a half hours! Oh. My. God. After which I still had to put the rest of the dish together.



I must admit that initially I didn't butterfly the sardines - massacre would be a better description. But the more I did, the easier it got, and it did get faster towards the end. Even so, it's moments like these that makes me realise - I need a kitchen slave. I can't even tell you why it took me so long. Perhaps it was the part where I had to remove the bones with tweezers. Sardines have a lot of little bones! I was probably being too much of a perfectionist in trying to remove as many as possible.

The name of the dish (tagra) takes its name from the terracotta baking dish that it is normally cooked in. There is a bottom layer of tomatoes and onion, a layer of potatoes, a layer of sardines sandwiched with charmoula, and then a final layer of overlapping tomato, lemon and green pepper slices.



I was rather apprehensive when it was time to eat as I was concerned that it would be horrible. I can't tell you how relieved I was when the Boys pronounced it delicious. Hoorah! All that effort wasn't for nought! The dish needed a rich fish like a sardine because of all the strong flavours in it - garlic, coriander, cumin, paprika, chilli, onions, and lemon. It was a bit spicy, a bit sour, a bit fishy, and overall very tasty.

I would make it again - but only after I've forgotten the pain of preparing the sardines. Or after I get myself that kitchen slave!

See previous Cookbook Challenge posts here



Sardine Tagra

From: Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escapes

Serves 4

20 small sardines, butterflied (see below)
450g skinned, seeded and chopped tomatoes (I used two 400g cans of whole tomatoes and roughly chopped them)
1 large onion, very finely chopped
450g medium sized waxy potatoes
1 beef tomato, sliced
1 small lemon, thinly sliced
1 small green pepper, sliced (I left it out)
6 small dried red chillies
2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice 1/2 lemon
A pinch dried oregano
Salt

For the charmoula
4 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander
2 tablespoons crushed garlic
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 & 1/2 tablespoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2 large pinches dried oregano
3 tablespoons olive oil

To prepare the sardines, rub off the scales and rinse under cold water. Cut the head off each fish and discard. Then slit them open along the belly down to the tail. Pull out the guts and wash the cavities clean. Open up each fish and place them belly side down on a chopping board. Press down firmly on the backbone until the fish lies completely fiat. Turn it over and pull away the backbone, snipping it off with the tail. Pull out any bones left behind with fish tweezers.

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Make the charmoula by putting all the ingredients into a mortar and pestle and pounding to a paste. Take the butterflied sardines and sandwich them together in pairs, with some of the charmoula in the middle. Set aside.

Tip the chopped tomatoes into a 26cm tagra or shallow baking dish and add the onion and any remaining charmoula. Mix together well. Cover with overlapping slices of potato and press them down well. Season with salt.

Arrange the sardine sandwiches on top of the potato, arranging them around the dish like the spokes of a wheel. Overlap the tomato and lemon slices on top of the sardines, and then follow with the slices of green pepper.

Place a dried red chilli in the centre of each pepper slice, and drizzle over the olive oil and lemon juice. Sprinkle with the dried oregano and more salt.

Bake the tagra for 1-1&1/2 hours or until the potato is tender. If it browns too much, cover with a sheet of foil. Serve straight away with fresh bread.