CTN: Matzoh Brei and Chilaquiles

Although I made the Matzoh Brei more than a week ago, I have not had an opportunity to write about it until now. Busy times.

I had eaten Matzoh Brei before, because our office used to be down the street from a Jewish deli where I occasionally ate. Nothing ever looked good to me on the menu, except Matzoh Brei. I had never made it before, and never really thought about how it was put together. Soaking the Matzoh was a bit of a surprise to me. As was the ENORMOUS amount of butter. Yikes! Six tablespoons. As you can see, that more than coats the bottom of the pan.

 The rest of the dish was really just scrambled eggs, with a little more sitting than scrambling. While I was making the Matzoh Brei, Natalie commented on the fact that this dish was a bit like Chilaquiles. She was actually not thinking about Chilaquiles, but about a breakfast dish that Pete makes from time to time when he adds fried tortilla strips to scrambled eggs. But once she said Chilaquiles, I couldn't get them out of my head.

 Since I followed the recipe, there wasn't really enough food for four people. I ate mine with black pepper, sea salt, and a drizzle of honey--per the recipe. It was really good that way, something which surprised me. Natalie, Cassandra, and Pete all tried different varieties. I believe most of them involved hot sauce.

After we had all tasted the Matzoh Brei, I decided that I would make Chilaquiles to round out the meal. Here is my recipe for Chilaquiles:

1 large can of tomatoes (I didn't have this. So I used 3 slightly squishy tomatoes and about half a jar of pasta sauce. Similar, right?)
2-3 chipotles in adobo (I like it to be spicy--3 is almost incendiary)
1/2 onion
About 2 garlic cloves

Blend all of this in the blender until smooth.

Take some corn tortillas (I used about 8-9), cut them into wedges (eighths), and fry them until they are almost like a chip, but not quite.

Throw the fried tortillas and the sauce into a large pan (I use a saucepan because the sauce bubbles and makes a big mess when I use a frying pan). Cook until the chips and the sauce become one. Eat sprinkled with Cotija cheese.

Oh yeah--and don't forget the fried egg on top. Or leftover Matzoh Brei.

Really Delicious Tomato Soup

I know the soup had a different name, but I am just describing it. Its funny--I used to really hate tomato soup. Or thought I hated tomato soup. I suspect that I had been fed the canned Campbell Soup variety. I actually have no bad memories associated with tomato soup, but I knew I didn't like it.
During the 90s, my office was next to a very high-end restaurant--Pamplemousse Grille. One of the waitresses told me that I had to try their Tomato Fennel Soup--that it was food of the gods. I kept resisting, because I didn't like tomato soup. Finally, I broke down one day and tried it. She was right. I think I ate Pamplemousse Grille Tomato Fennel Soup 2-3 times a week during the entire time our office was in that location. I have since been a fan of tomato soup. But only really good tomato soup. I have had a few other excellent bowls of tomato soup in San Diego, at The Prado and at Urban Solace.
This soup rivaled all of those other tomato soups. I was a little skeptical of the coconut milk, so I did use an extra can of tomatoes and only about half a can of coconut milk. In my opinion, the blend was perfect. I spooned my soup over a mound of brown rice and topped it with (slightly rancid) sliced almonds. It was delicious (except for the almonds). Natalie ate hers with a grilled cheese sandwich. Pete ate his with croutons. Cassandra didn't eat any at all because she doesn't like tomato soup.
Maybe it will take her 40 years to come around. I hope not. She is missing one of life's great pleasures.

TWD: Pizza Rustica

 I have to be honest. The only reason why I wanted to make this recipe was because the crust looked pretty in the picture. The entire recipe was suspect to me. It is called "pizza," but it isn't like any pizza I've ever heard of. It is called "rustica," but it didn't really seem like peasant food either. It is a savory dish with a sweet crust--that doesn't fly with me either. I had very low expectations.

I loved how easily the crust came together. I have a love for smooth, pretty dough. I like looking at it, and I like kneading it. This particular dough was very lovely. I think I ended up kneading it far more than required.

I had to think about the filling. I don't do meat, so knew I wouldn't be using prosciutto. I read some of the discussion on the P&Q board, and saw that some of the people who had made a vegetarian version of this dish were having trouble with sogginess. I also saw that people who did use prosciutto had mentioned that the saltiness of the prosciutto was a nice contrast to the sweet crust. I cleaned my refrigerator thoroughly over the weekend, and knew that I had a half jar of sundried tomatoes and a half jar of Kalamata olives. To empty my refrigerator more, I used all of the tomatoes and olives in the filling (chopped). I also chopped up a couple of handfuls of fresh spinach. I mixed these veggies into the bland ricotta, egg, mozzarella, romano filling--it was very pretty filling. Very Italian with the red, white, and green.

The crust rolled out like a dream. I was hoping to actually weave the lattice top, but the dough was a bit fragile for that. Didn't matter-any lattice top looks pretty.

I baked the pizza quiche pie whatever-the-heck-this-thing-actually-is for slightly longer than indicated in the recipe so it would be sure to set. I was a little worried about the edges of the crust burning, and felt too lazy to make a foil collar to protect it. It was alright--it didn't burn. It looks just as pretty as the picture in the book.

And I was very surprised by how much I liked it. It tasted like a quiche in a sweet crust. The crust was fantastic. My stepdaughter didn't like the filling, but she said she would eat the crust plain. She tried to break off all the edges to eat that. I was so glad I put so many olives into the filling (it looked like way too many), because the salty-briney taste of the Kalamatas contrasted perfectly with the otherwise bland filling and the sweet crust. The texture of the filling was perfect. My husband devoured a couple of slices and said he loved it.

Whatever IT is.