Wednesday, February 3, 2010

harina de maiz



We have been eating a lot of corn tortillas around here. My friend Lissa is someone who feels that she was born into the wrong culture. She learned Spanish in high school and never looked back. She has a beautiful daughter (with her Ecuadorian(?) husband) and loves to cook. She introduced me to the concept of homemade corn tortillas. Seriously easy, especially now that the boys can make them for me. We make a huge batch of black beans, seasoning them with toasted oregano, bay leaves, salt, garlic, onions, pepper and cumin. We start simmering the dried beans in the early afternoon. I whip up a batch of guacomole, cut up some fresh veg. and then use a dry skillet to cook the tortillas. We have been mostly dairy free lately due to probable lactose intolerance with the boys in the family, so no cheese. I don't have a tortilla iron but we use two plates. The tortillas are unbelievably delicious. Everyone loves them. We ate them twice this week for dinner. They don't last though. You can't make them too far in advance or they are tough.

Ya know what? That's all I've got. I am done with winter. Today one of my kids brought in a bird call gizmo from the Hitchcock Nature Center and I nearly teared up listening to the robins. All I want to do is eat.

Sorry about the horrible pictures. We don't get much sun in Winter. And it's cold. And where is the nearest bakery?

7 comments:

Michaela said...

Do you have the recipe for the tortillas? I would love to try making them. Either that or just come to your place for dinner. :)

Love you!

Elita said...

Please come for dinner! But if you can't (because the drive is a bit long from San Fran.), just buy some Harina De Maiz (corn flour, you can find it anywhere, not the same as corn meal) and mix it with water (as per directions on bag), add a little salt and toast on a dry, hot skillet.

Elita said...

Oh, and Love you too!

Unknown said...

This reminds me of when my granmother from El Salvador would comd visit when I was a kid and she would cook the whole time, she made tortillas by hand so fast and they were SO delicious!!! She could make like10 in the time it took me to make one :)

Elita said...

I had no idea you were a little bit El SAlvadoran... I have lots of great nana cooking stories too. Grandmothers and food. It would make a good book of short stories.

Mrs. Pattington said...

Damn Kelly, Blogging at 5:50 am. I have a tortilla press, which is mostly for decoration because I find it easier to do them by hand. I never have plastic wrap and the dough sticks to the press. Do yours bubble up? I can't always get mine to bubble up.

XO, Laurie

Elita said...

Mine have never bubbled up. Are they supposed to? Oh well, they still taste good. You can also use waxed paper/parchment paper to keep them from sticking. I don't know when I last was up before 6 to do anything so I think the time thing on my post is wrong.

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