The Spirit World

The long Memorial Day holiday weekend is zooming toward us! For many of us that means three days off and the unofficial beginning of summer. In many places the weather will be spectacular: warm and sunny but not yet too hot or humid. Yet in others while we will be hoping for an outdoorsy sort of weekend the actuality will be something less - maybe it will be great for taking a hike but not so great for sitting around in the still a bit too chilly air.

This week’s Happy Hour at Home selections will work equally well inside or out and, either way, will invoke the feeling of summer.

For our cocktail we recommend the quintessential summer beverage, the Margarita! Since this beverage has already been covered a couple of times already, I point you to the two previous posts for recipes and information.

To accompany this beverage, something that can be used many different ways - the tortilla! Most people do not realize how easy it is to make your own. With just a few ingredients and a little time it’s easy to make fresh corn or flour tortillas. I suggest making two types of tortillas and two or three salsas or spreads for a very nice selection of offerings.

For flour tortillas, I use Rick Bayless'’ version which you can find here. These can be prepared ahead of time, leaving just the actual grilling until ready to serve - hot off the grill they are great!

As a colorful and tasty second choice, mix up a batch of Blue Corn Tortillas! This is a very soft dough and will need to be patted out just as you place them on the grill, they are too soft to pat out ahead of time.

Blue Corn Tortillas

1 1/2 cups blue corn meal
1 1/2 cups boiling water
3/4 to 1 cup all purpose flour

Place corn meal in a bowl and pour boiling water over. Stir to mix well. Let sit for fifteen minutes. Mix in one-half cup of all purpose flour. Turn this mixture out onto a bread board spread with 1/4 cup of flour. Knead for 2 to 3 minutes, incorporating the 1/4 cup of flour into the dough (and if necessary, use a little more). The dough will be soft but not at all strong. Return the dough to the bowl and cover. Let rest for 30 minutes.

Heat your griddle over medium high heat, making sure that it is hot before you cook the first tortilla. Divide the dough into eight pieces. Flour your hands and make flat round, but still a little thick, patties out of each of the eight pieces. Then take each patty and completely flatten it until it is about 7 or 8 inches in diameter. Immediately place on heated griddle. (If you want you can do a gentle roll of the tortilla with a well-floured rolling pin on a well-floured board as a final step, but I generally find it’s not necessary.)

Cook the tortilla as you would a wheat tortilla, approximately one minute on each side. The tortillas will be flecked with brown on both sides. When cooked, remove and wrap in a kitchen towel. Stack one on top of another.

To go along with your tortillas make your favorite salsa or guacamole recipes or try the following easy, make-ahead, tasty recipes.

AVOCADO SALSA

from Bon Appetit

3 large ripe avocados, halved, pitted, peeled, coarsely chopped
8 ounces fresh tomatillos, husked, rinsed, coarsely chopped
2 serrano chiles, seeded, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped white onion
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro

Combine all ingredients in processor. Using on/off turns, process until chunky puree forms. Transfer to medium bowl. Season with salt. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Press plastic wrap directly onto surface of salsa and chill.)

CHARRED TOMATO MINT SALSA

from Epicurious
3 plum tomatoes
a 1/2-inch-thick slice medium white onion
1 garlic clove, unpeeled
2 serrano chiles or other chile with seeds, chopped (wear rubber gloves)
12 fresh coriander leaves, chopped coarse
3 large fresh mint leaves, chopped fine
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup water
1/8 teaspoon coarse salt, or to taste

Heat a dry “comal” or flat iron griddle over moderately low heat until hot and pan-roast tomatoes, onion, and garlic, turning them occasionally to ensure even roasting, until brown and soft throughout, about 15 minutes. Discard tomato stems and garlic skin.

Chop tomatoes, onion and garlic coarse and in a bowl stir together with remaining ingredients. (Salsa should be chunky.) Salsa may be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered.

This simple butter is wonderful on warm tortillas!

Orange Butter

4 Tbsp. butter, softened
2 – 3 tsp. grated orange zest
2 Tbsp. fresh orange juice
1 – 2 tsp. honey *

Beat until thoroughly mixed and butter is light and fluffy. Adjust flavoring to your personal taste.

* Different types of honey will yield slight variations in taste. Any honey will do but one of my favorites is Wild Huckleberry honey.