A tortilla is a tortilla is a tortilla: another FOOD thread

[Who Shot Sam?]

Lovely! Did you happen upon Cafe Pacifico, or was it recommended? Don't use any particular online restaurant guide (any recommendations?), but a quick root reveals the usual Amazon-style mixed bag of comments on the above. Many of them say 'not as good as the US but the best London has to offer'.

I remember seeing it when I was walking around the Covent Garden neighborhood last time I was over there. Sounds like your best bet.

[Extreme Honey]

Anybody have a good Shepard's Pie recepie they wanna give me?
(yes, shepard's pie is my favourite dish...but nothing beats a nice cuban cigar with a cold beer and a night of possibilites)

[Otis Westinghouse]

Shepherd's Pie shouldd be made from lamb, as the name implies, but I gre up on a my mum's world-beating beef version, which was only ever called SP. I believe that the beef version should be called Cottage Pie, and if you grate cheese on top of that, it becomes Cumberland pie. I've only recently started adding that element, and of course my cheese-fiend kids no insist on it. I've never made one with lamb, but must try some time. Here's how I do it:

1. Brown a pound/half kilo minced beef/lamb in a little (sunflower) oil.
2. Remove with slotted spoon, and soften up an onion and a carrot in the remaining oil.
3. Return beef, add Worcestershire Sauce (if you can get it, if not, something else with a fruity tang, e.g. some tomato puree, but WS is the essential one), some beef stock (not too much liquid, c. 250ml), a bay leaf, salt and pepper. Cook this in the pan for a while, probably 30 mins.
4. Meanwhile, prepare mashed potatoes. They need to be quite dry, so add little or no milk when mashing, and only a little butter.
5. When both elements are ready, put mince into oven dish, top with mash, press down gently, add butter and, if desired, grated cheese, cook in the oven at 180 C for 45-60 mins till the top is golden and crusty.
6. Serves with more Worcestershire Sauce and Branston Pickle - for me entirely essential to get the right blend of flavours. I love peas and or brussels sprouts with it.

Et voila! For me one of the perfect things on a winter's day and the kind of dish that shows that when well-prepared, classic English dishes can be thrilling. My grandmother used to put the cold left-overs in my dad's sandwiches, but then again, she once cut the mouldy outside of an old pork pie off and said the remaining part would be fine to eat.

[Jackson Monk]

Back to Tortillas.

In Spain last year, we were sitting next to a foursome from Dublin in a Mexican restaurant, when one of the men called the waitress and said in broad Northside brogue:

"Any chance of a couple more of dose pancake fellas"

Mrs Monk and I laughed with the rest of the party for five minutes, but I guess you had to be there.

[selfmademug]

I'm reprising this recipe from last year (and maybe the year before?) cause it's easy, yummy, and a perfect mid-winter holiday party dish. Leave it in the pot or a casserole and serve with toothpicks.

1.5 - 2 lbs kielbasa, cut up
1 bottle Guinness
1 cup real maple syrup (don't you even think about using that fake crap)

Simmer the kielbasa in a pot with the Guinness and the syrup for a number of hours until the latter two have turned to a sticky delicious glaze and your house is filled with a very mouth-watering odor. That's all!

If you want the glaze even thicker, turn the heat up towards the end until the sugars start to burn just slightly-- but don't leave it unattended!

[miss buenos aires]

My grandmother used to put the cold left-overs in my dad's sandwiches, but then again, she once cut the mouldy outside of an old pork pie off and said the remaining part would be fine to eat.

I thought all parents did that...

[spooky girlfriend]

Oh, Otis, my kids loved it when I made that. I haven't thought to make Shepherds/Cottage Pie in so very long. I think I'll surprise them with that for dinner tomorrow night.

Sometimes you get in a rut when life is busy and you just do some of the same things over and over. I did have that fortunate find of making beer cheese soup the other day when trying to find a way to use the accidentally frozen beer.

[crash8_durham]

Flan. what a brilliant creation.

[El Vez]

Wasabi peas. Can't eat just one. Much to the dismay of my overburdened tear ducts.

[Extreme Honey]

Shepherd's Pie shouldd be made from lamb, as the name implies, but I gre up on a my mum's world-beating beef version, which was only ever called SP. I believe that the beef version should be called Cottage Pie, and if you grate cheese on top of that, it becomes Cumberland pie. I've only recently started adding that element, and of course my cheese-fiend kids no insist on it. I've never made one with lamb, but must try some time. Here's how I do it:

1. Brown a pound/half kilo minced beef/lamb in a little (sunflower) oil.
2. Remove with slotted spoon, and soften up an onion and a carrot in the remaining oil.
3. Return beef, add Worcestershire Sauce (if you can get it, if not, something else with a fruity tang, e.g. some tomato puree, but WS is the essential one), some beef stock (not too much liquid, c. 250ml), a bay leaf, salt and pepper. Cook this in the pan for a while, probably 30 mins.
4. Meanwhile, prepare mashed potatoes. They need to be quite dry, so add little or no milk when mashing, and only a little butter.
5. When both elements are ready, put mince into oven dish, top with mash, press down gently, add butter and, if desired, grated cheese, cook in the oven at 180 C for 45-60 mins till the top is golden and crusty.
6. Serves with more Worcestershire Sauce and Branston Pickle - for me entirely essential to get the right blend of flavours. I love peas and or brussels sprouts with it.

Et voila! For me one of the perfect things on a winter's day and the kind of dish that shows that when well-prepared, classic English dishes can be thrilling. My grandmother used to put the cold left-overs in my dad's sandwiches, but then again, she once cut the mouldy outside of an old pork pie off and said the remaining part would be fine to eat.

This looks great I'll try it when I get back from Uruguay and Arg.
So, Otis, you cook?

[Otis Westinghouse]

I like to cook. I normally do every last bit for the family all weekend to make up for lack of this Mon-Fri, and I am likely to do the same for all 12 days of holiday this Christmas. I get depressed at my lack of innovation at times (though I know enough to ad lib reasonably well), as someone mentioned, you often stick to the same routines, but then you do get pretty seasoned at them, and it's great to hit reliable consistency with things. Kids tend to have definite views about what they want, and I tend to cook things they're keen on, which I don't always agree with, as it tends to mean no fish, etc. I love it when they try something new or that they think they don't like, and suddenly discover its greatness. I do find providing pleasure for others through food to be something that gives me a high.

Today we had some good Irish smopked salmon in the house, and I did a little Spanish style 'revuelto': which is more or less their equivalent of what we call scrambled eggs. Soften some garlic in good olive oil, sling in the salmon (slightlky weird cooking smoked salmon, but it works, you can substitute this with lots of other things e.g. prawns, asparragus, green beans), when done a bit, add eggs and stir till they set, but not too much. Incredibly simple, like a lot of great Spanish food. My wife pronounced it restaurant standard, which made me beam.