corn tortillas

Some months ago, we obtained a large bag of masa to make tamales (a successful cooking adventure that, sadly, didn't make it to the blog). Though many tamales were made, we barely used half of the 2 kg bag.  Here and there I would make cornbread, but I was looking for a new adventure.  Serendipitously, I'd recently bought some jalapeños from the shops (on impulse) to make tacos, but had forgotten to pick up tortillas. As I fret over when I can make another trip to the shops, I thought it may be easier to make the tortillas ... using the masa! Yes, the excuse of it being easier is really just an excuse for another cooking adventure :) 

The Kitchn has a fantastic piece on making corn tortillas using masa harina and it was the recipe I followed.  Unconventionally, for me, I followed the recipe exactly this time. The recipe was delightfully simple.  The challenge for me was the lack of a tortilla press, which I made do with a sandwich press!  I did have to further flatten the dough with a rolling pin, but it was relatively easy. I do love the smell of masa... 

It turned out great! The first tortilla was noticeably too thick, hence the rolling pin. Overall, the tortillas were slightly drier than the ones from the shops... but those are generally not 100% corn (usually mixture of corn and wheat flour).  With the compliment "these are the best tortillas I've had since leaving America", I would say it's definitely worth making again :) 

ball of masa between ziplock plastic, ready to be flattened

flattened masa

rolling pin action was required to further flatten dough

homemade corn tortillas

Silverbeet & Bacon Tart

Kale is the family favourite. So when it dawned on us that kale's positioning on the Brassica branch may be the cause of our little one's GI issues, I was at a lost. What other green vegetables are there?  More specifically, what green vegetables not of the Brassica family and are cookable (because raw greens are "yucky") are there?  Sadly, after scouting several Sydney grocery stores for several weeks, only two readily available non-Brassica vegetables were identified: silverbeet (also known as chard) and spinach. I personally love spinach, but it does occasionally cause "spinach tongue", which I'm pretty sure is why "spinach is yucky" as well.  

Left with silverbeets, I endeavoured on another attempt to change the family's opinion of this vegetable. Scouting of recipes gave me two ideas: (1) Silverbeet and feta gozleme and (2) silverbeet and bacon pie.  Bacon makes everything better :)  

For the crust, I consulted out my trusty baking book:  "The Essential Baking Cookbook" published by Murdoch Books. The only substitution was the replacement of 3/4 of the 1.25 cup plain four with wholemeal flour.

The filling was based on a much slimmed down ingredient list from Kidspot:
- 1 bunch silverbeet
- 1 packet middle bacon, rind removed
- 1/2 block Liddell lactose free cheese
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 4 eggs
- 3/4 cup soy milk

I was pleasantly surprised by the result: that the little one actually liked it!  The points that won the family over were:
*  That it wasn't "eggy" (the use of 4 instead of 5 eggs likely helped)
*  The homemade buttery crust (from my experience, it's always much miles better than store-bought frozen ones)
*  And, of course, the bacon!

Silverbeet and Bacon Tart