Black Bean, Chicken & Goat Cheese Tostadas

Wedding rehearsal dinners can be a drag. The food, most often, seems like an afterthought. But at a recent wedding in San Diego I was pleasantly surprised to find that the bride and groom had hired a taco truck to cater their post-rehearsal picnic at the Cove in La Jolla. They served delicious, authentic tacos on handmade fresh tortillas. I watched studiously as the cook ran little balls of dough through a hand-crank machine that flattened and punched out perfect five-inch circles. He threw the tortillas on a hot griddle and then ladled carne asada or chicken in them, then topped each with a little chopped cabbage and crema.

The tacos were amazing! And better still, you could smell the tortillas warming on the griddle from halfway down the beach. Sea air wrapped around aromas of sweet corn, enticing like fresh bread baking in an outdoor oven.

Since then, I’ve been on a bit of a taco kick, leading my boyfriend and I to the Best Fish Taco in Ensenada—a welcoming, turquoise-colored converted auto body shop in Los Feliz (on Hillhurst). The eatery is owned and run by Joseph, a tall and affable Hollywood local with German/Spanish roots. Joseph’s mother, Helena, sits quietly knitting behind the register, but is more than willing to share in a little conversation if provoked. There are only two things on the menu at the Best Fish Taco: fish tacos ($1.50 each) and shrimp tacos ($2.00). Both are battered with Joseph’s secret mixture (lots of black pepper, I think) and fried in a glistening vat of oil, tucked into warm tortillas and topped with shredded cabbage. I recommend starting with one of each—you can always go back for more, but these tacos are best warm—and let Joseph guide you through his cove of homemade, spicy salsas. His method for the perfect taco: spicy mango salsa, a dollop of avocado salsa, a hint of radish salsa, a squirt of crema, is akin to taco heaven. Spicy, sweet fish, tangy, spicy and salty salsas and soft corn tortillas melt together in your mouth, making the nearby bowl of oranges to put out the fire in your mouth, a necessity.

Sometimes, though, I prefer a traditional tostada, with its crunchy corn tortilla piled high with refried beans, meat, lettuce or cabbage, cilantro, guacamole, crema and cotija cheese, then drizzled with mouth-igniting salsa. Unfortunately, lately, I haven’t been able to find a good tostada (I’m on the hunt, if you know of a place). The tostadas at Lotéria, in the Fairfax Farmer’s Market, are too small and too expensive to qualify (one tostada is an exorbitant $7). Tere’s on Melrose makes huge flour tortilla shells and fills them with so much lettuce that they’re more like eating a carne asada Caesar salad. And the list goes on. So I decided to make my own. Starting with homemade tortillas.

I would definitely recommend buying a good, sturdy and heavy tortilla press, like the one available from Sur La Table ($19.95). The weight helps make perfectly thin and consistent tortillas.

I followed the directions on a bag of Maseca masa (corn flour) for eight tortillas:

1 cup Maseca masa
2/3 cups water
1/8 tsp salt

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and slowly add water, kneading by hand, until you have a ball of dough with the consistency of cookie dough. If it’s too dry, add water just 1/8 tsp at a time. Separate into eight small balls and cover with a wet paper towel and plastic wrap. Place a sheet of plastic wrap or parchment paper on the bottom half of the tortilla press, put a ball of dough in the center then cover with another sheet of plastic wrap or parchment. Close the lid on the press, flattening the tortilla. Remove from the press and place on a hot, ungreased griddle, cooking until the edges pull away from the surface, about 30 seconds. Flip and cook about 30 seconds on the other side. Place in a tortilla warmer or under a damp cloth to keep moist.

For tostadas, let the tortillas cool and then fry in hot oil or lard. Make sure your fat is hot enough by sprinkling a little water from your fingers over the top. If it dances, then the temp is good. If your fat isn’t hot enough, your tortillas will take longer and absorb more oil. Submerge tortillas in oil, one at a time until golden. Remove with tongs and drain on a paper towel until ready.

There are lots of ways to top your tostada–traditional and non–I’ve season ground turkey with cinnamon, cumin, coriander and chile powder and recently tried this recipe, found on both Epicurious.com and in the new Bon Apétit cookbook, for Chicken, Black Bean and Goat Cheese Tostadas.

Beans:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
2 large jalapeños, seeded but not deveined, minced
1 tsp chili powder
½ tsp ground cumin
2 15- to 16-oz. cans of black beans, rinsed and drained
2 tbsp fresh lime juice

Heat oil in a heavy saucepan. Add onions and jalapeños and cook until onions are translucent, stirring often. Add chili powder and cumin; stir 30 seconds. Add beans and lime juice, cooking until heated through, mashing beans slightly with a spoon (about four minutes).

Chicken:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 ½ lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into ¾-inch pieces
1 ½ tsp chili powder
¾ tsp ground cumin

Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add chicken and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté until almost cooked through, about three minutes. Add chili powder and cumin; finish cooking chicken. Remove from heat.

Salad:
4 cups sliced romaine lettuce
1 medium head radicchio, sliced
½ cup fresh cilantro leaves
¼ olive oil
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp water

Mix first three ingredients together in a large bowl. Before service, dress with oil, lime juice and water.

Avocado Salsa:
2 large tomatoes, seeded, diced
1 large avocado, diced, rinsed and drained
½ red onion, chopped
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
¼ cup olive oil
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 or 2 large jalapeños, stemmed, seeded (but not deveined), minced

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Season to taste with salt. This can be prepared up to two hours ahead. Store in the refrigerator.

Assembly:

8 oz. soft fresh Goat Cheese

Place fried tortilla on a plate. Top with beans, then sprinkle with cheese. Add salad, then chicken and finish with avocado salsa. Have plenty of napkins on hand.

Overall, this dish was quite tasty and satisfying, particularly the fresh, crunchy tortillas (I ate it again for lunch today), but there definitely things I would do different next time. First of all, I discovered that I was all out of cumin just as I was about to season the beans—substituted ground coriander, but it didn’t provide the right depth of flavor. On the other hand, I used chipotle chili powder, which was smoky and delicious. I would use dried black beans, soaked overnight, instead of canned ones and make them into refried beans. The slightly mashed up beans didn’t release enough flavor. I might also add some lime juice to the beans–they needed some acid (and maybe some fat!) I would cut the chicken into smaller pieces, shred it, or use a combination of light and dark meat for more complex flavor. Lastly, I might use Poblano or Serrano chilies for the Avocado Salsa, to give it a bit more heat.

If you give this one a try and make any changes, let me know! In the meantime, if you know where to find a good tostada in Los Angeles, I’m still craving them.

Spicy Oven Fried Chicken

When I was in college my roommate Jamie and I loved to watch movies. We often bribed each other to stop procrastinating with films: if you write the first three pages of your 10-page paper, you get to watch a half hour of a movie and one cocktail, when you finish the next three pages you get another half hour and another drink. Eventually, we’d sit and watch the end of the movie, tipsy, relaxed and overjoyed that our work was done. The movie selections varied, though kitschy romantic comedies were a perennial fave. Some choices were outright ridiculous and eventually led to additional procrastination, like Pauly Shore’s “Son-in-Law.” There’s a scene in the movie where Pauly Shore enjoys a farm-fresh country meal highlighted by crispy fried chicken. The chicken always looked so moist and delicious, punctuated by the cacophonous crunch of perfectly battered, golden skin that you could practically feel the grease dripping down your hands. The power of suggestion was overwhelming; inevitably, we’d pause the movie and head out of the house for fast-food fried chicken.

While I’ve sworn off fast food these days I still have moments when I can’t shake the craving for fried chicken. My mother has always made an oven-fried version that’s tasty, though never satisfyingly crispy. And so, with the World Series underway and a gaggle of boys coming over to watch the game, I embarked on a serious mission: Operation Oven Fried Chicken.

I scanned recipes in magazines and online, reading recipe reviews on Epicurious for feedback regarding homemade breadcrumbs, store-bought breadcrumbs, panko and breadcrumb-panko combinations, until I conceived a plan.

Spicy Oven Fried Chicken

2 cups Panko*
1 ½ tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp Ancho chile powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp Grana Padana or Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 egg
2 tbsp melted unsalted butter
10 Free-Range Chicken Drumsticks soaked in buttermilk (minimum two hours, up to 12)

Ahead of time: Lay out drumsticks and cover with buttermilk, seasoned with salt and pepper. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make your own by using two tbsp of cider vinegar and enough milk to equal two cups. Let soak for at least two hours and up to 12, turning occasionally.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix Panko, spices, salt and cheese in a shallow, flat-bottomed dish. (The spices tend to settle so you’ll need to re-mix a couple of times during the process.) In another dish, crack the egg, add a tablespoon of water and whisk until fluffy. Take a drumstick from the buttermilk and let any excess liquid quickly drip off. Dredge through egg and then roll into breading mixture, pressing, if necessary to help the coating stick. Place on a rack on a sprayed baking sheet and repeat with remaining drumsticks. Let chicken rest for about 15 minutes and up to a half hour. If you have an oven-safe rack that fits on your baking sheet, you can bake the drumsticks on those. If not, move the chicken directly to the baking sheet. Drizzle drumsticks with melted butter and place on the middle rack of a hot oven until golden and crispy on the outside and cooked through, about 45 minutes.

I served this fried chicken with spinach sautéed with fresh chopped garlic and garlic mashed potatoes. The results were phenomenal. The chicken was tender and juicy with a nice tang from the buttermilk and the skin was remarkably crispy with a little kick. The *Panko proved the trick. This Japanese-style breadcrumb, used for dishes like Tonkatsu, is bigger and drier and almost tendril-like, adding a delicately snappy texture. The boys all lapped up their allotted drumsticks and through their crunching all gave their approval. Fun, functional and better than most deep fried versions, this will definitely remain part of my repertoire, even after baseball season inevitably ends (likely tonight) and just in case I’m procrastinating on a story and decide to watch “Son-in-Law” instead.

I started cooking for friends because I didn’t like eating alone. Dinner conversation was drab and the food I made myself, frankly, was even worse. Boring. I would invite friends to dinner for the excuse to try something new and to have someone to commiserate over pizza with if I failed. I didn’t start out cooking for friends because I wanted to feed them, but because I wanted to feed myself.

Since then I’ve become a bit less selfish in my cooking. I delight in surprising my friends with little nods to their likes and dislikes—a favorite dessert, a particular wine selection, a tweak to a dish that leaves out the thing they hate or can’t eat. And I’ve learned to start cooking as far in advance as possible, and to prepare for as much as I can when I set the tables (which these days means strategically placing myself near the wine rack so I can grab another bottle without having to get up).

Last Friday one of my dearest friends was down from San Francisco. Rather than fight the crowds at Mozza (or anywhere else) I invited him and his lady friend over for dinner. Excited that it had been years since I’d cooked for him I ditched my recipes and went (mostly) commando, with a little input from some friends, and the results were delicious and, I think, pretty easy to repeat.

Menu
Pepper and Bay Brined Chicken
Caprese Polenta Cakes
Sautéed Swiss Chard

Nancy Silverton’s Rosemary Olive Oil Cakes w/
Vanilla Ice Cream, Olive Oil and Fleur de Sel

2006 Domaine de la Pépière Classique Muscadet Sèvre et Maine Sur Lie
2005 Joel Talau St-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil “L’Expression”

Organic Whole Brined Chicken

Organic Whole Brined Chicken:

1 whole Organic chicken (3-5 lbs)
1 ½ cups course kosher salt
1 cup pure cane sugar
3 Bay leaves, bruised
1 tbsp whole peppercorns
1 sprig fresh rosemary
8 cups water (enough to completely submerge the chicken)

I’ve brined a whole chicken once before, overnight, using a simple mixture of course kosher salt, brown sugar and water. This time I prepared the chicken in the morning before work, switching to pure cane sugar and adding the Bay leaves, peppercorns and rosemary. I quickly stirred the mixture to dissolve the salt and sugar, then cleaned the chicken, submerged it in the brine, put the pot in the fridge and left for the day.

To avoid making the house any hotter than it needed to be (it was about 100 degrees out), I decided to cook the chicken on the grill. The last time I brined the chicken I did this, using a covered roasting pan on the grill, basting the chicken the whole time. It came out great! This time I opted to cook the chicken directly on the grill, rubbing its skin with olive oil, cutting it in half, and placing bone side down onto the grill to cook slowly. The problem with this method was that there wasn’t really a way to keep the chicken from the flame on my little grill, so the chicken cooked a little faster than I’d hoped, charring the outside. Thanks to the brine the chicken was still moist and tender and all of my guests loved the crispy skin, but I’d still recommend cooking the chicken whole in a pot and finishing on the grill if you can’t keep the meat away from the flame.

Two Corn Caprese Polenta Cake

The Caprese Polenta Cakes:

2 ears of fresh corn, cut off cob
1 cup polenta (course corn meal)
4 cups water, salted
1 tablespoon butter
1 basket heirloom cherry tomatoes
½ lb fresh bufala mozzarella
1 cup large fresh basil leaves

Bring the salted water to a boil in a large saucepan. Slowly add the polenta, stirring frequently so that it doesn’t clump. When the polenta is the consistency of hot cereal, remove from heat and stir in butter and whole corn kernels, season with salt to taste.

Coat a large, glass baking dish with olive oil (a splash on a paper towel and spread around will do) then spread the polenta out in the dish. Chill, about an hour.

Cut cherry tomatoes into quarters. Chiffonade the basil and slice the bufala mozzarella into thin slices and put aside.

When the polenta cakes are cooled, cut them into 2 ½ inch squares and plate them on a serving dish, topping with two small slices of mozzarella, a pinch of basil and a pile of tomatoes. Finish with a little fleur de sel.

Sauteed Swiss Chard

Sautéed Swiss Chard:

1 head Swiss Chard, torn (no ribs)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil

Heat the oil in a sauté, tossing around the garlic to unlock the aromas, but being careful not to overcook it. Add the chard, moving it around in the pan and cook until it turns emerald green. Remove immediately from hot pan. Finish with salt and pepper to taste.

Rosemary Olive Oil Cakes

Rosemary Olive Oil Cakes:
(This recipe was originally published in the LA Times)

2 cups plus 2 tbsp pastry flour
1 ½ cups sugar
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 ½ cups whole milk
2 cups Extra Virgin Olive Oil, divided
2 tbsp chopped rosemary
3 tbsp finely grated lemon zest

While the oven is heating to 350 degrees, sift flour, sugar, baking soda and baking powder into a large bowl. Make a deep well in the center, pouring eggs, milk and 1 ½ cups of olive into the well. Whisk the wet ingredients, slowly incorporating the dry ingredients until smooth. Whisk in lemon zest.

Grease mold or muffin tin with 1 tsp olive oil per cup, brushing sides with a pastry brush and allowing the remaining oil to pool. Fill each cup ¾’s full. Sprinkle each muffin with ¼ tsp rosemary. Place on center rack in oven and bake until golden; finish with fleur de sel.

I wasn’t so ambitious as to make my own olive oil gelato like they serve with these rosemary olive oil cakes at Osteria Mozza. Instead I drizzled vanilla ice cream with olive oil and sprinkled it with fleur de sel. It wasn’t as good, but it was good.

Results: Overall the meal was a verifiable success. The chicken, while a little, um, blackened, was moist and sweet with a little herbaceousness and spice. The polenta cakes held together well and weren’t too crumbly, which was a concern. I might try to grill them next time, but in the heat the cool, sweet corn was refreshing and the tartness of the tomatoes, the smooth texture of the mozzarella and pungent basil were fantastic. I must admit, when I conceived of the recipe, I’d imagine the cakes being fluffier—these were pretty dense—so I’ll have to experiment to get the right texture. The chard was fabulously earthy and tasted delicious after it’d cooled a bit. The rosemary oil cakes, one of my favorite restaurant desserts, were moist and fruity with clear olive oil flavors with a potpourri-like rosemary infusion. The salt on both the cakes and the ice cream creates the perfect counterpoint to the sweet cakes. And the best part? The only time I got up was to clear the dishes for dessert.

Pairings: I recently discovered the Loire Valley through a dear friend at work and I’ve been excited about the fresh, acidic and mineral-laced whites through the end of the summer. The Domaine de la Pépière Classique Muscadet Sévre et Maine Sur Lie isn’t just a mouthful in name. Made by Marc Olivier in a traditional, hands-off style, it has cool, crisp wine with tons of stone fruit yumminess. I could have drunk this wine all night, it paired perfectly with the meal, but alas, I only had one bottle. The 2005 Joel Taluau L’Expression is 100% Loire cabernet franc. Dark fruits and violet aromas with amazing acidity and balanced structure kept this wine from being too big for the meal.

3 cups (24 fl oz) unsweetened coconut milk3 cups chicken stock2 tablespoons shredded ginger2 red chilies, seeded and chopped1 tbsp fish sauce3 cilantro roots, bruised3 chicken breast fillets, sliced1 cup shredded basil3 ½ oz bean sprouts

(I left out the chicken stock on accident and used Serrano chili peppers because I couldn’t find fresh red chilies at the farmer’s market or Whole Foods. I also used one pound of Mary’s air-chilled chicken tenderloins instead of breasts and skipped the bean sprouts altogether.)Directions: Pour coconut cream (make sure it’s not “light” coconut milk), stock, ginger, chilies, fish sauce and cilantro leaves, lightly rubbed between your fingers to release the oils, into a large sauté pan over medium heat. Bring to a slow boil, then turn down the heat and let simmer for about five minutes.I tasted the broth at this point and decided to add a little salt and pepper and a splash of chili oil for some extra heat.Add the chicken to the pan, stir, then cover. Cook, stirring occasionally and flipped the chicken so it cooks evenly, until cooked through, about five minutes. Stir in basil and serve over steamed basmati or white rice. Finish with a sprinkling of dried chili flake or Sriacha, a Thai chili sauce. Serves four.

Chicken in Coconut Basil Broth

Results: Leaving the stock out made for a richer broth, touched with light ginger spice and a little chili heat. The smaller cuts of natural chicken cooked fast and cut prep time down, since I didn’t have to slice them. As with any dish, I would recommend tasting as I cook, adding chilies or additional cilantro for more robust flavors. Total cooking time, including prep, was less than a half an hour. My favorite Thai place can’t deliver that quickly. And the ultimate taste tester in my house, Neal, cleaned his plate (and emptied his glass of the Gr üVe mentioned in the next section). If I ever made the same recipe twice, I’d make this one again.Wine pairing: I love drinking crisp, mineral wines with a little fruit when my food has a little heat. At around $10.99 for a liter bottle, the 2006 Berger Grüner Veltliner from Kamptal Kremstal, Austria was a great fit for my Chicken in Basil Coconut Broth. Eric Asimov, in The Pour, his blog for the New York Times, called it, “Fresh and expressive, with citrus, floral and mineral flavors that linger in the mouth.” I found it slightly herbaceous and a little briny, with a clean and crisp minerality that complemented the spice of the dish and cut through the rich, creamy, stock-free coconut broth.