Pear Pastry
Since we can't be at AT&T Park watching the game live and eating garlic fries, we needed something to start tonight's baseball game. We keep seeing our former season ticket seats... It is such an awesome ball park. I miss those seats. Those were fun days.
But I digress...
I picked up a couple of great-looking pears yesterday, thinking they would lend themselves to a fun dessert. They did - except I didn't make the dessert!
We had puff pastry in the freezer...
Victor peeled and cubed the pears and coated them with maybe a quarter-cup of sugar. Into a skillet they went with a tablespoon of butter, a bit of flour, cinnamon and nutmeg.
When they caramelized a bit, he added a splash of apple cider and let that cook down.
Onto the pastry, folded up 2 sides, and baked at 425° for about 15 minutes.
Yum.
Pico de Gallo
One of the things I picked up at Atlantic Spice on Saturday when we were up on The Cape was a bag of pico de gallo. Pico de gallo is generally a salsa of sorts, made with tomatoes, onions, peppers, lemon juice, cilantro... The ingredients vary from area to area and it can be firey hot or fruity mild.
The bag I bought was a blend of spices and seasonings. While I usually don't buy a lot of spice blends, I thought what the heck. Actually, I just think that I don't buy a lot of spice blends... when I opened the spice cabinet to figure out how I was going to fit yet another item in there, I noticed just how many spice blends I don't buy.
I can't believe how many I don't buy.
I decided I needed to do something vaguely Mexican tonight. I had chicken already cooked from the bird I cooked yesterday for the soup, pico de gallo spice... An idea started forming.
My first thought was to do something like a gordita or an El Salvadoran pupusa. (A woman I worked with years ago at San Francisco General Hospital made the best pupusas!!! Alicia, I miss you and your cooking!)
But... I made more of a tamale dough than a pupusa or gordita dough. Much softer and lighter.
So, I decided to make something open-faced.
I made the dough:
- 1 cup masa harina
- 1/3 cup lard
- 1 cup warm water
- pinch salt
The filling was:
- chicken
- pico de gallo
- roasted red peppers
- chopped green chiles
topped with:
- quesso fresco
- cotija
Cotija is an aged Mexican cheese. Salty and dry, it's like a Mexican version of parmesan.
The topless gorditas were very soft, so I put the tray in the 'fridge for an hour for them to firm up. I never would have gotten them off the pan at room temperature.
I fired up the griddle and browned them really well and then stuck the griddle under the broiler to melt the cheeses and heat everything through.
I topped them with salsa verde and a few sliced black olives.
It may not have been the most authentic of Mexican meals, but it definitely hit the spot! I can definitely see some variations on this theme!