Tag: Aran Goyoaga

September 27, 2022 – Tortilla de Patata

September 27, 2022 /

Our exchange student was gaga over this dish. I had never heard of it before and unfortunately, he had no real cooking skills. So, we didn’t really try this until we went to Spain last summer. It is very simple, comfort food that I made following the recipe in Canelle et Vanille for our September meeting of the Left Coast Culinary Book Club.

Eggs, potatoes, onion, salt and oil, it cant get much simpler than that. First peel and fry the potatoes and onions. The recipe called for three medium Yukon Gold potatoes. I used four shriveling, nearly rotten ones cooked in 3/4 cup of olive oil. In the mean time, scramble 6 eggs, I used 8 medium eggs.

I don’t know if this is the key or not, but after the potatoes are fried, you put them into the raw eggs and then dump the whole mixture back into the skillet. The key to the whole thing is that you need to flip the tortilla once. This is where our exchange student went wrong the couple of times that he attempted it as he never flipped it.

Aran said that you need to use a good, quality non-stick pan. Well, I dont have a good one and the truth is, I really don’t have a ‘non-stick’ (teflon coated) pan, so I used my cast iron skillet. And it worked perfectly fine.

Finding something to flip the tortilla onto was also a challenge. If I were to hazard a guess, I think this recipe would work better in a 10 inch pan rather that a 12 inch pan. My feelings are that the the over all product was too thin, but it worked just fine. I think the texture came out a little to rustic compared to the pictures I have seen (as well as real life) because of the ratio of potatoes to egg and the overall size.

We frequently make eggs and potatoes for breakfast. This combination is nothing new. I guess what is that every time I have mixed raw eggs and cooked potatoes is that the eggs seem to coat the potatoes and disappear. So, taking them out and mixing with the eggs before cooking seemed to be a better way of doing it.

End Your Programming Routine: As soon as we arrived to the dinner, the tortilla was served and nearly eaten. I would say that it was a success. Like I said, a little tweaking of the recipe could make this an easy stand-out. I say, not bad for the first time.

September 20, 2022 – Cannelle et Vanille, Part 2

September 20, 2022 /

I wasn’t the only one confused. It seemed as though most of the book club members weren’t sure if it was one book or both. So, most of them looked at both. This was the first cookbook that Aran Goyoaga wrote and it is all about dishes but includes baking.

I think that it is natural that everyone wants to put a stamp on their work. In this case, I saw something that I had never seen before which was about ten different meals. They included the entre, salad and drink/desert/side. This was the last third of the book. I suppose kind of like wine, pairing everything together.

I kind of like the concept. At least it makes the decision making kind of easy. I guess what makes the book speak to me more is that the ten dinners seem to have a Spanish bend. There is paella, tortilla de patata and various seafood, pasta and Mediterranean vegetable dished that are in Aran’s culture. I made the tortilla for our dinner and I feel closer to these Spanish recipes than I did with the Jose Andres cookbook.

If there is any downside to the cookbook, I would say is that it shares content with the baking cookbook. So, there is some duplication in the introduction fundamentals and the baking sections. I suppose that it is nice to know that she sticks to her principles and has found something that works. The other thing that I found a little too much gluten free baking in this particular cookbook. Since this one was written first, this is a much more comprehensive cookbook and I could see the other one as a niche reference.

Just like the others, there are a few things I am interested in trying. I am definitely going to give paella a whirl. I have made it before and after feeling disappointed in Spain, I feel like I can do it better. I mentioned after reading Self-Reliance magazine that I would like to try to make yogurt. There is a recipe here as well. I also saw a very approachable ragu using beef roast. I am always looking for more ways to focus on the primal cuts besides just Sunday roasts.

Once you start getting so many cookbooks, it is difficult to invest much unless it speaks to you. I was not excited when I saw the list and this one included. However, after giving it a chance and our connection to Spain, this one is stack ranking on the higher third on the list. What I am saying is that I don’t think that this cookbook is going to appeal to everyone but it seems to be the right mixture for me.

End Your Programming Routine: I feel for those that have a severe gluten intolerance. I know other chef’s that are absolutely tortured by situation. So, for that reason alone, I applaud Aran for attempting to solve the problem. As I said last week, I am going to keep trying things until we can eliminate some of the extra ingredients around or give up. If this is you, then I would give a recommend to the book at least for experimenting.

September 13, 2022 – Cannelle et Vanille, Part 1

September 13, 2022 /

This is the September 2022 selection for the the Left Coast Culinary Book Club. Now, all of this is a bit confusing, at least to me. Because I missed the initial meeting this year when the selections were made, it appears that there are multiple books in the series as well as a blog. I went ahead and purchased both.

One book is a gluten, vegan, dairy free baking cookbook. The second and more difficult to find is a more traditional cookbook. Hence, why I broke this review up into two entries. It also appears that there is a third on the way.

The official title of the book is Cannelle et Vannille Bakes Simple: A New Way To Bake Gluten Free by Aran Goyoaga. The cookbook contains 100 recipes for breads, deserts and all things baking using alternative ingredients. Her blog is a two time James Beard finalist. Those are pretty high marks in my book as those awards are the best of the best. I will say, the blog hasn’t been updated since 2019, so I am not sure what she is currently up to besides writing a third cookbook.

I started with this one because it was the one that I received first. The truth is, I don’t think that this was the actual choice of the month but it was ubiquitous compared to the other cookbook given that it is the latest publication. And the only reason I actually bought it is because my son says that he wants to open a bakery with all of these particular traits. I figured it was worth having as a reference and a starting point for him if nothing else.

In my life, my wife has inflammatory responses or another way of saying immunodeficiencies. My research into food has convinced me that gluten, sugar and carbohydrates do play a large role into triggering that. I don’t think that it is really good for anyone and it particularly worse for others with immune issues. For that reason, I have cut way down on bread and pasta. What was at least one sandwich a day has gone to a couple a month for instance.

My own experiences with gluten free has left me less than impressed. One, I don’t think fake food ever replaces the real thing. Gluten plays a role in bread and pasta that is really irreplaceable. In order to make up for the things the real ingredients are missing, a lot of chemicals and other bad (or worse) ingredients are used.

To be honest, I have yet to make anything. As I stated earlier, I bought this for my son. That being said, we have most of the flour substitutes hanging out taking up space, I might as well use them up. The area that I feel like the best place to start are items that are more dense, like pound cake. That way, we are mitigating the things that gluten bring to bread such as elasticity.

As stated earlier, I personally know people that have sensitivity to certain things. They can even have a reaction by touching particular chemicals. Did you know that Play-Dough has flour in it? The thing that I think this cookbook does well is touching on all the particular substitutions like flour, eggs or dairy. There is no judgement offering flour equivalents as well.

Aran was originally from Spain. Most of the recipes have a European feel to them. Truthfully, I only have one other cookbook that is exclusively baking but I found that over half of the deserts had fruit incorporated in them. Outside of substitute flours and dairy products, everything else seems pretty natural and oriented toward lower sugar. Those are pluses in my book.

One thing that I found surprising were the recipes containing ‘sourdough’ starter and the use of yeast with the flour substitutes. I guess I didn’t think that they would actually work. Once again, I can’t vouch for anything yet but I do plan on trying a few things. I might make the blueberry coffee cake for our monthly dinner considering it is coming up in a just a few days and I have some blueberries to finish off.

End Your Programming Routine: I get turned off by evangelists, maybe it is the holier than though or the aggressive nature of their chosen religion (like veganism). Because the approach is pretty universal and inclusive, I am more inclined to give it a shot. The truth is, I would like to do a side by side with substitutes and real ingredients just to see if there is a taste and texture difference. Maybe that will be in the near future as the weather changes.