Carrot cake (muffins)

On one occasion, many years ago, when I first arrived in Argentina, I was invited to an asado on a farm in San Antonio de Areco. And, as is my custom, I baked a cake to take along. A carrot cake. Unknown to me at the time, carrot cakes were not that well known amongst my group of (new) friends and the amount of banter I had to put up with for making a "salad" cake was unreal. Thankfully, today, my friends are all in love with this simple and very tasty cake.
The cake is made in two separate bowls, one for the dry ingredients and the other for the wet ingredients. In the dry ingredients bowl: 2 cups of flour, 2 cups of sugar, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, half a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of ground nutmeg.
In the wet ingredients bowl, 4 eggs, half a cup of oil, 3 cups of grated carrots, half a cup of broken up walnuts.
Mix each bowl separately and then combine, mixing just enough to combine the ingredients. Pour the mixture into a loaf baking pan and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes on medium heat or until dry on the inside. Alternatively, as I did this time, bake in muffin tins.
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Potato bake

This is a very simple dish to make that is also a sure winner on so many fronts: looks, taste, cost, ease.
Start off by boiling a few potatoes. I leave them whole and then cut them afterwards, in that way they don't break apart in the pot. If you'd prefer the more rustic version to this recipe, use small potatoes, leave the skins on and boil whole.
Once the potatoes are in the pot, cut up a large onion as well as a clove or garlic and fry these in a little butter until soft and transparent.
Next, cut up some salami (optional) and set aside. Also, grate some cheese for garnish.
And the final ingredients: in a bowl, beat two eggs, add salt, black pepper to taste, as well as some cream.
Now to pull it all together: cut the cooked potatoes into thick slices and arrange in an oven-proof dish. After the first layer, sprinkle some of the salami as well as some of the braised onions. Repeat this layering process until all the ingredients have been used up. Now pour the egg mixture on top and finally, cover with cheese. Bake in the oven for about ten minutes (keeping in mind that almost everything is already cooked) and finally place under the grill to brown the cheese. Enjoy.
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Cheesy French baguettes

Whenever I make bread, the shape is either that of a loaf or a "free form" which basically translates to "I have no control over the shape". So I took a piece of aluminium drain pipe (8cm diameter), cut it in half and folded it over so that I have two perfect moulds into which I could bake French-style baguettes.
The actual bread recipe is simple enough: flour (as much as you need), salt and about a tablespoon of olive oil. I added grated cheese as an alternative. To this, add yeast that has proved in a bowl with warm water and two teaspoons of sugar. Mix everything together ans slowly add more warm water until you get a soft dough. Knead until smooth, place in a bowl, cover and leave in a warm, dark place until the dough doubles in size.
Remove from bowl, punch out the air and cut into two equal pieces. Roll out into a disc (about the same size as your mould is long) and then roll it up into a cigar-shape. Place his into your mould and allow to prove again.
Bake in a hot oven and should you desire the bread to be hard and crispy on the outside, use a spray bottle with water, every few minutes.
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Tortilla

This is a very yummy and versatile Spanish dish that can be eaten warm or cold, with or without all the extra trimmings.
What it is, in effect, is deep fried potato chips that is cooled and then combined with eggs to make a kind of omelette.
Peel potatoes and cut into small cubes. Deep fry until crispy. Remove from the oil and allow to drain and cool.
Meanwhile, take eggs (I used 5) and beat in a jug. To this I added the following: one small onion, finely diced, chopped parsley, salt, pepper, paprika and a teaspoon of baking powder. Other alternatives could be diced chorizo colorado (typical in the Spanish version) or diced ham. Really, the extras will personalise this recipe for you.
Now mix the egg mixture with the potato chips and turn out into a non-stick pan, moving around with a spatula. After a little while, the bottom of the tortilla will be "cooked" with the middle and top will be raw. Now for the tricky bit: place a plate on top of the tortilla and, holding the plate and the pan with a cloth, turn everything over. The partially cooked tortilla will now (hopefully) be in the plate. Return the pan to the heat and simply slide the tortilla back into the pan, so that the raw side is now on the bottom. Cook for a little while longer until it reaches the consistency that you desire.
In Argentina, tortilla is done in one of three ways: completely cooked, slightly moist or undercooked. A very good friend, on honeymoon in Spain, decided to ask for a tortilla undercooked or "babé" to which the waiter replied: "We have tortilla well-done or not well-done". So you choose the cooking consistency that you desire!
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Ciabatta

Of all the different bread types there are, ciabatta is by far my favourite. And yet I've never made any, until now, that is. By way of its ingredients, this is the simplest kind of bread, made simply with flour, yeast water and olive oil. The secret to getting it to look and feel like ciabatta has more to do with technique than anything else.
So, to start with, take three and a half cups of flour, a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of sugar and one and a half teaspoons of dry yeast and mix in a bowl. Now add a cup and a half of room temperature water and mix. You will have a very stick dough. Resist the urge to add more flour. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and divide into two equal pieces. Place each piece in a bowl, cover with a cloth and leave to double in size (about an hour).
Flatten the dough out with your hand and then fold the one edge toward the middle, then the other edge, then each of the two ends. Turn over and repeat. Place this folded dough into the bowl, cover and leave for an hour. Repeat this process three times. On the third occasion, instead of returning it to the bowl, place on an oiled baking tray and allow to rise again. Bake in a medium oven until brown. During the baking process, use a water spray and moisten the bread every five minutes. This will ensure a lovely crispy exterior.

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Baking bread - cold rise method

Let's face it, there are few things that bring us more pleasure than the smell of freshly baked bread first thing in the morning. The only issue with that is that baking bread the conventional way could take up to two or three hours, depending on the time it takes the dough to prove. So here's a simple alternative.
Prepare your dough in the evening as you would normally, but half the amount of yeast you use. So that would be something like two to three cups of flour, a teaspoon of salt and a few tablespoons of olive oil. Mix half a packet of dry yeast in a little warm water with some sugar and add to the dry ingredients. Mix by hand until you have a soft and slightly sticky dough. Place the dough in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Up till here, everything is much the same as before. Now, normally, you'd place the dough in a dark warm place to double in size for about an hour. Instead, place the bowl in the fridge and go to sleep!
The proving process will continue in the fridge, just much slower. Also, the yeast will have more time to flavour your bread. And if you're like me and you wake up at some stage in the small hours to go to the bathroom, remove the bowl from the fridge flatten it down, shape it on your baking tray and allow it to return to room temperature. Then go back to bed. By the time you wake up, your bread would have risen to the desired height and all that is left is to bake it and make a whole lot of people in your house very happy.
For this particular loaf I made this morning, I placed a tray in the bottom of the oven with water (to create steam) and every ten minutes or so I removed the bread and sprayed it with water, thereby ensuring a hard, crispy exterior. Yum!
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Sausage rolls

These little delights are not at the top of my food choices simply because my kids don't like hot dogs. But they eat these, especially at birthdays.
As I mentioned in a previous post, Argentina is well-known for its empanadas and the dough is readily sold in pre-packed disks. Place these disks on your work surface and either use as is or add an ingredient to each, like mustard, cheddar cheese or ketchup. Place a vienna sausage in the middle, roll up and then cut into three pieces. These freeze very well.
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