Any of you who live in the Northeast, or watch the Weather Channel, know that the past few days on the East Coast have been absolutely disgusting... highs near 100, and lows near 80... accompanied by REALLY lovely 60-70% humidity. This weather report is only to explain to you why I was being a bit crabby as I tried to figure out dinner last night.
JUST a salad wasn't appealing... meat seemed out of the question... I was out of soy sauce, so Asian wasn't happening... but it was so hot that I needed to look to hot or at least very warm countries for inspiration. Then the light bulb went off...
Spain. A Spanish tortilla... essentially a baked omelet with chorizo, etc. But turning on the oven held no appeal, so I sautéed about ¼ C of finely chopped chorizo, with chopped scallions, garlic, EVOO, some chopped rosemary and thyme, and a bit of smoked paprika. I let that cool, and in the meantime began to make a basic omelet with 4 eggs, salt and pepper, and a splash of cream. When the omelet was firm but not at all brown, and had only a slight film of uncooked egg on the top, I scattered the chorizo mix on top, added some microplaned cheese (very sharp cheddar as I had no manchego), and folded the omelet in half. Cut in half, sprinkled with chives, and served with a salad and a few sautéed potato wedges (these are traditionally added to the omelet...).
A perfect dinner for two with a glass of good Spanish red (a gift from my cousins Hayes and Tena). Satisfying but not too filling... a little heat from the chorizo... all in all a pretty good solution to the But it's too hot to cook! conundrum...
