Local Lemons

Tortilla Omelet

This is one of the easiest, tastiest breakfasts I have ever made – and the accolades all belong to the ingredients. Sweet Maui onions, local organic eggs, homemade tortillas and aged dry jack cheese are all spruced up with a generous sprinkle of cilantro and a squeeze of lime.

In my last post I mentioned the California Rancho Cooking cookbook, so I thought it only fair to now share one of its recipes. The dish is called Don Miguel Acosta's Tortilla Omelet, named after the 84-year-old Santa Barbara descendant who, as author Jacqueline Higuera McMahan says, still wakes up every day with ideas for new recipes. This one grabbed my attention because usually when tortillas and eggs are in the same meal, the tortillas' sole purpose is to wrap up the eggs in neat little breakfast burritos. Not here though - this recipe gives the tortilla top-billing, so use ones that you made yourself or pick some up at a local Mexican restaurant. I used leftover ancho-corn tortillas from my halibut, but plain corn turns out just as good. I changed the recipe quite a bit from the original, but the technique and the feel are the same, and that's the important part.

I love how rustic these eggs feel. When you're eating it, you can imagine early Californians preparing their breakfast the same way, using only the natural ingredients they have on hand. This is the way food was meant to be eaten – pure and simple.

Halibut Diablo with Ancho-Corn Tortillas

Since moving to the west coast, I have been trying to learn as much as I can about California cuisine. While I knew I’d be eating a lot of organic, local produce, I was already doing that in New York, and wasn’t quite clear on how my diet would be changing. The most obvious difference was the availability of vibrant local foods all year round. As Alejandro loved to point out when I dragged him to NY farmers’ markets in the winter, all you really find there are apples.

California is also known for their Mexican fare, which for the most part is superior to that in New York. I love Mexican food when it’s freshly made, but it’s hard to find quality food from south of the border that’s not chock full of artery-clogging lard and melted cheese. This is why I was thrilled when I came across the California Rancho Cookbook, which beautifully combines the flavors of Mexico and Spain with the freshness of California. You'll find recipes that combine olives, figs and raisins in otherwise familiar plates like tamales and quesadillas. This recipe wasn’t in the book, but after reading it I was inspired to try a dish of my own in the same vein. If you have yet to get your hands a copy, I can't recommend it enough. Author Jacqueline Higuera McMahan taught me techniques that I now apply to many of my Italian dishes as well.

Use the freshest fish you can find for this dish, and preferably a thick and meaty one. I would suggest the Halibut, but only if you live on the west coast – I never had Halibut in New York as tasty as it is here. Tilapia and other thin, flaky fish may fall apart in the stew, which isn't necessarily bad, but I wanted chunky pieces of fish to bite into. Red snapper would work well, and maybe even arctic char. For the sauce, I blended tomatoes, lime, cumin, cilantro and onions and cooked it with thin slices of sweet red pepper and the just-caught pacific halibut. Serve it with homemade ancho-corn tortillas and top with a little avocado mashed with sea salt and olive oil. I would advise against adding any cheese to this - I think it would just distract from the pure taste of the fish and spices.