What would become of sandwiches without bread?
Here's a taste of Mexico with a recipe by Roberto Santibanez from Bread, 'Over 60 Breads, Rolls and Cakes Plus Delicious Recipes Using Them' (Kyle Books, October 2012) by Nick Malgieri…
TORTAS DE CARNITAS (p.95)
Possibly the most
interesting sandwiches in the world, Mexican tortas combine boldly seasoned
elements in a way that achieves both complexity and a certain delicacy. A torta
is usually constructed on a telera roll, but there are dozens of regional
variations on the bread. This recipe is from my very dear friend Roberto
Santibañez, chef/owner of Fonda in the East Village in Manhattan and in Park
Slope in Brooklyn, New York.
Friendship aside, my
critical side knows that he cooks the best Mexican food outside Mexico, bar
none.
Makes
4 tortas
4
Teleras, page 82, or other rolls of your choice
2
tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to
spreading
consistency
1/2
cup refried black beans, see below
Half
the Carnitas, see below, warm but not red hot
4
paper-thin slices white or red onion, peeled but
left
intact
4
slices pickled jalapeños, or more or less to taste,
see
Note below
1
ripe Haas avocado, quartered, peeled, and each
quarter
cut across into 1/2-inch slices
2
tablespoons mayonnaise, Mexican crema, or crème
fraiche
1.
Split the rolls and butter. Lightly toast the buttered sides on a griddle, in a
large sauté pan over medium heat, or under the broiler.
2.
Spread the bottom halves of each roll with 2 tablespoons refried beans. Spread a
quarter of the carnitas on each. Top with the slices of onion, the pickled
jalapeños, and the avocado.
3.
Spread the top halves of each roll with mayonnaise or crema and press lightly
on the torta to adhere. Tortas are not usually cut in half before being served
but this gringo recommends you do so to make eating a little easier. Serve
immediately.
NOTE:
The pickled jalapeños can be replaced with 1 tablespoon chipotle chiles in
adobo sauce. Pulse the whole can of chiles and sauce in a food processor, pack
into a plastic container, press plastic wrap against the surface, and
refrigerate.
REFRIED
BLACK BEANS
Combine
1 tablespoon olive or mild vegetable oil, such as safflower or canola, 1
tablespoon finely grated white onion
(it’s okay if it’s mainly liquid), and 1/2 small clove garlic, finely grated,
in a medium saucepan. Set over low heat and cook until the aroma of the garlic
is evident and the onion and garlic are starting to color a little. Off heat,
stir in one 15-ounce can black beans and their liquid. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon
ground toasted chipotle chile or other ground hot pepper and 1/4 teaspoon
crumbled dried oregano leaves, preferably Mexican. Increase the heat
slightly to bring to a boil, then decrease again and start using a potato
masher to turn the beans to a purée. Regulate the heat so that the beans simmer
gently and cook, stirring frequently, until they thicken slightly.
Stir
in salt to taste— they shouldn’t be too salty. Cool the beans and scrape them
into a plastic container for storage. Bring to room temperature before using.
CARNITAS
Combine
2 pounds boneless pork shoulder with some fat on the meat, cut into 1 1/2-inch
pieces, with 3 cups water, 1 cup thinly sliced white onion, 1/4 cup vegetable
oil, 2 tablespoons orange juice, 8 peeled cloves garlic, 3
medium bay leaves, and 1 teaspoon each dried oregano, crumbled, and fine sea
salt in a 3- to 4-quart enameled iron Dutch oven. Bring to a boil over medium
heat, skimming as necessary, then decrease the heat to an active simmer. Cook
until the water evaporates, the pork is very tender, and it starts to fry in
its rendered fat, about 1 and 1/2 hours. Transfer to a gratin dish or other baking dish and bake the pork and
fat at 450˚F until it colors deeply, about 20 minutes. Cool to just warm. For
advance preparation, cool, cover, and refrigerate. Reheat and cool to lukewarm
before using.
QUICK
CHANGES
TORTA
DE ALBÓNDIGAS: For a single sandwich, after spreading the bottom half of the
telera with the beans, top with 2 of the albondigas and some of their sauce on
page 34—they should be warm but not hot. Sprinkle with cilantro, onion, and
cheese as in the albóndigas recipe. Top with avocado if you wish, then spread
the top half of the roll with mayonnaise or crema.
TORTA
DE PECHUGA: For a single sandwich, cook a chicken breast as in Rosemary Chicken
Sandwiches, page 71. Slice if you wish, but in Mexico it would be used whole.
Assemble
the sandwich as at left, but sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of crumbled queso
fresco.
TORTA
DE MILANESA: Bread and fry in vegetable oil some thin 3-ounce pork or chicken
cutlets as in Wiener Schnitzel, page 42. Assemble like the Torta de Pechuga,
above.
p.82: Mexican sandwich rolls
Makes
8 rolls
11/2
cups/340 grams cool tap water, about 70°F
21/4
teaspoons/7 grams fine granulated active dry or instant
yeast
1
cup/225 grams whole milk, scalded and cooled
6
cups/800 grams unbleached bread flour (spoon into
a dry-measure cup and level off)
2
tablespoons/30 grams sugar
3
teaspoons/18 grams fine sea salt
Cornmeal
for the pan
One
heavy cookie sheet or jelly-roll pan sprinkled with
cornmeal, plus a spray bottle filled with
warm
water, and one 1/2-inch-diameter dowel
These
are the rolls that tortas, Mexican sandwiches, are made on.
They’re
split and reheated in the oven, or split and the cut sides buttered and quickly
toasted on a griddle. Their light texture and thin crust make it easier to bite
through the large amounts of filling common in tortas.
1.
Whisk the water and yeast together in the bowl of an electric mixer. Whisk in
the cooled milk. Add the flour and sugar and stir. Place the bowl on the mixer
with the dough hook attachment and beat on the lowest speed until a rough dough
forms, about 3 minutes, then let the dough rest for 15 minutes.
2.
Sprinkle in the salt and beat the dough on medium speed until smooth and
elastic, about 3 minutes.
3.
Scrape the dough into an oiled bowl and cover it with a piece of oiled plastic
wrap.
Let
the dough rise until it’s more than doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.
4.
Scrape the dough onto a floured work surface. Flour the dough and your hands
and flatten the dough to a disk. Fold the two sides in to overlap at the
middle, then roll the top toward you all the way to the end, jelly-roll style.
Invert, flatten, and repeat; scrape it back into the bowl. Cover the dough and
let it rest another 30 minutes.
5.
Flour the work surface and use a scraper to invert and move the dough onto it.
Gently ease the dough, without deflating it too much, into an 8-inch square.
Use an oiled scraper to cut the square into 8 equal pieces, each about 120
grams. Round each piece of dough (see step 6, page 80), placing it upside down
on a flour-dusted towel. If the dough is very sticky, flour the palm of your
hand, not the dough. Cover with another towel or oiled or sprayed plastic wrap
and let the rolls rest for 10 minutes.
6.
To form the teleras, place a piece of dough rounded side upward on a lightly
floured surface and use the palm of your hand to gently flatten it. Generously
flour the surface of the roll and use a 1/2-inch diameter dowel to mark 2
parallel lines in the top of the roll in its length. Each line should be a
little less than one third of the way
in from the side. Use the dowel to roll back and forth and make a 1/4-inch wide
trench in each of the marked places.
Repeat
with the remaining pieces of dough. Arrange 4 rolls on each of the prepared
pans, spacing them well apart, and cover them again. Let the rolls proof until
they’re about 50% larger than their original size.
Once
the teleras have started to puff, set racks in the upper and lower thirds of
the oven and preheat to 450˚F.
7.
Once the rolls have fully risen, place the pans in the oven and decrease the
heat to 400˚F. Bake until well risen and golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Once the
rolls are fully risen and starting to color, about halfway through the baking
time, turn the pans back to front and move the pan on the upper rack to the
lower one and vice versa.
8.
Cool the rolls on a rack and use them the day they are baked, or wrap, bag, and
freeze for longer storage. Reheat the defrosted rolls at 350˚F for 3 minutes
and cool before serving.
(* Recipe excepted from 'Bread' by Nick Malgieri-published by Kyle Books, October 2012- photography by Romulo Yanes, all rights reserved)