4/5 Lets do lunch

Yesterday, I was not home for dinner, so I made three recipes: a Basque sheepherder's bread, a Spanish omelet, and a pintxos (the Basque version of tapas).
Spanish Omelet or Tortilla de Patatas

This is a very pleasant and straightforward dish that I had during my stay in the Basque country (on the Spanish side).  I have also seen it offered in Basque restaurants.  Pedro Martin has recipes for similar, yet fancier, omelets in his book, Tapas of San Sebastian and Ann Rogers includes a recipe for this omelet in A Basque Story Cookbook.  I have improvised this recipe before, but I referenced Ann Rogers' recipe this time. 4 eggs, 1 onion, thinly sliced (optional), 2-3 medium potatoes, olive oil, and salt.

Quarter and thinly slice the potatoes, about the width of 2 or 3 potato chip slices.Sautee the onions for about 2 minutes in the oil and a dash of salt with medium heat.  Add the potatoes adn turn the heat down to medium/low, stir regularly so that the onions do not burn. Mix 4 eggs together in a separate bowl.  When the potatoes have turned a light golden brown, pour the eggs over them.  Cover and cook until the top is somewhat solid.  Flip over. The bottom should be golden brown.  Cook until the other side is the same color. Flip onto plate and salt to taste. A garnish of roasted peppers or tomatoes is traditional and gives the omelet a little extra something.  Enjoy!

Basque Sheepherder's bread
I got this recipe from the article, "Basques in the West," published in Sunset Magazine in 1976.  This bread is cooked in a dutch oven, to resemble the traditional pit-baking practiced by Basque sheepherders.  Sweet like a challah, yet denser, this dish represents the Basque-American tradition of sheepherding.
3 cups very hot water
1/2 cup butter, margarine, or shortening
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 packages dry yeast (2 scant Tblsp)
About 9 1/2 cups all purpose flour, unsifted, and
olive oil. In a bowl, combine the hot water, butter, sugar, and salt.  Stir until butter melts; let cool to warm (110 to 115 degrees).  Stir in yeast, cover, and set in a warm place until bubbly, about 15 minutes.  Add 5 cups of the flour and beat with a heavy-duty mixer or wooden spoon to form a thick batter.  With a spoon, stir in enough of the remaining flour (about 3 1/2 cups) to form a stiff dough.  Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead until smooth, about 10 minutes, adding flour as needed to prevent sticking.  Turn dough over in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.  Punch down dough and knead on a floured board to form a smooth ball. Cut a circle of foil to cover the bottom of the Dutch oven.  Grease the inside of the Dutch oven and the underside of the lid with salad oil.

Place dough in the pot and cover with the lid.  Let rise in a warm place until dough pushes up the lid by about 1/2 inch, about 1 hour (watch closely).

Bake, covered with lid, in a 375 degree oven for 12 minutes.  Remove lid and bake for another 30 to 35 minutes, or until loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped (somehow when I was doing this the oven got turned off.  I turned it back on eventually and the bread did become golden brown, but it was a little underdone on the inside).  Remove from oven and turn loaf out onto a rack to cool.  Makes 1 very large loaf.

Mushroom and chorizo pintxos
Pinxtos are a Spanish-Basque specialty.   They are a smaller version of tapas, served as an open faced sandwich on top of a slice of baguette.  Many Pintxo bars are often found in the same area, so people can go from one to the next, while enjoying a drink and a couple pintxos at each one.  Pintxos are beginning to be served in the newer, more Spanish or new cuisine restaurants in America as appetizers or at the bar.  I served mine on top of small pieces of the sheepherders bread.  The sweetness of the bread nicely offset the saltiness of the chorizo-mushroom mixture. This pintxo was inspired by a mushroom pintxo in Pedro Martin's book.

To make four larger than usual pintxos:

1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
3/4 Tblsp. chorizo, chopped (I used about 1 1/2 Tblsp. and the flavor was far too overpowering)
olive oil
dash of salt

Sautee the onions until they are a light golden brown.  Pay attention not to burn them.  Add the mushrooms and choritzo and continue to sautee until they look done. Distribute the mixture over the slices of bread and serve.