Our review of Diestel Ranch turkey chorizo inspired us to whip up a torta española for breakfast.

One of the most popular uses for crumbled chorizo is in a torta española, or Spanish omelet. Made with eggs, potatoes and onions, the recipe is customized with whatever ingredients you have on hand: cooked meats, sausage, other vegetables and herbs.

In Spain, it is served at any time of the day: for breakfast, lunch or dinner, or as tapas with a glass of wine. We sometimes serve a slice with a green salad as a first course.

To Americans, a torta will resemble a crustless quiche; but it’s made without cream or milk, and is cooked in a skillet rather than baked.

It’s an easy recipe, the most taxing part of which is flipping the half-cooked omelet onto a plate and then back into the pan. But you’ll have fun doing it.

Prep time 15 minutes, cook time 30 minutes. If you happen to have leftover boiled potatoes, you can use them and save 20 minutes of cooking the raw potatoes.

Ingredients For 4 Servings

Preparation

1. ADD the vegetable oil to a large skillet until the pan is filled halfway. Heat over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the potato slices and onion, making sure they are well-covered by the oil; add more oil if necessary. Cook for 20 minutes until the potatoes and onions are soft. Drain the oil and combine the potato mixture with the eggs and herbs. Add the salt and mix well.

2. ADD the olive oil to a separate, nonstick, skillet, 10 inches by 2-1/2 inches deep. Heat over medium-high heat and add the potato, egg, and onion mixture. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until the bottom of the omelet is very light brown.

3. USING a flat ceramic plate, cover the frying pan and flip the omelet over onto the plate. Immediately slip the uncooked side back into the pan. Cook for another 4 to 5 minutes, until the other side is a very light brown.

4. REMOVE the omelet to a plate and cut into 4 wedges for breakfast, smaller slices for a first course.
  

Love spicy sausage but have been told to avoid the cholesterol? How about turkey chorizo? How about a turkey chorizo scrambled eggs recipe (it’s below).

Made by family-run Diestel Turkey Ranch, it has lots of flavor and fewer calories, cholesterol, and sodium* than conventional pork or beef chorizo.

Whether in a Cinco de Mayo recipe or everyday breakfast burritos or scrambled eggs, it has only 2g of fat per serving.

The all-natural, Mexican-style chorizo is made from 100% pure ground turkey, is minimally processed, and is gluten-free. The family’s seasoning blend adds dimensions of flavor as well as a spicy kick.

The Diestel Family Turkey Ranch has been sustainably raising turkeys for over four generations. Their turkeys and turkey products are humanely raised on GAP-rated farms, without hormones, antibiotics, or growth stimulants, resulting in tender and juicier turkeys with old-fashioned flavor and great texture.

The products are sold at independent, natural and upscale food stores nationwide. Here’s a store locator.
 
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*A two-ounce serving has 60 calories, 15 from fat; 0g saturated fat, 30mg cholesterol, 360mg sodium, 2g diegary fiber, 8g protein.
 
 
MEXICAN CHORIZO VS. SPANISH CHORIZO

Mexican chorizo is a spicy ground meat sausage, sold fresh and uncooked. It can be purchased either loose or in a casing: Many traditional Mexican recipes call for the chorizo casing to be removed and the meat to be crumbled while cooking.

The traditional chorizo meat is pork, but you can find beef and turkey versions. Use Mexican-style chorizo as you would any ground meat.

Spanish chorizo is a cured, dried, ready-to-eat pork sausage. The casing is not removed prior to eating. Dense and chewy, Spanish-style chorizo is made in smoked, unsmoked, sweet, and spicy varieties. It can be served as tapas, with other charcuterie, with a cheese plate, or added to recipes (paellas, soups, tortas, etc).

Spanish chorizo is seasoned with smoked paprika, which is responsible for the vibrant color. Other traditional herbs and spices include cumin and garlic. Here’s a photo.
 

THINGS TO MAKE WITH CHORIZO

In Mexico, chorizo is often served at breakfast with scrambled eggs. Here’s a recipe from Betty Crocker that’s ready in 15 minutes.

Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
Preparation

1. REMOVE the casings from the sausage and cook the sausage on a 10- or 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Cook about 5 minutes until the meat is no longer pink, stirring and breaking up the sausage.

2. BEAT the eggs in a medium bowl until blended. Begin to toast the bread or warm the tortillas.

3. ADD the beaten eggs to the chorizo in the skillet and stir. Cook for about 4 minutes, stirring constantly, until the eggs are scrambled and set. Taste and add salt as necessary.

4. SPREAD the butter on the toasted slices of bread and place toast on individual plates. Spoon the eggs over the toast. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.
 
 

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One of our favorite cheese experiences is truffle cheese. It provides all the pleasure of a shaved truffles dish at a fraction of the price. The cheese makers use bits and pieces that have fallen off the precious truffles during handling.

Truffle cheeses are typically made from a blend of cow’s milk and sheep’s milk or cow’s milk and goat’s milk. One of our favorites is made from only goat’s milk. Any truffle lover who tries these cheeses gets hooked.

If you can’t find the cheeses locally, you can get excellent-quality varieties from iGourmet.com, which sells individual cheeses plus a truffle cheese assortment.

Here are two we’ve been enjoying recently.

TRUFFLE TREMOR

Bloomy-rinded, semisoft Truffle Tremor, from California’s Cypress Grove Chevre, is imbued with truffle aroma and flavor, dotted with black Italian summer truffles (Tuber aestivum Vittadini) truffles throughout. Elegant and sophisticated, it is a luxurious table cheese.

Among its many awards over the years are First Place at the American Cheese Society Awards in 2014, First Place at the 2014 World Championship Cheese Contest and the Super Gold at the 2014 World Cheese Awards.

It’s a perfect marriage of ripened goat cheese and truffles, delivering floral, herb and mushroom notes. Made 200 miles north of San Francisco, it’s an earth-shaking masterpiece.

A slice of heaven: Truffle Tremor. Photo courtesy Cypress Grove Chevre.

It’s available at many fine cheese stores, and online at CypressGroveChevre.com.

For Mother’s Day or other special dinner, we like to serve a slice of the cheese with a green salad (lightly tossed in vinaigrette), or with sweet accompaniments. For a Truffle Tremor dessert plate, for every eight ounces of cheese serve:

 
Or, a simple drizzle of honey (how about truffle honey!) with slices of baguette will do nicely.
 
Note For Connoisseurs

Truffleur is another great, semisoft American truffle cheese, produced by Tumalo Farms in Oregon. This is another goat cheese, infused with native Oregon white truffles, then aged three to four months.

It’s rare to find a white truffle cheese. The flavor and aroma are distinctively different from black truffles. Because the cheese is relatively mild, the truffle flavor really comes through at the finish—wonderful! Since it is made with the local truffle harvest, this cheese is seasonal, usually available only December through February. So mark your calendar.

Semihard, in addition to the cheese plate it can be used to make a spectacular mac and cheese, or to melt atop a burger.

FROMAGER D’AFFINOIS

From France, this variety of fromager d’affinois, a Brie-like double-crème cow’s milk cheese, is a beautiful blend of the creamy cheese with the subtle earthiness of the truffles.

The black truffles are from Périgord—the best truffles in the world. It is a seasonal product that is in store for the holidays from October to January and then again in March through May.

You can find it now in most gourmet/specialty stores, Whole Foods Markets, Trader Joe’s (as a unit size under their label called the Truffle Brie) and some Costco stores. Learn more at FromagerDAffinois.com.
 
HOW TO CARE FOR YOUR CHEESE

These tips should be followed with all fine cheese:

Forget the plastic wrap: Re-wrapping soft-ripened cheese in wax paper or parchment paper will allow the cheese to breath as it continues to ripen.

Keep the cheese cold (33°-35°F) and remove from the fridge at least one hour before serving.

BEER WINE PAIRINGS WITH TRUFFLE CHEESE

These are the favorite pairings from the folks at Cypress Grove Chevre:

Beers

 
White Wines

 
Red Wines

 
Dessert Wines

 
ALL ABOUT TRUFFLES

Check out our comprehensive article and glossary of the different truffle types.

Meatballs in Chipotle Chile Sauce with Wisconsin Queso Fresco Cheese. Make them small for an appetizer, or bigger for a main course. Serve them with rice and pinto or black beans; or make a Cinco de Mayo meatball sub.

This recipe serves four 4 as main course, 10-12 as appetizers.

RECIPE: MEATBALLS IN CHIPOTLE CHILE SAUCE

Ingredients

For The Meatballs

Chipotle meatballs. Photo courtesy WisDairy.com.

 
For The Sauce

Preparation

1. COMBINE the meatball ingredients in bowl, using your hands. Refrigerate for one hour.

2. SHAPE the meatballs in the desired size: larger for main course, smaller for appetizer.

3. MAKE the sauce: Add the cinnamon to the chile salsa. Heat oil until quite hot (but not smoking) in a heavy, deep skillet. Add the salsa and “fry” until thick (it will splatter; consider a splatter screen).

4. ADD the broth and bring to boil. Stir in the mint. Add the meatballs. Simmer for 30 minutes, or until meatballs are done.

5. GARNISH each serving with crumbled queso fresco, cilantro and additional mint, asdesired.
 
WHAT IS QUESO FRESCO

Queso fresco is one of the most commonly-used cheeses for cooking in Latin America. It’s a soft, mild cheese similar to ricotta in that it’s made from curds. Cultures and rennet are added to pasteurized milk to create the curds, which are scooped into molds, then drained briefly.

Queso fresco is most often used crumbled, as a topping for everything from salads to soups to enchiladas, and is melted in quesadillas and casseroles.

Queso fresco should not be confused with queso blanco fresco, although the latter is similar. Queso blanco fresco is a fresh cheese that is made by direct acidification (not cultures and rennet) and pressed into blocks. It consequently has a firm texture and softens but does not melt: It can be sliced for pan-frying.

The different types of Hispanic cheeses.

Here’s a special gift for a mom, dad or grad who’s into photography: This camera lens is actually a mug!

Totally detailed, it looks and feels like the real thing and holds a hefty 15 ounces of beverage. The lens cap sip top doubles as a coaster or a dish for nibbles.

A stainless steel lining keeps beverages warm longer (like a thermos), and the screw top lid (the lens cap) provides spill-free transporting. The lid’s sip-top slides and locks to prevent spills.

The Camera Lens Travel Mug is $29.95 at WhatOnEarthCatalog.com.

We promise: Everyone will ask where you got it.