Cauliflower Gratin & Watermelon-Tomato Salad

That's right.... Be jealous.

For it was mighty tasty.

Cold Sesame Noodles & Crispy Tofu

When cooking, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. And sometimes you do both. Such was the case with dinner a few nights ago. Sticking with our meatless weekdays, I made cold sesame noodles with crispy tofu and a sweet chili dipping sauce.

Wins:

Noodles - Cooked and tossed with crunchy veggies and a sesame, peanut sauce. A veritable pachanga of flavors and textures.

Sweet chili sauce- A sweet, tangy and spicy concoction of sugar, vinegar and sambal oelek , heated and thickened with some cornstarch. Very tasty.

Fail:

Crispy tofu- Sticks of tofu, drained, coated in a mixture of cornstarch, cornmeal and spices and pan fried until crispy. The coating was really nice, but perhaps our introduction to tofu should have been smaller pieces of tofu added to a more assertive dish. Making the tofu the main ingredient did not go so well. The taste was very bland, and the texture was a bit off-putting. Oh well.

Power Lunch

Two Problems--One Solution.

Problem #1- With our new no-meat-on-the-weekdays thing we got going on, the daily intake of protein needs addressing.

Problem #2- Lunch is difficult for me. Finding time to pack a lunch... sucks. Finding anything that sounds remotely good for lunch that is portable enough to take to school... sucks.

Solution?

Make-ahead grain salad. Whole grains? Check. Protein? Check. Quick convenience? Check.

I stumbled on this recipe/idea at Bitchin Camero... which is not to be confused with this bitchin Camaro or its obligatory, accompanying bitchin hairstyle.

The whole idea is that you make a salad consisting of 1) a grain 2) beans/sturdy vegetables and 3) a dressing. The salad can be made in bulk and refrigerated for a week's worth of lunches. Unlike a leafy salad, where adding the dressing necessitates immediate consumption, this sturdy salad can just marinate in the dressing for days without becoming a texture nightmare.

This particular recipe is made with farro as the grain, edamame as the bean/vegetable, and a lemony basil-almond pesto as the dressing. I recommend only a couple modifications to the original recipe. There seemed to be too much farro for the amount of edamame, so I cut the amount of the grain to about 1 1/2 cups uncooked. Also, as a garlic lover, the 6 cloves in the pesto makes it VERY garlicky. While delicious, it may be a bit much for a lot of people, as well as a questionable choice for a lunch, assuming you spend your days around other people. You could easily cut the garlic in half, as you see fit.


Farro:





Pesto:





Edamame:




Mix it all up:



Enjoy:

Panuchos!!

One of my favorite meals as a child was when my mom would throw corn tortillas on a baking pan, schmear em all with refried beans, sprinkle grated cheese on top and throw em all in the oven to get all crispy. Then we'd throw various condiments/sauces on top and scarf em down. Very tasty and very simple.

Well, panuchos are a very similar idea and, admittedly, far less simple. But I love making Mexican food they way I saw it being made in Mexico. So I went all out and had a lot of fun making these. Panuchos are a regional snack of the Yucatan peninsula. That's not where I was, but we had a lady who cooked for us who was from the Yucatan and she made these for us a couple times. They are basically tostadas made with homemade tortillas that have refried beans stuffed inside. They then get topped with shredded chicken and whatever various toppings you choose. But one condiment in particular is not optional: pickled red onions. So good.

I started by making a hot sauce. It's sort of a homemade Tabasco sauce, but so much more flavorful. It's made with one of my very favorite chiles: chile de arbol. Fiery hot, but so full of flavor at the same time.


I forgot to take in-progress pics but here are some of the ingredients next to the finished product: Vinegar, sesame seeds and pepitas (pumpkin seeds).


I heart this sauce... and it will keep indefinitely in the refrigerator. Peace out Tabasco.

Next came the beans... Now I have no problem with a can of Rosarita... but honestly, making the refried beans yourself is so much more tasty. And its really easy. Just chop up some onion, fry it in some oil, add the rinsed beans in batches, mash the heck out of em, season to taste, and let them cook down to the consistency you want.


So tortillas are awesome. But homemade tortillas are much more awesomer. I went and bought some masa (tortilla dough) from a tortilleria.


Combine that with a tortilla press...


and a hot skillet...


and boo-yeah... corn cake heaven.

The main thing with panuchos is that the tortillas are stuffed with beans. Does this taste any better than just spreading beans on top? No, not really. Is it a lot more difficult and time-consuming than just spreading beans on top? Yes, absolutely. So why do it? Well, because that's the way they do it in Yucatan, and by-Jorge that's good enough for me.

So basically, when you cook the tortillas on the hot skillet, they should puff up a bit. This separates the two sides of the tortilla. When you take the tortilla off the skillet, take a sharp knife and cut a slit between the two sides and extend it a third of the way around the circumference of the tortilla. Then use the knife or your fingers to gently pry the two sides apart all the way to the edges. Then you want to drop about a a tablespoon of those delicious beans into the pocket you just formed. Then gently flatten the two sides back together, spreading the beans all through the interior of the tortilla.


That's basically it for the panuchos. All that is left to do is fry them crisp in a bit of oil and then drain them on paper towels.


Then all that's left is the toppings. Remember that one condiment that wasn't optional?


Pickled red onions. Tasty stuff. I made these last week. Your pretty much just slice up a red onion and boil it in a mixture of vinegar, water, garlic and a bunch of spices, and then put it in the fridge.

Combine a few of these onions along with some of the juice with some shredded, cooked chicken (I just used the meat from a store-bought rotisserie chicken).


Isn't that color great? Love it.

So just top the fried panuchos with the chicken and whatever else you fancy. We topped ours with lettuce, tomato, queso fresco, cream, jalapenos, extra pickled onions, and the chile de arbol hot sauce.


The dinner was great.


And so was the company.

Another go?

So this blog has been dead for the better part of two years... I really enjoyed it when we had it going, but sometimes life gets in the way of things we enjoy. I'd like to give it another go. I guess we'll see what happens. In the meantime, enjoy some snaps of last night's dinner... Chicago-style deep dish pizza. Yummy.

Anniversary Dinner

We had a great, romantic homemade dinner for our anniversary. And since it was on a Monday, it was meatless (well, not really... I used chicken stock, but oh well).



We had.....


Wild Mushroom Risotto,


Caprese Salad,


And for dessert, Panna Cotta with Balsamic Strawberries


It was a tasty dinner!!!!

Meatless Mondays: Red Chilaquiles

So Stephanie and I are pretty excited to be joining the Meatless Monday movement. What is that, you ask? Well, it is a campaign that encourages everyone everywhere to cut out meat from their diet one day a week. The idea is based on studies suggesting that reducing meat consumption is linked to a lower risk of chronic preventable illnesses. Equally important, the meat industry is one of the biggest contributors of man-made greenhouse gas emissions which are leading to global climate change. And if this isn't reason enough to join in the fun, well, Paul McCartney says to do it....and by-golly, that's good enough for me.

I decided that we should start off our new weekly tradition with a great meatless meal. It is one of my very favorite foods from my mission: Chilaquiles (CHEE-lah-KEE-les). Chilaquiles are typically served for breakfast using stale, leftover tortillas from the day before. Basically, you cut the tortillas into pieces, fry them up and cook them for a bit in a chile sauce. Spread some cream and queso fresco on top, and there you go! Delicious.

You could use just a canned/jarred enchilada sauce, but you'd really be doing yourself a disservice if you don't make your own sauce. Now, cooking with dried chiles is a bit different, and to some (like me) can seem a bit intimidating at first, but it really is quite simple and definitely worth it!

So let's start with the sauce (this is good stuff.)

Red Chile Sauce

Here's what you need:

• 3 dried ancho chiles
• 2 dried guallijo chiles
• 1/4 onion (I'd typically use a white onion but red is what we had)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Dash black pepper
• Dash ground cumin
• Dash ground cinnamon

The first step in making our sauce is to prepare the chiles. First of all, you may want to wear gloves when dealing with these babies, and if not, then for the love of Pete DO NOT bring your fingers anywhere near your eyeballs until after a thorough hand-washing.

Anywho, there are lots of ways to do this, but I just use a paring knife to cut down the length of the chile from the stem to the point at the bottom. Break off the stem, then carefully open up the chile allowing all the loose seeds to fall onto a plate. Some chiles are very brittle and will break as soon as you try to open it. No biggie. Now, use the knife to scrape away any large veins running along the inside of the chile. Repeat with the rest of chiles, reserving the veins and seeds as you may want to use them for added heat later on.

Now we want to toast the chiles. Place the split and opened chiles (along with any little broken pieces) into a dry pan over medium heat. Really,you just want to warm them through until aromatic, maybe a minute on each side. Leaving them on too long could make the chiles taste bitter, and we don't want that.


The dried chiles now need to be reconstituted. Remove the toasted chiles from the skillet to a medium saucepan. Add the onion and cover with water (about 3 cups). Bring the water to a boil, then remove from heat and let sit uncovered for 10 minutes until chiles have softened and plumped up.


Place the chiles, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, cinnamon and 1.5 cups of the soaking liquid into a blender and puree the mixture until smooth. At this point you want to taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings to your liking. Also, if it's not quite hot enough, you can add some of the reserved seeds and/or veins a little at a time.


Once satisfied with the heat/seasoning, pass the mixture through a sieve into a skillet. Add about a tablespoon of olive oil and stir to combine. Bring sauce to a simmer and cook about ten minutes, and voila!.....

You have yourself a beautiful, rich deep red chile sauce.



Black Bean Salad

Before making the chilaquiles, how 'bout a quick side dish? This recipe from Food Network personality (and UNLV alum... Go Rebels!) Guy Fieri is one of the best "canned' dishes I've ever had.

You'll need:

• 2 cans black beans, drained, about 30 ounces
• 1 (15-ounce) can corn, drained
• 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
• 1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1/4 cup diced green onions
• 1/4 cup diced pineapple (I used 1/2 cup canned pineapple tidbits).
  
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro leaves
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
• 4 tablespoons sherry vinegar (I used red wine vinegar)
  
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoons salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• Pinch ground cumin

The preparation instructions for this recipe are the greatest:

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour.

....Awesome.

Yum.


Chilaquiles

Ok, back to the task at hand...

• 8-10 corn tortillas
• Your awesome red chile sauce
• Salt
• Chopped cilantro
• Chopped onion
• Queso Fresco
• Mexican table cream (Could you substitute sour cream instead? Of course you could. You could also substitute peanut butter, but that doesn't mean it'll be any good... )

First, cut the tortillas into quarters.


Pan fry the tortilla quarters in some canola/veggie oil until golden brown and crispy and remove to a paper towel-lined plate.

Sprinkle the chips with some salt.


Meanwhile, heat up the red chile sauce in a skillet. Add your crispy tortilla quarters and carefully work them into into the sauce until the sauce is evenly distributed like so....


Let the mixture cook over low heat for a few minutes. You want the outside of the chips to soften and get a little soggy with sauce, but you want to preserve a good crunch on the inside of the chips.


Garnish the chilaquiles with queso, cream, onions and cilantro and serve with the black bean salad.



And that my friends is a Muy Marvelous Mexican Meatless Monday Meal.