Chile Verde, January 30, 2016

I'd planned to make chile verde last night, but we ended up eating out after going to the movies, so I made it tonight. It's rich-tasting and spicy and very good over rice. I made corn and a salad to go alongside. This is one of my favorite dishes at good Mexican restaurants, but when not done well, I really dislike it. This version is great.

Chile Verde

1 tsp. oil

2 lb. boneless pork shoulder, fat trimmed, cut into 1" cubes

Salt & pepper

2 onions, chopped

1 jalapeño, minced

1/2 poblano pepper, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 c. chicken broth (I use the fat-free, lower sodium sort)

2 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. coriander

24 oz. tomatillo salsa (or just canned tomatillos, if you can find them---I couldn't)

Lime wedges

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Season pork with salt and pepper. Brown in oil. Remove to paper-towel-lined plate. In same pot, sauté onion, peppers, and garlic until tender, about 5 minutes. Add rest, including pork, but not including lime wedges. Bring to a boil. Cover and bake 1 1/2-2 hours. This will make your house smell fabulous. Serve over cooked rice with lime wedges to squeeze over each portion. Serves 6-8. 

Tostadas, May 5, 2015

I am not a huge fan of the way Cinco de Mayo is often celebrated in the United States. For one thing, most of the people who are celebrating have no idea what it is they're celebrating. They tend to assume they're celebrating Mexican Independence Day. 

Well, that isn't actually until September. Cinco de Mayo is in remembrance and celebration of the Mexican victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. It wasn't the battle that finally threw off the French occupiers, but it gave the Mexican troops a huge morale boost. Anyway, in Mexico, it tends to be celebrated mostly in Puebla. 

It's unfortunate that this holiday seems to have devolved, in the U.S. at least, into an excuse to go get wasted on margaritas and Mexican beer. Mind you, I have nothing against either margaritas or Mexican beer, but it's a shame to "celebrate" a cultural holiday this way when you could be learning about Mexican history, reading Mexican novels, listening to music by Mexican artists, going to an exhibit of Mexican art (Yo, Detroiters! Get thee to the Frida & Diego exhibit!), learning about issues around immigration justice, preparing authentic Mexican dishes. 

I celebrated this year by making tostadas, Frida Kahlo's potatoes in green sauce, and a Southwest salad I picked up pre-prepped at the grocery. I had guacamole (mash an avocado with some lime juice and garlic salt) & chips waiting for Jeannene when she came home from work. The potatoes come from a cookbook called Frida's Fiestas: Recipes and Reminiscences of Life with Frida Kahlo, which I got at the Detroit Institute of Art's special, temporary Frida & Diego gift shop. It's by Frida's stepdaughter, Guadalupe Rivera, and Marie-Pierre Colle. This collection of Frida's recipes and Lupe's stories is a delight to read for any Kahlo aficionado, even non-cooks. For us cooks, it's great fun to try our hands at food Frida loved.

I am a lazy cook, for sure, and I am also a bit of a squeamish eater, in that I tend to shy away from things like offal and feet. Thus, while I took inspiration from Frida's tostadas, I did not use the pig's feet called for in the recipe and I took a number of shortcuts and liberties I suspect most Mexican chefs would disdain. They were, however, very good.

Tostadas Perezosos (Lazy Tostadas)

Tostadas, pre-made from the grocery

Refried beans, from a can

Green sauce, from a jar or from the potatoes, if you're making those

Shredded romaine

Cooked, shredded, sliced, or chunked chicken breast

Chorizo, crumbled and browned

Sliced tomato

Sliced avocado

Sour cream

Crumbled queso fresco

Pickled or fresh sliced jalapeños, if you like them

Top tostadas with the rest of the ingredients & eat. I like mine either chicken or chorizo. My wife likes both at once. If you put the beans on first, they help to hold everything else on the tostadas. 

My food squeamishness extends to hot peppers and cilantro and my laziness means I'd just as soon sub olive oil for lard in most recipes. So, this potato recipe is not really authentically Frida's, but it is tasty. The potatoes themselves turned out to be a lot sweeter than I'd expected, which made for some interesting taste contrast, but I definitely recommend giving this recipe a whirl. 

Papas en Salsa Verde (Potatoes in Green Sauce)

1 lb. baby new potatoes, peeled

1 lb. tomatillos, peeled

1/2 c. water

1 serrano chile, minced (I remove the membranes & seeds to reduce the heat; leave them & add more chiles, if you like it hot)

Salt and pepper

3/4 c. ch. cilantro (if you like it; sub parsley or omit, if not)

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 lg. onion, finely chopped

Parboil the potatoes for a couple minutes. Drain and set aside. Simmer tomatillos, water, chile, salt, and pepper until tomatillos are tender. Cool slightly, then add cilantro and puree. I actually used an immersion blender, to good effect. Heat the oil and sauté the onion until translucent. Add to tomatillos and cook another 10 minutes. Add potatoes and cook until tender, 15-20 minutes. Serves 4. 

Jeannene's Birthday Dinner, February 18, 2015

In our family, the birthday honoree gets to choose whatever they want for dinner, whether that's out to the fanciest restaurant, their favorite home-cooked dinner, or even junk food from the gas station, as our youngest chose several years in a row as a teenager. Jeannene decided this year that she really wanted my chicken enchilada casserole for dinner and chocolate ice cream cake from Dairy Queen for dessert. She loves corn and she loves Dole's chipotle cheddar chopped salad, so I had natural choices for sides. I also picked up some fresh pineapple, one of her favorite fruits. She always says, "It tastes like candy!" and I always crack up because, to me, it tastes nothing like candy! I think it cracks her up that I say, every time, "It does not taste like candy!" I also had chips and homemade guacamole waiting for her when she got home from work.

I'm traveling, so I don't have the exact casserole recipe with me. It's pretty simple, though. You preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place 3 corn tortillas in a 13x9 pan. Top with layers of diced tomatoes, shredded cooked chicken, chopped green chiles, sliced black olives, sour cream, and shredded extra-sharp cheddar. Repeat the layers, using 9 tortillas in all. Bake for half an hour to 45 minutes, until the top is all bubbly & browned.

Grand Azteca, January 20, 2015

Jeannene was supposed to be out of town this week, so I planned to go to dinner at a Mexican restaurant with one of my Meetup groups. I usually try to reserve evenings and weekends to spend with Jeannene, since we didn't find one another until I was already 30. I figure I want to spend all the time with her that I can. However, the trip was cancelled and she was actually able to come with me, which was terrific! She's never met these gals, although she hears me talk about them after I've been to lunch or the movies with them. We have not yet discovered our terrific Mexican place here---although, we've been to a couple not very good ones, one pretty good, and one that seems over-hyped to me. This one, in Sterling Heights, is a little bit of a haul for us, so we'll probably stick with our pretty good find, Casa Real, in Oxford. We don't go out for Mexican a whole lot, but the one time we went there, it was worth another trip back.

I would say Grand Azteca is another pretty good one, although not incredible, by any means. Their margaritas are certainly enormous & fairly tasty. Jeannene had a couple of soft tacos, no sides. The bite I had tasted pretty fresh and good. I ordered the chile verde, which is one of my favorites, when done well. This version was tender and quite yummy, but I felt the sauce needed a little something to brighten it a bit more---perhaps a wedge of lime served with it? The beans and rice were both flavorful, which is very often not the case, and the tortillas were good. The service was prompt, if not particularly friendly. The only issue we had, in terms of service, was due to the language barrier (I really should learn Spanish!)---Jeannene requested 2 more small, empty bowls to put some of the queso we already had at the table in for individuals (sharing one bowl was not practical, due to there being 8 of us) and our waiter quickly brought 2 large bowls of queso to the table (and, of course, charged us for it---it all got eaten, so it was just fine, really.) I would definitely go back, if I were in that neck of the woods, but I probably wouldn't make a special trip to eat there.

Pizza, Crafts, & Cocktails, January 2, 2015

Tonight was my sweetheart's night to pick dinner and she was hungry for pizza. I usually insist on ordering Jet's. I like it the best of the places that deliver around here, for one thing. Also, I am boycotting Domino's and Papa John's for political reasons. Mostly, though, I just like Jet's a lot. Jeannene, however, is, I think, tired of Jet's or of having always to order what I want. So, she made it very clear that she wanted to order what she wanted to order---then, when it came time to order, she was very solicitous about asking me what I wanted. Very cute! She did decide to order from Chicago Brothers, a local joint that I've not been terribly impressed with in the past. However, I was game to give them another try. We got a Chicago-style deep dish pizza with Italian sausage, pepperoni, and, inexplicably, a ton of onions when we had been expecting spinach. It was fine and my sweet wife loved it, so I was happy she chose that.

We also started a new Friday night tradition. We'd been to a pottery class, throwing pots on the wheel at a studio which offers semi-private lessons. We had a really good time (although my pot turned out looking pretty funky!), so I thought it'd be fun to start picking one of the gazillion crafts from my Pinterest boards to try every Friday night, to go with the cocktails & nibbles tradition I've been trying to institute for months. Jeannene heartily agreed, so tonight, I made queso blanco, guacamole, and cranberry orange margaritas. Of course, we had tortilla chips, too. Then, we made picture frame ring holders.

The queso turned out way too cumin-y, even though I doubled the amount of cheese and half & half called for in the recipe once I saw the amount of cumin recommended. I'm not sure in what universe it's a good idea to use 2 tsp. cumin in a recipe calling for a cup of cheese, but it's not my universe. The recipe I present here should turn out better than what we had. I make guacamole simply by mashing the avocado in my molcajete, then adding lime juice, salt, pepper, and garlic powder (I like the texture of the powder better than using fresh garlic).

Queso Blanco

2 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese

2-4 oz. chopped green chiles

1/2 c. half & half

2 tbsp. minced onion

1/8-1/4 tsp. cumin

Salt & pepper

Minced hot pepper like a serrano or jalapeño, optional

Mix everything together in a heavy-bottomed pan. Stir over moderate heat until smooth and melted. We kept this warm in a fondue pot. Serve with tortilla chips.

Cranberry Orange Margaritas

1 1/4 oz. tequila

1/2 oz. Triple Sec/Cointreau

1 1/2 oz. sweet & sour mix*

1 1/2 oz. orange juice

1 1/2 oz. cranberry juice

Crushed ice

Whirl in the blender with crushed ice. Garnish with an orange slice and 3 cranberries, if you have them, on a swizzle stick. Me, I had pineapple chunks & strawberries, so that's what I used. This makes one drink. 

*It's actually really easy to make sweet & sour mix from scratch and it keeps well in the fridge for about a week. It's lots more delicious than the bottled sort. Just make a simple syrup using 3 cups water and 3 cups sugar. To do this, in case you don't know, you simply stir them together over medium heat until the sugar dissolves completely. Then, allow the mixture to cool thoroughly. When cool, add 2 cups lemon juice and 2 cups lime juice to the simple syrup. Chill thoroughly before using in cocktails. 

Latin Flair, Easy Dinners

Last night, prompted by the gorgeous ripe plantains at the local Mexican grocery, I made a Cuban dinner of Bistec de Palomilla, black beans & rice, avocado salad, and fried plantains (maduros). I think the plantains are best when the skin is completely black. I just slice them on the diagonal and fry them. They can also be baked. 

Bistec de Palomilla

3 cloves garlic

Salt & pepper

1/4 c. sour orange juice (or half regular orange juice, half lime juice, and a splash of olive oil)

1 lb. thinly sliced steak

2-3 tbsp. oil

1/2 c. finely-chopped onion

Finely-chopped parsley

Lime wedges 

Mash the garlic, salt, and pepper into a paste. Mix with sour orange juice. Pound the steak lightly and cut in 4. Marinate in garlic/orange juice mixture half an hour. Blot dry with paper towels & pan-fry in oil until golden brown on each side. Remove to paper towel-lined plate. Add marinade to pan and bring to a boil. Drizzle over the steaks & top each with onion & parsley. Serve with lime wedges.

Tonight, we moved significantly to the west of Cuba for a Mexican-inspired burger plate. I mixed half a cup of Newman's Own Farmer's Garden salsa with a pound of extra-lean ground beef, made it into 4 patties, and pan-fried them. I smashed an avocado with a splash of key lime juice and some garlic salt and served the guac with multi-grain tortilla scoops. The salad was romaine, black beans, diced tomato, and diced bell peppers (yellow, orange, & red). We had some salsa verde in the fridge, so I topped the burgers with that.

 

Mango Madness

Friday night, we had an impromptu (okay, planned a week in advance, which counts as impromptu in my world) game night & potluck supper. It was a small crowd, but some delicious food and much hilarity during several rounds of Scattergories. Since I have a tendency to be rushing about like a crazy person minutes before guests arrive, trying to get food finished, so that I answer the door all sweaty and flushed and breathless, I decided it would be wise to do something in the slow cooker. Riffing on a Gooseberry Patch recipe, I popped a pork roast in the pot, poured a jar of Newman’s Own Medium salsa and a 4 oz. can of chopped green chiles over the top, and let it cook for 8 hours on low. Shredded, it made lovely little soft tacos. I thought we had sour cream, but we didn’t, so one of the guests offered a quick improvisation, handing me the goat cheese that went on his spinach & strawberry salad. It turned out to be a great accompaniment. We did have scads of tomatoes, but everyone wanted their tacos pretty plain.

Since I wasn’t sure if everyone would be up for spicy, and since Boot was in town, I made my chicken pot pie, too. It was always his favorite as a kid, his chosen dinner for more than one birthday, so I wanted to make it while he was back from college. I learned it from my friend, Teresa, who lives near Nashville. It’s incredibly simple:

Teresa’s Chicken Pot Pie

1 double-crusted pie shell (I never make my own)

1 can cream of chicken soup (reduced fat is perfectly fine)

1 can cream of mushroom soup (as above)

1 can Veg-All, well-drained (I expect you can use another brand of mixed veggies, but I never have)

About a pound of cooked chicken, cut in bite-size pieces (I am often lazy and just get a couple packages of the pre-cooked kind)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the bottom crust in a 9” pie plate. Mix the soups, veggies, and chicken together. Put in pie shell. Top with the other crust, seal, vent, and crimp. Bake until golden brown on top, about 45 minutes. Serves 6-8.

I also made my favorite Tuscan kale salad and picked up a cherry pie from the grocery. I think the biggest hit of the party, though, was Steve and Jeff’s Mango Madness cocktail. They first discovered it on a trip to Aruba and have tinkered with possibilities until they’ve come up with a swoony concoction of Daily’s Mango Mix, Captain Morgan Mango Rum, and Bacardi Coconut Rum, all blended with ice. Mmm!