Poblano Corn Chowder

Sweet corn and peppers are in season right now, and this summer chowder brings them together in creamy goodness. If you don't find poblano peppers, or don't like a little heat, try green or red bell peppers in this chowder.

Ingredients

3 medium poblano peppers
3 ears of corn
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pint cremini (baby portabella) mushrooms, sliced
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup sour cream (we like Mexican crema best)
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup shredded chihuahua or colby jack cheese
2 tbsp chopped cilantro for garnish (optional)

Directions

Heat a grill to medium temperature. Remove the husks from the corn and lay the cobs on the grill with the poblano peppers. Grill the corn until barely tender and slightly browned, then remove and let cool. Turn up the heat and char the poblano skins on all sides. Place in a paper bag and allow to steam for 30-60 minutes. 

Remove the core and seeds from the peppers and scrape off all the blackened skin, then coarsely chop the poblanos. Cut the kernels off the corn cobs.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and then saute the onion, garlic, and mushrooms until just tender. Add the corn, poblanos, and chicken stock, and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in the sour cream, salt and pepper, and cheese, and heat on low until the cheese is melted and the soup is heated through, about 5 minutes. Serve topped with cilantro, if desired.  We like corn muffins or corn bread with sweet green chiles with this soup.

Serves 4.

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Plátanos Maduros (Sweet Fried Plantains)

My first mother-in-law was a Mexican immigrant. After I married her son, we moved into Mama Nona's house to save money to buy our own house.

I was twenty years old, and I’d lived on a farm in Michigan for most of my life. Growing up, the only Latinos I’d ever seen were the migrant workers who whistled at us from the back of a flatbed truck when they rode down our dirt road. When I moved into Mama Nona’s home in Waukegan Illinois, I was totally immersed in Mexican culture.

Mama Nona was born in Mexico in the 1920s. For the last thirty years she had lived in a rotting old house at the edge of a ravine that gangsters called “Death Valley”. Ray was the only one of her twelve children who was born in the United States.

Because Ray was the youngest, I was closest to his high school-age nieces and nephews. Work was strictly regulated between men and women, and Ramona, Maribel, Rosie, and Marijenia  squeezed into Mama Nona's steaming kitchen to cook with their mothers. One of the first recipes I learned was plátanos maduros, Ray's favorite dessert dish or side dish. Even though women were supposed to do all the cooking, Ray and I competed to see who could make the best plate of fried plantains.

At a party last weekend, a friend was reminiscing about the wonderful mofongo he ate in Puerto Rico. Mofongo is a dish made with unripe plaintains and has a consistency and use similar to mashed potatoes. Talking about mofongo led me to a craving for plátanos maduros (which are made throughout the Caribbean and Latin America), so I made them for breakfast one day this week. They were as good as I remembered.

If you don't have cholesterol problems, I would highly recommend using Latino crema instead of sour cream. Crema has the consistency of yogurt and is much less sour and much more creamy. It's amazing stuff but probably not as good for you.

Plátanos Maduros

 Ingredients

 4 large ripe plantains (skins should be mostly black mottled with dark yellow; fruit should be slightly soft)
1/2 cup Canola or Corn oil
1 cup crema or sour cream at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Directions

Peel the plantains. I find it easiest to cut a line in the tough skin from top to bottom, and peel from there; plantains don't peel as easily as bananas. Cut the plantains into 1/2" slices.

Heat a frying pan on medium heat and then add oil. When the oil is hot, fry the plantain slices on each side until golden brown and tender, turning as needed. Don't crowd the plantains in the pan; cook in batches if they all don't fit. Drain the slices on paper towels.

Place plantains on a warmed plate and drizzle with crema or sour cream. Sprinkle with sugar (and cinnamon, if desired). Serve immediately. A lot of Latinos like it as a side dish without crema or sugar, just a squirt of lime or a bit of salt. I'm going to try drizzling them with honey next time.

Serves 2-4.

Mama Nona in Mexico, 1940s

You can read more about my experiences living in a Mexican household in Scenes from a Mexican Kitchen and Life and Times of a Little Gringa.

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Grilled Fish Tacos with Black Bean and Corn Salsa

Joe has had a special place in his heart for fish tacos ever since a trip to Mexico over New Years' Eve week of 2000, right when everyone thought the world was going to end.

He was meeting a longtime group of friends in Puerto Vallarta, but came down a day early. He loves to travel without plans and reservations and lets the day take him where it will. A helpful cabbie found him a pleasant room for the night and he wandered around those beautiful colonial streets all afternoon. Dinner was the best tacos he ever had, right from a street vendor who grilled bass straight out of the bay and served it on tortillas his wife made that morning. He watched the sun slipping down over the water in golden flakes.

Things were much less tranquil the next day when his hard-partying friends arrived and swarmed the resort on the beach. That song "My Name Is Joe" was huge then, and in the nighttime beach bash with fireworks bursting overhead, they played it over and over, crowd pointing to Joe, who does sort of stand out in a crowd.

"What's my name? My Name is JOE!" they shouted, making a circle around him, pouring the drinks and dancing in the waves.

People kept asking him if he owned the resort, but he just said his name was Joe.

Ingredients

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup tomato, chopped
2/3 cup corn kernels
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 tsp minced serrano pepper (or 2 tsp minced jalapeno)
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt

Stir together all ingredients, and serve at room temperature.

Fish Marinade 

1/3 cup lemon juice
1 tsp grated orange peel
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Grilled Fish Tacos

1 lb. tender fish fillets (we use pollock, tilapia, bass, or swai, but use your favorite)
2 cups shredded Napa cabbage
Juice of 2 limes
1 cup crumbled Mexican farmers' cheese (queso fresco)
12 corn tortillas

Directions

Whisk together marinade ingredients and pour over fish fillets. Marinate at least 2 hours, but as long as overnight.

Sprinkle the lime juice over the cabbage and toss to coat. Grill the fish on a medium-hot grill, liberally basting with the marinade. Turn the fish at least once during grilling. The fish is done when the flesh flakes when pierced with a fork. Chop the fish into bite-sized pieces.

Heat the tortillas on a dry griddle. Flip them and heat the other side when air bubbles start to form or the top side gets a little puffy. The tortillas are done when you can fold an edge in half and it does not crease or break. Wrap the warm tortillas in a kitchen towel.

Serve the fish with sides of black bean salsa, cabbage, tortillas, and cheese, and let each person build their own tacos.

Serves 4-6.

 

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Roasted Poblano and Chihuahua Cheese Enchiladas

My friend Sheilja recently taught me to make some traditional Northern Indian foods; last week I invited her over to make some traditional Mexican foods I learned from my mother-in-law. I made vegetarian versions of the food because Sheilja doesn't eat meat. But the enchilada roja sauce can be used to stew chicken, and the enchiladas can be stuffed with anything you like - there are no rules about the insides of enchiladas!

There are, however, some strong ideas about what goes into a red enchilada sauce. Purists, and I suspect my teacher Mama Nona, would claim that the sauce should not contain tomatoes, so I didn't include any. But if you'd like to add some chopped tomato or a bit of tomato paste, I think you should cook what makes you happy.

Ingredients

For the Enchilada Roja Sauce

6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
5 medium dried guajillo or pasilla chiles
5 medium dried ancho chiles
1 medium red bell pepper, cored and sliced
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp oregano
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 tsp salt
½ tsp sugar

Heat a heavy skillet or griddle over medium then lay the garlic on one side to roast. Flip the garlic around in the pan until it is toasted on both sides, but not so brown that it gets bitter.

Tear the chiles into flat pieces and, few at a time, press them against the hot surface until they blister and change color. Flip them over and press again. Remove chiles and garlic from heat and place in a bowl, then cover with the broth. Soak in hot broth for 15 minutes.

Toast the cumin seeds on the hot skillet until fragrant and slightly browned. Place in a blender or food processor. Peel the garlic and remove the stems from the chiles. Put all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Add a little more water if needed; this should be a thick liquid, not a paste. Strain out the seeds.

For the enchiladas 

16-18 corn tortillas
5 poblano peppers
4 cups shredded chihuahua cheese
3 cups enchilada roja sauce
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 cups shredded lettuce
1/4 cup cotija cheese

Directions

Heat the broiler or grill. Place the peppers on a broiler pan or cookie sheet. Broil or grill close to the heat until the exposed side is blotchy, black, and peeling. Turn over the peppers and roast until both sides are blistered and the skin is blackened.

Place the peppers in a paper bag and allow to steam for 15 minutes. This will help you peel the blackened parts off. When finished steaming, cut off the stem and scrape the charred skin and seeds off with a knife. Cut the peppers into thin strips.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x12 casserole pan, then spread out 1/2 cup of sauce in the bottom of the pan. On a flat griddle or frying pan, heat the corn tortillas until soft and pliable.

Pour half of the enchilada sauce onto a plate, and lay a tortilla on the plate. Add several strips of pepper and about 1/4 cup cheese.  Roll up the tortilla and place, seam side down, in the casserole pan. Repeat with the remaining tortillas, then drizzle with the remaining sauce. Sprinkle the cotija cheese over the top.

Cover the pan with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, until the centers are cooked and the casserole is heated through. Top with tomato and lettuce before serving.

Serves 6-8.

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Pork Ribs in Smoky Pepper Sauce (Mole de Espinazo)

Some of our American friends get a little freaked out when we talk about Mole Espinazo.

"You're eating spines? A spinal cord?"

Hog farmers and Latinos might be a bit less squeamish. They often more familiar with different cuts of meat and are willing to try different parts of the animal. The espinazo, or pork spine cut, is simply a cross-section of the backbone with two sections of tenderloin attached. It's leaner than country-style ribs and cheaper than pork loin. The mole sauce in this recipe is a reddish-brown smoky pepper sauce with a tiny tingle of heat and a ton of flavor.

Ingredients

2 lbs. Pork Espinazo (Pork Spine)*
2 medium white onions
4 cloves garlic
Bunch of Cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste
4 dried pasilla chilies
1 dried arbol chile
1 large tomato, quartered
3 tomatillos, husked and quartered
2 corn tortillas, finely chopped
1/2 tsp cumin seeds – freshly ground
¼ tsp ground cayenne pepper
1 bay leaf
3 medium potatoes, scrubbed
1 cup fresh green beans
2 cups baby spinach or kale, rinsed and chopped
3 tsp sunflower oil (or grape seed oil)


*Can substitute Country Style Pork Ribs, or Rib Chops

Directions

Sear the espinazo meat in a large stockpot with a little oil. Add 2 tbsp of cilantro, salt and pepper, garlic, and one of the onions, quartered. Cover with water and boil over high heat for 15 minutes, skimming off the scum. Cover and reduce heat. Let simmer for at least 1 ½ hours or until the meat is tender. Remove the meat and reserve the broth.

In a large skillet, heat ½ to 1 teaspoon of sunflower oil over medium heat. Add the chilies to the skillet and toast them for a couple of minutes on each side until they are pliable and fragrant, then set them aside.

Chop the remaining onion and sauté until soft and just beginning to brown. Add the garlic, tomatoes, and tomatillos and sauté until tender.

Transfer the mixture to the heatproof bowl with the heated chilies. Cover with 3 - 4 cups of the reserved broth. Let soak for about 15 minutes or until the chilies are soft and tender.

Remove the stems from the chilies and cut into slices. Transfer the chilies, tomatoes, garlic, tomatillos, and tortillas to a blender, and puree the mole ingredients until smooth.

In a large skillet, heat 1 tsp sunflower or grape seed oil over medium-low heat. Strain the mole sauce through cheesecloth into the skillet. The sauce should not be too thin or too thick; it should stick to the back of a wooden spoon. If necessary, pour about 1/2 to 1 1/2 cups of water or remaining broth, 1/4 cup at a time, into the mole sauce until desired consistency.

 Stir in the ground cumin, ground cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper. Cut the potatoes into 1/2" slices and rinse them in cold water. Drain. Add the sliced potatoes and green beans. Reduce heat to low, cover skillet and let simmer about 15 minutes.

Add the meat to the mole mixture in the skillet. Cover and let simmer over low heat for 25 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Add the chopped baby spinach or kale to the mole and cook 5 minutes longer.

Serve with Mexican rice, Chihuahua cheese, warm corn tortillas, and chopped cilantro.

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Crock Pot Carnitas

Life has changed, friends. My commute is now 40 minutes instead of 30 seconds, and both of us hungry lovers are back in graduate-level night classes. The days are gone when we could spend three hours on a recipe on a Wednesday night, then stage and photograph the leftovers on the next day between client calls. In fact, now that winter is coming, it's rarely bright enough to take a food picture for this blog when we're at home.

"I didn't choose the cube life, the cube life chose me."

Like most of the rest of the world, we're now on a quest for fast and cheap meals. We also want to do it with a little style, too.

But even though Joe's glorious recipe for carnitas, shredded pork simmered with full of Mexican spices, turned out to be amazing and easy in the crock pot, it didn't photograph well. So I took it for lunch and tried to set up a photo at my desk. When I sliced into an avocado to top the plate, the pit flew out and ping-ponged around my desk and I had to crawl underneath to get it out.

Rogue avocado pit. So much for "style".

Anyway, a great sale on boneless pork butt and a clean crock pot were the inspiration for this plug-in morning, eat-at-night version of his usual recipe. It's about as simple as you can get. Though the recipe looks long, a lot of the ingredients are optional toppings so that you can choose what you like.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs pork butt roast or pork shoulder, cut into 2" cubes
1 bay leaf
2 tsp lime zest
1 tbsp ground cumin
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp oregano (we used fresh oregano from our windowsill plant)
1 medium onion, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
12-16 tortillas

Toppings:
Sliced avocado
Shredded lettuce or cabbage
Chopped tomato
Chopped cilantro
Chopped onions
Salsa (if you were lucky enough to make jalapeno-peach salsa this summer, then by all means use it here)

Instructions

Place the meat cubes in the crock pot, then add all the rest of the main ingredients. Cover with water. We did this step on Sunday afternoon while we were working on that night's dinner, then put the slow cooker in the fridge for the next day.

Cook on high heat for 8-10 hours, depending on how your cooker works. If it tends to run hot, you might want to cook this on low heat all day. When we came home that night, the meat was perfectly shredded, but we like some crispy chunks of meat, so we fried it up a bit on the stove before eating.

When ready to serve, heat up the tortilla on a hot griddle, then serve with your favorite toppings. 

Serves 4-6.

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Pork Chops in Adobo Sauce

Have you ever been shopping and you couldn't remember if you had a certain ingredient for a meal, so you buy some more, and then find when you get home that you already had plenty?

Joe and I kept forgetting whether we had ancho chilies, which are dried or smoked poblano peppers. So we ended up with three packages of anchos, and let me tell you, a little of these smoky-sweet peppers goes a long way.

Luckily, we were also looking for new ways to cook porkchops, so the adobo sauce Joe whipped up was perfect for the meat. Since then we've tweaked our recipe and I'm sure it would also be excellent on rabbit, chicken, or duck.

Adobo is not a spicy-hot sauce; Mexicans call such chiles "sweet". We served the pork chops with sweet potatoes poached in orange juice, butter, and a little garlic. Yum!

Note: start this recipe the day before and let the meat marinate overnight. The sauce can be made well ahead of time and then refrigerated. It will last up to a month in the fridge after it is made.

Ingredients

 Adobo Sauce
2 tbsp canola oil
4 large dried ancho chiles (about the size of your palm)
5 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp fresh oregano, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup white vinegar

Directions

For the Adobo sauce

Remove the seeds from the anchos and tear them into large pieces. Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the anchos when the oil is shimmering. Fry until they begin to darken and blister, then place them in a bowl. Pour hot water over the peppers and let them soak for about 15 minutes. It helps if you weigh them down with a plate or something heavy.

Put the chiles in a blender along with 1/2 cup of the soaking water. Add all other ingredients and blend until it is a smooth paste.

For the Chops

1/2 cup adobo sauce
6 1-inch thick pork chops, bone removed
1/2 cup white onion, thinly sliced
2 tbsp fresh cilantro leaves

Spread the adobo sauce on both sides of each chop and allow to marinate for at least 4 hours. I would recommend marinating overnight. Grill the chops or fry them in vegetable oil until just done - if you overcook them, they will be dry.

If you use a meat thermometer, take them off the heat when the thermometer reads 145 degrees in the center of the chop, and cover them with foil for a few minutes, until the temperature reaches 150 degrees. This makes them warm and juicy.

Garnish with sliced onion and fresh cilantro and serve immediately.

Serves 6 with plenty of sauce for another night. If you're following Weight Watchers, a 4 oz. portion is only 6 points.

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Replay: Salsa Verde and Spicy Black Bean Dip

One of the very first recipes we blogged, and one of the first Mexican foods I learned to make, was salsa verde. And last weekend, when we were preparing for the opening night of my artist show in Wisconsin, Joe decided to cook up a big batch of this green tomatillo salso for the guests. They ate it all, and practically licked the bowl!

With my friend Becky, and my art behind us on the wall!

I'm thrilled that nearly 200 people came to Lemon Street Gallery for the reception. Two other artists were featured - a sculptor and an acrylic painter. I'm also thrilled that I sold three pieces!

These two pieces are still for sale.

For the show, Joe also made his Light and Spicy Black Bean Dip. It was devoured, too. I only got a taste while he was making it!

Joe left out cards for our Hungry Lovers food blog so that people could try the recipes for themselves if they liked it. While I'm very last re-posting these recipes, I'm hoping the art lovers aren't too disappointed. Here, then, is how to make Salsa Verde.

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Veracruz-Style Whitefish

While Joe and I haven't been deep-sea fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, it's definitely on our life lists. In fact, we'd use any excuse to be back floating in the Gulf of Mexico. Joe has a fishing legacy to live up to: his dad caught a 75-pound mahi-mahi on a trip off the coast of Veracruz, a seaside community. The fish gave him a long battle before he pulled it into the boat.

I like to imagine the catch as a scene from Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea", his dad dragging the fish on a line through night and day, eating a bit of raw fish for his strength, until he brought it ashore. It's is much easier to imagine this when I wasn't there to see it happen. We'll see if our own deep-sea fishing lives up Hemingway's writing!

This traditional tangy and tomatoey dish sprinkled with pickled yellow güero peppers, olives, and capers is often made with red snapper. In Mexican restaurants, waiters have served us an entire (small) snapper to share: scales, eyeballs, tail and all. In the Midwest US, snapper can be a little pricey, so we use tilapia or pollock when we make this recipe. I'm sure that's traditional enough, right?

Ingredients

For the fish

1 1/2 pounds fish fillets, such as Tilapia, Snapper, Pollock, or Swai
4 cloves of garlic, minced
Juice of 1 lime (about 3 tbsp) plus 1 tsp lime zest
1 tbsp sea salt

For the sauce

2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup onion, finely sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
8 oz tomato sauce
1 large carrot, peeled and shredded
1/4 cup pickled yellow güero or jalapeno peppers, thinly sliced
1/4 cup green olives with pimientos, sliced
2 tbsp green capers
2 tsp Mexican oregano
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp ground cumin
2 bay leaves

Directions

Rub the fillets with the garlic, lime juice, and salt. Allow it to marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Warm the oil in a frying pan. When it is shimmering, add the onion and saute for 2-3 minutes, until slightly translucent. Add the garlic and saute for another minute. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer on medium-low for 15-20 minutes. Remove the bay leaves.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Spray a baking pan with oil. Spoon a little of the sauce into the bottom of the pan. Place the fish in a single layer in the pan, then cover with the sauce. Bake uncovered for 20-35 minutes, until the sauce is thick and bubbly and the fish is cooked through, white and flaky. Serve with the sauce spooned over the fillets, and a side of white rice, or yellow rice with pigeon peas.

Serves 4-6.

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Peruvian Potatoes with Cheese Sauce (Papas a la Huacaina)

What a whirlwind summer we've had! Though our recipe posts have become farther apart, and stopped altogether for a month, don't think for a minute that we have fallen out of love with food. In fact, we've tested enough new recipes to stock the next year. 

In between my librarian work and marketing work for the local chamber of commerce, I've also been experimenting with art. Joe's been experimenting with having man friends and leisure time, something he hasn't allowed himself in quite a while. When you're raising kids, you don't have much spare time.

But now we've gotten to the lovely part of life where our children are our friends and we have much more time to cultivate our interests. And that's where this recipe comes in. To celebrate Joe's birthday, First Born found a Peruvian restaurant on the north side of Chicago, Ay Ay Picante (4569 N Elston Ave). None of us had tried Peruvian food before, but we learned their cuisine has a strong Asian influence and the backbone of their traditional recipes are seafood and potatoes.

I have become addicted to these potatoes. It's a surprising change on traditional potato salad, or a warm and comforting dish that is hearty enough for a main meal. The luscious sauce is what makes this dish so alluring. It is the authentic version of that orange cheese sauce they put on nachos. It's what nacho cheese sauce wants to be when it grows up.

I bet we could find a dozen other uses for the cheese sauce, but for now, we'll just pour it generously over the papas.

Ingredients

For the Sauce

1 Pound of queso fresco (fresh farmer's cheese)  Dash of Salt and Pepper 1 poblano pepper or large banana pepper, seeded 1 yellow bell pepper, seeded (note: you can use all banana or poblano peppers if you like it very hot) 1 can of evaporated milk 1 cup crumbled saltine crackers (about 15 crackers) For the Potatoes 6 large red potatoes  1/3 cup pitted Kalamata olives, cut in half Lettuce leaves 4 eggs 2 tbsp snipped chives or green onions Directions: Boil the potatoes and eggs together until the potatoes are tender. Allow to cool. Peel the potatoes and eggs and cut into slices. If you will be serving the dish cold, chill the potatoes and eggs until ready to serve; otherwise, leave at room temperature. Put all the sauce ingredients in a blender or food processor, and blend until thick and smooth. Pour into a saucepan and slowly heat up the sauce until it starts to bubble, stirring constantly.  If you are serving the dish cold, allow the sauce to cool to room temperature before assembling. Otherwise, lay down a bed of lettuce and arrange the potatoes on top. Pour the sauce over the potatoes, then garnish with the chives, olives, and eggs. Serves 4 as a main meal.

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Elote Dip (Creamy Mexican Corn Dip)

In Pilsen, the Latino neighborhood near the University of Illinois at Chicago, I would often see men pushing compact food carts in spring and summer, or riding bicycle carts and ringing little bells as they passed. The vendors sell all kinds of treats - ice cream, fruit cups, quick tacos, or elote - corn with mayonnaise, cheese, and a bit of spice. Some vendors sell elote as whole ears of corn with a skewer for you to hold onto while you munch. At a Hispanic grocery store near us, a lady sells little cups of cut corn mixed with the creamy elote sauce. Jessie and Jenn used to love to dip into them with tiny plastic spoons while we examined the produce.

Of course, one of the many wonderful things about corn on the cob is that it gives you an extra incentive to floss your teeth (which we're all doing 12 times a day already, right?). But as a dip with tortilla chips, elote has the benefit of very little cleanup afterward.

When my sister and nephew stopped over last week on the way to the National Dive Meet in Minneapolis, I warned them that this dip has no real nutritional value...but that was a lie. Everyone knows that corn is good for you, and corn and cheese eaten with corn chips are especially healthy. Anyway, once you taste this dip you might not care about nutrition, which is why we lightened it up with low-fat dairy ingredients and light corn chips.

Ingredients

6 ears of corn in husks
1 cup light mayonnaise
1 tbsp Mexican-style hot sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
1/3 cup Cotija or Parmesan cheese, finely grated
1 tbsp cilantro, chopped (optional)
1 tsp ground cayenne pepper (optional)
1 bag of tortilla chips

Directions

Soak the ears of corn in water for 10 minutes, while heating the grill to medium temperature. Grill the corn, turning occasionally, for 15-20 minutes, until just tender. Allow to cool slightly then husk the corn, and cut the kernels off the cobs.

In a medium saucepan, stir together the corn, mayo, yogurt, hot sauce, lime juice, salt and pepper, and cheese. Heat until bubbly. Serve hot, garnished with the cilantro and cayenne.

Makes about 3 cups of dip.

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Med-Mex Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

When I was nineteen, I married a Mexican man and moved in with his mother so we could save for a house. Mama Nona tried to teach me how to cook traditional Mexican food, but it was pretty difficult because I didn't know much Spanish, and if she knew any English beyond "hello" and "goodbye", she didn't let on to me.

Mama Nona was not impressed with my cooking skills. One day she had a pot of pinto beans boiling on the stove. Her daughter Graciela shouted up to me. “We’re going out, Angela. Can you watch the beans?”

I came downstairs to look. “Sure, no problem.”

Mama Nona was muttering to herself.

“What did she say?”

“She says you’re going to burn the beans.”

“I’m not going to burn the beans. I got this.”

I was halfway into the HBO premiere of “Saint Elmo’s Fire” when I smelled them burning. I ran downstairs but there was nothing I could do. They were stuck to the bottom of the pot and steaming rancid smoke at me. I dumped them into the trash bag, took it out to the trash bin and started a new batch boiling. I opened all the windows to let the snow-fresh air come in.

Several hours later, when the family came home, the beans were perfectly done. I smiled at Mama Nona while she tasted them. She laughed.

"What?"

“She says, 'I told you that you were going to burn the beans.',” said Graciela.

Last night I was cooking garbanzo beans (chick peas) from scratch so that I could make hummus. To cook most dried beans, you start them the night before by sorting out the bad ones, putting them in a pot of water, adding a couple pinches of baking soda and heating them. Once they reach a boil you turn off the stove and cover them, and let them sit on the burner overnight. The next day you strain and rinse them, cover with water again and let them simmer until they are soft. Doing it this way allows the beans the rehydrate and also eliminates the stuff that makes us gassy.

Well.

I was happily simmering those garbanzos that I'd already spent time with the night before. Unfortunately, Joe and I were also making a new recipe for duck in a pumpkin-seed sauce, and baking some french bread. I forgot about the garbanzos until we smelled the smoke.

And then Mama Nona rolled over in her grave, because her hopeless ex-daughter-in-law still can't cook a pot of beans.

I aired them out on the deck because the smell of burning beans is foul. Then I picked them over, because I still wanted hummus, darn it! So I took out a container of pinto beans that I had managed to cook properly and continued on with the recipe, making a Mediterranean-Mexican hummus fusion.

What I love about this recipe is that it has a much smoother, creamier texture than garbanzos alone, which can be a little mealy and grainy. We also kicked up the heat. Cumin, sesame, chick peas, beans, and peppers are common ingredients around the entire equator, so I say this is a valid food fusion. Let me know what you think of our innovation. Out of mistakes come good things.

Ingredients

1 jalapeno (or more to taste)
1 medium red bell pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
1 medium yellow onion
3 garlic cloves
2 cups cooked garbanzos (chick peas)
2 cups cooked pinto beans
1/3 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tsp cumin
1 tablespoon sesame oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Place the peppers on a broiling rack and place them under the broiler at high heat. Turn frequently, until the skins are blackened evenly on all sides. Place the peppers in a paper bag and put a plate underneath it to catch the juices. Allow the peppers to steam at least 15 minutes, or wait until they are cool.

Chop the onion. Saute it in 2 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan until soft. Mince the garlic and add it to the frying pan. Add the beans and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Take the peppers out of the bag and remove the blackened skins. Scraping them with a knife is the way Joe likes to do this. Remove the seeds and dice the peppers. Add the peppers and the parsley to the blender.

Stir together the remaining olive oil, cumin, sesame oil, and salt and pepper. Pour into the blender. Process the bean mixture until smooth, scraping down the sides often. Add water as needed if the mixture is too thick; the consistency should be similar to creamy peanut butter. Taste and add salt and pepper as desired.

Serve the hummus in pocket pita bread with lettuce, cucumber, grated carrots, and extra parsley, or use as a veggie dip or sandwich spread.

Makes approximately 5 cups.

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Yellow Rice with Pigeon Peas (Arroz con Gandules)

A few years ago, we took a group of suburban teenagers on a mission trip to Puerto Rico to help fix houses, take care of children, and share our faith with the people we met. Our teens were wonderfully hard workers who also tried to speak a bit of the language (though they also tried to just add "o" to the end of English words to make them Spanish!).

Once in a while the teens tried out the Puerto Rican dishes that were outside their comfort zone. One night we traveled from the little town of Hormigueros to a beach on the south side of the island. After swimming until sunset in a pretty little cove, we had dinner at a busy local restaurant. Arroz con gandules (say a-ROSE cone gon-doo-lays) was one of the side dishes. It was hearty, savory, and flavorful without being spicy-hot. We ate it all up.

La Casita restaurant in La Parguera, PR

(My dinner is in the tower at the bottom left - mofongo with shrimp. I can't wait to make this for you! Come over, we'll eat, we'll talk...!)

Joe and I bought a cookbook when we were in the Caribbean so we could make some of these dishes at home. Rice with pigeon peas is an inexpensive and filling dinner for a Meatless Monday, or a nice side dish with any kind of Latin American main dish. If you're not making a vegetarian version, it's traditional to stir in chopped sausage, ham or bacon.

Ingredients

1 tbsp oil
1/2 cup red pepper, chopped
1/2 cup onion, sliced
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups long grain white rice
4 cups water
5 green Spanish olives, pitted and chopped
1 can green pigeon peas, drained
1 tbsp annato oil or 1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
2 tsp ground cumin
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the onion, pepper, garlic, and cilantro and saute until tender (if you're using meat, saute it with the vegetables).

Place all ingredients into a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 20 minutes on medium heat, or until rice is cooked.

Serves 2-4.

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Potato and Kale Enchiladas

My friend Rebecca Stahr is a talented artist in pen and ink, pencil, photography, watercolor, encaustic, and oils. She has an attic studio to die for: filled with thousands of colors and artworks and brushes, and quirky art inspiration like a deer's skull wearing a Mardi Gras hat, mounds of rusty found objects and milkweed pods, and blowtorches and fire extinguishers for flaming encaustic wax resin.

This fall and winter she's been focusing on developing her art business (Rebecca J. Stahr, artist), gallery shows at the College of Lake County and Highland Park's Art Center, and exploring the nature of art and creation in her sketchbook blog. 

She's also working to develop an "Artists' Tribe", a group of artists who mentor and encourage each other in the sometimes lonely and insecure process of developing art that is authentic to their personal vision.

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That's a lot to accomplish all at once, especially in the art world where the competition is so fierce! So she asked me, food lover and cooking fanatic, to prepare some meals for her family so they don't starve and eat healthy while she and her husband both manage high-pressure vocations.

Oh, there's a catch, though - a big challenge for me. Her family is vegan and gluten free due to multiple food allergies, and there's a lot they can't eat. As for me, the more meat the better, and I do love my breads and pastas and all the other gluten-laden foods that are probably aggravating my rhuematoid arthritis. But how could I pass up a chance to learn entirely new ways of cooking? The creative side of my mind was spinning with the excitement of experimenting with food in a way that's completely new to me.

Here, then, is one of the first meals I made for her. The potato and kale make a lovely and filling enchilada, and the sauce punches up the flavor so I don't miss a bit of the meat I usually put in the rolls. I admit, though, that the batch I made for my dinner had a sprinkle of cheese on top. Just a little. But if you're vegan and don't like vegan cheese, you probably won't even crave that.

This recipe was inspired by the cookbook Veganomicon.

Ingredients

For the Sauce:

2 tbsp oil

2/3 cup onion, diced

2/3 cup red bell pepper, chopped

1 tbsp chili powder

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp oregano 

1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
1 tsp salt

For the Filling:

1 lb. red-skinned potatoes

1/2 pound kale, washed, trimmed, and chopped

3 tbsp oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup vegetable broth or water
3 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 cup toasted pepitas, chopped coarsely

2 tsp salt, or to taste

12-14 corn tortillas

Chopped tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese (optional)

Instructions

In a large saucepan, saute the pepper and onion in oil until tender. Stir in the rest of the sauce ingredients. Using an immersion blender or a food processor, puree the sauce. Bring to a boil in the pan, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Cut the potatoes into 1-inch cubes and boil them until nearly tender, about 15-20 minutes. Drain and set aside.In a large skillet, heat the oil, then saute the garlic for 1 minute on medium heat. Add the kale and saute 5 minutes or until wilted, stirring constantly. Stir in the potatoes, pepitas, lime juice, and salt.  Cover and cook 3 minutes. Mash the potatoes slightly with the back of a spoon.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x12 casserole pan, then spread out 1/2 cup of sauce in the bottom of the pan. On a flat griddle or frying pan, heat the corn tortillas until soft and pliable.

Pour half of the enchilada sauce onto a plate, and lay a tortilla on the plate. Spoon 1/3 cup of potato mixture onto the tortilla. Roll up the tortilla and place, seam side down, in the casserole pan. Repeat with the remaining tortillas, then drizzle with the remaining sauce.

Cover the pan with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, until the centers are cooked and the casserole is heated through. Top with tomato and lettuce before serving.

Serves 4-6.

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Vegetable Tamale Pie with Green Salsa

The origin of this recipe is a funny, if slightly embarrassing story. A couple of my friends came over once for a tamale-making party. We also decided to make some roasted pepper salsa and cranberry-apple chutney, and I was teaching them how to can the extra sauce.

There was also a bottle of tequila, fresh limes, and some Grand Marnier that we shook into some very strong Margaritas. And a mason jar of cranberry-soaked moonshine.

Cranberry moonshine. Lord help me.

By sunset, we'd canned eight pints of salsa and seven half-pints of cranberry chutney, the chicken mixture had stewed all day into a luscious shredded filling, and the portobello and corn filling smelled fantastic. The limes were all gone, and one or all of us might or might not have done a shot of tequila.

And man, those cranberries had soaked up a powerful amount of moonshine. They were little Molotov cocktails bursting in our mouths.

We were working diligently on spreading homemade masa dough into corn wrappers and these tamales - oh, they were the most beautiful ones I've ever made. I was feeling wonderful about my recipe-teaching skills.

But I unwrapped the first ones and they were dry and crumbly...make that powdery, actually. The filling was out of this world, but the corn dough was dry as dust. I read back over my recipe and realized, somewhere in the midst of joking and sipping and stirring and filling, I'd forgotten to add the broth to the dough. Gah!

The next day, after I asked my friends if anyone remembered what happened to the beaters for my mixer, we decided that the remaining tamales could be saved by unwrapping them, mixing the dough with some broth and salsa, and layering them in a casserole dish.

It turned out so well that this may become a staple in our home. You don't have to wrap a casserole in leaves, after all, and this is the hardest part.

Ingredients

2 cups shortening
4 cups masa flour or tamale flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2 cups vegetable broth
2 tsp oil
1 pound portobello, button, or other mushroom mixture, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup onion, sliced
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
2 cups salsa verde
Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

Put the shortening in a mixer or food processor and mix until soft and creamy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, and garlic, then slowly add it to the shortening. Pour the broth in a little at a time while mixing until the dough is thoroughly mixed. It should be similar to a very sticky bread dough or a very firm muffin batter.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 11 casserole dish. Spread half the dough into the dish.

In a large frying pan, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the mushrooms and onions and saute until tender, about 10 minutes. Add the corn and 1 cup of salsa. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer with a lid on for 10 minutes.

Spread the vegetable mixture over the dough in the casserole pan, then spread the rest of the dough over the top. Drizzle the remaining salsa over the top. If you are not a strict vegan, this is an excellent time to top the pie with a mixture of shredded chihuahua and cotija cheeses.

Cover the dish with foil, set it in the middle rack, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until the pie is cooked through and the tamale dough is crumbly.

Serve with chopped cilantro and additional salsa verde, if desired.

Serves 4-6.

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Chicken-Chorizo Tinga Poblana (Shredded Spicy Chicken)

Chicken tinga poblana is a traditional way of simmering chicken with tomatoes, garlic, peppers, and herbs until it shreds into fabulously flavorful bits of tangy meat. We added just a bit of chorizo to the pot to pump up the flavor even more, but this dish is great without it.

It's also a perfect recipe for a slow cooker - just swap out the chicken thighs for sliced chicken breast, add all the ingredients at once, and let it cook all day.

Tinga is a long-time specialty of the Puebla, the south-central state along the curve of the Gulf of Mexico. Any kind of savory shredded meat works in this recipe - pork, beef, turkey, rabbit, fish. We use chicken thighs, stripped of skin and fat, because the meat has more flavor than breasts. Serve the meat in warmed corn or flour tortillas, over rice, or in tamales.

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs, skinned and fat removed

2 cups white onions, quartered

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp salt

1/2 lb Mexican chorizo, skinned and crumbled

1 15-oz can stewed tomatoes

1 tsp oregano

1 bay leaf

1/3 cup canned chiles in adobo sauce, chopped

To Serve

16 corn or flour tortillas, tostadas, or rice 

1/2 cup white onion, finely chopped

2 ripe avocados, peeled and diced

Directions

Place the chicken, onions, and garlic into a medium saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Drain and reserve all but 1 cup of the cooking liquid for another use. Pull the meat off the chicken and return to the saucepan with the onions and the 1 cup of broth.

In a frying pan, cook the chorizo until browned and crumbly. Add it to the pan with the chicken, then add all other ingredients to the pan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until thickened and well blended.

Serve in tortillas and top with onion and avocado chunks.

Serves 6.

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Fab Four Mexican Recipes

Some people think that Cinco de Mayo is the Mexican Independence Day, but Mexicans really celebrate their independence from Spain on September 16. On this date in the year 1810, they began a revolt against Spain, and eventually became a free country. It's a national holiday in which people make special foods and enjoy great celebrations, fireworks, fancy cakes and cookies, and lots of decorations.

In honor of the holiday, I'm presenting four fabulous authentic Mexican dishes -- some ancient, some modern, all perfectly easy to make. These talented Mexican cooks and bloggers deserve a good look, if you love Mexican food as much as we do!

1: Empanadas of the Immaculate Conception (meat turnovers), from  Pati's Mexican Table.

2: Stuffed Chicken with Mango-Poblano Sauce, from What's Cooking, Mexico? - luscious mangoes and tangy poblano peppers dress up chicken breasts.

3: Red Pork Pozole Soup, from Mexico in My Kitchen - a traditional savory soup with large white hominy kernels.

4: Polvorones Ricas (holiday cookies dusted with powdered sugar), from De La Tierra - these sugar cookies are especially popular at Easter.

Viva Mexico!

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Cactus Salad (Ensalata de Nopales)

If you're looking to try something new and different this salad is definitely an interesting one to try! Nopales are the paddle-shaped leaves of the prickly pear cactus. They are often eaten in Mexico and Central America; prickly pears are sometimes called tunas and are also eaten and made into jellies.

You can buy nopales in a can, or buy fresh paddles at Hispanic stores. At our local store, there's a talented guy who cuts out the mean little spikes ahead of time, which is a big time saver and is ouch-free for the buyer. If you are preparing the cactus yourself, cut out the stickers and eyes, and slice off the tough outer edge around each paddle. If you use canned nopales, make sure you drain and rinse them first.

Nopales are eaten after they are cooked, and I think they taste like asparagus. This salad is definitely an interesting and tasty way to try new vegetables. I bet you'll be glad you did.

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 large nopales paddles, cleaned and diced

1 jalapeno, thinly sliced

1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced

6 cups romaine lettuce, chopped

3 plum tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped

2/3 cup Cotija cheese

1/4 cup lime juice

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp sugar

2 tbsp spicy brown mustard

1 tsp oregano, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a medium skillet, saute the garlic and cactus in oil until the vegetables are tender and the nopales are no longer sticky, about 20 minutes. Allow to cool.

Toss together the sauteed vegetables, jalapeno, onion, romaine, tomatoes, cilantro, and cheese. Whisk together the lime juice, vinegar, sugar, mustard, salt, pepper, and oregano, and drizzle over the salad. Toss well before serving.

Serves 4-6.

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Amaretto Flan with Blood Oranges

This velvety-rich dessert is a delicate end to a sweet Mother's Day meal. Bake this for her, and she'll never forget it.

Ingredients

2/3 cup white sugar
4 eggs
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk (we use low-fat or fat-free for both milks)
1 12 oz can evaporated milk
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp amaretto liqueur, divided
1 very ripe blood orange (should squeeze easily but the skin should not be dull and dry)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Oil a glass or metal round 9" pan.

Place the sugar in a medium saucepan. Heat it over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is melted and slightly browned. Pour the syrup into the baking pan and swirl it to coat the sides.

Put the eggs in the mixing bowl and beat at medium speed until frothy. Pour in the milks, salt, vanilla, and 1 tbsp amaretto, and beat until smooth. Pour the mixture into the baking pan and cover it with aluminum foil.

Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes, or until the egg mixture is completely set. Remove the foil and allow it to cool. Place a dish over the pan and invert the baking dish so the flan and syrup is on the plate.

Peel the orange and completely remove all the white pith. Thinly slice the orange, and arrange the slices on top of the flan. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tbsp of amaretto.

Serves 6-8.

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Chicken Tortilla Soup

For nearly twenty years, I worked in IT and Finance for a corporation that fed its employees free breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. I was so spoiled! Marriott Food Service cooked our meals, and one of the chefs gave me this recipe for their fantastic Chicken Tortilla soup. Whenever they served this popular soup, they set up a bar with all sorts of toppings, like sliced jalapenos, guacamole, chopped tomatoes, tortilla strips and cheese.

It's barely 20 degrees in Chicagoland today, and I'm reading the tart and funny book, "Then We Came to the End" by Joshua Ferris. It's set in Corporate America, right in Chicago's Loop, and I'm toasty at home with a pot of soup and lots of memories. If you liked "The Office" series and the movie "Office Space", you might like this book also.

This quick soup can be ready in 45 minutes, or you can simmer it on low in a crock pot all day.

Ingredients

6 cups chicken broth

1 tbsp oil

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced

3 cups onion, diced

3 cups red pepper, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 can tomato sauce

Juice of 1 lime (about 2 tbsp)

1 tbsp salt

2 tbsp chili powder

2 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less, to taste)

4 corn tortillas

3 cups shredded colby-jack cheese

Directions

In a large stock pot, saute chicken in oil. Add onions and garlic and cook until tender. Add the rest of the ingredients except the tortillas and cheese, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.

Bake tortillas until slightly crispy, then cut into strips. To serve, ladle the soup into a bowl, then top with the tortilla strips and cheese, and any other ingredients like jalapenos or guacamole.

Serves 6. 

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