Chile Rellenos

I grew up in New Hampshire. New Hampshire is known for many great things, but authentic Mexican food is not one of them. Growing up, I never tasted, or even heard of, Chile Rellenos. But now that I live out West, I have access to many a different and delicious Chile Relleno. Its somewhat spicy, very cheesy, and fried. What's not to love?

My Rellenos did not turn out as well as the kind in  a restaurant (no surprise there) but were still pretty delicious. So without further ado: 

First you need the roast the chilies. I used poblano, which the right kind if you're going for authenticity, but you could really use whatever pepper you like. Jalepenos would make a nice small and very spicy relleno. Any big, mild pepper like anaheim or hatch would work well, too. 

To roast them, place them in the broiler, close to the flame, for about 15 minutes. Keep an eye on them and turn them every so often so all the sides get roasted. You want the skin to get black and blistery and start to come away from the pepper, but you don't want to burn the flesh of the pepper. Once they are roasted, place the chilis in a bowl with saran wrap over it. This will steam the chilies and help loosen the skin.

Meanwhile, blend together onions, garlic and tomatoes until there are no chunks left. Heat 1-2 tsbp. oil in a pan. Run the tomato mixture through a strainer, and into the pan. Add broth and lightly simmer this while you are prepping the chilies, and it will become your sauce. 

Its a good idea to wear gloves when handling peppers, so you don't take out your contacts later and burn your eyeballs (like I keep doing). Let the chilies steam about 10 minutes, then take them out and peel off the skin. It may not all come off super easy, but try to get all the skin off if you can, because it will taste bitter.

Once the chilies are roasted and peeled, make a slit along one side and remove the seeds. Rinse the chilies and now they are ready to be stuffed!

You can stuff them with whatever you like, but the kind that is most common out here is stuffed with cheese. I used a type of cheese called Queso Fresco Casero (I think, I can't actually remember and I threw the packaging away). Anyways, it didn't melt very well. Oaxaca queso would probably work better, or you could even use something like Colby or Jack cheese. 

Once you stuff the peppers, you want to roll them in flour to coat all sides. Then you dip them in an egg batter.

The egg batter is made with egg whites only. Make sure you don't get any yolk in the whites when you are separating them, or they won't whip up correctly. Beat the eggs until they form stiff peaks. (This is where an electric mixer comes in handy).

Meanwhile, heat oil in your pan. You want at least 1/2 inch of oil. Make sure to get it nice and hot. When oil is between 365 and 375 degrees, it will cook the food without getting the food greasy. If the temp is too low, the oil will soak into the food, making it bad for your health and also bad to taste. If the oil is too hot, it will burn the food. A thermometer is a wonderful tool. 

Once the oil is hot. dip your floured, stuffed pepper into the egg white batter, and place immediately in the pan. Don't overcrowd the pan. Fry each pepper until the batter is golden brown (and hopefully the cheese is melted!). Once they are done, top with the tomato sauce, serve and enjoy!

These rellenos looks a hot tasty mess.

Chile Rellenos

6 poblano peppers

Cheese of your choice

1/3 c. flour

4 egg whites

6 tomatoes

1/4 onion

2 cloves garlic

1/4 cup broth (chicken or veg)

1/2-1 c. vegetable oil

Roast, deseed and peel the peppers

Stuff with cheese, etc.

Roll in flour, then dip in egg batter and fry immediately

For the sauce:

blend tomatoes, garlic and onions

strain mixture

Add 2 tbsp. oil and tomato mixture to pan

add broth

simmer until it turns dark red

Chicken Pot Pie

NOTE: I have not been very good at posting each week. To make up for it, I will post another recipe before this week is over!

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I love chicken pot pie. Its not very healthy, but it is very delicious. And although it is normally considered a blustery-wintery-day kind of food, I'll eat it anytime. Surprisingly, I have never actually made it from scratch. So here is my something new this week, a (mostly) traditional chicken pot pie.

I based this recipe on the Pioneer Woman's pot pie, with a few substitutions.

I started by making the crust. You could do a double crust for this, but I opted for just a top crust. I made the crust from scratch, which is easier than it sounds. You could easily use a frozen crust for this. 

Then I cooked the chicken breast. I think using dark meat in addition (or instead of) white meat would result in a richer, tastier pie, but I didn't have any on hand. I haven't mentioned it yet, but I live out in the desert, about 75 miles from the nearest grocery store. I find that I often don't have the right ingredients on hand and have to get creative. I was looking back on my last two posts and realized that "I didn't have [insert ingredient here]" is probably going to be a popular refrain in this blog.

So cook up your chicken, however you like (I boiled mine because its very quick). Set cooked chicken aside.

Dice up your carots, celery, onions, and whatever other veggies you like. I used cauliflower, and I think peas, corn, even green beans would be good.Throw those in a pot with some butter, and let that cook until the onions are translucent. 

Sprinkle the flour over the cooked veggies, then add in the broth and stir it well. Let that cook until it thickens up. If you want to add more flour, get some of the broth in a cup and whisk the flour in that. That way, when you pour the mixture into the pot, the flour won't clump up. 

Meanwhile, shred up the cooked chicken. Add the shredded chicken to the thickened broth/veggie mixture. Splash a little cream in there to make it...creamy. (This is optional if you like dairy free). Add spices.

Pour that into a buttered (or crusted) pan. Roll out your crust on top.

You could end here, or you could add an egg wash to the crust. Egg washes are very easy to make: beat one egg, add a little water, and voila! You've got an egg wash. 

Brush that over your crust, pop that baby in the oven at 375 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. Its a good idea to loosely cover the pie with foil for the first 15 mins of cooking so the crust doesn't burn.

Once the crust is browned and the filling is bubbly, take it out of the oven, serve and enjoy!

Chicken Pot Pie

4 tbsp butter

3 stalks celery, diced

1/2 onion, diced

3 carrots, diced

any other veggies you think are delicious, diced

3 c. shredded cooked chicken

1/4 c. flour

3 c. chicken broth

1/4 tsp. turmeric

salt and pepper, thyme, to taste

1/4 cup or less cream

pie crust

1 egg

splash water

Preheat oven to 375.

Add butter and diced veggies to sauce pan, saute until onions are translucent.

Sprinkle flour over veggies, stir in broth. Let it cook down and reduce until you have achieved your personal desired thickness.

Add in cooked chicken, cream and spices.

Pour mixture into crusted or buttered pan. Top with crust.

Egg wash optional: mix egg with water, brush on crust.

Cook 25 to 30 minutes.

PS. With a recipe like this, its a good idea to add a pinch of salt every time you add a new ingredient to the pot. This will bring out all the flavors. Taste constantly, too!

Hot and Sour Soup

Here's an oldie but a goodie (I also have something new this week, but wanted to add this recipe too because it may be new to you!)

I make this soup all the time and have yet to get sick of it. Its also one of those recipes that you can do so many variations on, so don't be scared by any ingredients. They all have substitutes!

This soup is inspired by a recipe I found in a book titled "365 Ways to Cook Chinese." By now, I have changed the recipe so much that I think of it as my own. 

Start with about 4 cans (or 7 cups) chicken broth. You can use homemade broth, veggie broth, or I sometimes even substitute half with water and boullion if I'm low on broth. (I wouldn't recommend using all water and boullion, you'd lose a lot of richness if you do that).

Add cider vinegar, soy sauce, cayenne pepper and lemongrass*. Lemongrass is so great, just take the stalk, chop it up, bend it and bruise it all over to release the juices, and add it, husk and all, to the pot. (You'll strain this later). Let that boil, covered, about 10-15 minutes.

*If you don't have access to lemongrass (its sold in most Asian markets) you can use lemon extract, lemon juice at the end (it will get bitter if added too early) or skip this ingredient. Kiffir lime leaves are an excellent substitute, but not as widely available.

Meanwhile, chop napa cabbage into thin strips. Dice water chestnuts. 

Strain the broth to remove all the lemongrass. Add cabbage and water chestnuts to broth and bring back to a boil, covered.

Cut up pork into big pieces, tiny pieces, whatever you prefer, and saute in sesame or vegetable oil. It doesn't really matter what cut of pork you use, just go with what you like. You can skip the meat if you want a vegetarian soup, or substitute a different meat if you don't eat pork. Shrimp works really well with this recipe. (If using shrimp, add to soup right at the end because you don't want to overcook. Just a couple minutes is all it takes to go from translucent to pink, that's when its done.)

I like to cook the pork almost completely, and add it to the soup right at the end. It will finish that last step of cooking in the broth, but won't get overcooked and dry.

But I'm getting ahead of myself! Before you add the cooked pork, put the rice sticks in the broth. Now, cooking the rice sticks is all about preference. Traditionally, you add rice sticks to rapidly boiling water or broth, and cook for just  a minute. I like to boil the rice sticks much longer, about 5 minutes. This kind of plumps the noodles up so they seem thicker. Most cooks would say I am totally overcooking the noodles and doing it wrong, but I don't care. So you do you, and cook those rice sticks however long you like. 

Once the noodles are done, turn off the heat, add the chopped cilantro and green onions and the cooked pork, and ta da! Dish up that soup, squeeze a slice of lime over each bowl, serve and enjoy!

p.s. I do realize that cilantro is a love-it-or-hate-it kind of herb, and I've used it in my last two recipes. If you, like some people dear to my heart, think it tastes like soap, just use fresh basil or mint instead. It will give the soup a slightly different flavor, but still very delicious! In the summer when my herb garden is in full swing I usually just add handfuls of whatever is growing. I even add hot peppers from my garden and cut down the cayenne a bit, and its wonderful. Get funky with this soup!

Hot & Sour Soup

7 cups (or more or less) chicken broth

2 tbsp. soy sauce 

2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 stalk lemongrass

1/2 head napa cabbage, chopped

1/2 can water chestnuts. diced

3-4 green onions, chopped

handful fresh cilantro (or basil, or whatever!) chopped

1 package rice sticks (sold in most grocery stores with the Asian food)

4 oz. or so pork, cut up

lime slices (1 per serving)

Thai Marinated Chicken

Tonight I am doing something new with plain old chicken breast. I saw this recipe for Thai Marinated Grilled Chicken Skewers on The Splendid Table's website. I've tweaked it a bit based on ingredients and equipment I had on hand.

The recipe calls for cardamom, which I did not have, so I used 1/2 cinnamon and 1/2 nutmeg. I swapped curry powder for curry paste, and used dried ginger instead of fresh.

I marinated the chopped chicken for about 30 minutes, squeezing on the chicken to incorporate the flavors better. 

(I am basically Martha Stewart when it comes to food photography. I'll work on that).

I was too much of a wimp to grill this chicken because it was freezing outside, so I pan fried it in vegetable oil instead. The final result was a bit sweet for my taste (possibly due to my method of cooking) so I added a handful of fresh, chopped cilantro to the chicken once it was cooked, and that balanced things nicely.

I served this with vegetables, but it would have been really good over rice.

Marinade ingredients

• 1/4 c. soy sauce
• 3 tbsp. firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
• 2 tbsp. oil
• 1 tbsp. curry paste
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp. ginger
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Mix all ingredients and marinate chicken for 30 minutes to overnight. 

Pan fry chicken, don't overcrowd.

Add handful of fresh chopped cilantro once cooked. Serve. Enjoy!

Something New!

This year, like every year, I made a new years resolution. And this year, like every year, I am in grave danger of falling flat on my face trying to keep it. 

 My resolution? Find something new to cook once a week. 

I have always enjoyed reading about/watching food being made, but I am not very good at putting what I see into practice. I tend to try a new recipe, discover that I like it, and then make it so many  times that I (or my husband) can take no more. 

So this is my attempt to break the cycle and try something new once a week. 

Now, I actually started writing this blog about 2 weeks ago, and I had been making new recipes. But then I went to Death Valley for a camping trip and forgot to post what I had written. See what I mean about falling on my face?

So my next post will be a recipe from last week, and I'll just have to be satisfied starting the new year a little...late. 

I will try to keep this blog organized so that you, dear reader, will be able to look up recipes if you are so inclined. I will also try to keep the posts simple so you don't have to wade through my musings to find out how the food is actually cooked. But most of all I will try to post once a week! Wish me luck.