Two Dinners and One Dessert

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Geeze!  I was so busy doing websites and stuff last night I never did get dinner posted!  It was a fun one, too - Mole Verde Chicken Enchiladas!

The Mole Verde sauce is a paste from Doña Maria that I get at PathMark.  Add to a quart of chicken broth and it's ready to go!

Chicken Enchiladas Mole Verde

  • 1 jar Doña Maria Mole Verde
  • 1 qt Chicken broth
  • 2 chicken breasts, diced
  • 1 sm onion, diced
  • 1 can diced green chilis
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp Mexican oregano
  • 1 lb shredded jack cheese
  • 12 corn tortillas
  • Black olives - for garnish
  • sour cream - for garnish

Mix Mole Verde paste and chicken broth.  Mix well and cook until thickened. Set aside.

Saute onions in a bit of oil until translucent.  Add chicken and cook through.  Add spices and green chilis and heat through.

Remove from heat, add in 3/4 of cheese and mix well.

Cover bottom of large casserole dish with about a cup of Mole Verde.

Place about 1/4 cup of chicken mixture on tortilla and roll.  Place in dish.  When all are done, cover with more sauce and add remaining cheese.

Cover with foil and bake at 350° for about 30 minutes.

Garnish with sour cream and black olives.

I served it with Mexican rice and refried benas.  Yum

And then tonight we went with beef.  And LOTS of onions.

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And baked sweet potatoes and spinach fresh from the freezer.

I actually caramelized four onions for two steaks.  Did I mention we like caramelized onions?!?

And there are apple galettes with creme fraiche and homemade caramel sauce cooling right now...

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All done!

The perfect ending to the day!


Ah, Baloney!

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I was out and about earlier this morning doing my Monday grocery shopping.  When there isn't a lot on the list, I tend to wander the store a bit more than usual - looking for different things on sale or things that just look good.  It can be good, because I can get some bargains, and it can be bad, because I may not know right that minute what I'll make with that guava paste, but I'm sure I'll think of something.  Into the cart it goes.

The other thing is creating recipes in my head as I see a product.  I was kinda thinking a won ton soup for dinner tonight when I saw Mole Verde on the shelf in the Mexican food section.  Mole Verde... Chicken Enchiladas with Mole Verde, lots of jack cheese... Spanish rice, refried beans... The whole menu was there in a flash.  I haven't quite figured out the recipe, yet, but that will come...  I'm mentally tasting things as I'm walking up and down the aisles.  Combining this and that, wondering about another...

I saw a Mandarin Orange sauce in the Asian section that would probably make a good flavoring to add to chicken broth and chili paste for the won ton soup I was thinking of...  and five big cans of pineapple for $5.00.  Slices, chunks, and crushed.  Pineapple upside-down cake, stirfry's, pineapple cream pie... It's there when I need it.

A duck breast that may become part of the Easter hors d'oeuvres... Or another salad.  Or something else, entirely.

You get the picture.  Impulse shopping in living color.  The rule is, however - if I buy it, I have to use it. We do not have buyer's remorse, let it rot, and then throw it away.  It has made for a few interesting meals, I must say!

So...  I shall finish my bologna sandwich and think of a way to use that Mole Verde in a chicken enchilada.

Stay tuned...


Hamburger, Potatoes, and Repurposed Fruit

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A dish my mom made now and again when we were kids growing up was Hamburger and Potatoes.  It was a quick and easy meal for her to make and a great way to stretch that dollar to feed six kids.  It's not the prettiest meal one can make, but it's hearty, filling, and definitely comfort-food for me.

The basic is hamburger, potatoes, onion, garlic powder and a splash of worcestershire, salt and pepper. Fry the potaoes and the hamburger separately, and then combine them when they're both done.

Yum.

And speaking of yum...  Victor made dessert tonight!

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Fresh Fruit Tart with Almond Cream

  • 1 basic pie crust
  • 1 8oz  can almond paste
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • Fresh fruit
  • Apricot jam for glaze

Line a 10" tart pan with pie crust and trim.  Line shell with foil add beans or pie weights and bake crust about 30 minutes at 350°.

Thoroughly mix almond paste with heavy cream (food processor or mixer) and spread onto hot tart shell.

Return to oven and bake about 5 minutes.  Cool completely.

When cool, arrange fruit of choice on top of almond cream.

Heat jam and brush on fruit to glaze.

Yum, indeed!


Sunday Brunch

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Sunday Brunch is great - it's the perfect excuse to get just everso-slightly excessive (as if I need a reason).

We hadn't had Victor's mom over for a while, so we thought it would be nice to have her over today.  And his brother and sister-in-law are just a  few blocks from her, so we invited them, also.  Asparagus and bacon quiche, sausages, fresh fruit, sourdough toast and jam...  Lots of hot, fresh coffee... It was perfect.  We had five people for brunch with the same amount of food there would have been had it been just the two of us.  Granted, there would have been more leftovers, but quiche only comes in one 10" pie plate size as far as I'm concerned.  I'm over making individuals...

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Bacon and Asparagus Quiche

Pastry for Single-Crust Pie

  • 1/2 pound bacon
  • 1  pound asparagus, chopped
  • 4  eggs
  • 1  cup heavy cream
  • 1  cup milk
  • 1/4  teaspoon salt
  • 1/8  teaspoon pepper
  • Dash ground nutmeg
  • 1 1/2  cups shredded Emmentaller cheese
  • 1  tablespoon all-purpose flour

1. Prepare Pastry for Single-Crust Pie. Line the pie shell with a double thickness of heavy duty foil. Bake at 450° for 8 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for 4 to 5 minutes more or until pastry is set and dry. Remove from oven. Reduce oven temperature to 325°. (Pie shell should still be hot when filling is added; do not partially bake pastry shell ahead of time.)

2. Cook bacon until crisp.

3. Mix together the eggs, cream, milk, salt, and nutmeg. Stir in the crumbled bacon and asparagus. Toss together shredded cheese and flour. Add to egg mixture.

4. Pour egg mixture into the hot, baked pastry shell. Bake at 325° for 40 minutes or until set.

Blood oranges, strawberries, blueberries, mango, and blackberries were the perfect fruit combination, and those sourdough boules make great toast! Victor bought four of them yesterday and piping hot, dripping with butter and jam, it was almost like eating dessert.

So I'm pleasantly stuffed right now.

I wonder what we'll do for dinner.....


New England Clam Chowder

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Victor decided to make clam chowder for dinner tonight.  What a treat!  I love coming home to dinner already cooked on Saturdays.  It's always a gastronomical delight.  And today was damp and chilly - perfect soup weather.

We've had minced clams and clam juice in the cupboard for a while, now.  I kept thinking linguine with clam sauce - and just never quite got around to doing it. Now, I don't have to!  It's a win-win for me!

The very best clam chowder is Fanny Farmer simple.  Clams, milk, potatoes and bacon or  salt pork. No extraneous ingredients.  It's the simplicity that makes it so good.

Victor pulled out our battered copy of the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (© 1981 - it's no longer that new) and tweaked their recipe a bit:

New England Clam Chowder

  • 2 6-1/2-ounce cans minced clams
  • 1 bottle clam juice
  • 2  slices bacon, cut up
  • 4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 1/2  cup chopped onion
  • 1/8  teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 1/2  cups milk
  • 1  cup heavy cream
  • 3  tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1  tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Drain canned clams, reserving juice.

In a large saucepan cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings in pan. Drain bacon on paper towels; crumble bacon and set aside.

Saute onion and potato about 5 minutes.  Add clam juice, Worcestershire sauce, and pepper. Bring to boil and then reduce heat. Simmer, covered, about 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Stir together milk, heavy cream, and flour; add to potato mixture. Cook and stir until slightly thickened and bubbly. Stir in clams. Return to boiling; reduce heat. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes more or until heated through. Sprinkle each serving with crumbled bacon.

It was really excellent, but the fun part was serving it in hollowed out sourdough boules!  I ate every crumb!


A BLT on a Plate

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I took my first bite of dinner tonight and immediately thought of a BLT.  It had nothing to do with the warm crumbled bacon atop the (surprisingly) fresh-tasting tomatoes, I'm sure...

A base of spring mix lettuce started tonight's gastronomical delight.  Hard cooked eggs, sliced mushrooms, tomatoes, blackberries (I love fresh fruit in salads!!!) bell pepper, grilled chicken breasts, homemade croutons from a loaf of tomato basil bread, and those bacon bits were dressed in a sherry vinegar vinaigrette.  The flavors worked really well together, but then, bacon goes with (almost) anything!

I made a corn syrup-free walnut pie last night (who knew light Karo syrup had high fructose corn syrup in it?!?)  but we cut into it a bit too soon and it just wasn't picture-worthy.  (It's all about the picture!!!)  So I'll post one later on this evening when we have dessert.  In the meantime, here's the recipe - it is REALLY good!

It calls for a tablespoon of (drumroll, please...) SCOTCH!  I have cooked with just about every liquor, liqueur, wine, beer, and ale out there, at one time or another, but this may be the first time I have ever used scotch in a recipe other than a Rob Roy or Rusty Nail.  (I was bartending waaaaaaay before Cosmopolitans became popular...)   I'll be damned if it wasn't totally excellent!

The original recipe came from Bon Appetit and it was for a pecan pie.  I already had the walnuts...

Brown Sugar Walnut Pie

Pie crust for 10" pie

  • 2 cups (packed) dark brown sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 tablespoon Scotch whisky
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 3 cups walnut pieces

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 10-inch glass pie dish with dough. Whisk sugar, eggs, butter, Scotch, vanilla, and cinnamon in large bowl to blend. Mix in nuts. Pour filling into dough-lined dish.

Bake pie until filling is slightly puffed and set in center, about 40 minutes. Cool pie completely before serving.

This actually would be best made the day before, because if you can't wait for it to cool completely, it's pretty much a runny mess on the plate.  It tastes really, really good, it just won't look very pretty!

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Yum.


Steaks and Mangoes

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Well...  I thought about it for a minute, but deep-frying just wasn't in the cards for tonight.  I wanted that steak with mango sauce!

The sauce was easy to make.  I took some frozen mango and tossed it in a pot with a bit of garlic, chopped onion, chopped bell pepper, and chopped tomato.    I cooked it down and added a splash of Meyer's rum, a tablespoon of brown sugar, salt, pepper, and just a hint of spicy boonie pepper.  I hit it with the immersion blender and smoothed it out a bit.

Oven-roasted potatoes with garlic and paprika and broccoli and cauliflower in a light cheese sauce.

Hmmmmmmm... maybe I'll deep-fry something for dessert!  Coconut fritters sound really good!


Crime Scene Coincidence?!?

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A friend at work brought this in - a New Yorker cartoon by Robert Weber.    Now... contrary to popular belief I'm not quite this bad in the kitchen.  Yes, I have set off smoke alarms and had the fire department show up - on Christmas Day in a snowstorm - and the blender top has flung off covering the ceiling with whatever and the mixer has flung flour everywhere because that first speed just isn't slow enough...  but these generally are the exception, not the rule.

The stove (and the oven, for that matter) is another story.  Anything and everything splatters.  A simple saute can make a mess.  Rice slightly boiling over... that one stray pea... The stovetop is generally a bit of a mess.  We have a sealed cooktop.  It's the nature of the beast.  Everything stays just where it fell.  And the knobs should never have been on the side the way they are.  It all seemed like a good idea when we bought it, but if we knew then what we know now... You know the drill, 20/20 hindsight.    Oh well.  My dream cooktop would be six burners and grates over them - and drip pans way under so everything fell down onto them out of sight - traditional commercial stuff.  Alas, that ain't gonna happen in this kitchen.  Oh well, again.

So...  I come home early today because Victor had a landscaper coming over to talk about the nightmare that is our front yard and I notice that Victor has cleaned the cooktop.

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Actually, it was kinda easy to notice he had cleaned the cooktop.  Subtle is his middle name, after all.

I was thinking of a grilled steak with a mango sauce for dinner tonight, but I suddenly have the urge to deep-fry something.....


Repurposing...

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Leftovers can be a boon or a bane.

There's only the two of us, but at any given moment, half the neighborhood could drop in for dinner and there would still be doggie bags.  I have never learned to cook in small quantities.  Sometimes, that leftover whatever is great (especially if it's dessert-oriented!) and other times seeing day four of a cassoulet can be discouraging to say the least.  Right now we're in the "oh good" phase.

Two things from dinner the other night were calling me today - the guava glaze and the fruit salsa.  The glaze probably has a refrigerated shelf-life just short of plutonium.  The salsa I would give a week, tops.  And both of them transfer well from pork to chicken.  A dinner was born.

I brushed the glaze onto the chicken and onto the grill it went.  Brown rice cooked with chicken broth and a pat of butter, and frozen peas.  (Somehow I tried to corner the market on frozen peas.  I seem to have bought bags and bags of them.  Fortunately they're frozen and I don't have to get overly creative with them right away...)

But I digress...

A really simple (and tasty) dinner and more cake later tonight.

I think at some point I may rework the glaze into more of a barbecue-type sauce - I still have a cup or so and it's really thick.  It would probably work really well on ribs.  We shall see - and I do have time...


Springtime Salads

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The calendar says Spring, even if the weather is not cooperating.  And Spring means it's Salad Time!

Tonight's fun flavors were a bit of a clean-out-the-refrigerator combined with blood oranges and a blood orange/balsamic vinaigrette that Victor whipped up.

  • olive oil
  • balsamic vinegar
  • blood orange juice
  • blood orange zest
  • garlic
  • S&P

It was the perfect combination of sweet and tart.  (Just like me!)

The salad itself was mixed greens, sprouts, tomatoes, avocado, blood oranges, broccoli, cauliflower, and grilled skirt steak.

A bit of focaccia on the side, and dinner was complete.

Of course we had dessert - more of that chocolate cake from a couple of days ago.

Life is good...


Moors and Christians and Pork, Oh My!

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A while ago I picked up a cube of guava paste at the ol' grocery store.  An impulse buy, I must say.  I had no idea what to do with it, but it seemed intriguing, so into the cart it went.  Into the cabinet it went when I got home.  And there it has been sitting - until today.  I decided it had sat on the shelf long enough.

In doing recipe searches, I found a lot of ideas for sweets and desserts, but I was thinking more on the savory side.  I had to dig, but I finally found a really good one!

The recipe is for a guava basted pork tenderloin with a jalapeno cilantro salsa.  The tenderloin sounded good, the salsa didn't, so I made my own.

Guava-Glazed Pork Tenderloin

  • 1tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon minced onion
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 7 ounces guava paste, chopped (3/4 cup)
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon ketchup
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • Salt
  • Two 3/4-pound pork tenderloins
  • Cilantro sprigs, for garnish

Heat the oil in a small saucepan. Add the onion and garlic and cook over moderate. heat, stirring, until softened, about 1 minute. Reduce the heat to low. Add the guava paste and water and cook, stirring, until the paste has dissolved, about 5 minutes. Stir in the soy sauce, ketchup and cayenne. Season with salt.

Set the pork tenderloins in a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish and brush them all over with half of the guava glaze.

Light a fire or heat a grill pan over moderate heat. Grill the pork, turning and brushing with the remaining glaze, until browned on all sides and cooked through, about 15 minutes. Transfer the pork to a cutting board, cover loosely with foil and let stand for 10 minutes.

Fruit salsas are one of the easiest things in the world to make... Just about any fruit will work - peaches and plums in season are my favorites.  I really love them on grilled pork or chicken, and they work really well with chips, too!

Fruit Salsa

  • 1 nectarine
  • 2 plums
  • 1 small can pineapple in juice
  • 1 small red onion
  • cilantro
  • jalapeno peppers to taste
  • salt and pepper

Finely dice all ingredients and mix.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

So I had the main part of the meal and was thinking of a rice dish when I stumbled upon a Cuban black bean and rice dish that translates to "Moors and Christians" for the obvious reasons.  It actually became the focal point of the meal, with the pork and salsa taking supporting roles.  It was really, really, really good.  Easy to put together - I had all the necessary ingredients - and nicely spicy.  I can see myself making this one again.  And again.

Black beans and rice is a popular Cuban dish said to bring good luck when eaten on New Year's Day. In fact, this recipe is eaten often as a side dish. In Spanish, the dish is called Moros y Cristianos or Christians & Moors, with the black beans representing the dark-skinned Moors and the white rice representing the lighter-skinned Christians. It is fast and easy to make in less than 30 minutes.

Moros y Cristianos

  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
  • 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup rice
  • 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes with green chilies
  • 1 can (15 ounces) black beans or 1-1/2 cups cooked dry-packaged black beans rinsed, drained
  • 2 cups broth (chicken, beef, vegetable, or water)
  • 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt (optional)
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Saute onion, bell pepper, garlic, cumin, thyme, crushed red pepper, and bay leaf in olive oil until onion is tender, about 5 minutes.

Stir in rice, tomatoes, black beans, water, vinegar, salt, and pepper.

Heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until rice is tender, about 20 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

The dinner really was fun, with lots of different flavors.  I like the spice, but you can turn down the heat really easily.

Yep.  Definitely a keeper.


Sunday Dinner

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I love Sunday Dinner.  It was always a special dinner when we were growing up, and it's a tradition that should never be lost.  It's a great time to slow down for a few minutes and enjoy life, family and friends, and good food.

It's been a hectic couple of weeks around here... The pounding of the new roof, the scaffolding and masons repairing the chimney (still not completed!) finally getting Victor's mom's car back from the auto repair only to have to spend another $992.78 to get it to pass the state inspection.  The printing press has finally run out of ink.

But a good meal seems to make all of the bad stuff go away.  And a good meal was had today!  Victor made fresh sauce with hot Italian sausages and pork chops, cheese ravioli, sundried tomato bread...

Of course, I had to make dessert.  I mean... what's Sunday Dinner without a big ol' cake?!?

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On the table in the picture above, you'll notice a binder.  It's my mom's dessert cook book from the 60's and 70's.  (The whole book is online here!)  I went through it page-by-page and finally settled on "Deep Dark Devils Food Cake" with a 7 Minute Frosting.   Talk about outrageously good!

My mom baked all the time and cooked icings were something she could make in her sleep.  This one really is one of the best toppings one can put on a cake.  It's a cross between marshmallows and meringue.  Simple and basic.  I make it without the corn syrup and with a 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar  and a bit more vanilla.  Excellent.

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It was perfect.

Thanks, Mom!