PRALINE SHOCKER

Best laid plans aways tend to go awry and this competition was no different.

I should have sensed the impending disaster, there at a judges table sat a sweet sixteen, maybe eighteen, wearing a Hatch Chile Queen sash and a dazzling tiara sparkling atop her black locks This was to be my nemesis....

5 entries, Breakfast Cheese Grits with Hatch Chilies, Hatch Chilies stuffed with Shrimp Puree, Biscuits with Hatch Chilies, Hatch Romesco & Tart Goat Cheese Bruschetta, and lastly, Pecan Pralines with Hatch Chile bits.

Well, having not been in any competitions for a decade and a half i forgot the protocol of showing up 10 minutes late and capturing the thrall of the Judges... oops, maybe not! This ploy had to have cost the shrimp stuffed hatch chile guy his chance of winning, late and un-assembled, the judges fidgeted while the entire dish was thrown together out of an endless cascade of tin foil packets and tupperware.

Judge introductions, Matt Martinez, renowned chef of Dallas. Anonymous guest chef, and, of course the Hatch Chile Queen!

Long story short.... Kids like candy, and have trouble with the concept of Goat Cheese or anything else having to do with goats and food, it was complete despair watching her nibble at the edge of the brushcetta and immediately setting it back down in disgust, thus letting me know my entry was..... well, toast.

But like a kid in a candy store, she gobbled the praline down and looked around for more!

Not a chance in Hatch Valley that my Romesco was going anywhere. Suffice to say, the Sweet Pecan Praline with nary a hint of Chile won, Biscuits and Romesco were basically tied for second.

BTW: Carol's Biscuits were incredible!

Next time i am whipping up a batch of Hatch Milkshakes with Multicolored Sprinkles........

BREAKING NEWS

GULP.........What the heck!

Time to put my money where my blog is... or may more appropriately, tongue!

The voice on the other end of my cell phone was congratulating me, " could you be at Central Market at 12:30 this Sunday to present this really cool Hatch Romesco to half a dozen professional chefs?

Calm, stay focused, cool delivery.......... Waaaahooo, absolutely I'll be there!

So I am officially involved in my second food throw down in 15 years....( the first was a dismal and humiliating attempt at a chili cook-off where I did get a cool dancing chili apron and an invite to be a guest judge at the Terlingua Chili Cook-offs in 1996, oh, but that is another tale....)

Will keep you all in the loop as to how this all plays out!

CROAK....  M

BAYOU HATCH CHILE STEW

I should be able to make this stew in my sleep.... each year as the Hatch Harvest Season is in full swing we have ritualistically made gallons of exquisite hatch stew that accompanies the "stay at home and watch a movie" Sunday nites.

This year it is all been different, 3 times the chili has been assembled and each one was separate and distinct, but the last was a disaster..... What happened to the great herby, fruity, hatch flavor? All the other flavors were there, marjoram, chicken stock, pork, all of it, except that wonderful hatch flavor.

Be forewarned, not all hatch chiles are the same, we are not talking heat here either, no this realization that chiles just like lackluster tomatoes, mealy apples, or unpalatable bland lemons, were not uniform and reliably consistent. This was my Homer Simpson dooh moment.....

Its all about the ingredients stupid!


I have no idea how to judge a great tasting chile from an impossibly innocuous one short of snagging a bite from each one, probably not acceptable to the grocery store management. so sometimes you will be at the mercy of your vendor.

But, on the lucky occasion that you should find yourself in possession of a perfect brace of these green beauties, than this recipe is an excellent way to show respect.

Stuff Your Shopping Cart:

10 hatch chiles - deveined and seeded, medium hot, 

5 diced, 5 cubed into 1" pieces.
1 roasted poblano, diced.
5 lbs boneless pork picnic ribs, remove most fat, dice into 3/4"' cubes.
1 cup Cajun Tasso, 1/4" dice.
3 quarts organic low salt chicken stock.
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil.
1 can white hominy.
1 lemon, zest and juice.
1 celery stalk, diced fine.
3 tablespoons fresh marjoram.
1 tablespoon minced fresh Kaffir lime leaf.
8 garlic cloves course mince.
1 medium yellow onion.
2 tablespoons ground cumin.
2 tablespoon file powder.
1 teaspoon ground white pepper.
1 Tablespoon German mustard from a tube.
1 tablespoon salt.
1 tablespoon yellow curry powder.

Start off with cubing and de-fatting the picnic pork ribs, to much fat and all the flavor of the stew gets bound up in the floating grease slick.


















Lay on the biggest porcelain cast iron stew pot you have and warm it up on medium high.
Dump in the olive oil, bring it up to heat then toss in the onion, celery, all the chiles and a pinch of salt, stir occasionally till its all sweated down.

Add the garlic and stir for a couple of more minutes till it starts to soften.

Pour on 2 quarts of the chicken stock and add in all of the curry, mustard, white pepper, cumin, fresh marjoram, and the kaffir leaf.

Bring to a boil, then add the tasso and the pork cubes, bring back to a boil, then turn down to simmer.

Add in the hominy and the lemon zest and juice, simmer on low for 2 hours.

Just before serving, bring to a slow simmer, add the file powder on top, cover for 2 minutes, remove the lid, stir in the file powder. Do not bring back to a boil unless you really like an unfortunate stringy stew texture.

Serve in large bowls, maybe a little dollop of tart yogurt for garnish and lots of sourdough bread to sop up the last of the green goodness. This will leave your lips burning with endorphin pleasure....

HATCH ROMESCO

Hatch chile season has arrived, the markets are dusting off the propane roasters and stacking bushels of New Mexico's most recognizable culinary export!

I confess that after endless trips to Santa Fe I have developed an unhealthy obsession with green chile stew and the sublime Hatch chile. Oh, and then mix it up with my current infatuation for spanish cooking and it was a simple leap to attempt splicing this obsession into a spanish tapas classic: Romesco Sauce !
An added yummy incentive, the lure of winning a $ 500.00 Central Market food card in the upcoming Hatch Chile Contest.
Well, Forage time at Central Market for all the ingredients and to pick up an entry form to officially throw my hat in the ring, or more appropriately, my chile! Did I mention that ALL tasty bits must be obtained at CM to meet competition rules, I guess they don't want anyone drifting off to a competitors market and discovering superb ingredients gone missing from their shelves.

Market Forage:

10 Hatch chiles.
2 poblano chiles. I added these for a richer color.
1 lemon.2 tablespoon jerez vinegar
1 cup Spanish Marcona almonds, must haves! (maybe crushed and roasted macadamia nuts as alternate)
8 roasted cloves of garlic.
1/2 cup Extra virgin olive oil, don't skimp, get the best you can afford, it will make a difference!
3 chili pequins, they add a little colored flecks.2 mint leaves
pinch thyme
salt to taste at the end.




Fire up the outside grill, if none available, use the burners on your gas range, or last resort.. buy the pre-roasted hatch chiles from the market.








Too much talking,
Dump the charred chiles, olive oil, toasted almonds, garlic, well everything except the salt in the blend-all and whiz away.
Buzz this up until it has the consistancy of peanut butter, taste and add salt to open up the flavor.

Thats it !
Spread on any number of tasty bits from day old sourdough wedges with tart goat cheese to dried pita triangles and dark olives, this is smashing good food.

Ledas' Speckled Butter Beans & Chorizo Links

Ledas' Speckled Butter Beans & Chorizo Links
Ultra satisfying southern food that tastes of late summer harvests!   

Inspiration comes with every stop into Tom Spicer's food shop. An unassuming old storefront hides a near mystical garden trip into the coolest fresh veg available in DFW. I bagged a native Texas virgin olive oil, massive tomatoes, basil, chanterelles, baby greens and a rainbow colored bag of speckled butter beans...beautiful ! 

I searched for a traditional southern take on these beans but, darn!  they all seemed a bit lacking, so this is our riff.....

Ingredients:

1 quart of fresh cleaned Specked butter beans.
2 walnut sized shallots, minced

1 green onion fine sliced

4 oucnes of cubed Tasso
1 pinch Aleppo pepper flakes

2 tablespoons butter.

4 links of Chorizo- about one lb.
2 tablespoons flour
1 quart chicken stock
Salt & Pepper1 celery stalk, fine mince
one lemon, zest and juice
one small anaheim pepper, fine mince

1/4 cup cream
Tabasco- sometimes you need a last minute boost.

Melt down the butter and sweat all the shallots, celery, Tasso, and

green onions.  When it all just starts to turn golden splash in the chicken stock and bring it to a boil.  Toss in the beans, bring back to a boil for a minute then back it down to simmer.  Grind in some black pepper, pinch of salt and toss in the lemon zest.

Be sure to stir it a bit every now and then and cook for about 1.5 hours, when it all appears to be cooked and the beans are tender you can toss in the chopped parsley, the Aleppo pepper flakes and adjust the salt and pepper.

In a small pan slowly saute on medium the chorizos until nice and brown on both sides, pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the drizzelge from the links, it should be a rich mahogany color full of flavor.. heat the red grease back up and add the flour and whisk constantly until the flour is well cooked, maybe 3 minutes?

You should now have a basic roux.. Now start adding the cooking broth from the beans, whisk, whisk, whisk, 

Taste, season, add the cream and eventually you will have a smooth and spicy veloute to dress the beans.

PLATE IT!,    

slice the warm chorizo, ladle some beans

and pour on the gravy, and add the mustard greens with red onions, garlic and red wine vinegar...OK the greens are not on the recipe list cause this is just too easy to make, you're on your own there....

Sprinkle a bit of aleppo pepper flakes on the beans, grind some pepper on the greens, serve it.

Unreal comfort food, satisfying, spicy, and just enough complexity to keep you palate interested.

Eat well, Eat hearty

FRIED CHILES

No one trusts this dish to deliver, but this is simplicity perfected

If you are lucky there is a small patch of peppers growing in your backyard, especially a handful of immature young pepperlings! But there are substitutes for those sweet young peppers.

Poblanos, banana and even jalepenos, ( yes these will be hot) but they are perfect for throw down chile eating challenges.

SETUP:

1/2 lb.. of mixed mild peppers
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
5 garlic cloves
Flakey sea salt.

So, work it like this:

Take the mixed peppers, core and seed them and slice into wedge shapes. Slice garlic cloves into thin slices.

Get a large saute pan heat it up and pour in a good 1/4 cup of great olive oil, this is a must as the OO adds a key fruity note to this dish.

Toss in the peppers and let sit over high heat till the peppers start to blacken, toss a few times and let sit again, toss the garlic over the top and start toss a bunch till the garlic turns golden.

Plate it immediately and sprinkle with a generous amount of flaky sea salt.

Serve it up, the skeptics will plow through these with abandon.

Bob's Bday Dinner

All credit goes to the El Farol cookbook for this meal...Totally inspired by the earthy and powerful flavors in their awesome book...

The sttarter for this summer eve.... Gazpacho.

This was to be a great summer dish with bright flavors of tomato, cucumber and garlic... In reality it suffered from a garlic and onion bite and lackluster tomato flavor.

The high note was the chopped hard boiled egg, green onion, and parsley garnish. It had a satisfying umami and herbal quality as a counterpoint to the crispness of the gazpacho.

It should be of note that the leftovers were way better the next evening, mellow and more supple...

Next time we seek out incredible home grown tomatoes, limit the garlic and go for super sweeet onions... And why do the photos of these dishes always look so much richer










RECIPE:

10 Roma Tomatoes ( find a friend with incredible home grown)
1 Red Onion, ( substitute a sweet Vidalia instead)
1 Red Bell, ( I dislike these intensely, I substituted a bright red Chile from the local hispanic market, mild but a wonderful round chile taste!
2 small cucumbers, peeled and cubed.
3 slices of rustic sourdough left on the counter for 8 hours, Ditch the crusts tear into small pieces.
1 1/2 quarts cold water, ( start off with less and add as it needs it.)
1/4 cup sherry vinegar.
1 cup extra virgin olive oil, it has to be fresh and fruity.
2 garlic cloves, crushed and minced.
Salt and pepper to taste.

I added a bit of lime juice to open up the flavor.

3 hard boiled eggs, chopped green onions, use only the green parts, and 10 leaves of italian parsley. Mince it all together with a pinch of salt, garnish each serving with a small dollop.

Mix all ingredients in a big bowl, use a hand blender and mash it up to get your preferred consistency.

Refrigerate till well chilled and serve in super cold vessel from the freezer.

Add a slice of lime, serve it up.

for all my friends:

I think I am going to start a food blog, about eating well and loving the process!

This is my first recipe: although it has not yet been edited and none of these will be for the faint of heart!

The best concept for summertime eggplant parmigiana lasagna

This is a righteous summer recipe for all those cherry tomatoes that are in over abundance in the garden.

Matt came home from classes last night and almost cried when he tasted it....



Ingredients:

1 jar really smashing roasted red peppers in olive oil.( sure you could do your own, but the texture of those in the jar is absolutely perfect for this dish.
super special mozzarella,
parmigiana reggiano, really fresh if you can get it.
4 pints cherry tomatoes from the garden, from just ripe to green and hard.
2 medium tomatoes diced very small, ( 1/4")
1 Medium Tomato, sliced paper thin with slices drained on paper towels.
4 tablespoons kick ass tomato paste
1/2 cup dry white vermouth or white wine
juice of two lemons
zest from 2 lemons
1 large white onion, diced small
5 cloves of garlic, chopped very fine
super fresh olive oil
salt
pepper
1 to 2 fresh big eggplants, Sliced into 1/8" thick slices long wise. rest on grills,
whole wheat pastry flour
kosher salt
ground black pepper
dried oregano
a little garlic powder
4 eggs stirred for dredging
really good olive oil for frying.

Day before make the summers end tomato sauce:

take whole cherry tomatoes + 2 tbls olive oil and diced onion and saute slowly in a sauce pan.
after about 15 minutes add the garlic and stir constantly so the garlic doesn't burn.
when garlic mellows add the wine or vermouth. and continue to reduce over low heat.
add the diced tomatoes and salt and a little pepper and continue to reduce.
Despite what we think these little tomatoes can take alot of cooking and never break down too much.
add lemon juice after 15 minutes and add half the zest.
1 teaspoon salt
cook over low/simmer for about 1 hour until the green tomatoes are just soft but not falling apart.
add tomato past and a bit more wine if too thick.

Remove from heat, refrigerate over night. this will keep for 4 days in a cold refrigerator

Next day,
preheat oven to 350

get mise-on-place setup
big saute or frypan bring Olive oil to med to med high. needs to be about 1/16" deep at all times
quickly dip eggy-plant in egg.
drain, dredge in mixture of flour, salt, oregano, black pepper, and yes, garlic powder, slide directly into hot oil and fry till golden brown.

flip and brown on next side. remove to rack and let cool a bit while continuing with all the slices.

oil bottom of medium size casserole dish
cover bottom in roasted red peppers
add first layer of eggplant
first layer of tomato sauce
layer of mozzarella cheese
add parmesan
add next layer of eggplant
tomato sauce
mozzarella
parmesan
sliced tomatoes
last layer of eggplant
tomato sauce
mozzarella
parmesan
couple tablespoons olive oil
bake until golden on top and bubbly
let cool for 10 minutes
serve it up.

Grate over dish with pecorino or sharp parmesan.
of course a little driz of olive oil.

mangia gusto.!!!


good to know:

must make the slices of eggplant no thicker than 1/8" the thickness of a cardboard box. if too thick they will not cook and be bitter.
sharp knife or rotary food slicer works best.

really thin layers of cheese work best

its ok to press down on each layer as it is assembled, makes for a denser and tastier dish.