Pozole!!

I have been craving pozole for some time.  My friend Curtis posted a picture of what he made on facebook, and it took me over the edge from craving to doing.  He sent me his recipe, and I combined it, with one I already had to create my own version.  Yeehaw!!  so I chopped and cooked, all while watching Muppets take Manhattan, for comidic flare.  I used roasted poblano peppers that I had bought at a farmers market, but roasted green chilies would have been awesome also.  So here is what I created.  Enjoy!!!

Pozole

• 1 rotisserie chicken shredded
• 1/2 tablespoon cumin powder
• ½ onion chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• ¼ tsp chili powder
• salt to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon oregano
• 4 cups white hominy, drained and rinsed 
• 3 -5 cups chicken broth
• ½ cup  chili verde sauce
• 2 whole roasted poblano chilies or 3 roasted green chilies
• ¼ cup green onions chopped
• 1 tomato bouillon

• Chop the onion and sauté until soft. 
• Peel and chop the 2 garlic cloves, and add to the onion.
• Chop the chilies and add it and the hominy and chicken to the pot.
• Cook for a little bit, then add salt, pepper, cumin, oregano, green onions, chili verde sauce, broth and tomato bouillon.
• 13 Cook at a simmer, covered, for 45 to 60 minutes until the hominy is tender.
• 14 If necessary, cook for up to an additional 60 minutes until the chilies and onions are well blended into the broth.

Update

oregano from my herb garden!

Fun with Honey-Jalapeno Chicken with Soba Noodles

I am still having fun with soba noodles and went searching the internet for fun recipes.  I like things that are sweet and sassy...so when I found the recipe for honey jalapeno, I knew I had hit the jackpot!  I didn't have enough soba noodles left, so I also used udon noodles, and they are fun also.  I made some changes to the recipe by stir frying vegetables and adding it to the chicken.  It was fun, and yummy!  So hope you try and have oodles of noodle fun!!

Honey-Jalapeno Chicken with Soba Noodles

Ingredients

• 12 ounces soba noodles
• 1 jalapeno, seeds removed(I used a couple of Tablespoons of sliced jalapenos)
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 to 3 tablespoons water
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 rotisserie chicken, shredded or sliced
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil (I probably would have left this out, I thought it was too strong)
• 1/4 cup chopped scallions, green part only
• 2 tablespoons pickled ginger, minced(I used powdered ginger)
• 
  
• I also sauteed: 1/2 diced sweet potato, 2 chopped celery stalked, 1 chopped carrot, 1/4 up sugar snap peas halved, 1/4 onion, diced and sauteed, 2 cloves of garlic minced. )

Directions

Cook soba noodles according to package directions. Drain and set aside (or refrigerate until later in the week).
In a blender or food processor, combine jalapenos, honey, cilantro, and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and black pepper and puree until smooth. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of water to the mixture until desired consistency is achieved. Pour the 2 teaspoons of olive oil into a preheated skillet. Add vegetables, if using and saute.   Add the shredded chicken and the blended sauce and cook until heated through.
In a medium bowl, combine cooked soba noodles, soy sauce, sesame oil, scallions, and pickled ginger. Toss and then transfer to serving bowl. Pour heated chicken and sauce over noodles.

Ray's Soba Stirfry

I was at my friend Ray's the other evening, and he pulled out some random vegetables and soba noodles, and asked, "what can we do with this?"  Well, I had never used soba noodles before, so I said let's stir fry!! (when in doubt...stir fry)   One of the vegetables he offered was a sweet potato.  Ya, I said the same thing you just did, "Sweet potato?  In stir fry?"  But hey, he was willing to let me experiment, so I did.  I diced it up and threw it in with the other vegetables and stir fried it too!  It was amazingly good!  When I got home, I have been planning on experimenting further.  I read up on soba noodles, and found they were made from buckwheat, and pretty good for you, so game on!  I came up with this easy, healthy, satisfying dish, thanks to Ray! :) 

Soba Stir fry

Saute 1/2 onion

when caramelized add to it any awesome vegetables you want! 

I used

2 stalks celery, diced

1 head of broccoli chopped

1 cup of sugar snap peas, cut in half

1/2 sweet potato, diced

1 head bok choy, chopped

1 can water chesnuts

saute together until nice and soft...add some salt to kick it up and your favorite soy based flavoring.  I used a Thai Peanut sauce and a little bit of sweet chili sauce.

Boil soba noodles as directed, I used 1 and 1/2 of the bundles.  Add to stir fry and stir fry it up with the vegetables.

Eat away!!!  (by the way...I have never said stir fry so many times in my life...rock on!)

Sonoran Hot Dogs

Long ago my brother told me about a hot dog place in South Tucson.  Bacon wrapped, with pinto beans, onions, tomatoes, mayo and chili sauce.  Sounded a little suspicious to me, but Corey has a some good taste in food, so I took his word on it, and glad I did!  Sonoran style hot dogs, are all the rage in Tucson now.  You will find them in corner stands all over town, and people debating which is the best. Well, for fun the other night, I gather a group of my friends together and we made our own.  The buns were soft Sonoran style buns, that I find in bakery's in South Tucson.  These are truly a fabulous treat!

Sonoran Style Hot Dogs

•  all-beef hot dogs
•  extra-thin bacon
•  torpedo rolls or bolillos
• 2 chopped avocado or guacamole
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 1/2 onion chopped and caramelized
• 2 chopped tomatoes
• 3 cups drained cooked pinto beans
•  mayonnaise
• mustard
• 1 teaspoon Tabasco or other hot sauce (I make my own by roasting a bunch of chilies and pureeing them together)
• I also like my tomatillo salsa on it (recipe is somewhere on this site)
• 
  
• Wrap a piece of bacon around the hot dog, grill bacon wrapped hot dogs until crisp.  They get black fast!!!
• Put dog in sonoran style roll, add: beans, both types of onion, tomatoes, hot sauce, mayo and mustard.
• 
  
• Devour in blissful happiness!

Curried Chicken Salad

For my backpacking trip, I need to come up with an easy meal, that would satisfy taste buds.  I had just gone out to lunch with a friend to Beyond Bread, and their Khalid's Kurry, which was an awesome chicken salad.  So I decided to attempt to replicate.  It isn't perfect yet, but came pretty close, and was easy to pack in on my hike.  So, hope you try it and like it!!! 

Curried Chicken Salad

2 cups Cooked and shredded chicken (I like a rotisserie chicken)

1/3 cup mayonnaise

½ tsp salt

1-2 tbsp curry powder (depending on your taste preferences)

1/3 cup raisins

½ cup julienned jicama

2 stalks of chopped celery stalks

¼ cup diced scallions

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (I like Ken’s steakhouse creamy balsamic)

Combine, cover, chill and find some fabulous lettuce and tasty bread or pita and enjoy!!

Killer Jalapeno Meatloaf

I don't have any pictures of this, but you are just going to have to take my word on this, this meatloaf is killer good!!!!  My favorite is the meatloaf topping, and the jalapenos...it is easy and makes the mouth happy!!

Jalapeno, Bacon Meatloaf

Saute in 1 Tbsp oil:

1 chopped onion

1 cup finely chopped green pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp finely chopped Jalapeno peppers (ummm...I actually use 2-3 Tbsp jalapenos...cuz I like to make the mouth have a little spicy dance)

2 pounds lean ground beef

2 large eggs, beaten

1 Tbsp flour

¾ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

4 strips bacon

Sauce

1 cup ketchup

4 Tbsp vinegar

4 Tbsp brown sugar

After sautéing onion, pepper, garlic and peppers mix with beef, eggs, flour, salt and pepper.  Put in baking dish.  Drape bacon diagonally across top.  Pour on half the sauce, the other half  a half an hour before baking is done.  Bake uncovered 1 ½ hours at 350 degrees.  Let stand 10 minutes.

The Pear Tarte Tartin that became Pear Crumble

I wanted to make a special dessert.  I had some fabulous pears that I thought would be wonderful to use.  I found a recipe for Pear Tarte Tartin that looked amazing....but I didn't feel like dealing with puff pastry, and wanted a more of a pow! crust, so I went with a graham cracker crust, but used the pear tarte tartin filling.  I topped with gingersnap granola from Sunflower market.  I thought it was a lovely first for me.  I accompanied it with homemade vanilla bean ice cream.  mmmmmmmm.... of course anything that has you making your own caramel has to be fabulouso!!

 

Pear Tarte Tatin with Vanilla and Ginger

Ingredients

• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry (half of 17.3-ounce package), thawed
•  
• (I did graham cracker crust instead....1 1/2 packages of graham crackers crust crushed, 1/2 cup melted butter, 1/4 cup sugar, mixed together and pressed into a tart pan.  Cook at 350 degrees, for 15 minutes.)

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon light corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped into small bowl
• 1 tablespoon grated peeled fresh ginger ( used 1 tsp powdered ginger, a couple dashes of cinnamon and nutmeg)
• 5 medium-size firm Anjou pears (about 2 1/4 pounds), peeled, halved, cored, each half cut into 4 wedges (I did much thinner slices)

• Topping:
• 1 cup granola
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 Tbsp sugar

Mix together and drop the topping onto the pear tart and bake for 10 minutes, until golden brown.  

Preparation

Roll out pastry on lightly floured surface to 10-inch square. Trim edges, making 10-inch-diameter round; pierce round all over with fork. Slide onto rimless baking sheet. Cover and chill pastry while preparing pears or up to 1 day.

Fill large skillet with ice and water; set aside. Stir sugar, 1/4 cup water, and corn syrup in heavy 10-inch-diameter nonstick ovenproof skillet over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and boil until syrup is dark amber color, occasionally swirling and brushing down sides of skillet with wet pastry brush, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; whisk in butter, then vanilla-bean seeds and ginger (caramel will bubble up). Arrange pears, cut side down and overlapping, in circle in skillet, placing a few around edge, if necessary. Place skillet over medium heat. Cook until pears are tender and syrup thickens enough to coat spoon, about 23 minutes. Place hot skillet atop ice in large skillet to cool pear mixture quickly. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Place puff pastry round atop pear mixture in skillet; tuck in edges around pears. Bake tart until pastry is puffed and golden, about 35 minutes. Cool tart completely in pan at least 1 hour and up to 6 hours.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Rewarm tart in oven 8 minutes. Place platter atop skillet. Using oven mitts, hold skillet and platter together and turn over, releasing tart. .

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Ingredients

(1 servings)

1  c Sugar
1/2 Lemon; juice of
2 lg Eggs
2 c Heavy or whipping cream
1 c Milk 

1 vanilla bean, split in half and seeds scraped into cream mix.  I also soaked the bean in the vanilla over night.   

Instructions

. Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Whisk in sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the heavy cream and milk and vanilla seeds whisk to blend.  Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer's instructions.