Green Chili Adventure

One of my favorite southwest foods is green chili stew. The chilies used are Hatch, a local chili that packs a wallop. I love spicy food, but haven't had much of it for a while, so trying out a bowl of green chili chicken soup sent me running for the milk. But these chilies are so flavorful, they don't need much to make them shine. It's not just about the heat, it's about the flavor. I'm determined to get my body adjusted to spice again,  and to help me to my goal, I went in search of green chilies.

Hatch chilies seem to be everywhere in Santa Fe, if you know where to look. The local farmer's market, the big supermarkets, even the health food stores carry bags and bags of them. I stopped off at a local market that caters to healthy foods and was overjoyed to see one of the employees re-stocking a display of Hatch chilies. Another shopper was waiting for him, as well, and started talking to him about the display of roasted chilies that he was also re-stocking. He encouraged her to try one, so she opened a box, pulled out a roasted chili that was easily 4 inches long and ate the whole thing right there, no problem. Oh for the day when I can do that!

For my first time working with these chilies, I decided to go for the roasted ones, rather than the fresh. I picked up a box, which was a ridiculous price of just over $2 for a pound and started devising what I was going to do with them. I was getting pretty hungry, and it was just at lunch time, so I grabbed a roasted chicken from the store to help speed along my lunch. When I got home, I decided to cook up some kale with the chilies and have that as a side to the chicken. I cut up some onion, sauteed the onions and chilies with olive oil, added just a tiny bit of salt and garlic powder, the kale, a tablespoon or two of chicken broth and a splash of Braggs. The kitchen filled up with a wonderful aroma. In 15 minutes, my lunch was ready, and armored with a glass of milk, so was I. I used two chilies for the kale dish, and there were about 1 1/2 servings. It was incredibly hot. And really delicious.

My next dish was dinner. I decided to go for rainbow trout with a green chili chutney and salad. Again I sauteed the chilies with onions, garlic, mushrooms, salt and lemon juice, then let it sit and come to room temperature. I seasoned the fish with salt and pepper then put the two fillets in a pan with olive oil and ladled the chili mixture on top. I covered the pan and refrigerated it for 30 minutes or so. Then it was into the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, and the result was another amazing dish. The flavor of the chilies didn't overpower the fish, but added to a delicate but very spicy flavor. I might let my body calm down a bit after such an infusion of spice, but I'm excited for the next installment of chili bliss.

Adjusting to heat

So, a few days ago I decided to say goodbye to the big city and try my luck with a whole new environment: the southwest. One of the things I love about southwest cuisine is the amount of spice that's used, specifically the use of the chili pepper. I decided to make a tomato soup tonight, and utilized some green chilis from my garden, along with some green tomatoes mixed with ripe tomatoes. I used a boxed tomato soup as the base, but jazzed it up with turkey andoule sausage, the chili peppers, tomatoes, garlic and cilantro. At the end, I added some shrimp for some extra protein. It was delicious! Served over brown rice or by itself, it was spicy and flavorful. Who knew great soup could start from a box!

Another attempt at Offal

Tonight I stopped by the market and picked up some protein for dinners the next few days. I've been in a short rib kick so I picked up a package. My intention was to pick up a package of chicken for tonight, but then I saw the beef liver. I consider liver to be in the offal category: internal organs and all. I've experimented in the realm of offal, meaning that I've tasted liver, heart and tongue. I enjoy liver when it's done right, but I haven't had much luck in cooking it. It's either overcooked, or there's too much flour and it's usually tasteless. But I thought, just check out some recipes online and go for it. It was a long day at work, and I was ready to order Chinese and crawl into bed, but cooking is about taking risks and despite being tired I was ready for a challenge. I didn't follow a recipe, as per usual, but this was influenced by my search on Epicurious. So tonight's dinner: Beef liver with peas and onions.

Ingredients

3 fillets beef liver, cleaned and de-veined 

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoons thyme

olive oil

1 vidalia onion, sliced

1/8 cup garlic, sliced

1 cup port

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

I seasoned the flour and tossed the liver in it until coated. I sauteed the liver in olive oil over medium-high heat in a skillet for about 90 seconds on each side. I removed the liver from the skillet, set it aside and tented it. I then added the onions and garlic, reduced the heat to medium and cooked for 2 minutes. Then went in the peas and port. I brought the temperature back up and brought the sauce to a boil for 10 minutes, until the alcohol burnt off. 

After 10 minutes I put the liver back in the pan and coated them with the sauce. I then continued cooking them for 3 minutes. I sliced the liver and served it over a bed of peas and rice and topped with the peas and onions. 

The result was a mixed bag. The peas and rice were too heavily laced with coconut milk. Next time I'll make a starch just for the dish. But in terms of the dish itself, the liver was tender and moist. The sauce was a bit sweet, but it tasted pretty good. Next time I'll try mixing the port with some beef broth to give it a bit more depth of flavor. And the onions needed to saute a bit more before I added the liquid. But this was the best attempt at liver thus far. The highlights that I think made the difference? 1) Correct proportion in seasoning the flour. On my own, this is my weakest area. I never season flour properly, and I definitely drew from a few recipes on how much to put in. 2) I admit I tend to be lazy, and sometimes I don't pat down my meat after I clean it. Big mistake. Making sure there's no water on the meat and the flour isn't cakey before it goes in the pan is essential. 3) Shake off the excess flour. There's nothing worse than tasting clots of cooked flour in a dish. 4) Taking the meat out of the pan after 90 seconds and tenting it, then putting it back in with the sauce helped to retain the moisture and prevented the liver from being well done. Well-done liver is chewy and unappetizing.

Thanks Epicurious for the inspiration! 

Light Fare for a Warm Day

Today was one of those perfect spring days weather-wise: 70's with a light breeze and lots of sun. I wasn't in the mood to eat a whole lot, so I wandered into an area of culinary cuisine I usually avoid like the plague: salads. This one was fairly unusual and therefore not so bad. It includes all of my favorite foods, which is always helpful, and it's a lukewarm salad, as opposed to chilled. I love having sauteed onions in salad: that bit of sweet-savory adds so much depth and intrigue into what can often become bland and boring.

Avocado Spinach Salad

Ingredients

                ½ small onion, sliced

                2 tbl Serrano chili, diced

                2 garlic cloves, mashed

                1/3 cup sliced mushrooms

                5-6 cubes seitan, cut in thirds

                Olive oil

                Herb vinaigrette

                Braggs

                Slivered almonds

                ½ avocado, sliced

                Baby spinach greens

                Lime juice

Preparation

1)      Sauté vegetables: pour a small amount of olive oil into a skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot, add garlic, onions, chili, and mushrooms. Sauté until onions are translucent. Add vinaigrette, Bragg’s amino acids and seitan; continue sautéing another 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat

2)      Place spinach greens on plate. Place sautéed veggies on top and sprinkle almonds over. Top with sliced avocado. Sprinkle lime juice and a bit more vinaigrette over salad and serve.  

Lazy Sunday Comfort Food

To me, congee is one of those "everything but the kitchen sink" comfort foods. There are so many different ways to make it, and it's difficult to mess it up. This morning I was feeling a bit under the weather, so I immediately thought of cooking up some congee to boost my system. Traditionally I love putting ginger and ground meat, usually pork or beef, into my congee, but I'm out of all those ingredients right now, so improvisation stepped up to create a fresh, brightly-flavored congee.

I started out with cooked brown rice, about a cup, and added it to my dutch oven with 4 cups of warm water. I cooked that down until the consistency was to my liking, which is a moderate thickness. I drizzled a bit of bacon fat into the porridge and added tamari soy sauce, about two tablespoons. I let that cook a bit longer before adding diced baby carrots, red bell pepper and garlic. I let that cook for about a minute then added fresh spinach and turned off the heat. I let the spinach wilt, then plated the congee. For toppings, I flaked some poached salmon I made the night before with turnip greens. I also crumbled bacon and added just a bit. To wrap everything up, I drizzled just a bit of chili oil on top and voila! it was done.

Texture in food is really important for me. Typically I'm not a fan of porridge, pudding or anything that reminds me of gruel. It's mushy, dense and that softness really turns me off. While I love congee, it tends to fall into this category of mushiness. Thus the reason why I decided not to cook the veggies this time. By merely incorporating the fresh veggies at the end of the cooking process, I was able to get them warmed while still maintaining that fresh, crunchy flavor that makes fresh veggies so good. Texture was partially behind adding the bacon as well, but I think that it's important to make sure that the bacon is crumbled into very small pieces, because otherwise it's a bit too intense.

Another diversion from my usual congee had to do with salt. Usually I add salt to the porridge while it's cooking down to help with flavor. If I don't do that, I use a stock or broth instead of water. My stock was past expiration, so I knew I was stuck with water this time. But I chose not to use salt, since I added the soy sauce, bacon and pre-cooked salmon which had salt as well. The resulting flavors were slightly under-stated, but to me that's a good thing. There's nothing worse than having to eat salty food.

I had two servings of this wonderful dish and I feel like I can take on the world. Ginger would have been a great addition to this, and would have helped boost my immune system even more. For someone just learning how to cook, congee is a most forgiving dish, and encourages experimentation and creativity.