Chile Rellenos: A Tutorial

A few weekends ago, I was at my cousin's house. She has begged me to make her chile rellenos like she grew up eating in Colorado. Smothered in green sauce and stuffed with queso blanco (white cheese, I used Monterey Jack because I couldn't find authentic Mexican cheese at the particular store I went to; they can also be stuffed with meat), chile rellenos are actually pretty simple to make. The problem is that they can be time consuming.

Look at that sweet little thing, helping her auntie Nina

You have to roast the peppers and then let them sweat til they're cool enough to handle to get the skin off. Then you have to remove the seeds without completely tearing the chiles apart. Stuff them with cheese, dredge them in flour, and then coat them with a puffy batter. Fry 'em up and keep them warm while making a sauce for them. I'd rather just go to a Mexican restaurant and little the abuelita make them for me. Anything I make isn't going to be nearly as good as an actual Mexican grandma's rellenos.

Boy was I wrong! These things were fantastic! And well worth the trouble. My only complaint was that I had to use about 100 toothpicks to keep them together before battering and frying them. It was my own fault for not being extremely gentle with the roasted peppers though. Next time, I might not even remove the seeds since that's what gives them the heat. Unfortunately, I forgot to make sauce to put over the top so it wasn't exactly what my poor cousin had wanted, but she still loved it. We ate them so fast, I wasn't able to get a picture of the finished meal on a plate. We had the chiles with refried beans and flour tortillas, but next time I'll do some cilantro-lime rice, black beans, and corn tortillas. Enjoy!

Chile Rellenos

6 poblano chiles (figure about 2 for each person)
A block of white, melting cheese, cut into 1-inch rectangles (Oaxaca or Chihuahua are preferred, but Monterey Jack or even just plain queso blanco work well too; no hard cheeses)
Flour
3 eggs, separated (you want one egg for every 2 peppers)
Salt
Vegetable oil

1. Preheat broiler. Wash and dry your chiles. Place on a baking sheet and put on the top rack of your oven. Allow to broil until the skin is blackened on one side, about 8 minutes. Turn chiles over and cook until the other side is blackened. Remove from oven and place the chiles in a ziplock bag. Allow to sweat for approximately 30 minutes or until cool enough to handle (alternatively, you can use the flame on your gas stove or you BBQ grill; it's quicker and won't cook the peppers all the way through).
2. Cut a slit near the top of each pepper and remove the seeds and the white pith (it's easiest to cut all the way through one side, but then you'll have to use toothpicks to close it back up). Stuff the pepper with two or three pieces of cheese (you want enough cheese to make it full, but not so much that the pepper won't stay in tact). Dredge the chiles through the flour making sure all sides have been evenly coated. Shake off any excess and set aside.
3. To prepare the batter: whip the egg white to stiff peaks. Whisk the yolks with a pinch or two of salt ad then slowly mix in with the egg whites (you should have a very fluffy, light yellow batter; use it quickly as it will begin to breakdown and become runny pretty quickly).
4. In a large frying pan, heat the oil until very hot. Coat on chile at a time int he batter and place in the hot oil (my pan was able to hold two peppers at a time so I cooked one side of the first one, and when it was time to turn it over, I added the second one; this made the process go by pretty quickly). Allow to cook until the first side is golden brown. Turn and cook the next side. Remove to plate with paper towels to drain (feel free to stick them in a lightly wamred oven to keep them warm depending on how many chiles you're cooking). Serve with your favorite chile sauce.

Daring Bakers: Piece Montee

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

I was beyond excited for this challenge. I've always wanted to tackle the croquembouche ever since the first time I watched my aunt make profiteroles for my cousin's wedding (that woman is a goddess in the kitchen). I wanted to go bigger though. I was going to make three different fillings for mine that would all be good in their own right but even better when eaten together. Such big plans! I even decided to hold an impromptu tea party so I wouldn't have to eat all of those puffs myself (and you know I would have).

Last Wednesday, I spent an hour locked in the meat department at the gorcery store waiting out the tornados that decided to blast through Tulsa. I baked my first two batches of puffs through tornado warnings and sirens going off. By midnight, I had 24 flat cream puffs with no bottoms (my first mistake was forgetting to purchase more parchment paper while on lockdown at the store). I was miserable, hot, tired, and just ready to go to bed. Of course that meant only one filling got made, but I just didn't care at that point.

I came home during my lunch break the next day (the day of my tea party) to make new puffs, with the parchment paper this time. This time they were light and airy with bottoms. Yay! These ones could actually be filled (and special thanks goes out to hubby for pulling them out of the oven since I had to go back to work). Hubby and his sister filled them with my banoffee pie filling that I made (take all of the ingredients that goes into a banoffee pie, minus the crust, mix it all together, and now you've got your filling).

It didn't come out quite as big as I wanted, nor did it look very pretty, but everyone loved them. My mom even asked me to make a croquembouch for her birthday cake (finally, someone who doesn't want another chocolate cake). I'll use my aunt's recipe for that one and will attempt to make an actual cone shaped masterpiece. For now, here's my oozy, messy piece montee. Bon apetit!

Pate a Choux (Yield: About 28)
¾ cup (175 ml.) water
6 Tbsp. (85 g.) unsalted butter
¼ Tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup (125 g.) all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
For Egg Wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt

1. Pre-heat oven to 425◦F/220◦C degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Preparing batter: Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.
3. Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.
4. Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny. As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes. It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.
5. Piping: Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide.
6. Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).
7. Bake the choux at 425◦F/220◦C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350◦F/180◦C degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool. Can be stored in a airtight box overnight.
8. Filling:When you are ready to assemble your piece montée, using a plain pastry tip, pierce the bottom of each choux. Fill the choux with pastry cream using either the same tip or a star tip, and place on a paper-lined sheet. Choux can be refrigerated briefly at this point while you make your glaze.

Food Revolution: Day 38

Can you believe I joined the Food Revolution more than a month ago? The even better part of that is I've lost 5lbs since then (10 total so far though). It really does work, cutting out all of those horrible processed food. Now, I haven't completely weaned myself off of them just yet, but I'm getting better about it every day. Soon, I'll be off the boxed dinners and fast food completely.

But I didn't come here to brag. I came to share another Jamie recipe with you from a completely different place. As you all know, I got an iPhone last summer when my old phone decided it no longer wanted to included spaces between words in my texts (allofthemlookedlikethis). You also know that I fell in love with the All Recipes Dinner Spinner app. One of my new favorite apps comes from the Naked Chef himself. 20 Minute Meals provides a nice assortment of different meals that are all simple to make and require only a handful of ingredients. It also includes several videos that teach you different tecniques for being more productive in the kitchen (how to cut an onion, how to keep your cutting board from sliding around, how to take care of your knives, etc.). There's even a handy screen for a shopping list. Just press the button that adds the ingredients fromy our chosen recipe, and everything you need to pick up at the store is right there. My only complaint is that there aren't enough recipes.

Hubby and I went with the Tomato Pappa, a tomato and bread based soup. I wasn't sure what to expect with this one since I can't stand soggy bread, and after having eaten it, I wish I had asked the hubby to cut the bread into smaller chunks (and we definitely would have used less than the 9oz. Jamie calls for). We had ours over a bed of mostaccioli so that it would go further, giving us leftovers for lunch the next day. It was good, velvety and thick. I would have liked more tomatoes and less bread, but the hubby was in Heaven so who am I to never make this soup for him again. Try it. You'll like it.

Tomato Pappa
Recie by Jamie Oliver

1 small bunch fresh basil
9oz. ripe cherry tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
9oz. ready to bake ciabatta (I just bought a loaf from the bakery and halved it)
1 14oz. can diced tomatoes
2 Tbl extra virgin olive oil

1. Place a deep pan on a medium heat until warm. Trim the crusts of the bread and tear the rest into bte-sized pieces (hubby ate the crust as he cut the bread for me).
2. Pick the smaller basil leaves and put to one side. Roughly chop the rest, stalks and all. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Peel and finely slice the garlic cloves.
3. Add a splash of olive oil to the hot pan. Add the sliced garlic and stir around for a few minutes. As soon as the garlic starts to color, add the chopped cherry tomatoes and basil.
4. Turn the heat up to high and cook the tomato mixture for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring as you go, until everything is soft and sticky.
5. Add the canned tomatoes to teh sticky tomato mixture. Give it a really good stir so nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan then bring everything to the boil. Fill the empty tomato can with hot water and pour this into the pan. Stir int he chunks of bread and extra virgin olive oil then turn the heat down to a simmer.
6. Stir the soup occassionally as it blips away. When it's smooth and the bread has completely softened, it's ready (this doesn't take very long at all, at most maybe 10 minutes unless you use really hard bread. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
7. Take it off the heat and cover with a close fitting lid. Allow to sit 5 to 10 minutes. Serve witht he reserved basil leaves as a garnish.

Happy Blogoversary to Me!

Thursday marked the one-year anniversary of me joining the blogging world. It's been a bit crazy. There was that time I went several months without blogging because my laptop gave up on me. There were a few fails along the way but even more successes. I've made some amazing friends from some really cool places.

My friend M, Chris's sister K, and my cousin S

In honor of this momentous occassion, I hosted an impromptu tea party at my apartment (I had to make a really big dessert for the Daring Bakers that I knew the hubby and I wouldn't be able to eat on our own). I invited some friends over and made some finger foods. I dipped some strawberries in chocolate. I baked until midnight last night even though the tornado sirens were going off (I was trapped at the grocery store for almost an hour in a concrete hallway with about 15 other people just waiting for an all clear so I could race home to bake).

The only one I could get to smile for the camera

Luckily the grocery store went to had the one thing that I went to that specific store for, clotted cream, so it was worth getting locked in (plus I made a new friend who I got to tell all about the joys of Tulsa living...no, really, it was a good conversation). I set out several different flavors of tea with tea pots full of hot water so everyone could choose what they like. All in all, I think everyone had a good time. I think even the Queen of England herself would have been happy with how everything turned out.

Don't let the pouty face fool you, she had fun

There really isn't a recipe for me to share with you today. I made egg salad for the very first time with some instructions from my mom. The biggest recipe can't be shared until next week when it's time to post for the DBs again. Anyway, I really just wanted to thank you all for sticking with me for the past year. Hopefully, you'll still be here with me this time next year. I've got some really fun stuff planned for the next few months so stick around.

Pesto Party in My Mouth

First off, I'd like to thank everyone for their wonderful comments on the last few posts. It's amazing to get such great feedback. I'd also like to welcome the two new Eaters I've gained over the past couple of days. Bienvenue, wilkommen, and mi casa es su casa! Now on to the fun!

 

Just this past week, my college roommate, A, was having a pretty rough go at life. She and I have been through a lot together, which tends to happen when you live together for 4 years. We've always been there for each other no matter what (me for her when she had some problems come up during our senior year and her for me when I'd cry myself to sleep waiting for the hubby to come home).

 

Anyway, I decided as a nice little surprise to have her over for dinner the other night. She had to work so I told her to just swing on by after she got off, and I'd have dinner ready for her. There's this Italian restaurant that we like to go to across the Arkansas River on the Riverwalk called Gina & Guiseppe's that has some amazing food. It never fails, when we get there A always gets the mostaccioli with pesto cream sauce. It's her favorite. I wanted to surprise her by recreating it for her. Since I knew the hubby had to be able to eat it too, I added some grilled chicken into the mix.

 

I watched as she took her first bite, her eyes closing and a long "MMMMMMM" escaped her mouth. "You know what this could use less of?" she asked me. I gave her a quizzical look and waited for her answer, worrying that I didn't do a very good job. "It could use less AWESOME!" Of course I grinned and had to make sure she wasn't kidding. The hubby agreed with her! Considering he's not a big fan of pesto (weird, right?), that was pretty amazing in itself. What made it even better was this was solely my own recipe! I hope you all enjoy as much as we did.

 

Mostaccioli with Pesto Cream Sauce
Recipe by me

Pesto
2 cups fresh basil, chopped
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup pine nuts
2/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
3 cloves garlic, peeled

Cream Sauce
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 Tbl butter
1 chicken bouillion cube
1 cup freshly shredded parmesan
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

16 oz mostaccioli (or desired pasta)
1 lb grilled chicken, cubed (optional)

1. For the pesto: Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and process until all the ingredients are incorporated. Set aside.
2. For the cream sauce:  In a medium-sized pot, heat the cream and butter to a gentle boil. Add the bouillion cube and a bit of the cheese, whisking until completely melted. Add the rest of the cheese a little at a time until all of it has been incorporated. Cook until thickened, remove from heat, and add the pesto sauce.
3. In a large pot, boil slightly salted water. Add your pasta and cook until just done. Drain and return to pan. Add the pesto cream sauce and toss to coat. Serve with a basil leaf and some freshly shredded parmesan cheese.