Green Chile Enchiladas recipe

Talked with Oldest Daughter yesterday. She laughed when I told her I had made green chile enchiladas for dinner. She said that Butterfly had no idea how lucky she was. Then Oldest Daughter told me what she was making for dinner. Hmmmm, I feel like I should fly over there and start cooking for everyone!

Even though this recipe made a 9" x 13" pan of enchiladas, most of it was gone this morning. My goodness, Butterfly and Renter sure can pack it away!

Green Chile Enchiladas
Ingredients
• 1 1/2 pounds tomatillos
• 3 cloves garlic, still in their peels
• 2 jalapenos
• Salt
• 3-4 large Anaheim chiles
• 12 corn tortillas
• Canola or grapeseed oil
• 1/2 pound to a pound Monterey Jack cheese, grated (quantity depends on how cheesy you want the enchiladas to be)
• Sour cream
• Cilantro
Method
1 Prepare the tomatillo sauce. Remove the husks from the tomatillos. Rinse off the tomatillos. Cut them in half and place them cut-side down on a roasting pan lined with aluminum foil. Place the garlic and jalapeños on the pan with the tomatillos. Broil on the top rack on the oven for 5-7 minutes until the tomatillos are lightly charred. Remove from the oven and let cool to touch. Remove garlic from the garlic skins, discard the skins. Cut open the jalapeños and remove and discard the seeds and the stems. Place tomatillos, cooked garlic, the jalapeños, and 1 teaspoon of salt in a blender, pulse until well puréed. Set aside. (You can make the sauce several days in advance and store in the refrigerator.)

2 Prepare the Anaheim chiles. If you have a stove-top gas burner, you can roast the chiles directly over the flame of the burner, otherwise use a broiler and broil the chiles in a roasting pan, turning them until they are blackened all over. Place the blackened chiles in a small brown paper bag. Close the bag and let sit for at least 5 minutes. Then remove the chiles from the bag and peel off and discard the blackened skin. Slice open the chiles and remove and discard the seed pod, any seeds (they're hot!) and the stems. Slice the chiles into strips.

3 Cook the tortillas. Heat a couple tablespoons of canola or grapeseed oil in a frying pan (cast iron works well) on medium high heat. Once the oil is hot, add a corn tortilla to the pan. The tortilla should sizzle as it hits the pan. Turn it over and let it cook until little pockets of air start to bubble up in the tortilla. Then use a metal spatula to remove the tortilla from the pan, shaking off any excess oil, to a plate lined with paper towels. Continue to the tortillas this way, adding more oil as needed, separating the tortillas that are cooling with paper towels.

4 Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread a little of the tomatillo sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 casserole pan. One by one, place a little grated cheese and a strip or two of green chiles in the center of the tortillas, roll them up, and place them in the casserole. Once you have filled the casserole with the rolled tortillas, spread the remaining tomatillo sauce over them, and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

5 Bake for 15 minutes at 350°F, until cheese is melted
Serve with sour cream (thinned with some water) drizzled over, and some chopped fresh cilantro. Also good with it is thinly sliced iceberg lettuce that has been sprinkled with cider or white vinegar and salt. Makes for excellent leftovers, will keep in the refrigerator for days.
Serves 4-6.

Empanadas recipe

It's time to catch up on what's been happening.
1. After the first hiccup, Gwen is running smoothly. There are no more detectable problems with the clutch.

2. Even though I heard it second hand, Mama's lung cancer has stopped growing since radiation treatment. The doctors are waiting for a month to see if she has stabilized. She still isn't talking to me.

3. The school district is working on LAST YEAR'S substitute teacher applications. It will be several weeks before they even begin to work through this year's applicants. I am not allowed to have my fingerprints taken until they've evaluated my application. Leilehua HS wants/needs substitute teachers NOW but can't get any more until the district goes through the applications and then schedules fingerprints. I'm stymied.

4. I've been working with my clinical hypnosis partner on resolving a multitude of issues for me and for him. I think the issue that's been the most helpful lately has been working on our Inner Child. Allowing our Inner Child to heal and become healthy, loved, innocent, and trusting has made me feel calmer and a little more patient. I'm not sure I'll ever become a truly patient person, but at least now I'm a little more so. I'm also not as outwardly panicky about finances (though goodness knows I should be!)

5. A friend has sent box after box of glorious books that I've been losing myself in. Butterfly has been engrossed in her share of books, too. I feel so pampered!

So now it's time to get back to this blog.

This evening I made empanadas. There are a riot of flavors in these hand pies. You get savory, salty, and sweet in each bite. Yes, they're fried. I like to think that an occasional fried food is not going to harm us. They say 'moderation in all things', right?

Oh, the recipe calls for lard. It was readily available in all grocery stores in Tucson, but dang if I can find it here in Hawaii. So I used shortening instead. The flavor and texture are different but it's not earth-shattering. The crust isn't as flaky but the shortening worked just fine.

Empanadas

Dough
3 cups flour
1/3 cup melted lard
1 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon salt

1. Measure the flour into a large bowl and add the melted lard, the boiling water, and the salt. Use a large fork to mix together into a mass.
2. Remove to a well floured board and knead for 1 minute or so to form a ball. Cover and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Do not refrigerate; the dough is easier to roll out while still warm.
3. Cut the dough in half. Cover one half while you roll out the other half. Roll out the dough to the thickness of a quarter (it should not be too thin) and use a 2-pound coffee can to cut out circles. Stack the circles on a plate, one on top of the other.(They won't stick to each other.) Proceed to roll and cut out the rest of the dough, gathering up the scraps and rolling them out again. When all the circles have been cut out, refrigerate them until you are ready to use them.

Frying the meat and veggies

Filling
4 Tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
½ pound ground beef
1 sweet red pepper, seeded and chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
Several grindings black pepper
good pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
1/3 cup green olives, chopped
4 Tablespoons raisins

Assembling the empanada

2 Tablespoons pine nuts
3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
3-4 cups vegetable oil for deep-frying

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet, add the onion and garlic and cook over medium heat until just soft Add the beef and chopped pepper and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon to break up the meat, until the beef has lost all red color. Stir in the cumin, paprika, salt, black pepper, and cayenne.
2. Remove from heat and add the olives, raisins, and pine nuts along with the eggs. Stir well and taste for seasoning. Let cool before using.
3. Have a small bowl of water at hand while you fill and seal the empanadas. Place 2 to 3 Tablespoons of filling in the center of each circle. Dip a finger in water and moisten all the edges of the circle. Bring edges together to form a half moon, and seal by pressing down on the edges with the tines of a fork.
4. Heat oil to 360° and fry the empanadas 5 or 6 at a time for about 8 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and drain on absorbent paper. By the time all the empanadas are fried, the first ones will have cooled off just enough to eat. Yield: About 16 to 18 empanadas.

Baked Manicotti recipe

Well, Gwen's health was short-lived.  She's having shifting problems again.  I was fine going to work this evening but couldn't downshift into 2nd or 1st when I was almost home.  The funny thing was that when I came to a complete stop, I could shift through all the gears again.  So, I get to take her back to my cranky mechanic on Monday.

Dinner was good, though.  I made manicotti.  Several of my grown children are vegetarians so this recipe will suit them just fine.

I made the marinara sauce from scratch.  It's pretty quick; only 20 minutes cooking time.  I think the flavor of this sauce is better than most of the bottled sauces that I buy. Quick, tasty, and easy - those are wonderful attributes for recipes in my household!

It's easier to pipe the filling into the manicotti shells rather than try to spoon the stuff in.  I didn't have a giant pastry bag on hand so I used a ziplock bag.  You just spoon the filling into the bag, press out all the air, twist a corner of the bag to force the filling into the other corner, snip off the corner of the bag where the filling is, and then squeeze the filling into the shells.  So much easier than using a spoon.

Both recipes come from Saveur magazine. I added grated carrot to the original recipe for the manicotti filling hoping to add a little more vitamins to the meal.  I think the carrots make the filling prettier, too.

Manicotti before going in the oven

Manicotti after coming out of the oven

Angelo’s Marinara Sauce

1 28-oz. can whole peeled tomatoes
3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
1⁄2 small onion, finely chopped
1⁄2 tsp. dried oregano
1⁄4 tsp. dried thyme
1 tbsp. finely chopped
curly or flat-leaf parsley
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 Put tomatoes and their liquid into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Set aside.
2 Heat oil in a 4-qt. saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic, bay leaf, and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes.
3 Add the chopped tomatoes along with the oregano and thyme. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens slightly and its flavors come together, about 20 minutes. Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper.
MAKES ABOUT 3 CUPS

Baked Manicotti

4 tbsp. unsalted butter
3 cups Angelo's Marinara Sauce (above)
1 8-oz. box dried manicotti shells (about 14)
8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 cups whole-milk ricotta
1 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup finely grated carrots
7 tbsp. chopped curly or flat-leaf parsley
1 1⁄2 tsp. kosher salt
1⁄2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
2 eggs, beaten

1. Grease a 9" x 13" baking pan with 1 tbsp. butter and spread 1⁄2 cup of the marinara sauce across the bottom of the pan. Set aside. Bring a 6-qt. pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the manicotti and cook until just tender, about 8 minutes. Drain manicotti and rinse under cold water; set aside.
2. Heat oven to 450°. Heat remaining butter in a 12" skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 5 minutes. Transfer garlic to a medium bowl along with the ricotta, grated carrots, 1⁄2 cup parmesan, 5 tbsp. chopped parsley, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and eggs and stir to combine.
3. Spoon some of the filling into both openings of each manicotti shell. (Alternatively, transfer the ricotta mixture to a 1-gallon resealable plastic bag, snip off a bottom corner of the bag, and pipe filling into pasta.) Repeat with remaining manicotti shells. Transfer stuffed manicotti to prepared baking dish, making 2 rows. Spread the remaining marinara sauce over the manicotti and sprinkle with remaining parmesan. Bake until hot and bubbly, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining parsley. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.
SERVES 6

Korean Fried Chicken recipe

Finger-lickin' good Korean Fried Chicken

Yesterday I took Gwen, my Saab, back to the mechanic. Wednesday, as I drove to work, I smelled burning as I got off the freeway.  As I downshifted for the stop light, I found that I couldn't get into 2nd or 1st gear.  I had to really rev the engine in order to drive from a stop into 3rd gear.  Fortunately, work was less than a mile away.  I parked the car and went into work wondering if I was going to have to call a tow truck to get home.  Later that evening, after work, I got back into the car and it worked just fine.  It was fine until I was almost home when the shifting problem reappeared. If you remember, I've only had Gwen out of the shop for 1 1/2 weeks after putting in a new clutch and clutch cable. So I was really unhappy about having to put her back into the shop for a related clutch problem.

I was fortunate; the brand new clutch cable had stretched and only needed to be readjusted. Of course, it's pretty strange that a brand new cable would stretch out within 1 1/2 weeks, but, oh well. We'll try this new adjustment for the next several weeks. Hopefully, it will work permanently, otherwise it'll mean another trip to the shop.

I was overjoyed to not have to pay for this visit. Obviously that meant another celebratory dinner. So I made Korean Fried Chicken.

This recipe comes from Saveur magazine. Although you have to fry the chicken twice in order to get the fabulous crispiness, it's fairly easy to make and incredibly delicious. I doubled this recipe in order to give us LOTS of leftovers. It's VERY messy to eat which only adds to the fun!

This is the brand of Gojujang that I used

Gojujang is a Korean fermented chile paste that tastes a little like chile paste mixed with miso. I think it's only mildly spicy, but you might think it's hotter.

Frying the wings

After the 1st fying

After the 2nd frying

 
Korean Fried Chicken

Canola oil, for frying
5 cloves garlic
1 1 1⁄2" piece peeled ginger
3 tbsp. soy sauce
3 tbsp. gojujang (Korean chile paste)
1 1⁄2 tbsp. rice vinegar
1 tbsp. Asian sesame oil
1 tbsp. honey
2⁄3 cup flour
1 tbsp. cornstarch
16 chicken wings (about 1 3⁄4 lbs.)

1. Pour oil into a 6-qt. pot to a depth of 2". Heat over medium-high heat until a thermometer reads 350˚. Chop garlic and ginger in a food processor. Add soy, gojujang, vinegar, sesame oil, and honey; purée. Put sauce into a bowl.

2. Whisk flour, cornstarch, and 2⁄3 cup water in another bowl. Add chicken; toss. Working in 3 batches, fry chicken until golden, 6–8 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Return oil to 350˚. Fry chicken until crisp, 6–8 minutes more. Drain again. Toss chicken in sauce.

SERVES 2 – 4

Things Are Looking Up

This is a day for celebration; I've been put on Leilehua High School's priority substitute teaching list. That means that as soon as the district calls me to schedule fingerprinting and then enters me into the DOE database, I can start working as a substitute teacher! If I do a good job subbing I can work every day. That means I'll make enough money to afford to live indoors! I can cover my bills, pay back all the wonderful folks that have helped me in the past many months and actually get ahead!

I'm so very happy!

Of course, I'll need to continue the night-time stocking job for a few more months until I get a handle on my bills, but there's an end in sight. I'm so very happy!

To add to the happiness, a good friend sent a box of books for Butterfly and me to enjoy.  Best part? the books filled with Modesty Blaise comics!  Modesty is my favorite heroine (along with Emma Peal, of course!)

This weekend I'm scheduled to do another cooking demo. This time I'll dress up in 50's housedress, apron, and blond wig ala June Cleaver to demo a marinade. I'm not sure what the tie-in is, but that's okay. It will be silly and fun. I'll post the photos on this blog either on Sunday or Monday.

Update: My boss has informed me that the costumed cooking demo has been postponed to a to be determined date.  Oh well, that means I have tomorrow morning free.

I hope you have a wonderful day, too!

Sweet Simmered Kabocha recipe

What do I do with half a kabocha?

I used half of my kabocha for the nishime and half was left staring at me from the top shelf of my refrigerator. I didn't want to make it into soup - I wasn't in the mood for soup today.  Besides, the last time I made kabocha soup, Butterfly went from loving the soup to deciding she hated it. Kids!

So, I decided to make sweet simmered kabocha.  It's really easy to make (easy is always tops on my list!) You just scoop out the seeds from the pumpkin, cut it up into 1" chunks, pop it into the saucepan, pour in the water, sugar, and shoyu and then simmer until tender. The whole job takes about 1/2 hour.

Kabocha chunks

I didn't peel any of the skin off the kabocha before cooking it.  That was probably a mistake.  In the past I've peeled parts of the skin off and have had fine results.  This kabocha may have been sitting on my kitchen counter a little longer than it should have with resulting tough skin.  It's really not necessary to peel all the skin off this type of pumpkin. Of course, your milage may differ.

Finished dish: Sweet Simmered Kabocha

Sweet Simmered Kabocha

1/2 kabocha (1 lb.), seeds removed
1 cup water
4 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. soy sauce

 Cut kabocha into about 1 inch cubes. Peel kabocha skin around the edges. Put water, sugar, soy sauce, and kabocha in a medium pot. Heat on high heat and bring to a boil. Lower heat and cover with lid. Simmer kabocha for about 15 minutes, or until the liquid is almost gone.

Nishime (Japanese Vegetable Stew) recipe

Wednesday was cause for celebration - my Saab (named Gwen) came home! She is running smoothly and happily. The gears shift easily. The engine purrs. AND I can get to places quickly again.

To celebrate I wanted to make nishime (Japanese vegetable stew.) I'd never made it before but I remembered Mama's version. Her nishime was one of the meals she made that I absolutely loved (there were several that made me want to throw up, but that's another story.) So, I had to try to reproduce it.

Preparing the vegetables take more time than cooking the meal. Peeling, chopping, slicing, and making matchsticks took me about 1 1/2 hours to do. The actual cooking time was only about 1/2 hour. So, the meal takes a short time to cook once you've got all the prep work out of the way.

I had far too many veggies for the size pan I had. I had to make a special trip just to buy a large stockpot. The enamel pot is hardly glamorous but it's functional and inexpensive and worked just fine.

I took some of the finished product over to Auntie's house. I called first to let her know I was bringing it. She said, "Nishime, humbug you know" (translation: You realize that nishime is a real pain to make, right?) I told her that, yes, nishime is humbug but I really love it and love to cook anyway, so it's okay. She called me the next day to tell me that she thought the stew was delicious. Yea, success!

Nishime (Japanese Vegetable Stew)

1 lb thinly sliced beef (or pork)
2 Tablespoons oil
7 cups water
2 packages Shiratake
2 36" Strips Nishime(not Dashi) Kombu(Kelp)
1 small daikon, cut into wedges (2 cups)
1 large carrot, cut into wedges
1 lotus root, peeled, quartered, and sliced
2 cans bamboo tips (takenoko), sliced lengthwise
2 stalks gobo, scraped with a spoon, placed in water, cut into matchsticks
12-15 Satoimo/Araimo/Dasheen(Japanese Taro), peeled and placed in water to cover
1/2 kabocha pumpkin, seeds scraped out, cut into cubes
1/2 lb shiitake mushrooms, quartered if large
1 Cup Soy Sauce
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Mirin
4 Tb Sake
1 Tsp salt
4 Cloves Garlic Minced

Wash kombu, and strip lengthwise if wider then 3 inches. Tie into knots at 2 inch intervals. Cut between the knots and soak in water for 20 minutes.

Heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and beef and saute until light brown in color.

Add water, all the vegetables (except shiitakes), sugar, sake, and mirin. Bring to a slow boil and cook for 15 minutes.

Add shiitakes, soy sauce, and salt and simmer 15 minutes, or until cooked. Taste and make adjustments to flavoring.

Note: A friend sent an email reminding me that I can get all the nishime vegetables pre-prepped in the frozen section of most groceries in areas with large Asian populations.  Yeah, you can use the frozen stuff but I'm a food snob in many ways and think that the frozen dasheen/araimo/sato imo has the consistency of wet sponge, but hey, that's just my mouth.  Mama thinks there's no difference.  My friend thinks there's no difference. Maybe I'm the weird one.  No matter.  Use the frozen veggies to save yourself a ton of time. But as for me and my household, we'll shop/chop/slice fresh.