Chop suey

About 250 gr. soybean sprouts
5-7 mushrooms, sliced
1/3 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced
About 150 gr jicama, diced
1 1/2 carrots, diced into small bits
About 1/5 head of green cabbage, coarsely chopped
1 Cup chicken broth
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp teriyaki sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 tsp. corn starch.
1 Tbsp sesame oil

Heat the oil in a wok, the stir-fry the vegetables. I add them in this order: 1) onion, garlic and bell pepper, 2) sprouts and celery, 3) mushrooms, 4) jicama and carrot, 5) cabbage. That is, I begin with 1, stir-fry a few minutes, then add, 2 and keep cooking, end so on until the cabbage is a bit soft. Naturally there's quite a bit of stirring, but it is stir-drying, right?

While this is going on, mix in a heat resistant bowl or cup the chicken broth (hot), soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, vinegar and corn starch. The end result looks a bit like coffee and cream, perhaps a bit darker. Make sure the corn starch is all dissolved, then reduce the heat and add the sauce to the wok. Stir occasionally and let the sauce bubble.

Loose pasta bake

I'm very sorry for being so remiss in my postings. Largely it's because I haven't really done anything new. Well, I'm back.

Another good name for this dish would be "lazy person's lasagna." But I'm going with the post title instead.

Ingredients:

150 gr. any type of flat pasta shapes (I used bows), cooked to taste
150 gr. green cabbage, chopped
75 gr. soybean sprouts
10-20 snow peas
4 large mushrooms, sliced
1 bell pepper, chopped
1/4 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. olive oil
4-6 tbsp. Ricotta cheese (The one I get is more like a spread)
4-6 thin slices of turkey ham, diced
2 jars of spaghetti sauce, 540 gr. each
Grated Parmesan cheese to taste

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 180 C (around 460 F)

In a deep pan or wok, heat the olive oil. Saute the onion, garlic and bell pepper (I like my bell pepper well-cooked and soft) until the onion begins to turn translucent. Add the mushrooms and keep coking for 2-3 minutes. The  add the rest of the vegetables and cook until the cabbage is soft, say for 10-15 minutes.

While this is going on, cook your pasta shapes.

In a baking dish ad a layer of sauce and spread it with a rubber spatula. Then add a layer of pasta (not all the pasta), again, flattening and spreading it with the spatula. Add the ricotta, again flattening and spreading it Add the vegetables and ham, flattening as needed. Next another layer of sauce. Another layer of pasta (now use it all up. A last layer of sauce to cover it all, and spread some Parmesan on top.

You may want to add a little low-fat sour cream or Greek yogurt on top as well. This is entirely optional, naturally. I actually used fresh jocoque, which is a kind of strained yogurt. I like it better as a sour cream substitute, as it is thick and not sweet at all.

Place the dish in the oven for 25-35 minutes, or until the sauce bubbles.

You'll need a spoon to serve it. When you do, it will look like this:

Enjoy!

Cottage Cheesecake

I was quite frankly skeptical of this idea but decided to give it a try anyway. My first attempt was ok, but there was room for improvement. So here's what I did:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups regular cottage cheese
1 1/3 Cups non-fat plain yogurt
2 Tbsp. flour
7 Tbsp. granulated Splenda (suitable for baking), or sugar if you'd rather.
2 Eggs
2 Egg whites
Zest and juice of 1 lime
Blackberry marmalade as needed for the topping (or any other topping you want)

Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F)

First you need to reduce the cottage cheese to a thick fluid. Since I've been suing it in other recipes, I did what I always do: mix it with something more fluid, yogurt in this case, in the blender and hit the liquefy setting. It works very well.

Next mix the liquefied cheese and yogurt mix with the rest of the ingredients in a big bowl and whisk them together. the order doesn't matter, but it's easier to leave the lime zest and juice for last. Pour the whisked batter into a greased baking dish and place in the oven for 50 to 60 minutes.

It's a bit hard to say when it's done, as it won't solidify until it cools down a bit first. By my experience, it's done when the mix on the edges of the dish begin to turn golden brown.

Let the pie cool down and spread the marmalade, or the topping of your choice, on top.

The consistency is close to, but quite that, of regular cheesecake. The flavor is very close. For low fat it's really excellent.

I want to try mixing chocolate chips in the batter next. They ought to melt nicely while it melts. Or perhaps add melted chocolate in layers. This would raise the fat content, of course, but it might be worth trying.

Cebollitas

Cebollitas (little onions) are a popular side dish at taco restaurants in Mexico (some taco stands also sell them) Usually they're just grilled green onions, but I make them differently:

Ingredients:

As many green onions as you want to make, short stem, and make sure you cut off the roots at the other end.
2 Tbsp Soy sauce
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
The juice of 1/2 a lime
A little cooking oil or cooking spray.

Heat up the oil in a skillet. In a cup, mix the soy sauce, Worcestershire and lime juice, stir well. Place the onions on the skillet and cook them until they begin to turn black on one side (see photo above), turn them and keep cooking  until the next side begins to turn black. You need to cook them this much so the inside will be soft.

Add the sauce mix to the skillet and keep cooking until about a third or half of it is consumed.

That's all there is to it. The mix above should be good for 10-12 onions. If you're making more, add more soy and Worcestershire and lime.

Berry Yogurt bake

Remember me?

Sorry. Work's been oppressive lately, to the point where a mere10-hour day seems short. I've still cooked every weekend, but was too tired to post about it. I'm still tired, but also way behind. So let's get to it:

Ingredients:

2 whole eggs
2 eggs worth of egg whites (I buy egg whites in a jar as it involves less waste for me)
2-3 Tbsp. granulated Splenda, suitable for baking
1/3 cup brandy
375 gr. plain, non-fat yogurt
a pinch of nutmeg
1/3 teaspoon cinnamon
400-500 gr. berries of your choice, either fresh or frozen (defrost them first!); I used raspberries and blackberries.
2 tsp. Corn starch

In a bowl whisk all the ingredients but the berries. If you used frozen berries and they released some juice as they thawed, add the juice to the mix.

Next place the berries in a baking dish. Add the batter. Place in the oven at about 180 C for around an hour or until it's cooked through.

That's all there is to it.

Coming soon more recipes. I hope sometime this month.

Chicken cutlets with chipotle and morita sauce

Sorry for the delay. I've been doing 12-to-14-hour work days for two weeks, and even working some weekends. I've been too tired to post.

But I did cook (I have to eat, don't I?) So here's what I've been up to:

Ingredients:

10-12 Roma tomatoes (these are the oblong type; I prefer round tomatoes, but they are scarce right now)
1/2 medium onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 dried Chipotles
3-4 dried Morita chiles
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 Chicken bouillon cube, lo-fat and low-sodium
9-10 cilantro branches
220 gr. (about two scoops) cottage cheese
3/4 cup non-fat or low-fat milk
3-4 chicken cutlets (these are skinless, boneless chicken breasts pounded flat) about 800 gr.
Black pepper to taste
Shredded cheese to taste
Low-fat sour cream to taste

First peel and seed the tomatoes. Make sure to place the removed seeds in a colander over a bowl to catch the substantial juice they hold. You'll need it later in the recipe. Next chop the tomatoes into large pieces.

Preheat oven to 200 C (about 390-400 F)

In a big, deep saucepan, heat the oil, then saute the garlic and onion for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes and reduce heat to medium. Add black pepper if you want to. As the tomatoes cook, they'll release some juices. Keep cooking, stirring on occasion, until the tomatoes are soft and they easily break apart. Add the juice you reserved from the seeds. Reduce heat to minimum and keep cooking, again with occasional stirring, until the whole thing bubbles and boils.

While all this goes on, you need to prepare the chiles. First set water to boil in a small pot, then add the dried chiles. Let them boil for five minutes or so. You want them to soften and hydrate them. Some won't soften much, others will soften too much. Either way is ok. Next cut off the tails and discard them. Sit the chiles length-wise and open them, then remove all the seeds (lots of seeds to remove in this recipe, I know). Cut or shred the chiles into smaller pieces.

Now let the  tomato mix cool down a bit, then place it in a blender along with the cottage cheese, milk, cilantro, cumin, bouillon cube and chiles. Liquefy well. If you need to do it in batches, make sure you put a bit of everything in each batch. The result should be thick and creamy.

Batches or not, you may want to add the chiles in parts, lest the sauce wind up too hot. If it does, add a little tomato sauce and a bit more cottage cheese (this is a guess).

Ok, next pour some sauce on a baking dish and add half the chicken. Sprinkle some cheese, if you want, pour in more sauce, then the rest of the chicken, then the rest of the sauce. Top with some shredded cheese and low-fat sour cream.

Now place the baking dish in the oven, preheated to 200 C or 390-400 F, for about an hour or until the chicken is cooked through. You may want to check after 40 minutes or so. Serve with plain white rice, if you like mixing it in with the chicken, or with Mexican Rice.

I found the sauce delicious, and there was some left when I was done eating the chicken alter in the week. I saved it to use in omelets. It could also be used to make huevos rancheros (hm, I should try that next week!)

A little side note. Chiles are a bit complicated, especially in Mexico. There are many varieties, and some processed varieties have different names. So for example a Chipotle is a smoke-dried big Jalapeño variety, while the Morita is a dried "sweet" Jalapeño variety. Really. So don't try to find "natural" Chipotles or Moritas. they don't exist!

Cream of Tomato Soup

This one I made yesterday. Again it's my own recipe, and again it's all made from scratch. About that, I've learned two things: 1) It's very tiring to do everything from scratch, but 2) it's very satisfying.

Without further ado:

Another Anchor container

Ingredients:

About 1.25 kilos (almost 3 lbs) of round tomatoes, peeled, cored and seeded, then chopped. Oblong tomatoes should work, but the round ones cook faster and better. They're also easier (but not easy) to seed.
1 small or medium clove of garlic, minced
1 thick slice of onion, chopped.
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1.5 liters chicken broth
3/4 Cup low-fat or non-fat milk
5 Tbsp. Cottage cheese (I use regular, which is rather low in fat anyway)
1/4 tsp. Cumin
1/3-1/2 tsp. Paprika
420 gr. Tomato puree (or paste, or sauce)

First peel and seed your tomatoes. This is hard work, and I usually assume my readers know how. But in this case it's important that you seed the tomatoes over a strainer in a bowl, to catch and keep the juice that seeding usually produces. So my method for seeding is to quarter the tomatoes and manually remove the seed parts.


Heat the olive oil in a soup pot and set the onion and garlic to saute. Add the tomato when the onion begins to turn translucent. I cut mine into fairly large pieces, but go any way you want. As they cook, they'll release a lot of juice and will soften considerably; so you want to keep stirring them in order to keep them from burning. When they're soft, add the juice you reserved from seeding.

Cook with the juice until it barely begins to boil. Despite the released juices and the added juice, the mix will be very thick and will form large steam bubbles. So lower the flame to minimum and add the chicken broth. Bring to a slow boil, stirring on occasion.

A word here. I used actually hot water and two low-fat, low-sodium chicken bouillon cubes. The reason is to have a more subtle chicken flavor. If you can do that with broth, great. If not, try my approach.

Good. When the mix boils, turn off the heat and let it cool a bit. You guessed it, the mix will be going to the blender. Do it in batches, adding a little milk and some cottage cheese on each batch. You may want to transfer the soup to a container first, as it's all going back in the pot.

Once it's back in the pot, add the tomato puree, cumin and paprika. Stir well, and again set the heat to low and bring to a slow boil, stirring frequently. Let it simmer a bit after it boils and then serve.

I love tomato soup. I usually have it mixed with boiled, plain white rice and a little lime (yes, lime; I'm like that). Or with crackers and lime, or with croutons and lime, or with rice, crackers and lime. Enjoy!

As I said, it's very satisfying to do it all from scratch (I know I used chicken bouillon cubes and tomato puree). So much so that I later thought "Shouldn't I get canned diced tomatoes?" And I answered myself "No. I might as well get a can of Campbell's Tomato Soup!"

Cream of Chile Poblano

I made this last week, but didn't get around to posting it until today (too many long hour days at the office)

This is an entirely original recipe, mistakes and all. I'm rather proud of it.

I love these Anchor containers!

Ingredients:

1 kilo Poblano Chiles (about 8 or 9)
1/4 onion, chopped.
1 clove of garlic, minced
1.5 liters chicken broth
5 Tbsp. Cottage cheese
3/4 Cup non-fat or low-fat milk

The preparation is a bit tricky, and very time-consuming.

First you place the chiles on a baking sheet in the upper part of the oven and turn on the broiler to high. You want them to blacken and blister, turning them with tongs as needed (pull out the oven tray when you do so). This is easier said than done, however, as chiles tend to be flat. You'll find the sides won't blacken nor blister much.

When they're done, let them cool for 30 minutes or so. Then you take the skin off. This is easy in some areas and hard on others. I didn't bother to take all the skin off where it got too hard to peel.

Next you chop the peppers into large pieces, being very careful to remove the seeds and veins. Poblanos are considered mild, which is why they can be used for soup and other dishes, but that's rather relative and some are hotter than others. As it was, I did not remove all the veins, so my soup turned out rather on the hot side.

Now heat a little oil in a soup pot and saute the onion and garlic until the onion begins to turn translucent. Add the chopped chiles and saute for 5-7 minutes. Reduce the heat to its lowest setting and add the chicken broth and bring to a slow boil, stirring occasionally.

When it boils, turn off the heat and let it cool a bit. Now you'll be adding the soup to the blender in batches (unless you have a big industrial-type blander), along with the milk and cottage cheese, also in batches. You'll be bringing the liquefied mix back to the pot, so you may want to empty it into another container first. Taste it, too, and see whether it's too hot. if it is, add some more milk and cottage cheese, and, to taste, more chicken broth. Just be careful not to dilute the flavor of the poblanos too much.

Once the soup is liquefied, return tot he pot and bring it again to a slow boil in low heat. Let it simmer a few minutes and serve.

If you like, you can add croutons to the soup once it's served. I like mine plain.

Green Bell Pepper Soup

This is an easy, but not quick recipe. be very careful with the oven!

Ingredients:

4 large bell peppers
1 Teaspoon olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped
1 liter boiling water
1 can of baked beans (about 560 gr.), drained
2 chicken bouillon cubes, low fat and low sodium
A pinch of fine herbs

To begin with preheat the oven for broiling, then place the bell peppers on a baking sheet inside the oven near the top. Let the peppers broil until they blister and blacken, then turn them, using tongs, until all sides are black and blistered. be very careful, and remember to slide the oven tray out (wearing oven mitts, of course!) It's safer than sticking your arms into the oven.

When they're done, let them cool for about twenty minutes. Next you'll find the skin comes off with a little effort. Skin them. You don't have to remove the entire skin. no, let em rephrase that: I did not remove the whole skin from each. Once they're skinned, cut them open, and get the seeds and core out. You'll find the seeds may have turned brown. The peppers will be soft and easy to cut. Now chop them in small pieces.

In a soup pot heat the oil, then saute the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent. Add the chopped peppers and saute another 3-5 minutes. Add the water and bouillon cubes. Stir well to dissolve them. Add the beans and a pinch of fine herbs. Stir well and reduce heat to minimum. Bring to a slow boil, then let simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Let it cool and serve.

The recipe I was originally making called for putting the thing in the blender after adding the beans. I decided to let it cook through first. When I tasted it I found it very good, so I omitted the blending step. But that's a good option for another time.

New Year's Pears

First credit where credit is due: I found this recipe posted by an online friend, who wanted to share his daughter's recipe. Thank you!

Second, I've not done much in the way of desserts, and this seemed like a good place to start.

Third, I altered the recipe proportions in one essential ingredient, sugar, which I wished to keep low. But this alters the outcome, as we'll see later.

Delicious!

Ingredients:

4 Large pears, peeled, cored and cut into large pieces
1 Bottle (750ml) of red wine
1 Tsp. grated orange peel
1/2 Cup orange juice
1 Tsp. Cardamom
1 Cinnamon stick (about 3 inches long)
1 Scoop vanilla ice cream
1 Cup sugar

As with most cooking, the larger part lies in preparing the ingredients. I found it easier to peel the pears by using a diagonal motion with the potato peeler. Don't worry about peeling near the stem or the bottom, you'll be cutting off those parts anyway (or you should).

About the sugar, the idea is to obtain a syrup in the end. For that you need 2 1/4 cups, as one cup won't do it. Still, I do watch my sugar intake, and the single cup I used made the dessert sweet enough. But in the end I get a thin, sweet sauce rather than syrup. Choose accordingly.


First mix everything but he pears in a deep saucepan, or a pot, and bring it to a slow, gentle boil (you may want to let the ice cream scoop sit a while before adding it; of course it doesn't matter if it melts). Add the pears and let them cook through, say for about 25 to 45 minutes. Remove the pears to a serving dish when they're done, and keep simmering the mix until it's reduced enough (or until it's syrupy if you go with more sugar).

I tried them right off the stove, and found them delicious and perfect for a cold night. If you serve them cold, you can add a small scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzle some syrup on top. This dish has a strong, spicy, flavor.

One last thing, the cardamom is key in this recipe. It's a bit expensive (I paid about $8 for a small jar with 65 gr., or about two ounces I think), but well worth it. In contrast, any cheap, dry red wine will do nicely.

Potato Soup, second draft

I really thought I had it, but upon eating a bowl of it I had to demote it to second draft <sigh>. I think I know now (sure) how to improve it. I'll try again a few weeks from now.

In the meantime:

Ingredients:

5-6 large potatoes, peeled and diced
1 Tbsp. olive oil or vegetable oil
4-6 mushrooms, thinly sliced
4-6 strips turkey bacon, cut in small pieces
1/2 onion, sliced or chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 liters chicken broth
1/2 cup dry wine
1 cup skim milk
1/2 teaspoon fine herbs
1/2 teaspoontarragon
1 teaspoon corn starch dissolved in 1/4 cup of water.

In a soup pot heat the olive oil then add the bacon. Fry until it's about halfway crispy. Add the onion, garlic and mushrooms. Saute until the mushrooms begin to brown. Add the potatoes and saute, while tossing them about, for a couple of minutes. Reduce the flame to half and add the wine. Toss everything around for a minute or two, making sure it all gets exposed to the wine.

Lower the flame to low and add the chicken broth. You know what comes next, right? Bring to a sow boil.

When the soup boils, add the fine herbs and tarragon. Stir well. The potatoes will take long to cook, say about an hour. Keep checking on them. When they're nearly done, add the milk and corn starch dissolved in water. Stir well. When the potatoes are tender, you're done.

I do like it, but it's not quite right. Not to me. So I'm thinking to either skip the wine or the corn starch next time.

Chilorio and Ginger srambled eggs

I've been experimenting with breakfast cooking (beyond microwave oatmeal) these past few weeks. I lack the time during the week, when fifteen minutes more sleep trump a nice breakfast, but on weekends I do cook breakfast. So:

Chilorio is a dish popular in the north of Mexico, made up of shredded pork with chiles and spices. Lately a lighter kind, made with turkey, has been hitting supermarket shelves. Here's a photo of an opened can:

The small can holds 170 gr., or about half a pound. For my breakfast I use about one third of it. The rest can be refrigerated (not int he can, never refrigerate food in cans; use a small tupperware instead) for a few days. Here's the recipe for about 3 to 4 people:

Ingredients:

1 170 gr. can of Chilorio (your choice turkey or pork)
3 whole eggs
6 egg whites (give or take, I buy a half liter jar of egg whites rather than separate my own)
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
2 Tbsp. olive oil (or any other vegetable oil)
1/2 onion, chopped
3 mushrooms, roughly chopped

You can tell it's just-made because it's still steaming

In a bowl whisk the eggs and egg whites. Next heat the oil in a skillet. Add the, ginger, onion and mushrooms, and saute for 3-5 minutes, or until the mushrooms begin to brown. Add the chilorio. At first you want to keep it separate from the other ingredients and let it cook a minute. Then mix it up with the onion and mushrooms.

When the onions are slightly browned, add the whisked egg mixture. Be careful, as whites cook a lot faster than whole eggs. The mix will tend to make thin films in the sides of the skillet, so scrape them off and mix well with the rest. Cook until the egg mix is done and serve hot.

I hesitated to add more spices, as the ginger has a rather subtle flavor. But I think some pepper and a dash of Worcestershire or Tabasco would add a nice touch.

And now in my list of things to try is to cook my own chilorio. I'm thinking of doing a chicken version...

Nearly right potato soup

I made potato soup last night. It didn't come out quite right, but I'm posting the recipe I used and I'll point out the mistake I made. I don't quite know how to fix it yet.

6-8 potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic,minced
2-4 strips of pork bacon, cut in 1 inch pieces
4-6 strips of turkey bacon, cut in 1 inch pieces
3 mushrooms, sliced
Ground black pepper to taste

2 liters chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine
1/3 stick margarine
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup ow-fat milk
3 teaspoons freshly chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon dried tarragon

Set the bacon to fry in a soup pot. Before it gets crispy, add the onion, garlic and mushrooms. Saute until the onions begin to turn translucent. Add the potatoes and black pepper and toss them around. Saute for two minutes or so. Add the chicken broth and wine, stir well. Reduce the heat to minimum and let it come to a slow boil. Simmer until the potatoes begin to get tender.

When the potatoes are nearly done, melt the margarine in a separate saucepan. Whisk in the flour. Here's where I erred, by using too much flour (about half a cup). Add the milk and keep whisking. Add the cilantro and tarragon. Make sure you get a smooth, creamy mixture. I got lumps, and those things won't dissolve in the soup.

Add the mix to the soup and stir. Let it boil a second time, simmer a bit. Serve.

As I said, mine didn't come out quite right due to the lumpy flour/margarine/milk mixture. I think using half as much flour, 1/4 cup, should fix it, but I really need to try it. If/when it works, I'll post it again with pictures.

On a break

I've been hearing a great deal about the Modern Paleo Diet lately. there is a lot of controversy around it, but some claims by its proponents are highly intriguing. Chief among them a reduction of inflammation, particularly later in life. This is huge, as inflammation causes a lot of problems. Arthritis is the most obvious, but it also plays a role in things like cardiovascular (heart) disease.

The big problem is this diet does away with grains and legumes. That means wheat, barley, lentils, beans and rice are out. A quick look at my recipes would show why that is a big issue for me. There's also the turnoff that many Paleo sites stress very simple dishes. Again, you know I like rather complicated recipes. And then there's the whole low-carb, high-protein stuff to consider, especially since Paleo advocates favor animal proteins over vegetable ones (naturally, as legumes are out).

I decided to experiment a bit anyway. But I won't be posting any recipes while I try out Paleo or Paleo-like dishes, and while I research the whole thing further. The recipes I post here must meet all my standards for taste and quality, but also of nutritional value.Since my focus so far has been low-fat, I need to know more about Paleo before I change focus.

I may post updates periodically. But don't count on it. Whatever else happens, I should resume posting next month.

Mushroom Barley Soup

Third time's the charm, it seems.

 

The secret is to use sherry and a little flour.

Ingredients:

500 gr. mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup barley
1/4 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon fine herbs
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 teaspoons all purpose flour
2 liters water
3 chicken bullion cubes, low-fat, low-sodium
1/4 cup sherry
2 bay leaves
Worcestershire sauce to taste
Ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

In a soup pot heat the olive oil, next add the mushrooms and saute for about three minutes. Add the barley (raw), garlic and onion, keep cooking until the mushroom begin to brown, or about 5 minutes. Add the flour and stir well. Keep cooking until the mushrooms are a nice golden brown, or around two minutes more. Reduce the heat to medium and add the sherry. Stir well and cook for about a minute. Reduce heat to low and add the water. Bring to a slow boil. When the water's hot, add the bay leaves and fine herbs. When it begins to bubble, add the bullion cubes.

Let the soup simmer until the barley's tender. Taste from time to time and add pepper and Worcestershire as needed.

Juicy Meatloaf

I should start with a warning: unlike almost everything else I've posted here, this recipe is not low fat.

I cooked it mostly as a challenge. I've had little experience with beef and I wanted more. Moreover, meatloaf is not common in Mexico, making it a bit exotic (it is a matter of perspective). I was pleased with the result.

I do apologize for the poor quality of the picture. I was already storing it before I thought to take a photo.

I'll post the glaze/sauce first, then the rest. Here we go:

220 gr. tomato puree or tomato sauce
1/4 Cup Ketchup
4-5 Tbsp. mustard
4 Tbsp. Balsamic vinegar
4 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 Cup beef broth (or even chicken broth or hot water)
1/2 teaspoon ground or powdered ginger
1.5 Tbsp. Paprika


Mix the ingredients in a big enough bowl and whisk them well. The result should be rather thick, but fluid. Save 3/4 cup of it to mix in with the meatloaf.

Now the meatloaf:

3/4 Cup glaze you saved from the first step
1 Kg. ground beef, preferably lean
1/3 onion finely chopped
2 Cloves garlic finely minced
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped (optional; it tends to wilt a bit)
1 Cup wheat bran or breadcrumbs (by this I mean a coarse powder, like that used for milanesas)

First get a really big mixing bowl, next put the ground beef in it and break it up. Add the beaten eggs and mix them with the beef. Add the onion, garlic and cilantro, and again mix well with the beef.

The next step is important. Add the 3/4 cup of glaze you saved, but don't add it all at once. Add about 1/4, mix well with the beef, then another fourth and mix again, and so on until you've added all. I was advised to do this by someone who does make meatloaf often. The idea is for the beef to gradually absorb the glaze. I don't know if this is so or not, but the results were good.

Next add the wheat bran or breadcrumbs and, again, mix well.

We're done mixing now... Anyway, shape the mixture in a loaf or use a baking mold for bread (grease it first). If you shape it without a mold, as I did, just grease an oven safe baking dish or a roaster and place the loaf in it. Pour the glaze over the meatloaf. Use as much glaze as needed, but don't feel you must use it all. It's ok if some spills over onto the baking dish.

Put it int he oven at 180 C (around 350 F) for one hour. Periodically you'll want to baste it with the beef juices that will come out, and if desired add more glaze. You should also check from 45 minutes onward how things proceed. You want the center to be brown rather than pink in the end, that's when you're done.

I ate it by itself, which was ok, but it would go well with mashed potatoes, or oven roasted potatoes, and perhaps even with sauteed mushrooms.

Enjoy.

Upcoming

I really should stop cooking so late...

I made meatloaf, my first (yay!), following my usual method of finding a recipe online and adapting it to my taste (and my fridge and my pantry, too). It came out rather well, very moist and tasty, with a nice glaze. I'll post the recipe as soon as possible.

Bye for now.

Enchiladas Rojas (Red Enchiladas)

Traditionally enchiladas are either green or red, depending on whether you use red or green tomatoes to make the sauce. In fact, table salsa usually is also green or red for the same reason.

Again I made these with cottage cheese as a filling, but you can use anything else you want. Shredded chicken and pork carnitas are popular, and tasty, fillings.

Fresh from the oven!

As with the past enchilada recipe, I'll post the salsa apart from the rest:

Salsa
Ingredients:

4-5 red tomatoes
1/2 onion, quartered
2 cloves garlic, quartered
Cilantro to taste (about 3-5 branches, stems and all)
2-4 Serrano chilies, or other small green chilies.
2 Tablespoons white vinegar
1/2 Teaspoon cumin
1/4 cup water.

Blanch the tomatoes and peel them, or peel by your preferred method. I tried roasting them this time, at first, but I had trouble doing so. Next quarter them and put them in the blender, removing the core and seeds first. Add the other ingredients to the blender and liquefy the whole thing. You may want to do this in two batches unless you have a big blender. BTW this is the time to taste the salsa and see whether it's too hot or no hot enough, and to adjust the ingredients accordingly.

Pour the salsa into a deep saucepan or pot and turn the heat on low. Let it come to a boil slowly, stirring from time to time. Let it boil for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Then remove from heat and set aside.


Enchiladas
Ingredients:

The salsa from the previous step
200 gr. Cottage cheese (or more)
70 gr. grated white cheese suitable for melting
2 Tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream (optional; personally I don't like it in my enchiladas)
Fresh, wide, corn tortillas, as many as necessary
Chopped onion to taste

First the tortillas handle better when hot. My preferred method is to heat them on a comal on the stove. A comal is a flat, round piece of thin metal that holds 3 or four tortillas. If you don't have one, you can use a wide skillet, or even put them in the microwave for thirty seconds wrapped in a clean kitchen cloth.

So, heat the tortillas a few at a time. Carefully, as they're hot, spoon some cottage each on one and fold it in on itself. Place it on an oven safe baking dish with the fold side down. If it opens as soon as you let go, you have the wrong kind of tortilla. Repeat as many times as necessary. In the photo above there are about 8 enchiladas.

Next pour salsa generously on top, making sure to cover all the enchiladas. Try not to use it all, as a reserve may come in handy later. Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly on top and, if you want, the sour cream as well.

Place in an oven pre-heated to 300 degrees F (you may want to pre-heat the oven before you get started) for thirty minutes. Remove from the oven, let it cool and serve.

For serving, put freshly chopped onion on the table to sprinkle on top. Also perhaps additional salsa, as you should have some left over. If you reheat them in the microwave, BTW, they tend to dry out. When I reheat them I pour some salsa on them before putting them in the microwave, so they'll be moist when done.

I also like to serve them with Mexican rice.

Bonus recipe:

For making red chilaquiles, simply use the same sauce recipe and pour it over tortilla chips. Fried chips keep better, but baked chips do well for a fresh serving. Top with chopped onion. Some people like adding grated fresh cheese and sour cream as well.

Good news, Bad news

The good news is I tried new recipes today. The bad news is I'm beat and won't be posting them til later in the week.

I made mushroom soup, which was not as good as I'd hoped but better than my earlier attempts. I also made red enchiladas. which as you might guess differ little from green enchiladas.

Kathy's Italian Chicken

This is the one that wore me out today. It's a brand new, 100% original recipe. t began with some 1/2 kilo of ground chicken breast I had in the freezer...

Anyway, it's a bit involved and takes a long time, but it's worth it.

Fresh from the oven

It even rates two photos:

Served with Garlic oven-roasted potatoes

The dish consists in flat chicken croquettes covered in tomato sauce. But it's a bit involved as it takes multiple steps. I'll post the ingredients in parts to make this easier, or so I hope.

1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat bran (or regular breadcrumbs)
2 Tbsp. paprika
1/2 Tbsp. ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. thyme
1 Tbsp. Fine herbs, crushed
1 Tbsp. oregano, crushed
1 Tbsp. garlic powder.

Mix all these ingredients in a bowl and set aside for the moment.

1/2 kilo (1+ lbs.) ground chicken breast
1 whole egg, beaten
1/3 cup green bell pepper, diced very small
1/3 cup jicama, diced very small
2-4 twigs of cilantro, chopped (without stems)
Oil for frying as needed

In a bowl mix the chicken, bell pepper, jicama, cilantro and egg. You'll have to use your hands, sorry! I used disposable plastic gloves (stolen from a supply at the office), but you can get disposable latex gloves if you don't like handling raw ground chicken. Mix well so there's an even mix of vegetables in the chicken.

Now, form small, flat croquettes and roll/dredge them in the mixture you set aside before. Then fry them in s skillet with a little oil of your choice until both sides are golden brown and/or the chicken has cooked through (that's why I want them nice and flat). Set aside.

It's likely you'll be doing them in batches of two or three, as I wound up doing, adding a bit of oil to the skillet. If so, you'd best turn the heat down to minimum, or nearly so, in order to keep the croquettes and the oil from burning. Skillets can get very hot after a while on high flame.

By the way, the mixture of flour and wheat bran above may be too much for 500 gr. of chicken. So if you can't think of another use for it, better adjust the quantities downwards.

Now we make the sauce. This is the easiest part.

1 bottle 680 gr. (about 1lb 8 oz) your choice Spaghetti sauce
1/4 small onion finely chopped
1 small clove of garlic finely minced (if you don't like too much garlic, omit this ingredient)
4-6 mushrooms thinly sliced
1/2 Tbsp. oregano
2 1/2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce (optional)
1 teaspoon olive oil
Grated Parmesan cheese to taste

In a saucepan heat the olive oil and add the garlic and onion. When the onions begin to turn translucent, add the mushrooms. Cook on medium heat until the mushrooms are golden all over. Reduce the heat to low and add the sauce. Stir well, add the oregano and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a slow boil. When it begins to bubble, remove from the flame.

Now get a baking dish and place the croquettes previously set aside on he bottom. Ladle sauce to cover them and sprinkle Parmesan cheese to taste on top of each one. According to the size of your dish, you may need a second layer of croquettes, again ladling sauce and sprinkling more cheese. In the top photo there are two such layers.

Place in an oven pre-heated to 300-350 F (I had to experiment on mine) until the sauce bubbles and the cheese melts. Let it cool and serve.

Whew! This is by far the most complicated dish I ever thought up. And I omitted "stretching" the chicken by adding textured soy to the mix. I didn't simply because I judged I had enough chicken. It was a great dish to cook, too.

One more thing, as the fur mix for coating the croquettes already contains garlic, using more garlic in the sauce may be too much. I love garlic, so for me it was fine. but you can omit either one without affecting the outcome too much.

Enjoy!