Mmm doughnuts…for free
The Netherlands is my kind of place. For good luck on New Years, they go with doughnuts over black-eyed peas. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Texas Caviar, but come on.
Though a trip to Amsterdam does have its allure, don’t go on account of the free doughnuts. Just go to Krispy Kreme, metro locations will be giving away a free doughnut and cup of coffee to customers New Year’s Day.
Feliz Navidad Fiesta
Earlier this week, I had the great pleasure to cook for some very friendly folks at a party hosted by local homebuilder Caleb McCaleb. We had a great time. I prepared Salpicon, a favorite in El Paso, Brie and chicken quesadillas, guacamole, and two kinds of salsa. For dessert, we had Smore Bars with Dark Chocolate Gravy Here are the recipes:
Salpicon
1 12 pound brisket
1 onion
6 cloves garlic
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
2 cups beef broth
1 stick butter
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 cups olive oil
1 cup white wine vinegar
1 7 oz. can chipotle in adobo
Juice of 1 lime
2 cups diced cheddar cheese
1 cups diced green onion
Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Place brisket fat side up in a roasting pan with onion, garlic, celery and carrots. Put the stick of butter on top of the brisket and seal the top with foil. Cook 10 hours or until internal temperatures is 180 degrees. Let cool an hour then shred into fine ribbons.
Mix oil, vinegar, chipotle and lime into a vinaigrette.
Combine all ingredients and serve in warm tortillas, tortilla cups or wonton cups.
Chicken and brie quesadillas
16 oz. brie, peeled and diced
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced into 1/4-inch cubes
2 green onions
1 teaspoon chile de arbol powder
Half a stick of butter, sliced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
¼ cup of dry white wine
1-2 tablespoons chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
6 large flour tortillas
Fry the chicken in butter on high heat until it’s browned. Add green onions and soy sauce and cook down liquid. Add broth and cook down. Add salt, pepper and chile, then deglaze pan with wine. Mix well and set aside.
Heat a griddle to medium high heat. Melt a slice of butter on the griddle and spread. Place a tortilla on the griddle, placing a large spoonful of chicken and several cubes of brie on one side. When the cheese begins to melt, fold the uncovered half over the covered half. Flip once the bottom is golden brown. When the entire tortilla is golden brown, remove and set aside. Continue until you’ve run out of filling. You may want to keep warm in the oven. Slice the tortillas into wedges and serve with your favorite hot sauce.
Salsa Roja
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 large clove garlic, peeled
2-5 fresh serrano or jalapeno chiles
¼ cup cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon salt
Half an onion, chopped
Black pepper to taste.
Place onion in food processor and chop. Remove to folded towels and wring out any liquid. Combine remaining ingredients in a food processor. Mix salsa with onions in a bowl, adjust salt and pepper.
Salsa Verde
2 lbs tomatillos
1 full bunch of cilantro, stalks and all.
3-8 serrano or jalapeno chiles
Juice of 1 lime
3 sliced green onions
Salt and pepper to taste.
In a large pot, boil tomatillos 10 minutes and allow to cool. Cut out stems and combine with remaining except for onions ingredients in a food processor. Important: Store overnight in the refrigerator and add onions before serving the following day. Tomatillos need a little more time to blend with other ingredients. Onions are best added just before serving as they can overpower when left in too long.
Guacamole
2 ripe avocados
2 peeled garlic cloves
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ of an onion chopped
1 roma tomato chopped
Juice of half a key lime
Optional ingredients: fresh chiles, chopped cilantro leaves.
Using a mortar and pestle, mash salt and garlic into a paste. Peel avocodos and scoop into a bowl with garlic paste remaining ingredients. Adjust seasonings to suit your taste.
Smore Bars
Crust:
14 whole graham cracker boards, crushed (2 1/4 cups crumbs)
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, melted
Brownie:
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
Topping:
1 jar (7.5 ounces) marshmallow cream (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup mini chocolate kisses
3 whole graham cracker boards, broken up
Heat oven to 350.
Crust: Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, salt and melted butter in small bowl until the graham crackers are moistened. Press evenly in the bottom of a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan. Refrigerate until the crust sets. About 30 minutes.
Brownie: Combine bittersweet chocolate and butter in bowl and microwave on high 1 minute at a time until melted. Stir until smooth.
With a hand-held mixer on medium-high speed, beat together the eggs and sugar until well blended. Reduce speed to medium and gradually add the melted chocolate-butter mixture to the egg mixture, beat until smooth, scraping the side of the bowl occasionally.
Stir the flour and salt into the egg mixture. Stir in the vanilla until smooth. Scrape brownie mixture into the crust lined pan. Bake at 350 oven for 30 minutes.
Topping: While the brownie layer is baking, whisk together the marshmallow cream and the milk in a small bowl until well blended and smooth.
Once the pan is cool enough to handle, pour marshmallow topping over the brownie layer and spread or tilt the pan to cover the top completely.
Sprinkle the mini kisses over the marshmallow topping. Then scatter the crumbled graham crackers all over the top.
Dark Chocolate Gravy
12 oz. dark chocolate chips
1-½ sticks butter
½ cup light corn syrup
1 cup heavy cream
Heat syrup and cream to 180 degrees, mix in chocolate until thoroughly combined. Fold in butter.
Tamales around town
Tamales can be procured from a lot of places around town. Heck, even Braum’s sells a pretty salty version in the freezer sections of their markets. But here are three I particulary like:
Pepe Delgados
While owner Emilio Salinas doesn’t serve them everyday, what he offers each Friday are at the top of the tamale chain. In business since the 1992, Pepe Delgado’s has grown from tiny taqueria to full blown restaurant and live music emporium on Campus Corner. But it’s best days are Fridays when they offer tamales cooked in grape leaves, then served under a sea of spicy red chile sauce.
Zarate’s Latin Mexican Grill
This new entry in the competitive Tex-Mex landscape offers Peruvian tamales. The rest of the menu offers selections from all regions of Central and
706 S Broadway, Edmond
Cafe Antigua
The tiny cafe in the space previously occupied by Cafe Do Brasil picks up where its predecessor left off, offering unique food from south of the Border. This Guatamalan restaurant is known for its breakfast, but during the holidays they’re offering tamales — which are the national Christmas dish of Guatamala.
2409 N Hudson,
More tamale filling recipes
When we had our tamalada last weekend, besides red chile pork tamales we also filled some with chicken and others with a black bean, corn, green chile and cheese filling. Also, here’s the recipe for the salsa crema:
Salsa Crema
1 jar Mexican table cream, or crema fresca
2 green onions diced,
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon toasted cumin seeds, crushed into powder
Juice of half a lime, or 1 teaspoon lime zest.
salt and pepper to taste
Mix thoroughly and serve.
Chicken tamale filling
1 whole chicken
4 bay leaves
1 tablespoon dried Mexican oregano
3 cloves garlic
1 onion quartered
12 whole peppercorns
2 teaspoons olive oil
Half thin sliced onion
2 cloves garlic minced
2-3 cups reserved broth
1 toasted ancho chile toasted, seeded and sliced in strips.
1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon chile de arbol powder
7 oz. diced canned tomatoes
Place chicken in a stockpot and cover by two inches with water. Add next five ingredients and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium and simmer about an hour, skimming the top periodically.
Remove chicken and let cool. Strain and reserved stock.
Shred chicken once cool enough to handle.
In a heavy skillet or Dutch oven, heat oil and sauté onions and garlic until translucent. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.
Lower heat and simmer at least 30 minutes. Makes 25-30 tamales.
16 oz. whole kernel corn
16 oz. grated
4-6 roasted poblano chiles, roasted skinned, seeded and diced
8 oz. black beans, drained of any liquid
4 sliced green onions
2 roma tomatoes, diced
2-4 serrano peppers chopped
¼ cup chopped cilantro
You can roast the poblanos in broiler, on a hot griddle or in a deep fryer. Roast until skin is blistered thoroughly and immediately transfer to an airtight container or bag for 20 minutes. Once out, the skin should peel off.
Cook the corn, preferably on the cob and over hot coals.
Then combine all ingredients.
Two gone on “Top Chef”
Here’s our podcast of the past two episodes of “Top Chef.” Be sure to check out our old friend ReRe’s recap.
A night to remember
So Tre Wilcox made the trip up from Dallas on Sunday thanks to Cat Taylor’s winning essay entry in a contest sponsored by momtourage.com, the parenting page powered by iVillage.com, only to find he could neither wine on Sunday nor scallops.
Sorry, dude, no Central Market or Whole Foods in OKC. It’s Wal-Mart or bust. Ugh.
Anyway, he used shrimp instead of scallops for the first course, which I was lucky enough to sample. Wow. I left soon thereafter, worried I might attempt to tackle Tre for the leftovers. That would’ve ended badly for me. Have you seen the muscles on that guy?
Anyway, here’s the recipe:
Bacon-Scallion Risotto
4 ounces unsalted butter
¼ cup yellow onion, small diced
¾ cup carnanoli rice
5 cups chicken stock, plus reserved
¼ cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons apple-smoked bacon, diced and cooked till crisp.
¼ cup scallion, chopped fine
Salt and pepper to taste
→Melt butter slowly in heavy-bottom stockpot, saute onions over medium high heat for three minutes.
→Add rice. Toast for three to four minutes. Begin adding chicken stock a cup at a time, stir constantly.
→After last cup of stock has cooked away, finish risotto with cream, cheese, butter, bacon and scallion. Season with salt and pepper.
→Serve right away.
Pomegranate Brown Butter
4 ounces unsalted butter
3 tablespoons pomegranate juice
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons pomegranates
Salt to taste
→Brown butter over medium high heat. When butter is browned, strain through fine mesh strainer.
→Cool slightly, mix with remaining ingredients and season with salt.
→Keep warm until time to serve.
Scallops
6 each U-10 diver sea scallops, muscles removed
Grapeseed oil
Salt to taste
→Using hot pan, sear sea scallops in grapeseed oil until cooked to desired temperature.
→Serve right away.
→For the plate: In the bottom of small bowl, place a spoonful of the risotto. Spoon pomegranate brown butter around risotto. Top with one seared sea scallop and garnish with chervil sprig. Serve.
Copyright October 2008
