New Mexico Pork Chili- Carne Adovada

I've never been to New Mexico, but I certainly plan to. When I received my newest Issue of Cook's Country (March 2009) I saw this recipe and I was intrigued by the ingredients. I'm half Mexican, so Chipotle in Adobo sauce is a staple in my pantry. There are two other secret ingredients, which I'll let the article in Cook's Illustrated explain.

One of my personal achievements, in learning how to improve my cooking techniques, was to learn the art of searing meat. For this recipe, I used my trusty cast iron Dutch Oven. It take close to 30 minutes to sear the pork into beautiful crusty brown bits of meat. I was left with a nice fond to cook my onions and to "bloom" the spices, so there was a lot of flavor.
In the meantime, the prep for the sauce came together pretty fast. I love my immersion blender. Pureeing food in a blender is messy work, in my opinion. I was able to puree the sauce, right in my Dutch Oven in a manner of minutes. If you won't own one, I can't rave enough about what a useful cooking tool that they are. I added the seared pork back into the pureed sauce.



At the last minute, I decided to put the stew into my slow cooker, rather than braising the meat in the oven. I needed to leave the house, and I don't think it's smart to leave my oven on if I'm not home.

When I returned home, five hours later, the house smelled "smokey"-- not as in "fire" but as in flavor! I had to skim off some fat, but there wasn't a lot of it. Cook's Country showed a photo of the recipe where the sauce looked really thick. I had a beautiful rich sauce, so I decided to serve this over brown rice. Fortunately, I keep Trader Joe's frozen organic cooked brown rice! Rather than adding the fresh cilantro into the sauce, I garnished it on top of the stew.

I made a frisee salad with a light citrus sauce and some warm flour tortillas. My husband and I were very happy with the flavor of this recipe. On a scale of "ten" being Fire Engine Spicey Hot, this recipe rated about a "six" on our scale. If you can't handle too much spice, I would decrease the amount of chipotel to 1/2 Tablespoon. If you love heat, then go for it! I used 1 Tablespoon, just like the recipe called for.

The pork was so juicy and tender!
TIP: Chipotle in adobo sauce freezes really well, since I never use a whole can at once. I just chop what I need and toss it into my recipe.

From the leftovers, I plan to make Pork Empenadas. I'll post that recipe in a couple of days.

From Cook's Illustrated:

Carne Adovada

Like many New Mexican dishes, carne adovada is headlined by local chiles. Meltingly tender chunks of pork butt are braised in an intense, soulful red chile sauce with hints of cumin, oregano, onion, and garlic. It’s at once smoky yet bright, spicy yet sweet. Here’s what we discovered:

Test Kitchen Discoveries

• We tested several promising recipes that called for toasting, seeding, and grinding nearly two dozen dried New Mexico chiles. Tasters loved the toasty, fruity notes from all those chiles, but we wanted to reproduce those flavors using supermarket ingredients. We began by reaching for a jar of chili powder, typically a mixture of dried ground chiles, cumin, oregano, and garlic—the same spices used in traditional carne adovada recipes.
• We chose pork shoulder and cut it into chunks that held their shape but still qualified as bite-sized.
• For even cooking, the test kitchen prefers the oven for stews.
• To give the sauce smoky depth and heat, we used canned chipotle chiles.
• To replicate the subtle fruity quality of the dried New Mexican chiles traditionally used in this dish, we turned to raisins, which we soaked in hot coffee to soften before making a puree.
• To thicken the sauce, we stirred in flour with the spices, which gave it necessary heft.
• Because oregano is a must in carne adovada, we upped the amount. We also stirred in lime juice, lime zest, and cilantro to brighten the otherwise earthy dish.
• Keeping in mind that cilantro becomes soapy-tasting if chopped in advance, we chopped this herb right before adding it to the sauce

STEP BY STEP: Building Complex Chile Flavor

BITTERSWEET A surprising combination of raisins and brewed coffee mimics the bittersweet complexity of dried chiles.	COFFEE
HOT AND SAUCY Just 1 tablespoon of minced chipotle chiles in adobo gives the sauce smokiness and subtle heat.

Ruby Red Grapefruit Sorbet

This recipe has been edited and posted here.

Cashew Chicken

I'm pretty new to the world of "Asian Cooking". The prep work is what's so labor intensive! I found this recipe from Blog Chef, but I made a couple of changes. I love snow peas, and I thought that they would add a lot of color. I also added garlic because I thought that it would give a nice flavor enhancement. I also think there was a typo in Blog Chef's recipe when he wrote down to put 4 Tablespoons of cornstarch into the sauce. Hmmm, I think I would've had concrete. So, I went with 4 teaspoons and the sauce thickened beautifully. The link for Blog Chef's recipe does provide step-by-step photos, for those of you who are visual (like me).

I have to admit, that dipping chicken into a flour mixture two times got to be a messy disaster that had me grumbling to myself "never again"! I ended up dipping the chicken only once, and that worked out just fine. Deep frying food isn't something I do often. In this case, it took three batches to cook the chicken to a golden brown-- and it was also messy and time-consuming. Yes, the chicken tasted good, but I think that the star of this recipe is the sauce. It's delicious! So, next time, I'll stir-fry the chicken to cut fat grams and to spare me the hard work and mess.

Still, this recipe was unanimously given four out of five stars by eveyrone. Just so you know-- five stars isn't given out very easily. I cook for a tough audience, but they are worth the effort.





Cashew Chicken
(Click here for printable recipe)

Ingredients: 2lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut into 1” chunks) 1 large green pepper (sliced) 1 large onion (sliced) 2 cloves garlic, minced 3 cups snow peas (trimmed of string on the top edge) 1 can sliced water chestnuts (optional) 2 cups flour 5 teaspoons cornstarch (divided) 2 teaspoons baking soda 3 eggs (beaten) oil (for frying) Sauce- 2 cups chicken broth 2 tablespoons oyster sauce 1 tablespoon sugar 2 tablespoons soy sauce 1 teaspoon pepper Garnish: 2 cups cashews 1/3 cup green onions (chopped) Option 1 is the way that I cooked the chicken. It's delicious but a messy and labor intensive). If you don't want go through that amount of work-- and you prefer not to deep fry your foods, then see my Option 2 way to cook the chicken). 1 Step 1: To make the sauce- in a bowl mix chicken broth, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, pepper, and 4 teaspoons of cornstarch. Set aside. 2 Step 2: In a bowl mix flour, baking soda and 1 teaspoon of cornstarch. In another bowl beat the eggs. Dip chicken pieces first then the flour mixture, then in the egg mixture and then again in the flour mixture. 3 Step 3: Fry in oil in a wok or in a deep fryer at 350 degrees in batches until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. (Option 2 way to cook the chicken) 1 Step 3: (alternate) Stir fry the chicken in a wok with a little hot oil until no longer pink (3-5 minutes) 2 Step 4: Heat a tiny bit of oil in the wok and stir fry green pepper and onions, garlic and (optional) water chestnuts for 2-3 minutes. Remove from wok and set aside. 3 Step 5: Stir-Fry the snow peas for 2-3 minutes, retaining bright green color and do not overcook! 4 Step 5: Pour sauce into wok and cook over medium heat stirring until well blended and sauce thickens. In a bowl pour sauce over chicken pieces, add green peppers and onions. 5 Step 6: Mix well and garnish with cashews and green onions. Serve with white rice.

Servings: 6

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes (including rice and deep frying the chicken)

Ready in: 1 hour and 15 minutes (Click here for printable recipe)

Sweet & Savory Spinach Salad

For Christmas Eve Dinner, I made Beef Tenderloin with Bearnaise Sauce, Roasted Asparagus, Scalloped Yukon Gold and Sweet Potato Gratin and Pumpkin Brulee. I wanted to serve a salad, so I decided on Organic Baby Spinach. At first, I thought of making a wilted spinach salad... then, I remember a recipe that a friend of ours (Lynne) gave to me about a year ago. It was delicious!

I'm one of those cooks who is almost fanatical (if you ask my family, they'd say I'm bordering "obnoxious) about making the whole meal come together at the same time-- this can make me look liked a crazed woman. I guess I learned this from my German mother, who ingrained into me that I should strive to serve my food hot (yes, I heat my dinner plates), efficiently and on time. I'm telling you this, because I did not photograph most of our Christmas Eve Dinner. The spinach salad was a huge hit (thanks, Lynn) and I realized that I wanted to post a photo. So, today, I made another spinach salad for lunch. I had leftover Baby Spinach in a bag, so I cooked more eggs and bacon. I used my microwave to bring the dressing to room temperature (personally, I think it tastes best that way). It was as delicious as the night before! This time, I snapped a quick photo of the salad-- nothing spectacular, but at least I got practice my food photography skills... that is, until my husband saw me with the camera and rolled his eyes. LOL!

There are two variations on how to use the salad dressing:

Salad #1 - Ingredients:
1 bag baby spinach
1 can bean sprouts, drained
1 can water chestnuts, drained
1 medium red onion, sliced thin
1/2 pound bacon, cooked crisp

Combine all ingredients and refrigerate

OR

Salad #2 - Ingredients (serves 4-6)
1 bag baby spinach
3-4 hard boiled eggs, sliced thin
1/2 medium red onion, sliced thin (or to your personal taste)
1/2 pound bacon, diced and cooked crisp

Combine all ingredients and refrigerate

For the dressing (makes approx. 2 cups of dressing):
1/2 cup salad oil (I prefer Extra-Virgin Olive Oil)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 cup red wine vinegar

Cook the dressing ingredients until boiling. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Dress the salad right before serving. I am careful not to overdress the salad. This makes a LOT of dressing for leftovers.

Click here for printable recipe

Scalloped Yukon Gold and Sweet Potato Gratin with Fresh Herbs

Oh, how I wish I had photographed this recipe while it was fresh out of the oven! It was bubbling with ooey gooey creaminess of heavy cream and Gruyere cheese. We're talking $17.00 a pound Gruyere cheese, but worth every fat gram and cholesterol points that this recipe must have been loaded with. My herb garden provided the fresh rosemary, sage, Italian Parsley and thyme-- don't skip this wonderful blend of ingredients. All the flavors worked together, and it was pretty easy to assemble. Because this is not a low-fat recipe, I would not cook this on a regular basis. However, this side dish can be the star of your dinner party for a special occasion. It was loved by every single person who ate it! The combination of Roasted Asparagus, Beef Tenderloin with Bearnaise sauce made our Christmas Eve dinner a memory to behold. Granted, my waist-line would like to cling to the memorably decadent dinner, but I have plans to hit the gym this weekend!

Golden Corral Rolls - Well, sort of...

I'm a fan of the foodblog "Eating Etc." I love her photos, and most of her recipes are what I would serve to my own family. Today, I planned to bake rolls. I have a confession to make-- yesterday, I broke my own rule that I will NEVER buy processed food. I can't believe that I resorted to sending my son to the grocery store, at 2:00pm on Christmas Eve to buy Pillsbury crescent rolls...but I sure did! I had given up on the idea of baking rolls from scratch for several reasons. I had been sick for almost a week, so my Christmas preparations were behind schedule. Also, I have only one oven in my small kitchen. I also have minimal counter space-- sometimes I feel like I'm cooking in a motor home, to be perfectly frank. I was preparing a dinner that required every minute of my time and attention, so I realized that I simply had no time to bake bread. My son, loves crescent rolls so I surrendered to the convenience of baking these perforated, pre-formed squares of trans-fat laden dough. My family loved them, of course.

Today, I feel rested and it's raining outside. These are two combinations that makes me want to fire up my Kitchen Aid stand mixer and oven. I decided to see what my blog subscriptions would tempt me to make-- and there it was--LadyJay Pee's at Eating Etc. beautiful photograph of Golden Corral Rolls. I've never eaten at a Golden Corral, so I have no idea if this recipe is an accurate "Copy Cat". All I know is the photograph showed perfectly shaped and golden delicious rolls. I'm still learning how to shape bread rolls, so we shall see if mine look as perfect as hers. As I type, the rolls are baking in the oven.

Drum roll, please! These rolls are fantastic, even though I tweaked a couple of things. I had an added bonus, that I can't wait to tell my brother about. As a Christmas gift, he gave me a bottle of Savannah Bee Organic Honey (he found at Williams-Sonoma). I had to take a photo of the roll that I slathered in butter and drizzled with honey. My eyes are still rolling in the back of my head. This recipe is going into my Hall of Fame Recipe Binder. Love it!




















Note: Not until my rolls were baking, did I find a great article from Fine Cooking on how to shape perfect bread rolls.

Beef Tenderloin-- Simple, elegant and what a treat!

It's Christmas morning. It's raining, a fire is crackling and I'm enjoying the aftermath of a lovely Christmas Eve dinner. All of my life, Christmas Eve has been celebrated "Bavarian Style" with all the traditional German cold cuts, sausages salads and side dishes. When my mother passed away in 2003, I wanted to start a new tradition by creating an annual Oktoberfest for our German heritage. That opened a window of opportunity for me to indulge in a new menu. Last year, it was prime rib. This year, I wanted to make beef tenderloin--with a bernaise sauce, potatoes au gratin, roasted asparagus and a spinach salad with bacon and a sweet dressing. I knew that I was putting my recent 20 pound weight loss at risk-- but it's Christmas!

The recipe that I settled on making was found in Cook's Illustrated. I paid $18.99 a pound at my local butcher shop for a beautiful cut of beef tenderloin. I did use a mixture of peppercorns and crushed them with a mortar and pestle, and kosher salt, and I'm glad that I did. I wrapped the tenderloin in plastic wrap for several hours and let it sit at room temperature for an hour. The searing of the tenderloin, gave a beautifully seasoned crust to the meat. Our family doesn't like meat to be blood rare (125F), but closer to a medium rare so I cooked it to abou 130F and let it rest for 15-20 minutes. The very end cuts were medium well (which my husband likes) and the center cut was a perfect medium rare.

It's important to let the tenderloin sit at room temperature, covered, for 1 hour before roasting.I had to improvise, as this piece of tenderloin was too large for a 12-inch skillet. So, I used a cast iron griddle, which worked out really well! I heated some oil,  until smoking and then browned the tenderloin on all sides--about 10 minutes. I transferred the tenderloin, on a roasting pan, to the oven-- then roasting the tenderloin until the center registered125 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 20 to 25 minutes, flipping it over halfway through the roasting time.

Remove the tenderloin from the oven and transfer to a carving board. Cover with foil and let rest for 15 to 20 minutes before slicing into 1/4-inch-thick pieces.

NOTE:  These photos were taken in my very early years of learning how to photograph food.  I've since learned that flash photography isn't idea, and I have since discovered a macro lens-- hence, these aren't my best work, but hopefully you get the idea!


My brother made the bearnaise sauce,  and he still makes the BEST hollandaise sauce on the planet. I did fine a recipe online, though.

Beef tenderloin is an expensive cut of meat, but it's so worth the price. I tallied that the quality of meal I served would have, easily, cost $75.00-$100 per person. The entire meal cost about $100.00 to make. I'll post the remainder of the recipes, later on. Right now, I'm headed to the kitchen to make oatmeal and some fresh squeezed orange juice. I'm sure that my cholesterol count when through the roof, last night. But, sometimes, you just need to indulge and enjoy. Christmas Eve with my family enjoying a fabulous meal is well worth it. The gym is open tomorrow!

 

I doubt I'll win any "food styling" awards for this photo. Asking my family to wait for me to photograph each dish wasn't possible. We were hungry and ready!

Technique (from Cook's Illustrated):

Preparing the Simple Beef Tenderloin

Removing the Silver Skin: Slip a knife under the silver skin, angle it slightly upward, and use a gentle back and forth motion to remove the silver skin. Discard the skin.

How to Tie a Roast: Wrap a piece of butcher's twine around the roast and fasten with a double knot. Snip off the excess and repeat down the length of the roast, spacing each tie about 1 1/2 inches apart. The knots should be snug but not tight.