Labor Day Weekend: Preserving the Harvest

  

It's been quite the weekend. We've spent the past three days working on cooking projects. Smoking corn on the cob. Roasting red peppers. And canning everything in our wake.

1950's corn relish
Fire-roasted pepper-tomato sauce
Roasted red pepper spread
Harissa
Lemon pickles
Chipotle salsa
Tomato juice
Tomatillo salsa

We're utterly exhausted. And yet the work was entirely worth it.  We have a pantry filled with gorgeous canned goods that will last us well into the spring.

Best of all, we did it on a relative shoe-string. $22 for 25 lbs of tomatoes at the market. Just $20 for 5 dozen ears of corn. Merely $25.00 for a year's worth of tomatillos. A straight-up $15 for a few pounds of dried chiles at the local ethnic market. And $60 for 30# of organic red peppers.  Every bit of it local. Every dollar of it well spent.

Canning is tiring work. The kitchen is hot. Our feet are sore.  But, somehow, it's worth all the effort.

After all, we've spent mere hours storing up foodstuffs that will feed us for days and weeks.  It's nourishing food that will sustain us through the autumn, winter, and most of the spring.  And best of all, we know exactly where it came from and what's in it.

We're genuinely looking forward to the night when we can enhance that otherwise straight-forward chicken panini with roasted red pepper spread.  We can't wait to create a quick weeknight pasta with fire-roasted pasta sauce.  And we can't even begin to explain how the priceless it is to have access to fresh-frozen sweet corn that tastes like it came right off the grill in the middle of February.

And don't even talk to me about the amazing bloody marys we'll be making with that tomato juice. Best. Ever. No lies.

Happy end-of-summer everyone!
Happy Eat Local Challenge Milwaukee!
Hope your weekend was lovely and your harvest season is bountiful!

©BURP! Where Food Happens

Breakfast for Dinner: Green Chilaquiles with Eggs

I've never been a big fan of the "breakfast for dinner" concept.  I know that other people get a huge kick out of eating a big plate of pancakes at 6pm.  But, not me.  I prefer my pancakes at 10 a.m., accompanied by a glass of orange juice and a strong cup of coffee.

But, I’m not completely unreasonable.  In fact, there are certain “breakfast-like” foods that I can be persuaded to eat in the afternoon and evening.

I can be coaxed, for example, into hauling out my trusty blue pyrex pie plate to whip up a quick and delicious vegetable quiche for dinner every now and again (that's quite a bit like eggs & toast, isn't it?).  And I've also been known to get a craving for latkes (probably close enough to pancakes) in the late afternoon on certain occasions.

And then there are chilaquiles... ah, how I love my chilaquiles.

Interestingly, chilaquiles claim to fame is often their magical ability to ease the symptoms of a hangover.  As the story goes, the eggs, which contain good quality protein, supposedly help restore the body’s strength.   And the spicy chiles in the sauce apparently possess a natural pain reliever, providing relief from the tell-tale headache left behind after an evening of excess.

But, I don’t need to have a hang-over to crave this dish. In fact, I will gladly scarf down a bowl of chilaquiles for breakfast, lunch, or dinner without hesitation.

Give me a bag of slightly dry corn tortillas… or a half-eaten bag of nice, thick-cut corn chips…  Then show me the rich stores of homemade roasted tomatillo sauce that I have languishing in the freezer downstairs… and I’m yours.

Chilaquiles are one of the easiest (and most delicious) dishes known to man.  The word chilaquiles is derived from a Nahuatl word meaning "in a salsa of chiles.” And the concept is really that simple.

They don’t require a recipe at all if you have a bit of salsa, tomatillo sauce, or mole on hand. Just heat 1 teaspoon vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat. When hot add a cup or two of the sauce and cook for a minute or two, giving it a good stir.  When the sauce is heated, add a few handfuls of tortilla chips and toss to coat. Serve over refried beans or top with a fried egg or a bit of leftover pulled chicken. A garnish of cilantro, sour cream, and/or cotija cheese is also nice.

So, pull that tomatillo sauce out of the freezer and enjoy these chilaquiles -- for breakfast, brunch, OR dinner.

Quick Roasted Tomatillo Sauce


©BURP! Where Food Happens
Want more? Read Lo's latest ruminations at FOODCrush, her Milwaukee Magazine blog.

Make Ahead Meal: King Ranch Chicken Kickasserole

 
This is not the blog post where I tell you all the secrets to successful meal planning.  I won't tout the benefits of "once a month" cooking or give you a slew of time-saving tips to use on your everyday weeknight meals.  Because, generally, that's not the way I operate.

I am NOT a domestic goddess. I'm a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kindofa girl when it comes to weeknight cooking.

It's not that I haven't tried.  I've given meal planning a whirl. Made the list. Clipped the recipes. And meticulously shopped for all the grocery items that I need to create exactly seven home cooked meals in a week. I've witnessed the money it saves, and the headaches it prevents. But, honestly -- when the rubber hits the road -- planning ahead to that extent simply doesn't work for me.  In fact, some of you will be surprised to hear that that level of planning actually starts to stress me out.  I like a little bit of flexibility in my evening plans... maybe even a bit of uncertainty when it comes to what I'll whip up for dinner.

So, I was a little bit surprised when I discovered the brilliance that is the King Ranch Casserole.

YES -- this is a bit like the Tex-Mex casserole dish that shows up in all the ghastly women's magazines.  And YES -- it's a throw-back from post-World War II cooking, when casseroles made with canned soups were the space-age cuisine (because they could be made quickly and kept for later use, casseroles liberated the modern woman from the slavery of cooking).

But, NO -- this is NOT the version that uses cream of *whatever* soup.  And I promise you, this isn't a trap.  But, it will give you at least a night off from cooking... if you do a bit of prep work ahead of time.

This dish does require you to think ahead -- because the flavor of the dish improves pretty dramatically over the course of a day... or three.  The flavors meld. The textures improve. And, although it will still take you an hour or so to bake it up for dinner on the night you serve it, it gives you what might be exactly the right amount of respite from actual cooking duties to renew your strength and energy.

The best part of it is, it doesn't even require a REAL recipe -- though I'm going to give you a bit of a cheat sheet you can use if you'd like to recreate this dish at  home.

Here's what you'll need (more or less)

• a package of corn tortillas (A pack of 12 works great. We like sprouted corn... )
• 2-3 cups tomatillo sauce (it helps to have a bit of this in the freezer, but you can make your own)
• 3 cups cooked chicken (again, nice to have this in the freezer)
• An onion 
• a few cloves of garlic
• a teaspoon or so of cumin and smoked paprika
• salt and black pepper (to taste)
• 1/2 cup or so of chopped cilantro
• 8 oz sour cream
• 2-3 cups of grated cheese (Chihuahua, Monterey Jack, or whatever you have on hand)

Dice your onion and saute it with the garlic until everything is tender. Mix in the cumin, paprika, cilantro, pepper, salt, and chicken.   Provided you have your sauce and chicken together, this is all the cooking you'll need to do.

Put a bit of tomatillo sauce on the bottom of a glass or ceramic baking dish, and start layering your ingredients:

1. 4 tortillas
2. a bit of sour cream (spread this over the top of the tortillas)
3. 1/3 of the chicken mixture
4. 1/3 of the tomatillo sauce
5. cheese

Keep layering until you've used up all of your ingredients -- ending with a nice layer of cheese on the very top. Cover the pan, and place it into the fridge.  Leave it there for 1-3 days. I promise you, it's worth the wait.

While you're waiting for your casserole to "age"  you can do all sorts of fun things -- go out, make a new friend, write a blog post or two, read other peoples' blogs and get new ideas for what to make for dinner NEXT week.

When it's time to bake the casserole, put the dish into a cold oven.  Set the oven to 375ºF and allow the casserole to bake for 50 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, whip off your apron and mix yourself up a nice stiff brandy old fashioned. You deserve it.  Make it a double.  After all, you'll have to wait almost an hour for the casserole to come out of the oven. Might as well make it worth your while.

When the casserole is all brown and bubbling, it's going to smell seriously good and you'll be tempted to slice right into it.  But, you should refrain for about 10 minutes just to let everything set up a bit.

One bite of this and the children will rejoice. Your significant other will sing your praises. And the dog will beg to lick your plate when you're done eating.

You'll feel liberated.
And modern.
And oh-so-very-savvy.

But you can thank me later.  In the meantime, take a bite of your casserole.

Quick Roasted Tomatillo Sauce


©BURP! Where Food Happens