Ole! Stacked Chicken Enchilidas with Fire Roasted Corn deconstructed Guacomole

So who out there is ready for Cinco De Mayo? Apparently this girl!!! This meal was conceived over leftover roasted chicken and a love of the term deconstructed.  Yup, I am just a big old dork, but I love the idea of deconstructed dishes.





natty light! (And I am not talking about Beer!)

 

Stacked Chicken Enchiladas with deconstructed Fire Roasted Corn-Guacamole
For enchilada sauce go HERE
and simply layer the tortillas with sauce, chopped chicken, cheese, sauce, etc until you have a good stack going (I did three tortillas). Cover top with cheese(I used Monterrey Jack) and bake in the oven @ 350 for 20 minutes uncovered.

Fire Roasted-Corn deconstructed Guacamole
2 Avocados chopped
1/2 onion finely minced
1 jalapeno de-seeded and finely minced
1 tomato chopped
1/2 cup fire roasted corn(<--Trader Joe's makes some bomb fire roasted corn, but you can use regular..or fire roast your own!)
2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp lime
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp Agave Nectar
2 Tbsp. Balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup Olive Oil

In a medium size bowl combine avocado, onion, jalapeno, tomato and fire-roasted corn and gently mix.  In a small bowl combine chopped cilantro, cumin, lime, garlic powder, honey and balsamic vinegar and mix with a whisk.  Slowly pour in the olive oil, whisking to combine.  Pour vinaigrette over avocado mixture and refrigerate at least an hour before serving.

Spicy Grits Bowls

     "I like my grits gritty."  I don't really know why but I growled this at SA yesterday before preparing this new delightful dish to add to my repertoire, but it started an epiphany. 
     Do you ever just look in your fridge and feel slightly uninspired by the ingredients you have before making a trip to the grocery store? I do it ALL the time, and I am the queen of the last minute call to pick up ingredients on the way home. I am however, trying to turn over a new leaf and use my pantry so this recipe is a result of trying to be both frugal and use ingredients I had on hand (and almost always have on hand.)

Spicy Grit Bowls
Two servings of grits prepared
2 cups of black beans
1/2 pound of spicy sausage cooked and crumbled
1/4 c. grated cheddar cheese
1/4 c. green salsa
1 avocado chopped
sour cream
cilantro to taste
      So basically layer the the toppings on top of the prepared grits and then mix them up if you want  to or not :) Delicious and feeds two.

Beef and Cheese Enchilidas

Have I ever mentioned I absolutely hate getting dirt/dough/meatycheesey mixtures under my fingernails? Yep, its true, its up there on my top five things that give me the heebie jeebies right next to feet and being touched by people I don't know(and that my friends is a whole nother story!).  What does that have to do with tonight's recipe? Well, when I make up a batch of enchiladas I like to make two! One for dinner that night and another to freeze sans sauce.  This makes me life easier and more importantly, I only have to touch the meaty cheesy mixture once!
A couple of months ago I stumbled on Debby's recipe over at A Feast for the Eyes and I was THRILLED!  Living in the PacNW there aren't a lot of places that do Tex Mex and being that I am from Texas this was OBVIOUSLY a problem in my book.  The first time I made her recipe I cried a little with joy  was very excited to taste the chili gravy of my childhood again in my own kitchen!  I'm not going to lie, I have made that recipe no less than four times since seeing it and each time I have changed it a little this is the latest version:

TexMex Chili Gravy
1/4 c. Crisco (I know shocking right? But its only 1/4 a cup!)
1/4 c. Flour
1/2 tsp. ground pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
2 large garlic cloves finely chopped
2 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. Mexican oregano
1 tbsp. ancho chili powder
1 tbsp. chili powder
2 cups of organic chicken broth

To me the key to this recipe is having all of your ingredients ready. 
First melt your Crisco over low heat and add in flour, stirring until your flour has turned light brown.  Then add in spices and stir until combined.  Add in chicken broth and stir until well combined and cook until thickened (This took about 20 minutes for me.) stirring occasionally.

For the beef and cheese enchiladas I simply prepared some ground beef like I was making it for taco's and stuffed it into warmed corn tortillas with a little bit of cheese, and topped it with the gravy and more cheese and baked it in the oven for 20 minutes on 350.

p.s. In my book you have to have horchata, and guac with your enchiladas!

Daring Cooks Challenge: Poached Eggs/ Huevos Hollandaise

DARING COOKS CHALLENGE: POACHED EGGS!
I was sooo not looking forward to poaching an egg.  Gross. Runny Yolks. No thank you! However, the night I made this I was craving huevos rancheros but thought I would just suck it up and make the the poach eggs (and get it over with) but it was amazzzzzzzzzing!
This recipe kind of evolved as I was making it and ended up quite over the top.  BUT OVER THE TOP TASTY!
Its kinda hard to tell in the picture but on the bottom there are my own version of borracho beans topped with a garlic toasted muffin, then a sausage patty, poached egg(I promise its there!), crumbled cotija cheese, green salsa and homemade hollandaise. (and now I am going to go work out, LOL!) It was sooooo stinking good that even my husband who detests runny eggs finished his bowl and my leftovers. The yolk was so good when it mixed in with the beans and the cheese.
HECK YES to HUEVOS HOLLANDAISE! and I've been converted!

Borracho Beans(or drunken beans)
1 pound dried pinto beans, washed

2 quarts chicken stock
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
1  can or bottle beer
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 white onion, diced
3 pieces of cooked bacon
6 cloves garlic, chopped
3 bay leaves
1 1/2 tablespoons dried Mexican oregano
1/2 cups chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne

Soak beans over night in a large pot of water, or just do what I did and follow the directions on the back of the bag for a quick soak!

Drain beans, and refill the pot with chicken stock and enough water to cover the beans with 2 inches of liquid. Season with salt and pepper. Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 1 1/2 hours.
In another skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat untill done, and remove from pan being careful to save your bacon grease, add onions and cook untill translucent.
Stir beer, tomatoes, onion, bacon, garlic, bay leaves, oregano, chili powder, cayenne, cumin and cilantro into the beans. Continue to cook uncovered for 1 hour, or until beans are tender.
With a potato masher, crush the beans slightly to thicken the bean liquid. Adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper to taste.

Hollandaise
modified slightly from Alton Brown's Recipe
3 egg yolks

1 teapsoon water
1/4 teaspoon sugar
12 tablespoons cut into small pieces
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Pour 1-inch of water into a large saucepan; over medium heat, bring to a simmer. Once simmering, reduce the heat to low.

Place egg yolks and 1 teaspoon water in a medium mixing bowl and whisk until mixture lightens in color, approximately 1 to 2 minutes. Add the sugar and whisk for another 30 seconds.
Place the mixture over the simmering water and whisk constantly for 3 to 5 minutes.
Remove the bowl from over the pan and gradually add the butter, 1 piece at a time, and whisk until all of the butter is incorporated. If your butter isn't melting, put the bowl back over the simmering water so that it will melt. Add the salt and cayenne pepper.
I was talking to one of my friends about this recipe and he recommended after you whisk the egg yolks, water and sugar  simply pouring the mixture in a blender and adding softened butter.  I'm not sure if that would work but I think its worth a try!


Blog-checking lines: Jenn and Jill have challenged The Daring Cooks to learn to perfect the technique of poaching an egg. They chose Eggs Benedict recipe from Alton Brown, Oeufs en Meurette from Cooking with Wine by Anne Willan, and Homemade Sundried Tomato & Pine Nut Seitan Sausages (poached) courtesy of Trudy of Veggie num num.

Kinky Peppers

       Did you know peppers will cross pollinate if you plan them too close together? Kinky peppers!!! What does this have to do with a recipe you ask???
       Last night we had our close friends over for dinner and this happened to coincide with SA bringing some peppers home from his bosses house.  I checked the peppers out and from what I could tell by observing them, there were three kinds, Poblano, Serrano and one that I couldn't not identify but looked hot.  Clearly I was using sound reasoning on determining the heat of the last.
I decided that there was only one thing to do with the Poblanos:

Stuffed Peppers:
6 Poblano Peppers, roasted and skinned*
1/4 Pound ground beef
1/2 onion finely chopped
1/4 c. roasted corn
1/4 c. mushrooms
2 Tbsp. toasted walnuts
4 Tbsp. Cotija cheese
1 garlic clove minced
1/4 tsp. cumin
salt
pepper
1 14.5 oz. can of red enchilada sauce

     In a small skillet brown ground beef, onions and garlic.  While the beef is cooking toast the walnuts for 3 minutes over medium heat or until slightly browned.  Be careful not to let the nuts burn.  When meat is almost done add mushrooms, corn, cumin and 2 Tbsp of the red enchilada sauce.  Continue cooking until meat is browned..  Remove from heat and mix in walnuts, cheese and salt and pepper to taste.  Carefully stuff each of the peppers with the meat mixture and place in greased baking dish.  Cover with the rest of the can of enchilada sauce and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  At this point I added more cheese and put it under the broiler for a few minutes until cheese was melted.
    

     The flavor of the stuffing was awesome(SA said the peppers were tingly-tastic to his taste buds, which I think is good!), complex and nutty but mellow from the cheese it was a great accompaniment to the pepper, unfortunately, the peppers had cross pollinated and were a bit too spicy for our palate.  I think the next time I try to make these I will taste one of the Poblanos before I stuff them all.
     *How to Roast peppers:
Wash peppers and cut off stem, rinsing out all seeds.  Place on a baking sheet in the broiler for five minutes watching carefully.  You want the peppers to start to bubble and skorch.  Once one side has bubbled, flip them over and do the other side.  After both sides have skorched put the peppers in a brown paper bag in the freezer for 15-20 minutes.  Once the peppers have cooled you should be able to skin them easily.