For a fast and tasty supper try this smoked sausage dish with roasted red potatoes and grilled sweet onions. This is an easy go to meal when you’re in a hurry. Smoked Sausage is so good sliced and pan fried with a little dijon mustard on the side. But I thought maybe a little sweeter sauce might add to this skillet dish and looked to see what I had on hand. When I found the jar of fig preserves I knew I had something to work with. So I started with that and built around it with some dijon mustard, vinegar, soy sauce and a little honey.
It was a perfect weekend for firing up the grill and being outdoors. I think everyone in the neighborhood was feeling it. You could smell the grillin in the air and we were no exception. At the farmer’s market I found fresh lettuce and had to have a bunch of the spring mix. I also picked up some red potatoes for a roasted potato salad that served as my side dish that I plan to share soon. I put up a skirt steak in the freezer a couple weeks ago and thought it would be perfect to layer over top of my salad mix. A chipotle glaze would taste good but how to flavor it? I was on the fence between raspberries and mangoes but the raspberries won out when I found a large pack of fresh berries on sale. This sauce turned out to be versatile in that I could set some aside to make a salad dressing with plenty left over to glaze the steak.
Happy Cinco de Mayo all! I love any excuse to eat Mexican food. Recently when Joe and I were in Kauai we walked over to a little restaurant called Monico’s Taqueria where we shared a plate of Steak Nachos. It was a simple nacho platter with spicy marinated steak and melted cheese with Chile de Arbol salsa on the side. After 2 weeks of Hawaiian food I was having withdrawal pangs for Mexican food and for me this was heaven on a plate. The arbol salsa goes perfectly with steak but I wanted more options. So I added some more toppings which I hope you will enjoy.
Sometimes you just need comfort food and for my youngest son Cameron, these enchiladas remain his favorite. When my boys were little I would make up a special batch for them without the green chile because I thought it would be too hot for them. Well, Cameron spoke up one day and said where’s the green chile in my enchilada, I want chile too! Knowing that he couldn’t handle the heat of the chile, I switched out a can of Cream of Chicken for a Cream of Celery and after that the bits of celery became “green chile”. He was happy and ate every bite. Now he’s all grown up and is a “chile addict” just like the rest of us but he still asks for the Chicken Enchiladas with “the soup”. So since he’s having a birthday in a few days and just because he’s my baby I’m going to make his favorite enchiladas. This one’s for you Cam!
Poblano Chiles are a great pepper to stuff. Their size and shape enable you to stuff them with almost anything. They have a mild taste and a meaty texture that will hold all that goodness inside. I like to bake them with with a creamy cheese filling, grilled chicken with corn salsa over top. And for a little added crunch I coat them with a bread crumb coating. Sometimes I go vegetarian and switch out the grilled chicken for black beans. It takes a little prep work but it’s so worth it when you taste all the flavors going on inside this poblano chile.
Want to dress up an ordinary pork chop . . . add some cheese and pico de gallo with avocado and corn. It will definitely make your taste buds happy. Add a baked potato or a side green salad and you’ve got a complete meal. My family used to cringe when I made pork, they complained it was dry and didn’t have any flavor. Since then I’ve found ways to make pork more tender and juicy. For myself, I’ve found that if I soak the pork in a brine of water, salt and sugar for at least an hour it makes a much more tender pork chop. I seasoned them with a tasty salt blend and added a topping of pico de gallo with avocado and corn. There were no complaints or any leftovers either for that matter.
While on Kauai, Joe and I went out for pasta one night and shared a tasty pesto pasta. It was described as cilantro pesto with macadamia nuts and we thought it was terrific. Being a pesto fanatic I had to come home and make my own version of this delicious dish. I added some fresh tomato and grilled chicken to make it a complete meal.
Posted at 9:33 am by NativeNM, on February 10, 2012
I hinted that I had another idea for the ravioli and what do you know, it was “oh my gosh” good! Joe said I’ve made these before with frozen ravioli, but I don’t remember. I think I would remember if they tasted this good. Anyway, getting back on track . . . I googled ravioli recipes to see what everyone else was doing with them and came across several toasted ravioli that looked so tempting. I already had the ravioli and sauce made so it made sense to try and see if I could make these like those pretty photos I had been looking at. Since my ravioli was made with won ton wrappers they fried up light and crisp. So tell me, which way you prefer ravioli? Toasted or steamed . . .
Posted at 9:12 am by NativeNM, on February 7, 2012
One of my favorite things to make is ravioli. And you would be surprised at how easy they are to make if you have a little time. I had a day when everyone was gone, the sun was shining, and I had hours to kill. So I made a quick trip to the store, picked up won ton wrappers, 4 different cheeses, some spinach and I was ready to go. I knew these would go fast so I doubled the recipe so that I could put some aside for another meal. I thought a spicy sauce would go great with the ravioli and decided on Italian sausage and crushed red pepper to spice it up. The guys were so hungry when they got home and the ravioli disappeared quickly, but I had the best day. It was so much fun putting these together, sort of like a craft project. It tasted so good and was pretty on the plate. I love it when that happens!
Posted at 8:38 am by NativeNM, on February 3, 2012
There are numerous recipes for wings that include different spices and flavor blends. In the back of my mind I’ve always wanted to try a seasoning using green chile. Could I come up with a recipe that would taste as good as it sounded in my head? I’ve never seen Green Chile Wings on any restaurant menu but the thought has always crossed my mind, why not? Red Hot Sauce is the base for Buffalo Wings so why not use Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce as a base for Verde Wings. I’ve searched the web looking for a recipe but frankly there’s not much out there and what I did find wasn’t what I had in mind. So once again, I turned to my spice blend guru, Chef Paul Prudhomme, for inspiration. His Buffalo Wing seasoning is to die for so I used that as my guide and traded out the red spices for green chile powder. This seasoning mix was instrumental in the dry rub for my wings, the verde wing sauce and also making a cilantro dipping sauce. I made a small batch just to see how they would turn out just in case they were a bust. I don’t always get the response I’m hoping for but these Verde Wings turned out way better than I could have hoped for. I got some “Wow’s” but mostly the response was “Oh My Gosh”. I shouldn’t have worried so much because the guys couldn’t stop raving about them until they were completely gone. These would be the perfect finger food for your Super Bowl party!
An Inspired Cook 