Nacho Tartlete -Anti Chef

-funny story. my good friend John used to run a New Mexican to-go joint in Corolla, NC called Donkey Hotay's.

It rocked.

I used to help him out a little when my "tour guide" schedule allowed me to, and he gave me food at half price. I would have paid full price though, 'cuz it was 'effin' good! Damn you Juanito!!! Damn you twice for leaving the beach hell we shared! Ahhh...ay Papi...Anyway, as he was pulling up stakes to move to the D.C. area and try his luck at a more "Urban Donkey", we banged our heads together briefly to try and brainstorm "signature items" that would be both neat and quick treats to make and consume, but also inexpensive to create and items that would be in keeping with the "funky" sort of dressed down atmosphere that he had worked to create. Anyway, one night it hit me....and I laughed,thinking of the two words together, nacho tartlete. I think it could fit in here under a trilogy of recipes entitled : "what to do with the rest of the tortilla chips in the bag when they're already all broken up anyway". But, we'll keep it short, cliffhanger for now, just the nacho tartlete one. So, if you have a mini muffin pan, or you can "get" one somehow, then follow along.

The inspiration of this recipe comes from trying to eat cheese dip with a little pinched crumble of broken chip left overs, and getting cheese on my digits. I was feeling all cave man and so I took the next logical evolutionary step by thinking of a way to jam their two separate goodness-es together, like a little "New Mexican Takeout Leftover Reese's Cup" kind of thing. The first step would be to get the cheese combined with the tortilla chips which involved crushing them into a fine meal, easy. Part two was the "what do I cook it in ?" moment, and non stick muffin pan jumped in, the thought of melting cheese against a surface that it won't adhere to was just too enticing to turn away from. I started thinking of other things that would go great in there, or on top. Chili, taco meat,re fried beans, micro brunoise of lettuce, tomato, olives, fresh hot peppers, sour cream...creme fraiche...what ever...I was high, and it was time to make this! Excuse me..."high"... on life, um...kids. So you should be almost ready to do this without me by now, as it is truly brainless, except for the gathering of the ingredients you wish to use, and the making sure you don't burn the house down when a craving for a little 'snaq' like this one strikes...

ingredients (only suggestions) :

- a non stick mini muffin pan
- about a cup or two of finely crushed tortilla chips ( you can smash 'em pretty good with your hands right in the bag)
- about a cup or two of any cheese(shredded) or cheese dip you may have laying around that fit the flavor of the fever
- about a cup or so of ingredient 3* (chili, taco meat, re fried beans)
- a bunch of garnish stuff, or not

method:

- preheat oven to 400 degrees
- mix about half of the cheese and half of the tortilla crumbs together to form a loose sort of mixture (if you use cheese dip, don't go too wet)
- fill the muffin holes about a third of the way with the tortilla and cheese mixture
- add a dollop of ingredient 3
- top with a sprinkling of the tortilla and cheese mixture to sort of cover and fill the muffin hole
- bake for about 12 to 15 minutes, or until bubbly and browned
- allow the tartletes to cool to near room temp and then carefully remove them
-garnish them as fancy pants as you would like or don't, they will be great as is, trust me

* cooks notes:

- ingredient 3 just means whatever you have, I often use this at home as a different way to enjoy a chili I made, or leftovers from the local Mexican Restaurant, whatever
- you can really dress this up if you want to, use a little leftover chicken breast instead of chili or beans and top with a dice of sweet onion and cilantro, or a nice cool salsa verde,
or dice up some little tomatoes and peppers and paint some sour cream on from a squirt bottle to decorate, turn this bite into a little amuse bouche for your next party, or just eat them in your underwear, standing in the kitchen next to the oven, and the mess you just made at 4 a.m., like the first time I ever tried to make them. DO IT!

Mystery Solved -killertomato

Every now and then I find a scrap of paper with some ingredients scribbled on it with no title or directions holding a place inside a novel or poking out from behind the washing machine. This particular doodle was found inside a shoebox full of similar fragments (organized chaos just works for me). I was noticing that we had rice, chicken, and carrots with which to fabricate our victuals and as I scrutinized this magical recipe, it began to shape up into just the thing to take chicken and rice from boring to fun. It looked like a recipe for sweet and sour sauce!

Here it is:

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp minced fresh ginger

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. distilled white vinegar

2 Tbsp tamari

1/2 tsp fish sauce

4 scallions

B had done his usual great job of finding natural chicken from a reputable, local company, which I had deboned yesterday and made cutlets with the breast. Those were sauteed and set aside while the rice got going. I only have brown rice right now, which is so much healthier and subsequently causes people to make faces at its mention. So that was going, and it takes a lot longer to absorb the water so I had put it on first along with the 5 sliced carrots boiling in water. After the chicken was sauteed, I left most of the fat in the pan and added the garlic and red pepper to cook briefly over medium heat. (I did not have any ginger and I think it would have added a pleasant zing to this sauce but they certainly don't stock that next to the faded Banner sausage cans down at the corner grocery.)

Next, I added the brown sugar, vinegar, fish sauce and some mushroom soy sauce we have, instead of tamari.

 (*You may have an even better substitute than what is called for...a big part of my approach is to get you to use what you already have rather than run to the store for ingredients or decide you can't make something.)

The sugar made me want to treat it like caramel so I amped up the temp to high and moved the pan around while it boiled and thickened. This is when I realized your rice and chicken should be plated so you can sauce it immediately. I still had to mash the carrots, so that wasn't going to happen and so I didn't let it thicken that much. I think that's better, because there was some left over that was saveable. I only had two scallions to slice and scatter over the top, and that was fine too.

The carrots were mashed and peppered well and given about a tablespoon of hot cream, which was really just whole milk we get from a local dairy that's super creamy. The baby would be sharing so I set that aside for her and put a little butter and salt on the grownup's carrots. What was left was put into a container for her to chow down on the next couple of nights.

Maybe in the future I'd do carrot croquettes with this, ever had those? They are formed and deep fried like salmon croquettes, really fun.

Rose Hip Tea -Cutiepie Spacepop

We are lucky enough to have rose hips growing right outside of our house...wrapped around the mailbox...and ready for picking.  Why do a post about basically boiled water on a food blog?  Well, several reasons really...and the main one is that they were there...just sitting there...not doing anything much...until The Butcher called them out and as is his fashion...plucked them to their deaths...

Here is a little background on rose hips....first and most importantly, they are LOADED with Vitamin C...packed...super packed!  That is a good thing as the weather gets colder and we all start to sniffle and some of us even lose our voice...like me...The rose hip is formed after the rose has lost its petals and the seed pod grows.  When things got tough in the second world war...the Brits were said to have supplemented rose hips for their lack of citrus.  The plant we harvested from is a wild variety of some sort...not the prettiest flowers but its made up for that with the rose hips.  Since it is largely neglected it has some of the best rose hips around...no pesticides, no tinkering with in any way.

You can use the rose hips right away or you could dry them...its up to you really...just be sure to remove the seeds as there is some lore about their irritant properties.  It is so simple to make a cup of rose hips...crush the fresh ones and boil them...let them steep for as long as you can.  You can sweeten the drink, or not...its up to you.  I like strong, strong, strong tea...and while this is technically an infusion, we will stick to tea as it takes less time to type...  I have yet to make a cup from dried rose hips...but I have so much that I am sure the end of the stash will be dry enough in no time.  I've read its a good idea to de-seed when the pod is half dried...it is much easier to extract that way.  I will have to update you later with what I find.

I have had some excellent feed back from a lot of you!  My friends abroad, namely A Brilliant Life, have really made some great comments about the tone of ease when it comes to making the dishes.  She does not have available to her the items we have available to us here in the states...so she has expressed inspiration when reading about the "whatever you have on hand" method.  With this in mind I decided to throw in this incredibly simple, yet, for me, inspiring post.  To look around you...a little differently...you will begin to see that you don't necessarily have to be a farmer to reap bounty from the land...in this case...from the mailbox.

Marinade...in this case for meat... -Cutiepie Spacepop

Now that it is entirely too cold to grill...I follow suit in my usual timely manner...

Be warned my fruitarian friends, advert your eyes!

I live with an ex-butcher...really.

And while this has rarely come in handy since I was a vegetarian until I got pregnant...it has, post baby, come in handy a few times.

I'm not one to eat a lot of meat. Its just not me...not for any reason other than I don't really care for it. However...there are times...and in those times this is when The Butcher's expertise comes in handy. I haven't a clue on what constitutes a good cut...or what the clues are to skip that one and move to the next. So he does that rare purchase.

For those of you who like a good steak, two words: Chuck Eyes.

This used to be our little secret many years ago, but as The Butcher noted recently, this cut seems to have been catching on. Probably because it is so affordable when compared to similar cuts...and in my opinion (and we know I have limited knowledge on the subject...) it is just as good.


What makes it better? Fresh marinade.

There is something in fresh oranges and pineapples that make a meat turn to mush. Be careful, it really can do this! If you follow the below, an hour should do you. You don't need to do a thing other than flip the steaks half way through the marination time.

What is a serving really...its marinade...so I don't think there is too much to worry about in terms of nutritional content...this is a freebie, taste only sorta thing.

Fruit Marinade

2 Oranges - juiced (I threw the whole thing in...peel and all)
About a quarter of a fresh Pineapple, cut the death spikes off
1/2 a head of Garlic, don't be shy
Soy Sauce - I use low sodium and if not that then some Bragg's does the trick
Ginger Oil - this is one of those nice surprises...

Now, no juicer, no problem...have a blender?  Or a food processor?  No?....Well, you need to go borrow one...go on...I'll wait....

Ok, now whatever food obliterater you have managed to get your paws on, go to town.  If you are lucky and you have a juicer, then you can skip the straining necessary for the blender or the food processor.

Throw all of it together and let it rest.

As noted, this has like super funky enzymes, or some shiz, in it that really break down the meat...if you leave it on too long you might be eating meat pudding...and outside of a Ren and Stimpy cartoon, this is just wrong.

Don't throw away the pulp you have!!  Wait for a following post to get an idea what to do with it...in the meantime, put your trimmings, garlic skins and all, in the freezer.

Dig in!

Apple Cake -killertomato

This is a very easy recipe for apple cake that's also pretty economical. Even the caramel icing doesn't use much of the butter, cream and sugar it calls for. If you have never baked a cake, this one is great to start with. I'll walk you through the caramel but the cake could be finished without any icing in my opinion.
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This cake is like most and gets better and better with the quality of the ingredients. If you are making this in the fall, you can find interesting varieties of apples around you. Apples have the potential to produce infinte varieties, so why not give them a chance at survival? Red Delicious and Granny Smith are all fine and good but they're like that annoying little bastard who always got picked first for the team while you inwardly cursed at the bores who just went safe instead of with you. I went on the hunt to see what I could find. The first trip was to the weekly farmer's market that is held near by, but it was too early perhaps, and I'm not even sure that any of the usual farmers there are growing apples (we did find some small pears). So being lucky enough to live close to the State Farmer's Market in Forest Park, GA (which is near Hartsfield Airport) I drove there the day before baking and found several farmers from the North Georgia Mountains showing off their apples. There were many different kinds including the usual suspects, and I wound up choosing Mutsus for their softness. They were selling by the bag and the smallest was $5, so with the rest I'll be making and freezing apple sauce for the baby, as she loves it in her morning oatmeal.
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Here's the recipe:

3 c. flour

4 eggs

2 1/2 c. sugar

3 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3 apples, peeled and sliced

1 c. vegetable oil

1/2 c. orange juice

2 1/2 tsp vanilla

5 Tbs. sugar to dress apples

2 tsp. cinnamon* to dress apples
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Grease and flour tube pan. Why a tube pan? Because it will be much easier to get your heavy cake out of the pan without disaster striking if you can remove the bottom. Peel and slice apples and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.

 

I agree with (Peter) here that whole cinnamon is the best thing to use if you've got it. It's cheaper by the bag and you just put it into a coffee grinder to pulvarize it into a super pungent powder that will leave a lasting impression on the tongue later.

Sift flour, salt and baking powder together. *See bottom of page to get a recipe for homemade baking powder. Sift it 3 or 4 times for a lighter texture. I swear by this, even for pancakes. Mix eggs, sugar, vanilla, orange juice and oil in that order, whisking after each one. Combine with dry mixture and stir well, until all is smooth. Batter will be thick. Pour half into pan and then put apples in, then the rest of the mix. Bake 80 minutes at 350 degrees. As with all cakes, it may take less or more time, depending on your oven, etc. If the cake is beginning to pull away from the pan and a toothpick comes out clean, it's done. In my electric oven, it was about 70 minutes.
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Caramel glaze:

(This may or may not be the same recipe we used in a restaurant I once worked at. I guess if someone comes across this and is pissed, they can just leave a spiteful comment. I really don't remember as I use several different caramel recipes now.)

1/2 stick of butter

1/4 c. white sugar

1/4 c. brown sugar

salt (pinch or dash depending on your love of salty caramel.)

1/2 c. half and half or heavy cream- half and half works fine and you can use it for more things later.
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Get a fairly big saute pan, just don't use a tiny one, and put it over medium high heat. Put cold butter in and let it melt a little, don't think you are helping the process along by letting the butter soften a little-you're not. Add everything else, and your cream needs to be cold too. Now just slide the pan back and forth towards you without stopping. Watch it all start melting and swirling together. Tell it that it's beautiful. Keep going. See those bubbles? Good, it's coming to a boil. Keep going. Now it's starting to form a blob, like brown ectoplasm perhaps. It's starting to grow legs as if it may stand up and try to ooze out of the pan and go attack a town. As it starts to pull away from the pan and form a cohesive mass like this, take a spoon that you have nearby and let some of the caramel run off it. Does it go fast or slow? Thick or thin? Just as it starts to go slowly and heavily, take the pan over to the apple cake and begin spooning it over the top. You can see it thickening up qickly so you must do this right away. YUM!
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Baking powder- Two parts baking soda mixed with one part cream of tartar makes baking powder. Sift them together to make sure it's all even. It keeps for a while but I usually make just enough, to avoid future stress.