I've lost my cooking mojo. I think I'm too stressed. The only thing I can make lately that isn't awful is pasta sauce. I absolutely ruined a gorgeous piece of pork the other day. So upset.
Cap-n, that was so much better than what I came up with. This is rude and crude...
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i've got trader joe's bird's nests in the oven. i remember someone here saying they were good so i picked some up.
i made chicken enchiladas from scratch the other night. they were a hit. mr. man ate 5 of them in one sitting.
super super easy to make and way tastier and less salty than the canned stuff.
i used the recipe from here: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/mex...d_chili_sauce/Mexican Red Chili Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 dried Ancho (sometimes called pasilla in the US*) chiles OR 2 Ancho and 2 Guajillo chiles
- Water
- 1 large clove garlic
- 2 whole cloves, crushed
- 2 black peppercorns, crushed
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt, more to taste
- Olive oil
* According to Diana Kennedy, Pasilla chilies are a long and skinny variety of chile, while Ancho chilies (dried poblanos) are shorter and wider. However, in certain parts of Mexico, the Ancho chile is called Pasilla, and because of immigration, is commonly known as Pasilla in many parts of the US.
Method
1 Working on one chile at a time, use a paring knife to cut a slit all the way down one side of a chile. Open up the chile and remove the stem and seeds. Remove as much of the veins as you can. Reserve a few of the seeds or veins for adding later if you want added heat. Note when working with chilies, either wear protective gloves or wash your hands very thoroughly with soap and warm water after handling the chilies. Do not touch or rub your eyes if you have been handling chili peppers.
2 Heat a large skillet on medium heat. Flatten out the dried chilies as well as you can and place on the skillet to heat. Press down on the opened chilies and leave for a few seconds. Turn the chilies over and heat a few seconds more. You do not want to toast or burn the chilies, just heat them enough to draw out more of the flavor.
3 Add the chilies to a small saucepan and add enough water so that they are just covered. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes, until the chilies have softened and plumped up. (OR pour place the chilies in a small saucepan and pour boiling water over them to cover. Let sit for 15 minutes, until softened.)
4 Reserving the soaking water, remove the chilies from the pan and place in a blender. Add the garlic, salt, ground pepper, ground cloves, and 1 1/2 cups of the soaking liquid (taste the soaking water first, if it seems bitter, use water instead). Pur?e for 2 minutes, until the sauce is completely smooth. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning. If you want more heat, add in a few of the seeds or veins and pur?e some more. Add more salt if needed.
5 Pour the sauce through a sieve into a skillet. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to the sauce. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to maintain the simmer, cook for 10 minutes. Skim off the foam. Remove from heat. Use immediately or pour into a glass jar (plastic will get stained) and refrigerate.
Makes a little more than 1 cup.
i did make some changes though... i used anchos, new mexico and guajillo chiles. and in more quantities. i also thinned the sauce down with some of the soaking water AND the broth leftover from poaching the chicken. oh and i had thrown all the chile innards away before i got to the pureeing part like an idiot (sometimes i get too efficient for my own good), so i added cayenne to the sauce for some heat.
for the filling, i poached a couple of thighs and a breast in water, garlic, cumin, ground coriander, epazote, cloves, peppercorns, and salt. i shredded the chicken, added a little sauce and broth and seasoned to taste. i heated up more sauce and a little poaching liquid in a pan to soften the tortillas (not really necessary because they tortillas had been made that afternoon but whatever).
i would have put cheese in/on the dish but i went to add it and found my cheese had a mustache and well...NO. no big loss though. mr. man is lactose intolerant and was stoked he could chow wiithout having to worry about pills and the like.
none of my food is ever really horribly authentic but this shit was goood.
Beli, let's get it on.
Last edited by Cap-n Meow; 10-26-2011 at 12:14 PM.
Beli, let's get it on.
Last edited by Cap-n Meow; 10-26-2011 at 12:14 PM.
I'm baking a cake this evening. It's just gonna be a simple chocolate(triple fudge) on chocolate(milk chocolate frosting) double layer cake, but I also got some chocolate mint chips for it. What do you think the best way to implement the mint chips into the cake is? I was thinking of taking half the bag of chips and mix them into the batter then melting the other half and drizzle it over the frosted cake. Or possibly smash the chips and put the crumbled peices on the side of the frosted cake.
leave the mint chips out entirely #chocolate mint hater
I had the most amazing grilled cheese ever today.
It's raining really hard here, grilled cheese sounds amazing
you should put a layer of mint chip ice cream in the cake.
i had a fantastic lobster roll for lunch. i need to stop eating.
Not the prettiest cake ever, but it tasted amazing!
I didn't have time to use ice cream as the center glue so I just melted down the chocolate mint chips and used it as a nice thick layer of molten chocolate between layers.
Last edited by Cap-n Meow; 10-27-2011 at 06:02 AM.
not a huge fan of chocolate on chocolate but that looks yummy. perfect looking cakes are overrated. i use a star tip and a pastry bag to hide my bad icing skills.
for the record, this is the best cake ever. one of my favorite recipes ever. devil's food cake with whipped cream frosting from america's test kitchen. holy giant image, batman.
dammit. now i want cake. thanks, cap. :)
I would have preferred white frosting too, but I give the lady what she wants. :)
My favorite cake is devils food, but instead of frosting I prefer cherry pie filling in the center and more filling and whipped cream on top.
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