Month: March 2016

Luscious Green Corn Tamales

Published on by richbLeave a comment

tamale

Living in the Southwest I have tasted some of the best green corn tamales but I want to have a supply on hand when I get a craving for one, so I make these and devour as many as possible and freeze the rest for the next time I get an urge for these.

Masa

  • 2 cups instant masa harina flour
  • 2 cups corn, fresh roasted and cut off the ear
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2/3 cup Vegetable Shortening & butter(softened butter or vegan substitute)
  • 1/4 cup evap milk
  • 1 3/4 cup of water
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable broth powder

Filling

  • 2 tablespoons of butter
  • 2 roasted/peeled/seeded jalapenos
  • 2 roasted/peeled/seeded publano chili
  • 1.5 – 2 cups of Mixed Chedar & Pepper Jack (Or Vegan cheese substitute)
  • 1 – 1.5 cups of corn
  • 1 teaspoons cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoons black pepper

Directions

Mix Masa ingredients together and make Masa. Roasting corn and Jalapeno and Publano chilles. Seed and peal chili peppers and chop. Mix all filling ingredients together. Coat inside of a corn husk with masa and add a good tablespoon of filling. Roll this up so masa surrounds filling and steam for 30 minutes.

 

3 Pepper Hot Sauce

Published on by richbLeave a comment

habernaroPepper

I like to experiment with different hot sauce recipes. I have a few favorite recipes and this one has good balanced flavor and not just heat. You can experiment with the balance of flavor and heat by adding more or less Habanero peppers.

  •  Ingredients
    • 1/2 Red Bell Pepper Seeded
    • 4 whole Habenaro peppers
    • 1 whole Fresno pepper
    • 1/2 Med size onion
    • 1 Carrot pealed, cut into about 6-8 pieces
    • 4 cloves garlic
    • 1 small bunch of celantro (about equiv 1 tablespoon chopped)
    • 1 tablespoon salt
    • 2 tablespoons white vinegar
    • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
    • 1/4 teaspoon oregano
  • Directions

Boil onion, peppers, celantro, carrot, garlic for 20 minutes in enough water to cover in a small pan. Remove the ingredients from the boiling water and add to food processor along with salt, vinegar, cumin, and oregano. Grind into a paste. Then add in enough of the boiling water to make to the desired consistency. Bottle and use.

 

Chinese Beef Noodle Soup

Published on by richbLeave a comment
ChineseBeefNoodleSoup
Chinese Beef Noodle Soup

This is really a great tasting soup. I first tasted a soup similar to this at China Town in LA. I fell in love with the rich complex flavor so with help, I was able to figure out the recipe and to put my own spin on it. It really shines when you make your own fresh noodles, cooked in a separate pot of water and add in right when serving.

Ingedients

  • 1.5 quarts of beef stock
  • 1.5 – 3 lbs sirloin steak sliced or chopped into 1/2 – 1″ cubes
  • 3 tbsp of black bean and garlic sauce Lee Kum Kee Black bean garlic sauce – 8 oz
  • 4 to 5 tbsp of dark soy sauce Amoy Dark Soy Sauce 150g
  • 5 cloves garlic sliced
  • 1 inch piece of ginger peeled and sliced thinly against the grain.
  • Peel from 1 orange (Use a vegetable peeler and avoid getting white part of the peel only the zest)
  • 6 pieces of star anise
  • 5 – 7 dried hot red peppers (depending on how hot)
  • 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
  • 10 to 15 Chengdu peppers Ajika Dried Prickly Ash or Sichuan Pepper or Chinese Pepper, Japanese Sansho, 2-Ounce
  • 1/8 cup sugar
  • Noodles (Can be Chinese egg noodles or make your own fresh)
  • Add ins: baby bok choy, spinach, green leaf lettuce, fried tofu
  • Toppings: green onion, cilantro

Directions

Brown the sirloin steak on all sides. Now add all the other ingredients and bring almost to a boil then simmer on med low for 1 -3 hours (depending on how tender the meat is and if the flavors have melded). Remove the orange peal after 20 minutes if it starts to taste a little bitter (if bitter you will need to add some sugar to compensate). If you don’t have any of the white part of the orange peel this won’t happen. Remove from heat and strain broth. Add some of the meat, vegetables, some broth and cooked noodles (fresh are best) along with toppings to each bowl and serve.

Add ins: pieces of Bok Choy or Spinich. Top with chopped green onions and chopped cilantro.

Note: Bok Choy and Spinach need to cook in broth till soft.

Recipe from: gastronomy.ddns.net

 

Easy Awesome Pizza Sauce

Published on by richbLeave a comment
20160229_180648
Pizza Sauce

This pizza sauce tastes better than the bottled or canned sauces at the supermarket and it takes only about 5 minutes to make. If you have fresh herbs use them instead.

Ingredients

  • 1 28 oz can manzeneo tomatoes
  • 5 cloves of garlic chopped
  • 2 tblsp olive oil
  • 1/2 onion chopped
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp dried Oregano
  • 1 tsp basil
  • 1 tblsp tomato paste

Directions

Saute onions and garlic in olive oil for about 3-4 minutes till translucent, add red pepper flakes for the last 2 minutes of frying. Add 1/2 can of tomatoes,  garlic, onion, red pepper and all other ingredients to a food processor and grind until garlic and onion are chopped finely. Add rest of tomatoes and pulse a few times to leave tomatoes a little chunky. It is ready to use on a pizza or whatever you want to use it in. It can be stored in the fridge for up to a week.

Recipe From: http://gastronomy.ddns.net 

Fall Apart Juicy Smokey Brisket

Published on by richbLeave a comment
20160229_181138
Juicy Smoked Brisket

I made this brisket and it came out AWSOME (see picture). It was so rich and moist. I did this on a grill so there was no special equipment needed.

Dry Rub Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp course ground black pepper
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp paprika
  • 1 tsp ground coffee
  • 1 tsp salt

Directions

Add dry rub ingredients into a bowl, mix together and then sprinkle on the brisket (mine was about 3 lbs) and press to get it to stick. Take the brisket and put it on a grate (Baker’s Secret 1061483 Nonstick Cooling Rack, Set of 2) and set this over a baking pan  (AmazonBasics 3-Piece Baking Sheet Set ). I have three burners on my grill, so I put the brisket on the side with the burner off. Then I took a cast iron pan and set it on the grill grate and put a few pieces of coal on it and put some applewood chips that were soaked in water on top of the coals adding more coals and wood chips every 1.5 hours. I turned one burner (not under the brisket) on low and set a pan of water on the grill (to keep the meat moist) and lowered the cover then kept the temperature at about 250-270 degrees. Overall I cooked it for 8 hours. I let the brisket set for 30 mins to rest. When I sliced it, oh man the meat had juice all over inside and the resting allowed it to keep the juice and not all run out when sliced. This was better that I have had at quite a few BBQ restaurants, I didn’t even want to put sauce on it. Cook this and Enjoy!