chili colorado

Every once in a while, a recipe comes along that speaks to your soul in a way that few recipes do.  Whether it's the beauty of the dish, or the method of cooking, or the way it sets your heart aflutter with the very first bite. It's simply...perfect.

Friends, I give you: Chili Colorado.

I came across this recipe as I do many of my best recipes...by stealing it from my friend Heather.  (She also introduced me to this gem of a chicken recipe.)  She made this dish for me and my friend Allison and we thought we had died and gone to food heaven.  The tender pork, the thick and luscious chili sauce and it's smooth, complex flavor.   I found myself wiping the plate clean with my fingers, the sauce is THAT GOOD.

This dish is definitely a weekend affair, but only because it takes a bit of time and NOT because it's hard.  Because IT'S EASY!  I'd never made a dish using dried chilies - it sounded so complicated and fussy to me - but it's WAY simple, and totally makes a difference in the flavor.  There's no substitute for using the dried chilies.  I think you can find them in almost any grocery store these days, even here in Juneau.  

Like Heather, I served these with warm corn tortillas and a simple cabbage slaw tossed with cilantro, green onion, radishes, salt, and fresh lime juice.  So add a few ingredients to your shopping list and get going to the grocery store!  Your friends and family will thank you, and may never want to leave.

Just kidding.  They'll leave eventually.  Don't use that as an excuse not to make this dish!

Chili Colorado

(Adapted from Bon Appétit)

5 dried ancho chilies

2 dried guajillo chilies

2 dried New Mexico chilies or pasilla chilies

8 cups of chicken stock, divided

4 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 3/4 inch to 1 inch pieces

2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil

6 cloves of garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon cumin

1 teaspoon ground sage (or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage)

1 teaspoon dried oregano (or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage)

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

(1) Remove stems and seeds from dried chilies.  Cover chilies with 3 cups of boiling chicken stock, and cover with plastic wrap (I did this in a glass bowl, but a saucepan will work, or a glass blender).  Let chilies soften for 30 minutes to an hour.  Blend chilies and liquid until smooth, either in a blender or by using a stick blender.

(2) Heat a large, heavy pot over medium-heat.  Season the pork with salt and pepper.  In several batches (I did 3 batches), brown the meat in the pot with a tablespoon or so of vegetable oil.  Once browned, remove from the pot.  You're not trying to cook it through, just brown the outside for good flavor.

(3) Once the meat is all browned, add back to the pot and add minced garlic, cumin, sage, and oregano.  Stir for one minutes.  

(4) Add 5 cups of chicken stock to the pot.  Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer for 1 hour, uncovered.

(5) Add chile puree and simmer, uncovered, for another hour or until the concoction is a beautiful, thick, smooth mahogany color.  Taste and season with salt and pepper, as needed.

Serve with warm corn tortillas and enjoy!!

xo H

chilaquiles

There is no limit to my love of the food and flavors of Mexico.  My office is dangerously close to a delicious, local fresh-Mex joint, where I scarf down street tacos, quesadillas, and ceviche on a weekly basis.  And I use plenty of the salsas from the fresh salsa bar to get my "vegetables" for the meal, thank-you-very-much.  All the spicy, fragrant chiles, simmering sauces, creamy refried beans, fresh lime and cilantro...Mexican is my ultimate comfort food.  And while I luuuurrrrrve Mexican for lunch or dinner, my favorite time of day to enjoy Mexican food is at breakfast.  Why?  Because it includes eggs.

Eggs: the most perfect of all foods.

Also, it provides me an excuse to show off these beauties from my co-worker Ron's chickens- the hardest-working mother cluckers in the Valley.  A dozen gorgeous gems in a variety of colors.  Who needs an Easter Bunny when you've got eggs like these?!

I've discussed my love of Mexican breakfast before when I posted this recipe for huevos rancheros about a year ago, which you should TOTALLY try.  But this recipe for chilaquiles is equally killer, and I borrow the exact same technique for the eggs.  What does chilaquiles mean?  As a woman of Polish decent whose authority for authentic Mexican food stems from conversations with her administrative assistant, who is married to a native of Mexico, and her co-worker Sergio, who was born and raised in Mexico...I feel I better not hold myself out to be an expert.  However, the internets tell me its essentially a dish of tortilla chips and salsa.  I believe the eggs were added to cure hangovers, but better not quote me on that.  Let's just say that experience is the greatest educator of all.

I highly suggest you take the time to make my friend Heather's amazing chile verde recipe when you create this dish, which I've included below.  In a pinch, however, any authentic brand of bottled chile verde sauce (such as Herdez) works great too.



Chilaquiles

Serves 4

1 bag of your favorite tortilla chips
8 eggs
butter for pan
1-16 oz. can refried beans (whichever variety you like) 
prepared or homemade chile verde sauce (see Heather's phenomenal recipe below.  In a pinch, I use Herdez brand)
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

For topping the dish:

shredded cheddar cheese
crumbled cotija cheese
dollop of sour cream
chopped fresh cilantro


1. Add the refried beans to a small saucepan and place over medium heat, and add 2 tablespoons of water; cook until beans are warm and “spreadable.”  

2. Add the chile verde to another small saucepan and place over medium heat until warm and bubbly.  Turn the heat down to low and keep warm. 

3. In a small skillet, melt a little butter in the pan and crack two eggs into the skillet (you can crack them into a small bowl first and then slide them into the skillet if you're worried about breaking them). Let the eggs set untouched for about 30 seconds, then add 1-2 teaspoons of water to the pan. Cover the skillet with a lid and let the eggs sizzle and steam for 2 minutes, or long enough for the yellow to slightly set but still leave a runny yolk. Sprinkle with kosher salt and a grind of fresh pepper.

4.  Place 10-12 tortilla chips in a separate bowl and add 1/2 cup to 1 cup of the chile verde sauce (depending on how saucy you like it- I like more, some like less).  Toss well, making sure that all of the chips are covered in sauce.

5.  Put a dollop of refried beans on the serving plate, then top with the saucy chips.  Slide the eggs on top of the chips.  Top with the cheeses, sour cream, and cilantro. Serve immediately!

 Heather's Homemade Chile Verde

(This makes more than you need for the recipe, but leftovers make THE BEST salsa!!)

2 pounds tomatillos, husked and washed

3 poblano peppers, halved and seeded

2 jalapenos, halved and seeded

1 clove of garlic

1 cup cilantro leaves

1/4 cup water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

(1) Preheat broil to high with rack 6-8 inches below.  Line rimmed baking sheet with foil.  Toss tomatillos and peppers with oil.  Spread on baking sheet, peppers skin side up.  Broil 4-6 minutes, checking every 60 seconds.  Peppers and tomatillos should be blackened and beginning to soften. 

(2) Place peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Let rest for 10 minutes. When cooled, peel skin from peppers. 

(3) Place blackened tomatillos, peppers, cilantro, sugar, water and garlic in bowl of food processor. Pulse several times, then process until desired consistency is reached.  (I like it slightly chunky.)

Enjoy!
xo H

Huevos Rancheros

 

In Alaska, the winter is cold and dark. It's as certain as death and taxes. I decided that this year, I needed to ring in the New Year with a little sunshine. And maybe a pool, with one of those umbrella drinks. A new bathing suit, freshly lacquered toenails, sunglasses. Yes, definitely needed 2013 to start with these things. It's just that I didn't want to spend much money to get them. So I did what any self-respecting woman would do.

I crashed my parents' vacation.

Well, sort of. A hop-skip-jump-swim-belly crawl later (I swear, if you try to use miles for a plane ticket anymore you have to make 12 stops before your final destination) I landed at Palm Springs International Airport ready to interrupt my parents' relaxing, peaceful visit to their condo with my demands for hiking, shopping, trips to Trader Joe's, sojourns to In-N-Out burger, and chile rellanos from our favorite Mexican joint, La Perlita.

They absolutely LOVE IT when I visit. I'm nearly certain they love it. Or at least they don't mind. So far, they've never actually kicked me out.

My first morning in Palm Springs, my Dad made us his version of huevos rancheros. Having grown up in Los Angeles, Dad has always loved the food of Mexico.  We grew up eating his homemade enchiladas, tamales, tacos, and of course chile rellanos. To this date, Mexican cuisine is our family's favorite comfort food.

 

This dish is my Mom's favorite thing to eat for breakfast. While Mom and I sat at the breakfast bar scarfing down our eggs, she declared with a full mouth: "If you make these for any man, he will want to marry you!" 

 

Aww, Mom.  Always wishful thinking.  God bless her.

These huevos rancheros delicious and simple, although they dirty nearly every pot in the kitchen. Save it for a weekend treat, unless you're retired and living the dream in Palm Springs like my folks. Plus, they're pretty darn healthy and hearty. Before I left, I requested them one last time. Pretty as a picture!

 

Once you master Dad's technique for cooking the eggs (which we call "Hoppy eggs" named after my Dad's former Alaska DOT coworker who made these eggs at their haul road camp on the Dalton Highway- Alaska's road to the North Slope), you can put any kind of spin on this that your heart desires. Use green chile sauce instead of red, or top with avocado and sour cream. Dad's version doesn't use rice, which simplifies things as well. 

Man, just looking at these pictures makes me want to hop on a plane back down to the condo...
 

My Dad's Huevos Rancheros

(Serves 4)

8 eggs

4 small corn tortillas
1/4  cup. Vegetable oil
1-16 oz. can vegetarian refried beans, plus 2 tablespoons of water
1-19 oz. can red enchilada sauce (such as La Victoria)
1/4 cup prepared chunky salsa (ideally whatever you have left over in the fridge from last night's Mexican takeout)
Butter for pan
Crumbled queso fresca (or shredded cheddar if you prefer)
Chopped fresh cilantro

(Note: It works best if you make each to order, since it goes fairly quickly once you start assembling.)

 

1. Add the refried beans to a small saucepan and place over medium heat, and add 2 tablespoons of water; cook until beans are warm and “spreadable.”  

2. In the meantime, add the enchilada sauce and salsa to another small saucepan and place over medium heat until warm and bubbly. 

3. Place a small skillet over medium heat. Brush a tortilla with a bit of the oil (or spray lightly with cooking spray) and heat the tortilla in the skillet on each side for 1-2 minutes, or until soft and warm. Slide onto a serving plate. Top the tortilla with several spoonfuls of beans and spread evenly. 

4. In the same small skillet, melt a little butter in the pan and crack two eggs into the skillet (you can crack them into a small bowl first and then slide them into the skillet if you're worried about breaking them). Let the eggs set untouched for about 30 seconds, then add 1-2 teaspoons of water to the pan. Cover the skillet with a lid and let the eggs sizzle and steam for 2 minutes, or long enough for the yellow to slightly set but still leave a runny yolk. 

5. Slide the eggs onto the tortilla with beans. Top with the enchilada sauce, queso fresco, and chopped fresh cilantro. Serve immediately!

Enjoy! xo H 

 

Mexican Pizza

Growing up in Fairbanks as a kid in the 80s, we didn’t exactly have access to the freshest ingredients or have the most diverse array of restaurants.  I mean, when Boston’s Pizza came to town it made front page news.  So...you get the idea.  Despite that, my parents did their best to expose us kids to a broad spectrum of cuisines.  Or rather, their idea of a broad spectrum of cuisines.

Which is to say, we ate a lot of Mexican food.      

Not just any Mexican food, but my parents’ spin on Mexican.  My parents met when they were very young in Los Angeles.  My mother moved there in high school, but my dad was an L.A. native and has had an appreciation for Mexican cuisine ever since.  Going out to dinner was a rare and expensive treat.  If we did, we usually piled into the Suburban and went to a local Mexican haunt called Los Amigos off South Cushman, where I inevitably ordered a cheese enchilada and a chicken taco…for roughly 15 years.  My sister Holly and I would fight with our brother Erik over who got to pick the song in the tableside jukebox.  Yes, we would literally fight.  (One time, we were so ill-behaved that my Dad made us get up and leave before the waitress came to take our order!  You don’t have to teach kids that lesson twice.)  But if Holly and I were allowed to order Shirley Temples with our meal, we knew Dad was in a good mood.  Those were the nights we usually just let Erik pick the song (because let’s face it, he always won that battle anyway!)

At home, my parents each had their specialties.  Mom made a delicious chili relleno casserole (I’ll dig out that recipe and post it sometime) and was constantly frying up quesadillas for us to scarf down.  My dad made homemade tamales, enchiladas, and his unique specialty:  Mexican Pizza.  I remember it was around the time that Boboli pizza crusts became popular in the grocery stores.  I have no idea where Dad came up with the idea, but it was one of the most requested recipes from our family kitchen.

Last week I was home in Fairbanks with my family and asked Dad if he would make his old specialty in order to post it here on the blog.  He was more than happy to oblige, and came home from the grocery store with all the fixings for one of my favorite childhood meals.  (He was astonishingly patient when I took all my pictures, asking things like, “Do you want me to move this over here for better light?” and "Wait until I scatter the green onion.")  My Mom was less so. (“How many pictures do you need of a slice of pizza?  It’s a slice of pizza!  I’m hungry already- let’s eat, people.”  To those who know and love my Mom, this should come as no surprise.)

At first we hadn’t planned on adding any tomato, as you'll see in most of the pictures.  But Mom insisted that Dad used to add it, and I think she was right.  The fresh tomato was the perfect finish.  You could also add some fresh chopped cilantro if you happen to have it, but cilantro wasn’t exactly plentiful at Fairbanks grocery stores when I was a kid and I wanted to stick with tradition.

I have to say, taking a bite of this pizza for the first time in years brought back a lot of happy memories from a kitchen full of good food.  Thanks, Dad!

Mexican Pizza

(Makes 2 whole pizzas, which is just enough to feed a small Alaskan family)

2 Boboli thin pizza crusts

1/2 medium onion, diced

2 t. olive oil

1 pound lean ground beef

1 t. salt

1 T. chili powder

2 t. cumin

1 cup of salsa

1-15 oz. can pinto beans, drained & rinsed

1-2.25 oz. can sliced black olives, drained

1-4 oz. can diced green chilies

2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
3-4 green onions, white and green parts both chopped

1 large tomato, diced (or two small)

hot sauce, to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  In a large skillet over medium heat, add the olive oil to the pan and saute the onion for 4-5 minutes, or until soft.  Crank up the heat on the stove a touch to medium-high, and add the ground beef, salt, chili powder, and cumin, making sure to break up the meat well with the back of your spoon.  Cook until all the meat is browned nicely, about 8-10 minutes.  Turn off the heat and set aside.

Spread 1/2 cup of the salsa evenly over each Boboli crust.  Divide the cooked ground beef, beans, olives, and green chilies evenly between both crusts.  Top each pizza with 1 cup of the cheese.  Transfer the pizza carefully to the oven (a pizza paddle would come in handy here, but it's not necessary).  Bake the pizza directly on the oven rack for 8-10 minutes, or until all of the cheese is melted and the pizza has a crispy bottom crust.  We bake one at a time, for maximum crispyness.

Remove from the oven and top with as much of the diced green onion and diced fresh tomato as you like.  Cut slices, top with hot sauce if you prefer, and enjoy a little Mexico in Alaska!

Enjoy! xo H