Homemade Tortillas! ...Forget the Store Bought Stuff!

Fresh tortillas, rolling pin style.

First: one thing's for sure, homemade tortilla recipes are all over the place...as different in recipe as the people who make them. Second: you do not need a tortilla press. Third: you need anywhere from an hour and a half to a full afternoon to make them (I worked with one recipe and another's technique, opting for the full afternoon camp). Fourth: you might not be able to stop eating these straight from the pan, so plan on making a lot if you expect to have some for filling.

Chicken Chili for a Crowd (~16pp)

My last Tamworth chicken made this chili oh-so-worth it.  Next up: Riverslea Farm chickens!  Space is still available for our Tortilla Soup and Stock kitchen session.  Reserve today: gimmetheknife@gmail.com

I dunno, is it really only about the chili?

Noooo.

But an awesome chili certainly helps pop those garnishes!

You can easily halve this recipe.

Here's the slow food version ('fast food' version follows):

Salad for Mexican Night

Roasted meets Raw in this baby.

Okay, first, there's not a whole lot in this dish that's local.  There's enough, but I fully admit this isn't a locavore's dish.  But isn't it pretty?  And, it was indeed really tasty, and met the needs of 8 hungry adults swooning over a sit-down chili luncheon yesterday.  Sweet, crunchy, buttery, earthy and salty (I finished it with smoked hickory sea salt), it's a keeper for our next chicken chili poker party....

Quesadilla time!

It doesn't take much to make two tortillas happy.  All they ask for is cheese and a hot pan.  A few refrigerator mates, however, always make for a fun party.

Okay, so does good tequila.

That was delicious.

Enchiladas Verdes and Friends

Today marks one week before we fly off to Sacramento for our 5-day tour of Amador wine country. Our wine touring companions, aka the "crew," were over for dinner and to review my menu for 14 that I posted a few blogs back. I think we got it all figured out...what with all the wine flowing the way it was (we're in training afterall! ;~)

Dinner: enchiladas verdes (authentic corn tortillas filled and rolled with tender, juicy, organic chicken, local monterey jack and cilantro, and smothered in an organic poblano and tomatillo sauce). It's a dish that I have a love-hate relationship with at this time of year: love the dish, hate the fact that poblanos and tomatillos can't grow in New England in February. I know one thing, though- I am going to stockpile, blacken and freeze poblanos this summer, like I did with all my excess sweet peppers last summer. No more of this 'poblanos from 3000 miles away' crap. Simply char your whole peppers, let cool, and then wrap tightly in baggies. I individually froze mine for easier use. While the crunch factor will be lost, you'll still have all the flavor, and then some. It's totally worth it.

The recipe I used was nabbed from an ATK episode--last season's, I think, and still unavailable online unless you register with ATK--and I haven't yet turned it into my own, so I thought I'd simply share pix of my nicely blackened organic poblanos that go into making the sauce. I complemented the sauce, too, with my very last pint of locally grown husk cherry salsa (our CSA grows husk cherries). Husk cherries, btw, are small tomatillos - found in the same genus as tomatillos. Sadly, the six of us ate the entire pan of 12 enchiladas before I remembered to take a picture! What a dummy, eh?

The peppers need to have that beautifully charred skin removed because it's bitter. After stemming and removing the seeds, coat the halves in olive oil and broil for as much as ten minutes right underneath the heating elements. Add seeds back in to the sauce if you want heat. Overall, expect a nicely tart yet sweet flavor from the peppers and tomatillos. With cumin and garlic and cilantro, it really tastes fresh and light, and is sure bet for entertaining.



For the complete recipe, simply register with ATK's site "for free" here.