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Green Chile Tomatillo Salsa

by mj on May 26, 2012

Just in case you are looking for a little different salsa, here is a recipe for Tomatillo Salsa with New Mexico roasted green chile. The chile adds a different flavor than other peppers but you still get the heat that you need in a salsa. Of course, if you don’t have any green chile, you can always substitute with another type of pepper. See the Kitchen Notes for some substitutions.

Like any salsa, you can use this Green Chile Tomatillo Salsa in a variety of ways – tostados, tacos, eggs, sandwiches, or with chips – just to name a few. Experiment and enjoy!

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A Celebration of Garlic

by mj on May 21, 2012

For anyone who has been following my blog for more than a day knows that I LOVE, I mean LOVE garlic! So in honor of this versatile and tasty bulb, I am dedicating this post to all foods garlic. Through the last several months I have found others that celebrate garlic as much as I do, so I am sharing their love and my love with you through a variety of recipes, all of which use a respectable amount of garlic. Cook and Enjoy!
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Triple Cranberry Sauce

by mj on December 16, 2011

If you read my previous post – Cranberry Bread – you know I love cranberries with orange. Therefore it shouldn’t be surprising to see that my cranberry sauce is a lot of cranberries with a touch of orange.

Several years ago I tried a Triple Cranberry Sauce that used orange marmalade, orange juice, and orange zest. It was good, but TOO much orange in the sense that it competed with the cranberries. So with that recipe as inspiration, I started experimenting to come up with the perfect cranberry sauce for my and Bobby’s palettes. Well, here it is.

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Roasted Garlic Infused Olive Oil

by mj on November 11, 2011

If you saw my previous post – Garlic Soup – you’ve gathered that I love garlic. Not only do I put garlic in many, many of my dishes, but I also “feature” garlic in several of them. I love just smashing a roasted garlic clove on a cracker and popping it in my mouth. Thank goodness Bobby likes garlic as much as I do!

I use to roast garlic in a stoneware garlic roaster and it turned out great. Then one day I experimented with a method to make garlic infused oil and ended up with not only a great bottle of oil, but a jar of some of the best roasted garlic I had ever had! The cloves were more “toasted” than traditional roasted garlic cloves which are softer, but toasted is the way I like them. The lime – it steps the flavor up a notch for sure! I hope you give this a try. You’re going to love both the cloves and the oil!

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New Mexico Green Chile

by mj on September 20, 2011

In this post we’ll be making a traditional New Mexico green chile sauce and take a look at several recipes that use either use the sauce or that use chopped green chile peppers. New Mexico green chile are called by many names – New Mexico chile, Anaheim pepper, California chile, Hatch, Big Jim, Rio Grande and Sandia – to name a few. Unlike poblano and jalapeno pepper, this type of chile pepper has a tough skin; therefore, it is best when roasted and peeled. The resulting roasted chile is remarkable! If you missed Part I - Red or Green? of this series, check it out to see how chile is roasted.

The whole roasted chile can be stuffed with cheese, dipped in a batter and then fried for chile rellenos. Once fried, one could smother the rellenos with green chile sauce or red chile sauce if you prefer. The roasted chiles can also be chopped and used for green chile sauce, green chile stew, salsa, just a bowl of green chile, and many, many more dishes. Last week I shared with you my red chile sauce, so this week I’m sharing my recipe for New Mexico Green Chile Sauce.

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Red or Green? New Mexico Chiles

by mj on September 3, 2011

In the United States all states have an official state bird and state flower. In the state of New Mexico (NM), the state bird is the roadrunner and the flower is the yucca. But what about the state “question”? How many states have a state question? Does yours? Well, New Mexico has one and it is “Red or Green?”. Yep – that’s it – “Red or Green?” In NM every New Mexican restaurant asks you “Red or Green?” when you order your meal. If you’re not asked, then it’s not New Mexican food. It’s probably Mexican or Tex-Mex.

New Mexico Chile – Part I of a 4 part series

So why do waiters ask “Red or green?”? Because New Mexican dishes are typically smothered in a red or green chile sauce. When you order your enchiladas, chile rellenos, huevos rancheros, tamales, or stuffed sopapillas, the next thing you are asked is “Red or green?” – meaning – red sauce or green sauce. If you can’t decide, you can always order “Christmas” and get both. My standard orders are green with chile rellenos, red with tamales and huevos, and whatever I feel like at that moment for all other dishes.

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How to Make Preserved Lemons

by mj on August 20, 2011

What can I say about preserved lemons other than that they are my MOST favorite condiment. I’ve been making them for years, and always looking for more ways to use them. They are great with rice, pasta, poultry, lamb, a variety of vegetables, sprinkled in a salad or incorporated into dressings and sauces. You can make them the star of the show or so subtle that one hardly knows they are there.

They are very easy to make, but once you make them, you are going to have to wait a few weeks before they’re ready. So start a jar today! Below are the instructions for how I make preserved lemons as well as my first instructional video! How fun is that?! (Be sure to see my Hints to Making an Instructional Video at this end of this post.)

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Quick Pickled Cucumbers

by mj on July 30, 2011

While my mother canned some of the best sweet pickles I’ve ever had, she also made these quick little batches of pickled cucumbers as a condiment for the dinner table or as an afternoon snack. It wasn’t a dish that I helped with (because it’s so easy!), so I never learned how she made them, but I certainly remember how they tasted. I knew the marinade had vinegar and sugar, but what type of vinegar, what other ingredients and at what proportions – I had no idea. So many years ago (pre-internet, if you can imagine such days ever existed), I started playing around, trying to get the marinade just right for that deja vu moment. After a few batches, I had it. I’m not sure if it’s my mom’s recipe, but it sure reminds me of hers. Ever since then, I have been using these little “pickles” in salads, sandwiches, as a snack, and as a side for pot stickers and other dishes.

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