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Shepherd’s Pie, New Mexico Style

by mj on December 14, 2012

Several months back one of my nieces posted on her Facebook page a picture of a Shepherd’s Pie she had made. It looked delicious and made me aware that I had never made one and I’m not sure if I had ever eaten one. Growing up my mother made a lot of casseroles with meat and veggies topped with potatoes, biscuits or cornmeal mush, but I don’t remember anything being called “Shepherd’s Pie”. Now that I’ve made one, I realize that I’ve been missing out on a delicious little classic.

I’d like to thank Andy of Today’s the Day and Today’s the Day I Cook for giving me that push I needed to make this dish. Andy is the hostess of the Daring Cooks’ December 2012 challenge. She shared with us a traditional French Canadian classic, the Paté Chinois, also known as Shepherd’s pie, cottage pie, fish pie, St Stephen’s Day pie and even Shepherdless Pie. When Andy stated, “If one dish says comfort food.. this one is it!”, I was hooked. It’s definitely the season for comfort food, so I accepted the challenge and got to cooking.

I tried to stay as close to the heart of Shepherd’s Pie as I could; however, like most recipes, I had to give it my own personal little twist. This recipe keeps the traditional layers of meat and potatoes, but between these two layers is a layer of sauteed mushrooms followed by a layer of feta cheese. The meat mixture is ground beef and Mexican chorizo, corn and a touch of New Mexico red chile sauce. (Bet you didn’t see that coming. ). The result was amazing! I can’t believe it took me so long to make this dish!
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Mushroom Garlic Soup

by mj on November 25, 2012

Do you like mushrooms? Garlic? Soup? If you answered yes, yes, and yes, then this is definitely the dish for you. This recipe takes the wonderful flavor of mushrooms sauteed in garlic butter and puts it into a soup – a garlic and mushroom lover’s dream!

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Corn, Mushroom and Green Chile Tamales

by mj on August 14, 2012

I’ve been wanting to make a green chile veggie tamale for a long time now, and this month’s Daring Cook Challenge inspired me to get it done! Rachael of pizzarossa was the August 2012 Daring Cook hostess and she challenged us to broaden our knowledge of cornmeal. Since I already use cornmeal quite a bit, I decided to work with a cornmeal product that I haven’t used much – masa or ground hominy. Masa harina is used for tamales and tortillas so I decided to finally make those green chile vegetable tamales.

Bobby and I both love tamales but I always feel guilty about eating them because I know that traditional tamales use quite a bit of lard. I decided to try to make a relatively low fat tamale using canola oil and then veggies rather than pork, hopefully cutting down on the total prep and cook time. A couple of years ago I made my first tamales that were pork and red chile. They were delicious but between cooking down the pork, making the red chile sauce, assembling the tamales and steaming them, it took the two of us all day!

These corn, mushroom and green chile tamales use canola oil, vegetable broth and a few sauteed vegetables. The total time – about 2.5 hours – is a lot shorter than traditional tamales, but quite a bit longer than most of the recipes on this site. You’ll get about 18 tamales, but if you want more, just increase the recipe. I made two different batches, using two different steaming methods, so be sure to read the Kitchen Notes.

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Cooking en Papillote (in Parchment): July 2012 Daring Cooks’ Challenge

by mj on July 14, 2012

June was extremely hot here. In fact, it went on record as being the second hottest June ever for my fair city. In an effort to keep the heat out of the kitchen, we’ve been grilling and making lots of salads. Like every summer, we try something new on the grill to expand our grilling repertoire. This summer it was Cooking en Papillote (pah-pee-YOHT) or cooking in parchment. I give credit for this idea to Sarah of All Our Fingers in the Pie!. Sarah was the host of the July 2012 Daring Cooks’ Challenge. She challenged us to learn this new cooking technique and to even go beyond the more typical form of cooking en papillote in the oven and to use the stove top or barbeque instead. So that’s exactly what I did.

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Thai Chicken and Vegetables

by mj on May 24, 2011

I love Thai food – some really unique flavors and oh so spicy. So playing with incorporating Thai flavors into my own dishes has been a lot of fun. For this recipe I took a typical chicken and vegetable pasta dish and added a twist - Thai red curry paste and fish sauce. The curry paste provides the heat and that can be controlled by how much paste you use. We typically go for medium (1/2 tsp. paste), but one of my brothers loves things hot, so 1/2 tsp. isn’t near enough for him.

Like any chicken and vegetable recipe there is a lot of versatility, so be sure to see Kitchen Notes for some ideas.

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Braised Italian Sausage with Vegetables

by mj on March 30, 2011

A quick and easy one pot meal with lots of flavors. Just throw all of the ingredients into the pot, cover, simmer for 30 minutes, and then sit down and eat. Serve with crusty bread like Farmer’s bread or serve over rice or grilled polenta.

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