Category: Sauces

Pork Belly Chipotle Tacos While I Dream of Mexico

12 Comments

What a perfect post while in the middle of a Blizzard…

Back before Christmas, The Mexican Board of Tourism invited me along with several bloggers to experience the fine and complex cuisine of Mexico at Mexique ,a French influenced Mexican restaurant. French influenced Mexican you ask? Yes as the French occupied briefly during the whole Maximilian Affair , masterminded by Napoleon III to bring an Austrian archduke there to rule. I sat with fellow Chicago blogger Joelen with our men  as we learned about the rich history and culinary traditions of Mexico.The Mexican Board of Tourism wanted to refute the perception that Mexican food was just tacos,  burritos and tamales. Mexican food is elegant and rich with complex flavors that reflect the indigenous peoples and those that settled there. The region of Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico , is where you will find blacks, former slaves. Its no surprise their cooking resembles what we think of as Caribbean food with the African roots. Oaxaca, home of the longest surviving indigenous people the Zapotecs and Mixtecs, is know as the land of the Seven Moles.Moles are labor intensive red or brown chili based sauces that are a staple of Mexican cuisine. Oaxaca is also known for Chocolate.

What I loved about our informative dinner was that the Executive  Chef Carlos Gaytan broke all my stereotypes of the food. The Ceviche was smooth and velvety without excessive use of citrus acid and rounded out by lush avocado emulsion. Pork belly  was served with butternut squash foam and mole Teloloapan, Carne Asada .Each course was a marvel followed by a decadent chocolate tamales wrapped in corn husks. Rich, bittersweet and dense. Sensational.

In the end we  were each gifted with the culinary tome Oaxaca. I haven’t made anything from the book yet , but have enjoyed reading it. Fortunately living in Chicago with a large Mexican community, I have many of these ingredients at my fingertips.

So being the improvisational cook I am , I whipped this up one weekend and realized how I have been influenced by the flavors of Mexico. While its not authentic it incorporates many elements I have been reading about and exposed to by our Mexican community in Chicago. My cooking Mojo is off this month but Certain Someone and I enjoyed these flavors immensely. It tastes even better the next day.If you like spice and are trapped in the snow , like I am you will be warmed up by this dish. I wont give a formal recipe, as this is what I call is instinctive cooking.

[print_this]

Pork Belly Chipotle Tacos

You will need:

Pork Belly with skin, Can of Chipolte Peppers in Adobe, onion, chicken stock, corn tortillas,sour cream, lime, cheese( Queso or cojita optional)

  • Braise a inexpensive pork belly with the skin for 3 hours in a covered Dutch Oven at around 350F.Season it with salt and pepper.
  • Crisp it for 30 minutes .
  • Let stand.
  • In a sauce pan saute some onions in oil.
  • Add a can of Chipotle peppers in Adobo ( found in Latin sections of supermarket).
  • Slice your pork belly with skin and add to peppers and onions.
  • Add chicken stock.
  • Season to taste.
  • Simmer until all flavors are blended.
  • Serve on grilled corn tortillas.

[/print_this]

The winner of last weeks giveaway is… Irene E! Congratulations. I know you will enjoy Food and Friends …Recipes  and Memories from Simca’s Cuisine.

Fried Green Tomato Sandwich with Bacon

9 Comments

Consider this a creative variation of a BLT sandwich.In this case I skipped the L (lettuce). I love fried green tomatoes with a spicy remoulade. Having purchased some , with a slab of hickory bacon , the creative juices were flowing.I posted about Fried Green tomatoes before. Paired with a sweet and spicy remoulade, this sandwich is full of tangy zip. So if you like fried green tomatoes and want an usual sandwich, try this . If you don’t eat bacon , try substituting turkey bacon instead. Enjoy.

[print_this]

Perfect Fried Green Tomatoes

4 green tomatoes
1 cup buttermilk or 1 cup milk with a few tsp of vinegar/lemon juice
( allow to sit for 5 minutes or more)
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 cup corn meal
salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper
vegetable oil

  1. Prep your station with a dish of buttermilk, a dish of
    beaten egg, and a dish of corn meal .
  2. Mix 1 tsp of cayenne
    and salt in the corn meal.
  3. Slice green tomatoes into 1/2
    inch rounds.
  4. Dip each slice first in buttermilk, then egg, then
    dredge in cornmeal.
  5. Heat approx 1/2 cup of vegetable oil in a fry pan.
  6. Fry tomato
    slices until golden and crispy on each side.
  7. Drain finished pieces
    on paper towels.
  8. Sprinkle with additional salt if desired.
  9. Set aside until assembly of sandwich.

Spicy Sweet Remoulade

  • 1/3 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 teaspoon Sriracha
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  1. Combine all ingredients and mix.
  2. Chill until ready to use.

Assembly of Sandwich

Components Needed:

  1. Bread of choice ( Italian loaf, sandwich roll, kaiser roll, etc)
  2. 3 strips of crispy bacon for each sandwich
  3. 2-3 slices of fried green tomato
  4. Remoulade to spread

Spread Remoulade on each slice of bread. Place the fried green tomato slices. Top with bacon.

[/print_this]

Lamb Burgers with Rhubarb Onion SauceL

11 Comments
The past few weeks I have been in discussion with the 61st Street Farmers Market. At first we were discussing the possibility of me being a vendor of some kind, but after long thought and putting together a business plan, I had to pass. An offer was then made to volunteer this summer and perhaps do a few cooking demos. I naturally jumped on the chance. The 61st Street Farmers market is located in  a food desert behind the University Of Chicago. Their mission is to make great , healthy locally sourced food available to people that have little means otherwise of obtaining this. To help this , they are local participants of the Wholesome Wave Program, which enables the Farmers Markets to accept Link Cards( a public aid) and provide great programs such as Double Value Coupons. All in all a fantastic organization in which I’m proud to volunteer for.
61st Street between Dorchester and Blackstone
Every Saturday from May 15 to October 30, from 9am to 2pm
Rain or Shine
LINK Accepted
Double Value LINK Program –  Double LINK purchases up to $25 per cardholder, per market day
fruit, vegetables, chicken, beef, lamb, pork, cheese, eggs, baked goods, prepared food, etc.
Chef Demos, Market School and Music every week!

My first cooking demo will be Saturday May 22. In my excitement I’m brainstorming with what I can do that uses the great local products available and will be seasonal. At this time of year we are starting to see a lot rhubarb. So I was thinking Lamb Sliders with Rhubarb Onion Chutney as its easy for most home cooks, and accessible/affordable.I love Rhubarb  myself, but its a tough sell to family and Certain Someone. I want to find ways to use it  in savory applications , as opposed to a traditional Strawberry Rhubarb dessert. I had envisioned a chutney to go over a childhood favorite of mine, lamb burgers. However the Chutney morphed more into a sauce which was delicious, but not the original plan. Nevertheless its worth a post as I can see this on not only burgers, but chicken, pork , salmon or any other fatty type protein.

Lamb Burgers with Rhubarb Onion Sauce
3/4 to 1 lb Rhubarb
1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 Cinnamon Stick
3 cloves
3/4 cup water

1 lb Ground Lamb
1tsp Cumin
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a saucepan heat the vegetable oil. Add the chopped onion. Turn down heat to medium and cook till translucent. and golden with minced garlic, Cinnamon stick, and cloves.Chop Rhubarb into small pieces and add . Add sugar and water and vinegar. Cook down on med/high heat until Rhubarb breaks down and mixture starts to bubble. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat.
This can be stored in the refrigerator in a sealed jar for 2 weeks or so.

Mix Cumin, salt and pepper with ground Lamb and form patties. In a hot skillet cook until med  done.Serve with sauce on a bun.


Fresh Homemade Hot Sauce or Sambal

10 Comments
 I’m in  a phase right now. Fellow blogger Cheryl  face booked  some cool pictures takes with her I Phone and Hipstamtic and I have been obsessed ever since. I even set up a Tumblr acct to showcase my cool artsy pictures and other stuff that I cant put here. It’s that bad.  So I figured I could get some stylized  shots of these Red Chili Peppers to make the feeling of heat even more visible with this analog style of photography via digital means. I love the vintage feel . So you may see this from time to time here. It’s a phase I need to work through.
 A few weeks back I received my Culinaria Southeast Asia book and was captivated by the Sambal”s. Sambal’s are essentially chili based dipping sauce that precedes what we in the Western world think as as ketchup. Sambal Oelek being the most popular one to come to mind. Some Sambals have shrimp paste, lime, soy, sugar, ginger, garlic, tamarind, peanuts,etc. All sorts of variations exist.
I made my own variation  based on  the Sambal Cuka ( Vinegar and Chili Dip) in Culinaria. I ended up altering things and adding more ingredients. My batch was also larger because I had about 50 or so Chili peppers. I will give you roughly what I did. Taste and alter according to your tastes.This makes a large batch, that’s ideal to divide up and bottle to share. Fresh Sauce  keeps for 1 week in the refrigerator.
Fresh Homemade Hot Sauce/ Sambal
(You can scale this down as this makes over 1/4 liter, a rather large batch. You can use minimally 10 red chilies and amounts of 2 tbsp of vinegar, 2 garlic cloves, 1/2 inch ginger, 1 tbsp soy, 1 tbsp sugar)
1/4 lb red chili peppers ( about 50 chili peppers)
 2 inches of fresh ginger root, peeled and cut into small pieces
1/2 fist of garlic. Cloves peeled
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
3-4 tablespoons of Soy Sauce

Wash and Stem chilies (wear gloves to protect skin).  Add rest of ingredients. Process with food processor. Store in sealed jar in the refrigerator. Keeps 1 week

Playing Around With Country Bob’s Original All Purpose Sauce

A few weeks back, the people at Country Bob’s emailed me and asked would I mind reviewing and talking about their product.Would I mind? Send it on over.

The promptly sent over 2 bottles of their Original All Purpose Sauce. Come to find out they are based in Illinois! With all my cake projects, etc I was to busy to cook. Certain Someone was leaving for Sweden and I relented and let him have his Harold’s chicken. He’s addicted to this South Side Specialty. Normally they drown the chicken and fries in either a hot or BBQ Sauce.Its unbelievable. I told him to order it plain and undressed so we could add the Country Bobs to it. On first taste it pretty good. Not as sweet, thick, and gooey as most BBQ sauces. I actually described it as cross between a Steak Sauce and a BBQ . I liked. I just felt eating it with the chicken, I poured more on as it was a thinner sauce.
So then I decided to actually cook with it. If you visit their web site, they have a lot of great recipes. On a leisurely Sunday with the man away I decided to make Chicken Sausage. With that I was going to make Chicken Meatballs baked with Country Bobs! I much preferred using Country Bobs Original All Purpose Sauce as a cooking sauce , but it was good as a dunking sauce too. I definitely would like to try their other products.
Here is my quick Chicken Sausage Meatballs recipe:
Chicken Meatballs
4-5 chicken thighs
1 leek
1 apple
1 egg
1/2 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
1/2 bottle of Country Bob’s Original All Purpose Sauce
olive oil
Spices to season:* play around with your qty’s to suit your tastes
Maple Sugar
Red Pepper Flakes
Salt
Smoked Paprika
Cumin
Run the Chicken Thighs, leek, and apple through your Kitchen Aid Meat Grinder. Season with your spices. Add egg and breadcrumbs. Mixture is slightly runny, but able to handle with oiled hands to form balls. Place formed meatballs in a pre oiled baking dish. Bake at 350 for approx 25 minutes. Pour 1/2 bottle of Country Bobs and toss the meatballs. Cook for an additional 10 minutes. Serve as appetizers, as a sandwich, etc.
Sorry you missed it Honey!