The Winter Burn

Last weekend I watched an episode of one of Giada De Laurentiis' shows. I loved her theme for the episode ~ her idea is that spicy food is great for warming up the winter chill! This got me thinking. Many of my favorite winter meals are in fact spicy. Here are a few of my faves:

• Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup
• Corn chowder
• Black 'n' Orange Chili
• Homemade Salsa
• Spicy Mushroom Mini Pizza

Yesterday I adapted one of the recipes from Giada's show ~ pasta with eggplant sauce. This is some of the best pasta I have had in a very long time. I'll share it with you soon.

Game Prizes sans Perfume

At the baby shower I helped plan a few weeks ago I was in charge of buying or making prizes for the shower games. Since we had just as many men as women coming, my big dilemma was what exactly a "game prize" should be. My online search told me that the most appropriate shower prizes include: lotions, scented candles, sachets, and lip gloss. These options clearly wouldn't do ~ I didn't want the guys to bolt, afterall! Then I thought about chocolate, but we were already having chocolate cake and chocolate favors.

In the end I made up a double batch of my homemade salsa (recipe here), which these friends have always enjoyed.






After adding a little cuteness, I felt like I had some very respectable game prizes to offer. No makeup or girlie scents in sight!


I'm happy to report that the guys did not bolt from the party. We had an all-around great time!

Mini Fiesta

Yay, Emily! My penpal had her quesadilla party this weekend. Back when we did our food exchange my challenge to her was to host a quesadilla party. I gave her my favorite salsa recipe to try, and she ended up using my spinach quesadilla recipe and pumpkin quesadilla recipe too. See her site with all the details, plus her strawberry salsa and chicken veggie quesadillas. Looks like a fun time!


I figured it was time for me to share my salsa recipe. It's the red salsa in the middle of the picture above. (Thanks for the picture, Emily!) It's super easy to make since you can throw everything into a food processor mostly unchopped. The one thing I would be sure to chop is the jalapeño so that you don't end up with large pieces in your salsa. I also think it tastes better the next day once the flavors have had a chance to blend.

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Homemade Salsa

• 1 1/2 medium jalapeños (or more to taste), chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro, washed well (some stems are OK ~ they have flavor too!)
• 1/2 small onion (red onion looks the best!)
• 1 can Mexican recipe stewed tomatoes
• 1 can regular stewed or diced tomatoes
• 1/4 tsp. salt
  

Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the salsa reaches your desired chunkiness.

So Corney

A few weeks ago I made corn chowder for a Super Bowl party. People brought so much of their own food that there were loads of it leftover. Fortunately, it freezes well. A few nights ago we had it with cheddar jalapeno bread and some veggies. Great combination!

The method I use for this soup is similar to my black bean soup. I use the food processor. And when I bother to pull out the food processor, I generally use it A LOT. The result in both of these soups is that the veggies are diced small enough to really melt into the soup base as it cooks.

This recipe makes a large amount ~ enough to truly fill a 5 1/2 quart Dutch oven. (Remember, it freezes well!) Feel free to halve the recipe. As usual I adapted my final version from several recipes I looked at, but here's a similar quick version of the soup here.

Corn Chowder

• 1 large onion
• 2 red bell peppers
• 4 Anaheim green chiles
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 3 (16 oz.) packages frozen corn, thawed and divided
• 5 1/2 cups milk, divided (I used 2%)
• 1 can of white kidney beans or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed well
  
• Tabasco
• 1 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
• Black pepper

Use the food processor to finely dice the onion, bell pepper, and chile peppers. You will probably need to do this in several batches to get a uniform dice and avoid over-filling your processor bowl. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven (5 1/2 quart or larger) and saute the garlic for one minute. Add the diced vegetables and saute for about ten minutes, stirring often.

In the meantime, place 4 cups of thawed corn, 1 cup of milk, and the rinsed beans in the food processor and process until smooth. Set aside.

Add the remaining milk and corn to the soup. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the processed corn mixture, a small splash of Tabasco, salt and pepper. Continue to simmer another few minutes, or until thick and creamy. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Serve hot with the toppings of your choice, such as green onions, tomatoes, or cheese.

Dark and Mysterious

I could be referring to the gloomy sky outside. Or I could be referring to something dark, mysterious, and handsome. But I'm actually referring to one of my chile pepper success stories ~ Black Bean Soup. (You knew all along, right?) For years I have tried to master slow cooked black beans. The recipes I've tried have always been bland, and then at the last minute I haphazardly throw in a bunch of seasonings. The result has consistently been. . . well, good. But not great.

Recently, armed with my new chile pepper know-how, I set out to tackle this problem. Here's what I came up with ~ a recipe that I am very pleased with. I started with a handful of Anaheim chile peppers for some very subtle heat. (Add more or different peppers to taste.)


I used both a food processor and a slow-cooker to minimize the hands-on time. In the end I preferred using the processed veggies over hand-cutting them because they were small enough to melt into the soup base. It made for a smoother, creamier soup.


Here was the result ~ dark and mysterious, as promised!


Black Bean Soup

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
  
• 1 onion
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 green bell pepper
  
• 3 Anaheim chile peppers
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 4 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. thyme
  
• 1 pound black beans, sorted and rinsed
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 15 oz. can Mexican recipe tomatoes, undrained
• 1 tsp. salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
  
• 5 cups hot water
• Half a lime, juiced

Use the food processor to chop the onion, bell peppers, and chile peppers into a fine dice. Do this in two or more batches to avoid overfilling your processor. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Briefly saute the veggies until starting to soften, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, and thyme, then saute one minute more. Transfer the veggies to a 6-quart slow cooker. Add beans, bay leaves, tomatoes, salt, black pepper, and hot water.

Cook on high for approximately 5 hours. Stir in the lime juice and add additional salt to taste. (I added another 1/2 tsp.) Using an immersion blender, blend the soup slightly to add creaminess, but leave some whole beans intact.

Serve with toppings such as: sour cream, diced onions, cheese, tomatoes, diced jalapenos, or hard-boiled egg.

The Sting

Although my conversation has been lacking, my appetite for things that "sting" has not.

{Image courtesy mptvimages.com and imdb}

For my longtime readers, you may remember that several months ago I started exploring the world of the chile pepper. It's high time I start sharing this project with you again.

Recently I've gravitated towards recipes using the anaheim chile pepper. The anaheim is your standard "mild green chile." I love the milder green chiles because you are able to use a larger quantity before the heat overpowers a dish. I love the flavor of green chiles, so for me this is a big advantage.

In my research on chile peppers I have learned that not all peppers are created equal. Knowing the relative intensity of a pepper variety is important for gaging its heat. But this is merely a starting point. Even mild chiles, on occasion, can be unpredictably hot. If you're not careful, the unwitting use of a chile pepper just might result in a sting. This has been ever-present on my mind as I've explored chile-infused dishes, but I have STILL been caught off guard.

Last week I made a bean soup with anaheims. I used a spoon to scoop out the insides of the pepper before chopping them. Later on I grabbed the spoon, gave it a good rinse, and then used it to taste something. Wow ~ did that ever sting! Whatever remnant of the mild anaheim that was still on that spoon really burned my lip. I could still feel it hours later! I was afraid that this was the "one" ~ the one insanely hot anaheim pepper out there. Nevertheless the soup turned out fine, and not at all spicier than I would expect. I just can't explain it.

I have also noticed that the steam from food containing chile peppers has the potential to sting. When I stirred a corn chowder with anaheims in it a few weeks ago, my hands became raw from the chile sauna alone.

In case it's not already clear, my message here is that the juice of a chile pepper ~ any chile pepper ~ can really be caustic stuff. Do you have your own stories? I'd love to hear. . .

Smokin' Hot

It's about time for me to share my Halloween chili recipe. This recipe features another chile pepper - the chipotle chile.

The chipotle is actually a pepper that I'm pretty familiar with, although it's always fun to learn more. Believe it or not, it's really just a dried and smoked jalapeno pepper. What I've read is that dried peppers tend to be hotter, and chipotles DO seem slightly hotter than jalapenos.

So where do you find a chipotle? Not in the produce section but in the Mexican food section of the store. It will be in a can labelled "chipotle in adobo." Adobo is a Mexican sauce or condiment that is very smoky and barbecue-like, and for whatever reason chipotle peppers are most often sold submerged in adobo. I have read that you can also buy chipotles in both dried and pickled forms, but I have never seen it.

Here are a few more tidbits to peek your interest in chile peppers: There are over 200 different varieties. Most of their heat sits in the seeds and the white membranes, so to reduce the heat you can remove those parts of the pepper. And finally, a chile pepper contains more vitamin C than an orange. Wow!


Black & Orange Chili (slow cooker or stovetop)

• 2 T olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 large red bell pepper, diced
  
• 1 Poblano/Pasilla green chile, diced
• 3 carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 1/2 T chili powder
• 1 1/2 lbs. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
• 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 4 15 oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 3 cups water
• Salt and pepper
• 1-2 T minced chipotle, or to taste

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, bell pepper, chile pepper, and carrots, and cooked until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chili powder and cook for 30 seconds. Add the sweet potatoes and stir to coat with the spices.

Transfer the mixture to a slow cooker. (Or stockpot, if cooking on the stove.) Add the tomatoes, beans, and water; season with salt, cover, and cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours. (It will take approximately 1 hour on the stovetop.)

When ready to serve, stir the chipotles into the chili. Taste to adjust the seasonings.

Hot Mama

I've long been fascinated with chile peppers. (They're beautiful, sassy, and full of nutrition, after all!) I grew up on Tex-Mex, so I've eaten many a chile pepper in my day. Yet I've always been too intimidated to cook with them much. And it's not as though I haven't thought about cooking with them - I have! More than once I've stared at them in the grocery store, wondering if I should make my salsa recipe with the usual jalapeno or be adventuresome and spice it up a bit. I mentally recite the golden rule of chile peppers, "The small ones are the hottest and the large ones are the mildest." But then the followup rule, "But not always!" sets in, I have second thoughts about whether I really know what I'm getting into, and I remove the habaneros from my basket and reach for a jalapeno instead.

This really is NOT an insurmountable problem. The grocery stores around here typically only carry about six types of peppers. (I thought that was a lot, then my sister told me that her grocery store in Texas usually carries 15-20, depending on the time of year!) So surely I can master the mere six or so peppers available in my store, right?

My plan is to use a few skeleton recipes to explore the chile kingdom. I was initially inspired to dive into this project when I saw this recipe for veggie tacos. I made my tacos with a poblano (aka, pasilla) pepper rather than the Anaheim/Hatch variety, but otherwise I followed the recipe exactly. It turned out great! And this recipe could easily be adapted to any chile pepper or any type of veggies.

So here's a little background on the poblano pepper. First of all, north of the border it's often labeled as a "pasilla" pepper when it is sold fresh, but once it's dried it is called an "ancho chile." The fresh poblano is similar size to a bell pepper, although it's narrower and has a darker green skin. (It's at the top and in the back in the picture above.) It's one of the milder peppers, with a heat index of 1,000 to 1,500 on the Scoville scale. And, most importantly, it's the pepper used in the traditional Mexican dish chile rellenos. In my tacos, the poblano had a very nice flavor with only a touch of heat. It was a nice balance because I was able to use a lot of it for a full chile flavor without being overwhelmed by the heat.

I'll report back as I explore other varieties, but in the meantime I'd love to hear if you have any chile pepper stories or recipes to share!