Gobble, gobble

Posted on November 26, 2013 by loschileros

My nominee for the next new Olympic sport is Thanksgiving. You got it – the whole darn tooting day. Think about it – you wake up, race to the kitchen, get a cup of joe and start cooking. Don’t sleep in, don’t pass go and definitely don’t collect $200. You are a man/woman/child/elderly person on a mission.

Because face it, Thanksgiving doesn’t cook itself. While everyone else is watching a bowl game or getting in a fight, you’re cooking. And we’re not talking about meat and 2 veg, we’re talking about a spread that would make a grown man/woman/child/elderly person cry.

It takes planning, it takes energy and it takes courage. Ask me – and this is borderline blasphemy here – it’s the sides that get me excited. Don’t get me wrong, I love a slice or 10 of turkey but it’s the side dishes that get me all hot and bothered. And numero uno on my list is stuffing. It’s not hard to figure out why. We’re basically talking about bread and fat bound with eggs (actually it doesn’t sound great when I put it that way, but you know what I mean).

Plus, stuffing is a carrier for gravy and that’s got to be a good thing. This stuffing is made with cornbread (doesn’t that make it gluten free and therefore good for you???) and laced with a healthy dose of chile and sausage. You can make the cornbread the day before – even sauté the celery and onion (pop them in the fridge overnight) – then just assemble. Stuff it in the bird if you want, although I’m a stuffing out-of-the-bird kind of guy – I find you get a nicer, crispier crust.

Best of all, if you haven’t invited over your whole extended family, you’ll have leftovers. And at the end of the day while you may not get an Olympic gold medal, l.o.’s are a pretty good consolation prize.

Chile Cornbread Stuffing

Serves around 8

I’ve included a cornbread recipe inspired by one I love from Cast Your Bread Upon the Water by Sister Schubert but use your own, if you want. You’ll want a 9” pan of cornbread. When you’re making the cornbread, add the chile to the other dry ingredients.

Cornbread

5 oz. butter, melted
1 cup sour cream or crème fraiche
¾ buttermilk
2 Tbsp water
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 ¼ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 ½ cups cornmeal
1 Tbsp green chile caribe
1 Tbsp red chile pequin

Preheat oven to 400º. Brush your baking pan with some of the melted butter. Mix the wet ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Add the dry and stir to mix, being careful not to overwork. Pour into the baking pan and put in the oven. Cook for approximately 20-25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool.

Stuffing

1 cup diced celery
½ cup diced onion
2 Tbsp butter
8 oz sausage meat
1 pan cornbread, crumbled
5 Tbsp chopped parsley or cilantro
½ cup butter, melted
2 cups turkey or chicken broth
3 eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350º.

Melt the 2 Tbsp butter in a pan and sauté the celery and onion until soft but not brown. Remove and place in a large mixing bowl. Crumble up the sausage and cook in the pan until just cooked through. Add the sausage meat (drain if necessary), cornbread, butter, broth, parsley, and eggs to the bowl. Mix and place into a greased casserole dish. Bake for approximately an hour until a skewer comes out clean.

Halloween Heat Wave

Posted on October 24, 2013 by loschileros

Halloween feels a bit unfair. Think about it. Kids get to dress up, go out and bag boat loads of candy. And adults? Gosh, we get to dole the candy out and hope some wise acre doesn’t decide to toilet paper our trees or plaster our windows with shaving cream. And have you noticed that kids don’t just grab the candy, say thanks and take off? Now they give your candy the once over like they’d been expecting a Godiva gift box.

Sour grapes? Okay, maybe. Let’s face it – I’d like a pillow case full of sugar packed chocs too. And why can’t I dress up like a vampire/ghost anymore?

The answer is simple: you can. Take back Halloween. Own it. Make it yours. Put on that DVD of Psycho. Crack open an extra bag (or three) of candy and eat yourself silly. Go ahead. It’s only once a year.

And while you’re at it, invite a like-minded friend or two over for some Halloween-inspired Butternut Squash Soup. You can sip it in between chowing down on mini Mars bars.

Chile Spiked Butternut Squash Soup

Makes about 5 cups of soup which is enough for me or 3-4 normal people

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced (about 1 cup)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 butternut squash, around 2-2 ½ lbs.
3-4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
whipping cream (optional)
1 dried whole Negro chile
¼ tsp Chipotle chile powderSea salt flakes

Sauté the onion in a pot in 1½ tablespoon of the olive oil over low heat. While the onions are cooking, peel the butternut squash and chop it into cubes. Remove the squash seeds and reserve. When the onions are soft but not brown, add the crushed garlic and cook for another minute or so.

Add the cubed butternut squash and the Negro chile. Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add 3 cups of the stock, cover and cook until you can insert a knife easily into the squash.

While the soup is cooking, rinse the squash seeds to remove the fibers around them. Place the seeds in a frying pan and toast for a minute or two. When the seeds have dried out, add the remaining ½ tablespoon of oil and the chipotle chile powder and a sprinkle of sea salt. Cook over medium heat for a few minutes until the seeds are lightly toasted but not burned.

When the squash is cooked through, remove the Negro chile, remove the stem and seeds and chop it up. Return the chopped chile to the soup. Puree in a food processor or with a stick blender. Check for seasoning and add more chile powder if you’d like an extra bite. Add more stock and/or cream so the soup has a pourable consistency.

Serve in bowls with a drizzle of cream and topped with the chipotle squash seeds.

Happy Birthday Honey

Posted on August 15, 2013 by loschileros

3:00 a.m. and you wake up in a cold sweat. A sea of panic rolls over you. Whose idea was it for you to host this birthday party anyway? Of course you then remember you offered to do. I think your exact words were: “It’s no big deal.” And it’s not really a big deal is it? It’s not like you haven’t hosted parties before.

But a birthday party is different. There is an expectation that the day is going to be perfect (whatever that means) and guess whose shoulders that bad boy falls on? You got it champ – you.

So turn on the bedside lamp, take a deep breath, get a pad of paper and don’t freak out. Make a list – what you’re going to serve, when you’re going to make it and what you’re going to serve it on. And before you start dreaming about baked Alaska and flambéing steaks table-side, think again.

The key to a birthday party – any part in fact – is to do-ahead as much as you can. No one – your guests or you – wants you stuck in the kitchen. It makes you grumpy and they feel vaguely guilty. You miss all the good gossip and are tuckered out before the first bite of food.

So for this birthday party I did it all ahead – well practically. Giant couscous salad with artichoke hearts and black olives; roasted sweet potatoes and red onions with a cilantro oil; tossed salad and French bread. But every meal needs a secret weapon and mine was a honey, chile and thyme marinated pork tenderloin. I let it sit in the fridge all day so the flavors were there then popped that puppy on the grill.

The real secret was the honey. I got it from an amazing woman named Diane Ravens – an incredible beekeeper who lives in Ocoee, Tennessee at foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. This is a woman who loves her bees and has been creating amazing honey for almost 20 years. I used her Sourwood honey which has an incredible taste to it – I’m talking spoon-it-out of-the-jar-and-eat it delicious. Using her Appalachian Bee honey reminded me that food doesn’t need to be fussy when you use the very best ingredients and trust me, her honey is the best. You can find out more about Diane, her bees and even order some super yummy honey at www.honeybeesrock.com.

Honey, chile & thyme pork tenderloin

Serves 8-10

2 ½ pounds pork tenderloin
¼ cup sourwood honey or other honey
¼ cup olive oil
1 Tbsp mild chile molido (or half mild and half hot)
1 ½ Tbsp thyme leaves

Make the marinade by mixing together the honey, olive oil, chile and thyme leaves. Pour over the pork and ensure the pork is evenly coated. Store in a bowl or large plastic baggie. Place in the fridge and marinade for several hours or over night. Remove from the fridge about half an hour before grilling.

Heat the barbecue and remove the pork from the marinade. Sear the pork on all sides, reduce the heat and barbecue until cooked through. I like my pork pink in middle, about 15 minutes total. If you’re unsure, use a meat thermometer (the USDA recommends 145º). But please, please don’t over cook it!

Remove, let rest then slice and serve.

And the Golden Chile goes to…

Posted on July 12, 2013 by loschileros

We love the blog Love and Lemons and we love, love, love blogger Jeanine’s fresh flavors. I dare you not to drool over her recipes.

So we thought about awarding the Golden Chile for her Taco Salad with Chipotle Lime Dressing. Then we thought maybe her oh-so-yummy Grilled Veggie Skewers. But hey – how about those tasty Mini Ceviche Tacos?

In the end we thought, what the heck – it’s all great. So a big Golden Chile to Jeanine. Check out the recipe and her blog Love and Lemons.

Chile Mango Salsa

Posted on May 23, 2013 by loschileros

Mangos are sexy. There, I’ve said it. Sure, it’s a tropical fruit and we know tropical is sexy but it’s more than that. They’re lush and perfumed…juicy and succulent. Hold a ripe mango up to your nose and take a deep whiff and you’ll know what I’m talking about: it’s heaven. And the best thing – that lovely sweetness isn’t afraid to stand up to chile. In fact, the two were made for each other.

Once upon a time, it was tough to get mangos but now it’s pretty easy. Most of our mangos come from Mexico, Haiti, the Caribbean and South America but you’ll find them growing in tropical climates all over the world. The countries where we get our mangos from have two main growing seasons so you can usually find mangos year round. And you’ll find some homegrown mangos from Florida, Hawaii, California and Puerto Rico.

For something that tastes so decadently sweet, mangos are surprisingly good for you. Actually, astonishingly good for you.They’ve got loads of Vitamins A and C and buckets of potassium. And very high fiber too, if I might add. And best of all they’re low calorie – about 110 calories for an average mango. Not bad.

I think what puts some people off mangos is slicing them and I’ll be honest, it is a bit of a fiddle. There is a fairly large stone in the middle which the flesh clings too so you can’t simply slice it in half like an avocado. You’ve got to slice around the stone and then take the skin off. It’s no big deal and I share my tips to make it easy in the recipe. Or go online and check out a video tutorial.

Lastly, before you slice into a mango, make sure it’s ripe. You can’t always tell by the color. Different varieties can be dark green, vibrant yellow or yellow and green with a red blush that makes it look like a really delicious Tequila Sunrise. The best test, is to gently press the skin. It should yield slightly. Oh, and of course take a whiff. Now tell me that’s not sexy.

Chile Mango Salsa

Makes about 1 cup of salsa but feel free to double or triple the recipe

1 ripe mango, cubed (see below) – about 1 cup
1 Tbsp red onion, finely chopped
Juice of ½ lime
1 Tbsp cilantro, finely chopped
½ tsp chile pequin
Pinch of sea salt

Mangos have a stone in the center that is about an inch wide. Insert the tip of your knife into either side of the stone. If you hit the stone, don’t worry. Just lift your knife and move it slightly over. Once on one side of the stone, slice through. Repeat on the other side. You now have two ‘cheeks’ that are slightly boat shaped. To remove the skin, place a cheek on your chopping board and slice it in half lengthwise. You’ll now have two quarters. Repeat with the other cheek so you have four quarters in total.

Now take your knife and insert it at one end as close to the mango skin as possible. Slide the knife between the skin and fruit to separate the two. I use a filleting knife for this because it has a slightly flexible blade that I find easier to use with mango. Repeat with the other mango quarters. You can also get an additional piece of flesh off either side of the stone. Dice the flesh.

Mix the mango with the other ingredients, check for seasoning and serve. Superb with chicken, seafood – shrimp, scallops, tuna, swordfish (you get the idea) or simply a bowl of tortilla chips. Best made no more than an hour or so before serving.

And the Golden Chile goes to…

Posted on April 22, 2013 by loschileros

A burger needs a brew and we can’t think of a better choice than Rogue Ale’s Chipotle Ale, the latest winner of the Golden Chile Award. Based on their American Amber Ale, it’s spiced with chipotle and has a malty, smoky aroma. Delish! Order it online at www.rogue.com.

Foodie Friends: Maria Elia

Posted on April 11, 2013 by loschileros

It was a quiet start…a tiny operation called Meco & Elia that Maria Elia ran with her partner. Meco handled front of the house (mainly opening the door) while Maria created the menus, took the orders, cooked the food, and presented the bill (cash only).

Not bad when you consider that Maria was six, Meco was Mitzi her half Jack Russell/half Poodle dog and the customers were Maria’s parents. And not surprising that Maria knew she wanted to cook from an early age. She grew up in the restaurant business (her Greek father ran his own restaurant in London) and remembers being four years old and standing on a stool so she could toss potatoes into the rumbler (“It wasn’t exactly health and safety,” she says with a laugh.).

Today, Maria is one of the most exciting chefs and food writers on the scene. She lives in London but has cooked around the world and published two great books (a third is due out in the Fall). What makes her food so exciting is that she takes interesting ingredients and gives them a completely fresh and unexpected twist.

I loved her first book – The Modern Vegetarian – because unlike some veggie books you genuinely don’t miss the meat. The vegetable is the hero and the recipes are amazing. Take miso – a Japanese staple – which goes Greek in her Miso-marinated kataifi-wrapped eggplant. Or how she pairs sweet strawberries with bitter radicchio for her Griddled Radicchio and Strawberry Risotto. The combinations are unusual but they’re not way out – they work.

Maria likes to start with an ingredient – maybe one that evokes a strong memory for her – and then take it on a flavor journey to see where it can go. She often creates a mind map on paper to explore the different connections that a single food can make. In her second book, Full of Flavor: How to Create Like a Chef, she takes 18 different ingredients and spins out lots of different flavor combinations for each one. The results are dazzling.

Chile Roasted Feta and Watermelon Slab

The contrasts in this recipe are wonderful; I love the warmth of the feta and the heat from the chile against the cold sweet watermelon. The dressing is great with white beans, crumbled feta and some lettuce leaves. Or, if you prefer to keep it simple, just use a little lemon-infused olive oil to dress the watermelon. Perfect as an appetizer or light lunch.

Serves 4

4 evenly sized blocks of feta cheese (approximately 2 ½ oz each)
Extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp chile flakes
1 container cilantro sprouts (optional)
1 container shiso sprouts (optional)
1 ½ – 2 oz mizuna or baby salad leaves
3 Tbsp toasted pine nuts (optional)
Raisin and Oregano dressing
4 pieces watermelon, cut into slightly larger rectangles than the feta, each approximately ½” high and chilled
olive oil for drizzling

Preheat the oven to 375°. Cut a large piece of foil and put it on a baking tray. Place each piece of feta on top, drizzle each piece with olive oil and sprinkle with a few chile flakes. Put another piece of foil on top and fold the foil edges together to form a loose parcel. Place in the oven and cook for 8 minutes, by which time the feta will be soft and warm. (You can prepare the feta in advance but if you take it straight from the fridge you will need to double the cooking time.)

Remove from the oven and assemble immediately; snip the cilantro and shiso sprouts (if using) and mix with the baby leaves and pine nuts (if using). Dress with a little of the Raisin and Oregano Dressing and pile neatly on top of the chilled watermelon slabs.

Open the parcel and place the roasted feta on top of the salad leaves. Drizzle with the olive oil and serve immediately.

Raisin oregano dressing

2 oz raisins
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 small shallots, finely chopped
¼ cup Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
5 drops of green Tabasco sauce or 3 of red will do
Finely grated zest of approx ¼ of an orange plus 1 Tbsp of juice
¼ cup olive oil
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ Tbsp finely chopped oregano

Soak the raisins in hot water till plump approximately 10 minutes. Drain and place in a bowl. Add remaining ingredients and pulse one-third with a hand blender/liquidize. Mix together stirring in the orange zest and juice and season with a pinch of sea salt

Store in the refrigerator until required.

Gobble, gobble burgers

Posted on April 4, 2013 by loschileros

Turkey burgers? Hmmmm….not so sure. I know, I know. I’m the guy who extolled the virtues of lamb burgers just a couple of weeks ago – but turkey? Here’s the problem. People like to talk about turkey as the “healthy” choice and say things like “replace your hamburger with turkey and you won’t even notice the difference.” It’s like a bait and switch operation where you take one food and try to make it taste like another.

Why can’t turkey just taste like turkey?

The answer is that ground turkey – nice and lean and lower calorie – can be pretty boring. I’ve been messing around with turkey burgers for a while and I know. You start out with this lean meat and you want to keep it moist so you add an egg but then the whole thing looks way too mushy so you add bread crumbs. You make them into patties, fry them up and suddenly you’ve got something that looks and tastes like a shot-put.

So what do you do? I figured out the key is to skip the bread crumbs. You don’t need them. They are not your friend. They make your turkey burgers heavy and dense. The other key is to add lots of seasoning – fresh herbs and chile are a must. Turkey can take it – honest. Now the burger mixture you’re going to get is soft – too soft to form into patties – but that’s okay. You’re going to scoop the mixture onto the hot pan, let it cook through (no medium rare here guys) and then serve it up with some creamy avocado.

I’ve added zucchini to the mixture too. No, this is not my way of sneaking in a vegetable on you. I’ve done it for one reason and one reason only – it tastes great.

Turkey Zuchini Burgers with Chile, Dill & Mint

I’m going to be honest with you. This mixture – pre-cooking – isn’t going to win any beauty contest. It’s a bit goopy but persevere because they taste great. Honest.

Serves 3-4

Turkey burgers
1 lb. ground turkey meat
1 zucchini, coarsely grated
3-4 scallions, finely chopped – about 3 ½ Tbsp
1 medium egg, lightly beaten
1 ½ Tbsp dill, finely chopped
1 ½ Tbsp mint, finely chopped
1 tsp cayenne
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Salt
Olive oil or vegetable oil for frying

Creamy avocado
1 avocado
1 Tbsp dill
1 Tbsp sour cream
Lime juice
Salt

In a large bowl, mix together all the burger ingredients thoroughly but avoid over mixing as it damages the texture of the turkey. Heat a frying pan and coat with a tablespoon or two of oil. When the pan is hot, place spoonfuls of the burger mixture onto the pan (about ¼ cup per burger). When browned, flip and continue cooking until cooked through. If you have time, test a small sample burger first, taste and adjust the chile and salt as needed.

While the burgers are cooking, make the Creamy avocado. In a small bowl, mash the avocado until fairly smooth. Stir in the dill and sour cream and a good squeeze or two of lime juice. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve on top of or along side the burgers.

Soup’s Up! Spicy Lentil and Frizzled Onions

Posted on March 26, 2013 by loschileros

I have a friend who tells a story. It was in the mid-70’s and she was living in Suburbia, USA. Her family was invited over to friends for dinner. When they asked the hostess what they could bring (“Flowers?” “A bottle of Blue Nun?”), they were told simply to bring a can of soup. So Campbell’s Black Bean soup in tow, they went over for dinner.

The kids were dispatched to the Rec Room to throw darts at the board and each other, while the adults got comfortable in the living room suite as the host uncorked a couple of bottles of Mateus. A few bites of celery piped with Cheez Whiz and dinner was served.

The hostess – in a particularly Stepford Wife-ish moment –proudly lifted the lid on a soup tureen and announced dinner was served – Friendship soup! Every can of soup that had been brought that night – chicken and stars, beef noodle and yes, black bean – had been dumped in a pot, heated up and served with pride.

My friend still wakes sometimes in the middle of the night screaming.

And this is how food nightmares start. I mean, poor soup. It’s not just 70’s travesties like Friendship Soup that give soup a bad name. Soup just sometimes sounds kind of boring, kind of last minute, kind of can’t-be-bothered.

But it shouldn’t be that way. Soup is warm (unless it’s cold) and comforting and kind of like a great dog – it loves you no matter what.

Now this soup is simple. It’s easy and you’ve probably got most/all of the ingredients in your cupboard right now and that’s a good thing. It serves 2-3 but double the recipe and pop the leftovers it in the freezer. But please, whatever you do, don’t mix it with it with chicken and stars.

Spicy Lentil Soup with Smoky Frizzled Onions

Serves 2-3

The secret to this soup is the smoky frizzled onions. You cook them super slowly until they’re nice and soft, then add some chipotle, crank up the heat to caramelize them and give them some color. Plop some on each serving along with a drizzle of sour cream and you’re in heaven.

Soup:
½ red onion, finely chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ancho chile powder
¼ tsp cayenne powder
¼ tsp chipotle chile powder
1 ½ tsp cumin seeds, roughly ground
8 oz. red lentils, washed and any stones or dirt removed
3-4 cups water or stock
4 Tbsp tomato puree
1 15 oz. can black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
Salt to season

Smoky frizzled onions:
1 ½ red onions
2 Tbsp olive oil
¼ tsp chipotle chile powder
Pinch salt

To serve:
Sour Cream
Chopped parsley or cilantro

To make the soup, sauté the onions in the olive oil in a covered saucepan over low heat until they’re soft. Add the spices and cook for a minute or two more until the mixture is aromatic. Add the red lentils and water. Once the lentils are tender, add the tomato puree and black eyed peas and check for seasoning. You can puree the soup or serve as is.

While the soup is cooking, make the frizzled onions. Slice the onions in half and then thinly into half moons. Sauté the onions in the olive oil in a covered saucepan over low heat until they’re soft. Remove the lid, stir in the chipotle chile and salt and increase the heat, stirring often to keep the onions from sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning. Continue to cook until they’re nicely caramelized and jammy.

To serve, ladle the soup into bowls, drizzle with sour cream or Greek yoghurt and a dollop of the frizzled onions and parsley or cilantro.

Spicy Lamb Burgers

Posted on March 14, 2013 by loschileros

It used to be when you ordered a burger you knew what you were getting: ground beef on a bun, cheese (preferably highly processed and day-glo orange) optional. But things aren’t so simple any more. Now we’ve got buffalo burgers, venison, turkey, elk, salmon, veggie – even kangaroo – all taking on the burger mantle.

Is that a bad thing? Heck no. If some foodie fuddy-duddies want to get all purist about it, then let them. They can argue that the only real burger is a hamburger (funny, don’t remember any ham in a burger…). It doesn’t mean we have to follow suit.

Because the fact is, the alternatives are pretty darn tasty. I’ll talk turkey in a future post but for now let us turn our eyes and mouth to lamb. Lamb makes an awesome burger. It’s got a distinctive taste that handles frying (or grilling) beautifully and marries well with assertive spices. And at the Chile Trail, we love assertive.

You’re spoiled for choice when it comes to seasoning, but for this recipe, we’ve come up with a killer combo of Southwestern meets Middle Eastern. The resulting burgers are moist, full of flavor and disturbingly addictive. We make them small then serve them on a corn tortilla with roasted peppers, arugula and a dollop of hummus. But you know, go crazy – slap it on a flat bread or pita, put it on a bun, crumble some feta cheese on top. At the Chile Trail if it tastes great then it’s never wrong.

Spicy Lamb Burgers

Serves 3-4

I roast my own peppers because it’s so easy and the taste is awesome. I like to use long, mild peppers. Give them a rinse, then slice them into quarters lengthways. Remove the seeds and membrane. Toss in olive oil with some S&P and roast them in a hot oven. If you’re time pressed, go for a jar. I won’t tell.

1 lb. ground lamb
2 scallions, finely chopped
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp cumin seed
1 tsp coriander seed
1 tsp ancho chile powder
½ tsp cayenne or more to taste
½ tsp cinnamon
Salt

To accompany:
• Arugula
• Roasted red peppers
• Hummus
• Corn tortillas or flat bread

Grind the spices in a coffee grinder or with a mortar and pestle. Feel free to use already ground spices if you want but the flavor won’t be quite as intense and fresh. Add to the lamb along with the scallions and lemon zest. Mix gently – you don’t want to overwork the lamb. Shape into small patties – about the size of silver dollars.

Heat a frying pan and add the lamb patties being careful not to overcrowd. Cook the patties over medium heat for a few minutes on each side and serve hot with accompaniments.