Best wishes from those of us here at Blue Cayenne (that would be me and Juliet)
Recent Posts
Bits and Pieces Party Cheese Ball
Apparently, it’s a Wisconsin thing. The Wisconsin cheese industry claims that club, crock or pub cheese originated there in the early 1900s as a snack served to touring guests at the Pabst Brewery Hospitality Center in Milwaukee. Smeared on a cracker and washed down by…
Warming up on a chili day
It has been chilly here in southern California for the last couple of days. I found a thick coat of frost on my car this morning and my thermostat registered 55 degrees in my house. Even my pup Juliet was reluctant to leave the warmth of our bed for her morning walk. Brrrr.
The winter cold is a great incentive for cooking in the warmth of one’s kitchen. And, there is no better time than a cold winter’s day to cook up a pot of spicy chili. It wasn’t an accident, after all, that Will Rogers called chili “a bowl of blessedness.”
February 23 is National Chili Day. Why not get a head start? If you are like me, you are running behind on many fronts during this holiday season. Being ahead of the game on something–anything!—might just buoy your spirits.
This recipe is adapted from an Emeril Lagasse recipe. The link to that recipe appears at the bottom of this post. This makes a wonderful complete meal served with (or over) corn bread and accompanied by a green salad.
Yields 8 Servings
Vegetable Chili
Spicy Vegetarian Chili
20 minPrep Time
20 minCook Time
40 minTotal Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- 2 T. olive oil
- 1 1/2 C. chopped yellow onions
- 1 C. chopped red peppers
- 2 T. minced garlic
- l stemmed, seeded and minced jalapeno pepper (or to taste)
- 1 medium zucchini (diced)
- 2 C. fresh corn kernels (or frozen)
- 1 1/2 pounds portobello mushrooms (stemmed and cubed)
- 1-2 T. chile powder (to your taste)
- 1 T. ground cumin
- 1 1/4 t. salt
- 1/4 t. cayenne pepper
- 1 28-ounce can San Marzano whole tomatoes (chopped)
- 2 15-ounce cans pinto beans (or equivalent cooked dried beans )
- 1 15-ounce can black beans (or equivalent cooked dried beans)
- 1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans (or equivalent cooked dried beans)
- 3 C. vegetable stock or water
- 1/4 C. chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 12-ounce package frozen Morning Star Griller Crumbles (or protein of your choice)
- Grated cheese, chopped tomatoes, chopped avocado and sour cream for garnish
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large soup pot until hot and add oniions, bell peppers, garlic and jalapeno peppers. Cook until the vegetables are tender, stirring often. This will take 3-4 minutes. Add zucchini, corn and mushrooms and continue to cook until all vegetables are soft and mushrooms begin to give off their liquid. This will take about 6 minutes. Add the chili powder, cumin, salt and cayenne. Cook, stirring, until fragrant .This will take about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes and stir well. Add the beans, chopped cilantro, vegetable stock and Morningstar Grillers Crumbles and stir. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in chopped cilantro. Garnish with grated cheese, chopped avocado and sour cream.
Notes
Like so many foods cooked with spices, this chili is better served on the second day after the spices have infused their flavors into the chile tomato sauce.
I used Rancho Gordo's wonderful (but spicy) New Mexico chile powder in this recipe.
Calories
174 cal
Fat
8 g
Carbs
23 g
Protein
4 g
7.8.1.2
25
https://bluecayenne.com/warming-up-on-a-chili-dayHere is the link to Emeril Lagasse’s vegetarian chili recipe from which this chili recipe was adapted: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/vegetarian-chili-recipe.html
Moroccan Harira Soup on a wet morning
It has been raining here in southern California. Wet. Glistening. Rain. After the long drought and precious little rain from last year’s fizzle of an El Nino, it is a delight to just stand outside and get drenched. Juliet? Not so much. The pup…
Golden Baked Onions and An Onion Ring Joke
Oh, my! Can’t you just smell the sweet rich aroma of baked onions wafting through your computer screen ? And, look at that ooey-gooey cheese sauce. Onion heaven. As Julia Child once said, “It is hard to imagine civilization without onions.” The history of…
Caldo Con Queso (Spicy Cheese and Chile Chowder)
I just enjoyed two bowls of this soup for breakfast.
According to a Hatch Valley Chile Festival site: “Hot chile peppers burn calories by triggering a thermodynamic burn in the body, which speeds up metabolism.”
I’m not sure about the thermodynamic burn part. Sounds kinda wonky to me. Nevertheless, the quote eased my guilt as I ladled a second generous cup of this chowder into my breakfast bowl and watched a glistening gentle rain pelt the plants in my atrium. Life is good.
Recently, my Trader Joe’s started carrying frozen bags of Hatch chiles. On a try-a-new ingredient impulse (something that happens to me often), I bought a bag and tucked it away in my over-filled freezer. There is always room for one more frozen package, right?
But what to make with the chiles?
Then this recipe popped up in one of my nocturnal crawls through the recipe blogs. It’s wonderful–all the things a good chowder should be: thick, creamy, and flavorful with Just the right proportion of potatoes. As a welcome bonus, this chowder is gently spiced with a full cup of Hatch chiles.
I made it yesterday as the rains began and Juliet was contentedly napping. I find few things more pleasurable than cooking on a rainy day.
Don’t wait to try this recipe.
Who can’t use a good thermodynamic burn this time of year?
The link to the original recipe on the blog everydaysouthwest.com can be found at the end of this post.
Yields 6 to 8 servings
Caldo Con Queso
A gently-spiced potato, corn and tomato chowder.
15 minPrep Time
25 minCook Time
40 minTotal Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1 T. olive oil
- 1 yellow onion (diced)
- 1 carrot (diced)
- 1 stalk celery (diced)
- 1/2 T. oregano leaves
- 1 T. minced garlic
- 6 C. vegetable broth
- Kernels from one corn cob (about 1 cup)
- 2 medium red potatoes (diced but not peeled)
- 1 C. diced tomatoes (I used fire-roasted)
- 1 C. roasted green chiles (I used Hatch chiles from Trader Joe's frozen section)
- 4 T. butter
- 4 T. flour
- 6 T. milk
- 8 ounces queso fresco (grated or finely diced)
- 8 ounces mild cheddar (grated or finely diced)
- Chopped cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large soup pot. Sauté onion, carrot, garlic and celery in the olive oil until the onion begins to soften. Stir in the oregano leaves. Pour in vegetable broth. Add corn, red potatoes, diced tomatoes and green chiles. Bring soup to a boil and then lower heat and simmer for about 20 minutes until the potatoes have softened but still hold their shape.
- Meanwhile, in a large sauce pan, melt butter and stir in flour. Stir flour/butter mixture over the heat until the flour takes on a light brown color. Whisk in milk and continue whisking until mixture starts to thicken. Mine thickened pretty quickly, so watch your pan at this step. Add more milk if necessary.
- Add flour/butter mixture to the soup, whisking it in and continuing to whisk until the soup thickens.
- Add cheese to the hot soup by handfuls just before serving. Thin soup with additional milk or vegetable broth as necessary.
- Garnish with chopped cilantro.
Notes
This chowder will get very thick stored in your refrigerator. Thin with additional milk or vegetable broth.
Calories
713 cal
Fat
18 g
Carbs
113 g
Protein
25 g
7.8.1.2
19
https://bluecayenne.com/caldo-con-queso-spicy-cheese-and-chile-chowder
The link to the original recipe can be found here:
http://www.everydaysouthwest.com/first-courses/rustic-veggie-soup-with-cheese-cubes-or-carols-caldo-con-queso/
A Twist on Cranberry Sauce
A good cranberry sauce recipe is kind of like the perfect little black dress. It is a must for Thanksgiving gatherings and it usually should be understated. This recipe is a little black dress with an edge. It is a fresh cranberry salsa…
Puff Pastry Pinwheels
Need a knock-their-socks-off pretty pastry for your Thanksgiving breakfast guests? These puff pastry pinwheels fit the bill. They are exceptionally easy, too, and fast to prepare. They also give you an excuse to use your prettiest plates to serve them. My plate is…
Parker House Rolls for Thanksgiving, Ho Chi Minh, and The Tales of Hoffman (Really!)
Composer Jacques Offenbach was so taken with Parker House rolls that be burst into spontaneous song when he and his friends enjoyed them. That song was later used as a theme is his unfinished opera The Tales of Hoffman. Those must have been some rolls!
To my delight, I learned to make Parker House rolls at a recent Sur La Table (Costa Mesa) cooking class taught by talented chef Kristin Leonard. The rolls were a hit with everyone in the class and I’ve since made them at home. They are pretty wonderful. Light. Tender. Ever-so-buttery! Easy.
The Parker House Hotel where the rolls originated is an American institution, by the way. It was opened in the 1850s and is currently operated by the Omni chain. It has been in continuous operation as a hotel longer than any other hotel in America.
Emerson and Longfellow stayed (and ate) there. Charles Dickens reportedly recited A Christmas Carol to the literary Saturday Club that met at the Parker House. Ho Chi Minh claimed to have been a baker there during his brief sojourn in the United States. (I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the idea of Minh being a baker.) John Kennedy proposed to Jacqueline Bouvier at table 40 in the hotel’s dining room. (The hotel reports that romantics still book table 40 when they plan to propose. That’s a very nice romantic tradition, if you ask me.)
Gastronomically, the hotel has left its mark. The Boston Cream pie originated in its kitchens. Scrod, too. And then, there were the glorious Parker House Rolls that were first served there in the 1870s.
The story of the rolls origins strikes me as a bit dubious but it is fun, so I’ll retell it here. As the tale goes, a baker at the hotel had a crush on one of the hotel’s chambermaids. The chambermaid was accused to stealing a diamond necklace owned by a wealthy guest who ran hysterically through the hotel shouting her accusation against the chambermaid. Hearing his true love falsely accused, the baker, in a fit of pique, grabbed handfuls of prepared dinner rolls and threw them into the oven where the rolls rested haphazardly and many folded over on themselves. By the time things settled down, it was too late to make more rolls for the dinner hour and the baker decided to serve the misshapen rolls to the hotel’s guests. They were a hit. (The diamonds were found and the chambermaid was exonerated. No word about whether the rich lady apologized.)
Tomorrow, November 17, is Homemade Bread Day. Why not give these rolls a try. If you like them as much as I do, you will probably want to add them to your Thanksgiving menu. Who knows? Your guests might just break out in song.
Yields 16
Parker House Rolls for Thanksgiving
Buttery Parker House Rolls for your table
2 hrPrep Time
25 minCook Time
2 hr, 25 Total Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1 T. vegetable oil
- 1 C. whole milk
- 3 C. unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 t. instant yeast
- 1 1/2 t. sea salt
- 3 T. granulated sugar
- 3 T. unsalted butter (cut into 1/2 inch dice)
- 1 large egg (beaten)
- 4 T. melted unsalted butter (for brushing rolls)
- 1 t. flaky sea salt (we used Maldon salt)
Instructions
- Grease a large bowl and a 13 by 9 inch baking pan. Set aside.
- Heat milk to a warm 100 degrees F.
- Using the paddle attachment, mix flour, yeast, salt, sugar and butter in a stand mixer (Kitchen Aid if you have one) until the butter is broken down into pea-sized pieces. This will only take a minute or so. Pour the warm milk into the mixer bowl with the flour mixture and then add the beaten egg. Mix to combine. Take off the paddle attachment and attach the dough hook to your mixer. Knead the dough for 7 or 8 minutes until it is smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to the oiled bowl you have already prepared. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise and double in size. This should take about 90 minutes
- Once the dough has doubled, remove it from the bowl and put it on a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough in half. Roll one of your two dough balls into a 8 by 12 inch rectangle. Brush the rectangle with melted butter, saving the rest to be brushed on top of the rolls after they are baked.
- Cut the 8 by 12 inch rectangle in half lengthwise. Working with one rectangle at a time, fold the long side of the dough over to about 1/2 inch of the other edge, so that the bottom edge sticks out about 1/2 inch beyond the top edge. Folded, your rectangle should now measure about 2 inches by 12 inches. Repeat with the other pieces of dough.
- Cut each of your folded rectangles into four 3-inch pieces so that you have 16 rolls.
- Place the rolls, smooth side up, in a lightly-greased 13 by 9 inch pan. You should place the rolls so that you have 4 rows of 4 rolls in the pan with the longer side of the rolls going down the longer side of the pan,
- Gently flatten the rolls to spread them out a bit so that they cover the bottom of the pan.
- Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the rolls rise for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. The rolls should be puffy but not doubled.
- While the rolls are being allowed to rise, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bake rolls for 20 to 25 minutes. They are done when they are golden brown and feel set.
- Remove rolls from oven, brush them with melted butter and sprinkle with sea salt.
Calories
616 cal
Fat
27 g
Carbs
77 g
Protein
14 g
7.8.1.2
14
https://bluecayenne.com/parker-house-rolls-for-thanksgiving-ho-chi-minh-and-the-tales-of-hoffman-really
Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese Sauce…sort of
When I can’t sleep (which is often), I read recipes or watch You Tube cooking videos with Juliet snoring contentedly by my side. I usually select a cooking theme and then I’m good for hours. During one recent insomnia-stained night, I came across this recipe…
