Chili Rellenos Tacos

I think I have already mentioned how much I like Taco Mania in Shreveport, Louisiana. It is so good! I love their Ceviche, Enchilada Suiza and Chili Rellenos Tacos. Today I met my parents over at my sister's to take the new off her new Weber Gas Grill. She got it for Christmas and I got to put it to good use. We re-created a Chili Rellenos Taco Dinner like you would get at Taco Mania. I made the Tacos, Mexican White Rice and Refried Beans. So good! I cooked both chicken and beef, that is how sister orders her plate, one of each. I marinated 1 lb of chicken breast and 1 lb of ribeye steak. I did not use all of the meat in the tacos. I brought a doggie bag home to the pug. She was very happy.

Chili Rellenos Tacos

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 poblano peppers

1-1/2 lb chicken or beef, marinated

2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

8 small flour tortillas

Directions

Marinate or season meat of choice 30 minutes before ready to cook. Rub poblano peppers with a little olive oil. Poblanos should be left whole. Place meat and poblanos on the grill. Grill for five minutes on each side on medium high heat. Remove poblanos and cover with plastic wrap. Check meat for doneness and remove from grill. Let meat rest for 10 minutes. Lower the grill temperature to medium low. Peel off the skin of poblanos. Cut poblanos in half from stem to tip, remove seeds,stem and veins being careful not to split open the sides of the pepper. Place a flour tortilla on a sheet of aluminum foil, place a poblano half on top. Fill poblano with meat and cheese, fold tortilla around poblano and wrap in foil. Place foil wrapped peppers back on the grill. Grill until cheese is melted about 5 minutes. Serve.

Tips:     Poblanos peppers with straight stems are “usually” (not always) less spicy than peppers with curved or bent stems. Be sure to remove all seeds and veins to have a milder pepper.

            I marinate the meat in the marinade given below.

         

          
     
          

Marinade

Ingredients

Handful of cilantro leaves, chopped

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup lime juice

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 Tbsp chipotle puree

1 Tbsp kosher salt

1 Tbsp black pepper

1 tsp sugar

Directions

Combine all ingredients with a whisk. Pour over meat and marinate 30 minutes or 4 hours. Will make enough to marinate 1-1/2 to 2 lbs of meat.

Linking to:
Carole's Chatter - Food on Fridays: Mexican Food
Taste and Tell Blog: Taste and Tell Thursdays
Ms. enPlace: See Ya in the Gumbo
The Chicken Chick: Clever Chicks Blog Hop
Mondays with Countrified Hicks Blog Hop 
Anyonita Nibbles: Tasty Tuesdays

Moussaka Soup

The first time I heard about Moussaka was a scene in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Toula was getting teased as a young girl for bringing Moussaka for her lunch. I had to try it after hearing it mentioned in the movie. I love Moussaka! It is ... like a Greek lasagna? Without pasta and loaded with eggplant and at my Greek restaurant zucchini and potato too. It also has a fluffy, creamy, cheesy topping that is so different. Try it if you haven't, it is delicious.

Well a few days ago I got the idea to adapt my Spicy Beef Vegetable Soup into a soup with Greek flavors. Moussaka has beef and vegetables and seemed the perfect candidate to turn into a soup. This soup is loaded with roasted veggies and Greek flavor. I substituted roasted eggplant, zucchini, squash and red bell pepper for the mixed veggies. I also for went the pasta sauce for can tomatoes I could spice with Greek flavors. The spices are what make this so different. Usually cinnamon, allspice and cloves are used for baking. Here they are what makes the soup reminiscent of Moussaka. Without them this soup would be more Italian than Greek. The topping is also a important touch; it is the perfect creamy, cheesy garnish for this soup. Maybe Toula could have avoided the teasing if she could have said she just had soup for lunch.

Again my dear sister is keeping my blog stylish.
Thanks for the new place mats Sis!

Moussaka Soup

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

1 eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch dice

1 zucchini, chopped

1 yellow squash, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Olive oil cooking spray

1 lb lean ground beef

1 onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

Salt, to taste

Black pepper, to taste

Red pepper flakes, to taste

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp oregano

1 tsp basil

1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes

1 medium potato, chopped

4 cups beef broth

1 Tbsp brown sugar

Topping:

1 Tbsp light butter

1 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1 cup skim milk

2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese(plus more for garnish)

1/4 tsp salt

1/16 tsp nutmeg

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425º. In a large bowl combine the eggplant, zucchini, squash, red bell pepper and olive oil. Toss to coat vegetables with oil. Transfer to a large baking pan coated with cooking spray. Season with salt, black pepper and a little red pepper flake. Bake for 20 minutes.

Heat a large pot(at least 3-1/2 quarts) over medium-high heat. Add beef and cook over medium high heat until brown. Add chopped onion and garlic; continue to cook until translucent. Season with salt, black and red pepper. Add other spices; ground allspice, through basil; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in tomatoes, potato, roasted vegetables, beef broth and brown sugar; bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender, stirring occasionally.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add flour; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly with a whisk until well blended. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly with a whisk. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 5 minutes or until thickened, stirring frequently. Stir in cheese, salt and nutmeg. Remove from heat, and cool slightly.

Serve in individual soup bowls; top with a drizzle of topping and additional Parmesan cheese.

Nutrition Facts: Per Serving; Calories 335, Carbohydrates 32g, Fat 12g. Protein 27g, Calcium 17g, Fiber 7g. 8 WW Points +

Linking to:
Ms. enPlace: See Ya in the Gumbo
Buns In My Oven: What's Cookin Wednesday
Mondays with Countrified Hicks Blog Hop 
My Mixing Spoon: Random Recipe Roundup Linkie Party
Carole's Chatter: Food on Friday - Eggplant
Love Bakes Good Cakes: The Ultimate Soup Recipe List Linky
The Tumbleweed Contessa: Cinnamon Saturday Dishes
Food of the World Greece
Kahakai Kitchen: Souper Sundays

Pork Noodle Salad

I already mentioned how sad I was that our Thai restaurant closed. We always ordered the same three dishes, not all at once. But we did not stray from our favorites, Spring Rolls, Chicken Basil Cashew and Pork Noodle Salad. I think I have finally mastered the Pork Noodle Salad. We would always ask the restaurant to make it medium spicy. Sometimes that was mild and sometimes it was blow your head off spicy. I guess it depended on the chef that day. My version is just right, don't get me wrong it is spicy but it will not hurt you.

Pork Noodle Salad

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

4 large shrimp, shell on and deveined

8 ounces uncooked rice vermicelli

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

3 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1/2 cup red onion, sliced

1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions

1/3 cup thinly sliced fresh cilantro

1 tablespoons hoisin sauce

1 teaspoon rice vinegar

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced

1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced

1 tsp fish sauce

2 tsp garlic chili paste

1 lb lean ground pork (or chicken)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1 Tbsp canola oil

1/4 cup peanuts, chopped

Preparation

Bring a 2 qt pot of water to boil with a few black peppercorns, pinch red pepper flakes and a splash or two of vinegar. Boil the shrimp until they turn pink and are opaque. It will only take a minute or two. Set aside to let cool. When cool remove peel but leave tail on.

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water; drain. Place noodles in a large bowl. Add 1/4 cup vinegar and next 4 ingredients (through fish sauce); toss well. Top with some of the red onion, green onions and cilantro.

Combine hoisin and next 5 ingredients (through garlic chili paste). Heat oil in a skillet, brown pork seasoning evenly with salt and black pepper. Add hoisin mixture; continue to cook until well combined. Divide noodles into four bowls and top with pork mixture. Garnish each bowl with more of the red onion, green onions, cilantro, peanuts and a shrimp.




UPDATE: I just found out that the Thai restaurant I have been rambling about is open again. Yeah!! See this post at 20x49; Goldenland Superior is Back.

Linking to:
Ms. enPlace: See Ya in the Gumbo
The Chicken Chick: Clever Chicks Blog Hop
This Gal Cooks: Marvelous Mondays
Frugal Foodie Mama: Marvelous Mondays
Buns In My Oven: What's Cookin Wednesday
Anyonita Nibbles: Tasty Tuesdays
The Tumbleweed Contessa: Spicy! Saturday Dishes Linky Party
The Crafty Side of Sarcasm: Retro Repin Party
Carole's Chatter: Food on Friday - Thai Food

Shrimp and Noodles in Brown Garlic Sauce

Months and months ago I watched an episode of Easy Chinese with FPITW on noodles. They made rice noodles in a steamer. We vowed to try making them next time we had time together. Well New Year's was the time. We searched for the recipe or at least a video of the show we watched, NOTHING! So then we started looking for other recipe options. We found this fellow on YouTube. His method was for Fresh Ho Fun and very similar to what we had seen before. We were in business.  All we needed was a sauce. Pinterest to the rescue! I had pinned this Brown Garlic Sauce sometime ago. We prepared everything ahead of time; chopped all the veggies, set the water to boil, and made the components of both the sauce and noodles. We started with the sauce, then the noodles and finally put it all together in the stir-fry. It was delicious! Definitely something to do again and again. The noodle and sauce recipes could be used in many other ways too.

Shown with ginger and garlic for
Brown Garlic Sauce in the background

Shrimp and Noodles in Brown Garlic Sauce
Serves: 2 to 3

Ingredients

1 Tbsp canola oil
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced into strips

1 medium zucchini, julienned

1 Poblano pepper, sliced into strips

1 medium carrot, julienned

4 green onions, sliced on the diagnal

6 mushrooms, sliced

20 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

Homemade rice noodle(recipe below)

Brown garlic sauce(recipe below)
Pinch of red pepper flakes

Directions

Heat a large pan or wok on med to high heat, add oil and vegetables. Stir-fry until vegetables are tender crisp. Add shrimp, continue to stir-fry until shrimp begins to turn pink. Add noodles,1/2 of the sauce and red pepper stir to combine and heat thru. Serve!

To make the noodles we followed the video. The only thing we did differently was that we used a bamboo steamer and two Pyrex dishes. Because we used Pyrex we skipped the water bath to cool the noodles.

Rice Noodles

Source: YouTube.com

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups rice flour

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1 tsp salt

2 cups water

1 tsp sesame oil

vegetable oil

Directions

Place water to boil in a pan or pot that fits Bamboo Steamer. Place two layers of steamer on top. Fill a measuring cup with hot water and set aside. You may need to add hot water to pot occasionally.

Prepare two pryex or metal pans by brushing with vegetable oil. Be sure they will fit in the steamer.

Place first three ingredients in a bowl, whisk to combine. Add water and sesame oil, whisk to combine. 

Ladle just enough batter into pryex dishes to cover the bottom of the pan. Place both in the steamer and steam 4 minutes. Carefully remove dishes and let cool. Remove sheets of noodles with a spatula and brush the top with oil. Stack the noodle sheets on a cutting board. Continue filling dishes and steaming noodles until all batter is used. Slice the stack of noodles into 3/8 inch strips. Separate noodles into individual noodles and prepare to use in stir-fry.

As for the Brown Garlic Sauce; FPITW thought it had a little too much ginger. I thought it had a very familiar flavor like a restaurant dish, but admit the ginger was the one recognizable ingredient. So adjust the ginger to your taste.

Brown Garlic Sauce

Source: Food.com

Serves: 4; Yield: 1- 3/4 cups

Ingredients

2/3 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/3 cup rice wine

3 1/2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

2 tablespoons cooking oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced ginger

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 cup water

Directions

In a bowl, combine soy sauce, broth, rice wine, sugar, sesame oil and white pepper.

Dissolve the cornstarch in 1/4 cup water.

Heat a pan over high heat; add the cooking oil, swirling to coat; add the garlic and ginger; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 15 seconds.

Add the soy sauce mixture; bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium and cook for 1 minute.

Add the cornstarch solution and cook, stirring, until the sauce boils and thickens.

Linking to:
Carole's Chatter: Food on Friday - Ginger

Getting Social!

 

Hop on over to My Turn (for us). Evelyn, Jamie and Tammy are hosting this party for bloggers who wish 

to make new friends and gain new followers. 

Lots of great blogs to explore there. So join us at:

Let's Get Social Sunday #2

New Year's Recipes

Every New Year's Day my Mom get's busy cooking Black Eye Peas and smothered Cabbage. It is a Cajun tradition in my family. Dad or I act as sous chefs helping chop, stir, taste for seasoning or just watch the pot. This is how I learned to make these traditional dishes. Eating these dishes are suppose to bring you good luck and fortune in the year to come. My dad says the peas bring coins and the cabbage folding money. So you can imagine; a year never, ever, goes by without observing this Cajun tradition.

New Year's Black Eye Peas(Traditional)

Source: Mom

1 lb dry Black Eye Peas

1 Onion, chopped

1/2 lb Ham, chopped

Salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes, to taste

Parsley, chopped

Soak peas overnight or use fast soak method. Bring peas to a boil and when boiling turn off the heat and let sit covered for one hour. Drain and return to the pot.

Add water to just cover the peas, the onion and ham. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer until tender and creamy. Season with salt and peppers to taste. Add parsley (optional). Serve over rice to bring coins in the New Year!

Note: You can use fresh or frozen peas, just omit the first step.

New Year's Cabbage(Traditional)

Source: Mom

2 lbs. Pork loin chops, sliced into large pieces

2 Onions, chopped

1 bunch Green Onions, sliced

3 heads of young Green Cabbage, chopped

Salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes, to taste

Parsley, chopped

Heat olive oil in large pot. Season pork with salt and peppers, add to pot and cook until brown.

Add the onions, then green onions and finally the cabbage stirring until all cabbage it added. Add parsley (optional) if using. Cook until smothered well and cabbage is very soft. Serve over rice to bring folding money in the New Year!

My new tradition of spending New Year's with my favorite person in the world (FPITW) has giving way to a slight variation on Mom's Black Eye Peas.  We use bacon instead of ham and we skip the rice and eat with spoonfuls of cold Chow Chow. FPITW and his family have always served Chow Chow with their Black Eye Peas. This Chow Chow is not cabbage and green tomato, it is a savory, spicy, chunky, red tomato condiment. It is not hot or peppy it is just flavorful with warm spices like cinnamon and cloves. It is still a FPITW family canning secret, I will let you know if the secret gets out. I am just happy to have this new tradition, a blend of both families.

New Year's Black Eye Peas(New Tradition)

1 lb dry Black Eye Peas

1 Onion, chopped

1/2 package of Bacon, chopped

Salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes, to taste
Tony Chachere's creole seasoning, to taste

Soak peas overnight or use fast soak method. Bring peas to a boil and when boiling turn off the heat and let sit covered for one hour. Drain and set aside.

Add bacon to a dutch oven and brown on medium low. When bacon it almost brown remove and drain on a paper towel. The bacon will continue to brown and crisp. Add onion to the bacon dripping and saute until they begin to soften. Add peas and just enough water to cover, bring to a boil lower heat and simmer covered until tender. Season with salt, peppers and Tony's to taste. Garnish with bacon and serve with Chow Chow for good luck in the New Year!

A New Year Tradition

It is tradition for me to ring in the New Year with my Favorite Person In The World, we will call him FPITW from now on. He will love that, he is the king of acronyms. We usually spend several days together here or there. We celebrate New Years Eve, cook, eat and laugh a lot. That is where I have been. I have a lot to share with you in the coming posts. I will start with a short list of what's been cooking.

Before I left for FPITW's I made a Pork Noodle Salad and Chicken Pho. Both were great but I want to make a few adjustments before I share the recipe. I want to use a larger rice noodle in the Pork Noodle Salad before taking it's glamour shot. I want to adjust the cooking time on the chicken in the Chicken Pho. I will post these recipes soon. Here is a sneak peek.

Then it was off to Central Texas to hang out with FPITW. He cooked dinner for me when I got there. The next day he took me to Deckhand's Oyster Bar for great oysters on the half shell. The owner who is from Laos makes this special green chili sauce called Deckhand sauce. It spicy and complements the oysters so well. If your ever in Austin go try it. We also did a good bit of cooking over the holiday. Poor FPITW made four or five trips to the store, I went on only two of those trips. He also took me to The Alamo Draft House. It is a great dine in movie theater, a real fun way to enjoy a movie. I am a lucky girl to know such a great guy. Here are some of the things we cooked together this week:

Black Eye Peas and Chow Chow
We make this every New Year's Day for luck and it is always accompanied by FPITW's family Chow Chow. It is a spicy not peppy tomato condiment. Sorry it is a family secret but I will share the Black Eye Pea recipe soon.
Click here for recipe.

Nick's Lasagna
This is a recipe from FPITW family friend. It is a huge, delicious, and easy lasagna casserole. I plan to try to make a smaller version with lighter ingredients real soon.

Shrimp and Noodles in Brown Garlic Sauce

A stir-fry FPITW and I created with a Brown Garlic Sauce from Food.com, veggies and Fresh Rice Noodles from a YouTube video. Click here for recipe.

Drop Biscuits
We made drop biscuits twice. I made an adaptation of Mom's recipe first. We did not have baking powder so I used Bisquick. Basically I made "Rocks" and Gravy. Right then I made the resolution to learn how to make great biscuits in 2013. We were watching Cook's Country at the time and I said show us biscuits. 


Then it happened the host started singing a song about biscuits and they aired a piece about Cat Head Biscuits. We made two trips to the store to get the ingredients. But is was so worth it. They are PERFECT!!! They are light as air, soft in the center, they have a crisp exterior and great flavor. I am ahead of schedule on that resolution.

Goldenland Thai Spring Rolls


Linking to:
Ms. enPlace: See Ya in the Gumbo