das Fünftel von Mai doesn't really matter what language it is, the fifth day of the fifth month is cinco de mayo. many american prefer to remember this as mexican independence day because, being american, who could find fault another country declaring their independence.

except that mexican independence from spain was declared on 15 september 1810.

no, the deal is cinco de mayo is when 4000 mexican soldiers beat down an army of 8000 french and traitor mexican troops at puebla, mexico, just east of mexico city in 1862.

history lesson's over, let's talk food.

it's been a while since i made enchiladas, and i decided this year we were celebrating with platos mexicano, or at least my version of family-style mexican comfort foods: traditional red and mole chicken enchiladas with sour cream and guacamole, spanish-style rice (couldn't get tomatillos to make the green rice i wanted to make), refried black beans, chips and salsa. i made so little of this from scratch, though i could have made it all. but it's spring, the girls have sports and music lessons on the weekends, they each have had sleep-over playdates and to top it all off we did a jaunt during the day to get some free loot because it also happens to be free comic book day nationwide.

what? you missed free comic book day? mark your calendars: first saturday in may next year. i hear it also happens in certain places around the world -- lambiek in amsterdam? -- but you deal with what you've got. i got some unseen peanuts, some lynda barry, the girls made off with a haul as well. who knew they liked the archies? but i digress.

here's the deal with enchiladas: they really are very easy. you need tortillas, sauce and filling. for the red enchiladas i simmered some chicken in chicken broth and green salsa with red onion and chopped black olives until the chicken fell apart into shreds and the water had mostly evaporated. for the mole, simmered the chicken in broth until it broke down and added enough bottled mole sauce to let it simmer and thicken. again, if i had a full day for prep and a full day to cook i could make the mole and sauces from scratch, but this isn't supposed to be a big stress meal. sure, it might be easier to just go local and eat out, but there's no reason to pay $15 a plate (as is the case in this area) for family style eats like this when you can get it in the barrio for a third that. with soup and chips and whatnot.

there are different kinds of mole (it should have a tilde over the e so you pronounce it "mol-ay") but i'm partial to the mixture of ground nuts and chocolate. it's worth seeking out and trying if you haven't, it's got a smokey, rich, sweet flavor that melds well with the bite of the spices. often when i eat spicy or garlicy foods i almost instantly crave chocolate; with mole that isn't the case (though i'd never turn down a bit of chocolate no matter what the occasion). today, i was working with a very good jar of stuff from trader joe's.

though i prefer the traditional corn tortilla my zuska prefers the flour, and this time i was able to find lower carb whole wheat tortillas that actually worked out very well. i did use corn for the red enchiladas, flour for the mole. they both tasted great.

i hate sitting back and saying aloud (as i did, feeling a bit overstuffed after the meal) "that were some good eats" because, honestly, it's arrogant for the chef to compliment themselves. but i wasn't fishing for compliments, it was good, and i liked it, and i don't see why i can't just say that once in a while.

and now i've crowed twice.

Labels: chicken, chocolate, enchiladas, mexican, mole, trader joe's

  ¶ Saturday, May 05, 2007 0 comments

  days five and six so, a little catching up on the veggie diet week.

so after the garlic soup there was the crazy-hectic thursday night where i worked, my zuska and e went to a book group and j hung out with a friend. on the menu: vegetarian chili, which didn't really taste any different than normal though it was the first time i made it in a slow cooker without meat.

the trouble with slow-cooking is that it basically works so long as you don't lift the lid. but making something that requires spices can make it a bit of a gamble if you can't make corrections until the end. granted, a chili isn't a big deal to fix at a late stage, but given that i wasn't home when the fam ate meant that i had to be rather sure of my spices in advance.

i leaned a bit heavier on the cumin and oregano and doubled up on green chilies. doubling the chilies was not planned; i bought fresh jalapenos not realizing i still had a can of chopped chilies in the cupboard. i added the canned babies to the onions at the bottom of the pot so their moisture would help steam out in the beans and mixed the fresh jalapenos with honey in a can of diced tomatoes to flavor out the sauce.

it was a thinner chili that i'd intended -- more of what that cheerleader calls a "stoup," part stew, part soup -- and totally edible. i took some on-the-verge-of-stale corn chips and crumbled them into the bowl, dumped some shredded cheese on top, then the chili. all good.

friday night being movie night usually means a lo-stress, easy comfort meal. my super nachos generally have ground meat (beef or turkey) simmered in cuban style black beans among the cheese, olives, chips, guac, sour cream and salsa. doing the beans alone kept the flavor and still the girls hadn't guessed about the week's meatless options. to be fair, it helped to not introduce super complicated new dishes that required close scrutiny, the only one being the first night's fried veggies and spanakopita which was well loved.

saturday is traditionally sauce night -- a meat sauce with pasta, or some form of meal with a sauce -- and i was all set to go all-veggie but my zuska used her veto power and so it was a traditional sauce with ground beef and sweet italian sausage. during dinner we informed the girls that this was the first meal since the previous saturday that had meat. they blanched at first, almost ready to insist it wasn't true, but then we outlined the week for them.

today, back to our regular omnivorous ways, we did a mango chicken with a quick stir-fry of garlic green beans. the mango chicken recipe comes from coconut & lime, a great food blog that does the sort of things i wish i could do; namely, invent recipes on a consistent basis. i should be (and am) grateful that i can do as much as i do in the kitchen, and don't need a secondary career in the culinary arts. the recipe is easy, and if you've got mangoes in season (they're just starting here) i would strongly suggest giving this a whirl. i think the only thing i would have liked more would have been a thai iced tea to go with it.

Labels: chicken, garlic, green beans, jalapeno, mango, omnivore, rachel ray, vegetarian

  ¶ Sunday, April 29, 2007 1 comments

  best. soup. ever. (according to the fam)
a week or so ago e. requested i make potato leek soup. had i ever made it before? i couldn't remember. it took a while and then i found a recipe and made it. they liked it, but they didn't love it.

"i thought it was something else, something you made before that i liked."

oh.

after some discussion i came to realize that what was requested was a chicken-leek-tarragon soup that i had made before. it was a soup i had winged, not from a recipe. i wasn't exactly sure of the measurements and such so i winged it again, keeping tabs of what i was using in the off chance it was the much loved and requested soup.

decision: best. soup. ever. here's the recipe:

chicken tarragon and leek soup (oh, and garlic, too)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 medium leeks, white parts only, cleaned and sliced thin crosswise
• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into half inch cubes
• coarse salt and fresh-ground pepper
• 2 teaspoons dried tarragon
• 6 cups chicken broth (vegetable works as well)
• 3 small carrots diced small
• 1 cup green beans, frozen is fine but so is fresh
• 1 bulb (yes, a whole bulb) of garlic, peeled, run through a press

heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat
toss in the leeks and cover to sweat them, a couple of minutes until just soft
add the chicken and stir
season a bit with salt and pepper, not too much; add the tarragon and continue cooking for about 7 minutes (seven? why not 8, or 6?)
add the broth and carrots and increase heat to bring to a boil; if using fresh green beans add them now, otherwise wait... wait...
put the garlic into the soup and stir
once soup is boil turn down to simmer for about 10 minutes; drop the frozen green beans in a couple minutes before serving

that's it.
this served 4 people with NO LEFTOVERS, it's apparently that good.
even for kids

Labels: chicken, garlic, leek, soup, tarragon

  ¶ Monday, January 29, 2007 1 comments

  chicken, stuffed there's not pix for this because (a) i made it up and (b) we ate it before i even thought about getting out the camera.

you know how in the butcher cases they have the cuts of meat and then they have the doctored up older bits of meat? you know why they do that? no, it's not because there's a vast army of people out there who do not or cannot figure out how to prep meats on their own, it's a last-ditch effort to salvage older cuts before throwing them out for a loss.

or as one old security guard named john once told me "the more they put in it, the more they don't want you to know about it." hence the origin of hot links and other spicy sausages. but i digress.

so i'm looking in the case and there's a stuffed chicken breast. it's got mushroom stuffing, all ready to pop in the oven. interesting, but my boat's not a-float. then over there they have some flank steak wrapped up in a chopped vegetable and blue cheese concoction. interesting, but not quite right...

a-ha!

chicken stuffed with feta and asparagus!

• 4 skinless chicken fillets, rinsed and patted dry
• 1 pound of asparagus
• 3 oz. cream cheese
• 8 oz. crumbled feta cheese (with or without herbs mixed in, your choice)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• coarse salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried tarragon

in a lidded frying pan or large pot boil an inch of salted water.
toss in the asparagus, remove from heat and let sit for 4 minutes.
drain the asparagus and rinse with cold water, you only want them slightly blanched.
lay the fillets open smooth side down. you'll need to fold them in half so if they're a little too thick or uneven in width cover them with plastic wrap and smash them flat with the bottom of a cast iron skillet. (our neighbors must love it when i cook).
mash the cheeses together in a small bowl.
use two-thirds of the cheese and divide among the inside of the fillets, nestled down the center.
nestle three to five stalks of asparagus in the cheese mix.
fold the fillet in half and place in a baking dish.
brush the olive oil on the fillets, sprinkle with salt, pepper and tarragon.
bake at 375 degrees for about 30 to 40 minutes.
before they're done cooking, sprinkle the rest of the cheese mix atop the fillets and broil for about five minutes.
hot cheese burns! let it sit about five minutes out of the oven before serving.

serves four, so double up if you want seconds or leftovers for lunch the next day.
kid tested and approved!
goes great with potatoes. doesn't everything?

Labels: asparagus, chicken, feta, main course, stuffed

  ¶ Wednesday, January 10, 2007 0 comments