.roasted corn and avocado soup w/ crab salad.

Have you ever had one of those days...


Scratch that..

Have you ever had one of those months? We've had one of those months. We were in Ohio visiting the inlaws and when I got back home I've been working hard on Pioneer Trek stuff. Apparently, someone at church thinks my cooking is stellar enough to put me in charge of all the food for this year's youth pioneer trek. Fun times. I'm actually very excited to be part of this activity. Fingers crossed the food turns out perfect!


When we got back from Ohio, it was hot. HOT HOT HOT. It was hot in Ohio and well, that heat dun followed us back to New York. So I decided to try an experiment I've been wanting to do for awhile. Make a chilled soup.

This soup is actually two separate ones. The base is a sweet roasted corn soup, then ladled in the center is a roasted avocado soup (YES ROASTED!) and it's topped with a delicious crab salad. Love me some crab!

We'll begin with the soups:

ROASTED CORN SOUP

5 ears sweet corn, husked, grilled, and cut from cob
1-2 jalapeno, seeded, grilled, and chopped
1/2 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 tsp cumin

1 cup cream
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup water
salt and pepper
oil

In a small stockpot, heat a little oil. When hot, saute the onion, garlic, and 1/4 tsp cumin until the fragrance is released. Add all of the corn, minus the kernels from one cob (We'll save that corn for the crab salad) and the roasted jalapeno. Heat for a few minutes and then pour into a blender. Blitz until smooth. If the soup is too thick, add a little more water. Season with salt and pepper.

Pour the corn soup into a bowl, cover with saran and pop in the fridge.

Now for the avocado soup.

ROASTED AVOCADO SOUP

4 Hass avocados, grilled (or roasted)
1-2 jalapenos, seeded, grilled, and chopped
1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp chili powder
1 cup cream
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup water
salt and pepper
oil

Following the same steps above, heat oil in a pan. Saute the garlic, onion, and 1/4 tsp chili powder. Scoop the flesh from the avocados and put it in a blender along with the jalapenos, sauteed garlic/onion, cream, chicken stock, and water. Blitz until smooth. Add more liquid if it's too thick. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl, cover with saran and chill.


CRAB SALAD
3 crab leg clusters
1/4 cup green onion, sliced
1 avocado, diced
1 ear roasted sweet corn, cut from cob
1 tomato, seeded and diced
1/2 lime, squeezed
cilantro
salt and pepper

Cook the crab in a pot of boiling water. Cool in an ice bath and crack the crab, removing all meat. Put in a bowl with the remaining ingredients and mix together.


A delicious soup perfect for a hot Summer night! Enjoy!

.southwest eggrolls.

I *love* southwest eggrolls! If it's on a menu somewhere, we will order it. I have made these for years and they are always a HIT at parties. When I do make them, I usually double the recipe and freeze what I won't use so we can pop them out whenever we're having a craving.

Whether you use them for a meal or party appetizer, these will be a hit in your home, I guarantee!


Finely dice 2 Tbsp red bell pepper.


Finely chop 2 Tbsp green onion.


Take out the seeds and pith of one jalapeno pepper. Finely dice.


In a bowl, put 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp chili powder, and 1/2 tsp salt.


You're also going to need 1/3 cup black beans, drained and rinsed, 1/3 cup frozen corn, and 1/4 cup frozen spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed to remove water.


Cook and finely chop up 1 chicken breast.


And grate 1 cup cheese. I use half cheddar, half monterey jack.


Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a skillet. Add the peppers and onion to the pan and sautee for a couple minutes. You want the peppers to be a little soft.


Add the chicken.


Add the corn, beans, and spinach. Cook this until the spinach is completely broken down and evenly dispersed in the pan.


Add the spices and mix well.


Finally, add the cheese. Remove the pan from the heat and stir the cheese in. It will melt and coat everything.


This is what it will look like once everything has been added. Now we're reading to make the eggrolls.


Now you can use fajita sized tortillas or snack sized. If you use fajita size, you'll get 10 eggrolls out of this recipe. If you use the snack size, you'll get 5, maybe 6. Put a tablespoon full of the filling in the center of the tortilla.


Fold the outside edges in and roll up. Tack closed with a toothpick.


Repeat until all the filling has been used up.

At this stage, you can freeze them.

You want them to firm up a little before frying otherwise the centers will ooze out. I put the eggrolls on a plate and covered with a towel and put in the fridge for about an hour.


Heat oil in a skillet, wok, or whatever to 370*. Carefully lower your eggrolls in, making sure not to overload the pan. Fry until all sides are nice and golden.


Remove from the oil and place on paper towels to catch any remaining oil.

If you are frying up frozen eggrolls, the centers will most likely still be frozen. Once they've been fried, pop in a 350* oven for about 20 minutes to make sure they're cooked through.

Remove the toothpicks, and slice in half on a diagonal. Serve warm with avocado dip (recipe below).


AVOCADO DIP

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp dill weed
1 clove garlic, crushed (you don't want minced... it'll be too garlicky)
a few shakes of Tabasco sauce
pinch salt
1 avocado mashed

Mix everything together and put in a bowl. Set in the fridge to chill.

**This dip can also be made with regular ranch dressing and mashed avocado mixed together.


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_103f4cr2zdd

.chicken tomatillo tamales.

I get on these kicks where I read gourmet blogs and this one I happened across one night talked about these amazing chicken, corn, and tomatillo tamales they had at a restaurant somewhere in New York. This, of course, sent me on a mission to find a recipe for them! I wound up using two different recipes and adjusting them to my own personal wants. They turned out really good!





I've never made tamales before so if you are a seasoned vet, please do not make fun of me! LOL I was surprised at how easy they were to make. Having asked around, it seemed like it would be a more arduous task. I think if you use pork it would be. From start to finish, these took about 2 hours to do. I made extra and froze them so I can have more another night. Yessss. I love that!








Begin by putting cornhusks in a pan of water. Set something heavy on top to keep them submerged in the water.








Cut up one small onion. I had to use green onion because I was OUT of regular onion. Bummer.








Mince one clove garlic.



Cut up three tomatillo.

The recipe calls for Pasilla chilies. Pasilla are the name of the fresh pepper, which is a very dark green. Can't find them around here, sadly. Dried are called chile negro and work fine as a substitute for fresh. You will want to cut the stem off then cut into pieces.

Put all of the pepper pieces into a spice grinder and grind until you're content.

If for some strange reason you can't find fresh or dried, use chili powder.


Cook up some chicken breasts. Remove from the pan and let cool.





Once cool, shred with your fingers or with a fork.


Heat a little oil or butter in a skillet. Add the onion, garlic, and chili powder to the pan and saute for a minute.


Add the tomatillo and stir in. Cook for another minute or two.


Add 1/3 cup frozen corn.


Dump in one can drained and rinsed black beans.

Cook this down for about 5 minutes. Add a little water to the pan if needed to avoid burning.


Add the chicken in. Season the entire filling well with salt and pepper.


Squeeze in the juice of half of one lime.

Set the filling mixture aside.

Now to make the masa cake.

In a bowl put 3 cups masa harina, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 cup oil, and 3 cups chicken stock. You want almost a playdough type consistency.

Take some of the cornhusks and carefully pull them apart into thin strips. Tie two pieces together to create laces. You're going to need these to hold the tamales closed.

Take some of the masa (about 1/4 cup) and put it on one of the soaked cornhusks. Press it out using your hands.

Don't ask me what is going on with the lighting on this picture. Put a spoonful of filling on the masa.

Fold the husk over in half, and then fold the edges in.

Take another piece of cornhusk (one of the smaller, thinner pieces) and fold it over the top opening. To secure it, wrap and tie using one of the husk laces we made.

Keep repeating this process until you've used up all the masa and/or filling.

Now it's time to cook these babies. If you have one of these pasta pots, great! You want to steam the tamales - not bake. If you don't have one of these pots, put a colander in a pan upside down. This will keep the tamales from resting in the water on the bottom of the pot. Put a lid on the pot and bring the water to a boil (make sure you don't use too much water!! Just enough to steam these guys!).

Put the tamales into the steamer and cover with a lid. Steam for about 40 minutes, rotating them halfway through the cooking process. You'll know they're done when the masa pulls away from the husk easily.


Serve with rice and beans if you want. Top with sour cream and guacamole.

These weren't very spicy so we had salsa with them too. Perfect!

So you can see that homemade tamales CAN be achieved in your house and it won't take 3 days either!!! You'll definitely want to make a lot of these so you can enjoy them again and again. This recipe made 16 tamales. Enjoy!


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_84c5dkrzhk

.white chicken chili.

Tonight I was scrambling to think of something to fix for dinner. It was an insanely busy day today. The baby had her (late) 2 month appointment first thing this morning and got two shots. Poor thing. Happy to report she's in the 95th percentile for height and like the 97th or so percentile for weight. That's my girl! She was NOT thrilled with getting jabbed. She's been recouping by sleeping half the day.

After her appointment, I drove down to Fernandina Beach to meet up with my gal pals for lunch. Then I hit Target. Then back home to pick Miss Paige up from school and play piano for the Chorus Club after school.

I made some chicken broth the night I made Huli Huli Chicken and the only real thing to make with a bunch of broth is soup.

To make your own stock, take chicken (you can use chicken breasts, or if you have roast chicken, put the carcass in a pot. Add carrots, celery, onion, a bay leaf and some salt. Coat with water and put on the stove to simmer and reduce. Let it go as long as you can. The more it condenses, the richer the flavor. When it cools to room temp, pour into a bowl or a glass pitcher. Put in your fridge and chil completely. The fat in your broth will float to the top and solidify. This makes it really easy to spoon off and discard.

So I checked the pantry and I had all the ingredients to make White Chicken Chili.

Here are the items you'll need:

• 4 cups chicken stock
• cooked chicken (you can use canned if you want)
• veggies: onion, celery, garlic
• 1 jalapeno, finely chopped
• chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (found in the hispanic section of your grocery store)
• 2 cans navy beans and 2 cans northern beans
• spices: bay leaf, cumin, chili powder, salt & pepper
• 4oz can diced green chilies

If you've never had anything with chipotle pepper, you're in for a surprise. It's got a smokey flavor that gives this chili a very unique flavor. A word of caution. Do NOT use too much. It's easy to go overboard and you'll wind up with a chili that's too hot to eat. Start with chopping up 1 pepper finely and if it's not hot enough, add a little more. I used 1 1/2 in mine tonight and it had some kick. Just the way I like it! (My sister, Marcia and mom would find it too hot though)

Chop your veggies -- finely chop the jalapeno, chop your onion, mince two cloves garlic, cut up 3 stalks of celery.

Heat up a little olive oil in a soup pot. When hot, put in all your veggies, 1 bay leaf, 2 tsp chili powder, 2 tsp cumin, and the 4oz can of diced green chilies. Cook this and stir until the onions and celery begin to soften.

Add 4 cups of chicken stock to your pot. Rinse the 4 cans of beans and add them too. Chop up one of those chipotle peppers and throw that in. Season generously with salt and pepper. You can also throw in your cooked chopped chicken. I used leftover chicken that was pulled from the carcass but it wasn't enough. So I used some canned chicken too.

Let this simmer on low for about an hour. If you like to use a crock pot, at this stage, I would put it in your pot and put on low heat to simmer all day. The longer this cooks, the better the flavor.

I like my chili with corn muffins. MMMmmm...

Printable version:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_10dcx2xwfr

In a bowl, mix together:

1 1/4 c. flour
1/3 c. sugar
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 c. cornmeal

In another bowl, mix together:

1/2 c. butter, softened
1 1/4 c. milk (I like to use half and half or whole cream)
1 egg

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix only until it comes together. Don't overmix this! It doesn't need to be smooth. In fact, lumpy is GOOD!

Dump in about 1 to 1 1/2 c. frozen corn and mix in. Again, do NOT overmix.

Spoon into a muffin pan sprayed with Pam vegetable spray. Put in a 425* F oven and bake for 10-15 minutes. At that time, lower your oven to 350* F and let them finish baking.

Baking at a high temp forces the heat through the center of the muffin giving it that awesome muffin tops! That's a trade secret among bakers.... ;) (Now you know!)

Here's what your baked muffins will look like. I use my texas size muffin pan and get a yield of 6. If you use a regular muffin pan, you'll most likely get 12 if you only fill 1/2 way up.

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_11htvjzbcc

To serve your chili, ladle into the bowl and top with grated cheese, a dollop of sour cream and if you're trying to make an impression. Put some chopped cilantro on top. Gives it AWESOME fresh flavor.