Woe!

My tops are now starting to feel loose and the jeans are becoming more loose too. This means I will probably have to go shopping in a few weeks.

I hate clothes shopping. Nothing fits right.

Just another tequila sunrise..

Our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Foodhave chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce was found onwww.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh.

So its that time again. It was incredibly tasty but it got demolished or in the freezer before I remembered to take a photo.... So here's the recipe.

Ingredients

1½ pounds Fresh Anaheim chiles (about eight 6 to 8 inch chiles) 24 ounces 678 grams - roast, peel, remove seeds, chop coarsely. Other green chiles (NOT bell peppers) could probably be substituted but be conscious of heat and size!)
7-8 ounces Tomatillos (about 4-5 medium)212 grams - peel, remove stems
4 cups Chicken broth (32 ounces/920 grams)
1 clove Garlic, minced
2 teaspoons yellow onion, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
½ tsp Kosher salt (add more to taste)
¼ tsp Black Pepper (add more to taste)
2 tablespoons Cornstarch (dissolve in 2 tablespoons water, for thickening)
Hot sauce, your favorite, optional
2 Boneless chicken breasts (you can also use bone-in chicken breasts or thighs)
3 tablespoons Olive oil or other neutral vegetable oil (use more as needed)
Kosher salt and pepper
12 Small Corn tortillas (5-6 inch/13-15 cm). (you can also use wheat tortillas or other wraps)
6 ounces grated Monterey Jack, 170 grams (other cheeses (cheddar, pepper jack, Mexican cheeses) can be used. Just be sure they melt well and complement the filling)
Cilantro for garnish, chopped and sprinkled optional

Directions:

Roasting Fresh Chiles

1. Coat each chile with a little vegetable oil. If you are doing only a couple chiles, using the gas stove works. For larger batches (as in this recipe), grilling or broiling is faster.
2. Lay the oiled chiles on the grill or baking sheet (line pan with foil for simpler clean-up). Place the grill or broil close to the element, turning the chiles so they char evenly. They should be black and blistered.
3. As they are completely charred (they will probably not all be done at once), remove them to a bowl and cover with plastic, or close up in a paper bag. Let them rest until they are cool.
4. Pull on the stem and the seed core MAY pop out (it rarely does for me). Open the chile and remove the seeds. Turn the chile skin side up and with a paring knife, scrape away the skin. Sometimes it just pulls right off, sometimes you really have to scrape it.
5. DO NOT RINSE!

Green Chile Sauce

1. Put a medium saucepan of water on to boil and remove the papery outer skin from the tomatillos. Boil the tomatillos until soft, 5 to 10 minutes. You can also grill the tomatillos until soft.
2. Drain and puree in a blender or food processor.
3. Return the tomatillos to the saucepan along with the chicken broth, chopped green chiles, minced onion, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper.
4. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Add the cornstarch/water mixture and stir well. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened and reduced to 4-5 cups, another 10-15 minutes.
6. Adjust seasonings and add hot sauce if you want a little more heat.

Stacked Green Chile and Grilled Chicken Enchiladas

1. Heat a gas grill to medium high or build a medium-hot charcoal Coat the chicken with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Grill the chicken until just cooked through, 4-5 minutes a side for boneless chicken breasts.
3. Cool and then slice into thin strips or shred.
4. In a small skillet, heat 3 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat until very hot. Dip the edge of a tortilla into the oil to check – it should sizzle immediately.
5. Using tongs, put a tortilla into the pan and cook until soft and lightly brown on each side, about 15-20 seconds per side (at the most).
6. Drain on paper towels.
7. Add oil as needed and continue until all 12 tortillas are done.
8. In a baking dish large enough to hold four separate stacks of tortillas, ladle a thin layer of sauce.
9. Lay four tortillas in the dish and ladle another ½ cup (4 ounces/112 grams) of sauce over the tortillas.
10. Divide half the chicken among the first layer of tortillas, top with another ½ cup of sauce and 1/3 of the grated cheese.
11. Stack another four tortillas, top with the rest of the chicken, more sauce and another third of the cheese.
12. Finish with the third tortilla, topped with the remaining sauce and cheese.
13. Bake until the sauce has thickened and the cheese melted, about 20 minutes. Let rest for 5-10 minutes.
14. To serve, transfer each stack to a plate. Spoon any leftover sauce over the stacks and sprinkle with cilantro, if you wish. The stacks may also be cooked in individual gratin dishes.

Corn Tortillas (from Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen)
Makes about 15

1 3/4 cups masa harina
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons hot water

Pour hot water over masa harina, cover and let sit 30 minutes. Add (additional) cool water 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough is soft but not sticky. Divide the dough into 15 balls and cover with plastic wrap.

Heat a large (two burner) ungreased griddle or two large skillets, one on medium-low and one on medium-high.

Put a ball of dough between two sheets of plastic. If you don’t have a tortilla press, press to a 5-6” circle using a heavy frying pan or bread board or other heavy, flat object. Put the tortilla into the cooler pan or cooler end of the griddle. The tortilla will probably stick, but within 15 seconds, if the temperature is correct, it will release. Flip it at that point onto the hotter skillet/griddle section. In 30-45 seconds, it should be dotted with brown underneath. Flip it over, still on the hot surface and brown another 30 seconds or so. A good tortilla will balloon up at this point. Remove from heat and let them rest while cooking the remaining tortillas. Use quickly.

Plan for today

So I need to write this down some where so it will actually get done.

The plan for before I head to work is this: stick all the data from December through excel and make sure its graphed and averaged so I can peak fit at work tonight. Ideally I'd like to have the stuff from feb done as well. This is so I can spend tomorrow on my other assignments.

Wish me luck.

Oh and there will be this months Daring Cooks post up in the next few days. Just bare with me!

Daring Bakers April

I'm late with this one but better late then never right?!


The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.


I've never made steamed pudding before and the thought of having to use suet grossed me out. I don't know why it does. I have no issues with lard, butter or dripping but suet grossed me out. Be proud though, I actually went to the butcher and asked for it. They didn't have any though so I had to use the Suet pudding mix from the supermarket. I halved the recipe on the back of the box and then played around a little as I wanted banana pudding!

Suet Banana Pudding
Ingredients
60 grams of suet mix

2 Tbsp plain flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup semolina
1 eggs, lighten beaten

2 bananas, mashed

Method
1. Mix dry ingredients together then add wet.
2.Spoon into a lightly greased 600ml pudding streamer. Cover securely with lightly greased, pleated greaseproof paper, aluminum foil and twine.
3.Immerse in pan of boiling water. Ensure water comes half way up the sides of the pudding bowl.
4.Steam 2 hours.

Daring Cooks April

I'm on a role at the moment. Not only did I get out last months daring cooks challenge but I also got out this months daring bakers AND cooks challenge on the same day! :D


More on the Darign bakers later in the month.




This months challenge was Brunswick Stew. A classic dish from America. Cue blog checking lines now:


The 2010 April Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Wolf of Wolf’s Den. She chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make Brunswick Stew. Wolf chose recipes for her challenge from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by Matt Lee and Ted Lee, and from the Callaway, Virginia Ruritan Club


My first impressions were 'Easy, I'll knock this out in no time once I get past my aversion for stew this month'. I had already knocked out one or two for the freezer and the thought of having to find another one did not fill me with joy. Luckily it got to the end of the month and I needed food for the freezer at work. I decided to do the short version as I could prepare most of it over a few nights and then just bung it all together at the last minute. The only changes I would possibly make would be to not use pork. It ended up being a little two sweet for me and I didn't add the extra sugar. I made half a batch and forgot the beans.

My chicken chops and pork sparerib. There were 3 spareribs but the other two got eaten....

Rather then make my stock completely from scratch, I semi cheated. The meat was cooked in premade stock with a bay leaf and some peppercorns added for extra flavour.

Once done, the meat gets fished out and the stock goes in the fridge to cool so all the fat will scrap off easily

After sticking everything in the pot and cooking for a while you end up with something like this. I added extra veg from the steam fresh range because I like veg.

Recipe Two, The Short Way

Serves about 10

2 ½ lb TOTAL diced stewed chicken, turkey, and ham, with broth - yes, all three meats
3 medium diced potatoes
2 medium ripe crushed tomatoes
2 medium diced onions
3 cups/ 689.76 grams / 24.228oz frozen corn
1 ½ cups / 344.88 grams / 12.114oz frozen lima beans
4-5 strips crumbled bacon
½ stick / 4 tablespoons / ¼ cup / 56.94 grams / 2oz of butter
1 Tablespoon / 14.235 grams / .5 oz sugar
1 Tablespoon / 14.235 grams / .5 oz ‘Poultry Seasoning’
Dash of red pepper
2 diced carrots (optional)
Tomato juice

In large stock pot or Dutch Oven, mix all ingredients, heat until bubbly and hot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add tomato juice as desired. Cook until all vegetables are tender. Serve hot.

Masterchef season 2 episode 1

!!!!!

It's back! I looove masterchef with a passion. I had some friends demand that I enter in season 2 but I steadfastly refused as I still had another year of honours ahead and as much as I could deal with my life being broadcast on national television, I was not comfortable with my loved ones having their lives invaded.

Today was the top 50 who were about to be whittled down to 24 by the end of the week. Their challenge was to create a nommy bbq dish in 90 minutes. Some looked very tasty. I especially wanted Marian's bbq prawn salad.

The 10 worst dishes had to face elimination where 5 would stay and 5 would go. As their pressure test, they had to make Donna Hay's pavlova. A dish that every Australian has eaten but surprisingly few have attempted. Personally I have only made a chocolate version and even then not very often.

The recipe can be found here.
The tips given were to make sure that the egg whites were stiff before adding the sugar and to add the sugar gradually.

I enjoyed watching this at work whilst communicating with A via sms. We couldn't be in the same room and watch so we smsed instead. It was fun.

Our plan now is to make fructose friendly pizza and pav on saturday night. I think we're using the Donna Hay recipe and maybe the Daring Bakers pizza challenge from a year ago.

Alas

Girls lunch has been cancelled as one of the girls can't make it. Oh well, we will all see each other at choir camp in a few weeks time. I am head chef. It's all meant to be vegetarian so this is the menu so far.

Morning tea - fruit and biscuits
lunch - tomato and bean/lentil soup and a pumpkin and eggplant tagine. (something exciting and not so exciting) with sandwiches
afternoon tea - antipasto things
dinner - baked potatoes with bean topping, carrot salad, roasted cauliflower and roast veg salad.
dessert - either birthday cake or a fruit cobbler/crumble

morning tea - either PW's cinnamon buns or birthday cake
lunch - leftovers!
afternoon tea - find your own!

I also found out that they would like me to do something special for their next concerts supper. I normally whip up large amounts of choc chip bikkies. This time they are thinking of doing something a bit more professional and have asked for a selection of things. I'm thinking 2 types of biscuits, a slice and some cupcakes. Not sure about normal sized cupcakes or smaller yet but I'll figure it out.

Otherwise, something in my house is making me itch.

Remind me at some point that I have more cake photos to put up from the last wedding and 21st.