OMGSNAX!

i didn’t start out planning to make four new recipes (plus an old favorite); i thought i’d just do enchiladas & use a jarred salsa, but then i read the fresh salsa recipe & figured i could throw it together. i also happened to have a couple avocados about to go bad, & i’d been intrigued by the cheese dip since i first saw the recipe. the brownies were a totally last-minute addition, as i realized that brian potts would eat all our newly-purchased ice cream if i didn’t come up with an alternate dessert item. he has the tendency to descend upon a refrigerator like a swarm of locusts, leaving nothing behind but a lid spinning idly in his wake.

yes, sundays have apparently become family dinner plus cartoons at daniel’s house, & i don’t object to that (although a little dish-washing help would be greatly appreciated, wieners!).

INGREDIENTS: ENCHILADAS
3 tablespoons grapeseed oil (or another high smoke-point oil such as peanut or canola oil)
12 corn tortillas
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 cup salsa (see below)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup water
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes (preferably fire-roasted)
olive oil
1 pound mild cheddar or longhorn or any mild yellow cheese, grated
a handful of cilantro
1 cup sour cream
half a head iceberg lettuce

METHOD
preheat oven to 350 F.

in a large fry pan at high heat add grapeseed oil. add a tortilla to the pan. cook for 2-3 seconds, lift up the tortilla with a spatula, add another tortilla underneath. cook for 2-3 seconds, lift again, both tortillas, & add another tortilla underneath. repeat the process with all the tortillas, adding a little more oil if needed. this way you can brown & soften the tortillas without using a lot of fat. you do this process to develop the flavor of the tortillas. as the tortillas brown a little, remove from the pan one by one to rest on a paper towel, which absorbs any excess fat.

sauté up the onion & garlic, then turn off the heat. add 1 cup of salsa. dissolve tomato paste into water, add to pan. add crushed tomatoes. if the sauce tastes too vinegary, add a teaspoon of sugar.

put some olive oil on the bottom of a large casserole pan. take a tortilla, cover 2/3 of it lightly with the shredded cheese, then roll up the tortilla & place it in the casserole pan. continue until all tortillas are filled & rolled. add sauce to the top of the tortillas in the the casserole pan. make sure all are covered with the sauce. if not, add a little water. cover the whole thing with the rest of the grated cheese. put the casserole in the oven for 10 minutes or until the cheese melts.

garnish with cilantro & sour cream. serve with sliced iceberg lettuce that has been dressed only with vinegar & salt.

INGREDIENTS: SIMPLE SALSA
1 28-oz can whole tomatoes, preferably fire-roasted (reserve juice)
1 7-oz can green chiles, chopped (or 1 large anaheim chile, roasted, peeled, stemmed, & seeded)
1 clove garlic, or 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
2 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1/4 dried oregano
1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
salt & pepper

METHOD
remove just the tomatoes from the can of whole tomatoes, place in a medium sized non-reactive mixing bowl. using your fingers, or a fork & a sharp small knife, shred or break up the tomatoes.

mix in chopped green chiles, green onions, garlic (or garlic salt), olive oil, & vinegar. add back in about 1/4 cup of the tomato sauce from the can of whole tomatoes. sprinkle in oregano. add cilantro, & salt & pepper to taste. refrigerate.

INGREDIENTS: PERFECT GUACAMOLE
2 ripe avocados
1/2 red onion, minced
1-2 serrano chiles, stemmed, seeded, & minced
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon fresh lime or lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
a dash of freshly grated black pepper
1/2 ripe tomato, seeds & pulp removed, chopped

METHOD
cut avocados in half. remove seed. ccoop out avacado from the peel, put in a mixing bowl.

using a fork, mash the avocado. add the chopped onion, cilantro, lime or lemon, salt, & pepper, & mash some more. chile peppers vary individually in their hotness. so, start with a half of one chile pepper & add to the guacamole to your desired degree of hotness. be careful handling the peppers; wash your hands thoroughly after handling & do not touch your eyes or the area near your eyes with your hands for several hours.

keep the tomatoes separate until ready to serve.

cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the guacamole to prevent oxidation from the air reaching it. refrigerate until ready.

just before serving, add the chopped tomato to the guacamole & mix.

INGREDIENTS: EL AZTECO CHEESE DIP
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
2 ounces monterey jack cheese, grated
2 ounces muenster cheese, grated
fresh garlic, crushed
2 jalapeno peppers, minced (or to taste)
2 tablespoons minced green onion

METHOD
combine cottage cheese, sour cream, & cheeses. add garlic, peppers, & green onion; mix well. refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend.

INGREDIENTS: AWESOME BROWNIES
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter
2 tablespoons water
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups chocolate chips
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

METHOD
preheat oven to 350F.

combine dry ingredients in a small bowl; set aside. in a medium saucepan, heat butter, water, & sugar over medium/medium-high heat till small bubbles form. remove from heat, add 1 cup of chocolate chips, stirring till smooth. add eggs & vanilla. add dry ingredients. add remaining cup of chocolate chips. pour into a well-greased 9×9″ baking pan & bake for 30 to 40 minutes.

DEVIATIONS & OBSERVATIONS
started off with the salsa. easy enough. even dealing with hot peppers barely intimidates me anymore (although, after the pimiento pepper incident of mind-boggling nose-related pain, i’m still VERY careful about what i do with my hands) (& for the record, i learned on the food network that water promotes the spread of the oils in hot peppers while dairy products help neutralize them, so putting a wet washcloth on my nose after i rubbed it with pepper fingers was probably the WORST thing to do — should’ve just smeared on a little ice cream!).

homemade salsa

moved on to the el az cheese dip, which i ganked from my friend leanna, who says, “they tried so hard to guard the recipe from piracy, but when you hire a bunch of stoners to cook your food, word is going to leak. this is seriously the best chip dip ever.” i hit a snag with the muenster cheese, which the woman at the deli counter sliced before i had a chance to ask her to give me a block of it, so i just cut it into thin strips on the cutting board & hoped for the best.

pre-mixing

post-mixing

the guacamole was next. i make guac all the time, but what that usually entails is mashed avocado, a couple tablespoons of salsa (to taste), a little chopped garlic, & a splash of whatever citrus juice i have (in order of preference: lime, lemon, orange). the avocados i already had were a little overripe, but the ones at the store were hard as rocks, so i used what i had. & by the way, the key to picking out a good avocado is one that’s got a little give to it, but not TOO much. (i learned this from a girl in the produce department at wild oats the first time i made guacamole from scratch with caroline, back when we used to do weekly family dinners with phil & laurel.) i used a jalapeno instead of a serrano chile as i was afraid no one would enjoy it if it was too spicy.

homemade guacamole

next up: brownies. i’ve made this recipe so many times that i could probably do it in my sleep. my mom used to make these when i was in middle school, & my friends janice & jennifer gave them the appelation “awesome brownies” — it’s just a standard tollhouse recipe, i think. the one innovation my mom came up with was the best way to get the brownies out of the pan. she actually greases the pan, then puts down a layer of waxed paper, then greases the waxed paper — otherwise, the brownies are pretty hard to get out. (i used parchment paper, which was a snap.)

homemade guacamole

while the brownies were in the oven & the various chip dips were in the fridge, i got started on the enchiladas. valerie & sarah grated the cheese while i made the enchilada sauce & fried up the tortillas.

enchilada sauce

val & sarah

before reading the recipe, i thought this might be kind of a challenging dish — & i bet cooking with meat adds an element of difficulty — but really? SO EASY. i didn’t bother with the garnish or the iceberg lettuce, but i’m sure that’d be fairly easy to throw together.

rolled-up enchiladas

my plate

eating at OMGSNAXFEST ‘06: daniel, brian potts, val, bart, sarah, & me. dave joined us for brownies.

bart & brian: boys with beards, eating & watching The Simpsons

the enchiladas wouldn’t have fed all six of us had the chips & dips not been available, but with all that, it was just right. the boys polished off the el az cheese dip (i think cottage cheese & sour cream are gross, but brian & daniel both said it was really good); val & i ate most of the guacamole, which would’ve been better with a little less onion (this particular red onion was very strong); there’s a fair amount of salsa left, but everything else was just toast.

A++ would make again!

 

 

“Enchiladas,” “Simple Salsa,” & “Perfect Guacamole” from Simply Recipes; “El Azteco Cheese Dip” from leanna via livejournal’s vegrecipes community; “Awesome Brownies” from my mama!

july’s heat (& power outage) gave way to a fairly mild august, but the damage was done: i was too beat to go grocery shopping. i thought i’d ease back into my project with something simple like stuffed peppers, which i made for the first time several years ago with my cousin jennifer, who at the time was coming out of seven or eight years of being a vegetarian. we used ground turkey & rice & onions in green bell peppers, & i remember being amazed at how fancy such a simple dish could seem. this was actually my first attempt at recreating a veg version of this recipe.

INGREDIENTS
2 teaspoons canola or vegetable oil
1 large white onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno pepper or anaheim chili, cored, seeded, & minced
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon crumbled dried oregano
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
2 cups cooked black turtle beans, drained & rinsed
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 large firm red bell pepper, roasted & peeled
1 large firm yellow bell pepper, roasted & peeled
salsa

METHOD
heat the oven to 350F. squirt a shallow baking dish with nonstick spray or lightly grease with unsalted butter.

heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, swirling the pan to coat the bottom. add the onion, garlic, jalapeno or anaheim chili, cilantro, cumin, chili powder, & oregano & sauté, stirring often, until the onion softens, about 8 minutes. stir in the vinegar & beans. reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the skillet, & cook, stirring often, until the beans are very tender, about 20 minutes. using the back of a wooden spoon, mash the beans.

transfer to a mixing bowl, & stir in the cheddar & parmesan cheese. fill each pepper half with an equal amount of the bean mixture & place in the prepared baking dish. cover loosely with foil & bake until set, about 20 minutes. remove the foil & return the peppers to the oven to brown the tops, about 5 minutes more. serve with salsa.

DEVIATIONS & OBSERVATIONS
forgot to buy cilantro. my bad.

ditto cheddar & parm, but i had some so-called “mexican blend” cheese in the fridge & also part of a block of jack with jalapenos, so i subbed those cheeses in. FYI, i chose the anaheim chili over the jalapeno b/c, according to the produce department at dierberg’s, it’s rated at 3 scovilles (instead of 5, like a jalapeno), & i thought it might be a nice change.

otherwise, followed the recipe pretty exactly. i tried a new method for roasting peppers that involved, yes, the broil setting on the oven & NO oil (which spattered so scandalously last time i roasted something that i set off the smoke detector three times!), & then i shoved the pepper halves into a paper bag & stuck the bag in the freezer for ten minutes & holy cow, they were so much easier to peel sans oil (& i didn’t burn my fingers, either!).

roasted peppers

black beans, anaheim chili, onion, & spices

this recipe basically boiled down to the stuff you’d put in a bean burrito, minus the tortilla. couldn’t really go wrong — cumin + chili powder + oregano is basically taco seasoning, after all — but i will admit that they looked kind of yucky, especially b/c the peppers apparently weren’t firm enough (although the roasting is really what caused them to lay flat in the pan).

almost finished

pepper pancake

i thought it tasted fine, but i apparently won’t make it again; daniel amended his verdict of “nothing special” to “unappealing,” & didn’t finish his.

all in all, an inauspicious return to OMGSNAX: THE SNACKENING.

 

 

“Black Beans in Bell Peppers” from The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook: Your Guide to the Best Foods on Earth by Diana Shaw, 1997.

once upon a time, there was a girl who had a storied history with eggplant. this includes the time she struck up a conversation with a seemingly intelligent young man about eggplant’s membership in the nightshade family, & how she was pretty certain she’d read somewhere that eggplant was poisonous if eaten raw. (this turned out to be 100% fiction.) this young man then parlayed this innocuous conversation into an opening to send an email which contained, among other gems, the lines: “I hope you don’t freak on this , but I love to wear make-up and honor my inner Goddess/female anima” & “Linda wants you and Phil to come and hang out at my place one early eve. for mixed drinks/ tea and some neuron Xchange.”

female anima indeed.

i suppose that’s neither here nor there. the fact of the matter is that i AM that girl (!!) & i am suspicious of eggplant. but my e-friend meg (not to be confused with tortellini meg) sent me a link to this recipe with the following comment: “do you think this would taste good? i am dubious.” i’d stalled out in looking for a recipe, putting jalapeno poppers on the back burner for the time being (especially when considering this tropical heatwave we’ve been experiencing here in the stl region), & so i latched onto the terrine readily. a cold summer dish? check! involving one of my favorite cheeses? check! & possibly offering an opportunity for eggplant to redeem itself? check!

i got this email from meg the day before our crazy storm (80mph winds! etc!) knocked out my power (& that of 500,000 other people), & so, being without electricity for two days sorta cramped my cooking style, what with the electric fridge (everything perishable — perished! oh noes!) & the electric stove & the electric microwave & the electric FANS & AIR CONDITIONER & OK, when my power finally returned? it was 86 degrees on the first floor of my house & over 90 on the second! so don’t even!!

so here you’ve got it: late, but worth the wait.

INGREDIENTS
3 large red bell peppers (about 1 1/2 lbs)
2 large, long (11″), firm eggplants (about 2 1/2 lbs)
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 1/2 cups (loose) flat-leaf parsley leaves
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 oz of firm brie cheese (or fresh mozzarella), cut into 1/8″ slices (about 14 slices)

tomato sauce:
3 cloves of garlic, peeled & finely chopped
2 to 3 ripe tomatoes (1 1/4 lbs), each cut into 6 to 8 pieces
1/4 cup virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon tabasco sauce

METHOD
prepare the red peppers. arrange the red peppers on a tray & place them under a hot broiler so that their upper surfaces are about 1/2″ from the heat. broil for 15 minutes, turning occassionally, until the peppers are blistered & black on all sides. immediately transfer them to a large plastic bag & seal or tie the bag shut. let the peppers steam in their own residual heat inside the bag for 10 minutes. then peel them (the skin will slide off), split them, & seed them under cool running water. dry the flesh with paper towels.

prepare the eggplants. heat a grill or grill pan until very hot. cut the eggplants lengthwise into 1/2″ slices & lay out flat on a large flat surface such as a baking pan. brush the slices on both sides with the peanut oil, & sprinkle with salt. cook the eggplant slices on the grill, covered, for 4 minutes on each side, until they are nicely browned & softened. if your grill does not have a lid, make a tentlike lid of aluminum foil & place it over the eggplant as it cooks.

prepare the parsley. while the eggplant is grilling, soften the parsley by blanching it in boiling water for 5 to 10 seconds. remove, cool under cold water, drain.

build the terrine. line a terrine mold (loaf pan) with plastic wrap. arrange a layer of eggplant in the bottom of the mold & top it with about a third each of the red pepper pieces, parsley, & cheese. repeat, beginning & ending with a layer of eggplant, until all the ingredients are used. cover with plastic wrap & press on the wrap to compact the mixture. refrigerate.

at this point you can make the terrine in advance & store in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve it.

prepare the sauce. place the garlic & tomatoes in a blender & blend until smooth. push the mixture through a food mill (fitted with a fine screen) over a bowl. add the remainder of the sauce ingredients. mix well.

serve. to serve, pour some of the sauce on a large platter & unmold the terrine in the center. cut it into slices & serve with the remainder of the sauce.

DEVIATIONS & OBSERVATIONS
where to begin, where to begin …

eggplant:
i don’t have a grill. (what?) i don’t even know what a grill pan is. so i decided to pan fry the eggplant — my friend theresa & i made eggplant parmesan once upon a time, & i seemed to remember doing some pan frying at that point, so what could be easier? not to mention that i’m the queen of pan frying, no sweat. unfortunately, eggplant soaks up oil like nobody’s business, so all this made the eggplant a little greasy. plus, i think my slices were a little thin — not quite 1/2″ thick — so they got a little flimsy, too.

raw sliced eggplant

terrine mold:
i halved the recipe b/c, ok, i’m one person & there’s no way i needed to make this whole recipe. i still used a standard-sized loaf pan, though, so the terrine wasn’t as thick as it might have been — i think i had three layers of eggplant (& two of everything else) instead of four & three, respectively. no big deal.

eggplant & roasted peppers

terrine, layer 1

tomato sauce:
a food mill? seriously? b/c no. i added the oil to the tomatoes & garlic in the blender b/c i couldn’t remember what the instructions said (it’d been a day since i’d printed them, as i made the rest of the terrine the afternoon before), but it turned out a-okay. normally, the thought of a gazpacho kind of grosses me out (had a bad experience in high school eating ice cold gazpacho that i expected to be a warm soup), but this cold tomato sauce was really excellent, especially with the mozzarella.

strata!

the rest of it:
so apparently i still dislike eggplant. this + greasy eggplant + greasy roasted peppers = too much slippery slimy vegetable matter. take away the eggplant & the bell peppers, though, & you’re on to something! or maybe i’m just a sucker for fresh mozzarella & tomatoes in ANY format.

i plated the terrine just like i would’ve done had i served it to someone who would’ve been impressed by presentation (it was just me, so i could’ve eaten it out of the loaf pan for all i cared — but no, i had to get the glamor shot for YOU, my patiently waiting public). in fact, i took a fairly hearty slice despite the nagging feeling that i wouldn’t be too enamored of the dish. the first bite with everything all together? was good. by the third bite, though, the gag reflex was kicking in & the eggplant was pushed to one side.

i really wanted this to be good, but i REALLY didn’t like it.

on the upside, caroline’s mom? loves eggplant. & apart from the parsley (which she decided was a misstep), she really dug the terrine. i shuffled the whole thing into a tupperware & had it over at her house within the hour. i was glad to have someone enjoy it, as i’d put a decent amount of work into it, & it sort of validated that it’s not that i’m a bad cook, it’s just that i make bad decisions based on my personal preferences at times. c’est la vie.

 

 

“Eggplant & Red Pepper Terrine” from Today’s Gourmet II: Light & Healthy Cooking for the ’90s by Jacques Pépin, 1992 (via meg: the silkening)