Best leftovers ever.

The first time I had chilaquiles was for breakfast, served with huevos divorciados. Basically just stale tortillas cooked in sauce. Nothing fancy, but just. so. good.

I've gotten chilaquiles at restaurants a few times, but this weekend I finally made the dish myself. Out came my Rick Bayless cookbook and away I went, with some additions. I put leftover cooked chicken into the mix, along with peppers from the garden. I don't know what kind of peppers they are, probably Anaheim.

Ingredients

12 corn tortillas, cut into sixths and baked until crispy
1 (28 ounce) can whole canned tomatoes, drained
3 chipotle chiles in adobo
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 chopped medium onion
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 1/2 cups chicken broth (vegetable broth can be used if you prefer)
salt
1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, coarsely shredded
1/4 cup queso fresco
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions

Pour the drained tomatoes and the chipotles (seeds and all) into a blender. Puree the mixture.

In a large Dutch oven with a lid, heat the vegetable oil and cook about the onion, stirring regularly, for about 7 minutes or until golden. I also added my homegrown peppers at this point.


Add the garlic and cook for another minute, stirring so garlic doesn't burn.

Increase heat to medium-high and add tomato/chipotle puree. Stir until the mixture thickens up a bit, about 4 or 5 minutes. Although Bayless' recipe called for the chicken to be served more like a garnish, this is where I added my chicken. I wanted it heated and seasoned through.


Stir in the broth, and salt to taste. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the chips and stir to coat. Bring sauce and chips to a rolling boil again. Cover the pan, turn off the heat and allow to stand for 5 minutes (no longer, because the chips should be a bit chewy and not mushy). Serve with cilantro and cheese sprinkled on top.



This would be super easy to cut down to smaller portions, and next time I have a few leftover corn tortillas I'll definitely make chilaquiles again.

Love Me Tender Tartlets

On Wednesday I attended a "Top Chef" viewing party. Just sitting around watching "Top Chef" isn't much of a party, so we all made a dish inspired by Las Vegas, the location for this season. Bridget, our hostess, made it clear that our food could be either "classy or trashy." Limitless possibilities.

I've never been to Vegas. Everyone yells at me when I say that, but I'm not into gambling or strip clubs, so that removes 75% of the draw right there. When I think Vegas, I think Elvis. And no food says Elvis like a peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwich. Just slapping together a PBB&B doesn't really count as cooking in my book. So I decided to fancy it up a bit. I wanted appetizer-size portions, as this was going to be served at a party. Maybe this would be the time to put my mini-muffin pan to use.

Jim deserves the credit for this dish, really. He came up with making a shell out of peanut butter cookie and filling it with banana pudding. Inspired! And listen, I know just moments ago I complained that making a sandwich isn't cooking, so using store-bought cookie dough is kinda hypocritical. It is, I fully admit that. But I have a job and stuff, and I can't just be making cookies from scratch all the time. I know how to make peanut butter cookies. There is no challenge for me there. So I cheated. I used a tube of cookie dough. So shoot me. This was the first of many, eh, challenges. Because cookie dough rises. A lot. A lot more than you think it will when you smoosh it down into a mini-muffin tin.

I melon-ballered my way out of ruin. The cookie crusts weren't exactly what I had in mind, but they were peanut-buttery, and that was their purpose in life.


Next, the filling. Pudding is a common vehicle for banana, and it would dollop into my crusts nicely. Plus, I had a ton of eggs on hand. So I made banana pudding. From scratch. I'm not super into banana, but this was good. Panic did set in for a moment, that moment when you think, I've been whisking an awfully long time, and the recipe said this was going to start thickening. Why isn't it thickening?! Why can't I even make stupid pudding? I am a failur.... Oh, wait, now it's getting thick. Phew. Nevermind.


And for the final touch: BACON! So, this is sorta weird, I know, and I was kinda nervous. I didn't know who would be at this party, maybe they would think I was nuts. Maybe they wouldn't be the kind of people to try chocolate-covered bacon on a stick or a Maple Bacon Latte. But then I thought, do I really want to be associating with people like that? No, I do not. So I fried up my bacon and sprinkled it on top of those innocent little tartlets and they were transformed into Something Different.


Did my Love Me Tender Tartlets jettison to the top of my go-to party food list? No. But they'll go down as one of the more interesting dishes I've made. And I think it's safe to say they definitely fit the bill of a "Top Chef," Vegas inspired dish.

Beeting: The Habit

I have a compulsive personality, which manifests in many ways. Perhaps the least damaging, though, is the fact that I bought MORE BEETS when I went to the farmers market on Saturday. Seriously, guys, what am I going to do with all these beets? I still have some from the week before in the fridge.

It could be worse, I guess. Beets don't make you loot American Indian burial grounds.