Wish Upon A Chef

My little casa is coming along quite nicely as far as unpacking, arranging and finding things is concerned and after sniffing alot of cleaning chemicals and nearly throwing my shoulder out of socket from scrubbing, I've finally deemed the kitchen open for business. Having never really cooked alot with a gas oven and stove, I wasn't sure how, if any, differently I would need to adjust my recipes and cooking times so I've been preparing a few test meals for myself this past week. I didn't want to suffer the horror and shame of inviting someone over for dinner and serving Entree' a la Flambe because I didn't know how to operate that thing in my kitchen called a stove (and to think I used to call myself a caterer!). So far, there doesn't seem to be much of a difference except maybe shorting the cooking/baking times by just a bit to account for the more intense, even heat that gas provides. So, after having passed the test, I decided to have my friend T. over as my first dinner guest.

I've had a hankering for chicken enchiladas for the last few days, so it was decided that the the menu would definitely have a Mexican flair with margaritas, chips, salsa and guacamole, chicken enchiladas, black beans, and chocolate flan for dessert.

The Martha Stewart side of me wanted to play bartender with homemade margaritas whizzing in my blender garnished with artfully carved lime wedges and multi-colored salts and sugars, but I'm getting older, folks, and I can't be bothered with trying to pretend that I'm somebody that I'm not. When I retired from the catering business, I swore I'd never be stressed over entertaining again. So, I did what I do best and left the rest to convenience. Pre-mixed margaritas and salsa and guacamole from the deli left me to focus on the parts of the meal that I wanted to have fun with.

Holy sombrero! Based on the looks of this nearly empty 2 liter bottle of pre-mixed margaritas that I found on my counter the next morning, it was some party! Was there a pinata involved somewhere????

My chicken enchiladas are muy bien, but I can't take full credit for the recipe. It is one of the many recipes that I use from my personal chef days and was created by Candy Wallace, who pioneered the whole personal chef concept. I love the sour cream based sauce and the fact that is incorporates my favorite combination of spices - cumin and coriander. Here are my little amigos before they went into the oven. Actually, I mocked these up for the photo because I felt silly having someone new over and snapping photos of his food from various angles. Might be misconstrued as a little weird, no?

I served these alongside a generous helping of Art Smith's recipe for black beans. Again, the combination of cumin and coriander makes it a no-brainer side dish for anything Mexican or Southwestern. Art Smith used to work as Oprah's personal chef and his cookbook, Back To The Table, has quite a few good recipes in it. He actually pairs these black beans with a pork roast.


There aren't many Mexican inspired desserts that I'm fond of, but this chocolate flan fits the bill for the finishing touch on a great dinner. I've actually blogged about this particular recipe before,but doesn't this make you want to have a mucho grande bite right now??

Enjoy the recipes mi amigas!!













Enchiladas de Pollo y Queso

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
5 tablespoons butter -- divided
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup large bell peppers -- chopped
2 cups cooked chicken -- chopped
4 ounces green chili peppers -- chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups Monterey jack cheese -- shredded
12 6 inch tortillas

Melt two tablespoons butter and cook onions and green pepper in it until softened. Remove to a bowl. Stir chopped chicken and green chilis into onion-pepper mixture. Melt remaining 3 tablespoons of butter. Blend in flour, chili powder, cumin, & coriander. Whisk in chicken broth. Cook, stirring, until sauce boils. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream and 1/2 cup cheese. Stir 1/2 cup sauce into chicken mixture.
Spoon enough sauce into bottom of pan to cover. Spoon chicken mixture into center of tortilla. Roll up and arrange in 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan; repeat with all tortillas (heat tortillas in microwave for about 15 seconds to make them easier to roll). Pour remaining sauce over tortillas. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake uncovered at 350degrees for about 25 minutes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Black Beans


Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup Chicken Broth or canned low-sodium broth
3 Roma or plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped into 1/2-inch dice
3 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the cumin, oregano and garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the broth and tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the black beans and cook until the flavors are combined, about 10 minutes more. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

Source:
"from Tropical Pork Roast with Black Beans/Back to the Table"
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Several months ago, one of the ladies who works in my catering kitchen was passing around one of those fund-raiser order forms to help her kids raise money for school. You know the ones I'm talking about....the "I feel obligated to buy something or else I'll look like a miser" fund-raiser. I thumbed through the catalog pages wondering what useless trinket I'd end up with this time when, to my delight, I realized that magazines had been added to the fund-raising repertoire! I gladly shelled out my $12 for a year's subscription to Bon Appetit and anxiously waited for the first issue to arrive.

The October issue didn't disappoint. I've ear-marked several great recipes that I hope to blog about very soon but for now I want to share this dessert with you, my "Sweet Tater Friends." I've copied the recipe verbatim from the magazine's website and I didn't make any changes when I prepared it. While the flan was baking, I was thinking that maybe I should have kicked it up a notch by adding some cinnamon or nutmeg or just something because you foodies know what I'm talking about when I say I can't help but screw around with a perfectly good recipe. In the end, I'm glad that I didn't....it turned out to be a perfectly smooth and creamy blend of flavors (I know my picture makes this look anything BUT perfect, but I'm working on taking better photos!) I did, however, run across this nifty idea for decorating the flan for Halloween. If I can make one suggestion to you, it would be to keep your eye on the caramel when you turn it to high heat. If you take your eyes off of it, you'll end up with something that resembles black strap molasses and smells equally as unattractive (listen to the voice of experience...) Oh, and also, I cut the baking time by 15 minutes. When I checked the flan at 45 minutes, it was perfect, so do pay attention to that as well. Bon Appetit!

Sweet Potato Flan

1 large red-skinned sweet potato (about 12 ounces)
1 cup sugar, divided
2 tablespoons water
1 cup half and half
4 large eggs
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons tawny Port

Preheat oven to 350°F. Pierce sweet potato with fork; roast until tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours, depending on width of potato. Cool. Cut potato in half and scoop flesh into mini processor; puree until smooth. Measure 1 cup puree (reserve any remaining puree for another use). Maintain oven temperature.

Stir 1/2 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons water in medium saucepan over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and boil without stirring until syrup turns deep amber, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with wet pastry brush, about 5 minutes. Immediately pour caramel into 8-inch-diameter metal cake pan, leaving about 2 tablespoons caramel in saucepan. Using pot holders, swirl cake pan, allowing caramel to coat bottom and about 1/2 inch up sides.

Add half and half to remaining caramel in saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until caramel dissolves. Whisk eggs in medium bowl until frothy. Whisk in cream, salt, 1 cup sweet potato puree, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Gradually whisk in hot half and half mixture. Strain into same saucepan. Stir over medium heat 1 minute. Remove from heat; whisk in Port. Pour custard into prepared cake pan.

Place cake pan in large roasting pan. Add enough hot water to roasting pan to come halfway up sides of cake pan. Bake until just set in center, about 1 hour. Remove flan from water. Chill until cold, about 5 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; keep chilled.

Dip bottom and 1 inch up sides of cake pan into pan of hot water 15 seconds. Wipe dry. Invert onto rimmed plate, scraping caramel in pan over flan.

It still tasted great!

I had a conversation with friends not long ago about how you pronounced the word "flan" (that's the kind of deep, intellectual conversations that foodies have when gathered around the campfire). I've always pronounced it like it rhymed with "on" but had heard it pronounced as if it rhymed with "anne". I think the general consensus was that it's a regional thing - like peeecan or pecaaan. Either way, this recipe for Flan de Chocolate turned out great. I haven't eaten alot of flans in my life - it wasn't a mainstay on our table growing up in rural Tennessee. I only tried making it and tasting it for the first time last year after my fellow personal chef friend, Bed & Breakfast owner, and cookbook writer, Peggy Waller shared her recipe for Lime Flan with Carmelized Pineapple. The thing I like most about flan is the creamy, lighter-than-cheesecake texture and the caramelized glaze floating on the top and oozing down the sides is always an extra bonus. It's hard to tell from the photo, but I made sure I scraped every last drop of oozy glaze from the cake pan on top of my flan. I'm ashamed to say that so far tonight, it's all that I've had to eat. If Captain Sturm were here, I'd probably feel compelled to whip up a Mexican themed dinner for the evening, but he's off roaming the streets of Memphis, TN, no doubt in search of the best BBQ for his dinner.


* Exported from MasterCook *

Flan de Chocolate

Serving Size : 6
Categories : Dessert-Misc.

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups water -- divided
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cans (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine 1 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water in a heavy saucepan; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until sugar crystallizes into lumps (15 mins). Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until sugar melts and turns golden brown (15 mins). Quickly pour hot carmelized sugar into an ungreased 8" round cakepan, tilting to coat bottom evenly. Set aside (mixture will harden).

Combine remaining 1-1/2 cups water, cocoa, and 1 tablespoon sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often. Remove from heat, and let cool.

Combine milk, eggs, and vanilla in an electric blender; cover and process just until blended. Add cocoa mixture; process until blended, stopping once to scrape down sides. Pour egg mixture over carmelized sugar in cakepan. Place cakepan in a large shallow baking dish. Add hot water to dish to depth of 1". Cover and bake at 350 for 1-1/2 hours or until a knife inserted near center comes out clean (center will still be jiggly). Remove pan from water, and let cool. Cover and chill for 8 hours.

To serve, loosen edges of flan with spatula, and invert onto a serving plate.

Source:
"America's Best Recipes"