what's corny and cheesy and delicious all over?

There are many blessings found in living in a small town.  This week, that blessing was fresh-picked-from-the-garden corn.  Last night, I used some of it in a simple pasta with shrimp, tomatoes and white wine.  Tonight, I decided to take those same veggies and make something entirely different: roasted veggie enchiladas!  I think this is because it was raining.  We Texans like to make enchiladas when it's rainy (or sunny, for that matter).

                      Get ready for a sensational seasonal supper, y'all!

Cut the corn off of two cobs (trying not to let those kernels fly all over the kitchen like confetti).  Then chop two roma tomatoes (sans seeds), 3 cloves of garlic (chopped large) and a large shallot or half an onion.  Drizzle with vegetable oil (not evoo: it has too strong a flavor for this) and season liberally with 1 T cumin, 1 t chili powder, salt and pepper to taste.

 Roast at 400ºF/204ºC for about 15 minutes.

 While those veggies are roasting, get going on your enchilada sauce.  Add enough oil (vegetable again) just to cover the bottom of a small pan (about 3 T) and go a bit crazy with the cumin.  Also add a bit of chili powder and enough flour to soak up all of the oil.

The French call this sort of sauce base a roux.  But we're making Mexican, we'll just call it deliciosa.

Add in about 1 T of tomato paste, which gives it a rich color and depth of flavor.

Then add about 1 1/2 cups chicken stock.  When my family makes enchilada sauce, they just use water, which tastes great too once it thickens.  I must've been thinking of this as I made my sauce, because I seasoned it with salt and pepper without tasting it, thus making it waay too salty.  Like Atlantic Ocean salty.  *Must remember how salty chicken stock can be!*  If at first you don't succeed...

 ...try and try again.  Much better.

 Grate some cheese as that sauce thickens (again).  I just used colby jack because it's what I had, but pepper jack would add a nice kick.

Now, get your corn tortillas ready to fill with those spicy roasted veggies and mild cheese.  Unless you never outgrew that "eating paste" phase from kindergarden and like all your food to be paste-ish, only use corn tortillas.  Very fresh corn tortillas will probably roll up without tearing, but mine have been hanging in the fridge for a few weeks (they last a good long while) and so they needed a quick dip in hot oil to soften them so they wouldn't tear.

Fill each tortilla (I made eight enchiladas) with a tablespoon or so of filling and cheese.  Roll up.

Cover with that delightful sauce.  I actually strained mine through a sieve, just to be sure I got a nice smooth sauce.  Top with a bit more cheese and a sprinkling of chili powder.  If you have any filling leftover, put that across the top as well.

Cover with foil so they don't dry out, and bake for 15 minutes at 400ºF/176ºC.  Uncover and cook 5 minutes more.

Here you have it!  Top with cilantro, or if cilantro is as appealing to you as kindergarten paste, chopped scallions will do.

 Absolutely deliciosa.  Full of flavor and very satisfying.

Poor Hayden didn't even get one bite.

Bon appetit!
Lilrevchef

take that, February

Kale and Smoked Sausage Soup

Feelin' chilly, chickadees?  Find yourself wearing socks to bed and contemplating wearing more than one scarf at a time?  Well, this divine soup will warm you right up.  It's from Martha Stewart (recipe here).  The recipe makes enough for 4 hungry folks, or one chilly single gal with leftovers for the fridge and freezer.  Take those mittens off for a minute and let's get started!

Chop one onion and saute in a deep soup pot for about 10 minutes in 1 tbsp of olive oil on medium heat.

Add two chopped cloves of garlic and as much crushed red pepper as you like (I used about 1/2 teaspoon).

Cook for just a couple of minutes and then add in about 6 cups of chicken broth/stock.  If you're Ina Garten and live in the Haaamptons and have minions to make homemade chicken stock for you, use that.  If not, join me in using the quick boxed stuff.  I meant to buy low-sodium broth.  Using this broth (combined with the chicken sausage that comes later), I didn't need to add salt to this soup at all.

Add in some potatoes (again as many as you like).  I used these adorable teeny taters, but if you're using a larger potato, use 3 large potatoes and cut into bite-sized pieces.

Cover and bring to a boil and then simmer, uncovered, for about fifteen minutes until those spuds are tender.  (Le Creuset did not pay me for this product placement...yet.)

Now take a big bunch of kale.  Kale is one of those "superfoods" that is very good for you.  It also happens to be just about the cheapest fella in the produce section.

 (Apparently Hayden wants some more kale in his life.)

 After rinsing your kale, you want to take those tough stems out.  The easiest way to do this is put your knife against the side of the stem, hold the knife in place, and pull the stem upwards.  Chop roughly.

Now let's get our chicken sausage ready.  Oh, this stuff is good.  You want to buy pre-cooked chicken sausage (it's actually the easiest way to find chicken sausage).  I found this delightful roasted red pepper and asiago chicken sausage and used three links of it.

Half the sausage lengthwise and cut in half moons.  Or half circles.  Or Pacman smiley shapes.

 (Hayden got really excited when the chicken sausage made an appearance!)

Now that the potatoes are tender, give the soup a little whir with an immersion blender until just a bit blended (but still with plenty of potato pieces).  If you don't have one of these contraptions, you can take half of the soup and puree it in a food processor or a blender.  If you don't have either one of those, you can just take a potato masher to it.  If you don't have a potato masher, then honey, get thyself to Target.

Add in the chicken sausage and kale and simmer until the kale is tender, about 10 more minutes.

 Whenever I'm cooking with any kind of green, I always add a little bit of freshly grated nutmeg.  It just wakes up the flavors.

And that's it!  The broth is rich and deeply flavored from the sausage, the potatoes are delightfully creamy and the kale adds a great heartiness.

What a way to beat that February cold snap.

Bon appetit!

Lilrevchef

sweet potato supper

Sweet potato, I'm a fan.  You're just so tasty.  My Grandmother likes a good sweet potato, and I was recently at a steak restaurant that served my little steak with a side of baked sweet potato.  So, I've just been loving these fluffy, knobbly little spuds lately.  And word on the street is that they're really good for you (perhaps sans that delicious butter and cinnamon sugar).  Tonight, I was making supper out of my sweet potato.  It was a total invention, but turned out so yummy.

 Mmm.  Fluffy, creamy sweet potato piled high with slightly-bitter balsamic roasted radicchio, nutty gruyere, salty proscuitto and  fresh parsley.  What a tasty combination.  I'm always watching the Food Network, and they speak about creating food that combines as many flavors as possible (sweet, salty, acidic etc) and this hits on all of them.

First, you need to bake your potato.  Give it a good prod with a fork (there are urban legends that potatoes baked without doing this explode.  Let's face it, who really wants to put that to the test?).  

Put your sweet spud on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake at 400ºF/204ºC for about an hour.

 In the meantime, you can prep your radicchio. Some of you may have never heard of this little guy.  It's Italian chicory, with a pungent flavor that adds an earthiness to whatever you put it in.  Give it a rinse and chop into bite-sized pieces (removing the extra bitter white core).

Look at my purty fleur de sel!  I found it at a local specialty store.  It's the exact same stuff I bought for my mom when I was in Geneva.  And yes, fancy salt gets me excited, y'all!

Toss on a baking sheet with salt and pepper, evoo and a hearty dash of balsamic vinegar.  The sweetness of the balsamic counteracts the bitterness of the radicchio beautifully.  Roast at 400/204 for 15 minutes, until nearly tender and slightly crispy at the edges.  I actually roasted the radicchio after my potato was done baking, because I spent the potato baking time skyping with delightful Jo in Cambridge.

Here's how it will look when it's done.  I know it looks burnt, but it's not!  It's a deep purple already and the balsamic vinegar caramelizes a bit on it.  Yum yum.  If you find that it's still too bitter for your taste, just add a bit more balsamic vinegar.

 Now, for a salty kick, chop up some pancetta.  Since we're going with an Italian veggie, this bacon is a great choice.  It's unsmoked (but quite salty), and you can get it at the butcher nice and thick and just cube it up.  (You can, of course, just use regular bacon.)

    

Saute on medium-high until crispy.    

And then drain on a paper towel.  Feel free to nibble on a couple pieces.  It's a Monday, y'all.  You've earned it!

 Chop up some fresh parsley.

Open that brilliant orange potato and smush it a bit (technical term) so it has room for all the goodies.

Pile it high with roasted radicchio, some large grates of nutty gruyere cheese, crispy pancetta and fragrant parsley.  It doesn't need butter or oil at all...just a final drizzle of balsamic vinegar around your plate to dip each bite in will do ya.

Now that's an elegant baked potato.  Balanced, powerful flavors, vibrant colors and pretty healthy, too.  What a way to begin the week.

(Sadly, there was none left for the precious pup once I was done.)

Bon appetit!

Lilrevchef