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

you ain't gettin' this at Taco Bell, honey.

When it's late April and the day is rainy and a chilly 52 degrees, what's a Texan to do, y'all?  Make enchiladas, of course!  These are actually my favorite enchiladas to make: roasted tomatillo and chicken.  After a full day at church (complete with a really fun "Show and Tell" and lunch), I was interested in a no-fuss, easy supper.  This takes such little effort and has dynamite flavor.

First, you'll need some of these guys: tomatillos.  They look kinda dodgy on the outside, but are similar to a tomato.  If you've ever had green sauce in a Mexican restaurant, these little gems are probably behind it.  You'll need about 8 of these.

Peel 'em and they'll be sticky under that papery skin.  Rinse them off and then chop into bite-sized pieces.

Here's where your whole sauce comes together: to those tomatillos, add 2 cloves of garlic, 1/2 an onion chopped and 1/2 a jalapeno chopped in thirds.  It's a good idea to taste your jalapeno a bit, because they can range from bell pepper mild to quite kicky. Mine had some good heat (which is why I didn't use the whole thing).  Toss the veggies with a bit of canola oil (or other flavorless oil: evoo has a bit too much flavor for Mexican food) and season with salt, pepper and 1 T of cumin.  Roast 400ºF/204ºC for 20-25 minutes.

They'll look all slimy and mushy when done, but don't worry.  SO good.  Trust me.

Just a wee bite, please??

While tomatillos + friends are roasting, prep your enchilada filling.  Now, of course, one could roast your own chicken or use leftovers.  Or, if one wants to take the easy route, just buy a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store.  It shreds really nicely for enchiladas.

The enchiladas are easy to put together: just corn tortillas (never use flour tortillas to make enchiladas unless you never outgrew your elementary school penchant for paste) filled with white cheddar cheese and the chicken.

Once those tom's are good n' roasted, blend them in a food processor with 3/4 cup of warm chicken stock, until smooth.  Taste to see if it needs any seasoning.  Tomatillos have a tang to them, so I usually go a bit lighter on salt when using them.  And that's your sauce.  To quote the indomitable Ina, how easy is that?

Pour sauce over enchiladas and top with extra chicken.  (I ended up using half of a rotisserie chicken to make 10 enchiladas, the other half's in the freezer for emergency lemon chicken soup if I have a cold.)  Note slightly creepy grin on my enchilada-desiring dog.  Ha.

Bake for 20 minutes at 350ºF/176ºC, until well-heated through.  The sauce is really nice and thick, so won't bubble a lot.

These enchiladas are best with sour cream on top, and if you're feeling a bit fancy, put some in a ziploc bag and snip the end off to make a piping bag.  It also helps detract from the way my enchiladas somehow fell apart in the short journey from the baking dish to the plate.  These enchiladas have delightful flavor: the tang from the tomatillos, heat from the jalapenos and creamy goodness of sour cream is splendid.

Bon appetit!
lilrevchef

Welcome!

Welcome to my brand new blog on my favorite thing: food!

This will be the place where I share old recipes I love, new experiments in my kitchen and whatever other culinary adventures that happen to come my way. I'm a Presbyterian minister of the foodie variety and have shared many delicious morsels on my first blog, Glimpses of Grace, a place where I record holiness in the everydayness of life. I wanted to get a bit more creative about sharing my cooking and eating joys all in one place, and so this lil' blog was born!

Now, some of you who may have googled wild honey and randomly found yourself here will wonder what this "hold the locusts" business is all about. It's just where my nerdy theological self and food-obsessed self meet. You see in the Bible, John the Baptist is known for several strange practices: wearing camel hair (in the summer! in the desert! crazy!), eating wild honey (well, that's acceptable) and eating locusts (they have a nice...texture??). Yep, he was his own person. Hence, the name for this blog: a place where another strange religious-type seeks to enjoy whatever cuisine comes her way (with the notable exception of locusts thankyouverymuch). I hope you enjoy stopping by and I hope we share many meals together over this communal interweb.

And speaking of sharing meals...let's get started, shall we? You're gonna see a lot of pictures on this here blog because I love taking them and I'm a visual person, so sharing recipes that way makes the most sense to me. We're starting with something simple that I eat nearly every morning since being back in Texas, y'all: breakfast taquitos. In Texas, a taquito is a flour or corn tortilla filled with all sorts of delicious combinations with egg: chorizo (the BEST), veggies (like mine here), bacon & potato (beats a McD's bacon, egg & cheese biscuit every time) and anything else folks dream up. Mine are simple (like I said)...just egg, onion and bell pepper. This recipe's just to make my breakfast, so that's 1 generous serving. So, here we go:

You'll need couple of these round things. They're pretty much my favorite food.

Saute some onion and bell pepper (about 1/4 c each): red, orange or yellow, whatever you like. I find green bell peppers to often be bitter (must be jealous of their brighter cousins). One of the most basic important cooking tips from lilrevchef here: season every layer of cooking. Salt & pepper those veggies, they'll soften quicker and take in the seasoning. Cook until soft and starting to caramelize (brown) a bit.

Whisk those eggs together with the high-tech tool pictured above and, of course, s&p those eggaroos.

Cook 'em with your peppers & onions until they're as done as you like. I like mine pretty firm, but to each their own. Toss on some cheese, again as much as you like.

You'll need to heat up your tortillas. Put a cast iron skillet or grill pan on high heat, heat tortillas about 1 min on each side to get a nice char on 'em. You don't need any oil on the pan at all. Then fill those delicious tortillas with your scrambled eggs, top generously with hot sauce (that recipe will appear here one of these days) and enjoy! A fabulous way to start the day...so long as you have a nice cup of coffee to go with it. Don't ever forget the coffee!

Thanks for perusing my inaugural post. I'm looking forward to many more. I will be out of town for the rest of this week, so you might not hear from me til I'm back, but fear not, I'll have more tasty things to share. In the meantime, leave a comment!

Bon appetit!

lilrevchef