Receta: Calabaza

So, I know; it's been forever! But I will try my best to get back to this.

Today, I have some work to get through, but not too much that would make it impossible for me to make lunch. And lucky me, look what I spotted at the store this morning.

Calabaza (calabasa) squash; sometimes called Mexican squash

I decided that I'd make one of my favorite dishes, calabasa con puerco. You can make it with chicken if you want, but I only ever recall having it with pork. This dish is easy to make; you can make it like a soup, which is how I prefer it, or you can make it a little less soupy.

So, here we go with today's dish. I didn't buy all of those squash, just seven (7) of them. I, of course, stocked up on my three colors as well. And I bought some boneless, center cut pork chops (about 1/2 a pound). If I was making this for the family--and not for me for the next few days--I'd probably up that pork to about 1 1/2 pounds, but I like the squash so much, I didn't want a ton of pork in it. It's up to you how you like; try it a couple of different ways--heck, even make it with chicken--to figure out what you like best.

So, I started with chopping everything up. I used half a field grown tomato, half a bell pepper, one-quarter of an onion, and about one-quarter cup of cilantro. These don't have to be finely chopped up, again depending on how you like your soup. And, of course the calabasas and pork--both in cubes.

Cut up vegetables

Calabasas, cut up

Pork chops, cut in cubes

Then it was time to work on my spices; if you don't recall how to do this, go here. For this, I used about 2 teaspoons of cumin, 2 gloves of garlic, and a few peppercorns and tossed those into my molcajete to grind up.

Spices in molcajete, ready to grind.

Spices, ground up

You'll need a large quart pot; I used my 10 or 12 quart. Then add a small amount of oil, to sparingly cover the bottom of the pot and toss the pork in to cook until browned on medium heat.

Pork in lightly oiled pot.

Pork chops, browned.

Now it's time to add your vegetables--not the calabasa--spices, salt (to taste), and about 3/4 cup of water to your pork.

Pork, vegetables, spices, and water.

Pork with bell pepper, onion, tomato, and cilantro

You'll want that to cook and blend the flavors, about 10 minutes and medium low heat. Then it's time to toss in the calabasa and a little bit of water--but not a lot, because calabasa, like many other vegetables and squashes, has a pretty high water content. So I added about 3/4 cup of water when I tossed in the calabasa. Stir, cover, and cook on medium low heat.

Mix with spices and water.

Add the calabasa 

As you see, as the calabasa cooks down, there is now more liquid to the pot.

Cooking down, on low medium heat.

Make sure you stir up the calabasa as it cooks down; you may find you'll need to add more water. I added another 1/2 cup at this point; as I said, I like it soupy.

Then there's just a few more things to do; I made the calabasa with arroz (rice) today, so I had some tomato sauce left over and I tossed that in the pot--totally not necessary, but I hate to throw it out once I've opened a can. And the other thing that you need to add--and this is a necessary--is a can of corn (or a frozen bag of corn or if you feel like shucking cutting fresh off the cob, you can do that, too. Drain the corn well and then toss it into the pot.

Can of corn

Corn added to the pot

  

After that, it's just a matter of continuing to cook down the calabasa (covered) until it's cooked soft and the "soupy" level you desire. Today's batch looked like this when I was done:

Today's calabasa

And as I said, I made arroz to go with it. Usually if the family is eating, I'll bust out with corn tortillas and some refried beans; but this was just for me and I don't need all that stuff when it comes to calabasa.

Just a serving

Let me know if you try this recipe and what you think!

¡Hasta la proxíma vez!

Receta: Frijoles charros

Today's recipe is one of my favorite to make because it is so easy. It can be served as a side dish to accompany enchiladas or mole or can just be eaten by itself as a soup, which is one of my favorites, especially on a cool day.

To start with you need pinto beans. For this I used a one-pound bag of beans. Some stores have beans in a crate that you can measure and bag yourself, but those didn't look so good when I checked.

One-pound bag of pinto beans

Next you take the beans out of the bag, put them in a colander and rinse them well. You are removing traces of dirt and also looking for "bad" beans or other debris that may have found its way into the beans.

Rinsing the beans

Finding bad beans and debris (i.e., rock)

 Once you have thoroughly rinsed your beans and fished out all the bad beans, which look very wrinkled, are darker, or the skin comes off, you place the beans in a large pot or olla (sometimes called a jaro) and cover them with water. You put about twice as much water as there are beans. Then you put it on the stove, cover, and cook on low for about two hours, checking to see how your beans are progressing.

Beans in the pot, with twice as much water as beans.

Beans on the stove, covered, on low heat

Cooking beans

When the beans start to lose their markings and are still a little hard, it is time to add the rest of the ingredients.These include bacon, garlic, onion, tomato, and cilantro. Some people also add jalapenos to their beans, I don't care for them that way. But if you like your beans with a little kick, the beans can definitely be made that way.

Other add-ins

I suggest a good thick cut bacon for beans because it adds a good amount of flavor to the beans. You take about four slices, cut them up, and then cook them on the stove in a frying pan.

Cut up bacon

Frying up bacon

 While the bacon is frying, it is a good time to chop up the vegetables, about a 1/2 cup of onion, 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, and about two tomatoes.

Chopped up veggies

 When the bacon is about cooked, add both the onion and garlic to cook them up as well. 

Adding garlic and onion to the bacon to cook.

Then it's time to finish cutting up the tomatoes and cilantro.

Tomatoes and cilantro

 Add the bacon, garlic, onion, tomato, and cilantro to your beans, add salt--but be careful because the bacon does add some salt--to your beans. You may have to add a little more water to your beans, depending on how soupy you like them. Cover the pot and continue to cook for another hour or so on low heat until the beans are completely soft.

When you're done and served up, your frijoles charros should look something like this:

Ready to eat!

Let me know if you try this recipe or how you like to make your frijoles.


¡Hasta la proxíma vez! 

Receta: Salsa Roja

I know, I didn't think I'd get to this either, but it's time for another receta (recipe). This is one of my favorite red salsas to make, especially during football season. There's just something about chips and freshly made salsa that satisfies that need to munch while you watch your favorite team squirrel away their hopes of winning a game or pounding the other team into oblivion. . . .

Ingredients for Mild Salsa
4 Roma tomatoes
1/4 cup onion
1/4 cup cilantro
2 cloves garlic
La Costeña canned jalapeno slices
salt to taste

I have used a mini chopper in the past, but prefer a blender because it holds more. So I start off with two Roma tomatoes (tops and bottoms cut off) and then I roughly cut them up into smaller pieces.

Two Roma tomatoes

Two Romas, cut into pieces

 Then I cut up onion, cilantro, and garlic.

Onion, rough chop.

Cilantro, rough chop

Garlic, two cloves, rough chop

At this point, I put everything in the blender and decide that I need to add two more Roma tomatoes.

Two more tomatoes; rough cut these too.

This is what it all looks like in the blender:

Salsa ingredients in the blender.

At this point, I add salt. It really is to taste. So I start off with maybe 1/4 teaspoon. But now, it's time to add the jalapenos. I like my salsa mild where I can enjoy the flavors with a little amount of heat, so I use a toddler spoon (no joke) to add the jalapenos and most importantly, some of the juice to my salsa ingredients.

My preferred brand of jalapenos for salsa

jalapeno slices

Salsa, ready to blend.

I know you may be asking why I would choose to use canned jalapenos slices as opposed to fresh jalapenos. Well, for starters, they're already cut up, so I don't run the risk of burning my hands or stinging my eyes while I chop. Additionally the "pickled juice" also helps keep the salsa when it's the refrigerator. (Also, if you want hotter to start with, use Herdez brand. They are hotter.)

Now it's time to blend:

Whirr, whirr in the blender.

Also, I suggest tasting after your first blend to make sure your salt content is OK and also to check for "hot" level. I prefer to use Tostitos Round bite-size chips. These chips are not too salty and provide a nice base for tasting the flavors in the salsa. After a taste test, I decided I need a few more jalapenos.

Adding more jalapenos

Blend in new jalapenos and taste again. That last little bit completes this batch of mild salsa. It is also mild enough for my children to eat it.

Look at all that yummy goodness!

I also have to make a batch for the hubby because he likes his much hotter than I do. So this is what the blender looks like when I make his salsa (more garlic, more onion, and the rest of the can of jalapenos and all the juice was used).

DH's salsa, ready to blend.

Whirr, whirr in the blender

DH's salsa . . . notice more green

He prefers Julio's Mexican Tortilla chips with his salsa. Let me know if you try this recipe or if you have any tips for when you make your own salsa.

¡Hasta la proxíma vez! 

Salsa Verde: Recipe

After Sunday night's meal, I had some leftover chicken, just enough to make chicken tacos. But no chicken taco (or lots of other food) is complete without some salsa verde (green salsa). So I decided to whip up a batch.

Salsa Verde

salsa verde ingredients

2 lbs tomatillos
3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup cilantro
1/2 cup onion
4 serrano peppers
1/8 cup lime juice



First, tomatillos are not the same thing as green tomatoes. So be sure that you are buying tomatillos. Usually you can tell that they are tomatillos and not tomatoes because they are wrapped in a husk and are usually smaller, especially this time of the season.

tomatillos

This recipe calls for the ingredients to be broiled (roasted), so turn on the oven to broil while you're preparing the ingredients. Now it's time to work on the tomatillos. The first step is to take the husks off of the tomatillos and rinse the tomatillo well with water. They will be sticky and may even have dirt on them, so be sure to rinse them well. Then cut the tops off and cut them in half (if they're larger size).

peeling the tomatillo

Next separate and cut into pieces 3 cloves of garlic; halve the 4 serrano peppers (deseeding some if desired); and cut into pieces the 1/2 cup of onion. Then arrange them all on a foil-lined cookie sheet.

ready to roast

Place the cookie sheet under the broiler (or in the oven) and broil until the tomatillos are charred, soft, and clear juice is running from them. The other ingredients will char, too, but will have a good roasted flavor to them. Depending on the size of your tomatillos, this can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 15 minutes. But I would advise that you remain vigilant to get the charring you want and not burn it all.

roasted

ingredients in blender

From this point, the salsa is almost made. Place all the tomatillos, onion, garlic, and cilantro into a blender. Add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Add three halves of the serrano peppers and blend well. Add the lime juice and then add more serrano peppers to desired potency. Blend well. When it is all blended, pour into a refrigerator safe bowl to allow to cool. 

salsa ready to be cooled.

For this batch of salsa: I deseeded three halves of the serranos I had, because I wanted their roasted flavor without the heat. So in the end, I used all but one half of the serrano pepper, which was still seeded. When you first taste the salsa I made, you taste the lime but by the end of the bite you have the wallop of the serranos.

As I said, I had leftover chicken so I put my salsa verde on chicken tacos, complete with avocado, cilantro, and queso fresco. It can be used on a variety of dishes, including huevos (eggs) and chilaquiles or migas or just as a stand-alone to eat with chips. The salsa will keep for up to about a week in the refrigerator but does lose its potency the older it gets. A quick side note, although this may look like the sauce that is used in green enchiladas, it is not quite the same recipe.

chicken tacos with salsa verde

¡Hasta la proxíma vez!