Green Chile Cheeseburger

This is my homemade version of this New Mexico favorite, and I thank my sister for the idea of using soy sauce. If you want to skip all the cooking and do a bit of driving instead (see Driving 580 Miles for a Burger on Beez's blog), you could just go to the Owl Cafe in San Antonio, New Mexico for one of the world's best Green Chile Cheeseburgers. Be sure to follow the recommendation in the restaurant review (click on the Owl Cafe link given here) and go up the road afterwards for some homemade fudge for dessert. My family heartily recommends the Chocolate Coconut Fudge.

Ingredients:

Savory Hamburger Buns (made with or without the oregano, marjoram, or basil)--you may substitute store-bought hamburger buns if you must

The best ground round you can get

Soy sauce

Fresh ground black pepper

Fresh green New Mexico chile, peeled, seeded, and chopped (if you are silly enough to live somewhere else than New Mexico, you can order fresh chile from Hatch Chile Express in August of any year, and prepare it like this).

Slices of Monterey Jack cheese

Directions:

Mix the soy sauce and black pepper with the meat. Shape the meat into patties about 1/3 lb. each. Grill over an open fire. When almost done, top with a generous amount of green chile and a slice of cheese. Grill further until the cheese melts.

Lightly toast the split hamburger buns. Assemble the burgers with chopped lettuce, sliced tomato, and a slice of sweet onion, if you wish. Eat them outside on a summer day on a covered patio.

Thai Iced Tea

The taste of Thai iced tea is very distinct, strong, sweet and delicious. And it's orange. It's traditionally made from a regional Thai red-leafed tea that has been spiced with cardamom and star anise. There are many versions and recipes online. This one looks right to me (except I might want to try this with condensed milk instead of evaporated milk + sugar). It's from instructables.com, and I borrowed much of the language:

--2/3 cup Thai Tea Leaves (Go to your local Asian food store and look for “Thai Seasoning Mix” or “Thai Tea Dust”. It usually comes in a clear plastic brick-like bag, and looks like dark brown shredded tea leaves. The kind I have right now is called “Police Dog Brand Thai Tea Dust.”)
--1 2/3 cup Water, filtered
--1/2 cup Sugar
--1 1/2 cup Evaporated Milk (12oz can)

Bring water to a boil in a pot with some head space. You'll need room for the tea leaves, you'll be using a lot. When the water begins to boil, remove the pot from the heat to stop the boiling, and then add the tea leaves to the pot, stirring to moisten them. Don't try to use a tea bag, or tea ball, or anything, we are using a LOT of tea, and we need it to steep fully. Don't boil the tea! It will be bitter! Just let it sit in the hot water. Steep for 4 minutes, then carefully strain the tea into your heat resistant pitcher through a sieve or tea sock. When the tea is in the pitcher, add your sweetener, and stir to dissolve. You have to add the sweetener when the tea is hot, otherwise you'll never get it to dissolve fully. Put the tea in the fridge for a few hours to cool it down. To serve the tea, fill a tall glass with ice, and pour the tea over the ice, leaving about 1/4 of the glass empty at the top. Open a can of evaporated whole milk (NOT sweetened condensed milk), and top the glass off with it. Pour slowly, so that the layers stay distinct. Serve with a straw or long spoon for mixing!

Pad Thai

During my 2001 visit with Auntie Bucksnort, she introduced me to Thai take-out. We ate Chicken and Vegetable Pad Thai and drank Thai Iced Teas. It's hard to imagine the world when this was all so new to me! Today, Thai fast-food is nearly as popular as Chinese fast-food (in New York, anyhow). Unfortunately, as the popularity increased, the quality became extremely unreliable and inconsistent, just like it did with Chinese food in the 80s. Light springy veggie-heavy noodles have arrived at my apartment door a decade later as fatty brownish slop. Here's a recipe from About.com, with my modifications.

--8 oz Pad Thai Rice Noodles (thin, flat linguine-like noodles)
--3/4 tbsp Tamarind Paste
--1/4 cup Hot Water
--3 tbsp Thai Fish Sauce (or 3 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce)
--1/2 to 2 tsp Thai Chili Sauce
--3 tbsp Brown Sugar
--1 and 1/2 cup Protein (such as Chicken, Shrimp or Tofu), marinaded in 3 tablespoons Soy Sauce and 1 teaspoon Cornstarch
--Peanut Oil for frying
--4 cloves Garlic, minced
--1 Shallot, finely chopped
--3-4 heads of Baby Bok Choy, or other Chinese cabbage, roughly chopped
--3-4 tbsp Chicken Stock
--2 Eggs
--2 cups Bean Sprouts
--2 Green Onions, sliced
--1/3 cup fresh Cilantro
--1/4 cup ground (or well-chopped) Peanuts
--Lime Wedges

Bring a pot of water to a boil and remove from heat. Soak noodles in the hot water for 6-10 minutes. Noodles are ready to drain when they are soft enough to eat, but still firm and a little bit "crunchy". Drain and rinse with cold water. Dissolve the tamarind paste in the 1/4 cup hot water. Add the fish sauce, chili sauce and brown sugar and mix well until sugar has dissolved. Set aside. Place your wok (or large frying pan) over medium-high heat. Add 1-2 tablespoons oil plus the garlic and shallot. Stir-fry 1 minute. Add the marinated protein and stir fry until cooked (7-8 mins for chicken. 3-4 mins for shrimp). Add the bok choy plus the chicken stock. Stir-fry 2 minutes, or until bok choy is bright green and slightly softened. Push ingredients to the side of the pan and add 1/2 tablespoon more oil to the middle. Add the eggs and stir-fry briefly to scramble them. Push them to the side and add a little more oil to the middle. Add the drained noodles and 1/3 of the tamarind sauce. Stir-fry everything together for 1 minute using 2 utensils and a tossing motion (like tossing a salad). Add a little more sauce and continue stir-frying in the same way for 1-2 more minutes, or until the noodles begin to soften and become sticky. Add the bean sprouts plus the remaining sauce. Stir-fry for 1-3 more minutes. Serve on a platter with the green onion, cilantro, and ground nuts sprinkled on top. Lime wedges on the side.

Green Chile--How to Process It

Waiting in line at the chile roaster

In New Mexico, you can go to the farmers' markets and buy a big sack of fresh green chiles, which they will roast for you. When you get home with your bag of chiles, still hot from the roaster, you can dump a couple of pounds at a time into ice water to cool them down, then drain them and pack them into quart freezer bags and pop them into the freezer. Some people like to peel them before freezing, but we just peel them when we are ready to use them. The skins slip off nicely when the chiles are partially thawed.

When we lived in New Hampshire we used to have a couple of boxes of chiles shipped out from Hatch, NM every fall. It was a lovely September tradition to work out on the deck on a sunny afternoon, under the big umbrella, roasting the chiles on the gas grill. Then, we continued as above with the ice water bath, etc.

It is a wonderful feeling to face winter with a freezer-full of green chiles, just waiting to go into all those wonderful New Mexican recipes. In New Mexico, many people say they have an extra freezer just for the chiles because they put up so many pounds, but that just might be what they tell the newcomers. Who knows?

Migas

Long before I ever came to New Mexico, I read about a breakfast dish called Migas, which is a way of cooking eggs and leftover bits of corn tortillas together. I did my best to come up with a version back in New Hampshire and we all grew quite fond of it.

Now that I live in New Mexico, I have eaten several versions in restaurants. This rendition, from Texas Cooking, seems to come closest to my idea of the perfect Miga breakfast.

• 4 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon salsa (your favorite, but it should be chunky)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 6-inch corn tortillas, torn into small pieces
• 1/4 cup finely chopped white onion
• 2 tablespoons chopped green chiles
• 1 medium tomato, seeds and pulp removed, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped avocado, sprinkled with a little lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh cilantro
• 2/3 cup grated mild cheddar or Monterrey jack cheese, or combination of both
• crema or sour cream

In a small bowl, lightly beat together the eggs, water and salsa, and set aside.

Warm the butter and olive oil in a heavy skillet. Add the tortilla pieces and sauté until softened. Add the chopped onion and sauté until it is transparent. Stir in the chopped green chiles.

Pour the egg mixture into the skillet, and "scramble" until eggs are done. Remove the skillet from heat, and sprinkle the chopped tomato, avocado, cilantro and cheese into the eggs, again stirring well.

Serve at once with warm flour tortillas. Garnish with additional salsa and crema or sour cream.

Chicken, Corn and Hearts-of-Palm Pizza

In January 2001, I stood in a parking lot in Carbondale, Illinois and flipped a coin. It landed on heads. I would travel west... The following adventure included an ice storm, a car accident, a train ride through the Rocky Mountains, a visit with my step-brother's family, and a miserable short-lived attempt to move to Los Angeles. It ended with me hanging out in Berkeley, California with Auntie Bucksnort, who was house-bound with a back injury. Over the next few weeks, we bonded, watched movies, ordered take-out and laughed a lot. A local pizza joint often delivered us a delicious pizza, which I have approximated here (using the dough from mom's recent pizza recipe). This is a recipe in progress! UNTESTED!! Auntie? Any amendments? (Makes 2 Pizzas)

--1 pound Chicken Breast, cut into small pieces
--Juice of 2 Limes
--2-3 tbsp Olive Oil
--2-3 Garlic Cloves, peeled and chopped fine
--Kosher Salt
--Fresh-Ground Black Pepper
--1 small can of Sweet Corn, drained
--1 small can of Hearts of Palm, drained
--Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

--1 tbsp Dry Yeast
--Tiny, tiny pinch of Sugar
--1/4 cup Warm Water

--1 cup Warm Water
--2 tbsp Olive Oil
--1 tbsp Sugar
--1 tsp Salt
--3 cups Flour

Place the chicken strips, 4 tablespoons olive oil, lime juice and garlic in a bowl to marinate. Add salt and pepper. Stir well and set aside while you prepare the dough.

Dissolve the yeast and the tiny pinch of sugar in the 1/4 cup of water. Set aside.

Mix the cup of warm water with the 2 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon sugar, salt, and about half the flour in the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the yeast mixture. Beat well for a couple of minutes. Slowly add the remaining flour with the mixer on slow speed, using the dough hook. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Divide in half, roll out, and stretch each piece to fit a round pizza pan. Brush each with a little oil. Preheat oven to 450˚ Fahrenheit with the racks in the center or a little above center.

Saute the marinated chicken until all pink is gone (perhaps with a chopped sweet onion?). Don't overcook the chicken as it will have some time in a hot oven to finish cooking. Spread cooked chicken over both pizza dough rounds. Divide corn and hearts-of-palm over each as well. Sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese over the top.

Bake at 450˚ for 18-20 minutes.

Dark and Stormy

Not all of NYC college life consisted of bar-hopping just to get bombed. Some of it was quite educational, feeding the palate and the mind. My good buddy Colin and I used to frequent a Houston Street bar named Botanica, a mellow and unpretentious room filled with mismatched sofas that would best be described as a "dive-lounge". The weekend scene was annoying college craziness, but we'd go on Wednesday nights when the be-fezzed DJ Small Change was spinning soul and R&B, opening up my musical mind. Small Change introduced me to Stevie Wonder's "Livin' For the City" and Botanica Bar introduced me to my first absolutely delicious mixed cocktail, the Dark and Stormy.

Online, the recipes for the Dark and Stormy all tell you to pour 2 ounces Goslings Dark Rum and 5 ounces of Ginger Beer over ice, shake, and garnish with a lime wedge.

Botanica makes it that way now, but back in the day they mixed 1 ounce Dark Rum, 1 ounce Light Rum, 1 tiny slop of Bacardi 151 Rum, 2 ounces of Ginger Juice (I guess they juiced their own), 4 ounces of Ginger Ale, and a squeeze of Lime Juice. Shake, serve over Ice and garnish with a Lime Wedge.

Corn on the Cob

I learned this method of cooking corn on the cob from my brother-in-law, Warren, who is a great cook and who also loves to make jams and pickles.

We had this corn last night, along with Auntie Bucksnort's carrot salad and Beez's wonderful barbecued shrimp. It was one of the finest meals anywhere, any time.

Directions:

Shuck as much corn as you wish to serve

Boil an inch or so of water in the bottom of a large kettle--the corn will mainly steam, so it doesn't have to be immersed in water.

Add a teaspoon of sugar to the water.

Place the corn in the kettle, cover immediately, and begin timing.

When the corn has cooked for 7 minutes, turn off the heat, take the corn out of the pan, drizzle with butter and sprinkle with salt. Serve.

Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs with Mango Salsa

Last night, Marc and Becky invited me over for our usual Friday grilling. I had some bacon that I needed to use, so I came up with this. I worry that I might be going to hell for making this. It's just THAT good. So good, in fact, that it's actually illegal for Los Angeles street vendors to sell them!

--8 Hot Dogs (I prefer Nathan's Hot Dogs)
--8 rashers of GOOD Bacon (A nice thick-cut smoked variety with not too much fat)
--Toothpicks
--1 Mango, small cubes
--Juice from 1 Lime
--Half a Red Onion, chopped fine
--1 Serrano Pepper, seeded and chopped super-fine
--1 tbsp Olive Oil
--Salt and Black Pepper
--Fresh Rolls

In a small bowl, mix the mango, chopped onion and serrano pepper. Squeeze lime juice over it all, add olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix and refrigerate while you cook the dogs. Wrap one rasher of bacon around each hot dog, securing with a toothpick on both ends. Cook on a grill. Be aware that the bacon fat will cause the fire to flare up (so don't burn your meats!). When bacon is cooked, remove from the grill and take out the toothpicks. Serve in a fresh roll (I smeared on a light mayonnaise) topped with the mango salsa.