Prickly Pear Fruit

I have always been curious about the odd brightly colored spiky globes that protrude from the cacti in our yard, today was the day I found out what they taste like!

We have several kinds of cactus in our yard. Couldn't tell you what kind they are but this is what they look like......

There are several varieties of cactus pear. The prickly pear cactus is a fruit AND a vegetable. The green pods are the napolito and the vegetable part, and the red to purple pears are the fruit, also known as tuna.

The pears have a melon-like aroma and a sweet but bland flavor. Popular in Mexico, Central and South America, the green pods are abundant year around but the pears are harvested in the later Summer months.

Cactus pear is fantastic raw, peeled and chilled by itself or made into a tasty salsa. You will find it used for its medicinal properties, but it can also be used to make juice, salads, jelly or even in a margarita!

Selecting and preparing the prickly pears should be done with care. If you are buying them, make sure they have been de-spined. If you are picking them yourself, wear thick gloves when handling and carefully scrape off the prickly spines. You will also need to trim the “eyes,” and remove any remaining prickers with a vegetable peeler or a sharp knife. Another effective method of removing the thorns and spines is with a blowtorch which may sound extreme, but it is a quick and effective way of getting getting it done!

The fruit is edible raw, with a flavor reminiscent of watermelon, but with a more granular texture. The fruit is full of tiny seeds which can be chewed and eaten, swallowed whole, or spit out. It has been used to make juice, jelly and candy.  You can peel and dice the pear much like a pineapple for cereal or toppings on ice cream and mixed in salads. Seeds can also be dried and ground into flour. 

To cook, steam over boiling water for just a few minutes (if cooked too long they will lose their crunchy texture). Then slice and eat. Steamed cactus is delicious added to scrambled eggs and omelets, or diced fresh and added to tortillas. They taste especially good with Mexican recipes that include tomatoes, hot peppers and fresh corn.  

Now that I know how sweet and delicious they are, I can't wait to experiment and try more recipes. Not only are they tasty but the prickly pears are full of antioxidants and they provide vitamin C, vitamin E, Magnesium and fiber. 

Sweet Potato & Spicy Black Bean Tacos

I had a craving for sweet potatoes and black beans, but the husband was thinking tacos, (not unusual). So, like a healthy couple should, we compromised. The result was Sweet Potato & Black Bean Tacos, and they were awesome!

The natural sweet flavor of the potatoes and the added spices perfectly complimented the black beans. I strongly recommend that you DON'T skip the chipotle sour cream sauce with these tacos, it just works perfectly.

Inspired by one of our favorite recipes, Sweet Potato Hash, we made some slight alterations. Instead of par boiling the potatoes, we simply roasted everything for about 35 minutes.

I am intentionally not providing measurements or exact ingredients, I think this one is all about personal preference, but I will advise you to make extra, the leftover hash was delicious the next morning with eggs!

Sweet Potato & Spicy Black Bean Tacos (print this recipe)

Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes -diced (1 medium is enough for 2-3 servings)
Green bell pepper - chopped
Onion, yellow - chopped
Garlic - finely chopped
Jalapeno pepper - seeded, finely diced
Cumin
Cinnamon
Allspice
Salt & pepper
Parsley or cilantro

Spicy Black Beans
Black beans
Onion, white or yellow - diced
Cilantro
Lime juice
Cayenne pepper
Cumin
Corriander
Salt & pepper


Chipotle Sour Cream Sauce
Sour cream (about 4 oz)
Chipolte juice from the can (about 1/2 teaspoon)
Cilantro
Lime juice
Salt

Fresh corn tortillas

While you are roasting the potatoes, in a medium bowl, mix together the ingredients for the spicy black beans. In a separate small bowl, combine the chipotle sour cream sauce. Be careful with the chipotle juice, a little goes a long way! Warm your tortillas, and pile it all on to your liking.

Eggplant and Chicken Puttanesca Stacks

Don't you just love January? It's a great time to "reset" and get back on track or change your life's path. I for one don't make resolutions but I do take the time to evaluate my life, where I am and where I want to go. At this point in my life I am pretty happy with things. I like my job, I am healthy and I am madly in love with my best friend and husband. Life is good!

I found the original recipe for Eggplant and Chicken Puttanesca Stacks on The Daily Green while searching for something new and interesting to do with eggplant. When I am searching for a new recipe, I type in the main ingredient in Google then do an image search. From there I flip through hundreds of images until I find something that looks good, I am a visual person!

If you haven't heard of Puttanesca sauce, it is a tomato based sauce that combines olives and capers and it is delicious. Many people don't like anchovies so feel free to omit them and add a few extra olives instead. You could also omit the chicken and call it vegetarian, although I love the chicken and don't recommend it!

We fell in love with this recipe and have made it at least five times in the last few months. At first glance the recipe might look like a lot of effort for a dinner for two, but when you break it down it's only a few steps and it actually goes pretty quick. Expect about an hour for preparation.

Eggplant & Chicken Puttanesca Stacks 

 click here for printable recipe

Ingredients: for 2-4 Servings

For Eggplant:

1 lg. eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch slices

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup all-purpose flour, or as needed

1 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

For Chicken:

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

All-purpose flour (use remaining flour after breading the eggplant)

1 tablespoon olive oil

For Sauce and Cheese:

1/2 cup white wine

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

3 anchovy fillets packed in oil, chopped (we used 1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste)

1/4 teaspoon dried chile flakes

1/4 cup chicken stock

1/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives (about 10 olives), chopped

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes

Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon

3/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, coarsely chopped, divided

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 cup fresh ricotta cheese, at room temperature

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Slice the eggplant into 1/4" slices, pat dry and sprinkle with black pepper.In three separate shallow bowls or pie plates, put the flour, eggs, and panko crumbs. Dip the eggplant slice in the flour both sides. Next, coat the floured slice with egg, dredge the eggplant slice in the panko. Repeat with the remaining eggplant.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Working in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan, fry the eggplant slices for about 2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Transfer the eggplant to the lined baking sheet and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Flip the slices over and continue baking for an additional 10 minutes.

While the eggplant is in the oven, prepare the chicken. Slice the chicken into 1/2" pieces, lightly pound flat with a meat mallet. Season the pieces with salt and pepper then coat each piece in flour and shake off excess. Place chicken pieces in sauté pan with 2 tbsp. of olive oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches, sauté the chicken pieces for about 2 minutes on each side, until lightly browned and cooked through. Remove the chicken from the pan and cover to keep warm.

For the sauce, pour the wine into the pan to deglaze, scraping the bits from the bottom. Add the garlic, anchovies, and chile flakes and sauté for 30 seconds. Stir in the stock, olives, tomatoes, lemon juice, and 1/2 cup of the parsley, and add the chicken back into the pan. Reduce the heat to low and let simmer while the eggplant finishes baking. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.

In a small bowl, mix the Riccota cheese, the remaining 1/4 cup parsley, the lemon zest, salt, and ground black pepper.

When the eggplant is done, start building your stacks! Start with one slice of eggplant, top with a spoonful of the cheese mixture, add a piece of chicken, a little more cheese, then a heaping spoon of the Puttenesco sauce, then another piece of eggplant. If desired, spoon some remaining sauce and cheese on top of each stack and serve.

Enjoy!

What to Cook During a Blackout.......

Things got interesting in Southern California last night. About 3:30 in the afternoon the entire region lost all electricity. I was on the road trying to meet up with my boss, but even the cell phone towers were down so we could not make phone calls. Traffic became a nightmare with all the traffic signals down, it amazes me how many people don’t know what to do at an intersection when the lights are flashing!

Did I mention today is my husband’s birthday?

By the time I got home, it was clear that the power was not coming back on soon, and it was going to be a long night. Fortunately, I had time to gather an assortment of candles, flashlights, BATTERIES, water, and matches, before the sun went down.

The one thing I was not prepared for was what to eat. Mark was scheduled to work late, I had a simple grilled cheese sandwich in mind before all the chaos, when he got sent home early, we had to reevaluate the dinner situation.

Thank goodness we still had propane in the BBQ.

Since you shouldn't open the refrigerator unless totally necessary, we quickly grabbed the half frozen Italian sausage and the yellow mustard, oh, and the bottle of white wine that was luckily still a little cool!

We found just enough sliced wheat bread for each of us. Then Mark mixed up some of his famous mustard sauce, simply yellow mustard, honey and a little cayenne pepper. Yes, by candlelight.

The sausages were perfectly grilled, and of course nice and spicy! 

It was not a fancy meal, and it was certainly NOT a photo op evening, but it was kind of fun. Our "first Crisis" as a married couple! I think we both agree, we need to get better prepared for this type of thing, our fathers would both be disappointed....

The rest of the evening was super fun. With no phones, TV’s or computers to distract us, we sat outside, looked at the stars, visited with the neighbors, and of course we sort of felt compelled to eat as much perishable cheese as humanly possible, it was going to go bad, right?

We are all back to normal today, our power came back around 10PM last night. Now, I need to go through the fridge and figure out what can be salvaged and what has to be tossed out. According to this, I should throw out most everything in the fridge, but the freezer stuff should be OK. 

I better get to work....batteries, I NEED to put batteries on my shopping list.....

Stay tuned to find out what we make for Marks REAL birthday celebration meal!

PS. Please notice I highlighted a bunch of words in my post today.....these are all IMPORTANT things to think about in case of an emergency!

Tostitos Seasoning Mixes

We were thrilled to receive a package of new Dip Creations from Lays/Tostitos the other day. It’s always fun to try new products and get creative trying to come up with new recipes. After a few trials and errors, we discovered a few new favorite combinations.

Our package contained 2 packets each of the Garden Onion, Country Ranch and Freshly Made Guacamole season mixes. Dip Creations seasoning mixes are made from all-natural ingredients, like real onions, garlic and a combination of other herbs and spices.

 The first thing we did was to make each dip as directed on the package. The Country Ranch mixed with sour cream has really nice flavor and tasted great served with raw carrots and celery. Of course I had to play around a little and added some fresh chopped parsley and chives, which worked very well.

We also really liked the Guacamole seasoning mix. The package directions say to mash ripe avocados and add the mix. We were skeptical, but it was really good just the way it was, a nice texture and great flavor. We had all kinds of back up ingredients in case it needed to be doctored up, but all we added was a little chopped cilantro and about half of a seeded serrano pepper.

We only used half of the guacamole seasoning mix, and since we liked it so much, we decided to add the other half to our chicken marinade. Wow, this may be our new favorite chicken recipe. All we did was mix half of the seasoning mix with about 6 ounces of plain yogurt, the juice of half a lime and a handful of chopped cilantro, mixed it up and poured it over 2 boneless chicken breast and marinated in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.

The Garden Onion package has been more of a challenge for us. We tried sprinkling the dry mix on potatoes before roasting them but the seasoning was a little overwhelming.What we did like was mixing it with sour cream and adding it to our potato salad, it was awesome! Maybe one of the best potato salads I have ever made.

Potato Salad with Lay's Garden Onion seasoning mix

8-10 servings
Printable Version


Ingredients:

10-12 red potatoes

6 eggs, hard boiled

1 1/2 cups sour cream

½ cup mayonnaise

½ package Lays Garden Onion Seasoning

3 tbsp Djon mustard

1/8 tsp paprika

1/8 tsp celery salt

¼ cup black olives, sliced

¼ cup green onions (and/or red onions)

½ cup celery chopped

¼ cup parsley chopped

1/8 cup chives to garnish

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Place the eggs into a saucepan in a single layer and fill with water to cover the eggs by 1 inch. Cover the saucepan and bring the water to a boil over high heat. Remove from the heat and let the eggs stand in the hot water for 15 minutes. Pour out the hot water; cool the eggs under cold running water in the sink. Peel and chop the cooled eggs.

Place the potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain and refrigerate until cold. Once cooled, chop potatoes into bite sized cubes.

In a large mixing bowl stir together the sour cream, mayonnaise, Garden Onion Seasoning, mustard, salt, pepper, paprika, and celery salt. Add the eggs, potatoes, celery, onions and olives; mix until everything is evenly coated. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

Raspberry Chipotle Dressing

Photo Tiffany Arp-Daleo

There have been a lot of salads around here lately. Since we have been working out and eating healthier, I've found it more challenging to come up with interesting and desirable recipes to post about.

My sweetheart came up with this sweet, spicey & tangy combination for a salad dressing that tastes great over mixed greens or spinach, or drizzled over grilled chicken. Without a doubt, this recipe meets both of my challenges!

 Raspberry Chipotle Dressing

Printable Version

Ingredients: Makes 4 servings

½ cup sugar free raspberry preserves
¼ cup olive oil (added gradually)

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp lemon juice1 clove garlic, finely minced
½ tsp chipotle sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a blender, pulse for 30 seconds. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving to combine flavors.

Fantastic served with mixed greens, spinach, raisins or cranberries, avocado, walnuts, grape tomatoes, goat cheese, feta, or blue cheese would be great too!

Stuffed Shells in Brown Butter Sauce

Stuffed Shells in Brown Butter Sauce

Last weekend was our annual ravioli making day where the whole family gets together and hand makes over 1,200 ravioli. It’s always a big deal, a lot of work and when we finally eat them on Christmas Day it’s all worth the trouble.

This year we made a couple of different fillings and we had some delicious leftover Butternut Squash with Goat Cheese filling, there was no way I was going to let it go to waste!

We have never made stuffed shells before but it was surprisingly easy. Simply boil the pasta shells per package directions, drain and separate them so they don’t stick to each other. Use a spoon to fill each shell and place them in a baking dish lightly sprayed with cooking spray.

We topped ours with candied walnuts (don’t skip this part!) and baked them in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. While the shells are in the oven, prepare the brown butter sauce. To serve, drizzle the brown butter sauce and top with fresh grated Parmesan cheese.

Butternut Squash & Goat Cheese Filling (printable recipe)

2-pound butternut squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
1 tbsp fresh sage, chopped finely
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 garlic clove, minced
4 ounces goat cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan Reggiano cheese, grated

Put squash halves, flesh sides down, on baking sheet and roast in middle of oven 30 minutes, or until flesh is very tender. When squash is cool enough to handle, scoop out flesh into a bowl and discard skin. Mash squash with a fork until smooth.

While squash is roasting, in a skillet cook onion, garlic and sage in butter with salt and pepper to taste over medium heat, stirring for about 5 minutes, or until onion is golden brown.

Let onion mixture cool slightly and add to squash. Add the Parmesan and goat cheese and stir well to combine. This filling can be covered and refrigerated for several days or freeze for future use.

Brown Butter Sauce

1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 tbsp minced shallot
1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tsp ground sage

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

Heat butter in a heavy saucepan over moderately high heat, about 3 minutes. Add shallots, garlic and sage to butter and cook, stirring, until shallot and butter turns a deep golden color, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add lemon juice and remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper if needed and use immediately.

Fish Tacos - San Diego Style

My husband and I are both native to San Diego. I am the daughter of a builder. He is the son of a fisherman. These facts combined, we know how to build an awesome fish taco!

San Diego Fish Tacos – Serves 6

Ingredients for Marinade - (10 ounces tilapia fillets)

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

1/8 cup chopped cilantro

1 tbsp adobo pepper sauce

2 tbsp lime juice (I like to add some zest as well)

2 tbsp honey

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Salt and ground black pepper

For the marinade, whisk together in a medium bowl the olive oil, vinegar, lime juice, adobo sauce, honey, garlic, cumin, chili powder, cilantro, salt and black pepper until blended. Place the tilapia in a shallow dish, and pour the marinade over the fish. Cover and refrigerate 4 to 8 hours.

Dressing Ingredients:

4 oz light sour cream

3 tbsp mayonnaise

3 tbsp adobo sauce

2 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 tbsp honey

1/8 cup cilantro, finely chopped

1 tbsp garlic, finely chopped

1/8 teaspoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon chili powder

Salt and pepper to taste

To make the dressing, combine the sour cream, mayonnaise and adobo sauce in a bowl. Stir in the lime juice, honey, cumin, chili powder, cilantro and garlic. Add salt, and pepper in desired amounts. Cover, and refrigerate until needed.

Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat and lightly oil grate. Set grate 4 inches from the heat. Remove fish from marinade, discard excess marinade. Grill fish pieces until easily flaked with a fork, turning once, about 8-9 minutes.

Assemble tacos with warmed 6” corn tortillas, a layer of red cabbage, desired amount of fish, cilantro, avocado slices, crumbled queso fresco cheese, a spoonful of dressing, and a splash of your favorite hot sauce or salsa. Squeeze a wedge of lime all over it, devour, and repeat.

That is how we do it in San Diego. How do you do it?

Chimichurri Sauce....or is it?

Since I am approaching one of those birthdays that ends in a “0”, I have been working to get in better shape and eat healthier. For some reason I associate food that is green as being healthy. So when I saw the post by Eclectic Recipes for Chimichurri Sauce, I decided to make it to spoon over my chicken breasts.

It tasted pretty good the way it was, but I just had to tweak it a little, that’s what I do. I wanted a little more kick so I added 1 fresh Serrano pepper with seeds. Of course that made it pretty spicy, so a tablespoon of honey was perfect to mellow it out a bit.

But, since I added honey, is it still considered a chimichurri sauce? I don't know, and I really don't care because it tasted great! 

This is a popular sauce to go with steak, but I served it over grilled chicken and fresh greens and slices of giant heirloom tomatoes, wow, healthy can taste great!

Cilantro Chimichurri

• a large bunch of cilantro, about 1 cup packed
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 teaspoons red or white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano, or 1 tablespoon fresh
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flake, or 1 serrano chili pepper
• kosher salt
• black pepper

Directions:

1. Combine cilantro, garlic, pepper, vinegar, oregano, cumin, and optional honey in a food processor. Pulse until fine.
2. Turn food processor on and stream in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

 

Here's That Sauce Recipe........

Happy Labor Day all my foodie friends! I hope that you are enjoying the long weekend and celebrating with family and friends.  I am sure that you will be making some great food, I am looking forward to reading all of your posts!

Just in case you are looking for the perfect sauce to wow your quests and add some pizazz to that fish, chicken or beef dish, here are some of our favorites.


Roasted Tomato Salsa  Don't serve your guest store bought salsa! Impress them with this salsa along with your favorite guacamole recipe.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce We use this a LOT, perfect on shrimp tacos, also great with fish, beef  and chicken.

Parsley Mint Sauce This is one of our favorites, just the right amount of spice, a little bit sweet and the mint makes for a refreshing and well balanced topper for shrimp, fish, pork and chicken. Trust me, you will love it!

Olive Tapenande Here is a delicious appetizer to serve with thinly sliced baguette toasts and a some goat cheese.

Horseradish Butter This is the perfect compliment for a nice big juicy steak and/or add some to your baked potato with some fresh chives!

I finally compiled some of my favorite photos from August to share. I am dreading the approaching shorter days as it will be harder to get good food shots in natural light. At the same time I am already thinking about cooler weather cooking like soups and casseroles!

Chicken Enchiladas with Roasted Pepper Sauce

Chicken Enchiladas with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

This is one of the first dishes that Mark made for me when we were first dating. I think he was trying to impress me, obviously, it worked.

These are a little different than your typical enchiladas, you don't dip the tortillas in the sauce, and you don't use normal enchilada sauce. I suppose you could substitute things and make it more traditional, but this is the way Mark makes it for me, and I love it!

We usually begin the meal with homemade guacamole, Roasted Tomato Salsa and fresh tortilla chips (preferably fresh from El Indio here in San Diego).

Chicken Filling Ingredients:
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
1 medium onion, diced
1 cup chopped mushrooms
4 oz. queso fresco cheese
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
1/2 cup Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large skillet, saute onions, serrano pepper and mushrooms in olive oil with a pinch of salt and pepper. Saute until onions are soft.
Transfer mixture to a medium bowl and combine with chicken, cheese, cilantro and about 3/4 of the red pepper sauce.
To assemble, heat corn tortillas just enough to soften. Spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla. Roll into thirds and place seam side down in a lightly oiled 9 by 13 inch baking dish.

When all the tortillas are assembled, pour the remaining sauce over the top and sprinkle with extra cheese. Bake in oven at 375 for about 20 minutes until heated through and the cheese is melted.
Serve with pinto or black beans and Spanish Rice, garnish with fresh sliced avocado and cilantro. 

Roasted Salsa

Here is a real easy basic salsa recipe that can be altered, but it works really good just the way it is! You could add a little more spice, but when sharing with a large crowd, but we found that it is usually better to keep it on the mild side.

We wrote this recipe using the indoor broiling method, but you could easily throw it all on the grill to add a little extra smokey flavor.

Ingredients:
8 Roma (plum) tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 small onion, quartered
2 jalapeno chili peppers
1-1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:
Preheat the broiler.
On a baking sheet lined with foil, place Roma tomatoes, garlic, onion and jalapeno peppers, drizzle with olive oil. Broil for about 5 to 10 minutes or until the outsides of vegetables are lightly charred.
When cooled, remove and discard skins, jalapeno stems and seeds if desired.
Toss all the roasted vegetables into a food processor a few at a time and coarsely chop.
Transfer to a medium bowl and mix in cumin, salt, lime juice and cilantro.
Serve with warm fresh tortilla chips. The salsa will keep for 4 or 5 days in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

Olive Tapenade

Olive Tapenade is delicious served as a dip alongside crusty bread with goat cheese, grilled vegetables or chicken, or tossed with cooked pasta and fresh herbs. Most recipes use anchovies, I excluded them from my recipe, and it's still very good!

20 Kalamata olives
15 Green olives with pimentos
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
4 cloves garlic
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 oz. capers
1 tsp. hot pepper flakes
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 cup olive oil
Ground pepper to taste

Add all ingredients to a food processor, adding the oil gradually. Best served at room temperature. Will last up to a week if refrigerated.

Parsley Mint Sauce

We were looking for a new way to use the mint and parsley from our garden and discovered a fantastic sauce.  It was delicious over grilled chicken, but the subtle spice and tangy sweetness would also nicely compliment pork, beef, fish and seafood. Highly recommended!

2 serrano chiles
1 1/2 cups tightly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley
2/3 cup tightly packed fresh mint leaves
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3/4 cup olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Broil or grill the serrano chiles until charred all over, remove, cover, and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Peel and roughly chop the chiles and add them along with the parsley, mint, and garlic to a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped.

Add the honey and mustard and process until combined. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil and blend until emulsified. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

This is the most used sauce in our house. I'm kinda surprised Mark is even letting me post this, it's one of those "secret recipes" that everyone asks for, so here you go!

Since it's slightly sweet and a little bit spicy, this sauce is very versatile. Not only is it a fabulous enchilada sauce, but it is wonderful with chicken, shrimp, beef, tamales, eggs, pasta, veggies, bread, um, let's just say it's good on everything!

On a cookie sheet lined with foil, broil 2 large red bell peppers cut in half, until skins are charred, about 10 minutes. Place peppers in a brown paper bag to cool so they are easy to peel.

Set oven temp. to 375. On same cookie sheet, place 4 medium tomatoes cut in half and one bulb of garlic with just the top cut off, roast for about 18-20 minutes or till the tomato skins start to peel. Cool for a few minutes then carefully remove the skin from the tomatoes.

Ingredients:

2 large red bell peppers

4 medium tomatoes

1 whole head of garlic

2 chipotle chilies

2 tbsp adobo sauce

¼ cup Olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

Combine all ingredients and puree until smooth and enjoy!

Horseradish Butter

We are HUGE fans of horseradish and we are always looking for creative ways to use it. My Mom recently sent me this recipe she found in Cooking Light magazine.

Easy to make, and just think of all the ways you can use it, delicious on a baked potato, a nice juicy steak, a roast beef sandwich, with mushrooms or other veggies, maybe a piece of fish.........the list is endless.

You need:

• Cooking spray
• 1 Tbsp. minced shallots
• ¼ cup butter (softened)
• 1 Tbsp. chopped parsley
• 2 tsp. horseradish (or a little more!)

Heat a small non stick skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray, add shallots and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat and cool. Combine shallots, butter, parsley and horseradish in a small bowl, blend well.  Transfer butter mixture to a sheet of plastic wrap. Shape butter mixture into a 3-inch log, using plastic wrap to help mold. Wrap log tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm.

(I will post a photo later !)

Roasted Tomatillo Sauce

In our house, just about everything can and will be served on a tortilla. Both of us being natives to San Diego, a lot of dishes tend to be influenced by the flavors and spices of Mexican cuisine.

Mark makes a couple of sauces that are to die for. He likes to roast peppers and chilies for his dishes, that smoky roasted flavor just can’t be achieved any other way.

The following is the recipe for Roasted Tomatillo Sauce with from the Rick Bayless, Mexico, One Plate at a Time cookbook. This might be one of the most versatile sauces ever. It tastes great on everything, fish, chicken, pork, beef, eggs, I can’t think of anything I wouldn’t put it on, except maybe not ice cream!


What you need:

1 pound of tomatillos, husked and rinsed
3 serrano peppers (approx)
2 jalapeno peppers
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium white onion sliced
3 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 cups light fish or chicken broth
2/3 cup of loose packed fresh cilantro, sprigs for garnish


Start by roasting the tomatillos and chilies on a baking sheet 4 inches below a very hot broiler for about 5 minutes. They will be blackened in spots, then carefully turn them over and roast for another 4 to 5 minutes. They are done when they are blistered and soft. Set aside to cool, then transfer everything to a blender. Process until smoothly pureed.

Set a heavy 4-quart saucepan over medium heat and add 1 tbsp. of olive oil. When hot, add the sliced onion and stir regularly, until the onions are golden, about 6 to 7 minutes. Stir in the garlic and stir another minute longer. Increase the heat to medium-high until oil is sizzling, then add the tomatillo puree all at once.

Stir until noticeably darker and very thick, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the broth and 1/3 cup of cilantro. Stir everything thoroughly. Simmer, stirring often, over medium-low heat until the flavors mellow and the consistency thickens, about 30 minutes. Taste, and season with salt.

This recipe is intended to go with Crusted Fish Fillets with Fried Corn, which is scrumptious, but that will have to follow in another post!