Cranberries at City Market

If you're looking for fresh cranberries they are now at City Market!! Get 'em while they last! (Remember to buy enough for Christmas, too...they freeze beautifully!)

Welcome, Aztec Readers!

If you've come to my blog after reading my Thanksgiving guide in the Aztec Calendar, welcome!  
(Or should I say, ¡Bienvenidos!)  
I really hope you enjoyed the information.  
(Click here to download it!)

The Thanksgiving Day Meal!

Are you looking for more recipes?  Please check out previous blog posts for my fantastic gravy recipe, as well as some ideas for leftovers. 

Me with my Turkey!

If you're interested in some information about Mercado de San Juan, please check out this blog post.

Need information on baking at altitude? Check out my Baking at Altitude post and More Details on Baking at Altitude.

Finally, below is the stuffing recipe that was included in the guide.  As always, please email me or leave a comment if you have any questions, ideas or responses!

Traditional Bread Stuffing 
Serves 6-8

"Stuffing" is traditionally the term used for bread stuffing that you put inside your turkey while it bakes, while "dressing" is traditionally the term used for bread stuffing baked outside of the bird.  Old habits die hard, though, so I refer to it all as stuffing.  I do not recommend putting this stuffing into the bird while it cooks as that is generally considered unsafe, given that it is difficult for the stuffing (which will have raw turkey juices incorporated) to reach the appropriate temperature (165 degrees F) by the time the turkey reaches the appropriate temperature and needs to be taken out of the oven.  

2 onions, small diced (or processed in the food processor)

4 stalks celery, including some leaves, small diced (or processed in the food processor)
1 stick of butter (8 Tbsp)
1-2 Tbsp bacon grease (can be rendered from cooking about 1/4 lb bacon)
1 1/2 lb (24 oz) cubes of bread or extremely coarse bread crumbs, based on your preference (either from a box/bag, like Pepperidge Farm brand, or made yourself from loaf French bread)
5 Tbsp dried sage
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1/4 C butter (4 Tbsp)
1/4 C chicken broth (either homemade or store-bought)
4 chicken bouillon cubes
Kosher Salt, if needed

Dice or process the onions and celery.  Melt bacon grease and 1 stick butter in a large sauté pan, then add vegetables and sauté until tender.  (These tasks can be done ahead of time and the cooked vegetables can be stored in the fridge.)

If using fresh bread, cut into desired size (some people like large chunks of bread in their stuffing while others prefer extremely course bread crumbs) and allow to dry overnight or bake in a 350 degree F oven until crispy.

When ready to assemble dish, in a large bowl mix dried bread with vegetables (they do not need to be reheated).  Add sage and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, or in the microwave, heat 1/4 C butter together with chicken broth and 4 chicken bouillon cubes.  Whisk to make sure all the bouillon dissolves.  (Using bouillon cubes instead of more chicken broth allows you to have a concentrated flavor without a lot of liquid.)  Mix butter/chicken broth mixture into bread mixture.  It should not be too wet; add more bread crumbs if needed. 

Transfer to an oven safe casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees F for 20-30 minutes.  Serve hot.

Homemade Chicken Broth...The Easier Way...

I had an idea a few weeks ago after I roasted a chicken to make some homemade stock using the carcass.  Of course, the carcass from one chicken isn't enough to make very much stock so I decided to freeze the bones along with some of the onions, carrots, celery, and lemon I had roasted with the chicken and worry about it later.  I put all of that (once cool) in a gallon-sized Ziploc bag, put it in the freezer and forgot about it.  A few nights later I used a leek and some mushrooms in a recipe for dinner, but had the green parts of the leek and the mushroom stems left over.  Hmm....I could feed these to the dog (ha!) or throw them away.............OR........wouldn't these add some great flavor to chicken stock?  So into the Ziploc bag they went with the bones and vegetables I'd frozen a few days earlier.  Over the course of a few weeks, and another roasted chicken later, I had a nice collection of bones and aromatics in my freezer bag, including some parsley stems I had decided to save as well instead of wasting.

My bones, fresh water, and all the yummy aromatics!

The beauty of the whole thing came together this afternoon when I was thinking about what to cook for dinner.  I'm going out and leaving the kids here with the nanny, so I thought, hey!  Why not make some chicken soup?  I dumped the bag of frozen ingredients into my stock pot, covered it with a bunch of fresh water, then added some crushed garlic, peppercorns, and a couple of bay leaves.  I also added some "mushroom juice", as I call it, which was just the leftover water in which I had rehydrated some dried mushrooms for another dinner this past week.  The mushrooms impart a delicious "umami" flavor into the water that's used to rehydrate them, so I'm glad I didn't throw them away, but rather incorporated that flavor into my chicken stock. 

Once all that came to a boil, I let the stock simmer as long as I could (the longer the better...up to four hours but as little as one hour), during which time I poached some chicken breasts in it, then took them out and let them cool.  I shredded them and set them aside for my soup. 

In a dutch oven, I sweated some finely chopped onion, celery and carrots.  To that I added some dried herbs, salt and pepper.  Finally I tossed in some frozen peas to cook for about a minute.  I strained my homemade chicken stock, then poured the liquid into the dutch oven with the herbed vegetables.  Once it came to a boil, I cooked some very small pasta in the broth, seasoned to taste with more salt and pepper, and added in the shredded chicken to heat up and that was dinner!  Hope you can make this idea work for you, too!

Homemade Chicken Soup
Makes 3-4 quarts stock

For your broth, you'll need:

• At least two chicken carcasses, raw or cooked, or about 6 lbs of chicken bones
• Assorted Aromatics, such as onions, carrots, celery (including leaves), lemon, green-parts of leeks, mushroom stems, parsley stems, chopped tomatoes, fennel fronds, etc. (try to remember to save things you might otherwise throw away that could add flavor to your stock)
• About 1 to 1 1/2 gallons fresh cold water
• Crushed Garlic (3-4 cloves)
• About 10 peppercorns
• 2 Dried Bay Leaves

For your soup, you'll need:

• 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, small diced
• 1 large carrots, small diced
• 2 celery stalks, small diced
• 1 Tbsp dried thyme (or other dried herb of choice)
• Kosher Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 1 Cup Frozen Peas (you can also use shelled edamame or even frozen corn)
• 4 oz dried pasta (or substitute cooked rice, cold)

Make your broth:

1. Put all your saved aromatics (fresh or frozen) in a large stock pot.  Cover with water.  Add garlic, peppercorns, and bay leaves (plus parsley stems if they were not included in your aromatics).
2. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer.  Simmer for as long as possible, up to four hours but at least one hour.
3. If desired, place chicken breasts in simmering broth and poach until internal temperature reaches about 160 degrees F, about 15 minutes.  Remove from stock and allow to cool, then shred and hold until ready to incorporate into soup.
4. Once stock is finished, strain through a very large strainer into a very large bowl or pot.  (I recommend placing your large bowl/pot in the kitchen sink with the strainer over it in case you spill/splash.  Be careful not to burn yourself!)

While stock simmers (or on another day), make your soup:

1.  Heat olive oil in the bottom of a large dutch oven or heavy bottomed soup pot over low heat.  Add onions, celery and carrots and sweat (without browning) until soft and aromatic, about 10 minutes.
2. Add dried thyme, kosher salt and pepper.  Cook for about 5 more minutes.
3. Add frozen peas and cook until heated through, about 1-2 minutes.
4. Pour strained stock over herbed vegetables.  (You probably don't need to use all the stock you made.)  
5. Bring the soup to a boil and add pasta or cooked rice.  If using pasta, boil for as long as the package directions instruct.  For rice, just heat up.
6. Add pre-shredded chicken and season to taste with more salt and pepper.  Enjoy!

What Alaina Had in her Kitchen...Part 2

My Pasta Primavera

There I was again.  It was already nearly 5:30pm and I had no idea what was for dinner.  I noticed zucchini in the fridge and instantly thought.......Pasta Primavera!!!  Primavera means "spring" of course and I was definitely feeling spring and wanting a light tasty dish..........but did I have enough of the other traditional ingredients to make this work?  I found a recipe from Cook's Illustrated that looked amazing and had simplified some of the traditional steps, but HARUMPH!  I had no mushrooms.......I hate asparagus (which the recipe called for)...............such as it always goes!  But no fear...I was about to use "What Alaina had in her kitchen"....! (See Part 1 here.)

My strategy when approaching recipes for which I don't have all the right ingredients is just to find suitable substitutes, but more importantly to use up the stuff I have in my fridge.  For the asparagus, I substituted bell peppers (adding more color to the dish was a plus!).  For the frozen peas, I substituted edamame (shelled).  And here was my stroke of brilliance....for the mushrooms, I substituted artichoke hearts.  Artichokes are my favorite vegetable....and I could already taste their flavor in with the other ingredients and the tomatoes.   Oh yum, this was gonna be good.  I decided to cook half of my garlic with the artichoke hearts as that combination just sounded yummy, even though the recipe called for cooking the garlic separately from the mushrooms (for which I was substituting the artichoke).

I'm also one of those people who usually doesn't cook vegetarian meals.  I have nothing against them and usually enjoy them, but many of you know that non-vegetarian spouses usually eat up a vegetarian meal with delight....and then ask "where's the meat?!"  That's my husband.  So I'm delighted to find a way to use up leftover chicken and decided to toss the 2 Cups I had in the fridge in this dish.

When you're using different ingredients than what a recipe calls for, you just have to make sure you read through the method, and make sure the way they're telling you to cook the ingredients makes sense for your substitution.  For instance, in this recipe it called for boiling all the vegetables together, but adding the green beans first, then the asparagus, then the zucchini, and finally the peas.  I knew the bell pepper would take just as long as the green beans, so I added those together in the beginning.  I also knew that the edamame would take much longer to cook than regular frozen peas, so I added those at the same time as the zucchini.  Just take into consideration the characteristics of your particular ingredient substitutions and modify cooking method/duration in accordance with that.

Finally, I'm always looking for ways to minimize the number of dirty dishes, so the recipe below reflects that and uses less dishes than they called for in the original recipe.  Phew!

Hope you guys enjoy this recipe...and have fun substituting in what's in your fridge, too!!  It turned out great...I'll definitely be making this over and over again, and I have to say that the artichoke hearts stood out like superstars in the sauce and totally made the dish.  Good luck! 

Closeup!

Pasta Primavera
Recipe adapted from Cook's Illustrated
Serves 6

• Table Salt
•  4 oz Green Beans, cut into 3/4" pieces (I use the haricot verts--which is just a fancy name for thin green beans--found at Costco as the thick green beans commonly found here in Mexican supermarkets are just too stringy.)
• 1/2 large bell pepper (preferably red, orange or yellow), medium diced
• 1 medium zucchini, medium diced
• 3/4 C frozen edamame, thawed
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 6 oz fresh artichoke hearts, sliced thin (I usually buy these off the street--see article--but they're also available at City Market in jars in the produce section.  I would not recommend using jarred/canned artichoke hearts, but if you try it let me know how it goes!)
• About 3/4 lb tomatoes (preferably plum), peeled using the concasse method (see instructions below)
•  1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional; since my 3 1/2 year old daughter doesn't love spice, I just added these flakes at the table to my own plate, but their flavor will be much more intensified if you add while cooking)
• 1/2 C heavy cream OR 1/3 C crema (the only type of cream available here is heavy whipping cream, and I don't love using that in cooking but the traditional Mexican crema is super versatile with a neutral flavor--it's not as sour as sour cream--so you can use it almost any time a recipe calls for heavy cream that is reduced...just don't reduce as long since it's thicker)
• 3/4 lb dried fettucine, spaghetti, or other long pasta
• 2 medium cloves garlic, minced
• about 2 Cups pre-cooked chicken or shrimp (optional)
• 1/4 C shredded basil leaves
• 1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
• Parmiggiano-Reggiano cheese, grated (I buy the real stuff at Costco...it's expensive but worth it!)

1. Bring 4 quarts water to boil over high heat in a large stockpot for pasta.  Bring 3 quarts of water to boil over high heat in a large saucepan for vegetables.  Add 1 Tbsp salt to each pot.  Fill a large bowl with ice water; set aside.
2. Concasse your tomatoes: Prepare tomatoes by removing stem area using a paring knife or a tomato corer.  On the opposite side of the tomato, use a paring knife to cut a shallow, small "X" in the tomato.  Blanch each tomato in boiling water for 30 seconds to 1 minute (depending on size), then plunge into ice water bath.  Remove tomatoes and peel skin off starting at the "X" using your paring knife.  Cut peeled tomatoes into medium dice.
3.  **Please note the following cooking times are adjusted for cooking at altitude.  If you're cooking at sea level, please reference the cooking times in parenthesis.  Add green beans and bell pepper to boiling water in saucepan.  Cook for four minutes. (1 1/2 minutes at sea level)  Add zucchini and edamame and cook for two minutes. (30 seconds at sea level)  Taste vegetables to ensure they are cooked "crisp tender" (or to your liking!), then drain them immediately and plunge into ice water bath to stop cooking.  Let sit until chilled, about 3 minutes, then drain well and set aside.
4. Heat 3 Tbsp butter over medium-high heat until foamy in now empty saucepan.  Add artichoke hearts and 1 clove minced garlic and sauté until tender and slightly browned, about 4-5 minutes.  Add tomatoes and red pepper flakes (if using), reduce heat to medium, and simmer until tomatoes begin to lose their shape, about 5-7 minutes.  Add cream or crema and stir to combine.  If using cream, simmer until slightly thickened, about 4 minutes. (There is no need to reduce your crema...add a splash of whole milk if your sauce seems too thick.)  Cover to keep warm and set aside. 
5. Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente while sauce is cooking.  Drain pasta, then (in now empty stockpot) add remaining 3 Tbsp butter over medium until foamy.  Add 1 clove garlic and sauté until fragrant and very slightly colored, about 1 minute.  Add blanched vegetables and stir to coat in garlic butter, then add chicken or shrimp (if using), stir again, and cook until all ingredients are heated through and infused with garlic flavor, about 2 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Add pasta to pot with vegetables and meat, then rewarm sauce and add that in as well.  Reduce heat to low.
6. Toss pasta and sauce with vegetables and meat until well coated.  Add basil and lemon juice, adjust seasonings if necessary and serve immediately, passing cheese separately.

Roasting Peppers or Chiles

Roasted bell peppers are an ingredient that can easily be found in any U.S. grocery store, and even in most Mexican grocery stores.  However, many brands are watered down and don't have much flavor...a far cry from the deliciousness of freshly roasted peppers.  Additionally, many traditional Mexican recipes call for roasted chiles such as poblanos or jalapeños, and those usually aren't sold jarred.  Knowing how to quickly and easily roast peppers is a great skill to have....so I thought I'd teach you how!

Most recipes that call for freshly roasted peppers will have you do them in the oven under very high heat or a broiler, turning every so often until they're charred on all sides.  This is a perfectly viable solution if you don't have a gas stove, but I've always been bothered by getting the oven all hot, getting yet another dish (the sheet tray) dirty, and practically (or literally) burning myself every time I go in to turn the peppers.  Fortunately I do have a gas stove (and nearly all professional kitchens where I've worked do as well), so I've grown to love the ease of roasting my peppers on the stove top.  Here are the steps for doing just that....but if you're roasting in the oven, follow the steps in your recipe and skip to Step #3 below.  Even if your recipe doesn't call for putting the peppers in a covered bowl before peeling, do it anyway because it makes the peeling process so much easier.

 
Step 1:  Turn your burner(s)--depending on how many peppers you're roasting--on high.  Place your peppers directly on the burners, in contact with the flames.

My Poblanos on Multiple Burners

Step 2:  Using a long set of tongs, turn your peppers every so often until they are charred and black on all sides.  Don't forget to char the top and the bottom of your peppers as well! 

Yummy!

Step 3:  Once your peppers are charred, place them in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Leave the peppers to cool and continue softening for at least 15 minutes, or until you're ready to use them.  (Sometimes I do this step very early and come back to the peppers hours later.  They'll be just fine.)

Covered in Plastic Wrap, Cooling Down

Step 4:  When you're ready (and wearing a pair of latex gloves if you're working with chiles or just want to keep your hands cleaner), remove the plastic wrap and peel the peppers using paper towels.  The skin should come off quite easily, but don't worry if you can't quite get it all off. 

Peeling...don't forget your gloves!

Step 5:  Using your fingers or a small paring knife, remove the stem of each pepper.  If the skinning process hasn't already split the pepper down the side for you, use the paring knife to make a slit down the length of the pepper and, still using paper towels, remove all the seeds and ribs from the pepper.  (If you are using chiles and want them to be extra spicy, leave the ribs in tact as that's where the heat is.  You should still remove all the seeds.)

Splitting Pepper

Removing Ribs

Removing Seeds Inside

Step 6:  Continue with your recipe, whether it calls for using the peppers whole or slicing/dicing them.  Just remember if you are going to have to use them whole, you'll need to be a little more delicate during the peeling process so they don't rip apart, particularly with thin-walled chiles like poblanos.

Cleaned Chile...no seeds!!

Slicing

Yum!  My favorite recipe using roasted poblanos...Rajas con Crema!

How to use your roasted poblanos?  Just sauté onions and season with garlic, thyme and oregano.  Add sliced poblanos and crema (or heavy cream that you allow to reduce).  Season with lemon juice, salt, and pepper and serve over tacos or fajitas!!  Enjoy!