green red bean chili

A few additions of greens to this chili:

1 can of tomatoes the 28 ounce variety

ground beef, pork or whatever , amount to suit taste

mushrooms

greens :broccoli , kale, bell peppers, what have you

onion

garlic

paprika and/or other seasonings

heat: Serrano

Red beans, soaked at least overnight and then par boiled till slightly firm.

Prepped up and ready to go

brown the beef and saute the onions

add the can of tomatoes

add the prepped ingredients, red beans, simmer

serving suggestion

on corn chip, egg and sour cream

 

 

 

Potatoe skins

An  appetizer, pub, bar, resturant or on your own table.  Several potatoes, scrubbed, and cut . Under the broiler till browned and finished to your liking then add some toppings. Cheese being most popular. 

Eggplant cassarole (updated)

Ah ! Eggplant again ! How about a different preparation? A lasagne type cassarole this time , prep ahead to be later baked.

Make up a quick batch of dough, eggs , flour and salt pulsed in a food processor, kneaded and let rest.

Peel and slice horizontally the egg plants  (2  medium, )about 1/4 inch thick, sandwich between layers of paper towel after salting o both sides, apply weight and let stand about 30 minutes. Rinse with plain water.

Tomato sauce already prepared. Cook ground beef, also canned red beans to bulk up the cassarole.

My cheese will be the typical store b ought sliced mozzarella

.

Ready?   Oops !  roll out the pasta dough also.

Assemble the layer as you see fit to vary the ingredients, on the fly measurements, so amounts will dictate the layers.

Ok , done , to the fridge for baking tomorrow.

Now the finished product, It was just the right consistency, not overly juicy, easily sliced. 

Thin pasta and meat, red beans, eggplant throughout. Minimal sauce and cheese. 

Excellent when cool or even cold from the fridge.

Red Bean Taco

The filling for these tacos was a loosely followed recipe for re-fried beans from Bon appetite.
Sauté a smoked ham hock in a bit of oil, add onion and garlic and continue for about 8 minutes.
Add a dried red  (hot) pepper and 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin for about 1 minute.
Place in a crock pot with 1 and 1/2 cups raw , not soaked , red beans and 4 cups water.

Let this concoction cook on low overnight at least, till the beans are soft, but not mushy and the ham hock meat falls from from the bone.

Let cool and place in a mason jar and store refrigerated. The beans have many uses as a dip , spread etc.

With a combination of masa harina and white flour water, salt and a tortilla press …

 

Hearty tomato sauce with chili beans

From December 8th
Utilizing what’s in the kitchen.

pork neck pieces*
flour
salt
pepper

oil, bacon fat etc.
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very fine dice the following so they incorporate into the sauce.
A food processor for this.
onion
celery
carrot
garlic
(green peppers would be a good addition)
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1 tomato paste, small can
tomato sauce, 14 1/2 oz can
whole peeled tomato, 14 1/2 oz can, break up with hand
stock, (turkey, or other) as necessary
Italian seasonings lightly
hot pepper flakes, to taste
wine, strong red, to taste
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red beans, in this recipe I used dry red beans.
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Flour the pork neck pieces with seasoned flour and brown on all sides.
Remove the neck pieces and add finely chopped onion, celery, carrot, and garlic,
Sautee till wilted and soft. Add the rest of the ingredients less the beans, and return the neck bones to the sauce.
Simmer over very low heat and watch for scorching ,if necessary use a heat deflector, till most of the meat falls from the neck bones.
A very thick and hearty sauce at this point,  it rises and slowly,and  large bubbles are emitted from the sauce, watch out for hot splashes, cover.

(or thin with stock to avoid the lava like eruptions.)

Fish the neck bones from the sauce and reserve for a chef’s meal. (with bread). There will still be some tasty meat left on the bones.

Adjust the sauce viscosity and taste as necessary. Best cooled and refrigerated at this point.

Mason jars or containers from take out are good for this.

This sauce can be used as a base at this point for other recipes, pasta, rice, pizza  etc.

The pork from the bones adds much flavor.

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Soak overnight (dry) red beans in water and boil the next day.
Alternatively use canned beans

Mix the beans with the sauce, season  and thin as necessary.

garnish with cheese and onion

 

pork neck pieces* found these at the store, inexpensive and loaded with flavor.
Didn’t have an idea at the time of purchase what to do with them.
Decided they would add a nice flavor to a tomato base sauce.

RedBeans and Rice

Onion
Garlic
Oil
Canned diced tomato
Canned red beans

A large can of red beans from the warehouse club makes this  (practically) an instant meal.

Freeze the remaining beans in small portions for later use.

Prepare 2 cups of raw rice.

This time I cooked the rice stove top versus microwave.

Sauté the onions and garlic

Season as necessary, hot red pepper flakes, and/or hot pepper sauce, fresh parsley, cumin seed, cilantro, coriander seeds, fennel seeds etc.

Add the canned diced tomato, about a 14 ounce can,

Add red kidney beans and diced celery

Adjust seasonings as necessary Plate up some of the rice.

Spoon the bean mixture over the rice

Some frozen thawed fish pieces to be broiled.

Top the bean and rice mixture with the broiled fish.

Related articles

• Kitchen Diaries: Red Beans and Rice (ashleyadores.com)

Enchiladas

Recently purchased flour tortillas were on the counter, what to do? , enchiladas were on my mind, a search resulted in many recipes but I used the http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/09/simple-perfect-enchiladas/ as a guide for technique. They turned out great.

Enchiladas Sauce

Roux
Vegetable stock
Tomato juice
Tomato paste
Hot sauce
Smoked dried hot red peppers
A bit of dry rub

Make a roux with stock, butter and flour, was a start and technique I wouldn’t think of using for a hot type tomato sauce, sort of a spicy tomato soup made by adding tomato juice to the roux. Short on juice that was drained from a can of diced tomatoes, tomato paste was added. Season and spice a s required, bottled hot sauce, some Jalapeño sauce that was gifted to me, brought up the level of the heat in combination with the hot red pepper flakes. Alone the sauce is good !

Now raid the fridge for some fillings, you at least have to have cheese, the meat would be some kielbasa, and of course sautéed onions , garlic , sweet peppers and diced tomato. Left over corn on the cob was found in the fridge.

Diced kielbasa
Sweet red pepper
Corn
Red beans
Diced onions
Diced tomato
Sauté the above
Also for the filling American and feta cheese and Parmesan

Slightly fry the tortillas, I have large flour tortillas available, in a slight amount of oil in a fry pan just to soften them up so they absorbe a bit of oil, place on paper towelled rack.

In the fry pan, cooled, place a small amount of the enchilada sauce, place the tortilla in the pan , flip the tortilla so it is coated with the sauce. If you ever wallpapered a room, this is like coating the wallpaper with paste, only with the tortilla, it’s on both sides. This is one step I never did before so that’s why my enchiladas previously were more like a baked taco.

Place the coated tortilla on a large enough plate and run you fillings down the center, roll and fold however you proceed, (I only rolled) and place the soggy tortilla in a baking casserole type dish that has a small amount of sauce on the bottom. Repeat till the dish is full.

I ran out of the filling I prepared so the last two were just plain with red beans and cheese.

Top the panned tortillas with more sauce, this recipe it was the remainder of the sauce as I didn’t make a measured amount. Some grated Parmesan is what I had available for the top. Some herbs and seeds were thrown in for good measure .

Off to the oven at 350 degrees.

I should have made a double batch !!!!
Excellent even the next day cold for lunch.