Roasted Red Jalapeño Elote

I suspect many of you will scoff, even cringe, when you pull out the mayonnaise to make this dish. You might question why on earth I would stray from the canon of butter when it comes to finishing some perfectly nice corn on the cob.

You would be oh so wrong to do so.

Elote, a traditional Mexican preparation of corn on the cob, employs mayonnaise for one simple reason: stuff sticks to it. Delicious, scrumptious stuff like refreshing cilantro and salty cotija cheese that would just slide right off a butter coating. Furthermore, it’s easy to mix in all sorts of wonderful things like tangy lime juice and spicy roasted red jalapeno.

In short, it’s the perfect vehicle for adorning your sweet grilled corn with the best possible combination of ingredients. So stop hating on mayonnaise and make yourself some Elote, ASAP.

Stuffed Pasilla Pepper

If you live in the Pacific Northwest, all you need to do is look outside your window to know that Spring has sprung. The sun is out, the air is crispy, and the cherry blossoms have blossomed.

There is are plenty of things to love about Spring, but a top contender is the return of deliciously seasonal Mexican cuisine – which is exactly what inspired these full-flavored but light-bodied stuffed bell peppers.

These peppers are perfect because 1) they aren’t terribly complicated 2) you can make several components ahead of time, and 3) it only requires a couple spices, despite being totally delicious. Between the spicy pickled veggies, the creamy guacamole, the salty cotija cheese and the crispy black beans it’s impossible to settle on the best part of this dish. And it’s healthy to boot!

Carnivore or vegetarian, you want this on your plate. Stay tuned for the Avocado Margarita recipe pictured below!

Mole Pizza

When making this dish I stumbled into a food blogging ethical dilemma: If you make a dish and photograph it one way, but decide it would actually taste better another way, do you post the version that you made or the modified recipe?

As I envisioned – and original cooked – this pizza, it had tequila-candied kumquats on it. Kumquats are slightly sweet, tangy little fruits with edible skins and seeds. They were intended to bring an extra hint of sugar and infuse a hint more Mexican flair. They would being way to sugary and a poor match for the dish. Because they were simply a topping on a pizza, however, I picked them off and had a perfectly delicious meal

After arduously weighing the pros and cons, I decided to leave the candied kumquats out of this post. Maybe I need to take blogging ethics course, but whatever. When it comes to the recipe, it’s better this way.

The mole-tomato sauce is sweet and robust, with mild notes of dark chocolate and chili woven in. The cotija (also known as the greatest cheese to grace the face of this earth) is sharp, salty, and crisps to a delightful golden brown when roasted on the pizza. Finally, the tomatillos provide a tangy and slightly bitter balance to round out the dish. It’s simple – even more simple if you buy a pre-made crust, although I wouldn’t recommend it – but remarkably flavorful and unique.

If you’re looking for pizza that’s out the box (figuratively, not literally) then this is perfect for you!

Mole Pizza

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/2 packet of yeast
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 cup chorizo
• 1/2 cup mole sauce
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 1 1/4 cups cotija
• 2 tomatillos, diced

 

1. Combine the warm water and yeast in a small bowl. Allow it to stand until frothy, approximately ten minutes.
2. Combine the yeasty water with the flour, salt, sugar and olive oil. Knead until firm. Shape into a ball and cover for 30 minutes, or until increased in size by 1/2. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
3. While waiting for the dough to rise, heat a pan to medium-high. Add the butter and saute the onions until they just start to become translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add the chorizo and saute until thoroughly cooked.
4. Once the dough has risen, use a rolling pin or your hands to flatten it out and set it on an aluminum-covered baking tray or pizza stone. Combine the mole sauce and tomato sauce and coat the dough. Build the pizza from there by adding the cotija, tomatillos and cooked chorizo.
5. Place the pizza in the oven and bake until the cheese is melted and crusts are golden brown, approximately 20-25 minutes. Let cool, cut and serve.

IPA Chicken Stuffed Poblano Pepper

It’s no secret that we’re big fans of beer on this blog, but I’ve usually kept my food blogging and my beer blogging separate.

No longer.

There’s nothing new about bringing beer into the kitchen, but it’s typically darker brews that are incorporated into dishes – from Steak with Porter Reduction to Corned Beef slow-roasted in Guinness to Brown Ale Ice Cream Floats. That’s all well and good, but being a hop-head I wanted to take a run at incorporating IPA (India Pale Ale) into a recipe.

Different kinds of beer, just like wines, pair well with different foods. IPAs tend to fit best with spicier cuisines, such as Thai, Indian, Cajun and Mexican. Because I’ve been on something of a Mexican kick lately, I opted to try integrating an IPA into a classic dish – stuffed poblano peppers.

So, should hop-heads rejoice?

I wouldn’t. To be honest, the IPA flavor didn’t really permeate the chicken as well as I had hoped. Only on occasion did faint notes of hop come to the fore. The dish still tasted great – tender, flavorful chicken, roasted poblano, sharp cotija and refreshing salsa – but the beer just wasn’t a force in the palette.

The fundamentals of this dish are strong enough that I’d just recommend combining all the spices into a dry rub and saving the IPA to drink with dinner. While you’re doing that, I’ll continue searching for the perfect way to serve up IPA on a plate.

IPA Chicken Stuffed Poblano Pepper

• 2 chicken tenders
• 2 poblano peppers
• 1/4 cup cotija cheese, crumbled

Marinade

• 1 bottle of India Pale Ale
• 2 teaspoons lime zest
• 1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon black pepper

Salsa

• 3 roma tomatoes, diced
• 1 jalapeño, finely diced
• 1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
• 10 cilantro leaves, chopped
• Juice of one lime

 

1. Combine all marinade ingredients in a ziplock bag or tuperware container. Add the chicken tenders and refrigerate for at least two hours, preferable overnight.
2. Using a barbecue, toaster oven or oven on broil, roast the poblano pepper for 4-6 minutes or until slightly tender. Make a lengthwise cut in the poblano and remove the seeds.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place a chicken tender into each pepper, the peppers into a baking dish and the baking dish into the oven. Cook for 25-30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
4. Remove the stuffed peppers from the oven and plate. Sprinkle cotija cheese and salsa on top and serve.