Recipes!

Recently I mentioned making King Ranch Chicken which is a staple in Texas.  Everyone makes it, everyone knows how to make it and as per usual, everyone does it just a wee bit different.  And someone asked for the recipe.

So I am here to share the recipe with you.  And also I am going to give you one that is even better.

Here is my thinking on this:  As I said above, everyone in Texas makes the King Ranch Chicken casserole which gets its name from the King Ranch.  Supposedly a cook on the ranch put this together and that's how it came to be known as King Ranch Chicken.  *And could I say King Ranch any more times in this paragraph?

But before I go further in my story about these 2 recipes I want to give you the link to the actual King Ranch . Just in case you want to peruse this fine establishment and see what's what on their site.  The King Ranch is the largest ranch in the whole wide world.  It is bigger than many of the east coast small-ish states.

So with the King Ranch Chicken casserole, it's one of those recipes that evolved over time.  I am sure way back in the day when the cook first made this he/she did NOT run right out to the store to get a couple of canned goods to get started.  On a property with that many thousands and thousands of acres you don't run right out for anything.  So it makes sense that it was probably made with from-scratch items and then when it became popular it was easier to get home cooks to make this using store-bought cans to make a few shortcuts.

I have made this and eaten this my whole life.  And when we moved to Guadalajara I took a TON of different cooking classes.  One set of which were taught by a neighbor of mine, the late Maria Machuca. She was a very talented cook and a great teacher.  She taught me to make a Mexican tradition known as Chilequiles.  The first time I tasted it I knew immediately that this is what the King Ranch Chicken was trying to imitate.  The cook probably had come from Mexico and had the recipe or the taste memory of the Chilequiles and wanted to recreate it with local ingredients available.

So I am giving you both, the King Ranch Chicken and Maria's recipe for Chilequiles.  Try them both and see what you think.

King Ranch Chicken

1 3-lb. chicken, cut up
2 cans cream soup (can be mushroom, chicken, celery.  I usually do one mushroom and one chicken)
1 can Ro-Tel diced tomatoes with chiles
1 dozen corn tortillas, cut into wedges (much like a pizza or a Trivial Pursuit game piece)
2 cups cheese, grated

Boil the chicken with some celery, parsley, garlic, onion or whatever you like to flavor the meat. You are going to use a bit of the broth in the recipe, as well.  After the chicken is cooked and cooled, debone and cut or tear the meat into bite-sized pieces.

Combine the cans of soup with the Ro-Tel and about a cup or so of the broth and mix till smooth.

In a large casserole or a 9x13 pyrex pan, layer up tortillas, chicken, cheese, soup mixture, tortillas, chicken, the rest of the soup and then top with the rest of the cheese.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 F for about 1 hour.  I usually take the foil off the last 15 minutes and let the cheese brown a bit for the last part of the cooking.

Sounds good, right?  It is.

Now here is the recipe for the Chilequiles

2 pkg of corn tortillas (I usually go with about 24 - 36), cut into the same wedges
1/2 liter heavy cream or sour cream
1/2 kilo shredded Mexican Manchego cheese or a good Monterrey Jack or Mozzarella (you want the melty stretchiness)
3/4 kilo green tomatillos
6 small green serrano peppers
1 small wedge of onion
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 1/2 cups cilantro

In a good-sized saucepan cover the tomatillos with water. Add the peppers, onion and garlic. Boil until water darkens, about 10 minutes.

After you have cut the tortillas into wedges, heat some oil in a frying pan and fry them till crispy and golden.  Spread on paper towels to drain and sprinkle with salt. (try to not eat them all!)

Shred the cheese.

Let the tomatillos and peppers cool a bit. Then put the tomatillos, and 3 of the peppers and the onion and garlic into the blender or food processor.  Add a bit of salt and the cilantro.  Blend with 1 1/2 cups of the water they were boiled in.  *This is going to make way more green salsa than you will need for this dish. Don't try to use it all or your Chilequiles will be swimming and soggy.

In a 9x13 pyrex layer tortillas, green sauce and cream. Repeat layers and top with the shredded cheese.

Bake until bubbly and heated through.

***Now here is the deal with Chilequiles.  This is a dish made to use up the leftover tortillas from yesterday that are not all soft and pliable.  This dish is often made with shredded leftover chicken in the layers.  I also put half the cheese in the middle and half on top.

We like to make this with leftover smoked chicken too.  It's very good.

This dish is served all over Mexico with refried beans and sliced avocado.  You can order it for breakfast, brunch or lunch.  Some places ask you if you want yours made with green or red sauce.  I prefer the green.

And by the way, that green sauce in the recipe up there?  That is killer!  It is so darn good you will want to keep dipping those fresh hot tortilla chips in it.  So, if you want to be really traditional when you serve this sauce at your table, dice up a couple of really firm and ripe Haas avocados and mix them in.  Now, THAT is a beautiful thing right there.

Please, try both of these dishes and let me know how it goes for you and if you have a preference.

¡Buen Provecho!

Spicy Scallops Recipe

Remember way back a couple weeks ago when I was telling you about the scallop debate?  Whether to buy the smaller bay scallops (imported from China AND raised in a "farm") or get the larger wild-caught U.S. scallops that were not exactly perfect for the recipe?  And I promised to post the recipe for you?

Well, here it is!

First off, this comes from a cookbook my mama gave me for Christmas back 1993.  It is called Accents of the Orient - Eastern Influence on Western Cooking.   Just in case you love this recipe as much as I do and you want to find your very own copy of this book.  Most likely you will need to check Amazon or a used book store as I can't imagine that it is still in print all these years later.


Spicy Scallops


2 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp minced fresh gingerroot
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1 1/2 lbs bay scallops
1/2 lb cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup sake
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 tsp sambal oelek
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 tsp Kosher salt


Heat the butter and oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the gingerroot and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the green onions and cook for 30 seconds longer. Add the scallops and cook until barely opaque, about 1 minute longer. Add the tomatoes and cook until soft, about 2 minutes. Stir in the sake, cream, and sambal. Bring to a boil; stir in the cilantro and salt, then serve.


Makes 4 servings. 
Their notes: Scallops are one of the sweetest of the sea's treasures, perfect for all kinds of quick dishes. This one is made with a creamy sauce flavored with spices of the East. Serve it over plain rice, with quickly sauteed green beans, snow peas, or spinach on the side. To complete the meal, add a salad of mixed greens.


**My notes:  See why you need the smaller scallops?  So they are similarly sized to the cherry tomato halves.  You know I never use the green onions, but I do everything else exactly as written and this is so delicious you will just love it.  I usually make jasmine or basmati rice and serve it with either the green beans or asparagus.  But the snow peas idea is what I am going to do next time.


Last time when I did this with the larger sea scallops, I cut them in half so that they would cook faster, more like the smaller ones.  It worked perfectly.


I hope you try it and let me know what you think.


¡Buen Provecho!

Christmas Presents

Okay, if you are on my Christmas list and DON'T want to know what you might be getting, turn away. Close this screen and don't peek. If you are not on my list and want to know what I am doing so as to give you some inspiration, please read ahead. If you think it is too early to think about Christmas and gifts, well you are just wrong!

So, Christmas gifting is a year-long process for me. I work and plan all year long as to what I am going to be doing and who gets what. For the last 5 or 6 years I have tried to switch to mostly all handmade gifts rather than store-bought. I am trying to get the focus back on the intention behind the holiday and the reason for gifting rather than supporting Best Buy and Target. I had frankly gotten fed up with gifting "gift cards" and can I tell you how many of the damn things go lost in my house? And I am sure mine is not the only house they go missing in. I think buying gift cards is like tossing money into a black hole.

A couple of years ago I started planting loofahs. And that year everyone on my list got their own personal loofah to scrub with, a crocheted cotton wash cloth, jars of bath salts and a bar of homemade soap. These were all gifted in a crocheted shopping bag. No waste involved here at all, no paper, no tape, everything was usable.

Before that I made flavored vinegars and olive oils. Those were really good and easy to do. The trick was finding beautiful bottles with corks to package them in. We made some pickled mixed vegetables from the garden back when we weren't living in a drought and actually HAD a garden to pick things from!!

This year I am making the cutest aprons you have ever seen. They are just precious! I am really excited about them. But not as excited as I am about this . . . . . .

For 2 almost 3 years I have been working on a cookbook as a fundraiser for San Antonio Birth Doulas http://www.sabirthdoulas.org/index.html This is a non-profit organization I work with and it is very dear to my heart. Finally, after all this time the cookbook has gone to print! Hooray!!! So I will be gifting most of the people on my list a cookbook and a new apron. I am really excited about this. Now I just have to come up with a clever way to present them.

The cookbook is very family and baby friendly. The chapters are not the usual Appetizers through Desserts. Instead we have more than 400 recipes that are categoriezed in Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Arts & Crafts, Lunch Box & Snacks, Parties & Celebrations, Pregnancy Post-partum & Baby. All the recipes are tried and true and sent in by people who work with SABD and their family members. I am really proud of it.

If you are interested in purchasing one of these cookbooks (all the proceeds go straight to the works we do), please let me know. I would be happy to mail some out to you so that you can gift a few of these yourself.

Oh, and if you know someone who is having a baby I have printed up a new batch of the baby food cookbook I started back when my kids were small. I worked on it and refined it over the years and it is really nice. Same thing with this one, I am donating all proceeds after my printing costs back to SABD. So you can feel good about making these purchases knowing you are not only gifting a high quality book that will be used to nourish your loved ones, but you are helping us to help under-privileged women and babies. Talk about your win-win situation!