Colorado Hatch Green Chili Sauce

It's Fall, and hatch green chilies are all over the place - at least here in Colorado.  Little corner markets have big roasters out front, and the aroma is mouth-watering and really puts me in the mood for some homemade green chili sauce.

Colorado Hatch Green Chili Sauce

Five or six good sized hatch green chilies\
Two or three red Fresno peppers (just for color and extra flavor).
A small pre-cooked pork chop (a day or two in advance, I'll have Joe grill some pork chops, and I'll save a small one back for this recipe)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 can chicken broth
Big bowl of ice water

First, chop (or food process) the pork chop into tiny pieces.

Next, we're going to char the chilies.  You can do this on a sheet pan under the broiler (which until this year I've always done) or you can char them right on your gas cooktop.  Yay!, I have a gas stove so I tried it - sooooo easy.  Just make sure you have the vent/fan on, or at least the number to the fire department.

Whichever method you choose, leave the peppers on (or under) the heat until they're bubbly, charred, soft, and sizzling.

As you take them off the fire, plunge them into a bowl filled with ice water.  The cold shrinks up the pepper from the skin and makes them really easy to peel...and you won't have to visit the burn unit.

Peel the peppers with your fingers, leaving some of the char - for that good smoky flavor.  Cut off the tops and discard with most of the seeds.  The more seeds you leave, the hotter the final product.  Slice up the peppers and finely chop them; add them to the pork chop.

Now it's time for the roux.  

Place the butter and the flour in the pot and melt/mix on medium high heat.  Once all the butter has melted and mixed with the flour, slowly pour in the chicken broth while constantly stirring.  Patience. Patience.  The magic happens at about the 4-5 minute mark; the sauce begins to thicken.  When it's a lot like pancake batter, dump the chilies and pork chop into the pot and turn down the heat.  Mix everything together and let it cook down for about 20 minutes.

Once it's all heated through, bubbling and driving you mad with the aroma, you can remove from heat and let cool.  I served this with Mexican breaded chicken tenders and fresh sliced tomatoes.  Store in the fridge - if you have any leftovers.

Peachy Keen Green Chili Bacon Jam

Okay, here's one for you.

Remember the other day when I bought some green chili bacon?  Well a while back, BFF Cindy, was going on and on about a particular menu item at the Imperial Taproom in Canyon, Texas that came with bacon/peach jam.  Raved about it.  Made me drool a bit.  So I had an idea.  What if I used the green chili bacon to make bacon/peach jam.  BINGO!

Here's what you need:

4-5 strips of green chili bacon, cut into small pieces (if you can't find this bacon, I'm sure good quality smoked bacon and a bit of chipotle or green chili rub will get you close)
4 peaches, about a lb, peeled, pitted and chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
3 tbs green chili sauce (I use 505 brand)
About 5 hours of your time

Stir the peaches, sugars, and lemon juice together in a saucepan and let sit for an hour (no heat).  You want all the juice from the peaches to melt the sugars and form sort of a syrup.

After the peaches have juiced themselves, turn on the burner and get them to a full boil.  Reduce the heat and continue boiling for about 30 minutes.  You want the peaches to start breaking down and the syrup to start congealing.  At about 25 minutes, spoon in the green chilis.  Stir.

Meanwhile, render the fat from the bacon over medium low heat.  Rendering means cooking - but NOT crisping - the bacon.  You'll have to watch the skillet, but you can tell when the fat is rendered...it's not as sizzly and the fat begins to brown.

When you're comfortable with your bacon (although, I am always comfortable with bacon) drain it on a paper towel and pour off all but about a tablespoon of the fat in the skillet.  Add the now syrupy peaches to the skillet and turn the heat down to low.

Let this mixture cook on low for about 3.5 hours, stirring occasionally.

When the peaches are pretty much mush and the sticky syrups are like, well, jam, remove from the heat and pop into a blender for a quick pulse to smooth out the chunky bits.

I'm serving mine tonight with a chipotle-rubbed tenderloin.  Enjoy!

Green Chili Bacon Chipotle Sauced Shrimp

On a recent trip to Breckenridge, we four friends picked a chipotle shrimp appetizer.  It was fabulous.

They were delicious.  Plump, spicy, creamy...they ticked the boxes.

At the grocery store yesterday, I noticed some nice large in-shell shrimp in the case.  I thought, "Oh, hellz yes!"  As I was standing there, I heard someone - not too far away - in front of the butcher case ask for a pound of hatch green chili bacon. Whaaaaaaat?  I actually felt the light bulb go off.

I bought the shrimp, the bacon, a can of chipoltes, a tub of sour cream and some avocados.  Here's what I did with them:

Green Chili Bacon Chipotle Sauced Shrimp

1 lb large cleaned and shelled shrimp (I took the tails off because I'd rather eat than work)
5 strips hatch green chili bacon, diced and fried crisp (if you can't find the bacon, you could always just add some green chili into the skillet with regular bacon)
1 can chipotles with sauce
1 tbs lime juice
2 cups sour cream
salt and pepper

In a bowl, salt and pepper the shrimp (I also added a dash of onion powder and a few shakes of garlic salt, but that's just me.)

Dice and fry the bacon.

Drain on a paper towel and pour off all but about a tablespoon of the grease. Put the bacon in a bowl.  Add the shrimp to the skillet and cook until they've curled up their little tails, and they're nice and pink.  Drain the cooked shrimp on a paper towel and add them to the bacon, toss.

Pour the chipotles into a blender along with the sauce, the sour cream, the lime juice and some salt and blend until smooth.  I didn't quite have enough sour cream so I used some mayo and some ranch dressing...worked just as well.

Pour the mixture into a squeeze bottle.  Now here's the thing...if you want to, you can toss the bacon and the shrimp with the sauce, or you can drizzle it lightly on the shrimp and add more as you like from the squeeze bottle.

I topped the shrimp with some slices avocados and a handful of cotija cheese.

This checked ALL the boxes!

Best/Easiest Grilling Marinade...EVER

So simple.  So versatile.  Oh, so very good!  This easy marinade works on pork, beef, chicken, even fish.  Thirty minutes in a jumbo plastic baggie, and BAM, you're ready to cook!

One count (about an ounce) for every 3-4 ounces of meat/fish.  Four chicken breasts?  About a four count pour.  Two 10oz sirloins?   About a five or six count pour.

Place meat in the big baggie and add each of the following using the appropriate count:

vegetable oil
soy sauce
cooking sherry

Then for every piece of meat, shake in a couple of good shakes of garlic salt.

Seal bag and mix all together.  Pound - just a bit - on the meat to help work in the marinade and break down tendons/ligaments, etc.  Let sit at room temp for about 30 minutes, then grill.  That's it.  So simple.

Salmon Quinoa Salad

Recently while we were in Portland, Oregon, we had dinner at a lovely restaurant called Q. Their beer list was interesting; their menu was fabulous. Husband Joe and I shared a small plate of bacon-wrapped dates and a butter leaf lettuce salad. Frankly, I don’t remember what he had, but I had a spice-rubbed salmon over a quinoa salad that was to die for. The salad was so bright and tasty, I couldn’t wait to get my fork back in there for another bite.

Now, I’m not a huge fan of quinoa. And whenever I try to make it, it just doesn’t come out quite right. I failed again when I tried recreating this salad at home. But I got the rest of the salad right. Next time I make it, I think I’ll make it with pearl couscous. Fuck Quinoa!

So, while it’s kind of vague and fluid, here’s my recipe:

Cooked salmon from the deli section at the grocery store (you absolutely could grill it yourself). I think Honey Smoked Salmon would work just as well. It all depends on just how lazy you are.
2-3 cups cooked quinoa (if you can make it), or couscous, or whatever starch you want to use.
Dozen or so grape tomatoes, halved
½ cup sliced black olives
¾ cup chopped cucumber
½ chopped pecans or peanuts
¾ cup of sweet corn (I microwaved one cob and sliced the corn off of it). You could also use frozen corn or even roasted corn.
¼ cup thinly sliced yellow and orange bell peppers (I use the minis)
Just a few thin slices of fresh jalapenos and/or fresno peppers
2 teaspoons of lime juice
Enough of some kind of creamy vinaigrette to lightly coat ingredients
Dash of garlic salt
Salt and pepper to taste

Take the skin off of the salmon and shred into large salad bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and toss to coat. Ta-da! Salad can be served warm or cold.

Let me know if you come up with easy quinoa or any other ingredients that could go in this salad!

Awesome Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

From Our Best Bites

This recipe showed up on my Feedly, and I sprinted to the kitchen to make it.  Totally worth the shin splints.  Since Joe and I love the heat, I've jacked the recipe a bit from the original.

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

5 tbsp butter
5 tbsp flour
2 15 oz cans chicken broth
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tbsp chili powder (or more, to taste)
black pepper, to taste
1/3 c sour cream
Tabasco or your favorite hot pepper sauce, to taste
salt, to taste
4 oz cream cheese (I know, you want to add more, but it's not necessary), softened to stirring consistency
1 7 oz can green chilies (or more, to taste)
3-4 c cooked, shredded chicken (I used rotisserie chicken from the grocery)
4 c shredded jack/cheddar cheese (I also added a bit of pepper Jack)
10-12 small flour tortillas, room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Lightly spray a 9x13" Pyrex or other baking dish with nonstick spray and set aside.

Add butter and flour to large saucepan and heat over medium heat.  As butter begins to melt, start stirring.  The flour and butter will begin to combine to form a paste.  Once all of the flour is coated with all of the butter (2-3 minutes), it will start to brown (and you'll start to wonder what fresh hell you've created - congratulations, you just made a roux!)  Begin slowly pouring in the chicken broth.  Continue stirring as the gloppy butter and flour mixture starts to dissolve.  Keep adding the broth and KEEP STIRRING.  When all the broth is added, and your wrist is starting to cramp, add the dry spices.  Bring the sauce to a simmer and continue to stir.  All of a sudden, you'll notice the sauce is thickening.  KEEP STIRRING.

When the sauce is the consistency of week-old buttermilk, remove the saucepan from the heat.  Remember, there's a fine line between "thickened" and "congealed."  Stir the sour cream and the hot pepper sauce into the hot mixture and, you guessed it, keep stirring until combined.  Set aside.

Now, I know that this sauce does not look like the red enchilada sauce you're probably used to.  In fact, depending on the amount of hot pepper sauce you added, it's barely a pale pink...that's perfect for this recipe.

In a separate mixing bowl, mix together the softened cream cheese, the green chilies, and about a 1/2 cup of your lovely sauce.  Add the chicken and about 2 cups of cheese.  Mix together.

Pour about 1 cup of the sauce into the bottom of the prepared pan and spread out evenly.  Take a tortilla in the cup of your hand and fill it with some of the chicken mixture.  Don't be chintzy, but don't over fill it - remember you're going to have to roll it a bit.  Push together and overlap the edges of the tortilla, and pretend you're rolling a joint.  Work the two sides toward each other to help spread out the mixture, then place seam-side down in the dish.

Personal note - I tried using the large flour tortillas, but there's a lot of excess tortilla.  I used the smaller ones and, while the insides squished out a bit, there was a more satisfying ratio of chicken mixture to tortilla.

Once all the tortillas are lined up in the dish, commingling their lovely contents into the sauce, pour the remaining sauce over the top and cover with the remaining two cups of cheese.  If you like (which I did), you can also add jalapeno slices all over the top, but, under the cheese.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until hot and bubbly.

Stupidly Easy BBQ Pie

One evening I sat wondering WTF I should make for dinner.  I had some hamburger and some cheese.  I spotted a can of Grands biscuits in the back of the fridge, and I knew I had the makings for BBQ sauce.  Light bulb moment.

At first I thought about sloppy joe empanadas or maybe tiny bbq pizzas.  A quick look online steered me towards BBQ Pie.

1 can Grands flaky biscuits
1 lb hamburger
Your favorite bbq sauce (or whip up some like I did - I'll tell you how below)
1 cup or so of colby/jack cheese

Spray an 8x12 baking dish with PAM and press the biscuits into the bottom, around the edges, and up the sides.  Be patient and smoosh all the seams together.  Pop into the oven at the recommended temperature for about 10 minutes.  You want to give the biscuits a bit of a head start so they won't be raw on the inside.

Brown the hamburger and season with salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder (or dried onions) and drain completely.  While the meat is cooking heat up your BBQ sauce or make your own.  I use about a cup of ketchup, about a 1/4 cup of light brown sugar, a tablespoon or so of apple cider vinegar, and salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder.  I also include a few splashes of green chili sauce.  Add all ingredients into a sauce pan and heat.  Be sure to give it a taste...you can adjust according to your preference of heat, tang or sweetness.

When you're happy with the sauce, pour it over the meat and drizzle a couple of teaspoons of yellow mustard into the mix.  Stir well.

Take the now somewhat-browned biscuits out of the oven and pile on meat mixture.  Spread evenly around the dish and top with cheese.  Return the dish to the oven for another 8-10 minutes or until the edges of the biscuits are brown and the cheese is bubbly hot.

Serve with dill pickles and baked beans.  So stupidly easy.