Whatcha Cooking today?

[pepperhead212]

@Sue_CT
If you are looking for good prices on chiles, here's the best place I've found. Not the largest selection, but I have never seen lower prices in most of the items, and they also have pepper flakes of many of the peppers - something I keep around are the morita and guajillo flakes.
https://www.thechileguy.com

And another good place, though more expensive with some things (as always, know your prices!), some are incredibly low, when you get the pound bags (Penzey's stopped offering those years ago!), and $50 is the free shipping amount - easy to do when stocking up on things! Some things I used to get from them, before the Indian stores started showing up around here, though now those are much cheaper (and that one guy gives me deals, in return for my excess curry leaves!). A large variety of peppers, for sure!
https://spicesinc.com/search-results/Chiles

[karstopography]

Amazon has stemless dried guajillos for about $14/#. The link shared above in post 2339 has 1 pound of dried Guajillos at $8.39, but they have stems and it’s $50 per order to get the free shipping. Wonder what percentage of the overall weight is stems? My HEB sells a packaged pound of stem on dried guajillos for $7.19. HEB here also has bulk bins for dried peppers for $6.16/#. Census data here has our area as ~1/3 Latin America origin, that might explain the availability of dried peppers.

Dried peppers seem pretty reasonable considering the flavor is concentrated with the water largely removed. I picked up seeds for guajillos, de arbol, and some of the other commonly dried types. It’d be great to dry a few in 2023. That might force me to learn how to cook Mexican food!

[Sue_CT]

Well should I check the Indian market for them? Are they likely to carry the Guajillos or are those only really used in Mexican cuisine?

[pepperhead212]

Indian markets don't have guajillos, but they do (sometimes) have Kashmiri peppers, which are closer to some Numex, which I have substituted for them. They also have byadagi, which is a little hotter - not sure of a Mexican chile that that could compare to. They have them that look like arbol chiles, and other hot oriental types - that's what I use those Thai peppers in place of. They usually don't have a lot of other chiles, however, and some don't have the whole ones.

[Sue_CT]

Went to the grocery store, they had fresh Jalapeno, Habanero, Poblano and sweet Italian peppers. I have serano and Anaheim, Poblano and Thai Chilis in the garden. I have one more than they do, lol. 2 small Bags of dried Chipotle Chilis. That was it. I had to get the produce manager to help me find the only 2 bags of dried chilis they even had. Is it any wonder I don't cook Mexican dishes? It takes days to weeks to assemble the ingredients, lol. I did pick up some dried pinto beans to try making refried beans, and some ground pork to try making fresh Chorizo.

I buy my fresh Thai peppers at the Indian store. Big bins of them.

[pepperhead212]

They do seem to have a lot of fresh peppers in their produce section, compared to the few dried peppers they have. Mexican shops (as well as cooking) is sort of the opposite, with far more dried peppers - more varieties of dried chiles than any other cuisine.

[rxkeith]

another one of those one pot wonders.
after getting my sons lunch ready for work, and adding a little more left over roast maybe
three times according to sons instructions, that left me with enough roast for a small child
with a poor appetite. sooooo, i chopped some garden carrots, a small onion, a few cloves of garlic,
some under sized potatoes, couple stalks of celery, two big leaves of kale or kallards from the garden,
and a couple large handfuls of early red italian, and franks pepper i had just chopped up with just enough
water to cook the vegetables in and salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and savory, the usual suspects for seasoning.
once the vegetables were cooked, i shredded in the beef, and cooking liquid it was in, and simmered until done.
it came out nice, and savory, just enough for two people.


keith

[worth1]

Any Mexican store worth it's salt in Texas will have at the very least fresh....
Jalapeños red and green.
Manzano chiles.
Serrano chiles.
Poblanos.
Bell peppers.
Habaneros.
Sometimes green ones too.

[Sue_CT]

Problem actualy isn't the fresh. So many Mexican recipes used dried Chilis and they just aren't available to me. I am waiting for my Penzy's orde, which is supposed to be here Sunday, and I included some Guajillo peppers, but just one ounce. I wish I had gotten more but I have no idea if I will even like them. I need Pasilla peppers to make the Chorizo, at least for the Youtube recipe, and even Penzy's didn't have them. So I still have to find those. Trying to assemble enough authentic ingredients to just make one recipe each of refried beans and Mexican Chorizo and it turns into an investment and project, lol. I already bought the ground pork, but now that I think about it, I will go back and look at Pepperheads recipe, I don't think I need the Pasillo for his. If I find I really like cooking more Mexican and enjoy doing it I will invest in more ingredients. If anyone grows those peppers and dries them and would like to share or sell a few I would be happy to pay the shipping! I might make both pepperhead's and the youtube recipes for Chorizo and see what I like. If I don't care for either one, then I guess I can conclude its not to my taste and try something else. Trying to just start with the basics first and then branch out.

[karstopography]

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Wife is making meatloaf with a fall Bell pepper from the garden. I harvested my first Rolande french filet beans for the fall. Super excited to have fresh green beans from the garden this time of year.

[Sue_CT]

Ordered the Pasilla Chili peppers from Amazon and threw in a bag of New Mexico Hatch Chilis just to have on hand to expiriment with. I have seen them mentioed in several recipes. So we will see what I get, the ones I ordered get good reviews. Hopefully will be OK and not too old. Fun times coming!

[pepperhead212]

I made another one of those one dish pastas in the Instant Pot - this time, a version of puttanesca sauce, this time made with some of my last cherry tomatoes of the season, halving a little over a quart of them. I sort of crossed one recipe using this many cherry tomatoes, with garlic and herbs, and a puttanesca sauce, using canned sauce. Turned out great, and definitely something I will do again!

BTW, this dish doesn't need anymore salt added!

Puttanesca pasta in Instant Pot

4 tb EVOO
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (or to taste)
3/4 c pitted and chopped kalamata olives
3 tb kalamata paste (or another 1/4 c olives)
1/2 c salted capers, soaked, and chopped
2 tb anchovies, or to taste, chopped
1 qt cherry tomatoes, halved, or quartered, if larger
3 c water
1 lb linguine, or regular spaghetti, broken in half
At least 1/2 c chopped fresh basil
Grated reggiano for serving

Heat the olive oil, garlic, and hot pepper flakes in the IP on sauté/high, stirring about a minute. Add the chopped olives, olive paste (if used), capers, and anchovies, and stir frequently about 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes, stir to coat everything, add 3 c water, mix well, and hit STOP. Add the pasta, mix well, to coat with the water, then put the cover on, seal, and set to MANUAL 3 min. After the 3 min is up, hit stop, release the pressure manually, then remove lid. Set to sauté/high again, and toss the pasta, to separate any that may have stuck, and to evaporate the excess water. Stir and toss about 3 minutes, or until boiled off enough, then remove pot from the base, and set it on the stove, or another spot. Stir in the basil, let it sit a couple of minutes, then serve, with the reggiano, or other grated cheese.
garlic and hot pepper flakes, ready to cook in olive oil, for the puttanesca. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Olives, capers, and anchovies, chopped up for the puttanesca. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Over a quart of fresh cherry tomatoes, halved for the puttanesca. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Linguine, halved and added to the puttanesca mix. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The puttanesca, after the linguine was pushed under the water, and ready to pressure cook by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished puttanesca, after tossing the linguine a few minutes, to absorb the excess liquid, then the basil is added last. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I didn't even take a photo of the bowl I ate of this - I couldn't wait to eat it, and I think my friend was ready for his second bowl when I sat down! I could have eaten more, but I refrained, not that the serving was small, by any means.

[worth1]

I have some mayocoba beans cooking to go with the beef roast I'm bringing up to 200F by way of braising.
Some sort of Mexican thing on the menu.
Probably beef bean and cheese with serrano peppers fresh from the garden in a burrito.

[karstopography]

Slow cooker beef stroganoff. Cubed, seasoned and browned a choice sirlon cap thawed out from the freezer. Stirred around under lower heat a sliced onion and a clove of minced garlic in the beef juices in the browning skillet, then added sliced mushrooms to that for a bit longer and then put it all in the slow cooker. Deglazed the skillet with a little California cab and that and some beef broth went into the cooker. A bit of dijon mustard and a glug of Worcestershire sauce and I can already smell the goodness coming from the crock pot from the other side of the house.

[worth1]

Keeping it simple for many un indoctrinated individuals on Mexican cuisine.
Wait until the beans are cooked before adding any ingredients.
You will still want water left in the kettle..then add salt sparingly to the mix.
But be careful and not make it to taste because when it cooks down it'll be too salty.
Add Mexican oregano if you have it.
Add cumin.
Now is the time you add a serrano pepper or two finely chopped.
In my case three.
Let this slowly cook down till there is practically no water/juice left.
Then add homemade lard or lard from making carnitas or even bacon fat.
If you don't have this don't bother with processed store bought lard.
It is flavorless and useless for this application.
Might as well use olive oil or some other oil for the oil needed.
We're making refried beans naturally and it's an all day process if you don't have leftover beans.

[worth1]

On a whim I decided to add crunchy peanut butter to the liquid in the beans.
Never heard of it before but I can't see anything but good come from it.
Probably about 1/4 cup with the amount of beans I have.
It is the HEB store brand without HFC.

[worth1]

It worked marvelously, the taste is fantastic.
The pictures illustrate the difference between before and after the addition of the peanut butter and after mashing.
A simple hand mash with my potato masher.
Mayocoba beans rule.
This is (((NOT))) canned refried beans.

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[worth1]

It turned into a quesadilla.

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[karstopography]

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Moutabal (Levantine Eggplant dip) served with sumac, pomegranate arils and parsley.

Cousin of Baba Ganoush, but I like the Moutabal better.

[Sue_CT]

Worth you would have had me if that Quesidilla had been oozing with melty cheese on top of the beef and out between the edges of the torilla. You showed some restraint.

Karastopography, I have meaning to try Sumac in something. I have never cooked with it before.