Tostadas, Rice, and Many Leftovers

The tostadas were, of course, excellent but it was the rice recipe I created from two recipes in the cookbook that rocked my week.

The Best Spanish Rice in Illinois

Brown 1 onion and 2 coves garlic, both chopped, in cast iron with much Crisco.
Add 1 cup dry white rice. Brown for 10 mins or so.
Add 2 large tomatoes and 4 or 5 green chilies, all chopped.
Pour in 3 or so cups of chicken broth(how ever much comes in those fancy broth boxes)
Add some salt and pepper.
Bring to boil.
Reduce heat.
Let simmer uncovered until liquid is absorbed.
Try your hardest not to stir it.

It was pretty dang good!

With ample leftovers of chicken, tortillas, beans, and cheese I was able to make to following...

Chicken tacos (fried up con queso) with rice.
Chicken, bean, and cheese quesadillas with rice.
Chicken, bean, cheese and rice burritos.
Chicken, green chile, cheese sandwiches (grilled up and wonderful).

It was a good week.

On the left, my kitchen was a mess, which never happens. I blame the full moon. On the right, notice the huge bite taken out of the tostada. I guess Matt just couldn't wait! Also notice the fried-at-home tortillas. ;)

Tostadas

First two Dan ate...
He added a little salsa... My plate is prettier...
These are taken with my phone! I'm too lazy to get out my camera. That's why they are blurry.

Tostadas Estilo Patricia

Or: Tostadas in the style of Patricia (whoever that is!) I just call these YUMMY tostadas.

I cheated. I had no chicken so I used ground beef. OH MY GAWD! They were good. Dan ate FOUR!

Fry some corn tortillas until crisp and hard. Spread with refried beans. Then add in layers: Shredded boiled chicken, sliced avocados (or guacamole), sliced tomato, salte, grated Monterrey Jack chees, shreed lettuce, green chile sauce, top with sour cream.

Okay, this is how I did it :)

Bought some tostada shells at the store. Made refritos from some leftover beans. Fried up some ground beef. Combined the beans and ground beef (stays on the tostada better that way). Sprinkled cheese on top. Put them in the oven until the cheese melted. Then, I added chopped onion, lettuce, tomato, and put a HUGE dollop of guacamole on top. Served them with salsa on the side. I must say, I could eat them again tonight. Too bad there weren't any left over!

Tamale Pie (Oklahoma Style)

I should have known from the title…

This dish was not good, at least it wasn't good on the first day. Today, the third day, it is tolerable. The recipe should have had us refrigerate the concoction for 24 hours before eating. It helps the mush set up a bit and resemble pie, slightly.

What was absolutely great about this meal -- and what actually made it a meal -- was my very successful attempt at refried beans. The cookbook gives a recipe for pinto beans y refritos, but neither seemed very interesting. Instead, I tried to make pinto beans as close as possible to my mommy's and then mashed them up in a skillet with much butter, vigor, and zest. I bought and used salt pork for the first time, which was exciting…probably only to me. I also put four cloves of garlic in there, some onion (just the spare parts from the Tamale pie onion), a little cumin, and a lot of pepper. Amazing.

I'm not sure it's even worth the time to provide our readers -- who am I kidding? reader -- with the recipe, but I will do so for the opportunity to annotate it with ingredients I added to make this mush into flavorful mush. Also, this is a good opportunity to point out how badly written this recipe was, as many of them are. Gives the book character, I guess.

"Tamale Pie (Oklahoma Style)

1 c cornmeal
4 c water, 1 t salt
1 medium onion
1 green bell or chile pepper [I used a green-orange bell pepper and four or five green chilies]
3 t cooking oil [reserved meat grease]
2.5 c cooked tomatoes [Mexican festival Rotel]
1 t salt
dash cayenne or chile powder [A dash equals a tablespoon or two. Like mother like daughter. ]
[garlic? yes, lots.]
[cumin? sure!]

Cook corn meal, water and salt in top of double boiler for 45 mins. Chop onion and pepper and fry in hot oil. Add tomatoes, meat, salt and cayenne or chile and cook until thickened. Line greased baking dish with half the mush [RED FLAG: this meal will not be good. It will instead be mush.] pour in meat mixture, cover with remaining mush and bake in hot oven [oh, a hot oven. Good idea!] (375 degrees). 30 min. or until top is slightly browned [adding some cheese to the top is not a bad idea either]. Serves 6 to 8. Use 3 cups of cooked rice instead of first 3 ingredients, if desired [yuck]."


I don't have an opinion on what we cook next, just mo' beans please!

Quiche de Reciprocation

Matt and I decided that, after my mom’s success with the Pollo de Casarol, we’d try our best to add a little French flair to the dinner menu. We chose three recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I know, it’s not “the cookbook” guiding this blog, but I still think the meal is worth mentioning. I made Quiche Lorraine while Matt made a-beef-steak-with-red-wine-and-mushroom-sauce-type-thing. His recipes took a little longer and were way more complicated than my quiche, but in all that work, we learned how to “revive” canned beef stock and thicken gravy pretty easily. I got to use pinto beans as weights as I baked my quiche crust, something I was excited to try. I don’t know why I look forward to these kinds of things! Anyway, it all turned out pretty well. I think quiche might become a staple in our new home, since it is just a high-falutin’ word for bacon and eggs.