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Potato Chard Enchiladas Recipe with Roasted Chili Sauce

Stephanie Stiavetti — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:00:58 +0000

A while back I made potato kale enchilada recipe from Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero’s Veganomicon. I thought I would make it again, this time with their vegan cilantro sour cream and using rainbow chard instead of kale. I was serving a group of six and everyone was super stoked with the results. The general opinion was, “Wait – you mean we can have enchiladas without feeling bloated and crappy afterwards from gorging ourselves on a pound of cheese per person?” I love cheese as much as the next gal, but it’s just not happening for my physiology lately. Sometimes I lament the loss of the occasional cheesy grease ball, but with alternatives like this dish, I miss it a little less every day.

A few things about this enchilada recipe: first, it takes about two hours to prepare the whole thing, about twice the amount of time that the book calls for (Isa must be a mega-uber enchilada roller or something). Second, since the dish is baked, it has more of a casserole texture. The sauce soaks into the tortillas and you end up with what looks like a messy lasagna if you pack the enchiladas into the pan, so if you’re looking for a more schnazzy presentation, leave a little space between them so you can easily remove them one at a time.

Potato Chard Enchilada Recipe

Serves 4

Chile Sauce Recipe

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 large green chiles, roasted, peeled, and seeded (I used mild Anaheim… use whatever you prefer)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon marjoram
1 – 28oz can of roasted diced tomatoes, with the juice
1 teaspoon sugar or agave nectar
2 teaspoons salt

Potato – Chard Filling

1 pound Yukon gold or other waxy potatoes
3 tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 pound chard, washed, trimmed of stem, and chopped fine
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup veggie broth
3 tablespoons lime juice (two or three limes worth)
1/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds, chopped coarsely (just toast them in a hot pan until they start to brown and smell nice, then chop them with a heavy knife)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt, to taste
~10 corn tortillas, depending on how full you want them

To make the sauce:

In a large, heavy bottom sauce pan, saute onion in olive oil over medium heat until soft – about five minutes. Add remaining sauce ingredients, bring up to a simmer, and remove from heat.
When mixture has cooled a bit, taste and adjust salt if necessary. Blend the sauce with an immersion blender until smooth (I just poured the mix into my regular blender and used that… it makes far less of a splattery mess than the immersion blender).

To make the filling

Preheat the oven to 375.
Start a large pot of water to boil on the stove. Peel potatoes if you like (I leave the skins on for taste and texture) and chop them into 1-inch cubes. Add to potatoes boiling water and boil until tender, about 15 minutes, then drain, mash a bit with a fork, and set aside.
Over a medium-low flame, heat olive oil until it shimmers. Add garlic and cook for one minute, stirring constantly.
Add chard and sprinkle with a little sea salt. Increase burner level to medium, stirring constantly to mix chard, oil, and garlic. Cover and steam for about five minutes, until greens are wilted.
Remove lid and mix in tomatoes, mashing a bit more as you go. You want it loose, but with nice potato-y chunks. Add veggie stock, lime juice, cumin, pumpkin seeds, and salt, cooking another four minutes, until the stock is absorbed. Add more stock or lime juice to taste, then remove from heat.

Assemble enchiladas:

Pour about 3/4 cup of enchilada sauce into a pie plate or deep dinner plate. Create an assembly line in this order: lightly oiled hot cast iron pan for softening tortillas, plate with sauce, filling, and the baking dish where you’ll be putting your finished enchiladas.
Ladle a little sauce into the baking dish and spread it around to lightly cover the bottom. Take a corn tortilla, set it into the hot cast iron pan for 20 seconds, then flip it over and repeat. Once the tortilla is soft and pliable, drop it into the pie plate to completely coat it in sauce, then flip and repeat.
Place tortilla in baking dish and run a generous amount of potato filling down the center, rolling it up and placing it in the dish. Continue with the rest of the tortillas, leaving about a quarter inch between them so that they will be easier to plate.
Pour 1 1/2 cups of sauce over the top of the enchiladas, reserving the rest for later. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 25 minutes, then remove foil and bake for another ten minutes to brown the edges of tortillas.
Allow to cool slightly before serving (they’ll be hot!) and top with a little more enchilada sauce and a dollop of vegan cilantro sour cream.

Do you have a favorite enchilada recipe? I’d love to hear it, vegan or otherwise. I’m on a quest for the perfect enchilada!

071308

Permalink | Posted in Gluten Free, Latin American, Vegan on Nov/Mon/2009
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© Stephanie Stiavetti for Wasabimon!, 2009.

How to Cook Quinoa – Curried Quinoa Salad Recipe

Stephanie Stiavetti — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:00:25 +0000

I love a good quinoa salad recipe, but normally I’m not a fan of cold salad dishes. Dishes like potato salad, macaroni salad, and egg salad actually give the willies. Sorry if you’re actually a fan, but man, I can’t handle them. Yikes.

A few weeks ago, my friend Lisa’s son turned 13. We had a great potluck party where everyone brought a dish from some random corner of the earth, and one guest brought their curried quinoa salad recipe. I was skeptical, of course, because it was a cold salad – I watch it with disdain from across the room, but the bright colors kept me intrigued. I love quinoa, so finally decided to open my mind a bit and give it a try.

This cold quinoa salad recipe, as it turns out, was delicious. There was no mayo involved, so my stomach didn’t perform the requisite flip-flops after the first bite. I spent the next day tracking down the bringer of said salad on Facebook, who was kind enough to share the recipe. And you, dear Internet, should try it out.

This cool summer recipe is not only insanely tasty, it’s super healthy too. Quinoa, being a whole grain, is high in fiber and actually contains more calcium than milk. It’s also an almost perfect balance of all eight essential amino acids, making for a great mega-shot of protein.

If you’re feeding this to kids, you might leave out the pepper to reduce the overall heat which, though mild, might turn off young’ins. Adding more mango will increase the level of sweetness, if you’re looking for something fruitier.

Curried Quinoa Salad Recipe

Serves six as a side or four for lunch.

1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice
2 teaspoons yellow curry powder
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1-1/3 cups uncooked quinoa
2 mangoes, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch chunks
1 fresh serrano chile, seeded and minced
1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
1/2 cup salted roasted cashews or peanuts, chopped

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together yogurt, lime juice, curry powder, ginger, salt, and pepper. Slowly add oil, whisking until fully combined.
Rinse quinoa in a bowl for three minutes, using fingers to agitate grains. Quinoa has a coating of bitter saponin that needs to be removed before cooking, and agitating while rinsing will help remove it.
In a 5-quart pot, bring four cups of water to a boil with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Add in quinoa and cook for 15 minutes, until grains are cooked through but still just a touch crunchy. Pour into a sieve, rinse with cold water, and let sit to drain for 15 minutes.
Once quinoa is fully drained, mix with curried yogurt and remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Serve at room temperature.

Some posts from other bloggers you might be interested in:

Permalink | Posted in Gluten Free, Latin American, Middle Eastern on Jun/Mon/2009
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© Stephanie Stiavetti for Wasabimon!, 2009.

Yucatecan Slow Roast Pork Recipe

Stephanie Stiavetti — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:33:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, we went to dinner at my dear friend and colleague’s house. Cora is not only a foodie – she’s the most motivated foodie I’ve ever met. She’s taken her passion for food and turned it into something most people only dream of, and I’ve been lucky enough to join her on this journey. We’ve got amazing things in store, which I will eventually talk about here – but it will have to wait a few months!

For dinner Cora made this amazing (and I do mean amazing) authentic Mexican-indian pork dish that left me swooning. Even the leftovers were divine. I’m not a leftover gal, but I do love my pork – and this was so good that I filled a big container with what was left and ate it constantly over the next few days, stuffing it into sandwiches and soups wherever I could.

The original recipe makes a HUGE amount of food, but I’ve cut it down to serve eight. If you follow the link to Bayless’ instructions, he talks about cooking it in an actual hole in the ground, which I swear to god I’m going to try someday once I have a yard.

Cochinita Pibil
(Yucatecan Slow-Roasted Pig)

by Rick Bayless

Serves 8 people for a hearty dinner.

8 pounds of bone-in pork shoulder (Boston butt) roasts
6 ounces achiote seasoning (make it yourself, or El Yucateco is a common brand)
3/4 cups fresh lime juice
1-pound package banana leaves, defrosted
Pickled red onions, for serving (recipe below)
Habanero salsa, for serving (recipe below)

1. Marinating the pork

Line your roasting pan with half of the banana leaves, leaving a 6-inch overhang on all the edges. Fit the pieces of pork into the bottom of the pan.

Prepare the marinade by breaking the achiote into pieces, dropping them into a blender jar, adding the lime juice and 1/2 teaspoon salt; blend until the mixture is a smooth thickish marinade.

Pour the achiote mixture over the pork, spreading it evenly to coat all surfaces (I recommend you wear latex gloves, since achiote will strain your hands red).

Set in the refrigerator for two hours.

2. Cooking the pork

Preheat oven to 200F.

Fold the overhanging banana leaves in over the pork, then use the remaining banana leaves to cover the pork completely. Pour about 3/4-quart of water over the leaves—it will collect in the bottom of the pan and should be about 1 inch deep.

Cover roasting pan with a foil tent, which will keep the moisture in. Place in oven and roast slowly three to six hours. After three hours have passed, check pork every 30 minutes – remove from oven when it reaches fall-off-the-bone tenderness. If you like you can set a meat thermometer in the pork – the fork-tender meat should be between 150 and 165 degrees when done.

3. Serving the pork

Remove the pan from the oven. Pull meat from bone, coarsely shredding it into baking pans, and then slide all the meat, covered with foil, into a low oven, until you’re ready to serve (it will hold for an hour or two).

Set the roasting pan on the stove over high heat (on all burners) and boil the juices until they’re as rich as you like (usually I reduce them by half their original quantity). Taste and season with salt.

Serve with meat on a big, deep, beautiful platter with pleanty of steaming hot corn tortillas, black beans, pickled red onions and habanero salsa.

Cebollas Curtidas
Pickled Onions

Makes 1-1/2 cups

1 large red onion, peeled and cut in half
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
Salt

Thinly slice the onion (this can be done using a food processor fitted with a thin slicing blade). Scoop the onion into a heat-proof, non-reactive bowl. Pour boiling water over it, wait 10 seconds, then pour the onion into a large strainer. Return the drained onion to the bowl, pour on the lime juice and stir in the 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cover and place in the refrigerator until serving time. Before serving, taste and season with additional salt if you think necessary.

Salsa de Chile Habanero
Habanero Salsa

Makes about 1 cup

12 habanero chiles, stems removed
4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 cup fresh lime juice
Salt
Water

Set an ungreased skillet or griddle over medium heat. Lay in the unpeeled garlic and the chiles. Roast, turning frequently, until soft and blotchy brown in spots, about 5 minutes for the chiles, 10 to 15 minutes for the garlic. Cool until handleable, then slip the skins off the garlic.

Place the garlic in a food processor. With the motor running, drop in the chiles one after another. When all are in, continue processing for about 20 seconds, then add the lime juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 3 tablespoons of water. Continue processing until smooth; the habanero salsa should be the consistency of an American hot sauce.

Permalink | Posted in Gluten Free, Grain Free, Latin American, Meat on May/Wed/2009
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© Stephanie Stiavetti for Wasabimon!, 2009.

Cinnamon Pumpkin Seed Brittle Recipe

Stephanie Stiavetti — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:55:51 +0000

Today, the intrepid Melanie McMinn is back with another sweet, tasty recipe – cinnamon pumpkin seed brittle. This exotic candy makes a great gift when wrapped in a nice gift bag and tied with a bow.

Take it away, Melanie!

Melanie McMinn’s Spicy Pumpkin Seed Brittle

Do you feel guilty throwing away pumpkin seeds? If you are like me, you pull them out of the pumpkin and say to yourself “I’ll definitely toast, roast, or do something else fabulous with these. Garnish soups with them, yeah. I know they’re good for you, I can’t just throw them away!” Two weeks later, you find the greenly molding mass in the back of the fridge THEN throw them out. Until now.

With this stylish cinnamon pumpkin seed brittle, you’ll be showing your pepitas off. You may even find yourself heading off to the nearest Latin grocery store to pick up some for extra batches. And if you aren’t a fan of cinnamon, you can easily substitute cayenne or cumin for more exotic versions.

Most recipes you find for brittle call for corn syrup, but I adapted this recipe to remove that not-at-all-natural ingredient. If you haven’t heard, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is pretty nasty stuff. Take a look at a great post called Icky Ingredients: High Fructose Corn Syrup at Allie’s Answers. I knew I couldn’t find Karo down here in New Zealand, but I didn’t know HFCS is banned in a number of countries until I read that post. Learn more about HFCS from the great list of links at Daily Kos: Americans Consume 98 lbs Refined Corn Fructose/Yr.

Cinnamon Pumpkin Seed Brittle

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, if you like hot, throw in some ground cayenne. I’ve also seen cumin used instead of cinnamon for a smoky taste.
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup butter
1 cup pumpkin seeds (toasted or not, I toast mine in a 350° F oven for about 8 min until they start making a small popping noise)

Kosher or sea salt to taste

Lightly butter a cookie sheet or cover with a silicon liner. In a small bowl, stir baking soda into vanilla to dissolve and set aside. In another bowl, stir together cinnamon and salt to help the cinnamon distribute evenly when it’s stirred into the sugar mixture.

In a large heavy bottom saucepan over medium-low heat, use a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon to stir together sugar, water and butter until butter is melted and sugar is completely dissolved. Increase heat to medium and boil sugar mixture, stirring occasionally, until it turns a deep amber and measures 168°C (335-340°F) on a candy thermometer*, 8 to 12 minutes.

*You can do it without a candy thermometer, but it is easier with one as will seem to be taking FOREVER to change colour. With the thermometer you don’t have to guess when to take the pan off the heat or wonder if the mixture is getting hot enough. I have to crank my eye all the way up to the max to get the syrup to the required temperature. I don’t think it would EVER get there on medium.

Remove sugar mixture from heat and carefully stir in vanilla and cinnamon mixtures (they will bubble up). Immediately stir in pumpkin seeds and pour into prepared pan, using spatula or wooden spoon to evenly spread and fill pan OR pour mixture over pumpkin seeds that have been spread out on the cookie sheet. Sprinkle all over with kosher/sea salt immediately if you want that sweet and salty taste.

I think it is prettier if you pour the mixture OVER the seeds, otherwise, you end up with brown squares. Yummy, but less festive looking.

Let the brittle cool at room temperature for 30 to 40 minutes. Break into chunks. It also makes a beautiful garnish to stick a piece into whipped cream on top of pumpkin pie, other pumpkin or spiced desserts or instead of biscotti with hot spiced drinks.

A note on cleanup
Once you’ve poured out your candy mixture and sprinkled your salt, put water in the pan you were cooking in and bring it to a boil. Use the boiling water to clean any other implements, spatula, thermometer, etc. If you use boiling water, clean up is a breeze. If you try to clean up with regular “hot” water, you could be scrubbing all day.

Permalink | Posted in Desserts, Gluten Free, Latin American on Jan/Wed/2009
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© Stephanie Stiavetti for Wasabimon!, 2009.

Vegan Cilantro Sour Cream Recipe

Stephanie Stiavetti — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:10:30 +0000

When I made potato chard enchiladas the other day, I was really fiending for something akin to sour cream, but without the dairy gut-bomb aftereffects. After surfing around the PPK forums and flipping through Isa and Terry’s Veganomicon, I found their vegan sour cream recipe with cilantro. I whipped it up in a flash (ew, cliche) and holy crackers, was it good. Perfect for topping those enchiladas, perfect for dipping fresh cut veggies, and oddly perfect with the organic peaches I picked up from the farmer’s market. Apparently peach slices, garlic, and cilantro are a match made in heaven. Who knew?

So without further ado (oh man… I’m just full of cliches today):

Vegan Sour Cream Recipe with Cilantro

Makes about three cups

1 pound silken tofu (Isa says – not the vacuum packed kind!)
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (from one lime)
1 tablespoon of agave nectar or 1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups loosely packed FRESH cilantro, with leaves and stems (you can half the amount if you’re not a cilantro fiend like I am)

Remove tofu from packaging and squeeze gently to remove any excess water. Place in a blender or food processor along with the lime juice, agave, and salt. Blend until smooth.
Heat a small pan over medium-low heat, and add garlic and olive oil. Cook gently for three minutes, stirring occasionally. For the love of Zod, do not burn the garlic… you want a nice, blonde-brown color. Add to tofu mixture and blend again. Add cilantro and blend until “smooth and light green with some flecks of dark green.” Don’t forget to scrape down the sides.
Add more salt and lime to taste, then transfer to a bowl, cover, and chill for at least thirty minutes.
Eat with everything.

Permalink | Posted in Gluten Free, Latin American, Vegan on Jul/Mon/2008
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© Stephanie Stiavetti for Wasabimon!, 2008.

Potato Kale Enchiladas and Mexican Millet

Stephanie Stiavetti — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 19:55:47 +0000

For me, cold weather means a slight increase in spicy food. Not too much of an increase – I’m the world’s biggest puss when it comes to spiciness – but just enough to break a slight sweat and warm those frigid toes a bit. This week’s loveliness is care of Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Romero over at the Post Punk Kitchen. Their new book, Veganomicon, really is the ultimate vegan cookbook. It’s literally a tome of goodness.

This week I made the potato kale enchiladas with a side of mexican millet (in our drunken haze we kept calling it mexican mullet. heh). I can tell you that as the first thing I’ve made from this book, it was divine. Better than divine. I’ve made a lot of good gluten free vegan food, but the flavor and subtle spiciness that these two recipes packed was really unexpected for, well, potatoes, kale, and millet.

(photo credit: littlepretty)

There’s so much crammed into this book that you probably won’t need another one for quite a while. Well, until Lolo‘s book comes out, at least.

Orbit covets his two copies of Veganomicon (and no, he doesn’t normally look like he’s possessed by the devil):

Permalink | Posted in Gluten Free, Latin American, Vegan on Nov/Wed/2007
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© Stephanie Stiavetti for Wasabimon!, 2007.