Chilaquiles with Fresh Salsa

You can tell that chilaquiles were made to use up stale tortillas and leftovers. I think it’s a real tribute to the Mexican kitchen that one of the best dishes is an attempt to be thrifty. I have a hunch cassoulet, baked beans and Shepherd’s pie were also originally made by thrifty cooks.

My leftovers included some fresh tomatillo salsa. I normally make chilaquiles with a chile sauce made from dried red chiles but I know a lot of people make them with fresh  red or green salsas.  I also had some leftover poached chicken, chicken stock and a small amount of cooked Cellini runner beans.

I thinned out the tomatillo salsa with some of the stock I had leftover from poaching the chicken. You could use canned or even water.

While the sauce was heating up, I chopped up some cilantro, shredded the chicken and grated some jack cheese.

Luckily, I had my own tortilla chips on hand. These are literally just fried tortillas. There are some good quality chips out there and you can use them or you’ll have to fry stale tortillas. I have a dear friend who uses Fritos in a pinch, but I still like her nonetheless. She is otherwise sane.

The chips should absorb a lot of the liquid. You want them to stay whole and get soft, yet still be al dente.

When the chips softened, I added the beans and chicken. Once they were cooked through, I added the cilantro and the cheese. Toss and serve. You could add a lot of cheese but I don’t like this so much. The star of the dish should be the tortillas that have absorbed the salsa. You don’t want gummy nachos.

I just can’t think of a better breakfast.

Rachel Ray, Eat My Dust!

I’m not here to bash Rachel Ray and her 30 minute meals (although with a few drinks, I could and would), but I have a quick meal that beats hers by a long-shot.
In the morning, put your beans, water and an onion in a crock pot and when you come home, the beans are ready. You simply have to salt and then ladle them out.

Chop up broccoli and start steaming.
Sliced turkey cutlets have about 3 ounces of meat and you can pound these out with a meat mallet and cook them in a little duck fat in about 2 minutes. After you remove the turkey, squeeze half a lime and a few drops of wine into the pan to create an instant sauce. This also makes the pan easier to clean. The broccoli is probably done now so it can go into the deglazed pan to pick up any leftover drops. Got some Parma cheese? Use it.

Done!
I think it took 10 minutes.

BOOK: Super Natural Cooking

I have to say, Saturday mornings at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market are pretty hopping. The crowds come in waves and while I enjoy seeing everyone, I particularly like the bloggers. Despite knowing the most efficient time to arrive is before 10:00 a.m., they tend to like to sleep in a bit. I don’t blame them. I would if I could. They seem to come alone and then travel in packs. Many of them leave their heavy bags with me in my booth while they go hunt for a coffee (Blue Bottle, of course) or wait in line for Primavera chilaquiles. I’m sometimes surprised at the bloggers that are friends and I’m always surprised when two that I like are meeting for the first time at the Rancho Gordo booth.

I’m not going to drop any names other than Heidi Swanson, who was literally the first blogger to write about my beans. She’s really more of a one-woman New Media empire than a blogger with her 101 Cookbooks website, forums and newsletter.
I love dishes that don’t include meat, a lot, but I have zero interest in "vegetarian cooking". I was visiting Heidi’s site for months before it dawned on me she never includes meat products and being that I’m sharp as a tack, I figured out why. She writes about whole foods, homemade foods and healthy foods, but you wouldn’t know it.

(Check out Heidi’s recipe for Creamy Wild Rice Soup)

The very good news is that Heidi’s new book, Super Natural Cooking, is coming out any day. I received an advance copy and it’s great. The photos and recipes are inspiring, well thought out and somewhat modern. If you’ve been reading 101 cookbooks, it will be like spending a few hours with a great friend. Even more exciting would be if you aren’t familiar with Heidi’s work. I’d be happy to think I introduced you! I have a hunch this book is going to be huge.

Fun with Duck Fat

Several people have told me about how nice popcorn is cooked with duck fat rather than regular oil. I’d been using olive oil and feeling pretty indulgent but this takes the cake.

Use about a teaspoonful for a big bowl of popcorn and you won’t need butter. I have one of those fun crank stove-top popcorn makers and this works quite well. A little salt and all is good!

While the duck fat was easy to reach, I made breakfast by frying boiled, cubed potatoes in a wee but of duck fat, along with a minced red onion and garlic. I topped these potatoes with two poached eggs and some strips (rajas) of poblano chiles that had been charred and skinned. It was a rather good morning!

Not Casssoulet (But Mighty Fine)

I mentioned making this in the Rancho Gordo newsletter but I thought it should also make an appearance here. I love flageolet beans a lot and often have to justify them to Francophiles who insist that a cassoulet must be made with Tarbais beans. I don’t know of any domestic grower of Tarbais and they’re hard to come by. My LaRousse Gastronomique just calls for dry white beans while others call for Haricot de Castelnaudery specifically. What to do? Maybe relax a little, I’d say! I’d worry more about the correct sausages or good duck confit.

After reading several recipes, I experimented and took the confit I had from The Fatted Calf and put the skin on the bottom of my clay gratin. I then added a layer of cooked flageolet, followed by the shredded meat of the confit, then another layer of beans and the whole mess is topped off with bread crumbs. This went into the oven at 350F for about 45 minutes and developed a nice crust.

I would never pass this off as authentic or even French but readers, it was out of this world! I can’t wait to experiment more with this bean gratin idea. It would make an ideal side dish or work on its own with a salad. Jill Nussinow, author of The Veggie Queen: Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment likes sun-dried tomatoes and thyme with her flageolet. You could easily skip the duck and try Jill’s version instead, just try it with bread crumbs and then report back.

Refried Black Valentines

Black Valentines are an oval-shaped black bean that really seems more like a cross between a kidney and a black bean. Raw, they have a beautiful matte finish that makes them look more like rocks than beans. I think they work great in bean chilis.

I had more on hand than I needed so my first thought was to make them refried beans. I sauteed  about half of a chopped red onion in some lard until the onion pieces were very soft. I then dabbed a little of the lard behind each ear as an irresistible perfume. Well, I wanted to, anyway. I added the beans and a wee bit of water and once they were all heated up, I started mashing them with my favorite bean masher.

Breakfast was a smear of the refried beans with some cheese, avocado chunks and Huichol hot sauce.

Seed Exchange

Pre-game fun in Napa for me was the Family Farm League‘s annual seed exchange. The Family Farm League’s sole purpose is to encourage the growing of food in Napa county and obviously the first step is with the seeds.

Members exchanged seeds and tips and ate big bowlfuls of chili, thanks to Lassa Skinner, League president and coordinator of the seed-to-table program at Vintage High School.

The "What a Trooper!" award goes to Colby Eierman of COPIA who brought tons of gorgeous seeds that have been collected from the gorgeous gardens at COPIA.

The group’s next event is on April 15th, when seedlings started by the Napa students will go on sale. The Master Gardeners will have a demonstration on vegetable gardening and all local ag groups will have tables with demos, samples and contact information. Visit the Family Farm League’s website to sign up for the newsletter if you’d like more information.

Avocados and Other Exotics

Will Brokaw is famous for his beautiful avocados at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market on Saturdays. His big, fat locally-grown avocados are easy to like.

For me, there’s little better than a ripe avocado, a fresh tortilla, a sprinkle of cotija cheese and some good hot sauce. I’m lucky because Will is happy to trade avocados for my chips or tortillas.

But don’t go so fast! It turns out Will is also growing guavas and mangoes, both New World species and both tree-ripened.