"Tabbouleh"

Real Tabbouleh is made with bulger, but after making it with quinoa for Heather's shower, we decided we'd just make it with quinoa from now on.  We liked it better than the original.

The original recipe came from Cooking Light, and all I did was change out the grains. It did require a little change in preparation.

Quinoa Tabblouleh

• 3/4 c. uncooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 2 cups chopped skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken breast (I use leftover chicken.  That will be part of the next post)
• 1 cup chopped plum tomato
• 1 cup chopped English cucumber (I'm pretty sure I just used regular cucumber)
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled feta cheese (Optional if you are trying to avoid milk, but I really like feta)
• 1/3 cup finely chopped green onions
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint (or 1 T. dried.  I don't often have fresh mint on hand)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic (or you can run a clove of garlic through the garlic press)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation

1. Place quinoa and water in a medium saucepan over high heat, covered.  When it gets to a boil, turn it down to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes - until the quinoa is lightened with just one spot in the middle of it.  Remove from heat and fluff with a fork.
2. Combine chicken and remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Add quinoa to chicken mixture; toss gently to combine.

Tortillas and tortilla chips

Tortillas

We love to make our own tortillas.  It's fairly quick and makes corn tortillas so much better!

2 cups masa harina (Maseca brand is the easiest to find.  Usually it's in the ethnic food section near the salsas)
1 cup water
Mix them together thoroughly.  It's about the consistency of playdough when you have it right.
Roll it into balls - about 1-inch in diameter, or a little larger, depending on your preference in tortilla size.
Put a ziploc plastic bag on the table.  Put one ball on top of the bag.  Cover it with another ziploc bag.  Take the heaviest pan you have and squash out the ball until it's flat.  (If you can find a tortilla press, use the plastic bags inside the tortilla press, but it's a bit easier to squash it out flat.)

Preheat a griddle or pan (again, the cast iron is great here, but any skillet will work) over medium-high heat.  Don't put any fat in the pan, just leave it dry.  Place your tortilla on the pan.  After 1-2 minutes, it should be easy to slide the tortilla.  If it's not, let it go a little longer until it is.  Flip it and heat the other side for 30 seconds - 1 minute.  Again, it should be easy to slide.  Put the finished tortilla in a towel and cover it to keep it warm and moist until you've finished making tortillas.

These are great with a little butter and salt while they are hot.  Obviously, they work for tacos.  They are also handy for rolling anything you might like in a sandwich  - meat, cheese, veggies, etc.

Tortilla Chips

You can use the homemade tortillas or store-bought tortillas to make your own chips.  These are especially good for chilaquilles.  Unlike store-bought chips, though, they can't really be stored.  You have to make them and serve them within a short amount of time.  They can be freshened by putting them in medium-hot (350-400 degree) oven for about 5 minutes, but  they aren't quite as good.

Slice your tortillas any way you like - strips, wedges, etc.
Use a medium sauce pan.
Add 1/2 inch of canola or vegetable oil.
Heat it over medium-high heat until when you throw in a tortilla piece it sizzles.

Add a handful of tortilla pieces.  You can stir them a little with a wooden spoon as they cook.  It will take 3-5 minutes, depending on how thick the pieces are, but when they are crisp, take them out and put them on a paper-towel lined plate.  When you've fried all of them, add a little salt.

In both of these cases, the easiest thing to do is buy the tortillas or chips, but sometimes it's nice to make them yourself.  It's also a handy way of knowing what went into them.  I prefer canola oil to many of the other oils for frying things like this.  Who knows what the final research will prove, but canola seems to have better reviews from the nutritionists than many others do.

Chilaquiles

Chilaquiles

I'm starting with the basic thing I go to when I have people coming who have any number of allergies.  One time, I had a birthday party where we had to avoid gluten, dairy, peanuts, soy and we had a child coming who was vegan.  We somehow made it happen.

Chilaquiles - based on the Rick Bayless recipe out of Joy of Cooking
This makes about 4 cups, so enough for 3-4 decent servings

Heat in a medium-hot skillet (if you've got that cast iron skillet, this is a perfect spot for it):
1-2 fresh jalapeno peppers (I've been known to skip the heating part and just use pickled jalapenos in a pinch, but fresh is best)
2 large cloves of garlic, unpeeled
Roast, turning occasionally, until the peppers are blistered and blackened and the garlic is soft - 10-15 minutes.  When it's cool enough to handle, peel the garlic and put the peppers and garlic in a food processor or blender and pulse until they are coarsely chopped (if you don't have a blender or food processor, or if you are making this for a birthday party the next day and you don't want to make that much noise, you can just chop them really finely).  Then add and process until coarsely pureed:
28 oz. whole tomatoes (I keep the juices in, you can drain if you like.  It also works to use diced tomatoes, especially if you don't have the said blender).

In a soup pot, heat over medium heat:
1-2 teaspoons canola or vegetable oil
Add and cook until nicely browned  - 8-10 minutes:
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
Increase the heat to medium-high, add the tomato mixture.  Cook for about 5 minutes.  Reduce the heat to medium-low and stir in:
3 cups chicken or vegetable broth or stock
Simmer for 15 minutes
Season with salt and pepper

Serve over thick home-style tortilla chips.  You can buy these or make your own - I'll get into tortillas in the next post.  Just put a handful of these into a bowl and pour the sauce over them.

You can have these things to serve on top:
shredded cheese
chopped fresh cilantro
sour cream

When I'm making this for brunch, I'll add a poached egg.  When I'm making it for lunch or dinner, I'll shred some leftover chicken into the sauce and heat it through before serving.

Eleanor's version of Chilaquiles is quite a bit simpler:
Open a can of refried beans and put into a medium sauce pan, add 1/3 can of water and stir well.  Heat until hot and bubbly.  Serve over chips with the toppings listed above.  It's the quick and dirty version that her aunt from Mexico taught her.

There are other ways to do it, too.  If you make the sauce above, or purchase a really good salsa, you can layer a casserole pan with chips, then sauce, then cheese, then chips, then sauce, then cheese (similar to lasagna).  Put it in the oven at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes (until it is hot throughout and the cheese is all melted).  Serve it like you would lasagna.  Add a side of beans and a salad and it's a pretty solid meal for company.

The sauce above can be made ahead and refrigerated or frozen for an easy make-ahead meal.

I hope you have fun with this one.  It's one of our family favorites.

-Jennifer

Basic Kitchen Equipment

 I am assuming you've probably got your kitchen fairly well stocked, since your mom just left.  Sorry I didn't get this list to you sooner.

Dan and I were talking about what things we thought were most important to have in your kitchen. Here's our first pass at what we would try to have.
-cheap, but decent non-stick skillet
-small sauce pan
-large sauce pan
-soup pot
 -cutting board
-decent knives (this is the one place I would spend a little more)
--a paring knife and a big carving knife are sufficient to start out, but you want something that can be sharpened and will keep and edge.
-mixing bowls (make sure there's at least one large one)
-plastic spatula
-plastic mixing spoon
-whisk (if you can find one that won't scratch non-stick, those are great)
-wooden spoon -measuring cups
-measuring spoons
-liquid measuring cup
-garlic press (unless you like the smell of garlic on your hands)
-small strainer/fine mesh sieve
-blender or food processor (both if you have space)
-One of our favorite kitchen pans is cast iron, but it's kind of a pain to season it. If your mom or grandma has one for you, take it! It's like having one of the really great,expensive pans, but you can almost never ruin it. If you forget and leave water in it, you just sand and re-season it. However, it's not necessary in a small kitchen.

Spices- If you have a Penzy's store in Kansas City, their spices are all wonderful and it is my understanding that they are all Gluten free. They end up being pretty close to the same price as grocery store brand, only you use less because they are fresher and more powerful. Don't buy spices at Aldi, as it is one of the things they tell you may be cross-contaminated.
We use these a lot:
-Chili powder
-Cayenne or Ground Red Pepper
-Cumin
-Oregano
-Mexican Oregano
-Basil
-Thyme
-Rosemary
-Cinnamon
-Nutmeg
-Vanilla
-Almond Extract
-Salt and Pepper (of course!)

Once you have the basic equipment and spices, the rest is pantry and perishables.  In my pantry, I almost always have-
-Cornmeal
-Corn Starch
-Masa (Maseca brand is gluten-free and probably the easiest to find)
-Quinoa (it's a little tougher to find, so let me know if you need some and I'll ship it to you.  It cooks as fast as white rice, but has a lot more fiber and protein.  It's what I used to make the "tabbouleh" that we had for Heather's shower)
-Brown Rice (I prefer brown basmati, but others really like short grain brown)
-White Rice (sometimes, you just need it done fast or a little stickier than brown rice)
-black beans
-refried beans
-white beans of some sort (great northern or cannellini)
-garbanzo beans
-salsa
-canned tomatoes
-tomato sauce
-red wine vinegar
-white vinegar
-balsamic vinegar
-cider vinegar
-rice vinegar
-olive oil
-canola oil
-canned broth (chicken is easiest and most versatile - really watch labels here, since they seem to randomly add gluten where it's not necessary)

I usually keep a few bags of various frozen vegetables around.  One of the easiest meals is rice, frozen vegetables and whatever leftover meat I have on hand with a little vinegar and olive oil.

I'll get recipes going now :-).

-Jennifer