A trip down memory food lane

Many, many years ago my dear sister put together a collection of several of her favorite recipes, at the time. Sent as a Christmas bonus gift, at the time it was quite special. No one really did that back then. Sister was way ahead of her time.

We always talked about having a Bed & Breakfast one time in our lives. You should have heard the husbands scream "No WAY!!!". Conversations were mostly around food and where recipes came from. Let's do a cookbook I say. It just never happened.

Now in the day of very modern technology we have a food blog not a cookbook but it is a way of sharing with friends and family.

My very dear niece, an excellent cook and super food enthusiast, happens to be our third writer.




This is a blog about food so I will get back to it with a terrific recipe of a Green Chile Souffle. It appeared in the collection sister shared many years ago.

Green Chile Souffle

4 4oz cans whole green chiles

2 cups grated jack cheese

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

6 eggs

1 cup flour

4 cups milk
salt & pepper to taste

350 degree oven

Butter the bottom of your baking dish, I use an 8x8 glass dish*. Try to remove the seeds from the chiles, rinsing them works well, but make sure they are dry. Cut the chiles into about 2 inch pieces. Layer the cheese and the chiles on the bottom of the dish. Beat together the eggs and milk, add the flour. Mix so there are no lumps. Pour over the cheese and chile. Pan should be no more than three quarters full. Bake for about 1 hour or until done in center.

Serve with some of your favorite salsa and maybe a lite salad.

*Notes..............Notice I did not use a glass dish. Also I had some leftover tri tip roast and I added some caramelized onions. Easy dish to change.

How we do it: Green Chilies

There is really only one way to peel green chilies; roast them. I use a lot of the Anaheim long green chilies. The flavor is milder than say a jalapeno but it still has some bite and a terrific flavor.

Usually to roast them I rub a bit of oil on the skins and drop them on the BBQ grill while I'm cooking something else. You just turn them until they are equally charred on all sides and put them in a plastic bag. Their heat will cause them to steam a bit loosening the charred skin. When cooled the charred skin slips right off. Slice open one side and remove the seeds. I always snip off a piece to assess their hotness. If they are too hot for you remove the veins on the inside. That is where the heat is. Wear gloves if you are the least bit sensitive to the chili oil and whatever you do, don't touch your nose or eyes. That goes for any other chili you are handling.


When I only want one or two I turn on the gas burner and roast them there. It's quick and I love the smell in the kitchen of roasting chilies. Just remember to turn them carefully so all areas gets charred. Those odd shaped ones are difficult to keep on the burner so make sure to buy long straight ones at the market.

Cook them the same as above and remember when you are peeling off the skins and removing the seeds, don't do it under running water, it dilutes the flavor but do give them a quick rinse. I like to leave just a bit of the char on some of the chili to add some additional flavor.

We've posted a number of recipes with green chilies. Here are just a few.

Green Chili Quiche
Doodles Chili Verde

My Chile Verde

What you don't see in this photo is the warm tortillas and the bottle of Corona.

I happened to get my Cooking Light magazine about the same time I was given the green chiles I have been raving about in previous posts.

The recipe featured fresh roasted Anaheim chiles, which are moderately spicy. Spike it with hot sauce, if you like more fire.

I might also say that there are many, many variations of this dish........I just found this recipe quite nice.

Yield

6 servings (serving size: about 1 cup)

Ingredients

• 12 Anaheim chiles, halved and seeded (about 1 1/2 pounds) I used the much raved about Denver chiles
  
• Cooking spray
• 2 cups chopped onion (about 2 medium)
• 1 1/4 pounds boneless pork loin, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 2 garlic clove, minced
• 2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 (15.5-ounce) can white hominy, drained and rinsed
  

Preparation

1. Preheat broiler or use your BBQ

2. Place chiles on a foil-lined baking sheet; broil 8 minutes or until blackened, turning after 4 minutes. Peel and chop.

3. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion, pork, and garlic to pan; sauté minutes or until pork is browned. Add chopped chiles, chicken broth, oregano, and salt; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour or until pork is tender. Stir in hominy; cook 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Nutritional Information............Calories: 243 (28% from fat) Fat: 7.5g (sat 2.6g,mono 3.3g,poly 0.9g)Protein: 24.8g Carbohydrate: 20gFiber: 3.3g Cholesterol: 56mg Iron: 2.4mg Sodium: 389mg Calcium: 51mg

Denver Green Chiles

never heard of them???...........neither had I, until a local farmer bring me some the other day.

Right now Mr Doodles and I are residing in South West Colorado.......read about that here if you care to.

A few weeks ago this fellow came in on his way back to his farm to talk about storing his boat on property here at the RV park for the winter. I happened to be reading a cooking magazine at the time. "Ya like to cook"? he says.........ha I sure do and am always looking for local foods to use. "Do you ever cook with chiles"? O you betcha I do!!! "Well I grow chiles on a little plot of land on my farm they are called Denver green chiles and they taste a lot like New Mexico Hatch chiles. I will be roasting some around the beginning of September and I'll bring you some". Now when someone says that I'm always a tad skeptical.....BUT.......two days ago this fellow, my new best friend, walked in with TEN pounds of these magnificent chiles. My teeny brain just started spinning for recipes immediately thought of green chile quesadillas and chile verde......oh my word!!!!!!!! Now I googled freezing chiles.......don't ya just love Google, any way I found a site that tells how to prepare chiles for freezing. Unfortunately fresh roasted chiles cannot be kept in the fridge for more that a few days because they will mold. So sister moon and niece lil' bird will be getting some fresh frozen chiles when I arrive soon.

Let me get to the very simple method of a chicken, green chile quesadilla that I made last nite.
Ingredients
2 flour tortillas
grated cheese of your choice
chicken or steak.........leftovers a great for this if no sauce was used green chile cilantro
If I had some caramelized onions I would have added those


Method place your first flour tortilla in a skillet, start layering your ingredients, I start with cheese, then the meat, the chiles, cilantro a bit more cheese and top that off with the other flour tortilla. Turn the heat to med to low, place a lid on and carefully watch so as not to burn the tortillas but the cheese melts nicely and the inside heats the meat. Once one side is a bit toasty turn over with a wide spatula and continue for another minute or two till the contents are warmed thru and the cheese is well melted. I serve with a fresh salsa as well as sour cream mixed with some green sauce and extra cilantro.