New Mexican Red Chile Sauce

When I was a kid my parents took a vacation to New Mexico, leaving my little brother and me with a sitter. I was not pleased. Besides being fiercely protective of my brother with strangers (odd, since when my parents were around, all I wanted to do was beat him up), my mother's excellent cooking had spoiled us rotten. Mrs X, we'll call her, meant well. But she was tragically unable to follow Mom's simple meal directions, and a dinnertime farce ensued. My brother would distract Mrs. X while I attempted to sneak our runny rice, burnt hot dogs, and rotten baked beans outside to the garbage can.

But there was a reward for our suffering. Mom returned with a huge ristra of New Mexican red chiles, a variety of mild chiles specific to the Southwest that become red as they ripen.  On her vacation, she'd eaten red chile sauce on everything - huevos rancheros, enchiladas, roast pork - and back in California it became a base for a big pot of chili con carne, still the best I've ever eaten.

If you can find the chiles fresh, or order them online, your sauce will be bright red and wonderfully fresh tasting, but it's much easier to find them, or a Mexican equivalent, dried. Your sauce will still be tangy and delicious, but with a darker, deeper flavor and color. Try a supermarket that has Latin American produce. You should be able to find chiles packaged in cellophone bags, usually 3-6 of a kind for a dollar or two.

For just over 2 cups of sauce, you will need:

6-9 large dried red chiles, about 4 ounces total. (Look for New Mexican, Ancho, Pasilla, Guajillo, or use a combination. They should be about 6-8 inches long, and a deep, dark red. They should be somewhat pliable and shouldn't have any brown spots or mold. Working with chiles is a little risky, heat-wise. These varieties are generally quite mild, but every once in a awhile, you'll get a hot one. Wear rubber gloves when handling them, and don't touch your eyes! Removing the seeds and ribs will take away most of the heat.)
Water
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
3/4 - 1 teaspoon salt
Black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil

Pinch of cumin, dried or fresh oregano, and white or cider vinegar, all optional 

Directions: 

Using rubber gloves (unless you have hands of steel and are impervious to hot peppers), snip off the stem of each chile with a pair of scissors. Now cut each one open length-wise and scrape out the seeds and as much of the ribs as you can.

In a skillet over low heat, flatten the chile pieces out and warm through on each side, just to bring out the flavor, but not to brown. This should take just a few seconds per side.

Put the warm chiles in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to almost boiling, then remove from heat and let sit for 10-15 minutes, until soft.

Remove the chiles from the pan (but don't discard the soaking water!) and place in a blender with the garlic, salt, pepper, and oil. Now taste the soaking water. If it tastes like a mild, weak chile tea, add three cups to the blender. If it tastes bitter, throw it away and use 3 cups of tap water instead. Puree for 2-3 minutes until completely smooth.

Now taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings. (Dried chiles are an inconsistent product, and you never know how fresh, sweet, tangy, bitter, spicy, etc. they will be until you taste them.) If you feel like the sauce is delicious and brightly flavored as is, great. If it tastes like it "needs something," first try another dash of salt and pepper. If that's not enough, try about a teaspoon of vinegar. If you still want a little punch, add about a quarter teaspoon of ground cumin and a quarter teaspoon of dried oregano. Puree again for 1 minute.

Pour through a fine sieve or strainer into a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Lower heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce will thicken and reduce. Then taste again and adjust the seasonings a final time. 

Store in glass or a throw-away plastic container (the chiles will stain plastic) in the fridge for 3-5 days, or freeze. It will taste better the next day, once the flavors have had a chance to meld. Serve with everything.

Avgolemono - Greek Lemon Soup

When I was growing up, this soup had almost mythic status in our house - my mom grew up in Detroit in the '50's and had fond memories of lunches in that city's Greektown. As a child I found its tartness strange, but now I love how the sour lemons balance the velvety richness of the eggs. This recipe is everything this blog is about - basic ingredients, easy to make, delicious flavor, and grounded in tradition.

For 2 people for lunch, or 4 as a small appetizer, you will need:

4 cups rich chicken stock, preferably homemade, or Swanson's
2 large eggs
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice, about 2 lemons. Strain out the pulp if necessary.
Zest of 1/2 lemon, about 1 teaspoon
1/2 cup small dried pasta, such as orzo, stelline (little stars), acini di pepe (literally "peppercorns," they look like little beads), or tiny little elbows. Or use leftover cooked white rice.
Black pepper
Fresh chopped dill for garnish (optional)

Directions:

Put the stock in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and add the pasta. Simmer until tender, stirring occasionally, for the amount of time specified on the pasta package, then turn off the heat. If you're using cooked rice, just stir it in and turn off the heat.

In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs vigorously for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is light in color and very frothy. Stir in the lemon zest and juice and whisk again for a few more seconds.

Now it's time to temper the eggs, so that when you add them to the hot chicken stock they don't scramble, but rather create a creamy, smooth liquid. Fill a measuring cup with 2 cups of the hot chicken stock and slowly drizzle it into the egg mixture with one hand as you very vigorously whisk with your other hand. Once the mixture is smooth, slowly whisk it into the remaining hot stock and pasta. Return the saucepan to the stove and reheat the soup over medium heat, whisking regularly, until it is just off the boil - you'll start to see little bubbles at the edges of the pan.  If you bring the soup to a full boil, the eggs will curdle.

Serve immediately with a general garnish of black pepper and fresh dill.

Banana Cake

My mom makes a delicious Banana Nut Bread from her Pillsbury Family Cookbook from the early '60's. The Best Recipe cookbook from Cook's Illustrated also has a great Banana Bread. Both call for 1/2 cup butter. That's 1 stick, 8 tablespoons, 800 calories, 88 grams of fat, most of it saturated. In just one loaf. And that's not counting the calories in the flour, eggs, sugar, and bananas. Now don't get me wrong; I'm all about real food and moderation in moderation. But the problem with a good banana bread is that it's too good, and you can't eat just one piece. And with so many other moist ingredients, I figured there had to be a way to lighten it up, while still keeping the recipe easy, the ingredients whole and healthful, and most importantly, the taste and texture delicious. 

So I tried many different variations: More and less flour, banana, and yogurt; different combinations of baking powder and soda; different amounts of butter. I stopped short of experimenting with types of flour or mixing methods, because I wanted to keep the instructions simple and the ingredients, basic pantry items. But I kept hitting up against a wall: Delicious banana flavor, but gummy, dense texture. And then, as I was pulling out my baking pans to try yet another variation, I realized the problem. I'd been stuck on the idea that banana bread had to be in a loaf shape. No wonder the low fat version was heavy and gummy in the middle. It wasn't getting enough heat at its center. A good banana bread is moist and sweet like a cake anyway, and I decided that shape was much less important than good texture.  So I scrapped the 8"x4"x3" loaf pan for a 10"x2" round cake pan. Result: Shorter cooking time, 30-40 minutes instead of 60-70. Lighter color than a traditional banana bread, but prominent banana flavor. A moist, light and tender crumb. And only two tablespoons of butter (22 grams of fat) in the whole thing.

You will need:

1 1/2 cups very ripe bananas, about 4 medium bananas. They should be very soft, covered with brown spots, and falling away from their stems. The more ripe and soft they are, the moister your cake, and the reason why this recipe doesn't need a lot of butter.  Mash by hand in a large bowl with a potato masher until smooth.
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten (I used jumbo, but you can use large or extra large as well. The texture and height of your cake may be slightly different with smaller eggs, but this recipe is pretty forgiving.)
1/4 cup plain low fat (2%) yogurt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus a little more for greasing the pan
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour, plus a little more for flouring the pan
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional (I don't use them because some people don't like nuts, and I can't eat a whole cake myself, and I like the smooth texture of the plain cake. But by all means, if you like them, use them.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and adjust the oven rack to the bottom middle position. Butter and flour the bottom of a round or square cake pan (8"x8" square, 9" or 10" round, whatever you have. Just make sure it's at least 2" high, and I prefer plain aluminum rather than non-stick - they last longer because there's no non-stick finish to degrade at high temperatures, and you can control sticking by properly greasing the pan or using parchment paper.)

In a large bowl, mix together the mashed bananas, sugar, eggs, yogurt, butter, and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and nuts if you're using them, and mix well. Add the dry ingredients into the wet, and stir gently with a wooden spoon until just mixed and you no longer have large patches of dry flour. A couple of streaks of flour are fine. Do not over mix or the gluten in the flour will develop and your cake will be tough. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the cake batter into the prepared pan, make sure the batter is evenly distributed (it's a pretty thick batter) and place in the oven.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, until a sharp knife or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Run a knife around the outside of the cake to release the edges from the pan, then leave the cake to cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Then turn the cake onto a plate. It should come out cleanly and be bottom-side-up. Now flip the cake again onto a cooling rack. It will be right-side-up. Serve warm or at room temperature. Nothing is better for breakfast.