Tamara has asked that I fill in for her this evening, and I did myself no favors by texting her all afternoon about all the food I was preparing today. I have no one to blame but myself. So I have broken out the emergency tiara and let’s get to work!
I did several different food/recipe preparations today. The first was making condensed milk so I can make a simple, two ingredient ice cream base tomorrow. Since I really can’t process a lot of refined sugar or refined/processed carbohydrates, I substituted monk fruit crystals* for the sugar. It is in the fridge now, but since I’m not sure this is going to set up and I am likely to have to put it back on heat tomorrow to actually reduce enough liquid so that I have condensed milk and not sweetened milk, we’ll leave that one for another day. I’m pretty sure there was a problem in the way the recipe I used was written up. I really don’t understand how you can start out on low and then, once the sugar dissolves into the milk, turn the heat down to a medium-low simmer. I watched the video and it wasn’t much help either. More on this project at a later date.
The second thing I did was bake a batch of the Palmer House brownies. I’ve posted about these here before, including the recipe, but since I’m making these for me and I’m not interested in having both the cake flour and the sugar make me sick, I made a few tweaks. The first is that I substituted 8 ounces of almond flour for the 8 ounces of cake flour. The second is that I substituted 1 lbs of monk fruit crystals for the sugar in the recipe. I also used Guittard dark chocolate chips, which don’t have a lot of sugar in them, so overall there isn’t a lot of refined sugar in these brownies. They’re not low calorie; they still get a pound of butter and 1 pound 2 ounces of dark chocolate, but without the cake flour and the refined sugar I can eat them without getting sick. I’ve made them this way three times now since I’ve gone into lockdown. So if you want to give this a try, with the substitutions I’ve used, just one important thing to note: until you add the eggs into the brownie batter, the melted chocolate-butter combination will not combine smoothly with the almond flour. Basically it starts okay, but after a minute or two it starts to look very grainy and the almond flour releases the butter. The batter quickly returns to normal once you add the eggs.
The recipe for tonight, however, is chicken-cheese enchiladas.
Ingredients:
Chicken:
2 boneless chicken breasts and 4 boneless chicken thighs or any combination of chicken you like. This was enough for 18 enchiladas. You could substitute beef or pork or even shrimp for the chicken if you prefer.
1/2 cup of salsa verde for the marinade
Place the chicken in a large bowl, pour the salsa verde over it, mix the salsa verde around to make sure the chicken is covered, and marinate for at least five hours.
Set your burner to just below medium-high. In a large skillet or saute pan, heat up just enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Once the oil is hot add the chicken and cook until the chicken is cooked all the way through and each side is turning golden brown. Remove the chicken from the heat, chop or shred, and set aside
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Quick queso blanco:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of heavy cream
4 to 6 ounces of shredded cheese – I used the four cheese Mexican blend because I had it on hand and it meant I didn’t have to sacrifice a knuckle to the box grater!
Heat the cream in a saute pan over medium heat. As the cream begins to get warm add the cheese, then thoroughly combine as it melts. Add salt and pepper to taste. Turn the heat down to as low as possible.
Enchiladas:
Ingredients:
18 corn tortillas
Grated or shredded cheese – I used the Four Cheese Mexican blend because it meant I didn’t have to do any extra work
Chopped chicken
Enchiladas Assemble!!!!!
To assemble the enchiladas, take a corn tortillas sprinkle some shredded cheese into the center in a strip running from side to side, cover that with the chopped or shredded chicken, roll the tortilla around the chicken and cheese, and place in the bottom of a greased/kitchen sprayed baking dish. Repeat until you’ve got all the enchiladas rolled and sitting in the dish. Cover with the queso blanco and then more shredded cheese. Place in the oven at 350 degrees until the shredded cheese melts and is just on the edge of browning.
Sides:
I went very easy here. I bought a can of black beans – NOT GOYA – and a package of Vigo low sodium yellow rice. I made the beans and rice while I was assembling and baking the enchiladas. If you’re really particular and want to use dry beans and make your yellow rice from scratch, that’s great. Feel free to tell me in the comments, because you’re going to do it anyway, why I’m a horrible human being who has destroyed your heritage by not making these from scratch.
Plating:
On your plate, put a serving of the yellow rice and then top with as much or as little of the black beans as you like. This can then be topped with chopped onion if you like or not if you don’t. Then place as many enchiladas as you think you’re going to eat on the rest of the plate. I did these New Mexico Christmas style. Cover one third of each enchilada with salsa verde, leave a 1/3 gap in the middle, and then cover the remaining third with salsa rojo. In that center third place a spoonful of sour cream with a spoonful of guacamole. Then serve and eat.
If you prefer all salsa verde or salsa rojo or no sour cream or only sour cream or no guacamole or only guacamole, serve it however is appetizing to you.
Bon appétit!
Open thread!
* I use a monk fruit crystal that do not have sugar alcohols added to them. You could also use agave crystals, honey, maple syrup, or pretty much any other sweetener that will caramelize.
Rotating Tags That Have Been Nominated
Gretchen
Where can I get an emergency tiara?
raven
I’m sure you know the traditional way to soften the torts is to hit them in hot oil quickly. It’s messy and hard on the digits but that’s “tradition”!
Benw
@Gretchen: Obvs you have to steal it from Adam’s forehead. This blog is getting very Greek mythology-esque
TaMara (HFG)
Thanks, Adam! It’s been a bit of a hectic afternoon. That tiara looks good on you.
lamh36
Went all the way to Texas and back and didn’t get any Tex Mex! Dangit. I just happened to have enchiladas from this Mexican grille place here in NOLA, so I’m good.
Aside from tacos, fajitas and the occasional homemade nacho belle grande, I don’t actually make many Mexican/TexMex dishes. I got so used to going places for good gourmet TexMex when I lived in Dallas, that I just don’t know of any great places to get the same flavor here in NOLA.
Maybe I’ll try homemade enchiladas one day
Adam L Silverman
@raven: I’m aware.
Adam L Silverman
@Gretchen: To get mine, I had to complete the 10 kitchen labors proscribed in the sacred scrolls.
raven
@lamh36:
Where to Eat the Best Tacos in New Orleans
J R in WV
Wow, I stupidly spent a lot of time reading the whole novel about condensed milk, ice cream, and cooking chicken and making enchiladas.
So now I’ve missed first post…!!! Dammit!
Also, I was slicing an eggplant and a couple of fresh tomatoes, pre-frying the eggplant with a cornmeal/parm cheese mix, slicing the fresh maters into a stainless dish, covering then with the eggplant, covering all that with marinara, putting it into the oven.
So I’m killing time waiting for the eggplant to bake, looking at Adam’s novel about his enchiladas. So strange!
Hi Adam, thanks for the story of these enchiladas!!! I’m doing eggplant parm!!! With fresh ‘maters!
Adam L Silverman
@lamh36: Did you at least get a t-shirt that said: “I went all the way to Texas and back and didn’t get an Tex Mex! Dangit!”
SoupCatcher
@raven:
And if this woman isn’t making your tortillas, you’re doing it wrong.
Tortilla maker, Olvera Street, Los Angeles
(The picture is from the WPA California Guide produced during the Depression.)
Adam L Silverman
@J R in WV: That sounds very, very appetizing too!
Benw
@lamh36: how did it go!? all is well?
Adam L Silverman
@Benw: It is not well. She told you she didn’t get any Tex Mex! How can you even ask after knowing that?//
raven
@SoupCatcher: I bought that book!!!
Tim C.
As a native and resident of Portland, Oregon, I pulled myself out of my Antifa-Anarcho-Judean-People’s-Socialist-Vegetopathic-Yoga-Collective and went down to my local Food Cart Pod. One of the side effects of people (mostly) following the rules in the city about not going to sit-down places to eat has been the food carts, which have always been amazing here are going gangbusters. Lots of amazing food here! Also the one near me has it’s own on-site micro-brew. I had excellent Pa Nang Curry and my Son had a great pulled pork sandwich.
You can be jealous, it’s okay, we are also the city Trump hates so much he sent goons… it’s now a point of civic pride.
raven
@SoupCatcher: And the washer women of San Antone weren’t too shabby either!
The Bloody San Antonio Origins of Chili Con Carne
“Lavanderas—literally, washerwomen—were camp followers of the various armies that marched through Texas in the nineteenth century: Spanish, Texan, Mexican, Confederate, and American. By day they would wash clothes, and by night they would turn their tubs to culinary purposes, stirring up vast pots of chile pepper—and wild marjoram—flavored venison or goat to provision the troops. (Recall how Bushick connection of the Chili Queens to the Spanish army, and also the Jesusita story.)”
Barbara
I make the ATK version of enchiladas, with tomato based sauce, and chicken, cheese and black bean filling. Not nearly as special as these, but a real favorite of my peeps.
raven
@Barbara: That is crazy! I was juts remembering shopping af the Jewel in Urbana some 40 years ago. There was this nice Mexican-American lady and when I told her I was looking for tomato sauce to make enchiladas she laughed me into the parking lot!
Adam L Silverman
@Barbara: If you’ve got a recipe that you like and the people you’re feeding like, then that is an excellent recipe!
WaterGirl
@lamh36: Did you already have your trip and interview???
raven
The Mexican food in Arizona is largely Sonoran and enchiladas style burritos are very popular.
WaterGirl
@J R in WV:
I don’t understand this. What did you miss?
lamh36
@raven: Oh, yeah, there are places to get Mexican and probably good Mexican here on NOLA. Just never has been the same as the places I was able to go to in Dallas.
One of the things I’m gonna be happy to experience again if I transfer to Houston, will be the TexMex I miss
lamh36
@Adam L Silverman: didn’t get a danggone thing…LOL
Benw
@Adam L Silverman: hangs head in shame.
Nibbles on a California style burrito. Sees everyone watching.
Hangs head in shame again
raven
@lamh36: Cool! There is such a large Mexican-American community in Georgia there are lots of choices. Taco Veloz is my favorite chain!
Adam L Silverman
@WaterGirl: He wanted to be the first to comment.
lamh36
@Benw:
@WaterGirl:
The interview/job tour will be Aug 21st. This was just a short trip where I drove to Houston for a bit of a short recon to check out some apartment neighborhood I had listed. I had about 5. Thx to COVID you can’t really tour apartments anymore without an appointment. So I mostly just wanted to drive arrive at my leisure and check out the area where I’ll likely want to stay if I get the transfer.
Of the 5 on my list, I kept 3 of them that I liked the area and proximity to the lab where I would work. So when I do go to for the interview/lab tour, I can schedule appt w/the 3 I liked for apartment tours.
The actual interview/lab tour is Aug 21st. They are flying me in on Aug 20, lab tour, and then flying me back on Aug 21 evening.
TaMara (HFG)
I suppose it would be rude to say I really don’t like enchiladas.
Which really makes me glad Adam decided to post tonight, so you get an excellent recipe and photos to boot that you would not get from me.
raven
@TaMara (HFG): Chimichanga’s ?
MomSense
I can’t think about food tonight because I came home from my weekend away and found the yarn I ordered arrived. Lots of colors to play with.
Danielx
Late dinner here, working on fajitas. This sounds like my sorta-recipe for burritos, which come out different every time I make them.
Adam L Silverman
@Benw: California style burritos are great! Nothing to be ashamed of at all.
WaterGirl
@lamh36: Yeah, I thought you were going later in the month, so I was confused. Smart idea to do the recon. Did anyone go with you?
With that short time frame, double smart to narrow things down before you get there.
Weren’t you in Texas for awhile after the hurricane? I don’t recall where in Texas.
Benw
@lamh36: That’s great you got 3 candidates. My field has similar interviews; it’s exhausting to be ON the whole interview day after you travel, but damn you sound ready
Elizabelle
@SoupCatcher: The cig hanging out of the mouth just makes it more authentic.
Benw
@Adam L Silverman: phew
Barbara
@Adam L Silverman: Yep. That’s the truth of it.
Adam L Silverman
@raven:
raven
CNN is reporting from Sturgis.
Elizabelle
@lamh36: Cool. And good luck on the 21st.
I was wondering if you drove or flew for the recon trip.
TaMara (HFG)
@Adam L Silverman: Agreed.
Elizabelle
We all need emergency tiaras. This is the year.
Adam L Silverman
@raven:
Elizabelle
@raven: But they get danger money if they report from Sturgis 3-5 weeks from now, right?
lamh36
@WaterGirl: I lived in DFW for 7 years after Katrina.
My 2nd youngest sister took the drive with me (Zoe’s mother who lives in BRLA)
raven
@Adam L Silverman: YES!
lamh36
So last night at the hotel in Houston, I had some time so I finally started to watch the new Perry Mason series on HBO. I started off watching the first episode yesterday night and now I’m HOOKED. I have binged all 8 eps but the tv in the hotel cut off to update for the night so had to go to bed…UGH
Now I’m back home in NOLA and now the dang HBO aint’ working right now. So I’ll have to wait to watch the rest.
Origuy
My housemates and I are doing Keto, so I’ll be interested in your brownie recipe once you’ve gotten it worked out. There are a lot of Keto-friendly mixes, but they are expensive.
NotMax
Obligatory?
:)
Yutsano
@lamh36: I really like DFW, especially the area around Addison and Farmer’s Branch. If anyone goes back to that area you MUST do a stop in at The Londoner for a four of fish and cheese fries. The beer is cheap and plentiful and their atmosphere is amazing. After the plague is over I needs to make me a visit there.
WaterGirl
@lamh36: Wow, I didn’t remember that it was 7 years. Nice that your sis was with you.
Adam L Silverman
@Origuy: It’s worked out. Here you go:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
In a double boiler melt 1 lbs 2 ounces of dark chocolate and 1 lbs of butter together and then combine thoroughly.
In your mixing bowl combine 8 ounces of almond flour and 1 lbs of monk fruit crystals, I use these because they don’t have any sugar alcohols:
https://www.amazon.com/Skinny-Monk-Monkfruit-Sweetener-Non-Glycemic/dp/B075X5FBTH
When the butter chocolate mixture is melted and combined add it to the dry ingredients with a 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. Mix for four minutes. After the first minutes of so, the almond flour will give up the most of the melted butter. Do NOT panic. Add 4 eggs and mix for four more minutes. The batter will have reabsorbed the melted butter and be smooth. Pour the batter into a greased or kitchen sprayed 9 inch baking pan. Top with the chopped nuts of your preference – I used to cashews today because that’s what I had. Bake for 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter for an hour. Then move the brownies to the fridge and chill for at least six hours or until they are cold and solid. Remove from fridge, remove the brownies from the baking pan, cut into pieces, place into whatever storage containers you use, and put them back in the fridge. Enjoy whenever you like.
Any question, just email me.
WaterGirl
@lamh36: Glad you started watching. I am about to go watch the last episode. I hope I like the ending.
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl: Are they going to do a second season??
lamh36
@Yutsano: I actually loved my time in DFW. If not for family obligations in NOLA, I may have never left. I still have some lasting friendships from there as well
NotMax
Someone makes a brand of bagged pre-shredded cheese that doesn’t sacrifice a lot of taste for a little convenience?
That’s carrying suspension of disbelief a bridge too far.
;)
Jeffro
I hope this gets some front-page attention in the morning: Why trumpov’s Losing
From the National Review(!)
(not that the trumpistas care what the hoity-toity National frickin’ Review thinks, but still)
Oh. Oh good. They finally caught on…
jl
Thanks. Looks good. I’l try the chicken cheese enchiladas.
No haggis or whisky?
TriassicSands
Curse you, Adam L. Silverman. I’m in the middle (actually at the very beginning) of a colonoscopy prep and you’re posting photos of solid food. Cruel. I tried licking the screen and found no satisfaction.
I think I’ll avoid B-J for the rest of the night.
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: Yes!
zhena gogolia
@TriassicSands:
Oh, that is cruel!
I felt this way as the pandemic started and I was eating tuna fish and crackers and they kept posting gourmet recipes full of ingredients I thought I’d never see again. And I really haven’t.
Jay
@NotMax:
“Quality” Cheese Brands use the “ends” from the bricking process to make shredded cheese. Minimizes waste at the plant.
Gvg
@NotMax: I am very fond of Sorrento’s aged Italian blend. I sprinkle it on a lot of things…
Adam L Silverman
@TriassicSands: I’m very sorry. This too shall pass!
Elizabelle
@Adam L Silverman: *snort
Jay
Adam L Silverman
@Jay: Might help to read the whole thread he’s linking to. The charges have already been reduced to a misdemeanor. Not that it should even be that, but there’s what is actually going on and there’s the appearance of what’s going on based on what Hechinger tweeted.
dexwood
A man with an emergency tiara must be admired. You can’t be too careful these days.
NotMax
@Jay
Origuy
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks. I got confused when you were talking about the condensed milk and thought it was the brownies you were having trouble with.
I got some sugar-free chocolate chips at WF and we have monkfruit crystals. Not sure about a double boiler, though.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
Hey! I have that same tiara! But it’s my regular one. The emergency one is basically a wire coat hanger bent into a rough circlet.
Today I made maple-pecan granola, a peach-blueberry-almond tart, and a baked ham. The enchiladas may be the answer to my prayers – I have waaaaaay too many ripe avocados on hand, thanks to M. Colette’s obsession with stockpiling fresh fruit and veg (no, that doesn’t work any better than it sounds) and all the other ingredients on hand. Yay!
Grace
@Origuy: Just put a glass bowl atop a saucepan with an inch or two of boiling water in it. Put chocolate in the bowl. Voila, double boiler!
mrmoshpotato
Just finished making a creamy garlic mushroom chicken recipe.
Jay
@NotMax:
I live in Canada. It’s all cheese. A friend used to have us smuggle in Cheese Whiz, from Canada, because it’s made with cheese, not like what is sold as cheese in the US.
It’s nice not living in a “Shithole Country”.
Jay
@Adam L Silverman:
yes, charges were reduced. Charges should never have been laid, all the charges, are bullshit charges, even the reduced ones.
the whole process is about quelling dissent in an authotarian State. Making people get lawyers, spend time and money, against the State, to defend the First Amendment.
Once upon a time, you guys melted down a statue and made bullets out of it over this sort of authotarian excess.
Jay
mrmoshpotato
@TriassicSands:
I laughed. I couldn’t help myself. ?
Mary G
Last night the people in the house in back of mine had a big party. Tonight it’s the next door neighbors’ college-aged kids. Singing along to some horrible music. Loudly. WTF.
mrmoshpotato
@Mary G: Free entertainment! :)
Jean
Watergirl, Have you watched the last episode of Perry Mason yet? Some holes in the story remain, but some interesting developments end the first season!
joel hanes
Looks delicious, Adam.
Have you seen the “Mi Ranchito” Michuocan countryside cooking videos ?
Here’s one of my favorites
SFBayAreaGal
I don’t live to far from the Guittard Company. Sometimes you can smell the chocolate when driving on the streets that are east or west of the company. It all depends on which way the wind is blowing.
SectionH
@mrmoshpotato: that’s not funny. So not funny.
@Mary G: Stay inside? Don’t hit me, that’s a very bitter comment about them.
I should know better – I drove us to our usual place we can plug in our Volt and hang out in a shady place. Which works fine on weekdays. Sunday afternoon, I lasted 25 minutes, with wind blowing, mask on and back to that mess. Totally overrun with major partiers, no masks, screaming small boys, how much beer were they bragging on… Thank all the ghods the San Diego schools are all online only for now. Announcement was made weeks ago.
We share the planet with these idiots. And they’re trying to kill it.
SWMBO
For those who are looking at tiaras:
https://beelementalstore.com/products/silver-princess-tiara?_pos=12&_sid=2c5a0f5fa&_ss=r
https://beelementalstore.com/products/princess-diana-tiara?_pos=1&_sid=8ca0e3208&_ss=r
https://beelementalstore.com/products/royal-heart-tiara?_pos=41&_sid=2c5a0f5fa&_ss=r
I make what should be called leftover enchiladas. I’ll use leftover roast port, black refried beans, cheese, black olives in a rolled flour tortilla. Cover with green or red enchilada sauce, more cheese, more olives and bake 30 minutes until cheese is melted on top. I’ve also been known to make leftover pulled barbecue chicken, refried beans, cheese, black olives in flour tortillas. Cover with red or green enchilada sauce. Bake at 350 half an hour until cheese is melted on top.
James E Powell
@lamh36:
@Jean:
I watched the finale. I have many things to say and would love to hear what others think, but I don’t want to spoil anyone who hasn’t had a chance to see it.
mrmoshpotato
@SectionH: We obviously have different opinions on horribly belting out a tune.
opiejeanne
@SWMBO: Flour tortillas? In an enchilada? I’ve had that and it’s not as good as corn tortillas. The rest of your concoction sounds great, except usually we have the black olives on the side.
CaseyL
@SWMBO: Oooh, I love enchiladas, and that recipe sounds simple enough I bet I could do it.
(I’m not much of a cook, which has worked out well as I love to eat. If I was serious about cooking, I’d probably not fit easily through doorways.)
Brachiator
@James E Powell:
I’m a bit surprised that there was not a formal discussion thread for the Perry Mason season finale. I still have some issues with the series, but thought that the last episode was consistent with the direction of the protagonist’s development. Hopefully, there will be more from other folk later.
The HBO feed faltered a couple of times. Don’t know if this happened elsewhere.
I also caught the first episode of the new animated Trek series, Lower Decks. I understand that the show has been attacked relentlessly by a dedicated band of obsessive idiots. I thought the first episode was relentlessly generic, but not a crime against humanity.
ETA. There is a fun nod to the first Perry Mason novel in this season ending Mason episode.
NotMax
@Brachiator
I don’t subscribe to CBS All Access so can’t view it anyway, but watching the teaser trailer for Lower Decks was quite more than enough to cement the decision not to bother with it even if I could.
Insipid is the closest to anything positive I have to say about it. File it under “Well, it sounded like a good idea at 3 a.m. in the basement of the frat house after the beer ran out.” There’s ample reason the Federation doesn’t have a ship named USS Pauly Shore.
;)
SectionH
@mrmoshpotato: Yes we do. As the beltee, I don’t like it.
Brachiator
@NotMax:
It’s odd. Some of the gags on the initial episode of The Lower Decks are as bad as some of the humor in the Fox sci Fi series The Orville. In fact, now that I think about it, a couple of gags seem to have been lifted directly from that show. And yet, some Trek fans want to insist that The Orville is the Second Coming of True Trek.
Still, even though Lower Decks is largely forgettable, there are some good ideas that actually would make a pretty good series.
ETA. The Orville has moved somewhere else for next season. But I forget exactly where to.
NotMax
@Brachiator
Suppose that out of common courtesy I ought to provide a link to the trailer for Lower Decks for any who might be curious.
Barely aware of the existence of Orville, knowing only it’s somewhere out there in the vast wasteland.
Amir Khalid
Deleted.
SWMBO
@opiejeanne: Some have corn sensitivity and we just default to flour.
David C
I have a big section of basil growing, so it’s hand-chopped pesto (on linguine) about once a week. I make a double batch and freeze the second half. Only change is sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts. And hand-grated Parm-Reg cheese.
I also chop up and heat a few Roma tomatoes from the garden to add to the pasta.
https://www.101cookbooks.com/pesto-recipe/
David C
@Brachiator: Watching it tonight. The last few episodes really clicked for me.
Shana
@raven: Not traditional but America’s Test Kitchen has you spray the torts with oil and heat in a 325 oven for 3 minutes. I’ve done it that way for years now and never get a cracked one.
Mike S
@Adam L Silverman: you’ve probably seen this already but just in case. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/us/politics/russia-disinformation-election-meddling.html