4-6 spring onions, chopped finely, green bits and all
1C chicos
1 qt chicken stock (use vegetable stock if you want a vegan dish)
400ml can coconut milk
1 leek, trimmed, finely sliced, and rinsed
1 clove garlic
small handful small yellow potatoes, or one large white potato
⅓ bag roasted green chiles from the market, peeled, seeded and frozen, then chopped finely
1 tsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp corn flour
2 Tbsp potato flakes
1 can (15 oz) sweet corn, with juice
Directions
Sauté onions in a skillet with a little oil, 6-8 minutes, until they’ve gone a bit brown, past translucent
Put chicos, chicken stock, and coconut milk into crock pot and get it warming on high
Add onions to crock pot
Sauté leek and garlic in a little oil, until leek is translucent, and add to crock pot
Cut potatoes into 1cm cubes and sauté in a little oil until soft, then add to pot
Sauté chopped green chiles in a little oil in skillet, and add to pot
When pot comes to a boil (over 90 minutes with my crock pot), add corn flour and potato flakes, stirring well
After a few minutes, add corn and liquid from can and stir well
Taste and season with salt as needed
If you like your chowder thicker, put in a stick blender into the pot and blend some of the soup up
Serve and enjoy
Notes on ingredients
Chicos are corn, roasted on the cob in an horno, and then dried. They keep pretty much forever, and add a nice smoky flavor to food.
Green chiles are sold at farmers markets in New Mexico in the fall, roasted right there at the market. They’re typically sold in sandwich bags or quart ziploc bags. We buy the mildest ones available, bring them home and peel, seed, and freeze them into freezer bags (one per bag from the market). A third of one of those bags is enough in this recipe for us, but don’t let me tell you how spicy to make your food. If you must use canned, one of the small cans is probably a good starting place.
The simplest way I know of to get all the dirt out of leeks is to cut off the fine roots, thinly slice the leek, then put it in a bowl and rinse it with water. But if you’ve got a better suggestion, have at it! I didn’t use the green part of the leek in this recipe, as it was already plenty onion-y, but again, you’re welcome to use it all if you want.
If you want a little added protein in this, adding bacon would be a fine idea. I would use about a pound of bacon, chopped up and sautéed. Or a can of spam if that works for you.
Made these after all our stuff was packed for our move to Santa Fe. All you need is a knife & cutting board, a cast iron skillet, and one tin of spice. And the recipe cleaned up the food we had left in the fridge.
Ingredients
2 pork chops
1 Honeycrisp Apple
12 seedless grapes
½ tbsp Chinese five spice
½ tsp flour
Directions
Core apple, and chop it up. Leave the skin on if you’re lazy.
Chop the grapes into halves or quarters.
Simmer apples and grapes with a little water until they go mushy. About 15 minutes. You’re making a quick applesauce.
Add the Chinese five spice and continue to simmer until you have a nice sauce. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl (or ziploc bag)
Use the (warm) sauce to marinate the pork chops for about 15 minutes.
Put the sauce and chops into the skillet and cook about 7 minutes per side on low heat. Add a little water if the sauce looks to be drying up.
Remove the chops from the sauce and plate. Make a pan gravy using a little water and flour.
Pairs nicely with grits if you have them. Also takes about the same total amount of time to cook as quick grits.
If you’re making risotto, noodles, rice pilaf, or couscous, start that first
Mix flour, salt and pepper in a bowl big enough to dredge the chicken breasts in.
Heat a large skillet with 2T of olive oil over medium heat.
Dredge the chicken, one cutlet at a time, and place into the pan. Cook 4 minutes on each side, until golden brown and delicious. Note that depending on the size of your pan, you may need to cook the chicken in two batches.
Remove the chicken and set aside on a plate.
Add 1T olive oil to the pan and get it warm.
Lower the heat to medium-low.
Add the ¼ onion, sauté until translucent (3-4 minutes).
Add the 2 tsp garlic and sauté until soft (a minute or two).
Add the chicken broth and lemon juice, increase the heat to medium-high until the broth comes to a boil, then return it to medium-low and simmer for 3 minutes. Stir enough to get any fond loose from the bottom of the pan.
Stir in the coconut cream and Dijon mustard, and about half of the leftover dredging flour.
Stir to make a thin gravy-like consistency (it’ll thicken as it cooks).
Add in the capers and chicken and return to a simmer until the sauce is a good thickness and the starch is cooked
Remove from heat and serve over risotto, noodles, rice pilaf, or couscous.
Grate some Parmesan cheese over the plate if you like. It’s not needed, but it’s good.
Cook time: 8 hours. Start this around 8am. You’ll need to fiddle with it about lunchtime and 2pm, too. It’ll be ready about 4pm.
Serves: 8-12. Or a family with 3 growing boys.
Ingredients
2 pounds chicken thighs
6 ribs celery, chopped
½ onion chopped
1 tsp tarragon
1 tsp marjoram
1 tsp basil
4-6 C chicken stock
¾ bag frozen carrots
1 or 2 potatoes, diced
½ bag frozen roasted sweet potatoes
1 C coconut milk
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp minced dried chives
1/3 bag frozen peas
1/3 bag frozen corn
Directions
Place celery, onion, chicken, half of the carrots, and 4C chicken stock into a 4.5 qt crock pot
Set crock pot on high and forget about it for 4 hours
Using two forks, shred chicken meat and skin and remove and discard bones and cartilage. You will miss at least one piece of cartilage. That shows the soup is home-made.
Add potato and balance of frozen carrots
Turn to low and let cook for 2 hours
Add frozen vegetables and enough chicken stock (about 2 C) to fill the crock pot, and let cook on low for 2 hours.
About a half hour before cooking, coat the flesh side of each trout fillet with oils and spices
Grill or broil 7-10 min with bacon on top of trout
After broiling, remove bacon and turn it into crumbles, which get sprinkled on top of the trout (the bacon might need a minute or two more in a skillet, depending on your grill / broiler)
Salsa (enough for 4 tacos):
1 apple, cored and diced
1 tsp lime juice
8 round slices dill pickle, diced
1 Tbsp mayonnaise
⅛-¼ tsp red New Mexico chile powder
Also chop up a tomato and have some dark greens (spinach, mustard, etc) and salsa verde for garnish.
