Enchiladas and an Exception

First, the enchiladas:

A few Sundays ago, Michael and I made enchiladas. With this challenge being as it is, it took the *entire* day. I started out making tomato paste, which is essentially reducing 5-6 lbs of tomatoes down into about 2 cups of paste. Of course this was the morning that my refrigerator broke for the second time, and only about 1/3 cup made it safely into the freezer. The rest had a one-way ticket to moldsville. Despite the lengthly process, thepaste was actually quite delicious. However, Michael had asked me if there was something I had made this month that I wouldn't make again, and the answer is definitely now tomato paste. It was a lot of time in the making, and wasn't very cost efficient. Maybe I'll make it again some day when I have a garden overflowing with tomatoes and there's nothing else I can think to do with them. If you're interested in taking this journey into tomato paste, here's the link with instructions.

The next step was to make veggie broth. I adapted the recipe from Super Duper Soups, a wonderful cookbook that I had bought on sale a couple years ago. It also has a recipe for the best shiitake mushroom soup that I have ever put in my mouth and hour-by-hour instructions for a one-, two-, or three-day detox plan. I've done the one and the two, but I've never ventured into the three. Maybe that'll come up after the month is over. I have never felt better in my life than the morning after doing a detox. Anyways, this was a great veggie broth, but again, I don't know how often I'll be making my own broths without having 1) a garden and 2) to share a freezer with 2 roommates and a ton of frozen food.

The tomato paste and the veggie broth were made to go into the enchilada sauce that can be found here (on which I based the entire enchilada as well). One note: when it says whisk in broth, whisk in a little at a time, as if you were making a roux. Otherwise, it'll be too liquidy, and you'll have to add some cornstarch to it, because at that point, after cooking all day, you'll be too lazy and hungry to wait for it to thicken on its own.

That aside, I decided to make some queso fresco to adorn the enchiladas, instead of the cheddar jack called for in the recipe. Queso fresco was delightfully easy, much like ricotta, and can be made with materials you may have in your kitchen (milk, white vinegar, and salt), and it takes about 40 minutes, including draining time.

Then onto tortillas! I followed the step-by-step

directions I found here. Again, very simple: masa (corn flour) and water. I read on another site to roll out the tortillas in between cut up ziploc bags instead of saran wrap. I'll second that here. I would definitely make these again, as they were far superior and easy to roll for enchiladas than the store-bought ones (read: they didn't split the second you put them into a concave shape).

Then Michael, the carnivore, added his contribution to the enchiladas by giving some chicken breast a nice flambé in some tequila (sorry about the picture quality; the sun had gone down at this point):

The food was delicious, and it was fun, long day (good thing the PGA finals was on to entertain me). I may not do it all again from scratch, but these were some pretty nice enchiladas. I also made some guacamole and baked some of the tortillas into chips, but I was ready enough to be done at this point, that their pictures do not exist.

And now, the exception:

Last Thursday, I decided to donate blood with the American Red Cross, who comes to my workplace every 8 weeks. I've given twice before, but was unable to the last time they came, as I had research subjects coming in and was unable to sneak away. As you may know, it's important to eat before and after donating blood. However, I had forgotten that they were coming that particular day, and had only packed enough food to eat before. And so after I tried to give blood (the needle slipped from my vein, leaving them with just a little bit of my blood and leaving me with a nasty, < shaped bruise on my arm), I felt a little lightheaded, and so I decided to not risk passing out on the way back up to my office. I ate a run-of-the-mill blueberry muffin with some sugary cranberry juice, and I don't feel one ounce bad about it!

Sunday Picnic

One of the items on Michael's and my summer to-do list was to go for a picnic in Governor Nelson State Park. This time, our focus was more on the picnic than the park, but we'll make use of his state park parking sticker later in the season to check out some of the other park attractions. On the menu: chorizo burgers with a roasted red pepper aïoli and cucumber salsa and sponge cake with fresh whipped cream and berries.

I didn't mess with the original recipes much, so I'll just post pictures and links:

Hamburger Buns (recipe found here)

These buns were super simple to make. I used 1/2 and 1/2 whole wheat and AP flour, and topped them with my "Everything" mix (an assortment of kosher salt, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and granulated garlic and onion). I made good use of my roommate Emily's KitchenAid stand mixer, and I don't know how I survived without one! The dough hook is my favorite, doing the kneading for me while I can get some other stuff done. I had a lot to do Sunday morning, so I needed to stay up on my dishes. I didn't make them quite as big as traditional hamburger buns, as the recipe called for 12 buns. They were quite dense for hamburger buns, but they were sturdy enough to handle the juicy/oily nature of the chorizo, and the flavor of the buns was right on. I froze 6, and was very tempted this morning to bring one out for breakfast...

Roasted Red Pepper Aïoli (recipe found here)

For the experience and the challenge, I made up this aïoli by hand; just me, a bowl, and a whisk. For those interested in doing the same thing, I would suggest recruiting someone to pour the oil for you. I found myself using the measuring cup to try and steady the bowl as I beat, but then I would splash in the oil a little faster than intended. For a delicious addition to the David Lebowitz recipe, I would definitely recommend freshly roasted red peppers. The acidity of the peppers was balanced really well by the creamy egginess of the aïoli. So many levels of yum. (And for those wondering, our refrigerator came back to a semi-working level, but I bought a new case of eggs for this. No salmonella for us.)

Cucumber Salsa (...or cucumber tomato salad, found here)

I made a cucumber tomato salad to eat as a side dish, but Michael had the brilliant idea to use them as a crunch factor on the burgers. It worked out perfectly, especially because I forgot to bring lettuce and tomato for the burgers. While the balsamic dressing on the salad didn't quite fit the flavor profile of the chorizo, it was a nice complement. In hindsight, it would have been amazing to have some avocado slices to top the burgers. Next time. (And please note the aïoli dripping off the bun in this picture)

Glorious Sponge Cake (I did not make up the name for this recipe)

There are 6 eggs in this cake. Six. And surprisingly for me, no butter. I learned that I'm not that great at separating eggs. And when I was fishing egg yoke out of my bowl of whites, I remembered an episode of Good Eats wherein Alton Brownie (Michael and my moniker for one of our celebrity crushes) was describing the scientific reason why it was paramount that you shouldn't have one bit of yoke in your egg whites during whipping. I can't remember the reason, but it exists out there to haunt me. I also learned why angel and sponge cakes are commonly baked in springform pans. Save the lecture; just don't bake it in a bundt pan, unless you want to be scrubbing out sponge cake bits, even after you've let the pan soak all night.

All in all, it was a successful picnic! After eating all of this rich, heavy food, I treated myself to a 4-hour dance rehearsal. I'll just say it wasn't as bad as eating Thai food before dance rehearsal... Some more pictures from the day:

Grillmaster Flash

August 1st

Day one! I approached the day with tenacity, and although my lunch consisted of raw veggies dunked in olive oil and balsamic vinegar (secondary to me getting home late last night following a 3 1/2 hour dance rehearsal and eating Rocky Rococo's pizza), it was surprisingly satisfying.

My first new item made: butter! It was one of the easiest and most delectable things I've made in a while.

What you need:

heavy cream

mason jar, or any other clear vessel with a tight-fitting lid

What you do:

Fill your vessel ~2/3 full with cream and pretend like you're in a Shake Weight commercial for ~10-15 minutes, until the buttermilk starts to separate from the butter solids. Then rinse with cool water until the water runs clear. Pack tightly in saran wrap and store in the refrigerator.

I lathered the butter on a fresh ear of corn; gotta love 'murica. I saved the buttermilk and am planning to use in scrambled eggs in the morning.

For the rest of the month, I'll be making butter in the food processor, but I thought I'd shake up some butter first for the experience. You should too.