chilies stuffed with goat cheese and shrimp

Every year Santa Barbara metamorphoses into a party town with a longing for the traditions of yesteryear in what is called Fiesta. Fiesta, or "Old Spanish Days" as it's also known, is a week-long excuse to drink margaritas, get dressed up in frilly and colorful flamenco-style dresses and yell "viva la fiesta!" and random and odd intervals.

The whole town jumps on board the Fiesta bandwagon, including my neighborhood grocery store which had a temporary "fiesta section" in its coolers, complete with limes, guacamole, carne asada and tequila. Why this grocery store section is temporary is completely beyond me, but hey, there you have it.

So, in the spirit of Fiesta (and also because my fridge decided to kick the bucket on me and I had to use up a lot of the included ingredients) I made stuffed chilies. And can I just say one thing? If you do nothing else for yourself this summer, make these. They are absolute heaven!

I had intended to use poblanos, which is what the recipe I was basing this whole experiment off of suggested, but then our dinner guest count doubled and my local Mexican market (two blocks away, so you'll be seeing a lot of mexican food posts) only had pasillas on hand. So I got some of those, but you know, any color bell pepper would have been delicious with this filling.

The sauce you serve this dish with is as versatile as your pepper choice. The recipe I was borrowing from made a roasted red pepper sauce, which I found to be a little lackluster and would have preferred the tangy bite of a more traditional enchilada sauce. But you probably don't even need a sauce for these as they are full of flavor and moisture already.

So, squeeze some lime over your tequila, stuff yourself some peppers and no matter where you find yourself this week, take a moment to exclaim "viva la fiesta!"

chiles stuffed with goat cheese and shrimp
serves 4

8 peppers (bells, poblano, pasilla, anaheim)
6 oz goat cheese, room temp
1 lb shrimp, cooked, peeled, deveined, and chopped
1 red bell pepper, minced
2 shallots, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped
2 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup monterey jack, cheddar or feta cheese for garnish (optional)

- first, you have to scorch the peppers. This is easiest over the gas flame on your gas stove or a bbq, but in a pinch you can use your broiler, just keep a close eye on them.
- place the peppers on the flame and rotate to get them charred and blistered all over. Once they are charred place them in a bowl covered with plastic wrap (or in a ziploc bag) and sweat for about 15-20 minutes. (the peppers should be soft, but not mushy at this point).
- Remove the charred skin of the peppers gently either using your hand or a paring knife (I find hand easier) and discard. You can get a bit more of the skin off by gently wiping the peppers off with a paper towel. DO NOT rinse under water or you will lose the majority of your flavor.
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine all of the remaining ingredients except for the cheese for garnish (if you accidentally throw that into your filling that's ok, it will taste yummy). Again, I find this easiest to mix with your hand, but some vigorous creaming with a spoon could do the trick.
- gently slit each pepper down one side and very gently remove the seed - but leave the stems in tact and attached. Divide your filling into eight portions and spoon a portion into each pepper.
- Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper and place the peppers on it. Sprinkle monterey jack, cheddar, feta or cotilla cheese on top.
Put the peppers into the oven until warmed through (about 20 minutes) and the cheese is melted.
- You can either serve with your favorite enchilada sauce or eat as is.

Viva La!

Stuffing and Sauce - It Ain't Thanksgiving Without 'Em

The Thanksgiving joy continues this week as I keep going down my list of T-day staples. Tonight I made two of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes, in preparation for a potluck at work. I have made both of these items the same way for years and even though I always think about changing it up and trying something new, I keep coming back to the same old staples. I mean, why change something that works, right?

The stuffing is essentially a combination of all of my favorite fall flavors. Apples, sausage, sage, fresh baked bread, orange juice, walnut and of course, because I'm from Quebec, maple syrup. It's a very simple stuffing to make and a lot of the ingredients can be interchanged for other items you might have in your pantry, in case you're like me and you dread going to the store. For example, tonight I was out of walnuts, so I substitutes some hazelnuts I had on hand.

The fall harvest makes an awesome stuffing...

The cranberry sauce is another old standby. I love all things tart, so naturally cranberry sauce is up there on my list of favorites. I like to liven it up however with some raspberries and a little bit of orange flavor. The best part about adding the raspberries too is that I make a HUGE batch and can all of the excess sauce and it makes diving jam, especially on some good toasted bread with cream cheese. So, the recipe below can be doubled or tripled (really how ever many times you want to multiply it is fine) and just can the rest to keep all year long.

A large batch of this super-berry sauce makes great jam for later!

On that note, a quick word about canning. Canning is a super easy way to preserve things for long periods of time, especially if the item is acidic. All it takes is a few canning jars with new seals (replacement seals can be bought for jars you're reusing), a large pot and some patience.

Put the pot of water on to boil, place the empty jars in the water for 5 minutes at a high boil to sterilize. Remove the jars and fill them with whatever you're preserving, leaving half an inch of space at the top. Place the seal on the jar and loosely screw on the ring, until it just catches.

Put the jar back in the boiling water and boil for 10 minutes. Remove the jar and let cool - it's the cooling that will cause the lid to suck down and make a "plop!" sound, this is when you know you've successfully canned. At this point tighten the ring down tight and store.

This jam makes a great Christmas gift too

IMPORTANT! This method only works with acidic items, it won't work with things like non-acidic soups or stews because they require pressure canning.

Alright, on to the recipes...

RECIPES

Sausage, Apple and Sage Stuffing

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 large or 2 med. onions, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 Tbsp sage, minced

1 tsp thyme

6 large Italian sausages, uncased

4 apples, any kind, diced

3/4 - 1 loaf crusty bread, cubed

1cup walnuts, chopped

1/2 cup orange juice                     

1/2 cup maple syrup                                                             

3 cups chicken broth

salt & pepper to taste

Set oven to 375 degrees, and place the oven rack in the middle.

Heat the olive oil in a large pan. Saute the onions until translucent. Add the garlic and herbs.

Break apart the uncased sausage and add to the pan, cook until browned.

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients together and stir thoroughly.

Butter a large (13x9in) baking dish and pour the stuffing contents in.

Bake for about 45 min - 1 hour.

Can be made ahead, but reheat to serve.

(See, I told you it was easy!)

A Very Berry Cranberry Sauce (it doesn't get much easier than this folks)

2x 12oz bags of fresh cranberries

1x 12 oz bag frozen raspberries

2 cup orange juice (can substitute water, but it's not as rich)

2 cups sugar

1 Tbsp orange zest

Put everything in a pot together and boil down at medium heat until most of the cranberries have popped and all of the sugar is diluted.

Let the sauce cook down slightly, but it will thicken as it cools.

Add more sugar to taste if you like your sauce very sweet.

Sweet Potato and Cumin: nothin' mashed around here...

This blog post has been two weeks in the making...for some reason I haven't been able to locate that little kernel of inspiration needed to get beyond the first few sentences.

I was trying to figure out why such reluctance...the subject was interesting, the results worth eating, but there was just a little lack of spark. There was little I could do, however to avoid posting this post because cumin and sweet potato were destined to meet in October's food challenge and all I could do about it was cook, taste and write.

Though not as exotic a combination as past food challenge contestants, they proved a worthy pairing in the simple variety of dishes produced. I am always impressed at the sheer adventurousness that results from these food challenges. I always expect at least a few people to take the path of least resistance, in this instance perhaps a dish of mashed sweet potatoes or something like that. I am always pleasantly surprised that people take enjoyment out of the challenge and go well beyond the proverbial low hanging fruit.

On the table that evening was Chicken Tikka Masala, with sweet potatos, cumin-scented popovers, sweet potato pie with a marshmallow meringue top, several hummus concoctions and a sherphard's pie with sweet potato for the crust.



Though sweet potato and cumin are not the greatest of strangers, I was determined to make something that accentuated them both. I started off with sweet potato corn muffins - a small twist on the traditional that added both color and a depth of flavor. I added a pinch of cumin to these too which gave them a slightly Indian hint.

Because Thanksgiving is my favorite meal of the year and it's just around the corner, I also decided to make a stuffing using sweet potatos and cumin as well as sausage. This was good, and definitely Thanksgiving-y, but it was even better when reincarnated in a sort of frittata/strata dish.



We brought the leftover stuffing home and mixed it with some egg and cheese the next morning and baked it into a nice, fluffy breakfast treat. I'm not sure what to call it because it's part frittata - an omelet that has potato in it, and part strata - a sort of savory bread pudding where bread is soaked in egg and then baked. So I'm going with Fristrata!




RECIPE

Alelia's Harvest Fristrata 

*this dish takes a bit of time to make, but the best this about it is that it can be made one or two days in advance and only gets better with time...

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried sage (or 1 Tbsp fresh sage)
1 lb turkey sausage (uncased)
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

3 cups italian bread, cubed
1 cup chicken broth

6 eggs
1/2 cup of milk
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup mozzarella, shredded (cheddar works too)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Boil water in a medium saucepan. Add the sweet potato and boil for about 5-7 minutes, until tender when poked with a knife, but not falling apart. Drain and set aside.

In a large stock pot or dutch oven heat the olive oil over med-high heat. Add the onions and saute until translucent (4 min). Add the sage and garlic and saute until fragrant (2 min).

Add the sausage and cook, breaking up large pieces with your spoon. Once the sausage is browned, add in the sweet potato, bread, and cider vinegar mix in well to coat the bread with the flavors. Pour in the chicken stock. Simmer for about 10 minutes until stock is thoroughly soaked up. Let cool about 20 minutes.

In a medium bowl, lightly beat the eggs and mix in the milk, salt and pepper. Pour over the stuffing mix and stir in well.

Pour the whole mixture into a greased baking dish. Cover with the cheese. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the egg has puffed up around the stuffing.

Serve immediately with some salsa. Enjoy!