Tag Archives: chiles

Fish and Seafood

Chupe de Camarones

Chilean shrimp stew

1-1/2 lbs jumbo shrimp in shells
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 lb. whitefish heads and trimmings
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large tomato, chopped
1 tsp. chopped chiles
1/2 tsp oregano
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 quarts water
2 large potatoes, cubed
2 potatoes, halved lengthwise
1 lb. green peas
1/2 cup long grain rice
2 ears of corn, cut in thirds
3 eggs
1 cup milk
2 tbsp chopped parsley

Clean the shrimp, saving shells. In a casserole, heat the oil. Add onion, shrimp shells, fish trimmings, and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 6 minutes.

Stir in tomato, chile, oregano, salt and pepper. Cook 3 minutes. Add water and diced potatoes. Cover and simmer 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Pour into a sieve over a bowl and force through with a spoon. Discard the pulp. Return puree to casserole, bring to a boil and add potato halves and rice. Simmer for 25 minutes.

Add peas and corn. Simmer, covered, for 5 minutes. Drop in shrimp and cook 5 minutes. Meanwhile, beat eggs. Pour eggs slowly into the stew. Add milk and simmer to heat through. Season and sprinkle with parsley.

Soups and Stews

Sopa de Tortilla

  • 4 corn tortillas, cut in strips and crisped in hot oil
  • 3 cups chicken broth
  • 2 T tomato paste
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 4 chiles anchos, dried, whole
  • 1/2 t cumin
  • Cooked beans
  • Sliced avocado
  • Grated cheese
  • Chopped onion
  • Chopped fresh cilantro

Combine broth, tomato paste, garlic, bay, cumin and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove bay leaf. Place 1 chile ancho and some of the fried tortillas and beans in each of four soup bowls. Pour broth on top. Top with grated cheese.

Serve with avocado, onion, cilantro, and extra cheese and beans on the side.

Cat by Kati
Cat by Kati
Pickles, Salsas, and Miscellaneous

Carol’s Chile Powder

A homemade chile (chili) powder made from whole, dried, Mexican chiles.

  • 5 chiles ancho
  • 5 chiles guajillo
  • 1/2 cup paprika
  • 1/2 cup ground cumin
  • 1/2 cup garlic salt
  • 2 T ground allspice
  • 2 tsp powdered cloves
  • 1/4 cup ground oregano

Seed chiles. Place in blender and grind fine. Warning: Do not open lid and sniff until dust settles, unless you want your sinuses cleaned. Add rest of ingredients and blend well. Store in covered container in a dry place.

Meatless Main Dishes

Papatzul

A typical dish from the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, made with a wonderful creamy sauce of ground pumpkin seeds. Paptzules are similar to enchiladas in that they are filled and rolled tortillas smothered in a sauce that has chiles in it but is not necessarily very spicy.

Ingredients for Papatzul

  • 3 cups hulled pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
  • 6 serrano chiles
  • 1 sprig epazote (or 2 tsp dry)
  • 3 cups hot water
  • 24 corn tortillas
  • 12 hard cooked eggs

Pulverize the pepitas in a blender. Add seeded chiles and epazote and blend again. Place in a pan and add hot water gradually, stirring. Do not boil. Bring to a bare simmer and cook until sauce is like cream. Dip tortillas in sauce, fill with sliced or chopped eggs, roll, place in a baking dish and cover with remaining sauce. Place in oven until just heated through.

pumpkin seeds - Pepitas

Pickles, Salsas, and Miscellaneous

Pico de Gallo Hot Sauce

Pico de Gallo is a uncooked Mexican salsa made with coarsely chopped tomatoes, onion, chiles, and sometimes fresh coriander.  This version has a little vegetable oil and a hint of garlic added.

This salsa will be as hot as the chiles you put into it. An excellent addition to Pico de Gallo is small cubes of avocado

Pico de Gallo literally means “rooster’s beak”–

Ingredients for Pico de Gallo Hot Sauce

  • 3 ripe tomatoes, chopped finely
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 2 to 3 jalapeño or Serrano chiles, seeded and chopped finely
  • Salt
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander
  • 1 small clove garlic, crushed
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil (optional) (olive or avocado is best)
  • lime juice to taste

Preparing Pico de Gallo Hot Sauce

Combine all ingredients and let stand for awhile before using.  The salt will help bring out the pungency of the chiles, and adding oil and/or lime juices makes for a juicier sauce.

If you don’t like fresh coriander, simply leave it out, and the salsa will still work.

Eggs and Cheese

Queso Fundido con Rajas (Cheese and Chiles)

Queso Fundido means melted cheese, and Rajas is a term applied to chiles cut into long strips. They can be roasted or fried or sometimes pickled or preserved in vinegar. The term can apply to different types of chiles, such as Rajas de Chile Jalapeño, which can be very spicy. This recipe, applies to Poblano chiles, a mild, somewhat elongated, dark green chile from the Puebla area of Mexico. Poblanos are used for making Chiles Rellenos or Mexican Stuffed Chiles.

Ingredients for Queso Fundido con Rajas

  • 1/2 cup minced onion
  • 1/4 cup oil
  • 2 Poblano chiles, roasted, peeled, and cut into strips
  • 1 lb. Manchego or Mozzarella cheese, cubed
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream, optional
  • Salt to taste

Saute onions in the oil. Add the chiles and fry well. Add the cheese and salt and allow cheese to melt thoroughly.

The chiles and cheese cubes may also be combined and placed in the oven until melted. Top with cream before serving, if desired.


Meatless Main Dishes

Chiles Rellenos de Queso o Frijoles

Chiles Rellenos are Mexican stuffed peppers. They are made with mild Poblano peppers and can be stuffed with ground meat mixtures, cheese, potatoes, and a variety of of other ingredients. You can often find seafood-stuffed peppers in coastal regions. The stuffed peppers are usually dipped in egg, fried in hot oil until browned, then smothered in tomato sauce.

This version uses Manchego cheese (or mozzarella) and refried beans to fill the peppers.

Chiles Rellenos de Queso o Frijoles

 Ingredients for Cheese or Bean-stuffed Chile Peppers

  • 6 chiles Poblano (dark green, slightly hot fresh chiles)
  • 3 cups refried beans or 6 large sliced of Manchego  or mozzarella cheese
  • 2 eggs, separated
  • Flour
  • Oil for frying
  • 1/2 cup thick, seasoned tomato sauce
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream

Hold chiles on a fork over heat (this is usually a gas flame in Mexico) until skin blisters and darkens. Wrap in a damp cloth or a paper bag for half an hour. Peel.

Slit the chiles down one side and remove the seeds. Stuff each pepper with either beans or cheese or a combination of the two. Seal with a toothpick.

Beat egg yolks until thick; beat whites until stiff and shiny. Fold yolks into whites. Dust chiles with flour and dip into eggs.

Fry chiles in hot oil until brown. Place on a serving plate and cover with preheated tomato sauce and a dollop of cream.

NOTE: If all the above sounds too hard, cut open the chiles and layer them with the cheese and beans in a casserole. Mix the eggs and flour together with the cream and pour over the layers. Bake at 350º F. for about 30 minutes or until set. Pour tomato sauce over the top (use only enough to moisten without drowning the layered chiles), and top with 1/4 cup grated cheese, if desired. Bake an additional 10 minutes. Allow to stand 15 minutes or so before serving. Serve with additional warm tomato sauce.

Fish and Seafood

Dad’s Pescado Veracruzana

This recipe for Veracruz-style fish was developed by Dad over the years. He always used cazon,  or baby shark, which is a very firm fish. The recipe instructions as presented are just as he wrote them out. I have added the ingredients list separately above to make it easier to prepare at a glance.

  • 3/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2-3 chiles largos, canned
  • 1-1/2 cups pitted olives
  • 1/4 cup capers
  • 1 T Knorr chicken bouillon granules
  • juice of 2 limes
  • 1 carrot, finely chopped
  • 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
  • 1-2 small tomatoes, chopped
  • Cazon fillets for four (baby shark)
  • water as necessary

Fish by Carol

Veracruzana.

(portion for four)

In three quarter cup of olive oil fry one medium chopped onion, add two or three chiles largos ( strong long yellow pepper preserves preferred)  To tame hotness seeds can be removed. Add one to one and half cups  pitted olives and half cup of capers.  A table spoonful of Knorr’s chicken powder, juice of two limes, one finely chopped carrot. One stalk of finely chopped celery, one or two small tomatoes.

Bring mixture to a boil and then let simmer for an hour or two before adding fish. The longer it simmers the better the taste.

Quantity of fish depends on appetite and size of fillets.  Baby shark (cazon) is my favorite but any white fish fillet can be used I believe. Fish should be filleted bone free and sliced thinly.  I believe that tuna can be substituted but I am not sure.  Not being too familiar with the fish available in Canada this may take some experimentation.

The fish can be placed into boiling sauce for stove top cooking in covered pot for ten minutes (Time is for cazon other varieties may require more time.)   Best is to place fish into baking dish and bake for about fifteen minutes at high heat.

You may wish to alter the consistency of the sauce by adding water.

Good luck and enjoy it.

 

Meatless Main Dishes

Chilaquiles a la Angel

  • Oil
  • 12 corn tortillas, 1 day old or more (stale but not dry)
  • 3 ripe tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 chicken bouillon cube
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 serrano chiles, seeded and chopped finely
  • 1/4 cup water
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 cup grated Manchego or Mozzarella cheese

Cut tortillas into strips or in triangles. Heat 1/2″ oil in wide frying pan. Brown and crisp tortillas in batches. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

Sauté onion in a little oil till soft. Add tomatoes, bouillon cube, garlic, chiles and water. Cook until tomatoes are mushy and liquid is slightly reduced. Throw in coriander and adjust salt. Cook 5 minutes. Throw about two thirds of fried tortillas into sauce and toss to coat. Add 1/2 of the grated cheese and toss again.

Let simmer for 2 minutes to soften tortillas slightly and melt cheese. Add the remaining tortillas and toss quickly. Top with remaining cheese and allow to sit for a minute until cheese has melted. Serve immediately.