Wait, wait, wait, it cannot be fall yet. For one thing, it’s still too warm to be fall, and for another, I still have to tell you about some summery dishes like these tacos with the eggplant and ancho spread. The tacos are filled with grilled yellow squash, zucchini, bell peppers, and tofu which were marinated first in white wine and olive oil with herbs. Grilling the marinated vegetables and tofu made them smoky-flavored and delicious, but it’s the eggplant-ancho spread I really want to discuss. I’ve pureed anchos into various sauces in the past, but this one was unique. By grilling an eggplant, the flesh became completely tender, and adding that to the anchos for the puree resulted in a lighter tasting spread with a creamy, smooth texture. Smoked paprika and cumin gave it added dimension as well. This was from the June issue of Food and Wine, and the recipe is online. I made a couple of very minor changes to the original recipe. I marinated tomatoes with the rest of the vegetables, but I didn’t grill the tomatoes. While everything else was grilled, I left the tomatoes raw so they wouldn’t fall apart or become mushy. The marinade was made with white wine, olive oil, parsley, salt, and pepper, and I used basil instead of the suggested mint. I prefer basil to mint, and I have happily growing basil plants whereas every time I plant mint it dies. Pressed, drained, and sliced tofu, along with sliced vegetables, were marinated for just a few minutes before being grilled. For the spread, a whole eggplant was grilled and turned from side to side until charred and tender. When the eggplant was cool enough to handle, the flesh was scooped from the charred skin and left in a colander to drain. Anchos were stemmed and seeded and rehydrated in boiling water. The chiles were drained and added to the blender with the eggplant flesh, smoked paprika, cumin, a tiny bit of brown sugar, and olive oil. I used corn tortillas for the tacos, and I warmed them one at a time over the flame of a burner on the stove. The chopped grilled vegetables, grilled tofu, and raw tomatoes were packed into tortillas and topped with the spread. 
When I saw this glazed black cod recipe in the June issue of Bon Appetit, the title alone convinced me to try it. There’s a glaze that’s basted onto the fish while it broils, and then the fish is topped with a spicy, fruity salsa before serving. I do so enjoy a spicy, fruity salsa with fish, and a glaze involving tamarind was intriguing as well. Happily, black cod, also called sablefish, is a best choice on Seafood Watch. It’s a mild, white-fleshed fish, and halibut would also have worked here, and now that I’ve tasted the glaze and salsa, I think I’d like to try them with salmon too. The glaze is thick like barbecue sauce, and the tamarind adds a sour, tangy side to the mix of smoky, earthy, and sweet flavors.Ancho chiles were rehydrated and then pureed with orange juice, honey, garlic, tamarind concentrate, red wine vinegar, and olive oil. The puree was strained into a saucepan and then simmered until thickened. The glaze and the salsa can be made in advance making this a very quick dish to prepare at the last minute. The salsa included a seeded and finely chopped habanero, orange segments, cilantro, red onion, and red wine vinegar and olive oil. The fish was broiled for a few minutes on each side before the glaze was basted onto the top. It went back under the broiler for a couple of minutes until the glaze was bubbly hot.
Last week, I visited the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas with several other Austin food bloggers. We’re all participating in a week-long project to bring awareness to hunger in Central Texas. Our local food bank works with 355 partner agencies which distribute food to people in need. Since one year ago, our local food bank saw a 60% increase in needs. Currently, over 48,000 people rely on this food bank each week. The goal of the CAFB is to assist anyone with food hardship problems and to provide a positive way for people to take care of their health with nourishing food. Families or individuals are able to visit a food pantry once per month, and we were given a list of what is typically received:2 cans spaghetti sauce4 cans veggies (choice of green beans and/or corn)4 cans fruit (choice of sliced pears and/or mixed fruit)1 meat selection: whole chicken, beef roast, pork chops, or possibly pig trotters or ham3 drink items: choice of large bottle of cranberry apple juice and/or powdered milk (shelf stable milk) boxes and/or apple juice boxes1 bag spaghetti or bag of egg noodles1 bag of pinto beans or white navy beans1 bag of white rice1 package of pickled jalapeno slices1 ready-made dinner (hamburger helper)1 bag/container of rolled oats1 bag of cheerios5 lb bag of potatoesAdditionally, many people also participate in food stamp programs. Several of our Austin famers’ markets can now accept debit cards and food stamps from the Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) or food stamp (Lone Star: SNAP) programs. We learned that applying for food stamps is time consuming and challenging with a 22-page application that needs to be re-submitted every three months. A maximum benefit is about $200 per month. By blogging about the CAFB, we’re hoping to raise Hunger Awareness and encourage donations of food, money, or time to local food banks. On Saturday May 8 in central Texas, the US Postal Service will be collecting food donations for Stamp Out Hunger, and all of the food collected here is used locally.Each of the local bloggers involved has taken a different approach to this project, and everyone involved is listed on the CAFB blog. I wanted to cook a big, healthy meal with some ingredients that would be part of a monthly food pantry pick-up and some that could be easily found at a farmers’ market. The items from the list above that immediately jumped out at me were the beans, rice, and pickled jalapenos. At the risk of heading straight for the dreaded, hippie-food territory, the fact is that 'beans and rice' is comfort food for me. I wanted to include a healthy green vegetable as well and make a meal that would produce lots of leftovers. I’m not sure if these are collards-enchiladas or southwest-cabbage rolls. I’ve made cabbage rolls a lot of different ways using standard green cabbage, napa cabbage, and leaves from different greens like chard, broccoli greens, and collards. I like using collards because the leaves are usually big and somewhat round. I’ve made more traditional rolls with tomato, lemon, and dill sauce. I’ve made them with ground turkey, I’ve used brown rice, and I’ve made them before with the same filling used here. Cooked pinto beans, rice, and shredded monterey jack cheese were on the inside, and the sauce was a puree of simmered anchos, onion, and tomato.
Last week, I stopped by our Wednesday farmers’ market to see what looked good and what might become inspiration for our weekend meals. It was the carrots and sweet potatoes that caught my eye. Fresh, bright orange carrots, just pulled out of the ground have a crunch and sweetness that makes their distant, plastic-bagged cousins seem completely unrelated. The carrots I bought last week came from Johnson’s Backyard Garden, and it was an enormous and gorgeous bunch of carrots. I remembered reading about a carrot puree and eventually found it in Sunday Suppers at Lucques
. That puree was part of a meal including harissa-spiced fish and gingered beets, and Suzanne Goin wrote that it was all inspired by carrots. She once had an abundance of fresh and delicious carrots and came up with this meal to highlight them. That sounded pretty perfect since I was in a similar carrot situation.
In the book, the dish is prepared with snapper fillets, but as I stood before the fish counter last weekend, the rock fish had a shinier and happier look about it. I went with the rock fish, and regarding sustainability issues, rock fish and snapper rate about the same. However, I’m kicking myself now that I realize I could have purchased snapper from a local source at the Saturday farmers’ market. Next time. The first step in preparing this meal was making harissa. Dried ancho chiles were rehydrated, cumin seeds were toasted and crushed, and canned tomatoes were cooked until reduced. All of those items were added to a food processor along with garlic, hot smoked paprika, cayenne, vinegar, and salt and pepper. Once pureed, it was harissa. Remember those sweet potatoes I mentioned? For another meal, they were made into oven fries and served with some of this harissa, and that was an excellent pairing. For this meal, the harissa was coated onto the fish which was left to marinate in the refrigerator for a few hours. Meanwhile, the beets were roasted, and the carrots were chopped. With such fresh carrots, I don’t actually peel them. I wash them and pull off any root fibers, but leave as much of each carrot intact as possible. The carrots were steamed with some cilantro stems while chopped onion was sauteed. The steamed carrots were added to the onion and allowed to caramelize a bit before that mixture was pureed with olive oil. The roasted beets were skinned and then tossed with a vinaigrette of shallot, jalapeno, garlic, ginger, mint, cilantro, lime juice, and olive oil. The fish was to have been grilled, but I pan-sauteed it instead.
There are times when a vegetable puree can be reminiscent of baby food, but this wasn’t one of them. The sauteed onion and caramelization added depth, and the hint of cilantro and olive oil prevented the puree from being too sweet. The earthy beets in vinaigrette were a bright and tangy contrasting flavor to that of the puree. And, the main attraction, the fish, was the star of the meal. The harissa had flavored the fish well, but since most of it was scraped away before cooking, what remained was subtle, smoky savoriness. This was one of those meals that I couldn’t believe I had whipped up in my own kitchen and that it was so easy. I love going out for great restaurant meals, but I’m always delighted when a meal seems that good at home. 
A couple of weeks ago, we had some of the coldest weather this part of Texas has experienced in many years. We get a little uneasy around here with near-freezing temperatures, and when it dipped into the 20s (F) we were confused and concerned. So, what was I doing to prepare for this weekend of serious winter weather we were about to have? I was making ice cream. The ice cream was going to be served on warm brownies, but still, it was 20 degrees in Austin and I pulled out the ice cream maker. Maybe I should start by telling you about the brownies because that might make more sense. I wanted to mix up a southwest, chile powder-infused kind of brownie, and I found the perfect recipe in Nuevo Tex-Mex. The recipe was created by Rebecca Rather, and it includes ancho chile powder with semisweet chocolate, chocolate chips, and pine nuts. I thought big squares of those brownies warm from the oven would be great topped with a generous scoop of cinnamon ice cream. The cinnamon ice cream is from The Perfect Scoop.
The brownie recipe makes a large batch, so I cut the quantities in half and baked it in an eight inch square pan rather than a nine by thirteen inch pan. Still, the halved quantities included a half pound of semisweet chocolate, half a pound of butter, four eggs, and a cup and a half of sugar along with flour, ancho chile powder, chocolate chips, and pine nuts. These were kind of serious brownies. The batter was very easy to stir together without a mixer, and they went into 325 F oven for about 35-40 minutes. The recipe suggests a baking time of 20-25 minutes, but my brownies were nowhere near done at that point. The cinnamon ice cream was started by steeping broken cinnamon sticks in warm milk with sugar and a pinch of salt. Then, a custard was made with egg yolks and the warmed milk, it was strained, and cream was added. The custard was churned after being chilled.
The ancho chile powder in the brownies accented the chocolate in the same way espresso would. There was clearly something more than chocolate happening, but the chile flavor was just a supporting role and not obvious at all. The texture of these brownies was delightfully lighter than I expected and definitely not dense. The crackly top gave way to an almost cakey but near-fudgy interior. They were somehow the best of both worlds, and the pine nuts were a nice addition too. While I don’t think cinnamon ice cream would be a bad choice to set atop any brownie, I was especially happy with it on top of these. I’m also convinced this dessert was a good distraction from our freakishly cold weather at least for a little while. And just for the record, it's 75 degrees (F) today, and that's my favorite kind of January weather. 
Pozole, also spelled posole, is a stew made from hominy, or nixtamal, which is dried corn. The dried corn itself may also be called pozole or posole rather than hominy. Cooked, canned hominy is also available, but for this stew you’ll want to start with the dried kind. When our weather finally changed, the dark, rainy sky made it seem like time for a slow-simmered stew. I stole ideas from two different recipes, and just to complicate matters, I changed a thing or two. First, I had read Deborah Madison’s pozole recipe in Vegetarian Cooking for Everone which starts with soaked pozole simmered in water with a few dried guajillo chiles, some smashed cloves of garlic, chopped white onion, and dried Mexican oregano. I also looked at Rick Bayless’ recipe in Mexico One Plate at a Time which is a pork and hominy stew. I wanted to skip the pork entirely, but I was interested in the addition of some stock once the corn is cooked to a tender state. Also, in that recipe, some ancho chiles are rehydrated and then pureed. That puree is strained into the stew when the stock is added. After picking and choosing and changing this and that, I ended up with a mix and match pozole rojo. Stick with me on this, most of the time involved is spent reading a book while the stew simmers, and the result is worth every minute.
The day before I started cooking the stew, I poured boiling water over the dried pozole and left it to soak until the next day. From reading the information in Mexico One Plate at a Time, I understood that the longer the pozole could cook the better. Bayless points out that it’s often left to simmer overnight before fiestas. I drained the soaked pozole and began cooking it in fresh water about five and a half hours before I planned to serve it, and I would guess that three hours would be the minimum cooking time. The goal is to cook the corn to the point at which it flowers, or the kernels begin to open somewhat resembling popcorn. I added the chiles, garlic, onion, and oregano as suggested in Deborah Madison’s recipe. After three and a half hours of cooking, I added a couple teaspoons of salt. An hour later, I added some chicken stock and pushed the pureed ancho chiles through a strainer into the stew. That was left to simmer for one more hour. During that last hour or so, you should taste the stew a few times and consider adjusting the seasoning. I ended up adding almost two tablespoons of salt before the corn and broth were well seasoned. Bayless explains that the corn absorbs a lot of seasoning, and extra salt is usually needed.
Last, but certainly not least, are the toppings. Pozole is presented with any combination of the following: thinly sliced cabbage, thinly sliced radishes, dried Mexican oregano, tostadas, sliced jalapenos, cubed avocado, lime wedges, cilantro leaves, diced onion, crumbled queso fresco, and sliced meat such as the grilled chicken that I served. A warm bowl of tender, cooked corn with a fragrant, deep red broth is topped with whichever of those items you choose. And, it happens to be delicious served with crunchy tortilla chips and the roasted salsa verde from Mexico One Plate at a Time.
Pozole Rojo
combined, adapted, and adjusted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and Mexico One Plate at a Time
3 c dried pozole
½ onion, chopped
3 large garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
3 dried guajillo chiles, washed, stemmed, and seeded
1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
6 ancho chiles, washed, stemmed, and seeded
2 quarts chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
toppings:
4 c thinly sliced green cabbage
3 limes, cut into wedges
5 radishes, thinly sliced
2 jalapenos, thinly sliced
1 c cilantro leaves
2 c sliced, grilled chicken
1 avocado, peeled and cubed
-in a large, heat-proof bowl, cover dried pozole with boiling water so that water’s surface is two inches above top of pozole and let stand until the water is room temperature; place bowl in refrigerator overnight
-drain soaked pozole and place it in a large stock pot; add four and one half quarts fresh water, the chopped onion, smashed garlic, guajillo chiles, and Mexican oregano; bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer; simmer for three and a half hours or longer if time allows; stir occasionally; add two teaspoons salt after about three hours and stir; continue simmering
-meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring two cups water to a boil; add cleaned ancho pieces to boiling water and remove from heat; once anchos have rehydrated and cooled, place them with some of the steeping liquid in a blender and puree until smooth; place a strainer over the stockpot and press ancho puree through it into the simmering stew; add two quarts rich, homemade chicken stock to stew; add a tablespoon of salt and stir to incorporate; taste the stew a few times as it simmers for another hour to hour and a half and add salt to taste (possibly as much as another tablespoon)
-serve bowls of stew with a platter of toppings, some tortilla chips, and a bowl of homemade roasted salsa verde
