I got this recipe from the Scaling Back blog, which is the best blog you are probably not reading. I met the author Tina Jeffers at a food photography workshop, but when you read her blog you may be inclined to agree that she probably doesn’t really need food photography classes because her pictures are gorgeous, mouth-watering, and instructive all at the same time. Her tips and recipes are well-chosen, not too difficult, and they work. Subscribe, follow, or just check in from time to time, but for goodness’ sake don’t miss out on this site. It is hands-down one of my absolute favorites, which in the crowded world of food blogs is saying quite a lot.

I reproduce the recipe here because I simplified some steps and made some small changes. As is reflected in the recipe, I do not recommend eating this the day you make it- it tastes infinitely better if you let it sit in the fridge for a day or two or three and reheat it. Enjoy – and thank you Tina for the inspiration.

Recipe: Butternut Squash & Short Rib Chili

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Tblsp live oil
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless short ribs, trimmed of most of the fat and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (ask your butcher to remove the bones for you)
• 1 large onion, chopped finely
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 chipotle in adobo sauce, minced
• chili flakes, cayenne, or hot spice of your choice to taste (I used a large pinch of very hot Chinese chili flakes and a large pinch of cayenne)
• 2 Tblsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup red wine
• 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 28 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
• 2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cubed into 1/2 inch pieces
• cilantro leaves, crumbled queso fresco, and avocado slices to serve

method:

• Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Season beef with salt and add to pan. Cook about 8-10 minutes, browning on all sides.
• Add onion and cook another 8-10 minutes, until onions are soft and translucent. Add tomato paste, garlic, chipotle, cocoa, and spices and cook another 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Add wine, beans, and tomatoes with juice. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and cover. Simmer for 1 hour.
• Add butternut squash and simmer for another hour, until beef and squash are tender. Cool slightly, then cover and rest in the fridge overnight.
• To serve, reheat on the stove and serve with cilantro, queso fresco, and avocado.

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Call me La Ganadora! I was tempted to lick the jar clean before the salad was served. This would be good on tortillas, on chicken, on toast, whatever–to me, it’s like salad dressing crack. Did I mention you just make it by throwing a bunch of things in a blender?

As for the salad, do what you like. I went with a torn head of red leaf lettuce with Granny Smith apple, red onion, and avocado, topped with corn tortilla strips quickly fried in oil and salted.

Did you know that coriander and cilantro are from the same plant? “Coriander” usually refers to the seed and “cilantro” usually refers to the seed. However, I was just in England where the term “coriander” is used interchangeably for the seed and the leaf–something worth noting if you’re one of those folks who can’t stand cilantro. In this recipe, the coriander flavor will pop more if you grind whole coriander seeds fresh, and it will be more subtle if you use powdered coriander. I have an extra coffee grinder at home just for spices, because I don’t fancy my coffee tasting like coriander.

Mexican Green Goddess Dressing
Makes enough to dress one head of lettuce

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup pepitas (raw green pumpkin seeds)
• 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 cup packed cilantro leaves
• juice and zest of 1 lime
• 3 green onions, trimmed, light green and white parts only
• 2 Tblsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 large pinch salt
• 6 Tblsp vegetable oil

Method:

• Put everything except the oil in a blender or food processor and blend to chop finely.
• With the blender going, add oil in a slow stream and process until smooth.
• If not eating immediately, store in a jar or closed container in the fridge.
• If it’s too thick, whisk in a bit of oil or water before serving to thin it out.

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A little research and some experimentation led to this recipe. Typically chilaquiles verdes are made with chicken, but I prefer chorizo. For those who requested it, I fried an egg and laid it on top of their plates.

I am extremely lucky to live nearby some wonderful Mexican grocery stores, so it was easy for me to find everything I needed. (SF locals: In case you are curious, all of the ingredients were purchased at La Palma Mexicatessen and Casa Lucas.) I am, however, not lucky because it took me about 20 minutes to find a parking place near these great stores on a Sunday morning. Normally I fry tortillas to use for chilaquiles, but since I was running late and since I had never seen these before, I had to buy them!

They translate to “little hard ones for chilaquiles”–a chip specially formulated to embody the structural integrity needed to withstand the bath of sauce, cheese, and meat. What will they think of next?? Also, is this where they got the name “Doritos”?

I think it might be. Some people claim that the word doritos means “little pieces of gold” because gold in Spanish is oro. I don’t agree. A closer match for “little golden things” would be doraditos as opposed to doritos. I posit that duritos is a closer match for doritos. Anyway, have you tasted Doritos lately? They are not as good as I remembered. In fact, they are pretty gross. I’m going to stick with chilaquiles and stop talking about Doritos.

Chilaquiles Verdes

serves 6

Ingredients:

• 3/4 lb. tortilla chips, duritos, or tortillas
• 1 1/2 lbs fresh tomatillos, husks removed and rinsed
• 1-2 jalapeños, stem and seeds removed (if you like spicy things, you can leave some seeds in)
• 3 large cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves
• 3-4 scallions, white part and up to medium green part
• 1 lb. Mexican chorizo
• 1 cup crumbled cotija or queso fresco cheese
• scallions and cilantro for garnish

Method:

• If making your own chips: cut tortillas into chip-sized wedges. Heat about 1 inch of oil in a large saute pan. Fry chips in batches until golden on both sides, removing to drain on paper towels.
• Meanwhile, place whole tomatillos, jalapeños, and garlic cloves in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook 5-7  minutes, until tomatillos are turning brown and vegetables are soft.
• Put tomatillos, jalapeños, and garlic cloves in a blender or food processor with a cup of the hot liquid, the cilantro, scallions, and a large pinch of salt. Blend until smooth and set aside.
• Preheat oven to 350.
• Remove chorizo’s outer skin and break into pieces with your hands into a saute pan. Cook chorizo, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until browned.
• Pour a thin layer of sauce into a non-metal (ceramic or glass) 9×13 baking dish. Add a third of the chips and spread them out. Pour more sauce over, then sprinkle with one quarter of the cheese. Add half the chorizo and spread it on top.
• Add another third of chips, more sauce, more cheese, and the remaining chorizo. Add the remaining chips, then cheese, sauce, and top with cheese. By this point you should have used most or all of the sauce.
• Bake for about 20 minutes, until cheese is just starting to get a little brown. Garnish with chopped scallions and cilantro. Serve with refried beans, avocadoes, and Mexican crema or sour cream.

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The main issue that I had is that the recipe calls for fresh walnuts. Here’s where I admit I don’t actually know what a fresh walnut looks like. It also said to skin the walnuts, ie remove the papery skin part… which sounded really vexing and actually totally completely WAS vexing. That is because I felt like I was in a walnut skinning sweatshop with my tiny fingers painstakingly working the skins off of walnuts for hours on end. Welcome to my sweatshop. Note the tiny pile of hard-won naked walnut pieces on the bottom left. Ugh.

In the end, it was all totally worth it. The dish was beautiful, unusual, and super delicious. It didn’t taste strictly Mexican, and in fact had shades of the Middle East in the flavor profile. It was also absolutely gorgeous. Even for a lazy slacker like me- it was totally worth the effort!  Next time I will try just NOT skinning the walnuts… or try to track down those fresh walnuts once and for all.

Luckily for me, and for you, Elise from Simply Recipes posted Diana Kennedy’s recipe in full right here! For the record, Elise doesn’t skin the walnuts. Of course, if  you’d like to open your very own walnut sweatshop… be my guest!

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There are some reasons these taste better than regular beans. One reason is the beer. Another is the method of adding a whole bunch of liquid and then cooking the s*** out of them so all the liquid reduces back into the beans to flavor them.

There is no picture because you know what it’s impossible to take a good picture of? Smooshed up refried beans. I even thought of pulling a picture off of some other website but they were all unattractive too. Go ahead. Do a search. You’ll see. Plus I think it’s safe to assume that you all know what beans look like already.

UPDATE: I was wrong! I added a pretty good picture of beans that I took yesterday.

Steve-O’s Beer Beans

Ingredients:

• 2 T lard or vegetable oil
• 1/2 large onion or 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 cans beans (pinto or black, or a combo)
• 1 can or bottle of beer- the yeasty ones are good, or use Mexican beer since you’ll probably be drinking it with your meal anyway
• 1 can chicken broth
• 1 or 2 envelopes of Caldo de Pollo, or some chicken broth concentrate (they have a new product at Whole Foods called “savory choice liquid concentrate chicken stock” that is my favorite. Steve uses the Caldo de Pollo from the Mexican foods aisle. You can use bouillion cubes if you must.)
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• In a large saucepan (preferably nonstick), heat the lard or oil over medium high heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook over medium heat until soft and aromatic.
• Add the beans with their liquid and stir. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring. With a potato masher, smash up about half the beans.
• Add the beer, chicken broth, and Caldo de Pollo to the mixture. It should be pretty liquidy.
• Cook over medium low heat, stirring and scraping the sides, until the liquid has reduced and the beans are the consistency of refried beans.
• Taste and add salt and pepper and/or more Caldo de Pollo if necessary and cook, stirring, until deliciousness ensues.
• Go ahead, try and take an attractive picture. YOU CAN’T.
• These will keep for a couple of days in the fridge and can be made ahead.
• To make this vegetarian/vegan, substitute vegetable broth or mushroom broth for the chicken broth and caldo de pollo.

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If you’ve never had chilaquiles before, it’s a traditional Mexican breakfast dish that consists of fried tortilla chips coated in a green or red sauce, layered with scrambled eggs and chorizo, and baked with cheese on top. While it makes it something of a royal pain in the butt, the key to this recipe’s tastiness lies in frying up the tortilla chips yourself. If you have an avid and patient kitchen helper (even one who lacks culinary skillz), this chip-frying task would be a good time to call on them.

Chilaquiles are also commonly lauded as a hangover cure. To that end, Robert always makes this on the Sunday of our yearly Spring wine-tasting weekend. To protect his precious family recipes, I have made some key changes in this version! Robert: you can sleep easy knowing that while now everyone can enjoy some delicious chilaquiles, they will never be exactly the same as the ones you make.

Robert’s Chilaquiles
serves 8

Ingredients:

• 1 pound fresh corn tortillas
• 2 – 29 oz cans tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 Tblsp chili powder
• 3 cloves crushed garlic
• 3 chicken bouillion cubes
• 1 Tblsp flour, shaken in a jar with 2 Tblsp water
• 1 pound fresh Mexican chorizo
• 12 eggs, beaten well
• 1/2 pound grated cheese (Monterey Jack, mild cheddar, or shredded Mexican blend)
• 1 cup queso fresco, crumbled
• salt and pepper to taste
• vegetable oil for frying

Method:

• Cut tortillas into chip-sized wedges. Heat about 1 inch of oil in a large saute pan. Fry chips in batches until golden on both sides, removing to drain on paper towels.
• Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine tomato sauce, cumin, chili powder, garlic, and bouillion. Heat over medium heat until bubbling. Lower heat and leave to simmer. Stir in flour/water mixture and salt and pepper. Taste and add more seasonings if you wish.
• Continue simmering over low heat for about 30 more minutes, stirring to make sure sauce doesn’t stick to pot.
• Preheat oven to 350.
• Combine half of chips and half of sauce, tossing to coat well. Lay in 9×13 pan. Bake for about 10-15 minutes, until chips have dried out a bit.
• While chips are baking, cook chorizo, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until browned. Add eggs, salt and pepper to taste, and cook until scrambled.
• Spread egg and chorizo mixture over chips. Mix remaining chips with remaining sauce and spread on top of eggs.
• Sprinkle grated cheese on top, then crumble queso fresco over the top.
• Bake for about 20 minutes, until cheese is melted. Serve with refried beans, Spanish rice, avocadoes, and sour cream.

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