Swiss meets Mexican

I discovered this recipe for Swiss Enchiladas on the Cooking Light website a few years ago. If you follow the recipe, you’ll probably find it is better for your waistline. It uses Swiss cheese, which adds a unique nuttiness to the dish. My version might not be so healthy.

You will need:

3 onions diced

2 to 3 cups of skinless, boneless chicken breast

2 minced garlic cloves

2 (4.5 ounce) cans of diced green chiles

1 (14.5 ounce) can of petite diced tomatoes or four to five fresh tomatoes de-seeded and with most of the juice squeezed out of them

2 cups of two-percent reduced fat milk

2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

6-10 flour tortillas

5-7 slices of Swiss cheese cut into thin strips

Mexican cheese blend

Start things off by cooking the onions in a greased skillet for five minutes or until tender. Stir in chicken, garlic, chiles and tomatoes. Heck, if you’ve got some other stuff to use up in the kitchen, such as scallions or corn, throw those in too! Be creative. Reduce heat and simmer for seven minutes or until the liquid evaporates. Set aside to cool.

In a sauce pan combine the milk and flour and cook over medium-high heat for five minutes or until mixture thickens, stirring constantly with a whisk. Stir in ¼ teaspoon of salt.

Grease a baking pan that’s large enough to fit all your enchilladas, and get your tortillas, chicken mixture and cheese ready so you’re ready to begin stuffing. Fill each tortilla with about ½ cup of the chicken mixture, add a few slices of swiss (and I used Velveeta I had leftover in the fridge), roll up the enchilada and place in the baking dish. Keep repeating until you’ve filled the pan or you run out of tortillas or mixture, whichever happens first. Then pour the milk and flour mixture over the top. If you want to bake them immediately, cover the pan in cheese (Swiss or Mexican blend) and bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees. I typically put let the tray sit in the fridge for a few hours to make sure the tortillas soften up, then I top it with cheese and bake it. I find by letting the dish sit for a bit, everything kind of gels together in one delicious gooey mess.

Feel free to take the healthier route for this recipe. Either way, you can’t go wrong.

Presto! Pesto!

It’s that time of year where I attempt to make use of the remaining herbs and vegetables in my garden. I’ll dry any herbs that are left and fry up any green tomatoes. For the basil, it’s time to shine! Pesto is an easy way to use up a lot of basil, and it freezes well, so you’ll be able to enjoy that “fresh from the garden” flavor even when the world is covered in a layer of snow.

You’ll need a food processor for this recipe. And be warned, pine nuts are not cheap. You’re best bet is to find a place that sells them in bulk. This will yield one cup of pesto. You will need:

2 cups of packed fresh basil leaves

2 cloves of garlic

¼ cup of pine nuts

2/3 a cup of extra-virgin olive oil, divided in two

Salt and pepper to taste

½ cup of freshly grated Pecorino cheese

Combine the basil, garlic and pine nuts in a food processor and pulse it until coarsely chopped. I only have a small food processor, so I found the best way to do this was to grind up one cup of basil at a time, along with the garlic, and then I added the pine nuts after that. Add ½ cup of oil to the processor until the mixture is smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

If you’re using immediately, add the remaining oil and pulse until smooth. Transfer the pesto into a large serving bowl and mix in the cheese.

If you’re freezing the pesto, transfer it into an air-tight container and drizzle the remaining oil over the top. (This will preserve the pesto). Freeze for up to three months. When you are ready to use it, thaw it and stir in the cheese. You’ll find many uses for pesto besides pasta. See All Things Quesadilla, use it to make pesto may for sandwiches, or spread pesto over a baguette, add some cheese, and toast it in the oven for an easy and delicious appetizer.

Freaky about fennel

Do you ever have one of those “Aha!” moments when it comes to herbs and spices? A few years ago, it was Chinese Five Spice. I was flabbergasted that I had never discovered this amazing combination of star anise, cloves, Sichuan pepper, cinnamon and, fennel seeds. And that segways nicely into this blog about fennel seed. I became familiar with this spice when a co-worker suggested I add it to my potato salad or coleslaw recipe.

On a recent Sunday, I discovered a new use for fennel seed....this delicious Italian-style Slow-Roasted Pork Roast. I got this recipe out of the Wegman’s Menu magazine. This is not a weeknight kind of a meal as it takes eight to ten hours to roast. With fall right around the corner, I recommend you prep this roast the night before, let it sit in the fridge and soak up some of the flavors overnight and pop it in the oven in the morning on a Saturday or Sunday when you plan to be around the house for a while.

You’ll need:

3 small onions, peeled, halved and sliced

2 navel oranges, unpeeled, sliced (I used blood oranges)

A seven to 10 pound pork shoulder

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbsp of fennel (I used more because I’m a freak about fennel)

Salt and pepper

The day before, combine the onions and orange slices in the roasting pan. Diaganolly score the fat-side of the pork about ¾ of an inch in a diamond pattern. Rub the garlic and fennel seeds on top of the pork and season well with salt and pepper. Place the pork on top, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

On the day of the meal, preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Remove plastic wrap and bake uncovered for seven to eight hours.

Remove from the oven and place the roast on a clean platter to rest. You can use the juices to make gravy or use as au jus. It is delicious, aromatic, and actually pretty easy. It goes well with mashed potatoes.

Your pantry's worst enemy

Please forgive me if this topic turns your appetite. I haven’t been cooking much this week so I figured I’d write about something that’s been plaguing my food supply for over a year now. The little brown pantry moths, also known as Indian Meal Moths, have become the bane of my kitchen. It seems every time I use pasta or rice, I am confronted with them. These invasive pests are more active in the summer. They will eat anything from dried fruit to nuts, grains, rice, cereal, oats, powdered milk, chocolate, candy, seeds, pet food, crackers, pasta, and leave behind their silky webs in the process. In addition to the webs, the larvae will burrow tiny holes in packaging.

In my research, I came across Tiffany Muehlbauer’s blog No Ordinary Homestead. According to Muehlbauer, the brownish moths will lay somewhere between 60 and 300 eggs which will hatch two to 14 days later. The mommy moth will usually lay these close to a food source so that once they hatch they don’t have very far to travel before they start to feast. The larvae/worms look a bit like small caterpillars are a whitish-yellowish color with little black heads and about 2/3-inch long. They will burrow into anything and everything they can find, continuing to eat for two to 41 weeks, depending on the temperatures. And once they are full, they will find crawl off somewhere looking for a cozy place to nest and spin a cocoon, which they will emerge from as a moth, starting the process all over again. This process is why it is so hard to get rid of the pests…while you think you’ve won the war, the moths are resting up waiting for their next attack.

The larvae can come from foods you buy in the stores so it’s important that you inspect every package you buy for signs of tiny little holes. Natural food stores with large supplies of grains and rices might be hosts of the moths as well. Be extra vigilant of the tell-tale signs when purchasing grains, flour, seeds, pasta, spices, dry pet food and birdseed. If the food you’re purchasing comes in a package that has flaps or is a bag inside a box (like cereal), you likely won’t see any evidence of them until you get the box home, according to Muehlbauer.

I’ve been battling these things for an entire year now with mixed results. I’ve cleaned out and thrown out any food with signs of the larvae or webs in them twice now. I’ve purchased Pantry Moth traps about four times. According to Muehlbauer, if you’ve had an infestation, it’s important to take everything out of your cabinets and vacuum up every trace of food, and even pull out appliances from the wall and clean behind them with soap and water. If you find traces of cocoons or worms in your food, get them as far from your house as quickly as you can.

Other recommendations include purchasing smaller quantities of foods that are susceptible to pantry moths, or make sure the items are stored in the fridge, freezer or airtight containers (though even some of those don’t work). If you continue to find moths, according to Muehlbauer, you need to go through your food stores and clean everything again. There are likely some moths or larvae holed up in a collection of plastic bags, a box of brownie mix or an airtight container you think they’d never get into.

Each time I go to war with these pests, I think it’s my last. But apparently, these things tends to overwinter, so if you are hopeful that come spring you’ll be rid of these pests, think again. For more information on pantry moths and how to salvage food that you think has been invaded by pantry moths, visit Muehlbauer’s blog on the topic.

Atomic Eggplant cravings

Many vegetarians and foodies in Rochester will probably perk up at the mention of the former Atomic Eggplant, now the Owl House, on Marshall Street. Recently I attempted to recreate one of my favorite dishes from the old Eggplant. I can’t remember if it was an appetizer or main course on the menu, or even just an occasional special, but the sweet potato and black bean quesadillas were delectable. I wish I could remember the exact combination of ingredients. Perhaps next time I will add some seasoning to the sweet potatoes. As I write, I’m realizing the Eggplant may have put curry powder in their version of these quesadillas. I welcome suggestions on how to tweak this recipe from anyone who recalls this mouth-watering combination, or anyone who’s tried something similar.

The recipe is pretty basic, though the potatoes and onions take a little while to bake, so start this when you are going to be around the house for a little while. You can also caramelize onions on the stove, but using the oven is less work in my opinion. This version of the recipe will make about eight quesadillas so cut it in half if you are cooking for just a few people.

You’ll need two onions, a few tablespoons of butter, three sweet potatoes, canned black beans, multi-grain quesadilla shells, and a crumbly Mexican cheese such as Queso Fresco (ask the people in the cheese section for help finding it.) For the topping you can use cream cheese, cilantro and/or salsa.

Clean about three large sweet potatoes. Pierce the potatoes with a knife and wrap them in tin foil. Be sure to put a baking sheet underneath the potatoes so they don’t leak sugar all over our oven. Trust me. I know from experience, and it creates a big mess and a lot of smoke. Next, caramelize the onions. This is done by slicing a few onions thinly lengthwise, placing them in a baking dish with a few squares of butter and some salt and pepper, covering them with aluminum foil and baking them at about 400 degrees.

The onions will be done after about 40 minutes…stir them halfway through and take them out when they start to look the color of caramel. The potatoes could take about an hour depending on the size. You want them mashable, but not over-baked…remember you’ll be baking the potatoes again inside the quesadilla shell.

Drain and rinse the black beans. Once the potatoes and onions cool, you can begin assembling your quesadilla. Preheat your oven again to 350 degrees.

Spray one side of the shell with some cooking spray and lay it down on a baking sheet. Mash sweet potato on half the shell. Then add some onions, black beans and cheese, and fold the top of the shell over to close the quesadilla. Continue until you run out of ingredients.

Bake the quesadillas for about 10 minutes, or until golden. Flip them and brown the other side. Once they’ve cooled and enjoy!