Churracos Fresa con Creme Anglaise

I created this dish when a fellow food blogger (www.mikes-table.themulligans.org) started chattering about strawberry season.  Curious to see what others were doing, he asked for what the rest of us would do with strawberries once the seduction took a stranglehold on our gastronomical desires.  Many of you may not know, but I have a strange affinity for tortillas.  Corn….Flour…Taco…Burrito…And stuffing what is sometimes a really odd combination of ingredients in them when I’m hungry.  To me, they are the perfect and convenient vessel for transporting just about anything in the fridge to my mouth.  Sometimes something as simple as some cheese and ham, all the way to the bazaar, such as the infamous spaghetti burrito.  Which brings to me to my latest creation at Mike’s request.  WWPD with strawberries?  Knowing this, what do you think?  Here is my latest creation.  Churracos Fresa con Creme Anglaise.  That’s right.  Strawberry tacos with vanilla scented creme anglaise.  Churracos is a play on words of Churros and Tacos, since the taco shells are made from churro batter.  So here it goes.

The Churracos

1/2 cup whole milk
1/8 cup (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 large eggs
mix of 1/4 cup sugar, 1/8 cup cinnamon for dusting the churracos
oil for frying

Place the first 4 ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.

Add the flour and remove from heat and stir with a wooden spoon until a shiny dough forms.

Place in the bowl of your mixer with the paddle attachment and let cool.

Once cool, turn mixer on low, and add the eggs one at a time, continue mixing until well incorporated.  Place the bowl in the fridge to chill the batter, this will make it easier to work with.

The Creme Anglaise

1 cup of milk
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup of sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Cream the eggs and sugar together until they are a pale yellow.

While this is happening, heat the milk to boiling.

Once the milk is boiling, add it very slowly, first by droplets, to the eggs with the mixer running.  this will temper the eggs and slowly bring their tempurature up without scrambling them.

Once the milk has been added, move the bowl to a double boiler and add the vanilla, stir constantly, this will slowly cook the sauce without scrambling the eggs.  Once it thickens, remove from heat and continue stirring to cool the sauce.

The Strawberries

Handful of ripe stawberries
Couple Dashes of high quality balsamic vinegar
Pinch of sugar

Take a handful of strawberries.

Remove the tops and slice them and toss them with the balsamic vinegar and sugar

Time to make the Churracos

Get the oil to about 350 deg.  Remove the churro batter from the fridge.  Get your hands wet and take about a golf ball sized lump of batter and flatten between your palms and slip it into the oil.

Flip

Once the other side starts to just brown, using tongs, carefully fold in half and hold to create the taco shape.  Once the one side is done, flip over and do the other.

Remove to a paper towel and immediately dust with the cinnamon sugar.  Repeat the process for more Churracos.

Assembly….Put strawberries in churraco shell, and drizzle the creme anglaise overtop.  Enjoy!  I know I did.

Chicken Scaloppini with Rice

2 Skinless chicken breasts
1 cup flour
1 cup simple tomato sauce
6 cloves of garlic
6-8 Crimini Mushrooms Sliced
Handful of chopped parsely
Juice of one lemon
2 tbsp crushed red pepper
crushed red pepper
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 bottle white wine
1 cup white rice
salt
pepper
olive oil

Get the rice started first.  Get a little olive started in the pan and then start toasting the rice with salt and pepper.

The rice will become opaque.

Add the chicken stock plus one bay leaf.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to low/simmer and put a lid on it.  The rice should be done in about 15-20 minutes.

Next, start pounding the chicken flat to about a 1/4 of an inch thick.  Do this by placing the chicken on a sheet of plastic wrap, and then another sheet on top.

Crush 2 cloves of garlic and rub on the chickens.  Then salt, pepper, and a spinkle of crushed red pepper.

In a saute pan large enough for both chicken breasts at the same time, on high heat, get 1/4 cup of olive oil almost to smoke point, then dredge the chicken through the flour, and place in pan.  About 2 minutes per side.  Remove from pan.

Add the sliced mushrooms, and some salt and pepper, saute for 1 minute, add the remaining garlic.  saute another 2 minutes.

Add the tomato sauce

Add the wine and let simmer to reduce by 1/2.

Add the chicken back to the sauce, plus the capers. Simmer for about 2 minutes or so.

Right before you plate, add the chopped parsely and the lemon juice.

Plate your dinner

Grilled Lamb in Pita with Tzatziki sauce and a Fresh Salad

This is a delicious recipe that can be served in a pita like a gyro or as is.

If you don’t like lamb, then, you haven’t had good lamb.

Marinade for the Lamb

1-2 lbs deboned leg of lamb

Juice or 2 fresh oranges
Zest of 2 fresh oranges
10 green greek pitted olives diced
2 tblsp crushed red pepper
8 cloves garlic crushed
2 tblsp carray seeds
1 handful chopped parsely
1 yellow onion grated
4 tblsp honey
1/2 cup olive oil
sal
pepper

add everything to a bowl and stir to combine

then add the lamb

marinade for 4 hours up to overnite

make the tzatziki (cucumber sauce)

1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 grated cucumber
2 cloves garlic
2 tblsp olive oil
juice from half a lemon
salt
pepper

mix, and set in fridge

fresh salad

3 whole tomatoes wedged
1/2 cucumber sliced
1 red onion wedged
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt
pepper

Add everything to a bowl, and toss with several dashes of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Finish with salt and pepper to taste.

Grill the lamb over charcoal basting with the marinade

Then grill your pita

Slice the lamb and place in the pita with some tzatziki, sliced tomatoes, red onions, and a side of the salad.

Sit back, and enjoy.

Baked Penne with Italian Sausage, Charred Tomatoes, and Balsamic Roasted Onions

This is a nice easy rustic dish with simple ingredients.

Ingredients

1 lb penne pasta cooked and cooled 

2 yellow onions wedged
1 lb whole milk mozzarella cubed
1 head garlic sliced
several sprigs of rosemary picked
6 roma tomatoes halved
2 lbs spicy italian sausage cooked, cooled, and sliced
2 tbsp crushed red pepper
approx 1 cup of good red wine (that you would actually drink)  i had chianti on hand
salt
pepper
olive oil
1/2 cup chicken stock
balsamic vinegar

Before you do anything, prehest your oven to 400 deg.  Then start by charring your tomatoes in a dry pan.  I used my cast iron (thanks mom!) to do this.

 You want them to look like this-

Take the onions and add several dashes of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

Add them to the same hot pan that the tomatoes were charred in and then raost them in the oven for about 10-15 minutes.

Remove them from the oven and then in the same pan add a good knob of butter.

and then add your sliced garlic and crushed red pepper and sauted for a couple minutes using the residual heat of the pan, if you are not using cast iron, then just saute over medium heat.

Chop the tomatoes and add everything into a bowl and mix.

Add everything to a baking dish and top with asiago cheese and several good threads of olive oil.

Bake at 400 deg for approx 1 hour, or until the top starts to brown a little.

Spoon onto  a plate and top with some freshly grated asiago cheese, picked parsely, and toasted pine nuts.

ANCHO PORK LOIN STUFFED WITH TEQUILA SCENTED SAUSAGE AND PINENUTS, SERVED ON A BED OF VEGETABLE HERBED COUS COUS, AND TOPPED WITH A GARLIC PORTER REDUCTION

This is for the homemade sausage. if you don’t want to make it, then buy the sausage, and mix it with the tequila.

The sausage
1 lb of pork butt cubed
2 tblsp smoked paprika
2 tblsp crushed red pepper
6 cloves crushed garlic
4 tblsp thyme
4 tblsp cracked black pepper
2 tblsp fennel seed
1/2 cup anejo tequila

Toss all ingredients together except the tequila

Put through the small die of the grinder.  Then with the paddle attachment, mix everything on medium for 2 minutes.  Then add the tequila, and mix for another 2 minutes.  Done.  Cook a small portion and tast for seasoning.  Saute in a pan with some olive oil and remove when done.

Then in the same pan, saute the shallots and the mushrooms

Toast the pine nuts in a pan and reserve.

Take the pork loin

And slice it like a pinwheel at about 1/4 to 1/2 in thick starting from the fat cap, and working your way around in a spiral fashion so that it lays out flat like this.

Mix the cooled sausage, toasted pine nuts, spinach and asiago cheese,

and spread on the rolled out pork loin. 

Roll up the loin and tie it off with butcher’s twine.

Season with salt, pepper, and ancho chile powder, and sear in a pan and then into a 400 degree oven 1.5 hours or so.

On to the cous cous
1/2 cup cous cous
3 plum (roma) tomatoes chopped
8 chopped crimini mushrooms
1/2 yellow onion chopped
1 cup dry white wine
1 tblsp crushed red pepper
4 cloves garlic crushed
salt
pepper
olive oil
butter
chicken stock
parsely

Add everything to a saute pan except for the cous cous, wine tomatoes, and cheese.

Bring to a boil and reduce for 5 minutes, add cous cous, cover and remove from heat.  Right before service, add tomatoes, cheese, and parsely.

Not pictured is the garlic porter reduction sauce.  Mainly because it’s easy enough with out pictures. 

Take 1 bottle of you favorite porter…I happened to have decheutes brewery black butte porter on hand (my love for the PNW!) and put in a sauce pan with 5 bruised cloves of garlic, pinch of salt and several good turns of cracked black pepper, and reduce over high heat by half.  Remove and finish off with a good knob of butter and wisk in off the heat.

Pour over the sliced pork loin and cous cous