Blackbean Chili

1 lb ground turkey

1 can (16 oz) tomato sauce

1 can tomatoes with green chilis

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 T chili powder 

½ t paprika

½ t dried oregano

½ t cayenne

½ t cumin

½ t salt 

½ t ground pepper

Easy, all in the pot recipe. After browning the ground turkey with salt and pepper. Add all ingredients into the slow-cooker and set to High for 3 hours.

I made this to go with the Cast-Iron Cornbread in my previous post. It’s usually the other way around, but when you try the cornbread, you may also find reasons to make it! Enjoy!

Cast-Iron Cornbread

1 ½ c cornmeal

1 c flour

1 ½ T baking powder

½ t salt

½ t baking soda

3 eggs

1 3/4 c soy milk

3/4 c butter, plus one tablespoon

½ c maple syrup

½ c half and half

Preheat oven to 375°F with your “clean” cast iron pan on the middle rack. I use quotation marks because you aren’t really supposed to clean cast iron with soap and water, so however you cleaned it from your last use, wipe out any excess lard or oil before you start these directions. I had actually just cleaned mine and had it on the gas burner to dry. As soon as the water evaporated, I shut off the flame. I wanted to make sure I cut the heat before anything left in the pan started to burn. That will give a bad flavor to whatever you cook next in the cast iron.

I added all of the dry ingredients to a large bowl and moved on to the wet ingredients.

I softened the butter in the microwave on High 15 seconds at a time. That only took me two tries. Normally, using the microwave it NOT recommended. Butter heats quickly and can explode in the microwave. You should prepare ahead leaving the butter out to soften at room temperature, but this does not work for me not only under time constraints but with the cold weather here. You’ll see what I mean in this next step.

I transferred the melted butter into the bowl of my stand mixer and let it whisk. Instead of having to worry about curdling the eggs when I added them, I added the milk next. You could also measure out the milk and let it come to room temperature before adding it to the butter, but not me; I’m trying to get dinner done before everyone gets home. Add the rest of the wet ingredients to the butter and milk including the eggs. Because the milk was colder than the butter, the butter clumped up. This wasn’t a big deal for me because I knew it would melt in the oven. Even in clumps, the butter melted quickly and evenly enough to distribute throughout the mix before it was done. I didn’t pay too much attention to it. If there was a larger clump of butter, it made a nice buttery pocket in the piece of cornbread.

The cast iron pan retained just enough heat to begin browning the butter, so I used the other half of the stick of butter that was not originally part of the recipe that I had put in my butter dish and rubbed it around the pan to cover the bottom and about a half inch up the side. The butter melted immediately and started to brown. About a tablespoon of butter. I put the rest of that half stick of butter back in the butter dish. No waste.

Here’s one unavoidable dish change. As in, I use the same dishes during prep to minimize dirty dishes. For example, I cracked the eggs into the measuring cup after I poured the milk out of it into the mixing bowl, not washing it in between. I figure if I can get the residual milk out of the measuring cup that way, all the better. That may not sit well with some people, but I’m conscious of the timeline. This is all done within two hours, most of the time less.

I added half of the dry ingredients to the wet, and stirred them in. They didn’t generate a flurry of flour in the air, so I scraped down the sides and added the rest of the dry ingredients to the wet stirring just enough so all of the dry ingredients were incorporated. I didn’t want to overwork the batter. Anyway, who has time for that…just kidding! I like my cornbread nice and fluffy.

So I dumped the mix into the pan and baked it for 40 minutes or until edges look medium toasted. They say “golden brown”, but I let it go a little longer. Really, when the house smells amazing, it’s done! And the time is a guide since my pan may be a little larger than the average cast iron pan and so spreads the mix out thinner cooking it quicker.

The center even looks a tiny bit wet, but it would finish cooking even after I removed it from the oven. I needed the cornbread to start cooling so the crust wouldn’t burn, but the inside would take a little longer to cool and actually finish cooking the center. Like a huddle of penguins keeps warm…is that a bad visual?

It cooled for 10 minutes before I cut out a piece to make sure it was done all the way through. What do you think?

Chicken Tamales with Chili Verde

Some people might be offended by this. They’ll say I didn’t do it right, it’s supposed to take all day, I didn’t use the right ingredients, I’m not from Mexico…

In that case, should I change the name? How about masa rolls? Whatever you want to call them, they’re delicious! So whoever started this, thank you!

This may be my third attempt. The first attempt, I found, had tomatillos skins even after a run through with the immersion blender. So I decided to roast them first and peel the skins off. Along with some garlic in the broiler for about 7 minutes, rotating the pan halfway so everything got a fair chance with the flame.

We found some organic masa harina at Sprouts Farmers Market with a no lard recipe on the back.

Here’s what I ended up actually using:

4 c masa harina

2 t sea salt

1 T cumin

1 T chili powder

½ T garlic powder

 ½ T oregano

1 1/3 c light olive oil

2 c water, plus 2 t Better Than Bouillion Chicken Flavor

The first batch I made with organic extra virgin olive oil and could taste the oil in some bites, so this time, used light olive oil. This seemed to come out perfectly; flavorful but not overpowering.

Everything in the mixer. The yellow goo in Better Than Boullion Chicken Flavor which I almost forgot.

For the chili verde:

1 lb of tomatillos (size varies, so please weigh them)

6 cloves of garlic

1 shallot, sliced

14 oz water, plus 2 t Better Than Bouillon

1 can (16 oz) of Great Northern Beans

1 can (4 oz) green chilis (I took two out of a large can of whole ones, but you can use a can of chopped just the same)

1 t cumin

Peeled tomatillos and garlic in the food processor.

Add the rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth.

Or pulse first…

Chicken was 1 lb ( 2 breasts) cooked in the Crock-Pot on High for 3 hours with salt and pepper and the shredded. The first time I tried to make tamales was with a pork loin, same cooking instructions, both with approximately 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. I used the Enchilada Sauce from a previous posting for each and both worked well (chicken with red sauce/enchilada sauce and pork with green sauce/chili verde).

Tamales in the pot to steam. This is a large stock pot with a small stainless steel colander inside. There’s just enough water to touch the bottom of the colander. I checked on it occasionally to add water, but didn’t end up needed to add any. Bring the water to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Allow tamales to steam for 45-90 minutes. Longer is okay as long as you check on them to make sure anything touching the pan is not burning.

The corn husks were soaked in warm water while everything else was prepared. We like fat tamales, so I used a spatula to spread about a quarter inch of the masa mix across the wide half of the smooth side of the corn husk and then roll them up and fold over the empty ends.

There are many videos online on how to make tamales, some using a special rolling technique, some using a strip of the corn husk to tie up the tamales, but I didn’t stress about any of that since none of the information was consistent. I gave it a try to see what would work and what would need special attention, and really, the flavor, shape, texture was all good just like you would find in a restaurant, but personalized. No excess onions, but our favorite green chilis and shallots and chicken breast or pork loin.

Here was the final product sans a couple bites! Couldn’t wait to eat it! With a little spanish rice and beans on the side. I’m addicted.