Colorado

Colorado Two-Potato Stew with Roasted Chiles and Cheese

/ More Time at the Table / 3 Comments

IMG_7865

In late summer in Colorado and New Mexico, there are chile roasters on busy street corners and if you haven’t the time or inclination to buy and roast your own chiles, this is the place you stop for our homegrown goodness. The aromas wafting around the intersections will call you even if you haven’t seen a roaster in years. Can’t eat them all right away–just warmed and layered with cheese, eaten with tortillas or tortilla chips?  Then it’s time to gently tuck the chiles into small or large containers and freeze them for winter cooking.

Come cold weather, I like to pile up a big slow cooker full of sliced fresh salted and peppered pork loin, chopped onions and garlic, sliced or canned tomatoes, and the thawed or still frozen roasted chiles.  At the end of  a snowy day, we hit a fresh tortilla place on the way home and walk into the house full of blasting hot southwest aromas hitting us in the face. Tortillas go in the oven and a big bowl of pork and chiles is ladled out for each person.  Time to sit down to summer complete with a cold beer.  Meanwhile, we watch the wind whip down out of the mountains, screaming cold, cold, cold. Yes, it’s rather heavenly-sounding, isn’t it? Continue reading →

Gone Fishin’ — In the Meanwhile Enjoy my Favorite Peach Post:

/ More Time at the Table / 5 Comments

Peaches, cream, and more 

If its August.  If it’s Colorado.  I’m eating peaches.  Any day. Every day.  For at least two weeks.  By themselves.  On Greek Yogurt with Colorado honey and slivered toasted almonds.  Or granola.   On top of vanilla frozen yogurt.  In a salsa on pork chops.  Etcetera.

Here are a few of the yummy things I’ve done.  Of course the best?  Above.  Fuzzy naked.


Grilled peaches:

Preheat clean grill to medium-high heat.  Cut peaches in half and remove pits.  Brush each half with a little bit of canola oil and place cut-side down on grill.  Let cook about 3 or 4 minutes and turn over when grill marks are well-established, but not blackened.  Cook another 2 or 3 minutes until tops of cut-side are somewhat visibly drying.  Remove and cool briefly.  Enjoy as is or try another good idea…

Grilled Peaches with Goat’s Cheese, Honey and Thyme
God had to have been in on this creation.  Of course.  Here’s how:
Grill peaches as above.  Top each with 1-2 T plain goat’s cheese (softened a bit).  Drizzle with your favorite honey and sprinkle with a few leaves of fresh thyme.   (recipe copyright Alyce Morgan, 2010)
Grilled Peach Salsa
Lovely on BBQ Pork Chops (Really),
Salmon
Shrimp Tacos
Grilled Fish
Tortilla Chips?  Of course.  Here’s how:

2-6 t very finely minced jalapeno (to your taste–start with 2t and more if you’d like)
1/3 c finely minced onion
2 large peaches (Colorado preferred), cut in half and grilled*, peeled after grilling, and chopped into 1/2″  pieces
1 ripe avocado, peeled and diced
1/2 ea medium red sweet pepper and green sweet pepper, diced
1/2 c chopped fresh cilantro
Juice of 1/2 a lime
Dash of kosher salt and a couple of grates of fresh ground pepper

In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients gently but thoroughly. Taste and correct seasoning if necessary. (Add more jalapeno, etc) Serve on with grilled pork chops, shrimp or salmon or on seafood or fish tacos. (recipe copyright Alyce Morgan 2010)


Wine? If you make the bbq pork chops or salmon, try a little inexpensive Beaujolais. Other reds or bigger wines will overwhelm this meal, though a nice Lodi (California) Zinfandel would drink!  It’s summer and something lighter and refreshing will turn on these peaches. If you make the shrimp or fish tacos, a cold Spanish Albarino (lovely white) or even an Oregon Pinot Gris could do the trick.

(If you’d like to make the green bean salad, here’s the blogpost for it, though I dressed it differently here.  Rather than a mustard vinaigrette, I mixed a bit of top-quality light Ranch with some roasted salsa for a dressing.)

Lovely frozen yogurt from David Levovitz’ book THE PERFECT SCOOP. (Click for the recipe.)  Just slice those lovely lady peaches and slither them on top of this silky iced lushness.

Or try  PEACH AMARETTO BREAD PUDDING  if nothing else sounds good:

Peach-Amaretto Bread Pudding  serves 4-6
 
Ingredients:

  • 2 large hard rolls, cut into ½” slices and buttered
  • 2 large peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced into 1/3” pieces
  • 3 extra large eggs
  • 1 ½ -1 ¾ cups milk
  • 1/8 c Amaretto liqueur
  • 1 t cinnamon (Vietnamese is good)

Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter 2 qt round casserole and set aside.
  2. In medium bowl, beat eggs and add remaining ingredients. Beat well.
  3. Layer bread and peaches in casserole dish and pour egg mixture over all, stirring just a bit to make sure all ingredients are wet. If some bread/peaches are sticking out on top, it’s fine.
  4. Bake 60-70 min. until edges are crispy, but bread is still tender. Let sit at least 15 minutes before serving. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Can also be served at room temperature or cold.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While you do all that, I’m on the road again with a fishing pole in the trunk….

We’ll be back next week…all of us.

In the meantime, keep cooking…

and grinning.

Sing a new song, Alyce

Timpano II and Other Journeys There and Back Home

/ More Time at the Table / Leave a comment

I have some really good friends in Colorado. That puts it lightly.  We never need a reason to get together, but…

Last year, we had a party we called “The Big Night” after the movie “The Big Night”  starring Stanley Tucci, Tony Shaloub, Isabella Rosselini, Marc Anthony, Minnie Driver, et al.  In this cult film-lover’s movie, two Italian brothers try to save their New World restaurant (and their lives) by throwing a huge party to which Louis Prima is supposedly invited.  I won’t spoil the story, but while Prima is the no-show star, a dish called “Timpano” (Italian for timpani) does make an appearance and steals the dinner scene. (See my post on our first Big Night, October 29, 2010.)

The Timpano (Italian for timpani) is a monumentally-large dish that feeds 20+.  Baked in a washtub, it features a sort of pizza crust filled with a multitude of layers that can include pasta, sauce, meatballs, Italian Sausage, Proscuitto, salami, Pecorino Romano, boiled eggs, beaten raw eggs, and so on.  Allowed to cool for nearly an hour after a long bake, the drum is then turned over and carved carefully, served with a great salad and lots of Chianti.

Doing this thing ourselves–having a party and making the timpano “just like in the movie”– was next-door neighbor Sara’s idea, I think, but it took a long time to make it happen.  For a while, we searched stores and Good Wills for a big, huge washtub pan…I promised to order one and didn’t.  We found dates and canceled them.  Went on vacations and forgot about the whole deal.  In fact, there were a lot of places our own first Big Night almost didn’t happen.  Except Sara kept envisioning it and never let us give up the dream.  She gave up on me briefly, however, and ordered the pan herself.  She planned the night in 2010, and while I did finally search out the recipe, Sara was the mastermind behind the entire enterprise. (Here’s the website with the newest crust.) In the end, we made it together, we did, Mary Pat, Sara and I.  Invited the ‘hood and various friends and ate most of the night, watching the movie for the rest.  We then talked about it the rest of the year.  And…

The night was so wonderful that we made a pact to do it again and set the date for October 29, 2011.  Despite moving to St. Paul, we made it back to Colorado Springs just in time for what turned out to be an even better and improved (delicious, in fact) timpano.  Here’s a photo album from


THE BIG NIGHT 2011

First things first.  Wash the wine glasses, said Chef Sara.

Megan:  Timpano Dog Extraordinaire

 

Chopping, chopping–Mary Pat
This new dough chilled for only an hour before rolling out.

Sara’s Sauce–Yum.

Dough-We took turns rolling this mother.

 

In pan with only a few places to patch.

 

First: Sauced Pasta topped with salami and eggs.

Thatsa meatball!  (And pepperoni)

Layer, layer, sauce.  More sauce is MP’s idea this year and it’s tastier.
Get it all in there.  Waste not.

A bit of crust piecing that worked.  Years of pie baking paying off.
In the oven.  Time for a glass of wine.

TA-DA!

Just out of the oven and resting for 30 minutes.

  

Turned over, pan removed and another 20 minutes rest.

A slice for you.

Inside the Timpano

Another slice for your friend

Waiting for its closeup

Sharing it all:

How shall we carve this?
We follow Dave’s plan and it’s a good thing.  As Alyce has always known.

 

Slideshow of last year’s Big Night

Ipad has more pics

Let’s get started.

 Two-Dog Kitchen (Three this week) or Around the ‘Hood


More on the week’s travels:

 

Back in Princeton and loving it.  Got a great version of Ps 147 for worship.

Dave and Emi up ahead

Looking back at the well-worn steps on the way towards chapel.

Talking with her hands–our Emi

On to Colorado….  Gotta Love It

Grandpa and Rhyan out for pizza again in Colorado!

Back home:  work on our kitchen while we’re away.

Back in St. Paul puppy sitting.

 

Newman..It’s a 3-Dog Kitchen, but in a borrowed house!

Writing recipes on ipad now. A new world.

Read the DinnerPlace post on Chicken-Pumpkin Chili?  Yummy and easy for fall.

Listening to Cantus, “There is a Meeting Here Tonight”  Want to feel good? Watch and listen.

Reading THE PASTOR by Eugene Peterson.  A great read.  Also listening to the choir’s cantata on nearly a loop.  Come hear our performance of “Canticle of Joy” by Joseph and Patricia Martin, on Sunday, December 11 at 9:30 am during worship.  Love to have you.

Do it all with joy and sing a new song,
Alyce