Easy Chicken Enchiladas with Instant Pot Bacon Pintos, Abuelita’s Rice, and Avocado Salad

/ More Time at the Table / 8 Comments

When it comes to Cinco de Mayo cooking, I’ve got these things going for me:

  1. I lived in way southern Texas (San Antonio) for four years. Hot is my only comment.
  2. Southern Colorado has been our home for most of twenty-two years.
  3. I’ve studied cooking more than a few times at the Santa Fe School of Cooking.
  4. My late dear friend and brother-in-law, Alfred Barrionuevo, was from Mexico and began his professional career as a chef. If you were in the kitchen with him, he was the teacher, and he had extraordinary passion for his cooking. Not only that, his much-loved mother–fondly called “Abelita”–passed on her simplest and best “Mexican” rice recipe to my sister, who then gave it me –nothing written down, you know. My version is in this post.

Continue reading →

INSTANT POT: Cream of Pea Soup with Mint, Scallions, and Sharp Cheddar

/ More Time at the Table / 4 Comments

                   Stove top version included in the printable recipe below.

A few years ago, next-door neighbor Mike brought over a big dish of peas with pearl onions and fresh mint for the Easter potluck (he did that again this year as peas and mint–mushy or not– are a standout comfort spring bonus with lamb) and Easter Monday I discovered he’d left a big bagful in my fridge. It seemed time for some sort of pea soup and you’ll find that post here.  I loved that soup to death, but had sort of forgotten about it in the interim. It wasn’t split pea, though it might have been its third cousin twice removed.  Not dark and smokey with bacon, nor a homey thick, tummy full soup you’d want in the thick of winter, this was pea soup gone light and bright–and it was a gorgeous hue. (What are mushy peas?)

Continue reading →

Italian-Style Braised Leg of Lamb

/ More Time at the Table / 5 Comments

above: braised, cooled, chilled overnight, sliced and covered in its sauce right before warming in oven for serving the second day

Lamb, the meat of any-time-of-the-year special occasions, happy summer grilling, and winter warming stews, is the quintessential meat despite the infamous quote from, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,”

Aunt Voula: What do you mean he don’t eat no meat?

[the entire room stops, in shock]

Aunt Voula: Oh, that’s okay. I make lamb.

Continue reading →

Friday Fish: Instant Pot Salmon and Asparagus Risotto with Lemon

/ More Time at the Table / 3 Comments

fullsizeoutput_3be5

Working on the recipes for an Italian-Style Easter Dinner Class, I knew I wanted to include an INSTANT POT (IP) something for fun, interest, change of pace, and because so many people ask me about IP.  After testing any number of recipes for an upcoming cookbook (not mine), working on translating a few of my own soup recipes to IP, and reading a couple of IP cookbooks, I decided– given the Italian theme and the stellar risotto coming out of the IP– that the recipe had to be risotto. And since it was spring, that meant asparagus. Of course it’s Lent, so fish needed to make an appearance for Friday. It needed a bit of thinking…

Continue reading →

Easy Chicken-Black Bean Soup: Dinner Done!

/ More Time at the Table / 5 Comments

I don’t make Chicken-Tortilla Soup; I don’t know why. People like it; my husband likes it. Well, I think I did once make it now that I’m thinking of it.  A favorite gloppy, flaccid and nondescript overly-seasoned offering in many inexpensive restaurants, I’ve never gotten my mind around it because you can’t tart up a poorly-made cheap soup with freshly made tortilla chips and a half-cup of Cheddar for gods’ sake. I know, I’m just being snarky and nit-picky. Squinting my eyes, pulling my mouth to one side, and making a nasty guttural noise here. So when I hit the pantry looking for something to round out a little “leftover” (an unfortunate adjective if there ever was one) rotisserie chicken for dinner, I made the soup you see above and immediately thought of it as:

Easy Chicken-Black Bean Soup.

Continue reading →

Friday Fish: Crab Chili

/ More Time at the Table / 8 Comments

Looking for St. Patrick’s Day Ideas? Just plug “St. Patrick’s Day” into the search window and find my favorites including Irish Soda Bread with Potato Soup, Salmon on Colcannon, Colcannon Soup, Traditional Kerry Apple Cake, and more.

““““““““““““““““““““““““““““““

 Chili has to be among the most favorite and iconic American meals. Yet when I check that out, I find regular old, B-flat chili — the kind many of our mothers made and we still make year-round — doesn’t come up on the list. Green chile is there and so are flat enchiladas and fajitas.  But I truly don’t know anyone, from nearly non-cooks to chefs–who doesn’t have some sort of a pot of chili in their regular repertoire. There are simply now many, many sorts of chili because it soothes the soul and makes us feel rich, full, and as if there’s just plenty eat around here. A good way to feel.

Continue reading →

Friday Fish: Basil Sole on Greens with Parmesan Tomato Salad

/ More Time at the Table / 3 Comments

As easy as it looks. Slice the tomatoes and peel the Parmesan. Then, in one pan: sauté shallots, greens, garlic, and carrot. Add wine and fish. Season. Cover and cook 3-4 minutes. 279 calorie dinner coming right up!

Truth in blogging. I somehow made this last spring, photographed it, and never blogged it–perhaps saving it for this year’s Friday Fish?  Never-the-less, I had no recipe in the files and nothing doing but I would have to make it again guessing how I’d done it and hoping it all came out right. It did look fairly simple, hmmm ….So while I do that, let’s talk a little about fish. And you.

Continue reading →