Cinco de Mayo - Chile Relleno Casserole & Carnitas

More recipes from my Cinco De Mayo Party over the weekend. =)

It would be cool if I was one of those really together bloggers... who have all of their holiday recipes ready to roll out the week before a holiday... but usually mine all go out the week after the holiday. This time I'm lucky enough to be cranking a couple out just by the holiday!

On Friday Heather over at girlichef posted a yummy recipe for Chile Rellenos. I had been thinking about them before that... and her post pushed me over the edge of HAVING to have them! Coincidentally... she has a giveaway going on to win a TexMex cookbook, Food and Flavors of San Antonio by Gloria Chadwick.

Click HERE to check it out and enter!

Anyway... I mentioned wanting to make Chile Rellenos, but not wanted to fry stuff during the party. So Shane from Culinary Alchemy suggested Chile Rellenos Casserole.

This is based on his recipe and bunch that I browsed online.



Chile Rellenos Casserole
1.25 pounds lean ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minces
1 TBLS epazote
salt & pepper
7 or 8 fire roasted poblano peppers, seeded and cut in half
3/4 lb shredded queso blanco
8oz tomato sauce
onion powder
garlic powder
oregano
salt & pepper

Topping:
1 1/2 C milk
1/4 C flour
1/4 C cornmeal
Salt & pepper
4 beaten eggs
Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce

Preheat oven to 350F
Brown ground beef, onions and garlic.
Drain off excess fat
Season with salt, pepper and epazote.
Combine tomato sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano and salt & pepper and pour into the bottom of a baking dish. (I think I used a deep 13x9 foil pan)
Place half the chilies on top of the tomato sauce.
Spread beef mixture over chilies.
Sprinkle shredded queso blanco over meat.
Arrange remaining chilies over the cheese.
In a bowl, combine the milk, flour, cornmeal, salt, pepper, eggs, and several dashes of Chipotle Tabasco sauce.
Beat until smooth.
Pour over the chilies.
Bake 45 to 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.
Let cool for 5 -10 minutes before serving, so the cheese has a chance to set back up.

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You can check HERE or HERE for directions to fire roast the poblanos.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Saute onion and garlic with ground beef, epazote and salt & pepper.


Combine tomato sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, and salt & pepper and pour a thin layer to coat the bottom of the baking dish.

Place a layer of poblanos over the top of the tomato sauce.


Cover the poblanos with the ground beef... then the cheese... then the remaining poblanos.


Whisk together topping ingredients and pour them over the top of the chilies.


I really could have used one more poblano... so I filled in the blanks with diced canned green chilies.

Bake at 350F for 45 to 50 minutes, until eggs are set.

Remove from oven and let stand for 5 - 10 minutes before cutting.


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And... since it's Cinco de Mayo... here is my Carnitas recipe too!



Is there anything better than shredded pork?

I started by putting a pork roast (Boston butt) in the crock pot overnight.




Add some onion & garlic


A chipotle pepper or two


Some epazote & cumin and salt & pepper


Put the cover on, turn the crock pot to low and go to bed!


In the morning... you should have something like this.


Scoop out the pork and shred it with forks.


Then spread it on a cookie sheet and bake at 350F until it's as caramelized and crispy on the edges as you like.


Now it's ready for tacos, burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas or just as is!


Enjoy!


Need more Cinco de Mayo recipes?

Check out these blogs...

At My Tasty Treasures ~ Donna's Grilled Chicken Fajitas

At Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice ~ Reeni's Chicken Tortilla Soup

At girlichef ~ Heather has a ton of Mexican Recipes

At My Italian Grandmother ~ Michele's Chicken Enchiladas with Salsa Verde

At Good Things Catered ~ Katie's Mango Salsa

At Closet Cooking ~ Kevin has a TON of TexMex Recipes

And don't forget the Margarita Jello Shots!!!

Happy Cinco de Mayo and Happy Birthday Judy!!

Mum's Chived Macaroni & Cheese

Over the summer, my mom invited my sister and I to a morbid little dinner. She wanted to go over her 'final' arrangements. She's not old or sick, she's just a planner. She also wanted to let us know her plans for her estate and make sure we were both cool with it. She doesn't want any fighting after she's gone. Family peace is worth more to me than fighting over 'stuff', so I was cool with everything. She asked if there was anything I wanted. I'm not really sentimental about stuff... but there was one thing. I really really wanted the fish dish. It was the casserole dish she always made her Chived Macaroni and Cheese in, when I was a kid. She said, "That? You can just take it home with you!" Well... I guess I haven't made Chived Mac & Cheese since July, because last night was the first time I broke out the dish.

Here it is!




It's not much... but it's what the mac & cheese is made in! Hey... maybe I am a little sentimental... who knew??

Mum's Chived Macaroni & Cheese (printable recipe)
1 16oz package of pasta (elbows or whatever shape you like around that size)
1/2 C butter
1/4 C flour
2 C milk
1 C sour cream
salt & pepper
2C shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 TBLS snipped chives
2 TBLS dry mustard
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 375°F.
Cook and drain pasta according to directions on package.
In a sauce pan, combine remaining ingredients, stir frequently until slightly thickened and bubbly and all cheese is melted.
Pour pasta & sauce into casserole dish and toss to coat.
Bake at 375 for 25 - 30 minutes.

Options:
Add 1 or 2 cups of chopped ham or sausage for a heartier dish.
Add 1 or 2 cups of your favorite veggies.
Top with bread crumbs or crushed potato chips or crushed French fried onion rings before baking.

I almost always add ham... but I knew it wouldn't fit in the fish dish!

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Here's what you need.


Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box.


In a sauce pan, combine remaining ingredients, stir frequently until slightly thickened and bubbly and all cheese is melted. (whisk the flour into the milk & sour cream)


Drain the pasta and toss with sauce... I usually do this in whatever I'm baking it in... but I knew there wasn't much 'tossing' room in my fish dish... so I tossed it in the pasta pot... then poured it into the fish dish.




Now bake it at 375F for 25 - 30 minutes (or until the top is as crunchy as you like it!)


Enjoy!!

Enchilada Casserole

I used to make enchilada casseroles all the time. Then I found out my husband really prefers enchiladas. So it's pretty rare for me to make them in casserole form anymore. Last week he had an old friend in town. So we invited him and a couple of other friends over for dinner.

I had planned to make chicken enchiladas with nice fresh made corn tortillas from the Mexican only Mexican market in town.

Soooo I started off by making my Smoky Mexican Chicken and Green Chili Enchilada Sauce the night before.

All you need for chicken enchiladas is tortilla, chicken, cheese & sauce... plus I was adding some spinach (gotta sneak it in where ever you can)

I microwaved the tortillas to soften them up a bit. I've never had fresh corn tortillas to work with before and these were pretty thick... but still pliable.

So I laid out my tortilla, put on some cheese, then spinach, then chicken and rolled it... well... tried to roll it. They were so thick they really didn't roll very well. I did two and decided that enchiladas were just not working out and changed my plan to Chicken Enchilada Casserole. Same ingredients... same taste... different (MUCH easier) preparation.

So I grabbed a casserole dish and spooned in enough Green Chili Enchilada Sauce to coat the bottom.


Then tear the corn tortillas to make a nice layer on the bottom. These were thick enough that I really only needed a single layer. But regular store bought corn tortillas are so thin, I usually double it. (you can see little bits of cheese from when they were rolled)


Then put in a nice even layer of Smoky Mexican Chicken.


Sneak in the spinach... shhhhhh don't tell!


A nice healthy layer of cheese.


Then another tortilla layer.


A nice sauce layer.


More chicken.


More spinach.


More cheese.


Then a final tortilla layer... more sauce... and more cheese.






You want to bake this at 350F until it reaches an internal temperature of 165F.

There are no 'out of the oven' pictures. I think the shots of tequila started... guitars came out... singing...


marriage announcements...


it was a fun night, but no more food pics.


Anyway.... this is a VERY versatile casserole... I like green sauce on chicken or pork... and red sauce on beef... you can top them with green onions and or black olives... add layers of rice and or refried beans... it just depends what you have on hand and what you feel like!