Book 107: Gardeners' Community Cookbook

The Gardeners' Community Cookbook is a compilation of recipes from gardeners from all 50 states, and is written by Victoria Wise, an alumna of the famed Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, CA.

(Recipe submitted by Cecilia Rosacker-McCord of Lemitar, NM)

Apparently enchiladas in New Mexico are very different than your typical enchiladas that you get in a Mexican restaurant. Layering the tortillas, rather ran rolling them is a lot easier and less time consuming (genius in my book!), and is topped with a fried egg. Yum!

I expected the New Mexico chilies to be hot; in fact they have a deep, smoky, almost sweet taste with a soft warmth to them.

For the sauce you start by puréeing the chilies, onion, garlic and tomato with a cup of hot water to make a liquid paste. 

Liquid paste? That is an oxymoron if I ever heard one. Mine was all liquid. Maybe I should have used less than the one cup of water called for; actually the recipe calls for one to two cups water, and you start with just the one cup.

After sautéing your garlic and onion, add the chard and cook only until wilted.

Add the sauce and cook until thickened - about 8-10 minutes - NOT!

Being my "liquid paste" of a sauce, was more liquid than paste, it took about 35 minutes to thicken. I did not mind much - the aroma while simmering was amazing.

The recipe did not state what size [blue] corn tortillas to use. I went with the eight-inch. Only after reading the assembly instructions did I realize I should have went with the smaller six-inch - for you are supposed to place four tortillas side by side on a jelly-roll pan without overlapping. I could only fit two. You layer the tortillas, sauce, and cheese until you have a stack three layers high.

Bake your enchiladas in a 350°F for about 5 minutes, just until the cheese melts. Then top with a fried egg. Yes, an egg. Don't skip it - it really makes the dish; and that is what makes it authentically New Mexican!

So good!

We had these for dinner. Though they would be equally as delicious for breakfast; I see no reason why you can"t make the sauce the day before and reheat it before assembly.

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Book Ninety-One: Graham Kerr's Best

by Graham Kerr




Graham Kerr. Yep. The Galloping Gourmet. I recall my mother watching this show when I was growing up. His TV career began back in 1959 with Eggs with Flight Lieutenant Kerr and he is still active in bringing a healthy lifestyle to people today.

Vegetable Papoose. How can one pass up a recipe with a name like that? Not only the name of the dish, but the ingredients were calling out to me as well: Yukon Gold potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, chard, nutmeg and horseradish. Yummm!

The vegetable papoose is served alongside a wedge of steamed cabbage and tomato. I have never steamed tomatoes before. I've baked and grilled them, but never steamed one. They hold their shape, yet they are soft, juicy and warm.

The tomatoes I have to say were the best part of this dish unfortunately, that and the warm buttered bread fresh from the oven. The papoose was less than flavorful as was the cabbage. It wasn't bad - just - boring. I did pick this recipe from the 10% Calories from Fat section of the book; not intentionally, it was the name that drew me in.

If you don't have health issues where you need to watch your dietary intake I think this could be tweaked to become what I was hoping it to be - delicious.

Success meter (1-3): Unrated

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I have come to the conclusion that the vegetables we get in the supermarket must be larger than the vegetables available to the professionals, or their perception of large (small or medium) is very different than mine. I purchased the amount listed in the recipe and as you can see I have two half-sheet pans (I chose to roast, rather than steam them) of chopped vegetables. This would easily make eight to ten papooses. The recipe states this will serve four. This could be why it wasn't as tasty as I had hoped. The ratios being way off. Yes I did up the flavorings - apparently not enough though.

After cutting the stalks from the chard you steam the leaves until tender. Just soft enough so that you can roll them up without breaking.

You need to remove the center vein in order to roll the leaf. The veins are minced and added to the filling.

I am not a fan of dill so I substituted thyme.

Can't get much healthier!

Minimax: Nutrition information if made according to the recipe.

(Source: The book)

Book Seventy-Five: Cooking Under Wraps

by Nicole Routhier


                   Molded Rice Salad Provençale

This has potential...

I really wanted to say this was as wonderful as it was beautiful; however the basil and the fishiness of the tuna were the dominate flavors. I always buy canned tuna in water, whereas this called for tuna in oil. I don't know if that makes a big difference in taste. I even left out the anchovies, and I still have an unpleasant aftertaste at the time of this writing. Personally I would use less basil and use tuna packed in water or omit it all together. Maybe add some zucchini or anything else you may have in your refrigerator.

As I was doing a name search on Nicole Routhier, I realized she is the author of The Fruit Cookbook which I have had wonderful results with the recipes from that book. I made one other recipe from this book (Cooking Under Wraps) which I recall was really tasty.

Success meter (1-3): 2

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Rainbow Chard

Had a lot of filling leftover.