Azle Farmers Market: Roasted corn and green chile dishes

50 pounds of roasted Hatch chiles in the freezer and not a lot of local produce during this hot spell so I decided to showcase the chiles once again. This time I picked up some corn at Central Market, from Texas at least. I roasted the corn by keeping the outer husks intact and removing the silk and inner husks, then cooking them on my gas grill until some kernals were charred, a total of 10 minutes. I used this roasted corn in two dishes, one a corn and green chile salad and the other, a cornbread. I adapted the cornbread recipe from one I had seen on Food Network on Guy Fieri's show by the "outlaw chef", owner of Fred's Texas Cafe. I wasn't sure if it would be good but it fantastic even cold. I used Lamb's stone ground corn meal. Lamb's grist mill is in Converse, Texas, a small family business. I cut out the bacon fat from Fred's recipe and also cut down the amount of goat cheese. Goat cheese is not cheap, you know. You must make this cornbread!

Green Chile Cheese Cornbread

2 ears corn, grilled and kernel removed
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 yellow cornmeal
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup chopped roasted Hatch green chiles
1/8 cup whole milk
1/2 cup chopped onion
8 ounces goat cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add 2 T oil to a 10 inch case iron skillet and put it in the oven to heat up. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. In another bowl add the eggs, sour cream, corn, chiles, milk, remaining oil and the onions. Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients together. Remove the skillet from the oven and add half the batter to the skillet. Crumble goat cheese over the batter, then add the other half. Bake until golden brown, approximately 35-40 minutes.

The following dish has so many great flavors you will say, "wow" when you taste it.

Grilled Corn and Green Chile Salad

8 ears corn, roasted and kernels removed
1-2 T vegetable oil
salt & freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
2 limes, juiced, 1 zested
1 clove garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 T ancho chile powder
1/2 cup Hatch green chile, chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1/4 cup grated Cotija cheese
Optional: add 1 cup black beans or pinto beans (rinsed and drained, if canned)
Garnish with chopped avocados

Heat some vegetable oil in a skillet and add corn and remaining ingredients. Cook until heated through. Garnish with avocado. Great either warm or cold.


The last dish is Green Chile Cheese Grits, like the ones you get at Reata. I've made this for dinner guests and they rave about it. It's full of fat so don't make it often and have a small portion!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1 T butter
1/2 cup roasted Hatch green chiles, chopped
3-4 roasted garlic cloves
3/4 cup cilantro leaves
2 jalapeno peppers, minced
3 eggs beaten
1/2 cup butter
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Make 1 1/2 cups stone ground grits according to package directions. Place chiles, garlic, cilantro and peppers in a food processor and combine until fairly smooth. Add all ingredients to the cooked grits and make in greased casserole dish (use the 1 T butter to grease the pan) for 45 minutes.

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Matt's Big Breakfast is my inspiration

When I was in Phoenix I visited Matt's Big Breakfast, a little family owned restaurant a few blocks from the heart of downtown. It wasn't easy to find and looked like a tiny little square nothing building with a little sign you could barely see. I was in Phoenix for business and was out on a walk in the 110 degree heat looking for this place but since it was closed and nothing was going on in that part of town I nearly missed it. I decided to go there sometime during the week.
I saw a Food Network Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives where Guy had visited Matt's and raved over the food. I couldn't remember what he ate and I didn't look at the reviews before I went.
I walked over there on a Wednesday morning about 7:30 and walked right in. I later found out people typically wait an hour or more for a table. The place seats about 40 people max, including the counter, and is very cozy. The menu said it all, "Food tastes better when prepared simply and with better ingredients, high quality, cage-free eggs, local organic produce when possible, etc." The menu was fairly simple--about 7 items but everything made from scratch.
I had the special that day, grilled pork tenderloin with poached eggs and hollandaise on a bakery English muffin. (Matt's is across the street from the public market where he gets local bakery breads) It was served with his special home fries, yukon gold potatoes fried with rosemary and carmelized onions. Everything about this breakfast was outstanding and despite my plan to eat only half of it I ate the entire thing! No lunch that day and a light dinner followed.
Everything he makes is just right. He makes the pancake batter in small batches, hand mixed, from scratch and cooks the waffles to order. He gets his pork from a place that doesn't "supply" restaurants so he pays retail for it and it's really good. He uses real maple syrup, heated, and local preserves for the toast, which by the way, is local bread he slices thick. He changes up the bread all the time as well--sour dough, multigrain, walnut/raisin)
Anyway, as I sat there I was inspired by his simply place, the delicious food, and the idea that if I could have my own restaurant this is what I would do. (well, not exactly, but the small, freshly made idea)
I found it remarkable that people come from miles around and wait for up to a couple hours on weekends to eat this breakfast because this is the way I cook at home! As good as it was there was nothing unique about his food. I think people have never eaten really good food and don't know how to make it. I'm always perfecting pancakes, waffles, omelets and buying really good breads, local preserves, organic pepper bacon, etc. so my family eats like a Matt's Big Breakfast patron every weekend. One day I may open my own place with really good breakfast and lunch, adding my own Asian, Southwestern, Tex-Mex creations. Something to think about.......

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Azle Farmers Market cooking demonstration: Yakitori (grilled chicken) and grilled rice

Have you ever heard of grilled rice? I had it in an Izikaya (Japanese gastro pub) on my trip to Japan this spring and fell in love with it. Basically it's a rice ball or triangle of really good Japanese short grain rice that's been grilled and then brushed with a sweet and salty soy marinade. You could also add a little miso paste. The outside gets crispy and the inside is chewy. This goes really well with yakitori, which was really the focus of my cooking demonstration.
I love the smell of yakitori outside in the summertime. It reminds me of the time I lived in Japan when we'd go to the Obon festival in the summer when street vendors were grilling the skewers on their long narrow charcoal grills--narrow so the wooden part of the skewer hangs off the edge so it doesn't burn. Over the years I've experimented until I finally have THE recipe for wonderful yakitori.
Part of this recipe come from Hiroko Shimbo, The Japanese Kitchen, where she suggests charring some chicken wings and cooking them in the marinade. In Japan the skewers are cooked first and then dipped into the hot marinade several times. The marinade takes on a very rich chicken flavor. In my recipe I've used the idea of adding chicken to the marinade but without cooking it first.

Yakitori Tare (sauce)

1/2-3/4 cup Sake (Japanese rice wine)
1 cup Mirin
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/3 cups soy sauce (or wheat free tamari) I used reduced-sodium tamari
1 scallion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 slices fresh ginger
lemon zest (1/2 tsp)
8 chicken wings (or to save time, 1 cup chicken stock)

Bring everything to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes. Remove chicken and strain sauce.
Save chicken for another use.

Yakitori

2 lbs chicken thigh meat cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 bunch scallions, cut into small pieces, same size as chicken
bamboo skews, soaked several hours in water

Thread alternating pieces of chicken and scallions. Cook over medium high heat on a charcoal (preferable for good flavor) or gas grill. After chicken cooks for a few minutes start basting with the sauce by dipping the skewer into the tare (sauce). Don't overcook!

You will never enjoy eating the typical "chicken teriyaki" once you've had this.

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Azle Farmers Market Pear Crisp

It's the third week of August and our little farmers market is limping along. The Rasmussen family, the founders, want to be there every Saturday so people know it really does exist.
The local growers are still coming but there's not a lot growing in this heat. We've all planted for the fall but those plants are still young. We still get eggs, herbs, the products from Honey's Jalapeno peppers, lots of okra, some cucumbers, and a few tomatoes. My own garden is still producing okra, cucumbers, lots of bell peppers, jalapenos, and bok choy.
Last week Bill gave me a sack of pears he had just picked from a tree on a neighbor's land. They were small, but very sweet and crisp.
I decided to make a pear crisp and used rice flour in place of all-purpose flour for my gluten free friends at the market. I would make it again, maybe use less sugar.

Pear Crisp
4-5 large pears, peeled, cored, and chopped (medium dice)
2/3 cup sugar (feel free to use much less sugar here or your favorite sweetener)
1/4 tsp salt

Topping
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour or rice flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I always use Durham Texas pecans)
1/2 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add 1/2 cup sugar to the diced pears.
In a bowl, combine flour, sugars, cinnamon, and pecans. Stir, then drizzle melted butter and stir until combined. Place pears in a baking dish (9 " pie pan works good), top with crumb mixture, and bake 30-40 minutes or until brown and bubbly on top.
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

This could also be made with apples or other fruits.

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Hatch Green Chili Huevos Rancheros

It's Hatch chile season now and Central Market is roasting them daily. Every August I buy at least 40 pounds of Hatch chiles, bag them up, and freeze them to use throughout the year.
I buy a combination of hot and mild ones, mix them up and use them in so many dishes. All the dishes that use "canned green chiles" taste so much better with the real chiles. Something about the charred flavor, the freshness of the chile, the heat, all combine to make the food taste so great. I have great memories of eating the most awesome huevos rancheros in New Mexico, covered with lots of hot green chile sauce which was a dark green, not the milky green I was used to seeing. I learned to make these huevos rancheros years ago and still pause with pleasure when I take the first bite because they are so flavorful--the bite of the beans, the chewy tortilla, creamy eggs, spicy green chiles, cheese, and the scallion/cilantro topping adding a freshness. Make this and you will be sold on Hatch green chile huevos rancheros forever!

Green Chile Sauce

3 cups roasted, peeled, seeded, and chopped Hatch green chiles (mix mild and hot as you prefer--I use mostly mild with a few hot)
4 cups water
1 cup chopped onion
2 tsp Mexican oregano
6 cloves garlic
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Combine all ingredients and simmer uncovered 30 minutes. For a thicker sauce, in a separate pan make a roux with 2 T vegetable oil and 3 T flour. Cook until it is light brown. Add to chile mixture and cook an additional 15 minutes.
Sauce can be frozen after it cools off. I put it in quart size freezer bags and use if for enchiladas, in chili, on tacos, etc.

Huevos Rancheros

4 cups pinto beans, black beans, or pink beans, cooked. I take canned beans, rinse and drain them, cook them with diced onions, diced bell pepper, a diced jalapeno pepper, 1 minced garlic clove and 2 cups low sodium chicken broth. Of course you can cook your own recipe for beans as well.
4 cups green chile sauce
4 tortillas--flour or corn
Vegetable oil
Butter
8 eggs
3 cups cheese, cotija, Monterey Jack, cheddar (I use Monterey Jack)
1/2 cup sliced scallions
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Heat the beans and chile sauce in separate pans. Lightly fry tortillas in vegetable oil if using corn tortillas, or just heat if using flour.
Heat butter in saute pan and cook eggs as desired. I prefer over easy. Place each tortilla in a oven proof shallow bowl. Spoon 1 cup bean over each tortilla, top with cooked eggs, then cover with 1 cup of green chile sauce. Sprinkle chhese on top. Place under broiler until cheese bubbles.
Garnish with scallions and cilantro and serve hot.

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Grilled Eggplant Sandwich

It all starts with the Ichiban eggplant from my garden. Thanks to my mother who always grew this type of eggplant and made sure I knew about it. She insisted on going to Russell Feed Store in Benbrook every March to buy their plants. The last few years she lived with me she sent me to look for the eggplants in the spring. A couple months before she died I bought the eggplant transplants and put them in the garden. There was a special recipe I used to make for her with fried eggplant and a miso/soy marinade. I brought her some of this when she was in the hospital before she died and she really enjoyed it. Although I was never a gardener before I started seriously trying to grow things after her death mainly because I missed her and knew she would have been so happy to see me love gardening. Without my husband, though, I wouldn't be so successful. He has a lot of experience and is a very knowledgeable gardener.

Now every year I grow the eggplant and many of the other things my mother liked such as Japanese cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and squash. I like to prepare the eggplant very simply, just grilling it or stir-frying. I love eggplant lasagna too. For the farmers market I made the eggplant sandwich. I was so pleased to use many vegetables from the garden for this recipe, including the tomato, bell pepper, red onion, and herbs.

The combination of the nutty eggplant, sweet tomato, onion and creamy dressing will wake up your taste buds and you won't even miss the meat. This was a delicious sandwich and a nice summer dinner. I used focaccia bread but a whole wheat bun or any sandwich bread can be used. You could also skip the bread and stack all the ingredients up and call it a napoleon.

Recipe:

4 tsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh basil and oregano

fresh sea salt to taste

fresh ground pepper
3 Japanese eggplants, sliced lengthwise into 1/2 " thick planks

1 large red bell pepper, cut in half, seeds removed

slices of fresh mozzarella cheese

red onion, sliced

fresh tomato, sliced

Garlic aioli (recipe below)

Toasted bakery bun, focaccia bread or desired bread

Mix olive oil and seasonings, brush eggplant and peppers with mixture and grill for 3 minutes per side ( or until tender). Place mozzarella cheese slice on eggplant to melt slightly.

Cut pepper into strips. Assemble sandwich with Garlic aioli, slices of eggplant, red onion and tomato.

Garlic aioli:

I prefer not to use raw eggs so I am using mayonnaise instead.

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cloves garlic, mashed

1 T lemon juice

1/4 tsp vinegar

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

Mix together

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Edamame Hummus

Months ago I had some really good edamame hummus at Tokyo Cafe in Ft. Worth. I love edamame and even grow it in my garden but I never thought to make a "hummus" out of it. Traditionally hummus is made from chickpeas, tahini, garlic and olive oil. This hummus was so good I asked the waiter what was in it and he actually told me, which I didn't expect.

Edamame, chickpeas, roasted garlic and sesame oil. I knew that one day I would make a version of this dish. The Tokyo Cafe edamame hummus was served with freshly fried yucca chips, seasoned with shishimi togarashi.

Finally I got around to making it when I visited my daughter in Houston recently.

2 cups edamame, (not in shell) cooked according to package directions or 2-3 minutes, if fresh

1 cup chickpeas, drained

3-4 cloves roasted garlic

2 T olive oil

1/2 tsp sesame oil

finely minced parsley



Place all ingredients, except parsley in food processor. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with yucca chips, storebought or homemade.

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Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix--Best Pizza in America

Wiseguy--smoked mozzarella, fennel sausage and roasted onions, Below

Rosa--Parmigiano Reggiano, red onions, pistachios, rosemary (my favorite)

I'm in Phoenix on a business trip and heard about Pizzeria Bianco when I browsed the local restaurant guide. I'm always looking for the local, not chain, places to try. I thought it sounded familiar so I looked for more information on my i phone. I suspected I had even seen something about it on Food Network and sure enough there was an episode on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate, Pizza" and John Edge (never heard of him) raved on and on about the Pizza Rosa he had there.

I located it and checked it out and found that it was a short walk from the Sheraton where I'm staying. Internet instructions said to get there either before they open at 5 (go at 3:30) or at 9, an hour before they close or there would be a 2-3 hour wait. I opted for the early and was outside the door at 4:00. There was already a couple waiting, playing scrabble. Did I mention this is August and the temperature in Phoenix is 110 degrees?? The doors don't open until 5 but they have a covered area in front of the restaurant with tables and chairs. I sat down, drank my water, and read my Kindle for i phone book. It was like sitting in a sauna! At 5:00 the door opened and we got in. Not a big place, cozy, clean and nicely decorated with the big wood burning pizza oven in the corner. Pizzeria Bianco does not do take-out and Chris Bianco is said to be there every day making the pizzas. They are only open Tues-Sat, 5-10. The menu is small but has a few selections of appetizers, salads, and then the pizzas. I had to try the pizza I heard so much about--Rosa. A simple pizza with Parmigano-Reggiano cheese, thinly sliced red onions, chopped local pistachios, and rosemary, Rosa is the one John Edge raved about on Food Network. I also ordered the Wiseguy, another famous one with house smoked mozzarella cheese, fennel sausage, and roasted onions. You can order a pizza half one type/half the other. I didn't know that and ordered both pizzas. Oink. (Well, they have boxes for leftovers and I'm sure I can find willing friends to share it.) I really, really liked the Rosa. The combination of ingredients were perfect together and in just the right quantities. Same with the Wiseguy. The smoky cheese, roasted onions went so well with the crispy around the edges fennel sausage. The crust was chewy, favorful, and charred just a little, giving it a deep, smoky flavor. Using the best ingredients, having the right equipment, and attention to detail seem to be the secret here. It's not about quantity and piling a bunch of fatty meat and cheese on top of tasteless crust like so many pizza places I avoid.

We have pizza like this in Ft. Worth at Rocco's Pizza on Camp Bowie, however he has no seating!

This pizza tastes the best as soon as it's made, not after a trip home in the car.

I looked up Rocco's ingredients and he does not have pistachios, rosemary, smoked mozzarella on his menu. I guess I'll have to try to recreate the Rosa at home. Time to buy that wood fired pizza oven!

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