[CH] Fish Veracruz
Doug Irvine (dirvin@bc.sympatico.ca)
Fri, 16 Apr 1999 20:16:35 -0700
Well, I have been in hiatus for a week or so...and have ben reminded of
that be a couple of my friends! So here is one ot the dishes I made
tonight...maybe two if I feel like typing that long....I had 8
reasonable sized tomatillas sitting staring at me on my counter, making
me feel guilty for not using them, and telling me that if I did not use
them soon, they would end up as compost, or worse! So I stuck them into
a pot with about 1 cup of water and two serranos, simmered them until
they were cooked, left them sitting in the water and went and did other
things.(Itook their raincoats off first!) So then I turned them into a
green sauce, adding two garlic cloves, two slices of onion, chopped
fine, one cup of cilantro, chopped up(does NOT taste like soap, I
checked, YUK)one tsp of oregano(Mex, of course)a little salt, and spun
it all in the blender, then cooked it in a pot for about 15 minutes, let
sit, until I decided what to do with it! Went out shopping, found a
beautiful chunk of halibut, so took that home, poached it in a little
water that the tomatillas had cooked in, and then removed the bones, and
let it sit. Greased a little casserole dish(this fish was about a lb)
and chunked the fish into it, then put some of that tomatilla sauce over
the fish, and let it sit for awhile so it could ponder on its sins that
brought it to green end, while I decided what else to do. Well, I have
this old, 1962(MAN, that's OLD)Mexican recipe book, and I thought to
myself...wonder wots in there that I can manipulate????and I found
mexican macaroni dish...AHA, you did not think that the Mexicans did
crap dinner, right? Wrong! I found this marvellous mac & cheese &
jalapeno dish, that from now on, will be a stock in trade, so to speak
in my kitchen. Of course I had to change it somewhat, that being my
nature, so here it is....Mexican Mac & Cheese a la Doug!
2 cups elbow macaroni, cooked a la dente(to the tooth)(DONT COOK IT
TO Death!)
4 tbls butter or marg, melted
1 cup milk
1-2 cups of white cheddar cheese, grated, plus half cup, parmesan
1 egg well beaten
2 jalapenos, or one jal and one hab, much better! chopped fine
1 slice of white onion, well chopped fine
salt & pepper to taste and paprika for the top, most of the way through
Cook macaroni, drain, and toss with the marg or butter. Mix egg well
with the milk, add salt & pepper, and simmer onion and the peppers until
transparent, add enough flour to make a roux, and add the milk and egg
until a sauce forms, mixing constantly, then add the cheese....in other
words, make a cheese sauce! Taste this, and if it is not hot to your
liking, add some of Jim's smoked hab powder, until it is, then mix the
sauce with the macaroni, put in the oven at 350 F for about 30 minutes,
then sprinkle paparika over all, and let it go for another 20 minutes,
remove it and let it rest. Note, if you wish to cover with bread crumbx
before the cheese or after, go for it....be flexible in your cooking, it
is more fun! Serve the above, with the other above! If you can figure
all that out! Have fun and enjoy the chile-head list...Dont get onto
one subject and kick it to death, please. Cheers,Doug in BC