December 24, 2011: New Mexican Chalupas Recipe

Here’s another perfect winter dish that feeds a lot of people and fills them up quickly. The best part about this recipe is that you can throw the ingredients together in the morning and let it cook all day long, until the meat and beans are melt-in-your-mouth tender. Served with a salad and flour tortillas, it’s a complete meal with little fuss and muss.

Chalupas

One 3-pound pork roast (any variety; even tough cuts become tender)

1 T. vegetable oil

1 small white or yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 t. oregano

1 T. ground cumin

1 t. salt

1 16-ounce can tomatoes

2 14-ounce cans chicken broth

2 small cans green chiles (or 1 cup fresh/frozen chiles, diced)

1 pound dry pinto beans, rinsed

¼ t. powdered red chile

6 quarts water

Shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, chopped green onions, black olives and salsa for garnish (any or all optional)

Trim and discard excess fat from pork. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven to medium; add pork and brown on all sides. Add onion and garlic and sauté for a couple minutes. Add remaining ingredients (up to garnishes). Bring to a boil then cover, reduce heat and simmer for 3 to 6 hours, stirring often (you can also placed the covered pot in a low oven for the same amount of time).

Before serving, remove pork roast and shred into bite-size pieces. Return to pot. Spoon pork mixture onto tostada shells and top with garnishes, or serve with flour tortillas or corn chips on the side.

Serves 12 – 16

August 25, 2011: Chili with Beans Recipe

I’ve been doing a lot of canning lately and my husband suggested that I try my hand at canning some more substantial food items, like chili. I don’t have any cans of chili in my cupboard so this seemed like an ideal time to make up a big batch that we could eat for dinner one night, then can the rest for later.

My dad is the “Chili King” as far as I’m concerned so I took a few hints from his recipe and created this one.

Chili with Beans

½ pound dry pinto beans

1 t. salt

1 pound ground beef

½ onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ red bell pepper, diced

10 roasted, peeled tomatoes

1 15 ounce can kidney beans, drained

1/3 cup red chili powder

2 t. oregano

2 t. cumin
1 t. garlic salt

1 t. black pepper

Several shakes of Tabasco sauce

Sort and wash the pinto beans. Place them in a crock pot, cover with water and soak overnight. The next morning, drain the water and add enough fresh water to cover the beans by about an inch. Heat the crock pot to high, add the salt, and let the beans cook by themselves until almost soft, about 3 hours.

Meanwhile, brown the ground beef with onion, garlic and red bell pepper. Drain the fat and add to the beans. Roast and peel the tomatoes as instructed in my Miscellaneous Kitchen Tips post. Crush them with your hands, discarding the tough core, over the crock pot and add the crushed tomato pieces to the mixture. Add remaining ingredients, except Tabasco sauce (it will make the beans tough) and let cook for another 3 to 4 hours, until pinto beans are completely soft. Sprinkle with Tabasco sauce to taste. Serve with Southwestern Cornbread and a simple tossed salad for a complete, hearty meal.

Tip: If you need to head off to work in the morning and can't add the ground beef mixture later, toss all the ingredients in the crock pot at the same time and let it cook all day while you're gone.

May 10, 2011: Sonoran Hot Dogs Recipe

What’s a Sonoran hot dog? Other than a really big, tasty meal in a bun, it’s just about everything and the kitchen sink piled on top of a hot dog or two! According to legend, these were initially cooked up in Mexico in the 1960s and quickly found their way across the border to Tucson. They didn’t really become popular until the 1980s or so, when they expanded across the state. Apparently you can even find Sonoran hot dogs in New York City now!

While the ingredients listed below are “traditional”, feel free to edit, delete, or add anything that tempts your tummy. Basically this is just a loaded hot dog overflowing with anything and everything you love to eat!

My version of a Sonoran hot dog, served with cheesy tater tots (which were overkill, BTW)

Sonoran Hot Dogs

4 – 8 hot dogs, each wrapped in bacon
4 bolillos
Mustard
Ketchup
Fresh minced white, yellow or red onion (or caramelized onions)
Pinto beans or refried beans or chili with beans
Chopped tomatoes
Shredded cheese of your choice
Nacho jalapeno slices or minced green chile
Red or green salsa
Mayonnaise, thinned with a bit of lemon juice

The number of hot dogs you use is based on how big they are and how big the buns are; using the big ones from the bolillo recipe I shared yesterday would require two hot dogs per bun.

Grill or fry the hot dogs until the bacon is crispy.

Split open a bun. Squirt it with mustard and ketchup to taste; place the hot dog(s) on top. Now layer with the rest of the ingredients, ending up with a topping of cheese and a drizzle of the thinned mayonnaise.

Warning: these hot dogs are not only huge, they are addictive! Move over Coney or Chicago dogs – Sonoran hot dogs rule!

Tips: You don’t really need anything else to go with these in order to make a meal except for maybe a light salad. And if you're counting calories... don't!
The bun is extremely important. Plain old hot dog buns from the grocery story just won't do; the bolillos are preferred because they are hardy enough to stand up to all the toppings yet still tender.