I’m going to preface this recipe with a little story about pie crust, to start. I’ve long had pie crust anxiety. It was only made worse when last year when I went home to San Antonio for a visit. Before I’d even begun packing, I’d asked my Nan if she would teach me – really teach me – how to make pie crust. “It’s been a while”, she said. But she agreed that we would make an apple pie together.

Knowing my own history with my flaky dough nemesis, I didn’t even pull the apples out of the pantry before the crust was made. It turned out to be a good choice. Nan and I set out to make our crust, and she had me pull out all the ingredients. She said for 72 of her 75 years, she’s made pie crust – always with shortening and water. Five minutes in, I could tell it wasn’t going well. The litany of curses erupting from my sweet grandmother’s mouth was the first indication. More shortening, more water. The damn thing would never come together. Nan’s final words on the subject were, “This has never happened to me in my life!”

From that moment on, I’ve been certain I had a pie crust curse. But last week when I visited King Arthur Flour, I knew if anyone could cure me, it was these guys.
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Read the rest of Blog and Bake – Savory Tomato Pie (1,093 words)

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Post tags: Basil, Blog and Bake, King Arthur Flour, Mozzarella, pie, Pie Crust, tomato, vegetarian

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Y’all, are you aware that Memorial Day is next weekend? I honestly can’t believe it, myself. This year has just *flown* by, and the only reason I can really accept that it’s actually Memorial Day weekend coming up is that The Brit and I are going to Florida Keys for five glorious days.

It’s our first time, and I’m so excited! If you have any tips, restaurant recommendations, or photo spots for me, please make sure to leave them in the comments.

But before I jet off into the sun, I want to make sure you have your Memorial Day recipes on lock down.
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Read the rest of Cucumber Tomato Salad (353 words)

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Post tags: cucumber, dill, Memorial Day, onion, salad, sides, tomato, vegetarian

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Tortilla Soup is quite famous throughout San Antonio, as the cure to many ills, from a common cold to a terrible hangover. Probably one of the best restaurants to get it from in SA is Jim’s Restaurant. In fact, the coffee shop is kinda famous for it.

Last time James and I were home, my sister’s best friend, Vickie, was nice enough to invite us over to a party at her new house. My sister met Vickie when she started her new job.

I haven’t been able to spend much time with Vickie because we live so far away. But any time I’ve spent time with her, I’m struck by how light and sweet she is, despite working in one of the hardest careers I know of: nursing.

At her party, she served this tortilla soup. It’s easily the best tortilla soup I’ve ever had. And it was exactly what James and I needed tonight, when we’re having horrible weather in New Jersey, and it’s cold, and we’ve both had long days. This soup has been in the slow cooker since 10 o’clock this morning, and wafting delicious smells through my house every since.

Come join Soup-a-Palooza with TidyMom and Dine and Dish sponsored by Bush’s Beans, Hip Hostess, Pillsbury and Westminster Crackers!

It is delicious and warm and exactly what you need on a cold Autumn evening.

© admin for Bluebonnets & Brownies, 2009. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: camino, chicken, cumin, onion, potato, soup, tomato, tortilla, zucchini

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Club sandwiches were a favorite growing up. There used to be this pub.. or, the closest thing to a pub you can find in San Antonio, called Chelsea Street Pub. They tried desperately hard to be very British.

One of the coolest things about the place though, was that they had live music on Friday and Saturday nights, so my first experience of the place was seeing my dad play there with his band.

It was such a special treat to go there to watch Dad, and also get dinner. Not to be missed were their club sandwiches. Years after the place closed, my mom was still making club sandwiches at home. My best friend through out school, a guy called Art, used to get down on his knees and beg to stay for dinner on the nights he knew we were having these lovely sammies.

Now, I know clubs are nothing special to a lot of people – a diner standard, and you might think that one is as good as the next. But I’ll tell ya – nothing beats my mom’s club sandwiches. The secret? A lot of love, and a little bit of Season-All. To make the perfect club, assemble your ingredients.

The Players: Sandwich bread (I used organic honey and oatmeal, but white bread is traditional), sliced ham and turkey deli meat, American cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo and Season All. You’ll also need a toaster and a frying pan.

Do NOT. I repeat, DO NOT use Miracle Whip. For the love of baby jeebus, do not use Miracle Whip!
Oh yeah.. there’s no PG Tips tea in this recipe. I just kinda forgot it was hangin’ out back there, as it’s kind of a permanent fixture in my kitchen.

Start by frying up some bacon. Usually, I stick with 2 slices of bacon per sandwich, because you’ll half them, and end up with 4 pieces across the width of the bread.

When the bacon is nicely browned on both sides, but not overly crispy, lay it on folded paper towel to get rid of some of that grease.

Now for the bread. Typically, Club Sandwiches are layered sandwiches – so there are usually 3 pieces of bread PER sandwich. However, I am a wimp, and only eat it with 2. If you’re looking for the carb overload, go ahead and hit up that 3rd slice of bread.

You want to toast that bread up now, until it’s a nice golden brown.
Then lather each slice of bread with a bit of mayonnaise. You don’t have to heap gobs on, but it really is the ‘glue’ of this sandwich, so each slice should have a little bit.

Now we’re ready to start building our sandwich.
Start by placing a few lettuce leaves and slices of tomato one slice of bread. Sprinkle the tomato with Season All. This savory little spice mixture is actually the secret ingredient to this sandwich – the ingredient that makes this meal absolutely irresistible. Something about this seasoning mix brings out the flavor of the tomatoes and adds subtle improvements to plain ol’ deli meat that just makes for an amazing meal.

On the other slice of bread, layer slices of ham. If you love Season All like I do, you’ll sprinkle just a little bit on the ham too.

Don’t forget a slice of American cheese!

Now, there’s a bit of a debate as to whether you should put a slice of cheese on every layer. I gotta tell you… there’s a way to enjoy this sandwich without instigating a coronary. So stick with one slice.

Now layer your third piece of bread on top of the cheese. On that bread, add slices of turkey, and your bacon, broken into 4 pieces so that you have even ‘coverage’.

Lastly, stack it all together.

Mmm mmm mmm, Dagwood would be proud. Add some potato chips or fries and a pickle, and you’ve got a meal to make any pub proud.

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Post tags: bacon, cheese, club sandwich, ham, lettuce, mayonnaise, pub lunch, toast, tomato, turkey

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Mmmm. I could dive right in.

First, though, I’d like to take a little time to respect the effort that went into what seems like a very simple recipe. My mother has perfected this recipe with years of experimentation. Everyone that’s ever tasted it says she should jar and sell it. So I publish the recipe here with her permission, and the expectation that no one else will try to jar and sell it. I can completely excuse you wanting to. Just don’t actually do it, okay?

So let’s talk a little bit about taste buds, texture, and flavor.

Even though I grew up in a city where Mexican food is as normal at every family’s table as fried chicken and mashed potatoes, I never had a palate that could tolerate much pepper. Two things I’m still ridiculed for every time I go home: I don’t dig iced tea, and I’m a wimp when it comes to peppery food. Notice I didn’t say spicy.

I’m down with spicy for flavor’s sake. Spicy for pepper’s sake? Not so much. Truly think it can ruin a dish.

You’ll notice that this salsa is more a puree than the chunky stuff sold at stores, or even as seen on other food blogs. I don’t have a problem with those types of salsas, not at all. But I will go on record as saying, any hole-in-the-wall, authentic, Abuela-owned Mexican restaurant you walk into in San Antonio, Houston, or even Austin and Dallas these days, does NOT have chunky salsa.

My parents have been frequenting just such a restaurant for the last 12 years, a place called Casa Real. It’s behind a mall, and next to a Chuck-E-Cheese. Seriously. But the owners are there every night, and they know my parents by name. And you can get a HUGE plate of food (I recommend the sour cream chicken enchiladas) for approximately $6.95.

When my mom decided she wanted to learn how to make salsa, she asked the owners of this restaurant for help. Believe it or not, they were enthusiastic about helping her learn. I think she even took a few samples to them to taste, to get an idea of how she could improve. She started out with all the fancy stuff you see on other blogs – onions, lemon or lime juice, basil and garlic soaked tomatoes, etc.

And the best advice she got from the restaurant manager was this: Keep it simple. So we’re keeping it simple, lovies. It’s got to the point now, where I can make this salsa in my sleep. With all the barbecues that have been going on in the last few weeks, I’ve been making it non-stop. Plus the husband loves it. Except he gives me grief when I don’t put as much jalapeno in it as he’d like.

But that’s the great thing about this recipe. You like super spicy salsa? Add 4 jalapenos instead of 2! Your call (and tastebuds), baby.

The Players: 2 cans of petite diced tomatoes, 1 can of tomato sauce, 1/3 a bunch of cilantro (coriander to you Brits), lots of fresh garlic, 2 jalapenos or 4 serrano peppers, salt and pepper.

I’m also going to insist that you use a food processor here. You’re not going to get the right consistency with anything else (blender, etc.).

Start with some boiling water. You want to slice and de-seed/de-rib your peppers, and toss them in the water for approximately 2 minutes. This softens the peppers, and draws out some of their flavor.

After 2 minutes, drain the water, and throw the peppers into the food processor with your 1/3 bunch of cilantro (literally, buy a bunch in the standard size at the farmer’s market, grocery store, etc., then separate it into 3rds and use that), and garlic.

It is important for me to say here, to those cilantro-phobes (Ashlee), this salsa isn’t overly flavored with it. I personally think cilantro tastes like dish soap in every other dish I’ve ever had it in. Something about the garlic and the tomatoes just evens it out here, to just give the salsa the right amount of flavor. So even if you don’t like cilantro, and are freaked out to even be considering buying it, just try it once. I’m pretty sure you’ll be okay with this dish.

Always use fresh garlic, and it’s probably a good idea to use full cloves, rather than pre-minced. You can buy the bottle of pre-peeled whole garlic cloves, that makes this process even quicker. You’ll want to use 10-12 of them. Really.

So you’ve got your peppers, garlic, and cilantro in the food processor. Put the lid on, and use the ‘Pulse’ setting – run it for about 45 seconds, have a look at the texture, and then pulse maybe another 20-35 seconds. It is important to pay attention to the texture here. If you run the food processor too long, your cilantro will be come watery, and lose flavor very quickly.

You want it to look like this:

Add in your cans of tomatoes and tomato sauce:

Now, with a pepper grinder, go around the processor two or three times, grinding pepper as you circle. Then sprinkle around some salt, maybe two go-rounds. Be slight to start with.

Put your lid back on, and ‘Pulse’ for another 20-30 seconds. And that’s it!

It’s time for a taste test. It is important that you use a tortilla chip for this process. At least, I think it is. Because typically, tortilla chips have salt on them (or salt and lime, eh Mags?) and that will effect how much salt you add to your salsa.

You should have a yummy, garlicky, savory-spicy salsa that can be served with chips, poured on tacos, burgers, or used in other dips (think 7-layer).

If you feel at this point that it’s not flavorful enough, add more of whatever you feel is missing and pulse a few more times. You really can add in more of whatever you want here, to make it your own. I personally think it’s pretty spectacular just following this recipe. But like I said, James likes it hotter.

And here’s an uber-yummy trick I learned from my sister’s mother-in-law. For a party, place a block of cream cheese on a deep plate. Pour salsa over said block of cheese. Dip chips into salsa, slicing off bits of cream cheese at the same time. I’m sure you’re thinking ‘What the hell is she talking about?’. Promise you. If you like cream cheese and you like salsa, you will LOVE them together.

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Post tags: cilantro, garlic, jalapeno, Mom, salsa, tomato

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