RED CHILE & CHORIZO CHILAQUILES

I love chilaquiles.  In fact, I crave them so often that I drag myself out of bed early on a Saturday morning at least once a month to feast on one of my favorite versions from Primavera at the San Francisco Ferry Terminal Farmers Market.  That’s what you have to do if you’re going to try to beat the hordes of people that line up for this delicious Mexican breakfast dish every weekend.
We’ve all had huevos rancheros at one crappy diner or another at some point in our lives, but for those that have never tried authentic chilaquiles, it’s understandable how the concept could sound a bit bizarre.  Admittedly, the idea of crispy tortilla chips drowned in a sea of flavorful red chile sauce seems a bit unorthodox.  I mean who likes soggy nachos anyways? But for those that simply can’t wrap their head around the idea of a somewhat soggy nacho, I’d encourage you to think outside of Latin American cuisine to another ethnic group that also marries sauce and carbohydrates so beautifully — the Italians.
I an effort to convey the craveable aspects of this dish, I’d encourage you think of chilaquiles as you would the perfect bowl of pasta.  Here, the thick-cut (preferably homemade) tortilla chips play the role of al dente pasta that has a bit of soft crunch and resiliency left to it, but has also absorbed some of the delicious sauce that surrounds it.  Topped with spicy chorizo, tangy Mexican crema, crumbled cotija cheese and ripe avocado and you have a breakfast dish that will set you up for a whole days worth of activities…or an early afternoon nap.

RED CHILE & CHORIZO CHILAQUILES

Adapted from a Rick Bayless & Saveur Magazine Recipe
Making chilaquiles at home, likes eggs Benedict, can be a bit of an undertaking for the average home cook.  It’s for this very reason that good preparation and organization is a must.  Do yourself a favor and make the chile sauce the night before.  If you opt to make your own tortilla chips (which I highly recommend), this too can be accomplished ahead of time to alleviate the work load on the day of service. For me, chorizo and breakfast are synonymous, but if pork isn’t your thing or you find it too greasy you can always use shredded chicken or keep it vegetarian for an equally delicious plate of food.  Here I present a version with a sunny-side up egg, but serving these chilaquiles alongside some fluffy scrambled eggs is delicious (that’s how Primavera does it).  Finally, if you’re interested in making this dish but are planning on only serving two, refrigerate or freeze half of the sauce and warm the remainder in a skillet along with half of the amount of chips.

INGREDIENTS:

• 8 medium (2 ounces total) dried guajillo chiles, stemmed, seeded and torn into flat pieces
• 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice (preferably fire-roasted), drained
• 4 large garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
• 2 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil (divided use)
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1⁄4 teaspoon sugar, or more to taste
• Salt
• 8 ounces (8 to 12 loosely packed cups, depending on thickness) thick homemade-style corn tortilla chips (such as the ones you buy at a Mexican grocery)
• 1/2 pound fresh Mexican chorizo, sauteed until just cooked and broken up with the back of a wooden spoon
• 4 eggs
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
• About 1/3 Mexican crema or sour cream
• 1/2 cup crumbled cotija cheese
• 4 radishes, very thinly sliced
• 2 avocados, peeled, pitted and diced
• Chopped cilantro for garnish

METHOD:

1. Toast the chile pieces a few at a time in a dry heavy skillet or on a griddle heated over medium, pressing them flat against the hot surface with a metal spatula until they are aromatic, about 19 seconds per side.  In a bowl, rehydrate the chiles for 20 minutes in hot tap water to cover; place a small plate on the top to keep the chiles submerged.
2. Using a pair of tongs, transfer the rehydrated chiles to a food processor or blender. Measure in 1 cup of water, add the tomatoes and garlic and process to a smooth puree. Press through a medium-mesh sieve into a bowl.
3. Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of the oil in a medium pot or Dutch oven or a large (12-inch) deep skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add the chile puree and stir until reduced to the consistency of tomato paste, anywhere from 7-12 minutes.  Add the broth, partially cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 20 minutes. Season with sugar and about 1 scant teaspoon. You should have about a generous 4 cups of brothy sauce.
4. Just before finishing the chilaquiles, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium. Add the eggs and cook on one side just until set, sunny-side up.
5. Raise the heat under the seasoned sauce to medium-high. Stir in the chips, turning to coat all of them well. Let the sauce return to a simmer, cover and turn off the heat. Let stand for 5 minutes (no longer).
6. Uncover the pot and check that the chips have softened nicely—they should be a little chewy, but not mushy. Spoon onto warm plates. Transfer an egg to each portion, crumble on the warm chorizo and drizzle each portion with the crema.  Scatter on some thinly sliced red onion, crumbled cotija cheese, sliced radishes, diced avocado and garnish with chopped cilantro.  Serve immediately.

Serves 4

HOME-STYLE SLOPPY JOES

I didn’t eat many sloppy joes growing up. Maybe my parents ate one too many soggy renditions during their own childhood, but for whatever reason this was an item that was rarely seen on the dinner menu at my house.  It turns out that my lack of experience with these saucy, loose meat burgers puts me in a minority among friends who all recount fond memories of eating them on a near weekly basis. For me, sloppy joes have always represented your typical lunch counter fodder: a half simmering pot of reddish-brown mystery meat smashed between a sodden, dissolve-on-contact bun. For them, Mom cracking open a can of Manwich stood out as a true suppertime treat in a lineup of otherwise dismal home-cooked fare.
It wasn’t until I came across a recipe for this iconic American sandwich in a recent issue of Cook’s Illustrated Magazine that I decided to give sloppy joes another look.  As usual, it looked as though the editors had found a few ways to rid the dish of it’s usual shortcomings and breath new life into an old favorite.  So, with a pound of ground beef sitting in the freezer and few extra homemade buns lying around from my fried chicken sandwiches, I set out to see what I’d been missing all these years.
The results were nothing short of spectacular.  Robust and beefy with a pleasant brightness coming from the addition of tomato puree, these joes were unlike anything I’d tasted in the past.  Gone was the typical grainy, greasy texture, replaced with a consistency that was pleasantly thick, yet saucy enough to blend seamlessly with the tender, pillow-soft bun.
Now to convince my parents to give them a shot.

HOME-STYLE SLOPPY JOES

Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated Magazine, American Classics
Mixing the sauce ingredients ahead of time will allow you to devote all of your attention to the color and texture of the meat in the pan.  When stirring the beef, be sure to break up the any large lumps with the back of a spoon and cook it just to the point of being pink.  Browning the meat during this stage will result in dry, grainy sloppy joes so don’t worry about cooking it all the way through — it will finish cooking in the simmering sauce.  Finally, don’t be afraid to add in any of your favorite flavors along with the tomato/ketchup sauce.  A few dashes of Worcestershire sauce helps bolster the meat’s beefy flavor while barbecue sauce adds a nice smoky element.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  
• 1 medium onion, finely minced
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 2 medium garlic cloves, pressed through a garlic press
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 pound 85 percent lean ground beef
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 cup tomato puree
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon hot sauce (or more to taste)
• Hamburger buns for serving
  

METHOD:

1. In a medium bowl, combine 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, tomato puree, ketchup, water and hot sauce. Stir briefly to dissolve the sugar and incorporate the ingredients and set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat until just shimmering.  Add the onions and the salt, stir to coat with oil.  Cover with a lid and cook until the onion is soft and translucent, about 10 minutes.  Be sure to stir the onions every once in a while to prevent scorching.  If the onions begin to brown, turn down the heat to low.
3. Add the garlic and chili powder and cook, uncovered until fragrant and well combined, about 30 seconds.
4. Add the beef and cook over medium heat, breaking up the meat with the back of your spoon until just pink, about 3 minutes.
   
5. Add the reserved tomato sauce mixture and stir to combine with the beef and onions.  Simmer over medium-low heat until the mixture is slightly thicker than ketchup, about 8-10 minutes.
6. Season the sloppy joes to taste with remaining salt and black pepper.  Spoon on to hamburger buns and serve immediately.
   

Makes 6 large burgers

BROCCOLI BEEF

My girlfriend (and her entire family) is nuts for broccoli beef.  In fact, she’s down with almost all of the classic Chinese-American dishes — chow mein, wonton soup, cashew chicken, etc.  When I told her I was planning on pulling together a few recipes for Chinese New Year to post on the blog, she insisted that this dish had to be on the menu.  As she put it, “this is the type of Chinese food that everybody loves.”  As hard as it is to admit, I too am fairly partial to a good take-out box of broccoli beef every once in a while.  Sure, I have a few Chinese friends that scoff at the very notion of this dish as a truly “authentic” Chinese dish, but the fact of the matter is, this is good, simple comfort food at its best.
Making good broccoli beef at home is way easier than most people think.  In fact, with a few Asian ingredients that all home chefs should have in their pantry and about a pound of good flank steak, the average home cook can have an outstanding dish on their table in less than a half hour.  Simply follow the principles of good stir-frying technique and you are pretty much guaranteed solid results.  Make this dish. After you see how easy it is to put together you might just reconsider paying $9-$10 for it at a restaurant the next time you get that craving.

BROCCOLI BEEF

Adapted from Jaden Hair’s Recipe at Simply Recipes

Blanching the broccoli before adding it to the pan ensures that each floret will be perfectly cooked in your final dish as it would never have the chance to fully cook given the brief frying period in this recipe.  As with all blanching of vegetables, do so in a very large pot of well-salted water and have your ice bath ready and waiting.  When it comes time to stir-fry the beef, make sure your pan is ripping hot.  Once the beef has been added, don’t touch it.  I like there to be a good amount of caramelization taking place on the meat during this initial sear and you will not be able to induce much browning if you are constantly stirring the contents of the pan.  Considering how drastic the difference in salt levels can be among certain brands of soy sauce and oyster sauce, taste the sauce before adding it to the pan and adjust accordingly.  If you find the sauce a bit too salty, try adding a few pinches of sugar to balance out the flavor.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 pound flank steak, thinly sliced against the grain
• 3/4 pound broccoli florets
• 2 tablespoons peanut, grapeseed or vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

For the Marinade:

• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine (or dry sherry)
• 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine (or dry sherry)
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• Sugar to taste

METHOD:

1. Marinate the Beef: Stir together the beef marinade ingredients in a medium bowl.  Add in the slices of beef and stir until well coated.  Set aside at room temperature for at least 10 minutes.
   
2. Make the Sauce: Stir together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl until well combined. Set aside.
   
3. Blanch the Broccoli: Cook the broccoli florets in a large pot of well-salted boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes or until crisp-tender.  Using a slotted spoon, remove the broccoli from the boiling water and ‘shock’ the florets immediately in ice water to stop the cooking process.  Drain well, dry and set aside.
   
4. Make the Broccoli Beef: Heat the 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet or wok over set over high heat until shimmering and just starting to smoke.  Add the marinated beef to the pan in a single layer, making sure that each pieces lays flat against the bottom for maximum surface contact.  Let the beef fry for 1 minutes without turning or flipping.  Turn the beef over, add the garlic to the pan and allow to fry for another 30 seconds or until no longer pink.
   
5. Stir the contents of the pan and pour in the sauce, add the blanched broccoli and bring to a boil.  Add the dissolved cornstarch liquid and simmer until slightly thickened, about 30 more seconds.  Take the pan off the heat, swirl in the sesame oil and serve immediately.

Serves 4