Huevos Rancheros

Last week the kids and I ate breakfast at a local place in my hometown. I don’t generally order Huevos Rancheros, but the extended Ramsey family is not into heat as a flavor and I was missing some excitement on the palate. I enjoyed the breakfast immensely and started poking around for a recipe to try at home. Thanks to the recent snow, wind and miserable temperatures, I found some time to give the dish a try this morning and was pretty pleased with the results. Here goes:

Sauce:

• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• Three small onions, chopped
• Two bell peppers, chopped (I picked red and yellow)
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons minced jalapeno
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 2 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes
• 1 12 oz can tomato juice
• ¼ cup water
• fresh cilantro

The fixings:

• 2 eggs
• 2 small tortillas
• refried beans
• sour cream
• guacamole
• pepper jack cheese

In an 11-inch sauté pan, I warmed a couple teaspoons of vegetable oil while chopping the onions and peppers. They went in the hot skillet and softened for about 8 minutes. The cumin, salt, cayenne, jalapeno, and garlic went in next and I stirred to mix for about 30 seconds. Then I added the tomatoes and cooked for about 2 minutes before adding the tomato juice and water. Finally I brought the whole pan to a simmer and reduced for 20 minutes or so.

Once the sauce reached my desired consistency, I transferred to a dish and stirred in a handful of chopped, fresh cilantro.

Then I warmed the beans and tortillas while frying a couple eggs. To assemble, I placed a warmed tortilla on a plate and spread with beans, adding a layer of the ranchero sauce and then the eggs. To garnish I added a dollop of both sour cream and guacamole and served with a second tortilla and a bit of shredded pepper jack cheese.

A good breakfast for a cold morning…well, perhaps a good breakfast for a cold noontime meal. There is quite a bit of the sauce, enough to serve 8 or so. Tonight I plan to smoother a pork chop with the spicy sauce. In the future, I’d like to roast the vegetables for a deeper flavor. I’ll report back with significant improvements. Eat on.

Local Food (and Drink)

The following was published in the Atchison Daily Globe on September 2, 2009. I'll be doing a monthly column for the Globe on issues related to localized food. Keep an eye out for it.

Over the past several years, I have read more and more about “local” eating. That is, consuming foods grown/produced within a set perimeter of where you live. For example, Eden Alley, a vegetarian restaurant in Kansas City, strives to prepare all means with local, organic ingredients. Don’t worry, this movement is not just for vegetarians. In the last year, I have purchased a quarter of beef, half a hog, and the better part of a lamb, all raised within 40 miles of my home.

The idea of eating locally, which has been alive and well at the Atchison Farmers Market for years, has been on my mind lately due to our current economic concerns. If the food we buy from grocery stores must be transported from great distances, it is only logical that prices will increase if and when fuel prices increase. Considering costs involved when we drive to another city to purchase our family’s food, perhaps the idea of eating locally makes even more sense.

With these realizations I’ve started reading a bit about urban farming, gardening, animal husbandry and home processing. I’ve starting hearing stories of local folks who make their own goat cheese, collect eggs daily, as well as garden. I’ve even been invited to dinner by friends and eaten a wonderful meal comprised only with foods that hung on a vine hours before consumption.

I imagine there is a wealth of locally produced food and drink within a 40-mile radius of Atchison. I like to eat and I like to drink, so I have made it my mission to discover this food and drink and report back to you with my findings. Hopefully, doing so on a monthly basis, thanks to the fine folks at the Atchison Globe.

To kick things off, I thought I’d share a recipe I tried a few mornings ago. It isn’t entirely local, but the main ingredients are and I’m new at this.

Eggs and Greens

2 farm fresh eggs

2 handfuls of fresh spinach

2 teaspoons olive oil, divided

A bit of salt

Some pepper

A pinch of cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar

Heat a skillet on your stove. Add 1 teaspoon of olive oil, salt, pepper and cayenne when the skillet gets warm. Wilt the spinach in the oil and cover for a few minutes. When the spinach looks good, move it to a plate and return the pan to the stove. Add the second teaspoon of olive oil and fry the eggs to your taste. When the eggs are happy, slide them on top of your spinach and return the pan to the stove for the third time. Add the vinegar to the pan and let it reduce by half. When the vinegar is reduced, drizzle over the eggs and enjoy!

If you are a local food producer, I’d love to hear from you. If you have time to let me check out your operation, I’d love to come for a visit. If you want to share a recipe, I’ll pass it along. Hopefully this little adventure in newspaper column writing will be fun and educational for all of us.

———————

Matthew Ramsey is an avid foodie. When he is not eating he serves as an Assistant Professor and the Director of the Special Education teacher preparation program at Benedictine College.

Three slabs of spare ribs and a Faculty Annual Review

The Tuesday after Memorial Day, no kids tonight and my FAR is due on the 1st. I’m leaving town on Thursday so I have to get the shit done. If you smell what I’m shoveling… I’m heading to the farm for the first leg of my journey and then off to my favorite mountaintop in Arkansas for some live music, good friends and fun. I wanted to take some ribs with me to Arkansas so they had to be smoked too. Shit. Thank gosh I’ve got a fresh keg in the beer fridge.

I’m not a bit fan of spare ribs. That fat just kills me. Dad told me if I get them hotter the fat will render and life will be better.

Stage One: Same ole, same ole. Lots of magic dust, 200 degrees, three hours.

Stage Two: I’ve done this before. Foil wrapped in the oven at 300 for an hour. This time I sprinkled some brown sugar as I was wrapping the ribs.

Stage Two: Out of the oven and painted with a bit of sauce (see The Sauce posted below), rewrapped and back in at 300 for another hour.

The results were pretty good. I’ve had a sample and will need a bit more time to analyze…I think they will get eaten. I’m freezing these to take with me on the camping trip.

That is all. I appreciate all three of you for reading this drivel. Oh ya, the FAR is complete as well. A once over the morning and then submission. A presentation proposal and an article to edit and I'll return to my normally scheduled summer.

Disclaimer

I found the chicken and sauce recipe listed below years ago on Foodtv.com. I'm sure I'm not supposed to be posting it but since I'm not making any money off this damn blog, I imagine I'm safe. If somebody at Food TV wants to sue me I will remind them about blood and turnips.

Anyway the recipe is awesome and I highly suggest trying it out with cheap lager.

The Chicken

3 whole chickens, halved (I found 8 hind quarters for $6, so I used those)
1 cup poultry seasoning
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic
1 can beer
1 stick butter
2 tablespoons cider vinegar

Add all items to a very large pot of boiling water. Reduce heat, cover with a plate and simmer for 1 hour. Remove from the pot and let cool to room temperature, covered.

Your grill should be very hot. We use a smoke box with wet wood chips in the gas grill to add a nice wood flavor (optional). Lightly spray the grill with non stick spray. Add the chicken and get nice grill marks on both sides. The bbq sauce should be in a large pot that has just been removed from the heat.

Very important: Just paint the chicken lightly with the sauce and let it stay on the grill for 1 minute on each side, just to burn the sauce. Remove from the grill and submerge in the hot bbq sauce for a just a second. Put on platter and serve with very sour dough bread and vinegar and oil based cole slaw, cold beer and look out.

The Sauce

The Sauce

5 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 (#10 size) can catsup
1 large Vidala onion fine chopped
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
2 tablespoons Worchestshire sauce
3 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 (5-ounce) bottle pickapeppa sauce (This contains: mangos, raisins, tamarinds, salt and pepper, tomatoes)
2 tablespoons wine vinegar
2 large juice oranges
1 large lime
2 lemons
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons grated horseradish
1 can cola, (recommended Dr. Pepper
Few dried chiles, to taste
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper, to taste

Place the garlic in cup of boiling water for 3 minutes. Remove and chop fine. Saute the onions in the olive oil over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, until just starting to brown. Remove from the heat and wait 1 minute for the pan to start to cool. Add the chopped garlic, stir, and place mixture in a bowl to cool - never let the garlic hit the hot oil over the fire - this way the garlic will infuse the remaining moisture and not burn and get bitter.

In a large stock pot over medium-low heat add the catsup and bring to a slow simmer, always stirring. After 10 minutes add the onions, garlic, soy sauce, liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, yellow mustard, pickapeppa sauce, and wine vinegar, and let simmer for another 10 minutes, covered.

Cut all the fruit into quarters and squeeze the juice into the pot. Then, add the fruit to the pot, with the brown sugar, horseradish, and Dr. Pepper. Continue to simmer for at least 40 minutes, covered.

Add the dried chili peppers and cayenne, turn off heat and let the chilis go to work for about another 20 minutes.

Chorizo Stuffed Dates--non-BGE experiment

Lawrence, Kansas, is home to a wonderful Italian restaurant, Tellers. The name is inspired by the building on the corner of 8th and Mass., a convert bank of the old-school variety. Lots of marble, wonderful architecture; the designers were very careful to blend the new and old purpose for maximum visual impact. The old teller counter is the bar and one must go through the vault door to visit the powder room. It relieves one of the many typical personal hygiene anxieties.

I’ve dined at Tellers many times over the years. I remember a wonderful dinner with the Veazey sisters many years ago. Teresa was appalled that Laura and I were enjoying mushrooms. She thought fungi and toe jam seemed to parallel mushrooms in order of things she’d not like to eat.
This fall, my academic adviser and I met at Tellers a few times after class for drinks and such. Without fail, a drink turned into two and food was ordered. Tom turned me on to the Chorizo Stuffed Dates. They are awesome.

Described on the menu as:

“Chorizo Stuffed Dates: Organic California Medjool dates wrapped in pancetta, stuffed with house-made chorizo, baked in roasted peppadew peppers and tomato sauce.”

Check Tellers our here:

http://www.746mass.com/index.php

I’ve been searching for recipes and thinking about this dish for a long time. Today I bit the bullet. We started with a box of dates, two links of chorizo, and a half-pound of really good smoked bacon. Henry and I pitted, stuffed and wrapped a dozen of these glorious little fruits.

The sauce was a different beast. I started with a 28 oz can of organic tomato chunks, ½ a jar of roasted red peppers, some smoky paprika, chili powder, and cayenne. Mixed it all together in a small pot on the stovetop. Once everything was hot, I poured half the mixture into the Vita Mix and let is whirl and repeated. I returned the sauce to the stove on low for a couple of hours to reduce. The flavors pulled out so nicely. It is an angry bit of tomato sauce. The kids and I sampled it on breadsticks and Critic #1 couldn’t handle the heat, Critic #2 continued eating until I made her stop. This is only funny if you know Critic #2 is the 5 year-old sister of Critic #1. She will be beating him severely in less than two years.

I was not comfortable cooking the dates in the sauce, I didn’t want all the grease from the bacon and the chorizo in the final dish. I preheated my over to 350 and put the dates on a rack in broiler pan. The sauce went in a baking stone dish. I put the dates in the oven for 10 minutes and then put the sauce in. After another 10 minutes I moved the dates into the dish with the sauce for five minutes and finished under the broiler on high for 3 minutes.

Nailed it! I would only do two things differently next time. First I would figure out how to get more chorizo into the sauce. Secondly I would have headed the sauce longer. Other than those suggestions, this a one up one down recipe. It was a hit with my guest, who jumped at the opportunity to take a few home for lunch the next day.