Walnut Enchiladas

 I have been spending a good bit of time with Abrams new release, The Forest Feast Road Trip cookbook. I find the recipes in this book to be quite intriguing. I was looking for something unique to fix for Cinco de Mayo when I came across this one for walnut enchiladas. Truthfully, I could not imagine how these would be any good. Also truthfully, they are amazing! I topped mine with sour cream and salsa verde. Next time when I make them, and there will be a next time, I’m going to stir a little cumin and cilantro into the walnut mixture.  I think I’m also going to try this with portobello mushrooms to give it a meatier taste rather than the more subtle button mushrooms that I did use. That said, these were very good as written.

Walnut Enchiladas
From The Forest Feast Road Trip

1-2 T. olive oil
Pinch of salt
1 c. mushrooms, chopped
1 red onion, diced
¾ c. unsalted walnuts, chopped
1 15-oz. can black beans, drained
8 corn tortillas
1 16-oz. jar enchilada sauce
1 c. grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a medium skillet over medium low heat, sauté mushrooms and onion in olive oil with a pinch of salt for 8-10 minutes. Stir in walnuts and beans, heating through.

Spray a 12” x 7” casserole dish with PAM. Pour half of the can of enchilada sauce into the bottom of the casserole dish. Warm the tortillas in a skillet or over a low flame, and immediately begin filling each with the mixture (I used a cookie scoop for this), roll them, and place them seem side down into the dish. Pour any leftover filling over the top, along with the remaining enchilada sauce. Scatter cheddar cheese overall, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

 

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Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of The Forest Feast Road Trip from Abrams Books as a member of their Abrams Dinner Party 2021-2022.

Something Blue Cheese and Creamy

This wonderful recipe, from Abrams’ recently released Colu Cooks; Easy Fancy Food by Colu Henry is, as the author indicates, halfway between a dip and a dressing. She advises us to use it any way we please. Personally, she says, she likes putting it on top of fried chicken or onto an iceberg wedge salad with bacon and thinly sliced quick pickled shallots. Me? I thought it was absolutely brilliant on top of a salad of organic kale, baby spinach, and chard. Whatever way you use it, this is a must make.

Something Blue Cheese and Creamy

From Colu Cooks

1 c. full fat yogurt
¼ c. mayonnaise
¼ c. sour cream
4 oz. blue cheese, crumbled
2 T. thinly sliced green onion
Freshly squeezed lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a bowl, whisk together the yogurt, mayonnaise, sour cream, blue cheese, and green onions until well combined. Season to taste with lemon juice, a pinch of salt and a few aggressive turns of coarse black pepper. Taste and adjust the seasonings to your liking as needed.

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 Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of Colu Cooks; Easy Fancy Food from Abrams Books as a member of their Abrams Dinner Party 2021-2022.

Broccoli, Corn, and Bacon Salad

For whatever reason, I tend to shop for a family of four. I’m not sure why I do that. The various sales just draw me in, eager to use those sale ingredients in the vast pile of recipes I have stacked up to try. Because of this I tend to over buy on vegetables, and I’m talking BIG time. When you over buy on vegetables, you end up eating a lot of them, often forced to use them in a variety of ways. Hence, the broccoli and corn salad was born. I have to say that this is a delicious combination, so good, in fact, that I ate it as a main dish. Use fresh corn in the summer, grilled if you like, to enjoy it all year round.

Broccoli, Corn, and Bacon Salad

1 lg. head broccoli, chopped

1 lg. carrot, shredded

2 c. frozen corn, thawed

½ c. golden raisins

½ c. pecans, toasted, roughly chopped

1 T. fresh chives, minced

½ c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese

¼ t. Frank’s Hot Sauce

4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

¼  - ½ c. favorite Ranch Dressing

 Combine all ingredients, toss to coat with dressing, and serve immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to two days.

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Chipotle’s Guacamole

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Cinco de Mayo is just a little more than a week away, and you cannot think about celebrating without guacamole. Two years ago last week, Chipotle published their recipe for guacamole on Twitter. I am sharing that tweet with you below. This is, indeed, an excellent recipe, that I like to tweak a bit by using Melissa’s pickled jalapeños because I enjoy that extra vinegary tang. I also tend to have a heavy hand with the cilantro because I love it. I realize that not everyone does, so leave it out if you prefer. Do make this recipe, it's a winner!

 

Chipotle’s Guacamole

 2 ripe Haas avocados

2 t. fresh lime juice

2 T. cilantro, chopped

1/4 c. red onion, diced

1/2 jalapeño, including seeds, diced

1/2 t. salt

 Cut avocados in half and remove pits carefully. Scoop the flesh of the avocado into a bowl; toss and coat with lime juice. Add the salt and mash until it’s a smooth consistency (I use an avocado masher.) Fold in remaining ingredients and mix. Taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary.

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Blue Cheese, Tomato, and Herb Salad

 

There are days when I want to cook fancy…some days…not many days…perhaps none. Honestly, I can’t remember when I last made something fancy. For me, it’s all about comfort. Once I hit a certain age I made some declarations that included flat shoes, comfort cooking, and wearing pants only when necessary.

Abrams Books recently released a new cookbook by Anna Stockwell. It is called For The Table; Easy, Adaptable, Crowd-pleasing Recipes. I knew from the sound of it that it was a book that I could warm up to. I have been planning summer meals, being careful to consider making as much use as possible of fresh summer produce as it becomes available. Consequently, I decided to try her cover recipe Blue Cheese, Tomato, and Herb Salad. It was delicious! Honestly, I couldn’t believe how good the salad was considering the small amount of effort. Fresh herbs, blue cheese, sliced tomatoes, and a little sherry vinegar and oil, make this light, tasty, and pretty enough to serve to company. 

Blue Cheese, Tomato, and Herb Salad
From For the Table

4 lbs. mixed heirloom tomatoes,* sliced into ¼” thick rounds
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ c. good olive oil
1 T. sherry vinegar
½ lb. mild and firm blue cheese,** sliced into shards
1 c. dill fronds
1 c. parsley
¼ c. finely snipped chives

Place the tomatoes on a large serving platter and season all over with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, then drizzle with the oil and vinegar and let sit at least 10 minutes. Add the cheese and herbs to the platter of tomatoes, and nudge gently to combine; taste and season with more salt and pepper, if desired.

Serves 6 to 8, recipe easily halved to serve 2 to 4 or doubled to serve 12 to 14

* I didn’t have heirloom tomatoes, so just used red ones
** I used blue cheese crumbles

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 Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of For the Table from Abrams Books as a member of their Abrams Dinner Party 2021-2022.

 

Danish Meatballs with Creamy Dill Sauce

I was craving meatballs the other day, but looking to do something different. That’s when I came across this recipe on food.com for Danish Meatballs with Creamy Dill Sauce. It had been ages since I last had Danish meatballs, and had never had them with dill sauce. Having bought much more fresh dill than I ended up needing, this worked out beautifully. Whether you want to make your own meatballs, or prefer to buy to those frozen from the market, I won’t judge. I would, however, encourage you to make this delicious sauce, and be certain to use fresh dill. Both meatball and sauce recipe can be halved or doubled to suit your needs. 

Danish Meatballs with Creamy Dill Sauce
Slightly adapted from food.com

Meatballs:

1 ½ lb. ground beef
½ lb. ground pork
2 t. salt
½ t. freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs
1/3 c. finely chopped onion
½ c. heavy cream
2 c. dry bread crumbs
½ c. melted butter

Sauce:

½ c. butter
1/3 c. flour
2 c. chicken broth
2 c. sour cream
2 - 3 T. chopped fresh dill
½ t. ground allspice
Salt and pepper to taste
Paprika

In a large bowl mix the meat, salt, pepper, eggs, onion, and cream. With moist hands (mixture will be sticky), shape into 1 inch balls (as you can see, because I was having this as a main dish, I made large meatballs). Roll the meatballs in breadcrumbs until well coated.

Arrange in a single layer on shallow baking pan. Drizzle melted butter over the meatballs. Bake at 375°, turning three or four times, until evenly browned, about 35 minutes

Meanwhile, make the sauce:

Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Whisk in the flour until smooth. Gradually stir in the chicken broth. Continue stirring until thickened and bubbly, and then blend in sour cream, dill, and seasonings.

Place meatballs in a serving dish and cover with sauce.  Serve over mashed potatoes, egg noodles, or rice.

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Tomatoes Stuffed with Chicken or Turkey Salad

I decided to make myself a turkey dinner on Easter Sunday, so I bought the smallest turkey breast that I could find. My plan was to cook it in the crockpot, enhance poultryseasoning with lots of herbs and vegetables, leave the potatoes to Bob Evans, and roast some carrots. It was just me, and the St. Louis Cardinals, and I quite enjoyed the meal. The trouble with turkey is that you continue to enjoy it for lunch the next day, dinner the next day, and on and on and on.

I was paging through a new book from Abrams publishing, scheduled for release next Tuesday, April 26, called Gullah Geechee Home Cooking; Recipes from the Matriarch of Edisto Island, by Emily Meggett. I didn’t have to turn many pages to fall in love with this book. One of her recipes was for chicken or turkey salad stuffed tomatoes. I overbought on tomatoes, and heaven knows was looking for something new to do with turkey, so I thought I would give this recipe a try. The addition of hard-boiled eggs was new to me, but I really liked it. I also liked the mustard that gave it a nice tang. It’s easy to put together, make ahead, and makes a lovely presentation.

Tomatoes Stuffed with Chicken or Turkey Salad

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
½ c. sliced scallions
1 c. chopped celery
3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1 T. mustard
1 t. celery salt
1 t. poultry seasoning
2 c. Hellmann’s mayonnaise, plus more if needed
10 large tomatoes

Boil the chicken breasts and scallions in a pot of water until the chicken is cooked through, 25 to 30 minutes.

Remove the skin from the chicken, and let cool. When the chicken is completely cooled, cut it into small pieces and put in a large bowl.

Add the celery, hard-boiled eggs, mustard, celery salt, poultry seasoning, and mayonnaise, and stir to combine. If the mixture is too dry, add more mayonnaise. Stir, taking care not to break up the chicken pieces.

Place the salad in the refrigerator to chill (you may make this chicken salad a day ahead.) Cut the tops off of the tomatoes. Use a small paring knife to remove the inside of each tomato. A spoon may be helpful in scooping out the insides. Once you remove the insides of the tomatoes, fill the tomatoes with chilled chicken salad. Be generous — it’s called stuffed tomato for a reason!

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of Gullah Geechee Home Cooking from Abrams Books as a member of their Abrams Dinner Party 2021-2022.