Sunday, March 29, 2009

In the News, Cooking & Daughters...

News worthy time spent South of the Border~















The long overdue trip to Mexico by our first born finally arrived 2 weeks ago. She hadn't been to visit Monterrey since her Birthday Celebration a couple of years ago which happens to coincide with Diez y Seis (aka: September 16th, Mexican Independence Day.) True, we have seen our girls since we travel home frequently but she had not had a recent opportunity to visit here, wine, dine & relax. I won't give too many details of her trip as the first born kids in our family never lack for words & she did give a fine detailed account of her visit in her Blog here:

Our Bytes-from-Texas girl had the chance to visit & meet up with several friends as well as find out that visiting Gringos often make it on the local television station! We traveled out to Presa de la Boca on Dia de Benito Juarez for sun & fun on the water only to find out when we arrived that a slow news day here can merit a television crew! Seriously, boats on a lake in Mexico are not all that newsy but Gringos as I am told are a tiny bit of comic relief on the evening news! Thank God for a slow news day in Northern Mexico...recent activities put a negative spin on life here & we were only to happy to be a "kinder, gentler, type of news story". I actually turned the camera on a particularly nosy cameraman who trained his camera at length on our boat. A seriously invasive Azteca News camera guy!! What is good for the Americanos is good for the locals in my book. The tiny photo at the top of the blog is a guy beside the news van with the camera trained on our boat.

We thoroughly enjoyed all of our time together. As always in the Texas to Mexico house a good deal of time was spent cooking. Slow meals south of the border are always better with loved ones. I always love cooking with my girls. We especially enjoyed the Spanish Tapas style meals with small bites & our favorite Latin American wines.

Mushroom & Jalapenos with Chorizo Stuffing
3 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
6 jalapeno peppers, seeded & split
8-10 large mushroom caps, stems removed & gills removed with spoon.
8 oz. hard Spanish Chorizo, casing removed & diced
1/4 cup black Spanish olives, seeds removed & roughly chopped.
2 cups homemade breadcrumbs*, divided
1/2 cup chicken stock
3 tbsp. chopped fresh Italian parsley
1/4 inch cubes of Manchego Cheese

Saute the Chorizo over medium heat in a large skillet until the pieces begin to crisp and brown, about 5 minutes. Add 1 cup of breadcrumbs and the chicken stock and saute for another couple of minutes. Remove to a bowl.

Make the toasted breadcrumbs by brushing the breadcrumbs with the butter and quickly running them under the broiler. You’ll want to watch them the entire time to ensure they don’t burn. Once they come out of the oven, mix them with the parsley, olives, next add in the cubes of Manchego cheese & blend well.

Stuff each pepper or mushroom cap with as much of the stuffing as you can fit and set aside. Once they’re all stuffed, place into an oven safe dish & bake @ 375 for 20 minutes or until tops of stuffed peppers/mushrooms are browned & crispy looking. Serve immediately. *We ate these with a nice Alamos Malbec wine.

8 comments:

Chef E said...

I got a little teary eyed when I saw the pic of you and her, and then with dad! *sniff sniff* On the news, how funny, I hope she stayed out of trouble...and you gave me another reason to stuff jalapenos! I am not sure you saw I stuffed pablanos with corn souffle and chicken? They were out of this world like this recipe sounds!

Jill said...

I really enjoy your playlist. I noticed the Xmas songs at the bottom. I made a separate playlist for my Xmas songs...it's easy to do.

Dee said...

Oh, Chef E~it is so hard when they leave! I am now counting the days till Easter & the beach!! I'll have to check out the recipe for the Poblanos.
Jill~Thanks, I never thought of making one for Holiday music, makes perfect sense. I change things up so often with my moods;O)

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you had so much fun! The jalapenos and mushrooms sounds wonderful stuffed with chorizo!

Dee said...

5 Star~it was! Spending time with our girls is always wonderful & the mushrooms & peppers were just the icing on the cake so to speak!

Tangled Noodle said...

I read her blog post and am so happy that you all had a wonderful time. And you're right: there are quite a few news stories about how 'violence in Mexico is creeping over the border' - there's plenty that's already homegrown to begin with! These jalapenos look wonderful and something I'd love to try!

Hornsfan said...

I'm so glad I got to see you guys in your 'native habitat' :) I had a wonderful visit and now I wish I were back!

Reeni said...

I'm glad you had such a nice visit! Your stuffed peppers look delicious. That is so funny - what you did with cameraman! Ha. That will teach him!