What's Cooking?

[Bushbeater]

Looks delicious, we're having handmade tamales tonight, that Mole sure would go good. Here's the Easter Dinner.

[BilletHead]

29 minutes ago, ness said:

I sure like he sound of all that! Never have done a mole, but it’s been on my mind for a long time. How’d you like that part of the dish? Any changes you’d make next time?

          Literally loved the Mole Ness. I found myself when in the kitchen after eating and remaining mole cooling taking it in by the spoonful. Making it was a trip too. The aroma as I blistered the peppers in a hot cast iron skillet, then the seeds and spices individually in the skillet. Then all the toasted spices and nuts spun up together in a coffee grinder before pitching into the blended up chilies and chicken broth.  We had to make a couple of substitutions.  Missing one type of chili but I looked it up and could sub one and a half of each of two we did have. No straight Mexican chocolate so we opted for 86% cacao. Not really sure the % in Mexican chocolate. You can be sure I will have that and the correct chocolate next time We are in Springfield and hit the Latino market. 

  BilletHead

[Terrierman]

3 hours ago, BilletHead said:

      Hank's turkey Mole,

         Pretty complex and time consuming making the mole but well worth the effort. Four different varieties of dried chilies toasted and rehydrated plus other spices, seeds raisins, bittersweet chocolate, onions, garlic, charred tomatoes and tomatillos are just some of the stuff in it. Blender was running overtime. Then a salted half of a wild turkey breast put in it and simmered until a internal temp of 150, yes 150 pink and with a slight blush. Wild game taken care of, cleaned properly unlike domestic fowl does not need to be cooked to death. This temp and cooking in the mole produced a moist tender piece of meat. You could cut it with a fork except for where the leaders and wing butts met,

       

     Now to the funny part. Can you believe the BilletHead's have never eaten grits? Wanting to pair something in the theme of this way, way south of the border dish we looked up what may work and ended up doing creamy cheese grits with chilies. Then some bean greens too ,

  Totally amazed at this meal. Oodles and gobs of mole left to freeze and make enchiladas with later. 

   For Terrierman   " I would of been a good Mexican" ,

   BilletHead

You would of!!  That turkey looks and sounds great and so does your mole. 

Love grits.  A great base for a lot of dishes.  Googlefy Nassau Grits just for a start.

[BilletHead]

       Today more use for yesterdays extra mole,

          Enchiladas.    Chopped some onion and minced garlic. Onion first into a hot skillet with a spoonful of goose fat. Softened to a light brown and in went the garlic for a minute or two. Then in went a pound and a half of ground venison that had been seasoned with KC steak seasoning and some ground cumin. Cooked this up and put on the porch to cool. As this was cooling grated some sharp cheddar cheese. Planned on using corn tortillas. We know they like to crumble. Typically to soften they are fried for three or four seconds in hot oil. I make enough of a mess cooking while the Mrs. is at work so I looked for alternatives.  Struck pay dirt finding if you give both sides of the tortilla a shot of cooking spray and place on a pan in 350 oven for five to seven minutes. So this going on brought in the cool cooked meat and added the shredded cheese and mixed it up well. Out came the tortillas and got me an assembly line going. Same sheet I heated the tortillas was my work station. Put a spoonful of mole and slathered the tortilla on both sides. Spooned in some of the meat and cheese. Rolled this all up and put seam side down in a pan where I had already spread a layer of mole. Repeated another eleven times. Topped off with more cheese,

     Still had some ingredients left. Oh what shall I do? Make a couple for now . Heated me up a couple more tortillas and wrapped them up

   the same way. Popped into a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Plated them up,

   A smear of sour cream, a few snips of cilantro and some chives from the BilletHead garden. 

     The feasting commenced. Hot dang it is and was good. Mrs. BilletHead will be very, very happy with me when she gets home from work. Even more happy if I clean up the mess I made . Still have mole that I will freeze up for another time,

   BilletHead

[ness]

Dang, I was starting to drool right up until the very end then my glands dried up 😄

[MOPanfisher]

My stomach has been in rebellion for a few day, but I can't stop looking at some of the photos.  Never had a real Mole, never appeaked to me but might be good.  The cheesy grits or the Nassau Grits sound/look awesome, even if food pics have the odd combination of making me very hungry and queasy at the same time.

[snagged in outlet 3]

58 minutes ago, ness said:

Dang, I was starting to drool right up until the very end then my glands dried up 😄

I didn’t read the whole procedure. 

Did he add peas!!!

[BilletHead]

1 hour ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

I didn’t read the whole procedure. 

Did he add peas!!!

             You may even like it, no peas allowed.  I kind of figured that the glands dried up when he realized that a few cilantro leaves were involved but not needed,

 BilletHead

[Terrierman]

4 hours ago, BilletHead said:

       Today more use for yesterdays extra mole,

          Enchiladas.    Chopped some onion and minced garlic. Onion first into a hot skillet with a spoonful of goose fat. Softened to a light brown and in went the garlic for a minute or two. Then in went a pound and a half of ground venison that had been seasoned with KC steak seasoning and some ground cumin. Cooked this up and put on the porch to cool. As this was cooling grated some sharp cheddar cheese. Planned on using corn tortillas. We know they like to crumble. Typically to soften they are fried for three or four seconds in hot oil. I make enough of a mess cooking while the Mrs. is at work so I looked for alternatives.  Struck pay dirt finding if you give both sides of the tortilla a shot of cooking spray and place on a pan in 350 oven for five to seven minutes. So this going on brought in the cool cooked meat and added the shredded cheese and mixed it up well. Out came the tortillas and got me an assembly line going. Same sheet I heated the tortillas was my work station. Put a spoonful of mole and slathered the tortilla on both sides. Spooned in some of the meat and cheese. Rolled this all up and put seam side down in a pan where I had already spread a layer of mole. Repeated another eleven times. Topped off with more cheese,

     Still had some ingredients left. Oh what shall I do? Make a couple for now . Heated me up a couple more tortillas and wrapped them up

   the same way. Popped into a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Plated them up,

   A smear of sour cream, a few snips of cilantro and some chives from the BilletHead garden. 

     The feasting commenced. Hot dang it is and was good. Mrs. BilletHead will be very, very happy with me when she gets home from work. Even more happy if I clean up the mess I made . Still have mole that I will freeze up for another time,

   BilletHead

You're a for real good cook.

[Chief Grey Bear]

I haven't been around much lately, but I'm still alive an kicking. 

The other I was playing around with something that I used to do years ago.
And that was making skinless chicken thighs and grilling them but trying to make it eye appealing as if they had their skin on.
So during the grilling process I would paint a thin coating of sauce on them and let it cook in. 
I would keep repeating that process until they were fully cooked. And they always came out with this really deep, beautiful, rich, color.
I hadn't done it in about 15 years but I got to thinking about it and wanted to try it again. 
This is my first attempt and I think I can do a little better. 
So I'll keep playing around this, this summer and see how I do.