Super Bowl Recipe

[Don]

That sounds tasty!

I always make dip for tortilla chips ... if you aren't careful you won't get any (it disappears fast)

Ingredients:

1 bar of cream cheese

1 15oz can of black beans (or 2 depending on size of baking dish)

about 1/4 cup of raspberry-chipotle sauce (estimate) ***

Place the cream cheese in an oven-safe dish - I use a 1qt square corningware (about 5x5x1.5). If I use the 2-quart (5x5x3) then use 2 cans of black beans.

1. Pour some rasberry-sauce over the bottom of the dish and over the cream cheese - you do not need to cover it completely.

2. Rinse and drain the beans well. Place enough in the baking dish to cover the bottom about 1/2" deep. Pour more sauce over the beans. Place more beans in dish, pour more sauce. Repeat until all beans are in the dish and the cream cheese is covered.

Optional: sprinkle shredded mozzarella over the top of the dip.

3. Bake the dish, covered with lid or aluminum foil, at 350 for 10 - 15 minutes: just long enough to melt the cream cheese.

Eat, and enjoy!

*** - Raspberry chipotle sauce (not marinade) can be found in many grocery stores. If you can not find it, either of the following will work:

1 - Mixture of raspberry jelly and jalapeño jelly

2 - Raspberry jelly mixed with pureed chipotle peppers (found canned with adobo in the international isle).

I've been messin' with this recipe for a few months so I'd better reply.

The first time wasn't too great. I used way too much jelly and it was too sweet and runny. Afterwards, a coworker brought green jalapeno cream cheese on crackers to work. I explained I tried something similar and baked it. She stated I need to use an electric mixer instead of baking. Here's what's been working for me lately.

One pkg cream cheese.

One-third of an 8 oz jar of habanero jelly.

Mix well with electric mixer.

Drain and rinse one can black beans.

Add to cheese blend and mix with spatula.

You're right. The reply I get is "It's different but it's good." It always disappears no matter how many people you share it with.

Thanks, Don May

[rps]

Everything posted sounds good! I will try and expect to enjoy.

I was born in El Paso and raised weird. From this I have a few recipes. This is one of the more traditional:

Queso

The first time I learned this recipe, I had to pull a stool to the stove to watch Great Aunt Eberle make it. My Mother, her sisters, and even my real Grandmother all made this dish as well. No two recipes were alike and the taste of one batch was never exactly the same as the next. None the less, it was always called just Queso.

Over the years, I have experimented with the recipe. I flirted, briefly, with Rotel tomatoes and quickly decided they were too watery and too hot with cayenne. I made one batch with roasted Ancho peppers (too smoky). One time I even tried taco seasoning; I was in Rhode Island, and I was desperate.

A side note will tell you how much this dish means in my family. We prepare Queso for Thanksgiving. This is better than real pan gravy for turkey and dressing. One year, Mother forgot to fix Queso. My Father, never gentle and always loud, declared we might as well “forget the blankblank bird if there’s no Queso.”

The recipe below is as close as I can come to what I actually do now days when I fix the dish for my family. Feel free to adjust the proportions – I always do.

CONTENTS:

1 Tbls. olive oil

½ yellow onion, diced medium fine

1 fresh Jalapeño pepper, pith and seeds removed and fine diced

½ fresh Anaheim pepper, pith and seeds removed and fine diced

½ teaspoon high quality chili powder

¼ teaspoon ground cumin

1 small pinch of cayenne (optional)

1 small can Old El Paso diced green chilies

1 pound Kraft Velveeta processed cheese food, cut in 1 inch chunks

1 can diced tomatoes, thoroughly drained

METHOD:

Heat the olive oil over medium to medium low heat. Add the onions and gently sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add the fresh peppers and sauté another 3-4 minutes. The onions should not brown and should turn translucent. Add the spices and sauté an additional minute. Add the canned chilies with their juices. Sauté another minute. Reduce the heat. Add the diced cheese one chunk at a time and slowly melt the mixture while stirring.

When the cheese is melted, add the tomatoes and gently stir without destroying the tomatoes.

This freezes well, lasts a long time in the refrigerator, and makes the perfect late night snack. If you make a dreadful mistake and let a batch get dry and old, fry some hamburger, add dry rice to the mix, add a jar of mild chunky salsa plus water, cook the mixture and top the skillet with the old Queso. Cover the skillet and let the mix melt together. The end product is called Mexican Surprise.

rps

October 6, 2005

Queso.doc

[rps]

Leonard's Idea was so good I thought I would bump this thread before the Cotton Bowl, BCS, and Super Bowl.

BTW - have changed my queso recipe a bit. I add a little more spice than the original posted above, and I now use fire roasted diced tomatoes with can juices. In addition, I add them before the cheese as it makes it easier to avoid burning the cheese.. I have also switched to the white Velveeta (Queso Blanco).

For a very hearty change of pace, mix this queso half and half with deer chilli.