Comfort Food

I don't feel good.  I want comfort food.

I made myself some nice cheese seafood noodles and green beans.  First I sauteed some shrimp and scallops in butter, sesame oil, garlic and onion powder.  Then I added heavy cream, some parmigiano reggiano, soy sauce, pepper, a smidgen of ground ginger and let it thicken.  Cooked up some good egg noodles and steamed some nice green beans.  Dinner that is yummy and comfort food.

I think once I am done with this it's a hot shower and then crawling in bed with the boys, Max and Gir my pups, for a night of warmth under the covers and TV in bed.

xxoo
-Mizzie

The Tamales Revisited!

Dinner tonight was some of the Tamales (see previous post) that I had frozen.  Just testing that they do freeze well as advertised...oh they do.  Here they are with some enchilada sauce, black beans, cheese and topped with sour cream.  Yummy dinner time!

xxoo
-Mizzie

Mulberry Tarts

This is what happens when I look in my freezer downstairs...I discover things I HAVE TO USE RIGHT NOW!  Like the Mulberries a friend gave me last spring.  The ones she lovingly picked for me when I said 'I love fresh berries!'.......and then I let them sit in the freezer for a year.

So, without further a due... justice for the Mulberries....French style sour cream custard tarts.

Tasty treats.

xxoo
-Mizzie

To Hell With Hoo Hash!

Every St Pat's day we do Irish boiled dinner.  Corn-beef brisket, potatoes, carrots, cabbage and onions.  Now as yummy as that sounds it really is just the vehicle to get to homemade hash.

Let's face it, the stuff in the can is sad, very sad. 

The first time I made this it was just to use up the leftover corn-beef...now every year I have to make two briskets to supply the family and friends.  All you have to do is the normal boiled dinner, then after you enjoy that, separate the leftover brisket and chop it up into small bits.  Then separate the potatoes add fresh chopped onions (a strong one is best...I like the spanish onions for this) and mix them in with the brisket bits...VOILA!

Cindy Lou Hoo...eat your heart out.

xxoo
-Mizzie

TAMALES!!!

So...I've been wanting to try this for along time...it is my favorite Mexican food.  Tamales are one of the most tasty of treats that is also a great comfort food but is one huge project to make.  Thank goodness that you make allot of them at once and they freeze well.

Total time to prepare and steam them was four hours.  I am sure it will take less time the more I make them.

First you have to soak the corn husks for at least two hours to get them malleable.  Next, prepare the corn dough.  It was surprisingly easy. I went to the local Hispanic grocers (really nice folks!) and picked up corn husks and Maseca Instant Corn Masa Mix.  The Masa mix is what you make the corn dough out of.  This is an instant mix and really good.  The directions are on the side of the package.

Next I fixed the filling.  I made both pork and chicken with onions, garlic and chipolatas in adobe sauce.  Nice flavor a bit of smokiness but not allot of heat.

I also had cheese, corn and roasted green chilies for stuffing.  Now the part that actually took most of the time, assembling them.  First take a corn husk, let the excess water drip off then spread it out and put a spoonful of Mesa dough on it.

Next I put some filling in.  A bit of meat, cheese and either  roasted chilies or corn. Then I closed the dough around the filling. 

I'll show you the pic of the successful one...and not all the ones that I over stuffed and had to really work at making them not explode!

Next the hard part, wrapping them up with the corn husk and tying them. Boy, wrapping them is a pain but the actual tying was not hard as I chose to use kitchen twine instead of strips of corn husk.  I don't care if it's not authentic...it worked!

Once they where all happy and wrapped then you have to steam them.  I found varying amounts of time suggested to steam them...some as long as two hours.  I steamed mine for about an hour and that worked great!

Once everything had been steamed it was time to enjoy!  It made about 30 tamales and I froze most of them for lunches and quick dinners. Here they are all cooked.

I would highly recommend doing this, even with the time it takes.  Just do it on a cold or rainy day when you are stuck inside anyway. 


Look how yummy they are!  My sister already has dibs on some!

xxoo
-Mizzie