Arizona

OK, so, "disaster" is probably a strong word, but I wouldn't call this meal a success either. 

Arizona doesn't yet have an official state food, but many suggest that the chimichanga is really the only choice.  With origins in Tucson, chimichangas are apparently a basic staple for most Arizona residents.

I confess, I've only had chimichangas at chain Mexican restaurants; but, how can you go wrong with meat and cheese fried in a flour tortilla? The kids were totally game for this meal, just so they could repeatedly say "Chimichangaaahhhh!"  Who could blame them?

The problem with this meal was that I was overly ambitious in terms of time.  It was the night before Halloween.  Both kids had orchestra and it was critical that we carve pumkins.  In addition, Marc had two fiddle lessons to give and we HAD to watch It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.  I figured if I made the meat filling while the kids were at orchestra and got all the other ingredients ready, I could quickly fry them after we carved pumpkins and be all done by the time Marc's fiddle students arrived. Sure.

The meat filling was the easy part.  I used our typical taco filling:  1 lb ground beef and half an onion sauteed.  Add 2T chili powder, 1T ground cumin, 1 tsp ground coriander, 1 1/2 tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp cayenne, 1 1/2 tsp salt,  and 2 tsp corn starch.  Stir in 2T tomato paste mixed with 3/4 cup water and simmer until thick.

After I cooked the meat, I shredded some cheddar cheese and heated four large flour tortillas so that they would be soft and pliable.  Then, I heated several cups of peanut oil in a heavy pot.  I had forgotten to buy toothpicks at the store earlier, but Marc figured they would stay together if you put them in the oil seam-side down first.

I waited (and waited) until the oil thermometer read 350 degrees.  The first tortilla wasn't warm enough and wanted to tear when I tried to wrap it around the filling.  Marc said I had too much meat, so I took some out and started over.  Eventually, I had something that resembled a small burrito, and so I gingerly put it in the oil.  It immediately turned black.  I said several bad words about the quality of the oil thermometer and Marc (kindly) agreed to eat that one.

After turning down the heat, the second one came out a bit less dark and, as predicted, it did hold together even without a toothpick.  By now, I was feeling pretty confident, so I assembled the third chimichanga and put it in the oil.  Marc stood by with tongs, ready to turn it.  Suddenly, there was a gush of violently boiling oil.  Marc picked the exploded chimichanga out of the pot declaring, "there was too much filling!" over the roaring oil.  Nearly all of the meat burst out of the tortilla and promptly burned to a crisp in the hot oil.  I said more bad words.

A deflated chimichanga

But, we went with it.  One burnt, one passable, and one exploded chimichanga.  The fourth became a potential taco. For toppings, we served shredded lettuce, a couple types of salsa and sour cream. I made a basic salad for a side. 

The kids split the most normal looking chimichanga, and enjoyed it.  Despite the unconventional appearance, they did taste like chimichangas.  The cheese inside was nicely melted with the meat and you can't really go wrong with a fried tortilla, even a burnt one.  This was an interesting experiment, but will likely not make it into our regular rotation.  I might stick to the chain restaurants to get a chimi-fix.

Next up:  Connecticut.

South Carolina

We headed south tonight, and on a muggy Iowa day shrimp and grits with sweet potato pie hit the spot.  Our CSA had a bumper crop of sweet potatoes this year, and over the past two weekends I baked, mashed and froze 10 cups.  No one in our house is a huge fan, though Marc and I like an occasional sweet potato hash.  The frozen, mashed potatoes will go well in quick breads and, of course, sweet potato pie.

I had never made (or eaten) sweet potato pie before.  The internet, not surprisingly, abounds with recipes.  I settled mostly on this one.  I also added orange zest, which several other sites recommended.  The filling would be easy to whip up by hand, but I used my mixer to ensure a nice, smooth texture.

After beating all the filling ingredients together, I stirred in the last three tablespoons of flour by hand.

The crust is a basic recipe:  cut 1/3 cup butter into 1 cup flour and a pinch of salt.  Use enough ice water to bring the dough together and press into a disk.  Refrigerate while you make the filling, then roll out and press into pan.

The texture was lighter and more even than I usually get with pumpkin. 

Now...on to the dinner!  I'm sorry to say that I had to use quick grits (apologies to all our southern friends) but they just don't sell "real" grits in Iowa City.

 Marc made chicken stock in the morning, and I used that for both the shrimp and the grits.  For the shrimp, I mostly followed Tyler Florence's recipe, though I used bacon rather than sausage.

Mince 1/2 large onion and 2 cloves garlic and saute in olive oil.  Add 4 slices chopped bacon and fry until crisp.

Add 2 tablespoons flour, stirring constantly to make a roux and then slowly add 2 cups of chicken stock. Keep stirring until it comes to a simmer and begins to thicken.  Then, add a bay leaf, salt, pepper and the shrimp.

Simmer until the shrimp are cooked through (about five minutes).

It was a pleasure to sit down to a new "blog meal"! Everyone found something to like. Both kids enjoyed the shrimp, Lucy "loved!" the grits but did not enjoy the gravy.  Maia declared the gravy "ok" but did not like the grits at all.

Marc and I enjoyed every bite.  Those southerners know how to cook.

Oh, the pie?

One of the best I've ever made, if I do say so myself!

Next stop:  Arizona.

Idaho

Well, Hi!  Yes, we're still here, believe it or not!  A busy semester for both grown-ups and kids put our little project on hold for a bit, but now it's summer and we're back in business!

We jumped back into our states with a pretty easy choice--an Idaho baked potato bar seemed like a no-brainer for the Gem State, which produces about 1/3 of the potatoes consumed in the US.

This meal is a handy way to use up leftovers, since just about anything tastes good on a baked potato.  I put out caramelized onions, bacon crumbles, salsa, black beans, cheddar, barbecue sauce, butter, sour cream and chives.  We chose large potatoes--nearly 7 inches long, which baked for about an hour at 400 degrees.  I poked them thoroughly with a fork and coated them with olive oil before baking them directly on the oven rack.  While the potatoes were in the oven, the onions got the "low and slow" treatment in a cast iron pan:

I also diced a few slices of bacon cooked them nice and crispy:

Pretty much anything that you like on a burger also tastes quite good on a potato!  I went with butter, sour cream, onions, cheddar, bacon, chives and barbecue sauce with black beans on the side.

 

Lucy chose cheddar, bacon and Parmesan cheese:

And Marc went all out with black beans, onions, salsa, cheddar, bacon and chives:

Maia kept it simple, just butter, sour cream and cheddar.  Surprisingly, she was also the least enthusiastic about the meal. Everyone else was pretty happy with it. 

This was a nice way to ease ourselves back into our state project.  And, I think that a baked potato bar could easily be part of our regular repertoire.

Next stop:  South Carolina!

Holiday Scenes

We gazed, we ate, we opened, we ate some more, we created, and we (eventually) got back to daily life. Happy New Year!

Delaware

Our Delaware meal turned out to be a perfect fit for a Sunday mid-winter night (even though it's been in the 40s here in Iowa!). Delaware, like much of the mid-Atlantic, South and Midwest, has become a major chicken producer. The results of this industry, however, have been environmentally detrimental in the fragile Chesapeake Bay ecosystem of the Del-Mar-Va peninsula. Interestingly, Delaware has a long relationship with the noble chicken, going much farther back than the current factory model, and the Blue Hen Chicken is the state bird.

A quick google search turned up this recipe for Authentic Delaware Chicken and Slicks. Although our kids generally dislike soup, this meal very much resembled the more successful chicken pie recipe from South Dakota.

You could certainly do this recipe in one day, but I stretched it over two. On Saturday, I made the stock and cooked the chicken. I briefly sauteed roughly cut onions, carrots, celery, garlic and parsnips in a little olive oil.


Then, I put a whole chicken on top of the veggies and covered with water. I added salt, pepper and thyme and simmered for about 2 hours. I removed the chicken and let it cool for a while before removing the meat from the bones. At this point, the stock was nice and rich. If you want to concentrate more flavor, you could put the bones back in the liquid to simmer longer.

On Sunday, I sauteed diced onions, carrots, celery in garlic with more thyme, salt and pepper. I added 8 cups of stock and brought it to a simmer. Meanwhile, I prepared the dough for the "slicks." I followed the recipe exactly here, and was rewarded with a nice soft, stretchy dough to work with.


I used a pizza cutter to cut the squares



I added the slicks to the stock to cook, then the reserved chicken to heat through. This made a nice, warming one-pot meal.


The dish turned out more soup-like than I was expecting, next time I will start with a bit less stock. The flavors, however were excellent! The "dumplings" were more like a hearty noodle. Both girls ate well. Lucy thought the slicks were a little slippery, but ate them happily after setting a couple on the side of the plate to dry out for a minute. Maia really liked them and asked for extra slicks in her dish after she ate the first ones.


After the holidays, we'll take on our next four: Idaho, Connecticut, South Carolina and Arizona.

Whatever holiday you celebrate, we wish you a season full of peace and light!

Tis the Season

Happy Weekend, friends!

Alaska

We went way north for this meal, and our recent Iowa snow and frigid weather only improved the experience!

This dinner blended several typical Alaskan foods. Of course, we had to have some fish or seafood. Berries and hearty vegetables are also common. Finally, we gave a nod to the state's gold rush history with a loaf of sour dough bread.

We were lucky enough to have some salmon in our freezer. Though our King salmon can't claim Alaskan heritage, as it was caught by my brother in downstate Michigan, it fit the bill. After seasoning with salt, pepper and garlic powder, the two fillets went into a 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes (I checked them at 10 and they needed a bit more time).


We did have some real Alaskan product as well: snow crabs. Neither the kids or Marc had ever had these big crab legs. Lucy, after taking her first look at them, declared "I am not eating that." These came already cooked, I only had to heat them up. Most references recommend a quick steam. I didn't have a steamer basket large enough to contain the cluster of legs, so I made my own with some strips of foil over a large pot.


The berries went into a quick cobbler, I found this recipe at one of my most used references for this project.

Blueberry cobbler
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon melted butter
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup boiling water

Mix flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt. Stir in milk, vanilla, butter. Spread batter in buttered 8 X 8 pan. Scatter blueberries over batter. Sprinkle sugar over berries. Pour boiling water over all. Bake at 375 degree oven for 45 min. or unitl brown and done in center. Berries sink to bottom and form juice. Serve hot with light cream; or cold, topped with ice cream."
---Juneau Centennial Cookbook, Jane Stewart, Phyllice F. Bradner, Betty Harris (p. 43)

I only used about 1/3 cup of sugar for the topping and reduced the boiling water by about half. This came together quickly and only took about 30 minutes in the oven. When it was done, I increased the oven temperature for the fish.


Despite Lucy's initial resistance to the crab, it was the first thing she went for at the table. She couldn't wait to crack those suckers open. And, happily, she thoroughly enjoyed what was inside. She said, "they taste just like shrimp, only not quite like shrimp." Well said. Maia dug into her salmon first, one of her favorites. Both adults were happy as well. Despite feeling like a rather decadent meal, it was surprisingly quick and easy. The cobbler was very simple and the fish and crab legs cooked quickly. Easy sides of shredded cabbage and bread rounded out a fun Friday night meal.

Next stop: Delaware