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Recipes
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Shrimp and Vegetable Quesadillas
8 servings
4 12-inch flour tortillas
8 ounces medium cooked and shelled shrimp
1 bunch of six green onions, sliced thin
1 red or yellow bell pepper, diced
1 box frozen corn, thawed
2 cups Monterrey Jack cheese, grated
chipolte chile powder
Sauté the pepper and onions in 1-tablespoon butter in a small skillet; add the corn and chipolte chile powder, salt and pepper to taste. You can use red chile powder or other hot spice of your choice and heat through. No amount is given for the chile powder, as this is personal taste.
Preheat a large skillet and add two to three tablespoons butter or spray with pan spray, (the butter will give you a crispy, browned crust.)
Place 1/2 cup grated cheese on one side of each of the four tortillas.
Divide the vegetable mixture between the four tortillas, placing the filling on top of the cheese.
Divide the shrimp between the four tortillas and place over the filling.
Top with the remaining grated cheese.
Fold the tortilla over the filling and place carefully in the preheated skillet. Brown on one side and gently flip it over to brown on the other side. Remove from the skillet and using a long knife slice into four wedges. Serve with sour cream and salsa on the side.
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Polenta Eggs with Cheese Sauce
Served with yam spears
Serves 6
Polenta
6 cups water
1 tsp. salt
1-1/4 cups polenta or coarsely ground cornmeal
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan
2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
freshly ground pepper
Butter or spray a nine inch square pan and set aside. In a large saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add the salt and slowly stir in the polenta. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until the polenta pulls away from the sides of the pan, twenty to thirty minutes. Stir in the parmesan, rosemary and salt and pepper to taste. Pour the polenta into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Cover and refrigerate to cool completely, overnight if possible.
When ready to assemble the breakfast:
Cut the polenta into nine three-inch squares. Cut each square into two triangles, remove from the pan. Preheat griddle to 350° and lightly spray or coat with oil. Fry the polenta on the griddle until browned on each side, approximately five to six minutes. Place two triangles of polenta on a plate. Top the polenta with a single serving of scrambled eggs, and a four oz. ladle of cheese sauce.
Cheese Sauce
3 TBS butter
3 TBS all purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
1 to 1-1/2 cup shredded cheese (your choice)
Make a roux of the butter and flour, cooking at least two minutes to make sure the flour is cooked. Add the milk and stir to combine completely. As the sauce thickens add the cheese and continue to stir to combine.
Yam Spears
Wash and scrub 3 uniform yams and slice lengthwise into spears. Coat each spear with olive oil or olive oil pan spray. Bake in a 350° oven for twenty minutes, turning once. Glaze with maple syrup by brushing with syrup and baking five more minutes.
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Cheese Filled Crepes with Crème Anglaise
Crepes
Makes approximately 14 crepes
1-1/2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
Stir flour and salt in bowl. Beat together eggs, milk and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in liquid. Combine with a few strokes. Don't worry about lumps. Let batter rest for an hour or so in the refrigerator. Wipe a well-seasoned sauté pan with oil. Heat over high flame. Add scant 1/4 cup of batter to make each crepe. Cook until crepe can be flipped. Flip and cook till crepe slides out of pan.
Filling
Enough for 16 crepes
16 ounces small curd cottage cheese
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 TBS vanilla
8 ounces cream cheese
Combine the ingredients in a food processor till blended and smooth. Using 1/4 cup filling for each six inch crepe, fold the sides in over the filling, then roll crepe from an open end in order to make a 'pillow.'
Place crepes on parchment paper on a steel cookie sheet with raised sides or on a large glass baking dish. Put a ramkin half filled with water in the center. Cover with foil and put in a 300° oven to heat thoroughly for thirty minutes. Slide onto plate and drizzle with crème anglaise and berry coulis. Top with a few fresh berries.
Crème Anglaise
2 cups milk, scalded
5 egg yolks
1/8 tsp salt
2/3 cup sugar
In a double boiler with water boiling but not touching the pan insert, combine the ingredients, stirring constantly for about twenty minutes till the mixture thickens. Do not allow the custard to come to a boil.
Raspberry Coulis
2 cups frozen raspberries, cooked down and strained through a fine mesh strainer
3 TBS cornstarch
2 TBS lemon juice
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 cups frozen raspberries
Mix the cornstarch with 1/4 cup of the strained juice, then add back to the cooked and reduced berry mixture and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Add the lemon juice and corn syrup, stirring till blended thoroughly. Add the remaining frozen berries and gently reheat.
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Mexican Chocolate Cake
Cake
Preheat oven to 350°
1-1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 TBS cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil
1 TBS vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup cold water OR 1/4 cup brandy and 3/4 cup cold water
In medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients until thoroughly blended. In a blender, mix the wet ingredients then pour into the dry ingredients. Pour batter into a 9" cake pan, coated with vegetable oil. Bake for thirty to thirty-five minutes until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Leave in the pan for five minutes to cool on a rack, then invert onto rake to finish cooling. Cover with glaze.
Chocolate glaze
2 TBS cocoa
1 TBS oil
1 TBS corn syrup
2 TBS Kahlua
1 tsp water
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup confectioners sugar
Combine all but confectioners sugar in small saucepan and stir over low heat until smooth. Gradually beat in sugar until smooth and shiny.
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Spinach Crepe Torte
created by Georgia Sanders
Preheat oven to 350°
1/4 cup butter
1 medium to large onion chopped in 1/2 inch pieces
4-5 large cloves of garlic minced
1 lb. sliced mushrooms
1 lb. frozen spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed dry
1 lb. Ricotta or dry cottage cheese
2 eggs
1/8 tsp nutmeg
crepes (see crepe recipe above)
2 cups shredded mozzarella or Monterey jack cheese
In a large skillet, melt butter and sauté onion and garlic until translucent. Put into a large bowl, reserving cooking butter in skillet. Saute sliced mushrooms until soft and add to bowl. Add spinach and mix well.
In a smaller bowl, mix ricotta or cottage cheese, eggs and nutmeg. Add to spinach mixture.
To build the torte, spray a 9" springform pan with vegetable coating spray. Place one layer of crepes to cover the bottom of the pan. Spread 1/3 of the spinach mixture, sprinkle with 2/3 cup cheese. Repeat layers two more times. Add a top layer of crepes. Cover pan with aluminum foil and place on a sheet pan and bake for thirty-five to forty minutes at 350° degrees. Take out of oven and allow torte to set-up for ten to fifteen minutes before unmolding. Top with your choice of sauces (marinara, cheese, roasted red pepper coulis, etc.).
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Pecan Crusted Chicken in Orange Vodka Sauce
created by Susan Vernon, Innkeeper
The combination of flavors, textures and colors is wonderful in this dish. The Stolichnaya Vodka heightens the taste and is a great foil with the pecans. Serves two.
1/8 cup flour
1/8 cup pecans, ground or chopped finely
15 baby carrots
small bunch of snow peas
2 chicken breasts, boned and skinned
2 TBS butter
2 TBS olive oil
1 TBS orange peel
juice from 1/2 orange
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup Stolichnaya Ohranji Vodka
cilantro for garnish, lightly chopped
2 cups boiled or steamed basmati rice
Peel carrots and place in boiling water for 8 minutes then cover and leave in water to stay hot and finish cooking. Cut chicken breast in half, then pound thicker parts with mallet or battacarne till evenly thick.
Melt butter and combine with olive oil in skillet. Mix together flour and ground pecans and season with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour/pecan mixture and brown in skillet over medium high heat. (Reserve unused flour/pecan for thickening sauce later). When chicken is brown on both sides, place uncovered in 350° oven in a glass pan to finish cooking.
Deglaze skillet drippings with chicken broth and add snow peas. While peas are cooking, drain carrots and return them to warm saucepan. When peas turn bright green, remove from skillet with slotted spoon and add to carrots to keep warm. Add 1 TBS of flour/pecan mixture to sauce and whisk briskly to combine. Add orange peel and juice, salt to taste, then Vodka. Return chicken and vegetables to skillet to coat with sauce. Serve over rice with chopped cilantro as garnish.
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Casa Bean Soup
Yield: 8 cups
1 cup dried navy or great northern beans
Soak beans overnight in 3 cups water. Next morning, drain beans, place in large pot and add:
2 ham hocks, 1 cup ham, or 6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped
8 cups boiling water
1 bay leaf
6-8 pepper corns
6 whole cloves
Cook slowly until beans are soft, about 2-1/2 to 3 hours. Then add:
2 diced carrots
6 ribs celery with leaves, chopped
1 sliced onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup freshly mashed potatoes (optional)
Cook another 30 minutes until carrot, celery and onion are soft. Soup may be frozen at this point. After cooked or thawed, remove any large hunks of meat and mince. Return to soup. Take a small amount of soup and pass through blender and return to pot. This binds the soup together nicely.
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Casa Style Baked Brie
1 wheel or wedge of Brie of your choice
red or green chile jelly (available at Cid's Grocery in Taos)
puff pasty sheets(s) - thawed (Pepperidge Farm sells these. Look in the frozen foods section)
1 egg mixed with 1 tsp of water
On a floured board, roll out puff pastry till it covers about half again the size of the original unrolled sheet. Place wheel or wedge of Brie on puff pastry sheet and cut around, leaving about one inch of dough around cheese. Cover top of cheese with 1/8 inch chile jelly of your choice. Place another layer of dough over the cheese, folding the dough around the
edges of the cheese so dough hugs cheese. Trim top dough so that it is same sized as bottom dough layer. Seal edges by crimping or folding dough. Dampen the edges with water to help them adhere. Take a one-inch strip of foil and wrap around a pencil to create a tube. Cut a small round hole in top layer of the dough and insert the foil tube into the hole. Decorate dough, if desired, with pieces of dough cut into motifs of your choice. You may use cookie cutters with leaf patterns, for example. Brush the dough with egg/water mixture. Bake in preheated 425° oven until golden brown. Time will depend upon the size of cheese used. Remove the foil "vent" before serving.
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Cranberry Raisin Tart
Yield: 1 tart
Filling
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp freshly grated orange zest
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
2 cups cranberries, picked over
1 cup golden raisins, soaked in hot water 5 minutes and drained
1/4 tsp salt
In a saucepan combine the filling ingredients. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring, and simmer, stirring, five minutes, or until berries just burst. Transfer filling to a bowl and cool. Chill filling, covered, at least two hours, or until cold, and up to two days if the tart is to be prepared for immediate use. Filling can also be frozen at this time for future use.
Dough
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
In a large bowl, stir together flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt.
6 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
Add butter and blend until mixture resembles meal.
1 large egg beaten with 1tbsp water
Add egg mixture, stirring with a fork until mixture just forms a dough. Form dough into a disk and dust with flour. Chill dough, wrapped in wax paper for at least one hour if to it is to be used the same day. Dough may also be wrapped more securely and frozen for later use.
Preheat oven to 425°.
Roll out dough into a twelve-inch round on a lightly floured surface and transfer to a sprayed baking sheet. Spoon filling onto center of dough, spreading it into an eight-inch circle, and fold edges of dough over it, leaving center of filling uncovered. Make egg wash by beating 1 egg with 1 tbsp water. Brush dough with egg wash and bake in middle of oven for 15 to minutes, covering exposed filling loosely with foil after ten minutes, or until pastry is golden. Cool tart on baking sheet on a rack.
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Creamy Zucchini Soup with Pesto
Yield: 6 servings
1 medium onion, chopped
4 tbsp butter
Melt butter in heavy soup pot and sauté onion until pale golden.
2 lb zucchini, cubed
Add to pot and cook gently for about eight minutes, stirring often.
1 medium-sized potato, peeled and sliced
4-1/2 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper
Add to pot, stirring. Cover pot and simmer twenty-five minutes or until the potato is soft. Let cool slightly and pour into blender. Puree. Can be frozen at this point.
Reheat
4 tbsp heavy cream (optional)
3 tbsp chopped basil
Add cream and basil to soup once reheated. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Let sit a few minutes to let flavors blend before serving.
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