I just finished making summer squash enchiladas in the oven using this recipe from Food52.com. (Yes, that’s them at the left! I’m not going to get a job as a food photographer!) The only adjustments I’ve made are to mash the black-bean-and-squash filling and, of course, to add cheese. The squash and the onions came fresh from the farmers market in Keller. I “chopped” the squash in the food processor, so it came out in ribbons but it was still good. Oh, and I salted the squash before I cooked it to take some of the water out.
The verdict: They’re good. The filling is quite tasty, and it’s pretty hard to go wrong with enchiladas in any case. But if I were doing it over again, and I might, I’d substitute a can of green enchilada sauce for the tomato sauce mixture, saving time and effort and improving the flavor. I think 4 to 6 ounces of cheese works fine, although I’ve never eaten an enchilada and said, “You know, that was just too cheesy.” And say whatever you want but I prefer flour tortillas to corn. Just not a purist in this area, sorry.
Taste: 7/10, I think. Easy to adjust the spices.
Ease: 7/10. Enchiladas are easy to make.
Mess: 5/10. I have to clean the food processor pieces, which I hate. Other than that, there’s one mixing bowl, one pan, and the Pyrex dish that went into the oven.
Leftovers: 6/10. The recipe makes 12. Marissa and I ate four. That sounds like two lunches and a snack this week.
I have reached the point at which store-bought sandwich bread no longer appeals, and so I started looking for a way to make an easy loaf at home. I experimented with recipes from the brilliant Cook’s Illustrated and the equally brilliant Mark Bittman and made some good bread, but the cleanup from using a food processor is … let’s just say I’d rather not do it.
Eventually I read and learned that time does the work of a food processor, so it became pretty easy to put together a loaf at night, let it rise overnight and bake it the next day. And so this is my simplest bread recipe. It uses two containers plus the loaf pan and only one utensil, a big spoon.
In a 2-cup measuring cup, something you can microwave, combine 3 tablespoons of corn oil (or butter, if you don’t care about the vegan part), 3 tablespoons of honey (why it’s not vegan), and enough soy milk to fill the container to 1.75 cups. Use the microwave to heat that mixture to about 100 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine 500 grams of flour (all-purpose, bread or wheat, but not more than half wheat) with 2 teaspoons of instant (not dry active) yeast and 2 teaspoons of salt.
Pour the contents of the cup into the flour mixture and stir all you want as long as you have dough at the end. Take a little extra flour and mix it in so you have a nice easy-to-handle loaf. Let it sit in the large bowl overnight.
The next day, take it out of the bowl and fit it into a loaf pan. Let it rise for a while if you wish, then bake it for 55 minutes at 350 degrees. And … it’s bread. Suitable for sandwiching.
Last night we tried Chalio Birrieria in Fort Worth for dinner, after a recommendation in the local alternative weekly, which suggested the under-$10 plates. It’s at 2020 North Main Street.
Entrance was clean and friendly, seating was immediate on a Wednesday night. We saw tortillas being laid out by hand, which was a nice touch. The menu was a big heavy thing, in color, several pages thick. It reminded me of a menu from gone-and-not-missed-much Bennigan’s.
Our margarita’s sweetness was solved by the squeezing of a couple of juicy lime wedges. Chips and salsa were both above average. The salsa was hot but not too hot.
The chile relleno, sadly, needed a little more temperature. The cheese enchiladas were on the bland side. The beans and rice were both good, and the hot-off-the-griddle tortillas were terrific.
As we were leaving, our very nice waitress passed us by with a plate of shrimp fajitas that smelled sensational. Maybe next time.
I spent a recent weekend in Little Rock, Arkansas, and ate at a couple of places that I would have liked to pick up and move to Texas.
The first spot was the
Zaza Fine Salad + Wood-Oven Pizza Co. at 5600 Kavanaugh Blvd. I do believe this is the only restaurant in the world that has all the things I like in one place at reasonable prices. Pizza, custom-made salads, gelato, beer and wine, and coffee. What more do you need once you’ve had breakfast?
The pizza was quite good, with the crust you can only get from wood-firing. But the way Zaza serves salad was new and different and made me ask: Why don’t more people do this? Most places with salad bars make you pick your way through the various offerings and then combine them yourself without the proper tools.
At Zaza, the salad bar follows the Chipotle or Subway serving format. You have 11 basic choices, and then you can make adjustments to those choices, and then your server mixes all your components into a single salad that is large enough to share with your friends. It’s very smart. If there were a place near me with salads like these, I’d eat there at least twice a week.
So … good pizza, good salads, good beer and wine, gelato (didn’t try it) and good coffee. More, please.
We also had excellent muffins from Boulevard Bread Co., which has four Little Rock locations. And there was dinner at Lilly’s Dim Sum Then Some, on Little Rock’s west side. Also quite good.
Quickie review of Ellerbe Fine Foods on Magnolia Avenue in Fort Worth: It’s quite good.
We skipped the appetizers and went straight for the entrees. There was not a vegetarian entree on the menu, so that was a little bit of a downer, as I don’t eat much meat, but I made an exception for this meal only and gave the leftovers to the cat, who appreciated them greatly. There’s a nice wine list and a decent selection of beers, including Fireman’s 4, a personal favorite.
The entrees we chose were the halibut and the chef’s choice steak. Both came in perfectly cooked, the steak with some dressed-up french fries and a tomato and the halibut with — I don’t remember, actually.
When did french fries become a side dish at nice restaurants, anyway? Not complaining, just wondering.
For dessert we split the pot de creme, which was a little confection like a meringue accompanied by a small cup filled with chocolate topped with creme. Excellent chocolate flavor.
Service was first-class, very professional.
So it’s good. It is not cheap. The entrees were in the $25-$30 range, a glass of wine was $10, so pretty soon you’re talking about real money. Definitely a special occasion place for us, as opposed to a weekly or even monthly visit. There were three sorority members from TCU at the table next to us who apparently dropped in for dessert and coffee, which sounds like a fine idea although we didn’t try the coffee.
Picture I just took while on break. Spooky-looking, I thought.
I just finished making summer squash enchiladas in the oven using this recipe from Food52.com. (Yes, that’s them at the left! I’m not going to get a job as a food photographer!) The only adjustments I’ve made are to mash the black-bean-and-squash filling and, of course, to add cheese. The squash and the onions came fresh from the farmers market in Keller. I “chopped” the squash in the food processor, so it came out in ribbons but it was still good. Oh, and I salted the squash before I cooked it to take some of the water out.