A Stew of Beans, Pork Sausage, Zucchini, Tomatillo, and Green Chile

This came together as a result of raiding my pantry and freezer. I had tomatillos that had been roasted until soft and then frozen. There was a frozen packet of green Anaheim peppers that I had roasted, peeled, and seeded. The pork sausage was from the freezer also. Beans were from the pantry and dehydrated sliced zucchini from the refrigerator. I started the beans in the morning using what has become my favorite slow cook method. The slow method works magic with old beans. My 3 year old Petaluma Gold Rush beans took about 6 hours, fresher beans will cook more quickly and different varieties cook at different rates.

For the beans:

8 ounces Petaluma Gold Rush beans
1 quart water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 inch piece dried kombu kelp (supposedly has enzymes that make the beans more digestible)

Combine the beans, water, salt, and kelp in a lidded heavy 2 to 3 quart casserole (such as a Staub cocotte). Place in the oven and turn it on to 250ºF and bake for 1 hour. Turn the heat down to 220ºF and continue to cook until the beans are tender but not falling apart. Check on the beans every hour and then more often when they start to soften. Don't let them boil.

When the beans are done remove them from the oven, remove the lid and allow them to cool in their broth. They can be done ahead and refrigerated overnight in their broth. Remove the kelp or not, after 6 hours it will be falling apart and will just disappear into the sauce of the finished dish without leaving a noticeable flavor.

For the stew:

1 ounce dehydrated sliced zucchini
1 pound bulk pork sausage or ground pork
Olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
A pinch of ground cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon Oregano Indio
1 teaspoon dried fermented Aji Amarillo Grande pepper flakes
About 2 cups roasted tomatillos
About 8 ounces roasted and peeled green Anaheim peppers, coarsely chopped
About 2 teaspoons or more piloncillo sugar (or brown sugar) or to taste
Creme fraiche and grated cheese to serve

Place the zucchini in a bowl and add enough of the bean broth to cover generously. Set aside and allow it to soak. This can be done a few hours in advance but that long is not necessary.

Heat a large enameled cast iron casserole over medium heat. Break up the sausage with your hands and add it to the casserole with a splash of olive oil and cook until browned, breaking it up more with a wooden spatula as it cooks. Turn the heat up near the end to cook off most of the juices. Drain the cooked sausage, reserving the fat, and set the sausage aside. Return the fat to the casserole and add more olive oil and heat it over medium heat. Saute the garlic briefly and then add the onion, continue to cook until the onion is translucent. Add the cumin, cinnamon, Oregano Indio, and pepper flakes to the casserole and stir a minute or so. Add the tomatillos and break them up with a potato masher. Add the peppers, the zucchini with their soaking liquid, and the pork. Bring to a simmer, cover the casserole, and cook until the zucchini is just al dente. Add the beans with their remaining broth and the sugar. Bring back to a simmer and heat through. Taste for sugar and salt.

Serve with a dollop of creme fraiche and a sprinkling of grated cheese, I used Carmody but a jack cheese would be nice too.

Made about 6 to 8 servings.

Thanksgiving 2011 Turkey Enchiladas

It is part of the annual post-Thanksgiving feast ritual - Turkey Enchiladas - and they are never the same twice, nor are they ever "authentic", I'm not an expert on Mexican or TexMex cuisine. This year they came out great so I'm going to try to remember what I put into them, other than Turkey.

The Sauce (makes more than what you need for one batch of enchiladas, enough for a double batch):
3 fresh roasted Big Jim chiles (could have used more, they weren't as spicy as I thought)
1/4 of a huge sweet yellow onion, cut in slivers with the root end attached, seared in a dry skillet
2 cups of roasted tomatillos from my stash in the freezer, thawed
a handful (1/4 cup?) of roasted salted pepitas
Turkey broth, about 1 cup
a big dab of bacon fat, but olive oil would be just as good
ground cumin, at least a teaspoon, perhaps more
a large pinch of dried wild oregano, crushed

Whirl the chiles, onion (root end removed), tomatillos, and pepitas in a blender (love my VitaMix!) to make a puree, don't over mix. Heat the bacon fat in a skillet (medium heat?), add the cumin and let it sizzle a bit, pour in the chile-onion-tomatillo puree and stir to mix. Rinse out the blender jar with some of the turkey broth and pour it into the skillet, add more turkey broth - total of about 1 cup of broth. Add the dried oregano to the sauce and simmer the sauce until it thickens. Set aside.

The Filling:
Olive oil as needed
2 fresh Big Jim chiles (not roasted), seeded and cut into slivers
another 1/4 of that huge sweet yellow onion, cut into slivers
salt and pepper to taste
about 2 to 3 cups of chopped roasted turkey, light and dark meat (a cereal bowl full, the cream and green ones, sorry, a personal reminder that's useless to anyone else)

Heat some olive oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat, add the chiles and onions, sprinkle with some salt and stir, cooking for a minute or so. Turn the heat down to medium-low, cover the pan, and let the vegetables sweat, stirring every once in a while. Continue to cook the vegetables, covered, stirring occasionally, until they are softened and starting to brown. Turn the heat off, add the turkey and season with fresh ground black pepper, stir together and set aside.

To assemble the enchiladas:
Turkey broth, about 1 cup
2 tablespoons of the sauce
8 corn tortillas (6-inches)
chopped fresh cilantro, a couple of tablespoons or so, to your taste
Taleggio cheese, or another soft melting cheese of your choice, fontina or jack cheese is good

Heat the turkey broth and 2 tablespoons of the sauce in a very small skillet over low heat. Smear a few tablespoons of the sauce into the bottom of a baking dish, my old 6x10x1.75 inch pyrex baking dish is the perfect size. Working with one tortilla at a time, submerge the tortilla into the broth, turning it a few times, I found that 6 turns was about right, the broth shouldn't be so hot that you can't carefully dip the tortillas with your fingers. Lay the softened tortilla, on a work surface or plate, place a few tablespoons of the filling across the center of the tortilla, and roll it up into a cylinder and place it in the baking dish, seam side down. Continue with the rest of the tortillas and filling until the pan is full. Any leftover filling can be scattered over the top.

Add about a cup of the sauce to the skillet with whatever broth remains in it and simmer until it thickens to a consistency that you like. Stir in the chopped cilantro. Pour the warm sauce evenly over the enchiladas, top with grated cheese, about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup, or to your liking. Bake in a 350°F preheated oven until bubbling around the edges and just starting to brown on top, about 1/2 hour with convection. I held it in the oven for another 15 minutes at 200°F with the convection off.

Serves 3 or 4.

Queso Fundido

This is a hybrid of recipes that I culled from books and online that suited what I had on hand last night. Basically, it seems that you can just melt cheese in your favorite version of Tomatillo sauce. There were various recommendations for cheeses to use such as white cheddar, Manchego, mozzarella, goat, or more authentic Mexican cheeses such as Oaxaca or Chihuahua (don't know anything about those). Optional ingredients are sauteed chorizo sausage or fire roasted strips of poblano chiles. I decided to roast some of my glut of Pimento de Padron peppers and include those. Here's what I came up with and it was delicious, you take it from here....

1/4 cup raw pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)
1 thick slice of sweet onion such as Walla Walla
3 cloves garlic, not peeled
1/2 pound tomatillos, husks removed and rinsed to remove stickiness
olive oil, about a tablespoon
5 ounces soft goat cheese, crumbled
1 large ball of buffalo mozzarella (8 oz?), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
12 roasted Pimento de Padron peppers, stems and caps removed (optional)


Preheat the oven to 400F.

Toast the pepitas in a dry skillet until lightly browned and they stop popping. Remove from the skillet and let cool.

Brush the onion slice, garlic cloves, and tomatillos (I cut the giants in half) with olive oil and place on a baking sheet. Roast in the oven 12 to 15 minutes until softened and the tomatillos are starting to release their juices. Peel the garlic cloves. Puree the vegetables along with the toasted pepitas in a blender until smooth. Add salt to taste.

Smear a shallow baking dish with a little bit of olive oil. I used a 10-inch terra cotta cazuela that I preheated over a low flame on the stove. Pour the warm sauce into the baking dish, scatter the cheeses evenly into the sauce, top with the peppers if using. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the cheeses are just runny.

Serve immediately with warm flour tortillas or tortilla chips, be prepared with plenty of napkins for a cheesey gooey mess.

My husband and I managed to devour most of this all by our porky selves... but it should be enough to serve 4 people as an appetizer.