Рецепт Recipes from (but mostly inspired by) Santa Fe

by Eliot

Since we have been back from our Christmas trip to Santa Fe, I have (hopefully) been regaling you with stories about dining, drinking, destinations and shopping in this state capital. I have been very remiss on posting recipes.

Well, today is the day. I have been experimenting with Santa Fe inspired recipes.

For breakfast on New Year’s Day (to go along with our peach bellinis), I whipped up some eggs and green chilis.

Green Chili Scrambled Eggs

6 farm fresh eggs

2 oz. cream cheese

4 oz. can Hatch diced green chilis

salt and pepper to taste

a sprinkling of dried Piment d’Espelette peppers (from the ones I got at The Spanish Table)

corn tortillas

Place eggs and cream cheese in a blender and blend until frothy. Stir in green chilis. Pour into a hot non-stick pan and then reduce heat dramatically. Stir constantly using a heat-proof rubber scrapper until done to your liking. Plate, sprinkle with dried peppers, and serve with warm tortillas.

Can you see that bellini in the background?

To get our allotment of blackeye peas in on New Year’s Day, I wanted to make some chili with a Santa Fe twist.

New Year’s Day “I Wanna Be Back in New Mexico” Chili

• Some of the ingredients: leftover red wine from New Year's Eve, Blackeye Peas, Mom's salsa, Rotel
• 2 1/2 lbs. pork sausage, browned, drained and rinsed*
• 2 T. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 c. red wine
• 1 can diced tomatoes with green chilis (Rotel)
• 1 can regular diced tomatoes
• 1 pint (2 c.) salsa or picante sauce (Homemade canned if possible)
• 2 T. chopped pickled jalapenos, chopped
• 2 cans black beans (undrained and unrinsed)
• 1 can blackeye peas (undrained and unrinsed)
• 3 T. regular chili powder
• 1 T. green chili powder
• 2 T. ground coriander
• 3 t. dried Mexican oregano
• 2 bay leaves, crushed
• 1 T. brown sugar
• *To rinse browned sausage, place in a large sieve and rinse under warm water. This will help get rid of some of the fat. (I learned this trick from a seasoned school cafeteria cook.)
• Rinse to get rid of some of the fat.
• In a large Dutch oven or soup kettle, heat the olive oil. (This can be the same pan that you browned the sausage in.) Add onions and garlic and sauté about 5-10 minutes until soft and browned a bit. Add red wine and deglaze pan. Add remaining ingredients and stir well.
• All the spices.
• If you need more liquid, just add more wine!
• Heat to a simmer, cover and let simmer for one hour. Garnish with jalapenos, cheese, sour cream, cilantro, tortilla chips, green onions, etc.
• Just a few more jalapenos.
• I was inspired to make a chili with blackeye peas for New Year’s by Chris at The Cafe Sucre Farine. Her Pork and Chorizo Chili with Black Beans and Black Eyed Peas sounded wonderful. (See her original recipe here.) But, I ended up adapting a recipe that was in our local paper on New Year’s Eve. (See New Year’s Day Southwestern Chili for the original recipe. )
• Espresso Chocolate Brownies
• from Charlotte Rivera of Tune Up Cafe
• (Taken from Local Flavor Magazine)
• 2/3 c. gluten-free flour mix (like Bob’s Red Mill)
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. xanthan gum
• 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
• 4 oz. semisweet chocolate
• 1/2 c. butter
• 1 c. sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 T. instant espresso or 1 shot of espresso
• For the ganache:
• 8 oz. chocolate
• 4 T. butter
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. cold heavy cream
• 1 T. instant espresso or 1 shot of espresso

To make brownies: Preheat oven to 325. Line an 8″ square pan with foil and grease with cooking spray. Combine the first four ingredients for brownies in a bowl. Melt both chocolates with butter in a sauce pan over low heat. After chocolate is mostly melted, whisk in sugar and vanilla. Whisk in eggs one at a time until smooth and glossy. Add espresso. Add dry ingredients; mix until dry and wet are just combined. Pour batter in pan, bake for 35-40 minutes. Let cool.

To make ganache: Melt chocolate and butter in a sauce pan over low heat, stir in sugar. Whisk until sugar is melted. Once melted, let cool to room temperature. Whip chocolate mixture with heavy cream and espresso in a Kitchen Aide or by hand until creamy and glossy. Spread ganache on top of brownies and refrigerate for 2 hours before serving.

For some other Santa Fe recipes, check out the following sites:

I used to have a coffee mug with this logo on it. Wow--I guess that is an antique too!

I am calling my sister now to have her send that Mark Miller’s Coyote Cafe Cookbook (circa 1989) back to me. I bought her this book over twenty years ago. I think I want to borrow it!

Unfortunately, that is all my musings on Santa Fe. Every time things have gotten heavy at work this week, we have called each other and said, “Our bags can be packed in thirty minutes,” or if it is really bad, “We can leave immediately and just buy some clothes there.”

I can’t wait for our return trip. May it be soon.