Recipe: Viva Las Vegas Queso Fundido

My best friend since 5th grade is a gal named Lori. She’s great. You’ve not met someone who is as creative, as artistic, as funny as this girl.  So my pal Lori is in promotional products. She can put your logo on just about anything and she can tell you where that pen your dentist gave you came from and what it cost them to produce it.  As it turns out, right after Las Vegas celebrates adult entertainment in January, they have a whole week devoted to promotional products.

And that ya’ll, is what took me to Las Vegas for the first time. Let me tell you, Vegas is a place I am happy I saw with Lori. She and I have a similar taste for the debauchery and it involves food.

As an aside, just so you understand just how nice my friend is, we took a cab to get an In ‘n Out burger because if you’ve been to Vegas you know In N Out is off the strip.  Lori bought the cabbie a burger. Isn’t that nice? She’s just like that. She’s nice to everyone. Creepy people too. That’s usually when her husband and I don’t find it so cute, but still, I think the burger for the cabbie was a nice gesture.

Anyway, one of the best places we ate while there was Bobby Flays’ Mesa Grill in Caesar’s. Since eating at his restaurant in Vegas, I’ve eaten at the one in New York and the one in Vegas is better. Not sure why, but it is. Maybe it’s because I had the queso in Vegas. It’s sooooo gooooood and sooooo vegassssllyyy sinful. If only I could keep what happened in Vegas in Vegas, but I have to share this queso. I know we are all used to velveeta and rotel, but please trust me…… this is so simple and so much better.  Ok so it’s not as simple as the rotel/velveeta  microwave version, but I promise you the extra steps are worth it and will be a hit at any party you attend.  It is queso fundido with a roasted poblano vinaigrette.  You can find the recipe there and print it off or keep reading so you can see my pictures. 🙂

Here’s what you need:

For the poblano vinaigrette:

2 poblanos, roasted, peeled, seeded, and chopped

3 Tbsp water

1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1 garlic clove, roughly chopped

drizzle of honey

1/4 cup canola oil

S&P

Throw it all in a blender and set aside.

For the QUESO FUNDIDO:

12 ounces of monterrey jack cheese, grated

1 cup whole milk

1 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 Tbsp flour

goat cheese

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

In a sauce pan over medium heat, melt the butter and add the flour.  Cook for 1 minute while whisking. Add the milk and allow to thicken slightly.  Add the grated cheese, S&P and stir until cheese is melted.  Pour into a cast iron skillet and top with goat cheese.  Heat under the broiler until the cheese is melty and the goat cheese is lightly brown.

Are you ready for this?

Como se dice sinfully delicious en espanol? QUESO FUNDIDO

Recipe: Stuffed poblano a la whatever

Well ya’ll should really be sad.  I was working on this great post about GUACAVICHE that was reminiscent of what I had on my SPI road trip, but alas the camera and I were not in sync and all the pictures I took came out completely blank.  I could tell you how to make it, but I think pictures are nice and well…….I kinda want to make it again anyway.  I did get one good shot.

To be continued....served with Julio chips. Que bueno!

So instead I’m going to post about what you do when you look in your refrigerator and have all the leftovers from making guacaviche as well as some random things you bought while shopping at Central Market.

(Let me just put in a quick word about HEB/Central Market grocery stores.  I am hopelessly devoted to Central Market.  I could spend hours wandering through their maze of a store and I think I’ve come close when I went on a Saturday before a holiday.)

On to the recipe……if I had to pick a favorite pepper  (and people ask me all the time to pick a favorite pepper. OK no they don’t) I would pick the poblano.  It is mild enough that you can easily control the heat of whatever dish you want to make, but has enough spice that you know it will add a kick of flavor all its own.  It is also super simple to stuff with whatever you have on hand and become a main dish.

In most restaurants in Texas, you will find the poblano filled with cheese and fried and in some places they will even cover it in more cheese. Yum-O!! but very gordo.  I like it roasted and stuffed as opposed to stuffed and fried.  Although the fried is worth a try if you have never had it.

Stuffing:

1 poblano

1 sweet potato, small dice

1/2 can of black beans, rinsed

1/4 yellow onion, diced

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1 tsp s&p, 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp paprika

Salsa verde:

3 tomatillos, halved (up to 6 if they are small)

1/4 red onion

1 clove garlic

1 jalapeno, with or without seeds depending on if you want the extra heat

handful of cilantro

juice of 1 lime

s&p, to taste

Garnish:

Mexican crema and/or queso fresco (or whatever kind of cheese or sour cream you might have on hand)

Roast the pepper under the broiler and then do the thing where you allow it to steam in a bowl under a towel.  After it cools, pull off the charred skin and slice down one side to pull out the seeds.  This can be kinda frustrating since the skin will be super tender and if it tears and falls apart well then just serve it alongside the filling.  It won’t look the same obviously, but it will taste the same and it’s definitely not worth getting frustrated over and throwing away.

In a 400 degree oven, roast the diced sweet potatoes that have been tossed in olive oil, salt & pepper, and a little bit of cumin for about 25-30 minutes.

toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, and cumin - about 1 tsp of each spice

Alongside, roast the tomatillos, red onion, jalapeno, and garlic that have been tossed with olive oil, s&p for about 15 minutes.

Toss with olive oil and season with salt and pepper

After 15 minutes, transfer tomatillo mix to a blender and add the cilantro and lime juice.  Blend until it is a smooth, sauce-like consistency.  Check the seasoning and add salt as needed.

what your roasted pepper should look like and salsa verde.......mi favorito

In a stovetop skillet, heat olive oil over medium and add the yellow onion.  Allow to cook for 2-3 minutes then add the red bell pepper.  Season with dash of salt & pepper.  Allow a few minutes for the pepper and onion to cook and add the black beans.  At this point, you just want to get it warm until the sweet potatoes are done cooking.

When the sweet potatoes come out of the oven, hit them with about 1/2 tsp of paprika and add to the skillet.  Let flavors blend, check seasoning, and you are now ready to stuff.  This makes enough to stuff 2 large poblanos or 3-4 small ones.

And there you have it.  Sweet potato-stuffed poblano with salsa verde.  As you can see, you can take this concept and adapt it to whatever you have on hand — ground turkey, scrambled eggs, sausage — the possibilities are endless.  Let me know if you make it and what ingredients you decide to use!

Buen apetito!