Tag Archives: cilantro

Hatch Green Chile, Sweet Potato and Red Lentil Tortilla Bake

3 Oct

It was Hatch Chile season a few weeks ago (see the Smart Kitchen’s witty writeup) and I was seduced by the smell of freshly roasting chilies outside of the grocery store and picked up a still warm bag of roasted chilies.  We had company that weekend, so the bag got tossed in the fridge and I remembered them 3 days later.  I pondered what to make and came up with this tortilla bake.  It was really good, but not too kid friendly (at least to my spice-averse munchkins) due to the heat.

It is a bit time intensive.  I prepared it in shifts and you could easily make the components the day before.

Green Salsa

First, make a green salsa.  Or buy one.  I won’t tell, heck, I won’t even know.

If you want to make one, I used  this Tyler Florence recipe for the green salsa portion and followed it exactly. Since I made no changes, I’m not posting the recipe.  I think Tyler Florence has more money than me and I don’t want any lawsuits for copyright infringement.  First the tomatillos, onion and jalapeno are boiled together.

Before

After

The cooked tomatillos, onions and jalapenos were blended with cilantro and lime juice to make over 4 cups of salsa.  I saved 2.5 cups for future use.

Red Lentil, Hatch Chile and Sweet Potato Filling

Ingredients:

  • 1 medium onion, sliced
  • 2 Tbsp grapeseed or olive oil
  • 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1.5 tsp cumin
  • 0.5 tsp chili powder
  • 1 1/4 c diced yellow squash
  • 1 1/2 c cubed sweet potatoes
  • 1 c red lentils, rinsed and sorted
  • 2 c water (or veggie broth)
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 1 c chopped, peeled roasted green chilies (I used Roasted Hatch Chilies)
  • 1 c cilantro (less if you aren’t addicted to cilantro like I am)

Directions:

1. Heat oil over medium heat and add onions.  Cook slowly until browned.

2.  Increase heat to medium high.  Add garlic, cumin and chili powder and saute for about 1 minute to slightly toast the spices.

3.  Add the yellow squash and saute 2 minutes.

4. Add the rinsed lentils and sweet potatoes, along with the water or broth.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to simmer and cook, covered for 15-20 minutes or until lentils and sweet potatoes are tender.

5.  Turn off heat and stir in cilantro and the roasted chilies.  Remove from heat.

Corn Tortilla Layer

I tried a similar recipe a month or so ago and used corn tortillas straight out of the package.  They ended up a little soggy in the final product (both the filling and salsa are pretty liquid-y), so I used this technique for this recipe.  Baking the tortillas dries them out a little and allows them to maintain some texture in the final dish.

Ingredients:

  • 8-10 small corn tortillas
  • Cooking Spray

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2.  Cut tortillas into eights.  Arrange on a greased cookie sheet and spray lightly with cooking spray.
  3. Bake 8-10 minutes, turning once, or until slightly crispy.

Once you’ve got your three components prepared, the recipe gets pretty easy.

Hatch Green Chile, Sweet Potato and Red Lentil Tortilla Bake

Ingredients:

  • 8-10 corn tortillas, baked as described above
  • 1.5 cups green salsa
  • 2 cups Red Lentil, Sweet Potato and Hatch Chile filling
  • 1/2 c shredded cheese
Directions:
  1. Place a layer of 1/3 of the corn tortillas, followed by 1/3 of the green salsa and 1/3 of the filling.

2. Repeat two more times, ending with chile filling on top.

3. Top with cheese.

4. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until cheese starts to brown and casserole starts to bubble a bit.

Dinner is served!

As a bonus, you’ll have leftover green salsa and chile, sweet potato filling.  I froze the filling to use in a future dinner and we’ve been enjoying the salsa with chips and atop dinners.

Repeater Recipes – Broccoli Citrus Salad

8 Jul

My very first foray into broccoli slaw* was to make a simple dressing of apple cider vinegar, olive oil and brown sugar and toss with a bag of broccoli slaw and some dried cranberries.  I still make that salad, although I now use agave nectar or honey in place of the brown sugar.  One day, however, I flipped over my bag of broccoli slaw and spotted a recipe that rocked my broccoli slaw world.**

I modified based on what I had on hand, took a bite and sighed happily.  Broccoli?  Good.  Oranges?  Good.  Cilantro?  Good.  All together?  Perfect!

*Quick fact about my husband: he hates the word ‘slaw’.
**If he read my blog, he’d be so disgusted by this paragraph, as I use the word ‘slaw’ three times.

This recipe is best after sitting for a few hours and keeps well for a couple of days.  It’s also great for bringing to cookouts or potlucks, as it is a refreshing dish among a sea of heavy foods.

Broccoli Orange Salad

first air date: July 19, 2010

Ingredients:
1 bag (16 ounces) broccoli slaw
2 Fresh oranges, peeled and cut into bite size pieces - use one orange for zesting before peeling
2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

DRESSING
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice (this time I used 2 T lemon juice and 1 T lime juice)
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange peel
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In tightly covered container, shake all dressing ingredients until well mixed.

2. Pour dressing over broccoli, oranges and cilantro and mix well to combine.

Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus (aka Husband Friendly Hummus)

26 Jun

This is the first hummus that I’ve been able to get my husband to eat.  While I think that chickpeas are one of nature’s perfect foods, he isn’t so star-struck by the humble garbanzo bean.  He does like these Chickpea Veggie Burgers, but, up to now, that is the only chickpea dish I’ve been able to make that he happily eats.

I modified this recipe from Peas and Thank You and found it to be my first husband-pleasing hummus.  As a double endorsement, my father in law, who is most certainly not a chickpea eater, ate about half the bowl of this dip before asking what it was.  Upon learning it was hummus, he raised his eyebrows, shrugged and went back to eating.  My mother-in-law and I secretly high-fived behind his back.  The two of us are all about tricking our men into eating chickpeas.

Pardon the less than stellar photo.  Don’t let it deter you from making this dish…..

Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus

  • 1.5 cups cooked chickpeas (or one 14 oz. can of chickpeas, drained, rinsed)
  • 1/4 -1/2 c. water (or liquid reserved from can, if using canned)
  • 1 medium jalapeño, seeded, cored and chopped
  • 2 T. fresh lime juice
  • 2 Tbsp tahini
  • 1 t garlic powder
  • salt to taste
  • 1/2 -3/4 c. cilantro (I went with a heaping 3/4 c, but I am a bit obsessed with cilantro)
Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.  Add more water if needed to reach desired consistency.
Cilantro – are you a fan?  I used to despise it, but now I eat it almost daily.  I juice it, put it on my salads, in my hummus, on tacos and sandwiches.  
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 80 other followers