This year I discovered a new pesto variation. My girlfriend who often travels to New Mexico learned to add green chile powder to the basil, nuts, garlic and olive oil essence. When she first described green chile pesto, I pictured diced green chiles. No, green chile pesto calls for New Mexico green chile powder, or ground dried green chiles.
Genovese basil
This new green chile pesto has a nice garlic bite, fresh bright green flavor from the basil, and just the right measure of spicy heat from the powdered green chile. Taste and add more of the light green powder if you like more heat!
This homemade whole wheat pizza dough is THE BEST, a winner. Every time I make pizza for friends, they say something like, “WOW! this crust is so nice and thin!” “What’s your secret?”
This crispy grill-roasted kale is the coolest, most interesting fun vegetable trick I’ve discovered all summer. Vitamin-rich kale becomes a crispy surprise nibble with just a rub of olive oil, a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and a quick roast on the grill.
Grill-roasted kale is a fun appetizer at to barbecue potlucks. The only prep is wash, then lightly coat the kale leaves with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Grab a beer or margarita and hang out at the grill, turning the leaves over after a minute, as they become crisp. When someone wanders over, offer conversation along with a crispy kale leaf right off the grill. People are blown away with grill-roasted kale’s texture and flavor. Even a professed kale-hater can’t believe what they are tasting.
It doesn’t matter if the kale is curly, red Russian or Lacinato, they all can be roasted directly on a hot grill.
With curly kale, you want to remove the stems and large inner ribs. If you are roasting the flatter Lacinato, aka Tuscan kale, leave the ribs intact, so the leaves keep their long shape. Lacinato kale ribs are tender enough to eat. If your Lacinato leaves are large, just eat around the ribs that might not get tender in the roasting.
Curly or flat, you’re going to go love crispy grill-roasted kale!
Note: If it’s not grilling season–toast your kale in the oven, just until it’s crispy.
Make it a fabulous week–get outside and grill something delicious!
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This is a clever way to serve kale, as an appetizer. People are always surprised how delicious it is. Be generous with the oil. One bunch of kale serves about 4 people.
1bunch kale, stems removed (remove inner ribs from curly kale)
About 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
sea salt, or garlic or onion salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Preheat a grill to medium flame or the oven to 375° degrees. Wash the kale and dry it thoroughly. Toss it in a bowl with the olive oil, gently rubbing the leaves so they are lightly coated with oil on both sides.
Arrange as many leaves as you can on the grill. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Using tongs, turn the leaves over as needed until you see golden brown spots. Remove the from the grill as they become slightly crisp--done.
Alternatively arrange the kale on baking sheets in a single layer and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Roast in the oven 10 to 15 minutes, turning over the leaves after about 6 minutes. When the kale is crisp, it is ready. Season with more salt and pepper if you wish.
Notes
Monitor the roasting kale closely; it can quickly turn from perfectly crispy to over-toasted.
Here are a couple of old photos of oven-roasted kale.
This chocolate cake batter mixes up as fast a boxed cake mix. It bakes into a tender chocolate cake and has become my go-to chocolate cake. Two bowl and a wire whisk–no electric mixer needed.
Use it as your basic vegan chocolate cake. The penuche filling and chocolate glaze are not dairy-free and therefore not vegan.
Give your enchiladas some extra special love–instead of red or green enchilada sauce, give them mole! Here’s a casserole of corn tortillas stacked with vegetables and cheese, all coated with rich dark reddish-brown chocolate chile sauce–mole enchiladas with spinach, potatoes and carrots.
You could call stacked enchiladas Mexican lasagna. Layering the tortillas and fillings for stacked enchiladas is much easier compared to rolling the fillings up inside the tortillas.
A little mole goes in the layering and then a generous ladle of sauce is poured on top before baking. You will love how the earthy chile-forward mole balances the spinach bitterness and potato and carrot sweetness.
Make your own chile chocolate mole sauce or purchase a good quality concentrated mole paste and dilute it. The ratio is usually 1 part mole paste to 4 parts water or broth.
Day of the Dead Altar
Oaxaca, Mexico is one of the best cities in Mexico to celebrate the Day of the Dead. Many Mexican families gather for the November 2 holiday, to honor their deceased ancestors, relatives and friends. Day of the Dead, Dia de Los Muertos, is not a morbid celebration, but an all-night party, with huge feasts of tamales and chocolate and mole and flowers and incense and tequila!
This Mexican holiday brings out the best mole sauces. Each family has their own recipe or they order a custom mole paste from the noisy-busy specialty market where “homemade” chocolate and/or mole are ground while you wait.
Mexican cooks usually drape turkey or chicken with mole, though on occasion the unique sauce will show up in enchiladas, like these.
Make it a fabulous week–get in the kitchen and cook something uniquely delicious!
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Mole Enchiladas with Spinach, Potatoes and Carrots
You could call these stacked enchiladas Mexican lasagna--enchilada flavors and fillings layered with tortillas instead of pasta. Serves about 8 persons.
1bunch spinach or arugula, stems removed and discarded, leaves coarsely chopped, about 10 ounces
8corn tortillas
¾cupcrumbled cotija or feta cheese
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Instructions
Steam the potatoes and carrots separately until they are just tender to the bite, but not too soft, about 10 minutes.
Heat the oil in a large skillet. Cook and stir the onions until they are translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook and stir another minute or so. Stir in the potatoes and carrots and the spinach. Cover the pan and let the arugula wilt a few minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush some oil in a deep casserole dish. Ladle about 1/2 cup of sauce in the bottom.
Lay a tortilla down, sprinkle a little about 1/3 cup of the vegetable mixture on top and then about a tablespoon of the cotija cheese. Spread with a few tablespoons of sauce. Lay down another tortilla, follow with vegetables and cheese and sauce, continuing this stacking and layering until you are out of filling. End with a tortilla dipped in the sauce. Sprinkle with more cheese.
If there are leftover vegetables, toss them with some of the mole, and spoon them around the sides of the stack.
Bake until the sauce begins to bubble around the edges, about 30 minutes.
Hello and welcome!
I’m Letty.
Here you'll discover healthy meatless and plant-based recipes made with seasonal whole foods, all with the goal to inspire your cooking!
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