Peruvian Mac and Cheese

I found this recipe in a great Peruvian cookbook (ceviche).
Its fantastic.  In my opinion, its the best mac and cheese going.


500g dried macaroni
1 cup of sauce Huancaina (to follow)
1/4 cup half and half
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tblsp olive oil (optional)
salt

Cook macaroni in water according to package directions, until al dente.
Prepare an oven dish large enough to hold the macaroni and sauce and turn on the broiler.

pour the sauce and half and half into a saucepan and gently heat without boiling.  mix with the macaroni.  then pour into the cassarole dish.  top with cheddar and a drizzle of olive oil (if desired) and put under the broiler until the cheese is melted and bubbling.


Sauce (Huancaina)
makes 2 cups
olive oil
small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
4 tblsp amarillo chile paste
7 tblsp canola oil
50g feta cheese
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk
50g cream crackers, crushed
salt
lime

saute onion and garlic until translucent and transfer to a blender.  Add everything up to the evaporated milk and blitz.  blitz a second time with the crackers added.  taste and adjust with more crackers, or salt, or even a bit of lime juice to balance the creaminess.

Chili 2.0

After many iterations, this is the latest version of how I make Chili. Originally based on Heston Blumenthal's recipe from "Further adventures in search of perfection", I have made a number of changes and a few simplifications. It takes two days to make, not counting the leftover brisket.

Equipment needed: pressure cooker, smoker, outdoor stove burner(optional)

The first day, you need to do the following:

• make the chili powder blend
• prepare the beans
• smoke the beans and the ground beef
• pressure cook the beef rib mixture
  

the rest of the steps are done on the second day.


Make your chili powder blend!

Store bought chili powder by itself is boring. I tried mixing store bought chili powder with a number of dried chiles and other things.


Chili Powder blend

5-10g smoked paprika
other chiles to taste (new mexican, guajillo, california, ancho, others, to taste), bringing total to at least 80g



For the whole chiles, heat a nonstick fry pan and roast the chiles for 2 min, then grind them into a powder and mix with the store bought chili powder. You can blend the chiles to your own taste. You may also want to consider some cumin in your chili powder blend (roasting cumin seeds with the chiles and grinding them is best). This chili powder is useful for many things. I like sprinkling a bit on top of eggs, or in guacamole, or on corn.

pressure cook the beef rib mixture:

3 beef ribs (get ribs with a decent amount of fat)

200-300g leftover brisket, the fattiest part you have, chopped up (optional, but recommended)

1 medium onion

1-2 sliced carrots

1/2 bottle red wine

2 chinese long peppers

450ml low salt beef stock

1/2 of a 798ml can of crushed tomatoes

5g chives

2.5g dried tarragon

1 bay leaf

2 tsp of chili powder blend

sear the meat in your pressure cooker with some olive oil, remove and saute the chili powder for 2 min. add onion, carrot and saute until soft. add wine, deglaze and boil, reducing by 2/3. Take the veggies out and put back in inside some cheesecloth. add ribs back in along with everything else and pressure cook on high pressure for one hour. When finished, cool off the mixture, throw out the veggies in the cheesecloth (squeeze out liquid), separate meat from the bones (discard bones) and shred the meat. Transfer into another container and refrigerate.  The next day, scrape off the fat from the refrigerated rib meat mixture, save the fat for use later.

Prepare the beans:
1000g water
5g salt
300g dried kidney beans or black beans
1/2 can of crushed tomatoes
1 bay leaf

add everything to the pressure cooker and pressure cook on low pressure for 45 minutes. When finished, put the beans into a container to fit in your smoker, an aluminum foil pan would be ideal.  If you want to use canned beans, it is ok: skip the pressure cooker step and just pour the canned beans with the crushed tomatoes and bay leaf onto the aluminum foil pan.

 Smoke the beans and the ground beef

2 lbs of ground beef

beans from above 

Put the ground beef in an aluminum pan suitable to be put in the smoker.  put the beans and the ground beef in the smoker and smoke for 3 hrs at 225.  Note some people think browning the ground beef first is better.  You can google this and decide which method of smoking ground beef works best for you.  The beans are along for the ride.  As long as the beans are smoked for 2 hrs you are good.  if you brown the ground beef first, see the browning step from day 2 below and do that and add the meat to the smoker after browning.

Day 2

After you have scraped off the fat you can save from the ribs/brisket mixture, you can mix the beans in with this and throw it all in your slow cooker.

3 or 4 red/yellow/orange peppers
1 large, fresh jalapeno


Roast 3 red/yellow/green/orange (your choice) peppers. Set aside to cool and then remove skins and dice. Dice 1 large, fresh jalapeno pepper and mix with the roasted peppers, store in refrigerator until later.

Make a finishing oil:
60g olive oil
10g chili blend
2.5g cumin
3 tblsp lime juice
2.5g tabasco
1 tblsp jack daniels
2.5g ketchup
1/4 tsp worchestershire

heat the oil and add everything else, mix, simmer 5 min then cool off and refrigerate. if you didnt put any cumin in the chili powder you may want to have more cumin here, to your taste.


2 lbs ground beef, from the smoker
40g chili powder blend
2-3 whole star anise
2 med onions
1 carrot, shredded
5 cloves crushed garlic
1 large fresh jalapeno, minced
2-3 tblsp crushed tomatoes
1 375ml bottle jack daniels, (minus the tblsp used above)

divide the ground beef into small batches for frying (say 8). heat a large fry pan to medium high. add a batch of ground beef along with 1/9 of the reserved fat from the previous day's cooking of the ribs. brown the meat (until *browned* not grey). Setting aside each when done. after the last batch, deglaze the pan with some water and pour into meat. Add the browned ground beef to your simmering bean/rib meat mixture.

Reduce heat to medium, then add the last remaining bit of reserved fat (if you run out, use olive oil) and dump in the chili powder and the star anise and fry for a couple minutes. add the onion and cook for about 15 min. Turn the heat down to medium low and add the garlic, and jalapeno and carrot and cook another 10 min. this process reminds me of making a curry from scratch. The smells from your mixture of chiles will stand out. Add the crushed tomato and cook another 5 min. Pick out the star anise and then mix into the chili.
Pour the jack daniels into the pan and flame off (may want to do this outside). bring the jack daniels to a boil over medium-high heat and deglaze the pan. Boil for a few min then add to the chili.

Heat the chili until it boils. Now its time to taste and adjust the salt. Then simmer as long as you want. When you are ready to serve, stir in the roasted peppers and fresh chopped jalapeno. serve with the finishing oil, adding a tsp or so onto each serving to taste.

Cataplana "Canadian"

When my wife and I visited Portugal we were introduced to a delicious dish called Cataplana.  In Portugal various regions have their own versions of it.  One we enjoyed in the algarve was chicken, chorizo and clams.  Below I've substituted PEI mussels for the clams - hence the "canadian" bit.  If you want to make your own version with different seafood or different meats, feel free.  Just ensure you keep the smoked paprika and portugese style chorizo, as it isnt the same without those ingredients.

The term cataplana refers to the kind of pot it is cooked in.  A Cataplana pot looks kind of like a big fry pan with a lid that can be locked down - you can lock it and flip it over on the stove while cooking.   You can get away with cooking this in an ordinary pot with a lid.

1 tblsp olive oil
8 oz Chourico (portugese Chorizo), cut into chunky dice
3/4 lb diced chicken
2 medium onions, sliced
1 bay leaf
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 28oz can diced tomatoes
3 potatoes, peeled and diced
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/3 tsp smoked paprika
2 lbs PEI mussels, cleaned and prepared for cooking
pepper
3 tblsp chopped parsley


In a pot with a lid, add olive oil chicken and chorico and cook for 5 or 6 minutes over medium high until the sausage has released some of its oil and the chicken and sausage is beginning to brown.  Reduce heat to medium and add the onions and bay leaf, cooking till soft (5-7 min).  Add garlic and cook a min more.   add the wine and deglaze the bottom of the pot.  add the tomatoes, potatoes and the paprika.  Cover and let it cook for until the potatoes and chicken are cooked through.  Add the mussels and raise the heat to medium-high.  cover with a lid.  cook for about 7 minutes until the mussels open.  discard any mussels that do not open.  Season with pepper.

Ladle the result into bowls, eat with some really good bread to soak up the sauce.