Southwestern

Cheese and Chilies Pancakes

April 3, 2011 by Charles 2 Comments

If you know Caitlin and me, you know that we love a good pancake. You can find us at IHOP now and then, but for the most part, we prefer making our own. And boy have we: from gingerbread to butternut squash to lemon ricotta.

From the sheer number of pancakes we make, you might think that pancakes hold a special place in our relationship. You’d be right — I made banana sour cream pancakes for Caitlin on our first date (and in spite of my friends’ concerns about having a date in the morning).

So when Caitlin suggested …

Blue Corn Posole

May 4, 2010 by Charles 2 Comments

When Caitlin and I were in Santa Fe, several of the restaurants offered a bowl of posole as we waited.

Posole is a thick soup or stew, made from nixtamalized corn (corn that has been treated or soaked with lime and water, or calcium hydroxide). The nixtamalizing process improves the flavor and aroma of the corn, increases its nutritional value, and makes the corn easier to grind. Nixtamalized corn is also referred to as hominy. You may be able to find it in a local grocery store, though I went to a special Latin American grocery store to find mine. (where it was called pozole). It’s also available online.

Because corn was a sacred plant …

Yogurt and Blue Corn Cornbread

May 3, 2010 by Charles 6 Comments

A few weeks back, Caitlin and I went to Santa Fe for her Spring Break.

Driving into Santa Fe, we were greeted by breathtaking scenery, snow-capped mountains rising in the distance, with parched tracts of desert-land and spotted cacti dotting the roadside. The city itself encapsulated this sense of beauty and wonder. The entire city burst with color. Every building in Santa Fe was built in the adobe style, and the pink hues created a stark contrast with the cloudless blue sky. Dragon-red chili peppers hung from nearly every veranda, tempting both your visual and olfactory senses. The city teemed with art – from the Georgia O’Keefe Museum to the record number of galleries to the Native American artists selling their craft in the open-air downtown square.

The cuisine was yet another form of art available in Santa Fe. New Mexico is justifiably famous…