no esta mal, porque es tamal

"i got some ingredients, so you can make tamales!" my dad told me, "it'll be fun!" little did we know, making tamales is actually a 4 hour long ordeal...not really a quick week night dinner. nonetheless, i got to work and single handedly turned our kitchen into a tamale factory.
Pork Tamales makes about 20 (serving size =2 per person)
*2 lbs pork (or chicken)
* 1 teaspoon each garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, and paprika
* salt and pepper
*4 tablespoons flour (actually i used 2 T of whole wheat flour and 2 T of cornmeal...it was all we had and it worked fine)
*1 bag corn husks (my bag was 8 oz, but i had a ton leftover)
*4 lb package prepared masa
1. put the meat in a large pot and cover with water. bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 2 hours, until meat easily shreds. remove from pot, reserving cooking liquid, and shred the meat with forks, like so:



2. meanwhile, turn up the heat on your pot of water. bring to boil and cook until liquid is reduced to about 2 cups. turn heat down and stir in spices, a dash each of salt and pepper, and flour. stir for about 3 minutes, adding more flour or water if necessary until mixture is like a medium thick gravy.
3. soak corn husks in water for at least 10 minutes. spread masa evenly over each corn husk, then top with a spoonful of meat and a spoonful of gravy (see top photo above, although you can put more meat and gravy than that in your tamal). leave about 1/2 inch of corn husk un-masa-ed on each side.
4. fold bottom of corn husk (the small side...looks like the bottom of the "v") over filling, then repeat with the two sides, leaving top open. repeat until you've used up all your masa and/or all your meat.
5. place tamales in a steamer basket over boiling water in a large pot. tamales should be standing straight, with the open parts on top. cover and steam for about 45 minutes, until corn husks peel off easily.
the final product, served with beans, rice, greens and avocado.
-Lola
check out this giveaway!

italian inspired lentil stew

to tell you the truth, i made this a while ago and i'm not sure exactly what was in it. i do remember it was quite tasty though. the thing is, i love "recipes" like this because you don't really have to measure...i tend to just pick a theme (hence "italian inspired") and just throw in whatever veggies and protein look good and fit that theme. let's see...we've clearly got onions, carrots, and lentils. the onion was about half a red onion, chopped then sauteed in olive oil until soft and a bit translucent. there may have been a clove or two of minced garlic in with that too (and if not, there should have been because garlic is almost always a welcome addition). i also added a handful of carrot chips after a few minutes of sauteing. when my veggies were satisfactorily cooked, i added a small can of tomato sauce (1/2 cups perhaps?) and a generous sprinkle of italian seasoning, before finally adding about a cup of cooked lentils, stirring, topping with a dollop of pesto sauce (of course, you can skip this and make the recipe vegan), and enjoying with a warm slice of sourdough bread.
-Lola

homemade peanut butter cups

happy 2010 everyone!
my dad loves reese's peanut butter cups. i send him emails whenever i spot a new variety, and he sends me back a review (there are more types of reese's than you might think. i believe his favorites are original and peanut butter lovers'). so when rita and i spotted averie's homemade pb cups, we knew we had to make some for our dad's christmas present.
they were delicious! my dad kept asking how we made them and said they were "even better than reese's". high praise indeed.
they're also super easy. just melt some chocolate chips (use a microwave or a double boiler). spread some of the chocolate on the bottom and sides of paper muffin liners. let harden for about 10 minutes, then add a small spoonful of peanut butter to each cup. top with more chocolate (we added sprinkles too, because sprinkles make everything better. it's a fact), then freeze until hardened. (averie has better instructions than we do...with pictures too! click the link above. also, we used semi sweet chocolate chips and natural crunchy peanut butter).
-Lola

las enchiladas

as promised, the traditional christmas enchiladas...
yum!
basically, grate up a giant pile of cheddar and jack cheese, add some sliced black olives, sliced jalapenos, and a diced onion. now, get some corn tortillas and some enchilada sauce (my mother's "special recipe"= sauce from a can. we've never made homemade sauce). dip each tortilla in some sauce, then cook in a frying pan for about 2 minutes on each side, until it's still soft, but just starting to get crispy. place in a baking pan and fill with a scoop of the cheese mixture. roll up, and place in pan seam side down. continue until you have as many enchiladas as you want, or have used all the cheese mixture. top with more sauce and olives. bake about 40 minutes at 350 degrees F.
lola

ensalada de nochebuena (christmas eve salad)

isn't that a pretty salad?
i love holiday traditions, and my family's christmas eve enchilada dinner is one of my favorites (yes, rita and i were/are those lucky kids whose family did both christmas and hanukkah). every year, i've helped my mom make giant masses of cheesy enchiladas. sometimes, she suggests a change, but i am firm on my devotion to the enchilada recipe. the accompanying salad, however, varies from year to year. this christmas, we found a real winner, from an article in the san francisco chronicle (about another family's traditional christmas enchiladas, so we knew it was meant for us).

ensalada de nochebuena (christmas eve salad)
Serves 8-10

"This fruit salad has traveled with me from Queretaro, Mexico, to California, with additions from friends in the Southwest. It is the perfect counterpoint to spicy food. The latest addition is the Pomegranate Pink Dressing inspired by Fonda San Miguel in Austin.

• The dressing
• 1 cup sour cream
• -- Seeds from 1 large pomegranate (reserve 1/2 cup for garnish)
• 4 tablespoons agave syrup or honey
• -- Pinch of kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• The salad
• 4 navel oranges, peel and pith sliced off and discarded
• 1/2 pound jicama, peeled, cut into tiny batons
• 1 cup diced fresh pineapple (about 2 slices)
• 3 Gala apples with peel, cored, diced
• -- Juice from 1 Meyer lemon, or more orange juice
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• -- Pinch of kosher salt
• 2 bananas, sliced
• 2 to 4 tablespoons minced cilantro
• -- Heaping 1/2 cup roasted salted peanuts
• 3 small orange beets, roasted and peeled (see Note)

For the dressing: Combine the sour cream, pomegranate seeds, agave syrup, salt and vanilla in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Blend until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

For the salad: Dice oranges and combine with jicama batons, diced pineapple, and diced apples. Squeeze lemon juice over the fruit, to help prevent browning. Sprinkle with sugar and pinch of salt. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Just before serving, add the bananas, cilantro, peanuts and beets, and sprinkle with the reserved pomegranate seeds.

Serve fruit salad in small bowls, dolloped with the dressing.

Note: To roast the beets, scrub well and cut in half. Place on a large square of foil. Drizzle with several teaspoons of agave syrup, a little olive oil, and a pinch of salt. Wrap up tightly and bake in a preheated 350° oven for about 45 minutes, or until tender when pierced with a small knife. Cool and dice.

Per serving: 192 calories, 4 g protein, 34 g carbohydrate, 6 g fat (2 g saturated), 5 mg cholesterol, 53 mg sodium, 6 g fiber." -sfgate.com

-Lola

(enchilada recipe to come soon)

giveaway time!

and another giveaway

sa bhaile!

i think that means "homeward!" although i briefly started speaking italian in my irish oral exam, so who knows, really. anyway, sorry we've been slightly absent lately. finals and everything. but after monday, we'll be done, then heading home where we'll have a real kitchen and can bring you fabulous and impressive recipes. see you soon! and merry christmas to all who celebrate it!
-Lola

more artistic endeavors

we're in the midst of finals week, plus I've come down with a cold, so the food hasn't been terribly interesting here at chez twin in the past couple days. We haven't got any food to blog, so in the meantime, please enjoy my final project for drawing class:











-Rita