El Diablo

My husband and I like spicy food.

No, really, we LOVE spicy food.

We also love Tortilla Soup.

On Wednesday this year, Cinco de Mayo, I had a grand plan to make some yummy cilantro lime tacos - even making the tortillas from scratch!! However,  back in January about my sweet little cat got sick. She's been holding her own, but this week did it again. She wasn't really that sick, just not eating much - which had us worried. We didn't get great news, but that's another post. My point is that my Cinco de Mayo was not a day of celebration. It stunk, actually.

So today, since I wasn't working, I had another grand plan. Make the tacos. But it was rainy. And it was cold. And it was a soup day. So I had a change of plans ... chicken tortilla soup. I had most of the ingredients. The only thing I didn't have seemed simple enough - chiles in adobo. I've seen them many times. Only today, I couldn't find them. I went to my friendly neighborhood store and all the "hispanic" goods consisted of endless jars of salsa, a few cans of enchilada sauce and a few cans of green chiles. Very disappointing. I found myself heading off to Whole Foods where I KNEW they would have them - and they did. They weren't exotic or organic or really unusual. Why didn't the store down the street have them?? Very annoying.

Anyway, so I had all my ingredients including the chiles. I was a little generous with the chiles. Perhaps a tad too generous. It was good. but it was also VERY spicy. Almost TOO much, which is a lot for me. But I liked it. It made eating it a challenge. We called it... El Diablo.

Also very filling since I needed 4 or 5 glasses of water to go along with it!

Want the recipe ?! It's a Cooks Illustrated recipe. I can't tell you how much I recommend subscribing if you are a dedicated home cook. But if you REALLY don't want to pay for it, here's someone who broke the rules and posted this yummy tortilla soup recipe. (oh, and I added corn. Both David and I felt it needed corn. I don't know why. It just did.)

Yummy Yellow Rice Salad with a Kick

I love salads composed of rice, beans and/or pasta. My brain thinks I'm eating a healthy salad and my stomach is happy because it's actually FULL (unlike those salads with pitiful greens). For today's overcast / cloudy lunch, Rob and I whipped up a very bright and sunny Yellow Rice Salad with Roasted Peppers and Spicy Black Beans from Bon Appetit. It's good. REALLY GOOD.



I didn't realize it until I started collaborating on this blog, but I clearly have some cooking themes. Cilantro shows up A LOT. Lime Juice -- ditto. Cumin is also one of my favorite flavorings and I'm rather surprised that I haven't grown tired of it. This recipe is no exception. I had to add more roasted red peppers (shucks) to make up for the lack of green bell pepper, but it wasn't missed.

Corn Never Had It So Good

It's not corn season yet, so the frozen bagged version usually needs a little help (i.e., love) to coax out it's best qualities. Pair it with a spicy, salty salad and voila, corn-yum. Granted, once you add avocado, lime juice, cherry tomatoes, and cilantro you barely notice those cute yellow kernals, but it's all good.

I've tasted *other* black bean and corn salads... as there are many varieties. But this one has avocado. Who doesn't love avocado? Plus, this one also has a lime dressing.... mmmmm limey.... So this one is my favorite and I've made it enough times to know that it's also the favorite of many.
Black Bean and Corn Salad II from AllRecipes.com

So this past Saturday our neighbors (very kitchen-experienced) invited us and another set of neighbors (also very kitchen-saavy) over for dinner. After a delicious appetizer of spinach/artichoke dip and crusty french bread, we had a feast that included a beefy rib roast and cheesy scalloped potatoes. They were so so so tasty (naturally).

After much wine and bizarre discussions, we were pretty happy.

And then we had fresh berry handpies. Yes, perfect little pies that fit in your hand. Is there anything better than that?

Southern Salad

I tend to favor salads with heft, but not necessarily in the form of meat. I prefer pasta, rice, potato and bean salads. This bean salad suddenly shows up at our table at least twice a year, signaling the onset of spring or summer. It's cool and crisp, spicy and sharp. The heft appears as black-eyed peas, which I cannot usually locate on the canned shelves, (only dried, unless I'm in a health-food store).

This Black-Eyed Pea Salad recipe is from Sunset magazine. There are bountiful similar black-eyed pea salad recipes out there, but I like this one's coolness of the tomato and cucumber, and the addition of cilantro and serrano.

I always make it with one large modification: reduce the onion by one-half or more. Be sure to follow the instructions and rinse the onion to deaden the sharpness. It calls for lemon juice, but I prefer lime. Welcome Spring!

Spicy Tortilla Soup

Like Babs, I had a hankerin' for hot peppers this week (or is it every week?). Tortilla soup is a favorite in our house. I usually make it with chicken, but this time I decided to try something different. It always amazes me how freakin' delicious vegetarian cooking can be. This tortilla soup is technically vegan since there's no cheese and I rarely use sour cream. It's a Rachel Ray recipe (30 minutes) and she really scored big with us using this Corn and Salsa Tortilla Soup recipe. I'm giving it my highest rating, which is something I do maybe once every couple of months. It's that good. What I'm saying is that I'm currently trying to type while soup dribbles are running down my chin.

First you start roasting the poblano peppers in the oven until black and crispy on all sides. While that's doing its thing, brown the corn and onion in oil in a soup pot. Add garlic, brown. Add tomatoes (fire roasted is the only way to go), veg broth, S&P, and let it simmer. Peel off the skin of the cooled peppers, dice and throw into the pot.


One of the best features of this dish is that you bake the tortillas with cumin. You don't even put seasoning (except for S & P) in the soup until it's done. Put the crispy tortilla strips in the soup, add cilantro and lime juice, and top with avocado (we tend to go overboard with the last 3 ingredients). This is really really really tasty. YAM!