Calabacitas By Any Other Name Is Squash - A Dish Of My Youth

When I was a kid growing up in New Mexico you couldn't get me to eat squash if it was candy coated, dipped in chocolate and disguised as a super hero but you could always get me to eat Calabacitas. You see I didn't know what calabacitas was but I did know that I loved it and I did know that I hated squash. I wouldn't even taste squash if it was offered to me. I grew up in a family that spoke more spanish than english but we spoke english at home since my parents wanted us to grow up that way and squash was one of those english words that I could not possibly put in my mouth. Squash - thats what I did to bugs, thats what happened to toads that didn't make it across the road, squash was an absolutely gross word. Calabacitas, on the other hand had a tasty ring to it, calabacitas had cheese. Well to make a long story short you can imagine my surprise when I saw one of my aunts making calabacitas and she said "and now we add the squash" - the WHAT - I thought - no, don't ruin it but she did it anyway and I saw what she was putting in and it was zucchini - now I am completely confused. What the heck is going on here? It wasn't until I asked what does Calabacita mean that I learned it was SQUASH. I had been eating squash all along and loving it. I still prefer to say Calabacita or Zucchini and if I do eat a squash I use its name like Kabocha and when people say "whats Kabocha" then I have to say "squash" but I use that word sparingly. Enjoy my Calabacitas, its my favorite thing to eat in the summer.

I like to cook everything separately giving each item its own special attention and color and caramelization before combining them together. Its not the traditional way to make it because it is a bit more fussy but thats the way I like to do it - fussy.

Once everything is ready I mix it and today I had some Lambs Quarters, a delicious wild green, so it went into the skillet with my peeled and roasted chiles that I chopped up.

I don't always have fresh oregano but since its one of the herbs we have in abundance in the garden this year I will get to use it more often, what a treat, so a little fresh oregano that I chopped up, some melty cheese - I like muenster, and some warm corn tortillas and you are all set. If you want to add more cheese to your plate then do it because thats what I do.

All thats left to do now is try to get the right proportion of calabacitas to tortilla and just eat and eat until you balance it out- Calabacitas - its what squash wants to be.

A Perfect Bite - Creative Cooking Crew Challenge = Reverse Rellenos

This months challenge for the Creative Cooking Crew was probably the most challenging one so far. I base my entire life out of making perfect bites and I do it regularly so to have to make the perfect bite I could only think of one thing = my culture.

One of my favorite foods of all time has got to be the chile relleno. I make chiles relleno as often as I can and then I make them more often in the summer when the chiles are abundant.

So whats the process? You roast a chile, you peel the chile and you stuff the chile (thats the relleno part, relleno means stuffed) then you batter and fry the chile. I love them. Well for this challenge I did a Reverse Relleno - I did all the normal things except I put the chile on the inside.

I used both red and green peppers for contrast and flavor. For the green pepper I used a poblano and for the red pepper I used a nice big pimento pepper. I also roasted a yellow pepper and another pimento to use as a sauce on the plate.

A little wilted spinach with some garlic, a bit of avocado and some cotija cheese rounded it all out.

My Reverse Relleno will be making an appearance again and again, you can count on that. Its certainly more of a process than the standard relleno since I had to make the roulades then wrap them in plastic wrap and poach at 150 for 6 minutes then let cool then freeze until firm and then batter and fry before slicing into medallions for plating. In fact its a lot more of a process but way worth it in wow factor alone - and yes it is more than just one bite but after one bite you will want more, each bite is loaded with everything a good bite needs to have.

Just for fun here is another plate that wasn't quite what I was looking for in presentation terms. I wasn't happy with the cotija cheese all over everything. Picky me.

I also did one with some radish florets, and while it does look nice I felt like it was a little too nice, if thats at all possible. Trial and error, practice makes perfect and like a perfect bite - it is all highly subjective. Check back later and I will post the link to all the others.

choices

Whenever I am given a choice I choose seafood or food from my native New Mexico. Since it is now chile harvesting time in the Land of Enchantment and I have caring parents who have a food dehydrator I get the best dried green chiles you could ever imagine so I choose chile. You soak these in a little warm water just to soften and then chop em' up and you are good to go, they re-hydrate into the most plump and succulent chiles you could ever imagine. In a few weeks it is red chile season; after the green pods sit in the sun for a while they turn red, same chile - different flavor. There is so much you can do with chile, it is a fruit after all, but simple foods made with care are always the best.

A bowl of beans with a couple spoonfuls of chile is an excellent example, or the more popular 'texas chili' where you mix it all together and let it stew so that the flavors get a chance to know each other and eventually get married. I have posted chiles rellenos, which are roasted and stuffed fresh peppers with a chile sauce poured over. I have posted flat enchiladas, rolled enchiladas, I have posted burritos so whats left? Huevos Rancheros a New Mexico diner classic. ...And someone says it makes you sleep better... cool. (thanks anonymous)



Chopped green chile ready to go. This is good just like this in a quesadilla.



New Mexico green chile with meat.



snapshot of red chile dryng in the sun.



One plate of Huevos Rancheros. Pinto beans, green chile with pork and blue corn tortillas topped with a sunny side up egg.