say hello to my little friend - or is that sey hallo tu maij leetle frend?

Rellenos are my buddies. Stuffed peppers baby, one of my favorites. If I go to a Mexican restaurant - and its rare that I do - I always order a chile relleno, I dont care how bad they are I always have to have a relleno. For the most part those rellenos are a roasted chile pepper stuffed with cheese and fried, a very good starting point, but I like to turn those babies upside down.

Most of you have probably seen a typical platter from a Mexican restaurant - entree, rice and beans with a little shredded lettuce and some diced tomato or a pico de gallo - pretty standard. What if you put those goodies inside of the pepper instead? It could work, a little protein substitution and bada bing bada boom.

For starters the chiles, poblanos in this case, need to be roasted and when I say "poblanos in this case" I am not singling these guys out, no - all chiles are better roasted unless you are making relish.

Stuff them in a plastic bag, a paper bag or put under a moist towel - or do what I did and tear a paper bag open and wet it before covering the hot roasted chiles.

After the chiles have cooled you can peel them under running water and the skins will slide right off, at this point stuff them. I stuffed them with house ground chicken, skin and fat and all, roasted and chopped poblano chile, a mix of grated mozzarella and cheddar cheeses, herbs and spices like green onion and salt and secrets galore with a nice base of toasty brown rice.

Flour them then egg them then flour them again.

Fry them to golden perfection. You are now ready to plate them up but before we do that I have a little contest and the winner will get a prize, if the prize is more important than the contest then you should disqualify yourself now but if you like a mysterious challenge then proceed. Modern decor didnt wake you up Bathroom cabinets meant nothing to you, why would a handful of baubles be any different?

What are these? (hint) they come in other shapes as well. [I didnt zoom in because I want this to be as easy as possible - there is one person out there that might know and I have to disqualify her before hand - sorry] The answer is one word.

Chiles rellenos they way I have grown to like them - fat and large and full of flavor.

posole, the new year, and doin' it right

Recipes for posole are about as abundant as stars in the sky, I have already posted two or three myself in previous posts, thats not why I am here today. If you want to start the year off right, as in how we do it in New Mexico, then you need to have a bowl or three of some hot and steamy posole with some spicy hot red chile. Posole can kick chicken soups ass any day when it comes to healing powers, in fact posole makes chicken soup look and seem like a placebo. I am not saying that chicken soup is bad but if you have a choice between the two you would be wise to pick posole.

This particular batch of posole has all the New Years punch that a new year needs to be punched with. If it is unsightly and hard to look at let alone think about cooking, then its in here. You will notice that I tied off the trotters - the butcher thought he was doing me a favor by cutting them in half but all that does is allow the lovely marrow to escape so I went ahead and apprehended that little issue.

Pigs feet, tripe and pork neck bones form the base for this holiday nectar then hominy, onions, chile and cilantro help to flesh it out. I cook everything separately since they have different cooking times and then I combine them all later.

With chile or without its up to you but if you opt for no chile you better creep off and eat it where no one can see you, I would hate to see you suffer from the embarrassment of eating this without chile, its even hard to type that without cringing - sorry Marjie.

You can add red chile sauce or cook some hot pods right in with the soup and then ladle them into your plate so that you can scrape out the chile goodness and discard the peel. (you might notice some blue corn in there too, I discovered some blue hominy when I was visiting my family in New Mexico in August and I was anxious to try some - now these are not chicos but rather what looks like large blue popcorn- its good and earthy with rich corn flavor, not like white hominy at all)

Start your new year right - have some lentils, have some black eyed peas but do not and I repeat do not forget to have some posole, it still isnt too late.

who doesnt like brunch doesnt know

Brunch is probably one of the best inventions in the land of meals, everyone loves brunch, people love to say brunch and they love to eat brunch and I am one of those people. I love brunch and I can honestly say that brunch loves me.

I had the most overwhelming craving for hash brown potatoes this morning. The thought of the crunchy yet creamy texture of these luscious spuds was all consuming. I knew my guests would be as happy to have this as I was to prepare it so while everyone was still snoozing I set to work on making a simple brunch of poached eggs and potato.

Poached eggs are so dramatic. Poached eggs demand attention. Poached eggs are spoiled little brats.

Red chile is one of the best flavors to pair up with eggs and taters. New Mexico red chile is like eating sunshine and who wouldnt want a little sunshine on the first day of the year.

End of the year end of the years year end end of the year stuff

Everyone seems to do a "best of" post at the end of the year - not me since that would involve posting every single post all over again - if you have any favorites you might remember what they are and you can go back and look on your own, nope for me its a day just like any other day - sort of. January first is the exact day I moved to New York City - I did that so that I would never forget, I planned it that way and waited outside of the Holland Tunnel so that I could drive in just a little after midnight (it took a little bit to get through the tunnel.) That was 1985 - some of you were not even born yet and some of you were cute little pre-schoolers and some of you were already over the hill - me I was 24 years old and fresh from New Mexico (well I did turn 21 in Paris and I had lived in Texas and Florida so I wasnt that fresh from New Mexico)...

Yes, I have changed a lot on the outside but not too much on the inside - for many, many years I had very long hair, in fact I only got rid of the long hair when my son was 2 and that was 2000.

This is how I look now - New York has given me much and I have given NY much in return. So there you go - the best of issue for 2010. I HOPE EVERY ONE HAS THE MOST ABUNDANT AND GENEROUS 2011 - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas Eve - stockings stuffed - traditions galore - bring on the abundance

No matter what I will never get tired of tamales. Tamale making is a big part, no a huge part of my cultural heritage and while we may not gather around in huge extended family groups here in New York City we still get the job done, well I get the job done. I am pretty fast at throwing together a couple dozen tamales and I do it often throughout the year but it is at this time of year that these little wrapped packages of chile goodness take on their magic. Modern decor can abound but the simple tamale will always shine in its perfection. How perfect is a corn husk wrapped around corn masa wrapped around your favorite filling?

When I was a kid in New Mexico my mom and grandmothers and aunts would get together and make massive quantities of these bad boys and because of the sheer volume of of tamales produced the "tamalada" was a big deal. (a tamalada is simply a tamale making party but you can google it for a more specific definition) As a result we all grew up thinking making tamales was a lot of work and it is when you are making enough for our huge clan - that translates into dozens and dozens and dozens and then dozens more.

Around these parts I make a couple dozen whenever the mood hits, 24 tamales is really no big deal and if you want to search "tamale" on my blog you will see how often I make them throughout the year. Did I tell you how much I love tamales? I think of my old friend Buffalo Dick now whenever I make them since he always thought making tamales was similar to climbing Mount Everest, complete with Sherpas and extreme conditions and I wish I could have had the chance to show him how easy it really is - Buffalo you will always be on my mind.

Nostalgia is a big part of the end of the year and I wanted to take the time to reflect back on what a wonderful year it has been. Sure there have been some setbacks and some loss but when it is all said and done the beauty and the hope always shines through. We have all grown as people, as bloggers, as writers, as artists, as cooks and most importantly as a community. What ever holiday you celebrate I hope it brings you joy and if you were anywhere near me you would be receiving a little tamale gift(s) because someone told me once that giving tamales at the end of the year will bring both the giver and the receiver a wealth of abundance so my virtual friends I give you ALL tamales! (vegan, vegetarian, chicken, pork and sweet - you can have your pick and just so you know how non traditional I keep this tradition the tamale plate pictured above is wild mushroom and queso de oaxaca with simple red chile sauce - vegetarian all the way and take out the cheese and its vegan). HAPPY HOLIDAYS and A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!