Bayless, Frontera Grill, Guacamole, Pasilla, Poblano
In Accompaniments on July 16, 2009 at 8:00 pm
For a period of time I was traveling to Chicago every week for work. During that time, I discovered Rick Bayless’ Frontera Grill and became a regular. A couple of times each week, you’d find me sitting at the counter overlooking the kitchen, watching the cooks’ every move. One of the things I learned was how to make great guacamole.
It’s common for most people to add a lot of stuff, trying to make it taste like something else. There’s a Midwest restaurant chain called Cozymel’s where they make their guac at the table side. There are 11 ingredients in their guacamole. It’s good, but I argue it’s not guacamole. With that many ingredients, why bother putting the avocado in it?
So here’s my recipe. It was gleaned from my experience at Frontera Grill. It can be doubled, tripled, whatever to meet your needs…
1 poblano or pasilla pepper
1/2 lime
1 large ripe avocado (diced)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Turn a burner on your stove to high. Wash the pepper and place directly on the burner — Gas burners are best but this will work on an electric burner or outdoors on the BBQ grill. Use tongs to turn the pepper, cooking until it’s fully charred. Put the pepper into either a paper bag or into one of those ZipLoc containers with a lid. Leave it alone for 10 minutes. What it will do is steam itself. Take out of the container and remove the charred skin. Do not put under running water… just brush off the skin. Dice the pepper and put into a bowl. With a fork, squish the pepper a bit to release some juices. Add the avocado, juice from 1/2 of a lime and the salt. Mix with a fork but make sure to leave the avocado kind of chunky.
Blueberries, Fruit, Syrup, Willamette Valley
In Accompaniments on July 13, 2009 at 5:13 am
Fred Meyer is running a sale this week on blueberries. Their price is $3.48 for a 2 pound container. I happen to have five blueberry bushes of my own so I won’t be rushing to Freddy’s. This time of year, I’m more likely to be giving away blueberries to my friends. However you get your blueberries, it’s July and you should get them. They flourish here in the Willamette Valley, they are so healthy for us and deals are everywhere. They also freeze exceptionally well so even if you’re reading this in February, you too can cook with blueberries.
I have a recipe for something called “Blueberry Buckle” that I’ll share another time. I’m taking a shortcut with today’s recipe.
Fruit syrups are great year around to liven up a plate of pancakes or french toast. A good syrup can also be mixed with club soda for an excellent homemade soft drink option. They are easy to make so if you don’t already make syrup, maybe you ought to give it a try.
Prep
1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of water and 1 cup of blueberries (fresh or frozen)
Cook
Put it all in a sauce pan and place over medium heat. Heat to boiling and then keep it at a boil for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the mixture sit for 5 minutes. Pour through a wire strainer to remove solids. You will likely have to use a fork in a stirring motion, to press the syrup through the strainer and past the blueberry solids.
Cool
If you’re serving right away you can serve it hot, but mostly I store it in a plastic container in the refrigerator.
Works with other fruit too… mangoes, strawberries, raspberries and pineapple.
You might also consider something else that I really like and that is cinnamon syrup. Pick up cinnamon sticks at a Mexican grocery store (they’re cheaper there). Cooking takes longer… up to 10 minutes to get the flavor out of the sticks.
