Wheat berries with melted butter and pomegranate molasses, scrambled eggs with pickled jalapeños on English muffins, half a red bell pepper, grapes, a clementine orange, and espresso.

Although the "omelet" level of the Dash measuring cup is okay for a two-egg dish of scrambled eggs, adding the pickled jalapeños last time meant the eggs didn't cook all the way.  This time I added water half way between the "omelet" level and the hard-boiled egg level.  That worked well.

Add picture here.

This was my first effort at cheese enchiladas.

Ingredients

• 28 oz. of Las Palmas red enchilada sauce
• 8 flour tortillas (roughly 8 inches in diameter
• 3/4 lb. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 3/4 lb. sour cream
• 1/4 lb. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Method

1. Pour enough enchilada sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish to cover the bottom.
2. Mix cheese and sour cream in a bowl.
3. Break up the cheese/sour cream mixture into eight portions. Wrap an eighth of the cheese/sour cream in a tortilla. Roll up. Place seam-side down in casserole dish. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.
4. Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the tortillas.
5. Pour the rest of the cheddar cheese over the top.
6. Put the casserole in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes.

2018-09-26

This turned out fine. I would serve it to guests.

A couple of thoughts:

• I used flour tortillas. I think corn would be tastier. (And would frying them be better?)
• The Las Palmas enchilada sauce is okay, but it's a bit more bitter than I would prefer... although I would still both make and eat and serve this to guests again.

---

Second attempt

• 28 oz can of green enchilada sauce
• 12 white corn tortillas
• Monterey jack cheese

Yup, that's it. 350° in the oven for about 25 minutes (or until some of the cheese on top starts turning brown). This worked. Next time I would probably make a roue to thicken the enchilada sauce a bit more, but perfectly good without it. If this is all there is in the fridge to cook with, I'd definitely do it again, even without the roue.

---

2018-10-10: I did this again using ricotta cheese and a medium spicy enchilada sauce. Y'know, that much ricotta doesn't have the texture or taste to be a repeater.

---

2018-10-13: This time I decided to do a sort of Mexican lasagna. White corn tortillas. Ricotta. Fried ground beef. Marinara sauce. Not bad. I could do this cooking for the family.

Ingredients: (serves 4)

2 boneless / skinless chicken breasts
1 cup white rice
1 can Cream of Celery soup
2 soup cans of water
1 pkt French onion packet soup mix
2 onions chopped roughly
salt and pepper to taste

In the oven for two hours at 320°.

Notes: the French onion soup Nicko used was a Continental French Onion cup of soup packet. We didn't have that at the store, so I bought Lipton Beefy Onion instead. Each packet is meant to be combined with 4 cups of water, so I'm hoping the tastes won't be too strong with the substitution.

Ingredients

• 1.5 pounds (about 5 medium) russet, Idaho, or other baking potatoes, scrubbed but unpeeled.
• Salt
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 pound (about 2 large) onions, thinly sliced
• 6 large eggs, hard boiled
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Sweet Hungarian paprika
• 2 cups sour cream

Method

1. Place the potatoes in a large pot and add enough cold water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cook until potatoes are just tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water until cool enough to handle. Peel potatoes and cut into 1/2 inch rounds.
2. Place a medium saute pan over mediu heat. Add vegetable oil and heat until shimmering. Add onions and saute until soft and almost caramelized, about 25 mintues. Lower leat if they begin to brown too quickly.
3. Peel the eggs and cut into 1/3 inch rounds.
4. Preheat the oven to 350°. Generously coat the inside of a 1 to 1.5 quart baking dish with the butter. Arrange a layer of half the potatoes in the dish, then a layer of half the onions, and then a layer of half the eggs. Season with salt and pepper and a light sprinkling of paprika. Spread with half the sour cream. Repeat with the remaining potatoes, onions and eggs, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Spread with the remaining sour cream and sprinkle with paprika.
5. Cover the baking dish and place in the center rack of the oven. Bake for 45 minutes.

(Mirror)

Results: kind of boring. Apparently they usually add kolbász (Hungarian sausage) to it in Hungary, and they usually don't use the onions.

I found the texture of the hard-boiled eggs off-putting in the recipe. If I make it again, I will shred the eggs on the large holes of a cheese grater.

I decided to try this recipe myself in an attempt to duplicate Diane's lovely dinner.

1. Sauteed a thinly sliced onion in olive oil. Removed the onions to a bowl once sweet.
2. I started with three skinless half-breasts of chicken. To reduce cooking time, I cut the thick parts away from the thin parts, and then sliced the thick parts longwise in half. Then I browned them (not very brown) on both sides in the olive oil from the previous step. Removed the chicken from the pan.
3. Returned the onions to the oil. Poured a glass of red wine into the pan. Brought to a gentle boil. Added the chicken back to the pan. Poached about ten minutes on one side. Sprinkled lightly with table salt, black pepper and garlic powder.
4. Turned the chicken to the other side. Sprinkled lightly with table salt, black pepper and garlic powder. Added more wine as needed to continue poaching.
5. Removed the breasts after 10 minutes.
6. Served the chicken with onions and sauce over it.

It came out edible. This time the preparation was more interesting than the actual result. Thoughts for next time:

• For wine I used a Fetzer Merlot. My theory was that chicken has a gentle flavor, and I didn't want to overwhelm it with too spicy a red, whereas in fact generally I favor very peppery cabernets. Frankly, it was a bit dull. Next time I'll try the peppery cab.
• Next time I'll brown significantly longer, hoping for a bit more umami, carmelly meat taste, and I'll poach longer to soften the meat more, probably fifteen minutes per side.
• Next time I'll put more time into the sauce after the chicken has been removed, maybe adding some vinegar and lemon, perhaps guided by this recipe. Then perhaps I'll run it through the blender before serving.
• I like the idea of a bay leaf in the poaching sauce.

The other day a new acquaintance, Diane, prepared chicken poached in red wine for me and my friend Scot. It's a standard go-to dish in Spain where good, inexpensive red wine is commonly available. Here is what she did.

1. Sauteed a thinly sliced onion in olive oil. Removed the onions to a bowl once sweet.
2. Removed the tendons from three skinless half-breasts of chicken. Browned them (bare hint of brown) on both sides in the olive oil from the previous step. Removed the chicken from the pan.
3. Returned the onions to the oil. Poured a glass of red wine into the pan. Brought to a gentle boil. Added the chicken back to the pan. Poached about ten minutes on one side.
4. Turned the chicken to the other side. Sprinkled with lemon salt. Added more wine as needed to continue poaching.
5. Removed the breasts after 10 minutes

Comments:

• She removed the tendons because the tendons tend to shrink up and distort the shape of the chicken breast as they brown.
• When she browned the chicken, she didn't try to cook the breasts all the way through. They were just barely browned.
• She commented that the poaching took too long because the breasts were too thick. She said the should have pounded them first.

The dish makes an impression for several reasons. First off, the simplicity is striking. Secondly, the purple color of the final product. She served it with asparagus steamed plain on the side, which was a lovely contrast.

I've never done such a thing, so this recipe is high on my list of things to try.

When my father's home was sold, I inherited the family pressure cooker. Tried to use it. Problem: the rubber seal on the inner ring is gone. Cooking didn't work. Ordered one on the internet. Installed it. So today I decided to try it out on brown rice.

Ingredients

• 1 cup brown rice
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced

I filled the pressure cooker with just a bit of water, barely less than the height of the trivet that fills it. Made aluminum foil handles to pick up the dish. Filled a glass dish with two cups of chicken broth and one cup of brown rice. Placed the dish in the pressure cooker and sealed it. Put it on the stove without the rocker on top until I saw steam coming out. Put the rocker on. Set the timer for 15 minutes.

In the meantime I browned some onions in some olive oil. When the onions were starting to turn brown, I threw some cumin over the top and mixed it in. Then I threw in 5 cloves of minced garlic. Let them cook about a minute. Removed from heat.

When the timer rang, I removed the rice and drained it in a collander. Mixed the rice with the onion mixture. This tasted okay. I like the texture a lot more than regular rice.

---

For next time:

• Next time I'll let the rice cook 20 minutes.
• I used the natural release method. When you do that, you really need to allow all the pressure to release by itself. I let it open a bit too early, and some steam & rice splattered.
• Next time I'll brown the onions a bit more.
• Next time I'll add serranos to the onion mixture.