I hold a pocket of memories close to my heart, and I had to reach in deep to pull this one out.  It was summertime 1980 and my Tia (Aunt) and Tio (Uncle) took myself and a few of my cousins on a camping trip to Sequoia.  We went on many adventures as a family, but this one in particular reeks of embarrassment.  I remember the trip there being a long haul up winding mountains, and riding inside the camper laying on the flat bed high up top looking out the long rectangle window as little bugs got splattered against the glass. Many hours later we found our spot and settled in nestled amongst towering trees.  A few tents were pitched for the adults and us kids claimed our beds inside the camper.  Once night fell upon us the stars filled the sky, some shining bright twinkling to catch our eye, and some a bit bashful they scurried away in shooting fashion only to disappear.

Instead of lighting a bon fire and roasting marshmallows the park ranger had informed us of a cartoon viewing that night at the Lodgepole.  Us kids were thrilled and squirmed in our seats through dinner anticipating the fun that awaited our animated pleasure.  The Lodgepole was an open space with long logs made for seating and a big white drop screen hung from two trees on either side.  We ran to find our seats with bags of salted peanuts mixed with raisins in hand.  I sat next to the park ranger with the rest of my cousins and family in the aisle behind me.  The screen started to flicker with a projection of Tom and Jerry cartoons.  I munched on my snack concentrating on the cat and mouse before me. The evening was going splendid until I felt a bit of gas building up in my belly.  I thought to myself “Could it be the peanuts and raisins? Should I let out a fart here? No one will hear it, the sound is too loud.”  I released an almost silent fart and thought I had gotten away with a BIG scheme.  Two seconds later I was engulfed in the most hideous stench. The park ranger turned and looked at me and said in the loudest voice he owned “Did you just fart?”  I shook my head back and forth with an expression that read disbelief that he was asking me that question and blurted out “No.”  He raised one eyebrow and crinkled up his nose in disgust and said “YES you did LIAR, and it smells.”  I was so mortified, my instincts told me to run deep into the pitch black forest and pass from sight like a faded star.  Instead I sat there turning every shade of shame shrinking smaller and smaller in my seat.  Of course it didn’t end there…. all the kids around me start squealing saying “Eew!”

The next morning I laid in bed covers pulled over my head reeling from humiliation.  I just wanted to go home.  My Aunt was up making breakfast and it smelled so inviting.  I could hear the sizzle of bacon and the shell of eggs breaking.  Then a hand came, pulled back my blanket, and rubbed my hair.  The hand was accompanied by a loving voice that belonged to my Tia.  She said “Get up Mija, I’m making potato-bacon fritters and eggs.” And just like that the magic of delicious food made everything better than fine. Forgotten even.

All food photos taken by: Nicole Presley

Here’s a photo of me and my cousins standing in front of the truck/camper before we left on our road trip. From left to right. Myself, Scott, Mando, Yvette, and Shrimp.

This recipe will make 16 fritters

Ingredients for fritters:

3 – cups mashed Idaho potatoes (a day/or a few days old and cold)

1 – cup sharp cheddar cheese cubes (I use Tillamook)

1 – package of bacon (fried, and crumbled)

1/2 – cup roasted pasilla chile (skinned, deseeded, and cut into small cubes)

1 – egg

1/8 – cup corn starch

1/2 – cup flour

1/2 – bread crumbs or corn meal

1/2 – teaspoon Lawry’s

1/2 – teaspoon black pepper

Vegetable oil

In a big bowl add mashed Idaho potatoes, sharp cheddar cheese, bacon, and pasilla chile. Mix well with hands.

Using a 1/4 cup, scoop out potato mixture and form into patties. Should make 16 patties. Place patties on a piece of wax paper so they don’t stick to your working surface.

In a container mix cornstarch, flour, bread crumbs, Lawry’s, and black pepper. Set to the side. In a small bowl mix egg then dip one patty at a time. Then take patty and dip into flour mixture. Repeat with next patty till done.

In a large frying pan add 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil over a medium flame. Allow oil to get hot, then add coated patties. Fry on each side for 2 -3 minutes or until golden brown. You will need to fry the patties in batches, using more oil each time.

Once cooked remove from pan and serve. I like to add sour cream to the top and a fried egg on the side. That’s it…you’re done.

How to make the mashed Idaho potatoes:

3 – large Idaho potatoes (Peeled and cut into 8 pieces)

1 – tablespoon minced garlic

1 – stick of butter

8 – large mushrooms (chopped)

1/2 – cup whipping cream

2 – tablespoons chopped green onion

salt and pepper to taste

Peel and boil pieces of Idaho potatoes for 20 minutes or until a fork can pierce through. Drain and place in a bowl and mash with a hand masher. Then in a frying pan place 2 tablespoons of butter with mushrooms and garlic and let saute for 5 minutes, then add the rest of the stick of butter to melt. Pour the butter garlic mushroom saute into the mashed potatoes along with the whipping cream and the chopped green onion, and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste.

🙂 Mashed Idaho Potato Tip: Will taste better if made a few days ahead of time and placed in the fridge. They will hold better too if cold when making this recipe.

How to make the roasted pasilla chile:

1 – pasilla chile

1/2 – teaspoon of vegetable oil

Pour 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil in a small dish,  with a pastry brush generously brush pasilla chiles with olive oil to coat. Then place oil coated pasilla chile on an open medium high flame. Burn the skin of the entire chile. It will take about 5 to 7 minutes to char.

Once chile is completely charred, place it in an air tight ziplock bag for 1 hour. This step will allow chile to steam in it’s own heat and will make peeling charred skin off much easier. It’s an essential step.

Once chile has steamed, remove from ziplock and place under a stream of water from faucet. With your fingers slowly and carefully peel charred skin off of chile, until all burned skin is removed.

Then discard stem and seeds inside. Cut into long strips, then dice into small squares.

How to make the bacon:

1 – package of bacon

Take a slab of bacon and cut into 4 sections.

Then in a large frying pan over a medium flame, add bacon pieces. Fry until nicely browned. It should take about 15 to 20 minutes.

Once cooked set on a paper towel lined plate and allow to cool before crumbling a little bit smaller.

Enjoy these fritters. I sometimes make them for dinner and serve with a piece of fish. 🙂

Traditionally chile verde is made with pork.  Nothing against the other white meat… I make chile verde that way as well, but my aunt Brilla is a selective eater and refuses to give pork a chance.  I didn’t want her to miss out on chile verde so I made it with chicken for her birthday party one year.  She was bewitched by it, and so was everyone else at the party.  Smitten.  Ever since then this recipe has been on the most requested list and is usually devoured before I can grab a plate for myself. 🙂  The trick to this chicken chile verde: is the good ol’ crock pot.  It leaves the chicken moist, flaky, and tender.  Give your slow cooker some love.

All photos taken by: Nicole Presley

Ingredients for chicken:

1 – whole chicken

1 – cup water

1/2 – yellow onion (peeled and cut into pieces)

1 – tablespoon fresh minced garlic

2 – teaspoon Lawry’s seasoning salt

1 1/2 – teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

In a crock pot place chicken, water, onion, fresh minced garlic, 1 teaspoon Lawry’s, and 1 teaspoon black pepper.  Then cover with lid and cook for 6 hours.  Once cooked allow to cool.

Remove from crock pot and shred entire chicken using your hands or two forks.  Discard all bones.  Once all chicken is shredded sprinkle 1 teaspoon Lawry’s, garlic powder and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper over top.  Mix well.  Place in a bowl and put in the fridge to start making the chile.  I usually make the chicken a day ahead.

Ingredients for green chile:

9 – tomatillos

6 – guero chiles (yellow chiles)

8 – serrano chiles

7 – jalapeno chiles

5 – garlic cloves (browned/fried)

3 – cups of water (from water chiles boiled in)

1 – teaspoon of vinegar

2 – teaspoons chicken bouillon (I use Knorr)

1 – teaspoon dried oregano

1 – teaspoon black pepper

Fill two pots halfway with water and place over a medium high flame.  Bring water to a boil.  Then put tomatillos in one pot and in the other put all chiles.  Boil tomatillos for 15 minutes, you will know they are ready when they go from light green to a greenish yellow color.  Remove from flame and set to the side.

Boil chiles for 30 minutes or until soft and a bit limp.  While chiles are boiling place garlic cloves in a frying pan with a little oil and fry till browned.  Set to the side.  Once chiles are boiled remove from flame but DO NOT discard water… you will need it to blend chile.

Let’s get blending.  You will have to work in batches.  In a blender add chiles (discard stem), browned garlic cloves, water from the pot the chiles boiled in, vinegar, chicken bouillon, oregano, black pepper and tomatillos.  Blend until smooth about 1 minute.  Pour into a bowl.  Set to the side.

Ingredients for chicken chile verde:

3 – tablespoons vegetable oil

2 – large Idaho potatoes (peeled and cubed into small squares)

1/2 – teaspoon Lawry’s seasoning salt

1 – large onion (sliced big)

a bowl of shredded chicken

5 to 6 – cups of green chile

In a LARGE frying pan over a medium high flame add vegetable oil and allow oil to get hot.  Then add cubed Idaho potatoes and Lawry’s and cook for 10 to 12 minutes or till browned. Next add in sliced onion, mix well, and continue cooking for another 5 minutes.

Time to add in the shredded chicken.  Mix well and cook for 5 to 7 minutes.  Last step add in green chile and mix well…. let cook for another 5 minutes!

That’s it your done! I like to eat my chicken chile verde on a tostada joined by some refried beans topped with sour cream and avocado.  Or I’ll wrap it in a flour tortilla for a delicious burrito. Either way…. ENJOY!

Tell your Nino not to eat it all.  Save some for me.

I have a quesadilla three to four times a week without fail.  This craving usually takes place around eleven O’clock at night.  First things first: I go into the kitchen and pull open the cheese drawer to see what I have to work with.  I sort through my options and dream up what I think my tummy and tongue will be most roused with.

On this particular night, I have left over grilled corn on the cob in the fridge from yesterday’s dinner.  Mmmmm grilled corn will taste delicious wrapped in Tillamook’s melted pepper jack.  Enough said…. I’m all over it.  The results were heavenly and I was so overjoyed dancing in my kitchen that I made another one.  Ate it up so fast I almost felt cheated out of a second serving.  I needed to share the wealth, I ended up calling a friend of mine over so she could sample the quesadilla as well.  IT MADE HER A TRUE BELIEVER!  Welcome to the QUESADILLA CLUB, where all the BEST CHEESES rub elbows.

All Photos taken by: Nicole Presley

This recipe will make 10 quesadillas

Ingredients for corn and rub:

2 – ears of corn

1 – tablespoon room temperature butter

1/2 – teaspoon minced garlic

a pinch of chili flakes

a pinch of black pepper

Remove husks from corn along with any corn silk (strings).

In a small bowl mix butter, garlic, chili flakes and pepper together.

Then with your hands or the back of a spoon, rub butter mixture all over corn.

Place your buttered up ears of corn on a hot grill/bar-b-que grill. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes or until corn is nice and tender with plenty of charred bits.

Then take a knife and scape off all the kernels, and discard the core. Place all the corn kernels in a bowl… we are about to make the filling.

Ingredients for corn filling:

A bowl of grilled corn kernels

1 – tablespoon sour cream

2 – tablespoons crumbled queso fresco

1/4 – teaspoon Lawry’s seasoning salt

Take bowl of grilled corn kernels and add sour cream. Mix well. Then add Lawry’s and crumbled queso fresco. Mix well and set to the side.

Ingredients for QUESADILLA!

10 – flour or wheat tortillas (I use Guerrero)

1 – pound grated pepper jack cheese (I use Tillamook)

1/4 – cup thinly sliced red onion

1/4 – cup fresh cilantro leaves

bowl of grilled corn filling

2 – ripe avocado

Place large pan over a medium flame, and allow pan to get hot. Then lay a tortilla down flat and add 2 small handfuls of grated pepper jack to half of tortilla.

Then add a few slices of red onion and a couple of cilantro leaves.

Next take a large heaping tablespoon of corn mixture and evenly spread across cheesy half of tortilla.

Lastly take another small handful of the pepper jack and sprinkle it on top of corn mixture. Eek…. the little cheese monster in me is happy.

Then with a pair of tongs fold the non cheesy half of tortilla over and let melt completely.

Once cheese is melted and tortilla is crisp, then take out of pan and add cubed avocado chunks to quesadilla.

That’s it your done. You’ve officially entered my cheese drawer and know ONE of my quesadilla secrets. Crisp. Creamy. Spicy. Cheesy. Sweet Corn. PERFECT!

No words can describe how refreshing and sabroso this delightful salad is.  It will make you want to dance, jump rope, yodel, and make sand castles all in the same day!  Of course it will… the dressing has honey in it.  I recently found out HONEY is a natural energy booster that will help sustain your energy levels through out the day!  YAY!  I stuck that information in my pocket and thought “I’m going to start making my own salad dressing with honey in it!”  Paired with beets, cucumber, my favorite sweet watermelon, and pistachios it’s sure to be a palate thriller.  It’s time to get summer started.  Go ahead – Dance yourself silly.

All photos taken by: Nicole Presley

This recipe will make 4 salads.

Ingredients for honey lime dressing:

1 1/2 – tablespoons honey

1 – tablespoon Nakano rice vinegar

1 – tablespoon olive oil

2 – tablespoons fresh lime juice

In a small bowl add honey, rice vinegar, olive oil, and lime juice.  Mix well and set to the side.

Ingredients for salad:

3 – beets (I used both red and golden for this salad)

1/2 – seedless watermelon

1 – cucumber (peeled)

2 – tablespoons crumbled blue cheese

1 – tablespoon chopped pistachios (I use Wonderful Pistachios)

1 – tablespoon fresh mint (chopped- about 4 to 5 leaves)

a pinch of black pepper

In a medium pot filled halfway with water, place over a high flame and bring to a boil. Add beets and let boil for 30 minutes or until fork can easily pierce through.

Once cooked, take off flame and drain water.  Rinse under cold water allowing beets to cool, and drain again.  Then take a beet and cut off ends, and slowly peel off skin either with your fingers or under running cold water.

Once all skin is removed, slice into quarter inch slices.  If using red beets, slice them last. They will stain your fingers and all the other veggies/fruit.  That’s the reason I photographed the golden ones. 🙂

Now slice up the watermelon into a 2 x 4 rectangle about an inch thick, and slice the cucumber into a 1/2 inch thick vertical slice.

Then assemble.  I started with 3 red beets on the bottom, then added a slice of watermelon.  Topped the watermelon with a slab of cucumber and placed a golden beet up on top.  So pretty and color drenched.

Let’s get the dressing on this stack!  Pour one tablespoon of honey lime dressing right on top and let it drizzle down.

Lastly sprinkle with blue cheese, pistachios, chopped mint and a pinch of black pepper! EAT IT UP YUM!

My LOVE for French food never seems to die, but I have an equal admiration for FRENCH films.  “J’aime Le Cinema” are words I live by!  Here is a list of some of my favorites in no particular order.  On any given night I will pop one of these films in and swoon.  Rent one.  Own one.  Sit back with a toasty baguette, a jar of chicken pate, and find yourself feeling very French!

Film List:

Fantastic Planet / Diva / Leolo / Delicatessen / Belle de Jour / The Umbrellas of Cherbourg / La Vie en Rose / Wild Reeds / The Dinner Game / Un Chien Andalou / The Big Blue / Paris, Je T’aime / The City of Lost Children / Persepolis / The Discrete Charm of the Bougoisie / Swimming Pool

Not to mention…. half the time I’m watching the film… I’m waiting to see what they’ll be eating. 🙂

All photos taken by: Nicole Presley

Ingredients for chicken marinade:

1 – tablespoon brown spicy mustard (I use Guldens)

1 – tablespoon minced garlic

1 – teaspoon black pepper

1/4 – cup green onion (sliced)

1/4 – cup olive oil

1/2 – cup white wine (I used chardonnay)

2 – boneless skinless chicken breasts

In a big bowl add mustard, minced garlic, black pepper, green onion, olive oil, and wine. Mix well.

Then add chicken breast and put in the fridge to marinade for a few (3 to 4) hours.

Ingredients for chicken pate:

1 – tablespoon olive oil

2 – garlic cloves (peeled)

4 – tablespoons butter (room temperature)

1/2 – teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

1 1/2 – teaspoons brown spicy mustard (I use Guldens)

3 – tablespoons mayonnaise (I use Best Foods)

1/2 – teaspoon black pepper

1/2 – teaspoon salt

Ingredients for pate spread:

1 – baguette

1 – green apple (sliced)

4 – radish (sliced)

Place grill pan over a medium high flame, add olive oil, and allow grill to get hot.  Then add both chicken breast and discard marinade.

Grill chicken on each side for 7 minutes, or until middle is no longer pink.

Once cooked, take chicken off grill and cut into several pieces to cool.

In a food processor add chicken pieces, garlic cloves, butter, sesame seeds, mustard, and mayonnaise.  Pulse until smooth.  Then add black pepper and salt.  Pulse to combine.

Remove from food processor and place in a jar or bowl and refrigerate for 45 minutes. Then grab a baguette, slice it up, toast it if you like, and spread pate on bread.  Top it off with slices of green apple and slices of radish.  Voila!

My fiance says this pate is BITCHEN!

I remember the first time I tried pesto pasta salad, and who I was with.  My uncle Ron, the most exciting person on the face of this earth.  Not only does Ron make me feel like I could walk on the moon, he is also a wealth of information, and a experimental food lover/taster/cook.  His character is very playful and lives to push the envelope on all aesthetic levels.  Everyone who meets him is immediately taken by his talent, wit, and kindness.  Oh I wish you could meet him, or maybe your lucky enough to know him.

It must have been more than two decades ago, he was having a birthday party at his home in Silverlake.  Amongst all the beautiful tasty dishes sat a big bowl of pesto pasta salad.  The food was definitely a hot topic of the night, and had everyone in a social chatty mood, as it always does in his home.  But the pesto pasta salad was also the first to go, I recall being truly disappointed that a second serving wasn’t in the stars for me.  By the following weekend…. I was making my own version.  Thanx for the inspiration Ron!

All photos taken by: Nicole Presley

Ingredients for pesto:

6 – ounces fresh basil leaves (about 3 packed cups)

4 – garlic cloves (peeled)

1 1/4 – cups olive oil

1 1/2 – cups toasted pine nuts

5 – ounces shaved parmesan cheese

1/2 – teaspoon black pepper

In a food processor or blender add basil, garlic cloves and 1 cup olive oil. Pulse/blend until smooth.  Then take a spatula and scrape down the sides. Add pine nuts and pulse/blend some more until smooth.

Next add shaved parmesan cheese, black pepper, and remaining 1/4 cup olive oil pulse again till smooth.

Set to the side.

Ingredients for pasta salad:

1 – pound campanelle pasta (cooked according to box, and drained) (I use Barilla)

1 1/2 – cups pesto

1 – tablespoon chicken or vegetable bouillon (I use Knorr)

1 – cup sun dried tomatoes (cut into small strips)

1/2 – cup toasted pine nuts

2 1/2 – cups grilled asparagus (cut into 2 inch pieces)

1/2 – cups shaved parmesan cheese

In a big mixing bowl add cooked and drained pasta, bouillon, and pesto. Mix well.

Then add sun dried tomato strips, pine nuts, and grilled asparagus.  Mix well.

Mix in parmesan cheese, and garnish with a basil leaf and a sun dried tomato! That’s it your done! Enjoy!

It’s so easy being GREEN!

Cobbler is something I’ve been baking for years, but don’t make very often, because I feel that it’s too special.  It’s like going to the Griffith Observatory, I don’t make my way there all the time, but when I do I’m in awe of the views, remember my love for science, and blanket myself in the night sky!  That’s my relationship with cobbler, everytime I bake it I swear OFF all other desserts!  Why wouldn’t I?  It’s cosmic, it belongs to the STARS!

All photos taken by: Nicole Presley

Ingredients for Apple Filling:

6 – cups sliced apple (you’ll need about 4 apples, I use granny smith)

1/2 – cup water plus 3 tablespoons

1 – cup brown sugar

1 – teaspoon cinnamon

1 – teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 – tablespoons corn starch

In a big pot over medium high flame, add 3 tablespoons of water, sliced apples and brown sugar.  Mix to combine, then let cook for a minute or so.

Then add cinnamon and vanilla.  Give your apple mixture a nice stir, and let it cook for 5 to 10 minutes. It will look like a nice brown syrup is sitting at the bottom of all the apples.

Continue to let it cook, until it starts to boil. Then take a small cup and add 1/4 cup of water and cornstarch. Mix to combine, then slowly add it to the apple mixture. Mix constantly and once a thick gel forms around fruit then add additional 1/4 cup water and continue mixing.

Once apple mixture is well combined. Turn off flame and set to the side.

Time to preheat the oven: 350 degrees fahrenheit.

Ingredients for cobbler cake:

1 1/8 – cups sugar

3 – cups flour

1 – teaspoon baking soda

1- teaspoon baking powder

1/2 – teaspoon salt

1 – cup cold butter (2 sticks)

2 – large eggs

3 1/2 – tablespoons half and half

1 – teaspoon vanilla

1 – cup sour cream

In  a large bowl mix all dry ingredients (sugar, flour, baking soda and powder, salt) together.  Then add in cold butter, and with two butter knives start to cut in butter into the flour mixture in a criss cross motion.  This will take about 10 minutes. Flour mixture will eventually become crumbly with the butter pieces the size of peas.  Set to the side.

In a medium bowl add eggs, half and half, vanilla, and sour cream. Then take a fork and as DEVO would say… WHIP IT! Whip it good.

Now add egg/sour cream mixture to flour mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until combined/moistened. Divide cobbler cake batter in half.

In a 9 x 13 inch greased metal baking pan, add half of the cobbler cake batter, and spread evenly across.

Now take your lovely apple filling and slowly spread across the top a little at a time until completely covered.

Now add remaining cake cobbler mixture to top in big drops to try and cover top, leaving some apple filling exposed.

Ingredients for cobbler topping:

1/2 – cup sugar

1/2 – cup pecans (chopped)

Lastly take cobbler and sprinkle with sugar and pecans!

Bake for 60 minutes or until tester toothpick comes out clean. Your cobbler will be golden and your kitchen will smell sweet.

🙂 Cobbler Tip: I like to eat mine warm with ice cream on the side, and let it melt a little.

Apple Cobbler for you, my sweet
For Max, with Love!