Slow Cooker Hatch Green Chile Verde

we made this recipe twice and used up all of our tomatillo salsa. yup, the whole vita-mix pitcher was used in 2 batches of chile verde.

m bought me mother in law’s kimchi diy kimchi kit last weekend and i am making it now.

don’t underestimate the fish sauce – the whole house smells.

i am on a roll today. i already prepped the chicken chile verde for dinner. i made coconut pudding. i toasted unsweetened coconut and hand-slivered almonds. i made hibiscus iced tea and hibiscus simple syrup. i am moving on to coconut chai. i have all this silk coconut milk that i must use.

m asked me to start using stuff from the pantry. i call using the unsweetened coconut we bought in 2012 a good use for sure. recipes are in the comments.

now all i have to do is go to the grocery store for mango and vanilla wafers.

trying a new slow cooker recipe this week: Chicken Chile Verde. it’s on hour 3 as i type this.

we have our own recipe for the tomatillo salsa, but the one included here is fine, too. we broiled 4 lbs of tomatillos, 5 hot jalapeños from the garden, 2 onions, 1.5 small heads of garlic, 2 limes, and 3.5 heads of cilantro (although we didn’t add all of the cilantro; we kept some of it as a slurry and froze it for next time).

i learned a valuable lesson from martha stewart on how to cut a chicken into 6 parts. maybe i won’t “butcher” my roast chicken next time when i want to carve it for serving.

Food Network’s Almost-Famous Soft Pretzels

i am working my way through pretzel recipes. This one yielded bready pretzels and per m, they were a bit too sweet (thank you light brown sugar – which i actually used this time instead of substituting dark brown as i frequently do). Alton Brown’s recipe is still the best one in terms of pretzel texture and taste. i had a good time making these, though, because i got to slap 24 inch long dough on the countertop, just like making baguettes.

this is the prettiest one:

this is the tray:

this time we tried a pretzel recipe m discovered on diners, drive ins, and dives.

they were super fluffy, i’m not sure the malt (actually, the malted milk) worked (or didn’t work), the new york times “lye” was seemingly too weak (so i added another 1/8 cup to the second batch), and it took way more than 9 minutes to bake. the first batch i baked for 13 minutes (opening the door several times) and still wasn’t golden brown but was definitely fully cooked. these pretzels aren’t as oily but we also didn’t brush them before baking.

i used the redhead directions for the “lye” but perhaps i should’ve used the nyt directions for the “lye.”

the second batch is in the oven right now. i set the timer for 12 minutes and i’ll try to let them get golden brown without opening the door. at 15 minutes, some of them are golden brown so i’m trying 17 minutes right now. 17 minutes still yielded only medium brown and the outside is harder – no difference otherwise.

surprisingly, alton brown’s pretzel recipe we made previously were better in texture and flavor. we will have to try for a third recipe.

i am trying to channel delicious typography with the patterns on the parchment.

m has been wantibng me to make pretzels for years. she’s been wanting me to make a lot of things for many years (sigh). i finally did it! although there’s a much more toxic, complicated way of boiling them in lye, i got away with baking soda and it spit white dust all over the stove and microwave.

see the one with liquid pooling in the print? that’s the one m brushed with butter. of course.

NYT recipe

INGREDIENTS
1 pound ground pork
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 tablespoon whole coriander seeds
⅛ teaspoon whole cumin seeds
½ teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican
1 dried bay leaf
4 whole cloves
8 garlic cloves (do not peel)
2 Serrano chiles
1 poblano chile
¼ cup sherry vinegar
1 cup parsley leaves
1 tablespoon kosher salt

PREPARATION
Place the ground pork in a large bowl. Set a cast-iron skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add black peppercorns, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, oregano, bay leaf and cloves and toast briefly until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Remove from the heat, transfer to a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder. Add to the bowl with the ground pork.
Return the skillet to a high flame and heat for 5 minutes. Add garlic cloves, Serrano and poblano chiles and roast, turning them from time to time until softened slightly and blackened in spots, about 6 to 12 minutes, removing the pieces as they finish cooking. Set aside to cool at room temperature. Once garlic cloves are cool enough to handle, peel them and discard the skin. Wearing gloves if possible, remove the stems and seeds from the Serrano chiles. Remove the stems and seeds from the poblano chile, and peel away the charred skin.
In a blender, purée the roasted garlic cloves, Serrano and poblano chiles along with the sherry vinegar, parsley and kosher salt until smooth. Transfer to the bowl with the ground pork and spices.
Mix the chorizo with your (preferably gloved) hands until thoroughly combined. Transfer to a container and refrigerate until ready to use, or for up to 3 days. The chorizo can also be frozen in an airtight bag for up to 1 month.

m woke up interested in multigrain pancakes and i found a food network recipe *and* i had all of the ingredients. how many times do you have all *13* ingredients? (not often. substitutions usually occur.) substitutions occurred anyway: the coach’s oats made it crunchy, i added extra lemon zest, i used whole grain white wheat flour instead of whole wheat flour, i used dark brown sugar instead of light (i had unopened light and just didn’t feel like opening it. i frequently substitute one for the other with impunity.), i used 2% milk, and i used coconut oil (in solid form as it’s 65 degrees in the house). and i folded it too much.