Texas Hash

Anyone who didn't grow up in Texas is going to think of something like Corned Beef Hash and say, "What? Hash has chopped potatoes." But in Texas, it has rice instead. And ground beef. And a Mexican flair, if you are lucky.

After being introduced to the Davis family Texas Hash, I tried began adapting it for our family's preferences.

Delicious!

Texas Hash
1 pound good store bought Chorizo
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced (or use 1 cup pico de gallo instead of garlic and the tomatoes below)
2 small tomatoes, preferably Roma, chopped (or canned, diced tomatoes)
1-3/4 cup uncooked rice
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin
2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

In a large oven-proof skillet, preferably cast iron, brown chorizo over medium heat, breaking it into small pieces. Pour off the accumulated fat as necessary to leave no more than about 1 tablespoon.

Add the onion, garlic, and tomatoes to the chorizo and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are limp and somewhat tender.

Add the rice, chili powder, and cumin, and cook another 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Pour in the stock, bring to a simmer, cover and cook 20-30 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.

Stir in the cilantro. Serve immediately.

Texas Enchilada Casserole

This year Rose didn't want to go out for her birthday dinner. She had just gotten home from Chicago and she wanted homestyle cooking ... Tex-Mex style. She wanted Texas Enchiladas.

For the uninitiated, that means cheese enchiladas in a red sauce with some chopped onion on top.

Once again, as so many times before, I have been making a simple, yet flavorful, version of this from one of Matt Martinez's cookbooks.

To make it even easier, I stack the enchiladas instead of rolling them. I've been told that this is how they do it in New Mexico, but we'll keep it simple and just call this a casserole.

Enchilada Sauce

Step 1:
1/4    cup lard, shortening or vegetable oil
1/4    cup flour

In a large skillet, heat lard to medium hot. Stir in flour and continue stirring until it turns a very light brown (3-4 minutes.)

Step 2:
1/2    teaspoon pepper
    1    teaspoon salt
    2    cloves minced garlic
    2    teaspoons ground cumin
    2    tablespoons chili powder
1/2    teaspoon oregano

Add all and continue to cook for 1 minute. Constantly stirring and blending ingredients.

Step 3:
    3    cups water or chicken broth

Add and stir until sauce thickens slightly, 1-2 minutes. Turn heat low and let simmer for 15-20 minutes. Add water if necessary to keep sauce very thin.

Texas Enchiladas

Step 1:
        Vegetable oil
    8    corn tortillas

Lightly brush tortillas on both sides with oil and heat briefly on a griddle until soft and flexible, stacking on a plate as you work.

Step 2:
    2    cups (8 ounces) grated mild cheddar
1/2    cup finely chopped white onions
    1    batch Enchilada Sauce, warm

Mix cheese and onions and set aside. Dip tortillas into sauce, fill with  cheese, roll tightly and arrange in an oven-proof dish. Spread remaining sauce on top and sprinkle with cheese. Bake 10-15 minutes at 350° until cheese is completely melted. Serve immediately.

Casserole: instead of filling tortillas with cheese and rolling them, just dip them in the sauce, lay down a layer across the bottom of a baking dish, and sprinkle with some of the cheese/onion mixture. Continue making the layers (3 or 4 depending on the size of the dish), topping with a sprinkling of cheese. Bake as above and cut in squares to serve.

Frito Pie, How Do We Love Thee? Let Us Count the Ways ...

Photo source: Roadfood

Back in 1932, a year generally regarded as the nadir of the Depression, a San Antonian named C.E. "Elmer" Doolin tasted a home-fried corn chip in a Mexican cafe. He was so intrigued by its taste that he paid $100 for the chip's recipe and the right to market it.

Not that Mr. Doolin actually had $100 cash. He borrowed the money from his mama, Daisy Dean Doolin. Mrs. Doolin must have had an unshakable faith in her son, because she gave C.E. her diamond wedding ring to pawn for that $100 loan.

What's more, she let him set up shop in her kitchen and mix batch after batch of corn dough, which was shaped into strips by extruding the dough through a converted potato ricer. And she fried innumerable strips of ground corn in hot vegetable oil while C.E. and his brother, Earl, experimented with perfecting the chips. One can only imagine how many hours she must have spent scrubbing oil splatters from the walls and floor. ...

Dallas Morning News

It is Fritos 75th anniversary and what better way to celebrate than with a tasty Frito Pie? Yes, they're a guilty pleasure for me. I love 'em. The Morning News has a round up of recipes, local spots to find them, and even (gasp) a story about a New Mexico wanna-be who is making the claim to inventing our beloved Frito Pie. Now, that's just plain wrong! (Free registration required.)

Deep in the Heart of Texas: Homesick Texan

When I moved to Texas, oh so long ago, and began exploring the traditional cooking I discovered that I really had my work cut out for me. The state is so large that there are numerous microcosms for food styles. Traditional Southern cooking, coastal specialties, cowboy cooking, barbecue, Tex-Mex, German and Czech (yes, you read that right ... where do you think that chicken fried steak probably came from? Not to mention Elgin sausages.).

Therefore, it is a real pleasure to find cookbooks that understand the various facets of all the things that make Texas cooking unique. I'm going to be sharing a few of my favorite resources with y'all, beginning with Homesick Texan.

She's living in New York but dreams of finding the perfect refried beans and flour tortillas. As she perfects her recipes she shares them along with a generous heaping of food history and Texiana. If you want to know more about the myriad foodways of Texas, her most recent visit home will give you a sampling.