Chipotle Quinoa with Corn and Black Beans and Shrimp (FM)

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 (or more) canned chiles, minced, with some of their adobo sauce
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried [I used Mexican oregano since I have it and this is a Mexican dish]
• 3/4 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
• Salt and black pepper
• 1 cup cooked or canned black beans, drained
• 1/2 cup corn kernels (frozen are fine)
• 1 1/2 cup vegetable stock, beer, [I had an odd bottle of Sam Adams lying around.] or water
• Lime wedges [eh]
• 8 ounces peeled shrimp, chopped

Mise en place.

Cook onion and garlic over medium heat until onion is soft.

Add chipotles and adobo and continue cooking for 1 minute.

I interpreted 2 or more as potentially double.  I found five chiles in the can and added all of them.  Held back on the adobo until the final seasoning, but I'm pretty sure I used most of it.

Add quinoa, salt, and pepper.  Cook, stirring frequently, for 3 to 5 minutes.

Add beans, corn, beer, and salt and pepper and bring to a boil.  Stir, cover, and cook on low heat for 15 minutes.

When quinoa is almost tender, add shrimp and cover covered for an additional 5 minutes.

Quinoa is another grain I've had lying around forever, unused.  There was no clear expiration date on the package, but I had told my friends I'd  be trying to pass it off to that I had had it for years.  I mean, there's nothing wrong with how it looks or smells so it should be fine?

A very nice dish,  I tried to achieve a heat level that was quite nearly too spicy to eat, which is generally how I like spicy food.  Mission accomplished.

Menudo Rojo [Red-chile Tripe Soup with Fresh Garnishes] (AM)

• 2 pounds beef tripe
• About 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 large lime, juiced
• 1 small cow's or medium pig's foot, split lengthwise
• 1 pound marrow bones, cut in 1-inch cross sections
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 4 medium (about 1 1/3 ounces total) dried chiles cascabeles nortenos or California/New Mexico chiles, stemmed, seeded and deveined [Couldn't find those special peppers.  Used New Mexico chiles instead.]
• a general 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, ground
• Salt, about 1 teaspoon

Wash tripe in multiple changes of warm water.  Sprinkle over with salt and lime juice and scrub the tripe vigorously against itself.  Let sit for 30 minutes.

By this time, the tripe is actually starting to smell a bit funky, but you're going to have to do the multiple changes of warm water stuff all over again anyway.

Cut tripe into pieces about 2 inches long and 1/2 inch wide.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes, then drain.

I suspect there are quite a lot of ways to clean tripe.

Add more water, the marrow bones, and the pig's foot.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and skim off the foam for a few minutes.

Add half of the garlic along with the onion and oregano.  Partially cover and simmer until tripe is tender, 2-3 hours.  I used Mexican oregano since after all this is a Mexican dish.  I might have blanked on getting the oregano in the pot, but it was disappointing to pick out all these still unsoftened herbs out of the dish when I ate it.

Toasting the chiles.  I may have over toasted some of them.

Soak toasted chiles in boiling water for 30 minutes.  I think the overtoasted ones resisted complete softening.

Blend chiles, 1/3 cup menudo broth, remaining garlic, and cumin.

Strain through a sieve into the stockpot.

I knew I was taking a risk by making a dish that is far from being a "whole" meal, but I've been curious about this dish for a while and honestly where am I going to be able to order this?

The dish is often eaten for breakfast and is considered a hangover cure by some.  I did feel as if the dish felt pretty restorative, but since it didn't seem to make sense as something that I would bring to work and eat on its own for lunch, I wound up throwing a lot out.  By the fifth day, the texture of the tripe had softened so much that it was simply disagreeable to me.  After a lifetime of eating dim sum tripe, I think this cut of an animal should spring back in your mouth at least a little.

All in all, it wasn't a total failure, but it definitely wasn't a dish that falls under my usual criterion for actually wanting to execute something with the good faith that I might eat most of it.  Amusingly enough, for 10 seconds I tried to listen to Menudo while preparing menudo.  This did not work.

Oh and I guess I'm thankful that unlike some traditional recipes I had heard of while googling this dish, Rick Bayless's recipe does not take 7 hours to make.

Chili Powder (HCE)

Reading How to Cook Everything (one of my earliest experiences being brainwashed by this whole food thing) instilled in me a strong distrust in store-bought spice blends. Unless a substance is truly hard to find (lavender in Herbes de Provence or sumac in Za'atar), it's always about a million times better to toast and grind your own spice blends. Especially when it comes to the usually sodium-laden store-bought Chili Powders. Yuck, and other preservatives and anti-caking agents as well.
Mark Bittman would probably have me grind whole spices every time I cooked and toss open spices after a year... But I have my limits.

• 2 tablespoons ground ancho, New Mexico, or other mild dried chile [I used Chile de Arbol since I have a big cheap bag of them. To counter this, I omitted the next ingredient.]
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste [I can always dose whatever dish I'm cooking with this.]
• 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
• 1 tablespoon dried Mexican oregano

Toast over medium heat until fragrant.





Grind in a spice grinder.