Rumbledethumps (Potato Pie)

Every nation in Europe, in fact every tiny geographical region, has its own "leftovers" dish, usually involving potatoes to glue the leftovers together. This one is particularly hearty and makes both a satisfying dinner and a fantastic leftover lunch. You can hold the slices in your hand to eat them, and they don't go bad for quite a while at room temperature, so they are good for bringing places. This is a variant of a Scottish peasant recipe called Rumbledethumps (wikipedia link). What differentiates it from, for example, colcannon or bubble-and-squeak is the addition of a cheese topping followed by baking in a plate.

Ingredients:

4 Yukon gold potatoes, with skins
1 bunch scallions, chopped
1 big box or bag of baby arugula, or baby spinach if you prefer
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp smart balance or butter
1 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 cup shredded gouda (or additional 1/2 cup cheddar)
1/3 cup shredded parmesan
3 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste (I use none, but the traditional recipe calls for lots, so it's up to you)

Chop and steam the potatoes, or bake them in tinfoil, until soft. Mash.

Saute the scallions and garlic in the butter until they begin to soften, then add the arugula and saute until wilted. Transer to a cutting board and chop (it's easier to chop them after cooking than before).

Heat oven to 350.

Sprinkle half the cheddar into the bottom of a well-greased pie plate. Combine remaining cheddar and all other ingredients (except parmesan) in a bowl and mix. Pour into pie plate and top with parmesan.

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until set but not puffy.

You can eat this fresh but honestly I like the leftovers better!

NOTE: You can replace the cheese with fake cheese quite easily for the lactose-intolerant.

Butterfinger Ice Cream

A huge hit with the Ariel contingent, this recipe contains creamy peanut butter and a butterscotch jell-o for thickness, plus cocoa powder for... well, because chocolate is awesome. The resulting flavor combination is very similar to butterfinger candy bars, except it doesn't get stuck in your teeth.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup Splenda or equivalent sweetener
2 cups milk
1/2 packet sugar-free butterscotch instant jell-o pudding

Place the peanut butter, cocoa powder, and sweetener in a mixing bowl. Add about 1/4 cup of the milk and mix into a paste. Add more milk, a tiny bit at a time, as necessary to make a smooth paste, stirring with a whisk or a fork. Then keep adding little bits of milk until it's the thickness of syrup. At that point, you can add the rest of the milk all at once.

Add the jell-o powder and mix thoroughly.

The mix is complete! Now just put it into the ice cream maker and freeze according to the directions. This is a good candidate for Smucker's excellent sugar free caramel sundae syrup, or my homemade hot fudge sauce.

Hot Fudge Sauce

Why the heck can't anyone make a sugar free fudge sauce worth eating?? Everything on the market tastes like licking the floor in the Dow chemical factory. I have my own incredibly simple, no-cook recipe. This does not keep in the fridge, so make the amount you plan to eat right then.

Ingredients (for 2-4 servings depending how much sauce you want)
1 ounce baking chocolate (Ghirardhelli is the best, but regular Bakers brand is fine)
4 packets Truvia brand stevia sweetener or equivalent sweetness
2 tbsp milk (low fat or skim is fine)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Chop the chocolate and pour the small pieces into a microwave-safe cup or small bowl. Add the sweetener and 1 tbsp milk, and microwave for 15 seconds.

Attempt to stir the sauce. If the chocolate isn't melted enough, microwave longer, 5 seconds at a time, until it's all melted. This will depend on the power of your machine.

When it melts, stir very thoroughly with a whisk or a fork. Gradually add the remaining milk and the vanilla and stir very thoroughly. If you want to thin it at this point, you can, using tiny amounts of milk at a time. If it gets too thin, let it cool in the fridge, and it will thicken.

If you want it to be hot, serve it promptly. But if you're going to put this on ice cream, you should cool it somewhat first. Put it in the fridge while the ice cream is making, or approximately 20 minutes. When it's cooled, it will be thicker, so you might want to add more milk, a teaspoon at a time, until it reaches the desired consistency.

Again, don't keep this in the fridge. The milk will dry out and form a crust. If you do want to store it, it would keep without spoiling for 2 days, as long as you get a piece of plastic wrap and press it down over the surface of the sauce, so there's no air on the sauce that might cause the milk to dry and form a crust.

I think you will agree that this sauce is incredible.

Note: If you're really intensely watching your calories, it is also possible to make it using cocoa powder, which reduces saturated fat content considerably. To do this, start with 1/4 cup cocoa powder and add the milk very very slowly to form a paste. The sauce will go from too thick to just right to too thin with the addition of just a few too many drops of milk, so go slowly. If you make it too thin, you can't fix it by cooling it, either - the cocoa won't thicken, unlike the chocolate. I find this harder to make and I like the fudginess of the chocolate, but it's a very nice option for dieters to have something sweet and decadent without breaking the calorie budget. It can also be quite high in fiber depending on the brand of cocoa used.

Cilantro: A Public Service Announcement

IT IS OKAY TO HATE CILANTRO.

I felt like I needed to make a statement after I realized I just posted an "authentic" Mexican recipe without any cilantro in it. Mexican recipes always call for cilantro, in magazines. Cilantro is touted as the awesomest herb since sliced parsley, and whole fistfuls of it are normally included in green sauces like my green chile enchilada sauce.

I hate cilantro and I will not allow it in my kitchen.

For a long time, I thought I was just weird, or somehow uncultured or uncouth, because I didn't like cilantro. But it turns out that I'm not alone. Many other people hate cilantro, too, and that is okay.

IT IS OKAY. It's okay not to enjoy an herb. It's okay to be you!!

That doesn't quite solve the herb problem. When making Mexican foods, I always substitute a combination of coriander and oregano for cilantro. Coriander is the seed from the cilantro plant, and doesn't have the same soapy taste (at least not to me). Oregano is actually an authentic Mexican ingredient than many American recipes forget about, so you're actually being true to the recipe's roots by using it. If you need to add a "fresh" flavor, try a squeeze of lime. It will be good!

Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

Authentic-tasting and delicious. I don't know why I keep making enchiladas, they're about the most annoying food in the world to make. It must have something to do with how good they are. Budget at least 90 minutes to make these. They aren't challenging, just time-consuming.

Sauce:
6 anaheim chile peppers
6 tomatillos
2 yellow onions, chopped
3-5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 cup chicken broth

Filling:
Breast meat from 1 rotisserie chicken, or 1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
3/4 cup sour cream (low fat or fat free is fine)
4 scallions, white and firm green parts, chopped
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup shredded monterey jack cheese (low fat cheese works well)

Also:
About a dozen 6-inch corn tortillas
Corn oil
More cheese

Cut the anaheim chiles in half, lengthwise - WEAR GLOVES while handling the chiles! Scoop out the seeds and membranes. Place the chiles, skin-side-up, on a broiler-safe baking sheet or a sheet of tinfoil, then place under the broiler. Broil for 6 minutes or until the skins are blackened and blistered. DO NOT leave the broiler unattended. When chiles are done, remove to a heat-safe bowl and cover tightly.

While the chiles cool, prepare the tomatillos. Peel off the husks and rinse most of the stickiness off the skin underneath, then chop the fruit. Tomatillos taste like a cross between a cucumber and a pineapple... people say green tomatoes are a good substitute but I think it would be better to leave them out entirely if you can't find them.

Now prep the filling. Chop the chicken breast and combine it with the other filling ingredients in a bowl.

By now the chiles should be cool enough to handle. Put your gloves back on, if you had taken them off. Peel the skins from the chiles, saving the flesh and discarding the skins. They should come away easily; if they don't, then the chiles weren't cooked long enough. Don't worry about little bits that stick. You're going to be pureeing the sauce anyway.

Once peeled, chop the chiles and put them into a small pot with the onion and garlic and a teaspoon of corn oil. Saute over medium-high heat until the garlic is translucent or the onions are tender, whichever happens first. Then add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer until the ingredients are all tender, remove from heat, and puree until smooth. A regular blender, food processor, or stick blender will all work just fine.

Turn the oven to 350. Heat a small amount of corn oil in a small frying pan, such as a crepe pan or omelet pan, over medium heat. Lay a corn tortilla in the oil and cook for about 30 seconds or until thoroughly heated and steaming, but not until it dries and curls - depending on your tortilla, they may need more or less cooking time.

Lift up the tortilla and place another tortilla underneath it, adding more oil if necessary. Keep adding more tortillas to the bottom until you have 8 or 9 tortillas on the stack. Then remove from the heat.

Pour about 1/2 cup sauce into the bottom of a rectangular baking pan, about 8x12 inches in size. Spread about 1/3 cup filling down the middle of each tortilla, roll the tortilla up and lay seam-side-down in the baking pan.

When all the tortillas are in, pour the remaining sauce over them, and top with more shredded cheese. Bake for about 15 minutes or until heated and the cheeses are all melted. Serve!

Butter Chicken (riff thereof)

I came across a recipe called Butter Chicken in a recent Penzey's Spices catalog. The titleimmediately caught my attention, but then I accidentally threw the magazine away. No!!

I went to the trusty Internet, but I could not find the exact recipe. I did find enough other versions of it to create a sort of composite of what butter chicken ought to be. Then I took that idea and threw it away, creating some new amalgam out of what I had in the kitchen. The result was one of only 2 successful curries I've ever made. I have no idea what aspect of this made it work, so I've listed everything, though the odds that I will ever make it exactly like this again are very slim indeed.

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 medium yellow onions
1 red bell pepper
2 garlic cloves
5 tomatillos
1 1/2 tsp garam masala (a spice blend available at most grocery stores)
3/4 tsp Balti curry powder, available from Penzey's
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground ginger
5 tbsp butter
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup greek yogurt

Saute the chicken over medium-high heat until browned. Remove to a cutting board and chop.

Chop the vegetables and saute over medium heat in that same pan, with the butter. This incorporates any tasty browned bits left in the pan. When the vegetables are tender, add the spices and cook for another minute.

Add the tomato sauce and water, and simmer until vegetables are soft and the tomatillos begin to break down. Then remove the vegetable mixture to a blender, add the yogurt, and puree.

Combine the chicken and the sauce, and there you go!

Strawberry-Lime Sherbert

Just another ice cream recipe! This one is especially low in fat and consists mostly of strawberries. You could easily replace the milk for the lactose-intolerant.

Ingredients:
2 cups sliced strawberries
Juice of 2 limes
1/2 cup milk (any kind would work, but I would recommend rice milk if you can't use dairy milk)
Sweetener to taste

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and puree until smooth. Press through a sieve to strain out the seeds - that is optional if you don't mind seeds (I hate them). Then just freeze according to your freezer's directions.

Try serving this with chocolate sauce!