Miscellaneous Recipes 1

Here's another special request, but not one of Mother's recipes. It's taken from The El Paso Chile Company's Texas Border Cookbook by W. Park Kerr and Norma Kerr, a gift several years back from Cathy and Gregg. It's a great cookbook. Best I can tell, judging from this book, El Paso Mexican food is a little norteno, a little New Mexican, and a little the rest of Texas Mexican. By the way, the Kerrs (mother and son) say that if you say "Anaheim chile" in El Paso you're liable to get your butt kicked. They also say that right after harvest time, the supermarket parking lots in El Paso are full of people roasting long green chiles on gas grills. Never made it for that, unfortunately, but Karen and I have enjoyed this soup many times, even using turnips once. A word of caution: the long green chiles we get up here are extremely unpredictable in regard to hotness, so I add a little at a time, taste it, add a little, etc.

cream of green chile soup

2 corn tortillas, preferably 1 of yellow cornmeal and 1 of blue
6 long green chiles
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter
2 cups chopped onion
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
2 bay leaves
31/2 cups chicken (or vegetable*) broth, homemade or canned
1 pound (2 medium) baking potatoes, peeled and chunked
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup whipping cream
2 cups (about 8 ounces) grated Monterrey Jack cheese or mozzarella cheese or a combination of both

*my addition

This is a summary of the Kerrs instructions:

Cut the tortillas into1/4 inch strips and do whatever is necessary to make them stale.

You can roast chiles in an oven, but it's supposed to be better on an open flame. I put a grill over two gas burners and get as many chiles as I can over the flames. The point is to char them, then steam them in a paper bag until cool, then rub away the burned peel. After that you stem, seed and chop. And oh yeah, make sure you stick a fork in the chiles before you get them hot, unless you want chile parts all over the kitchen.

Use at least a four quart saucepan. Melt the butter, add the onions, garlic, oregano and bay leaves and cook covered, stirring a bit, for 10 minutes. Stir in the chicken (or vegetable) broth, potatoes, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Simmer, partly covered, until the potatoes are tender, about 25 minutes.

Cool slightly, remove bay leaves, then puree it in a blender. That's what I do. They talk about medium blades and food mills and processors. Do whatever to get it smooth.

Put it back in the saucepan and stir in the green chiles (cautiously, as noted above). Uncovered, simmer over medium heat for about 15 minutes. Mine is pretty thick to start with, but they say it will thicken after 15 minutes. Stir in the cream, adjust seasonings. Ladle into bowls, sprinkle cheese and scatter tortilla strips.

Serves 4 to 6. (Even with just 2 people, if you really want to eat a lot of this and have leftovers, I suggest you double the recipe)

They say you can prepare it up to 3 days ahead. It's never lasted anywhere near that long in our house.