Orange Chipotle-Glazed Portabello Mushroom Steaks

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Here’s a hunka hunka burning mushroom. It is amazing how these mushrooms resemble meat in their texture and response to grilling. Now some people think that the flavor of the portabello is too intense by itself, so feel free to make mushroom “cheeseburgers” by melting cheese over the mushrooms and serving them on buns accompanied by potato salad. and a tossed green salad. Incidentally, portabellos (also portobello and portobella) are the same as cremini mushrooms, just more mature.

Ingredients

Orange Chipotle Glaze

  • ½ cup orange juice, fresh preferred

  • 2 tablespoon honey

  • 2 chipotle chiles in adobo

  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder

  • 1 teaspoon oregano, Mexican preferred

  • 1/8 teaspoon saffron dissolved in 2 tablespoon boiling water

  • mushrooms

  • 4 large portabello mushrooms

Instructions

Place all the ingredients for the glaze in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Thoroughly wash the mushrooms, pat dry and cut the stem off flush with the cap.

Brush each of the portabellos with the glaze and let sit for 30 minutes. Place the mushrooms on the grill, stem side up. Grill over a medium fire for 2 minutes, then turn. Brush on more glaze, grill for 2 minutes, and turn again. Reglaze the mushrooms and grill for 2 more minutes.

 

Mixed Mediterranean Herbed Vegetables with Penne Pasta

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Here is a dish that Nancy likes to prepare towards the end of the summer when fresh vegetables are in abundance and she doesn’t want to heat up the kitchen with a hot stove. Use the tomatoes as a base sauce and vary the types of vegetables for a different pasta flavor. Begin the meal with a crisp Caesar salad and finish it with a warm apple nut tart.

Ingredients

The Herbed Vegetables

  • 2 medium tomatoes, cut in half

  • 1 small zucchini, cut in half lengthwise

  • 1 yellow bell pepper, stem and seeds removed, cut in quarters

  • 1 thickly sliced red onion

  • The Herbed Marinade

  • 1/3 cup olive oil

  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano or substitute 1 teaspoon dried

  • 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

  • 1 teaspoon ground cayenne chile

The Pasta

  • 4 cups cooked penne pasta, kept warm

  • 1 tablespoon crushed chile pequin, or other small, hot chile

  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano, Greek preferred, or substitute 1 teaspoon dried oregano

  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

  • 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

  • 1 small jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained

  • 12 Kalamata olives, pitted and sliced

  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

  • 1 cup crumbled feta cheese

Instructions

Place the vegetables in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the oil, oregano, garlic, and cayenne together and pour over the vegetables. Marinate the vegetables for 1 hour at room temperature. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the marinade.

Place the marinated vegetables in a grill basket and grill over a medium fire until the vegetables a slightly cooked but still a little firm, about 7 minutes. Be sure to shake the basket so that the vegetables are evenly grilled. Remove the vegetables from the basket and chop them. Place them in a bowl with the vegetable juices.

Toss the warm or hot pasta with 2 tablespoons of reserved marinade, chile, oregano, parsley, and vinegar. Add the vegetables and juices, artichoke hearts, and olives and toss again.

Season with salt and pepper, top with the cheese and serve.

 

Grilled Green Chile Cheese Tamales with Avocado Cream

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Oh no, not a grilled tamale! But it works–if you can keep the corn husks from burning. And for that, be armed with a spray bottle filled with water. These tamales can be served as an entree or as a side dish. You can tie the tamales together with string or with a thin strip of corn husk. Serve with Mexican rice, squash with tomatoes and green chile, and flan for dessert.

Ingredients

For the Tamales:

  • 15 dried corn husks

  • ½ cup cornmeal

  • 1/3 cup milk

  • 2 tablespoons butter

  • 1 tablespoon instant masa mix

  • 1 tablespoon sugar

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • ½ cup whole kernel corn

For the Green Chile Cheese Filling:

  • 6 to 8 green New Mexican chiles, roasted, peeled, stems and seeds removed, cut in strips

  • 1/3 cup finely chopped onions

  • 6 ounces asadero cheese, coarsely grated or substitute Monterey Jack cheese

  • 1/3 cup chopped black olives

  • Avocado Cream

  • 2 medium avocados, peeled and chopped

  • 2 jalapeño chiles, stems and seeds removed, chopped

  • 2 tablespoons chopped onions

  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

  • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh cilantro

  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

To Finish

  • Sour cream, chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

Instructions

For the Tamales:

Place the corn husks in water in a large bowl, weigh down with a plate and soak for 30 minutes or until soft.

Combine the cornmeal, milk, butter, masa, sugar and salt in a saucepan and simmer for a couple of minutes. Cool and add the corn.

Drain the husks, pat dry with paper towels, and lay on a flat surface. Place two together, overlapping a little. Spread some of the cornmeal mixture on a husk, cover with chile strips, then onions, olives, and cheese. Place another layer of the cornmeal on top, pull the husks over the top and tie at both ends. Repeat until you have 6 packets.

Arrange the tamales around the edge of a high heat grill. Cook until the filling sets, turning occasionally, spraying with water to keep the husks from burning. 45 to 60 minutes.

For the Green Chile Cheese Filling:

Place all the ingredients for the avocado cream in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth

To serve, slice open the tamale, spoon in the avocado cream, top with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle with the cilantro.

 

Brisket Basting Sauce

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After a brisket has been smoked, it is basted in this sauce for a couple of hours before being sliced and served. Some cooks, however, slather the sauce on during the smoking.

Ingredients

Chili Powder, Cayenne, Margarine, Beer, Lemons, Parsley, Worcestershire Sauce

Instructions

This recipe is from Red Caldwell, who revealed the secrets of Texas barbecue to us when we were editors of Chile Pepper magazine. After a beef brisket has been smoked, it is basted in this sauce for a couple of hours before it is sliced and served. Some cooks slather the sauce on during the smoking. It can also be used with smoked lamb or pork.

  • 2 tablespoons commercial chili powder

  • ½ teaspoon ground cayenne chile (or more to taste)

  • 1 pound butter or margarine

  • 2 onions, chopped fine

  • 5 cloves garlic, minced

  • 1 ½ cups beer, such as Shiner Bock

  • 4 lemons, quartered

  • 1 bunch parsley tops, minced

  • 2 cups vegetable oil

  • 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

  • 2 bay leaves

In a pot, melt the butter, add the onions and garlic, and saute for 4 to 5 minutes to soften. Add the beer, squeeze in the lemon juice, and add the lemon rinds to the pot. When the foam subsides, add all of the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a medium low and simmer for 20 minutes.

Yield: About 5 cups

Heat Scale: Medium

Excerpt from Barbecue Inferno, (Ten Speed Press, 2001), and available from

Texas Beef Brisket New Mexico-Style

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Okay, okay, we borrowed a Texas technique and changed the rub to reflect our chilehead tastes.

Ingredients

Brisket, Lemon Juice, New Mexico Chile Powder, Cayenne, Brisket Basting Sauce

Instructions

Okay, okay, we borrowed a Texas technique and changed the rub to reflect our chilehead tastes. For years we have been perfecting recipes using a smoker known as an Oklahoma Joe’s. It is a horizontal, cylindrical smoker about three and a half feet long and about fourteen inches in diameter. It has an attached, dropped fire box that allows smoking with fairly cool smoke because the fire is separated a bit from the smoking area. Because smoking is so time consuming, it makes sense to smoke several things at once. In addition to brisket, we also smoke a turkey breast. Some cooks use the basting sauce as a mop during the smoking process and eliminate the long marinade at the end of smoking. Leftovers, if there are any, make the best barbecue sandwiches when served on a crusty hard roll with your choice of sauce from chapter 3.

  • 1 9 to 10 pound brisket (“packer trimmed” preferred)

  • ½ cup lemon juice

  • 2 cups mild red New Mexican chile powder

  • 1 tablespoon ground cayenne chile

  • 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

  • 1/4 cup garlic powder

  • Brisket Basting Sauce (recipe below)

Thoroughly coat all surfaces of the brisket with lemon juice, and rub in well. Combine the chile powder, cayenne, black pepper, and garlic powder in a bowl, and sprinkle generously all over the brisket, rubbing it in well. Make sure that the brisket is entirely covered. Allow to marinate for at least an hour before smoking.

To smoke the brisket, build a hardwood fire in the fire box using pecan, oak, or any fruit wood. When the fire is smoking nicely, place the brisket on the rack fat side up, to let gravity and nature do the basting. Place the breast as far from the heat source as possible, and close the smoker. During the smoking, do nothing to the brisket. The smoking will take approximately 8 hours at 200 degrees smoke temperature. This means a lot of beer will be consumed while you wait and tend the fire.

After the brisket has finished smoking, remove it from the smoker, slather it generously with Brisket Basting Sauce, wrap it tightly in aluminum foil, and return it to the smoker. Close off all of the air supplies to the fire, and allow the meat to “set” in the pit for about 2 hours.

Yield: A 10-pound brisket will yield about 10 to 20 servings, depending on the individual brisket and the size of the appetites of the guests.

Heat Scale: Medium