The Everyday Gourmet food blog

Here I am, sitting in an amazing room overlooking the Pacific Ocean at the very tip of Baja California. I've been here all week for my company's sales quota club (as one of the executives helping lead our sales growth effort, I have the luxury of helping our over-achieving reps celebrate their success), and couldn't be happier. My husband and I came a bit early and are staying longer then the formal festivities and are enjoying every minute. We're lucky enough to be staying at Capella Pedregal, one of the best resorts in the Cabo area. Wow, what a place. And the food!  

You may have noticed that many of my posts and recipes are definitely of the Latin variety...I have an insatiable hunger for Mexican food, and so cook it often. Imagine how much fun I'm having, enjoying it at every meal for a week! The restaurants here are reall fantastic (there are three), and I'll give you some highlights of the meals we've had. And then on to my adventures in cooking school here! In fact, don't miss the amazing tip I took away from the cooking school chef AND one of his prize recipes!

At Don Manuel's on the property, we've indlulged in their fabulous guacamole, but even better was the queso fondito, made with Oaxacan cheese and chorizo, served with fresh-made tortillas. My mouth is watering right now just thinking about it! We had some pretty awesome cocktails to go with it - a spicy mango blended margarita, sprinkled with spicy chipotle pepper powder. Oh yummy...I could drink those on any hot day of the year. Anywhere. 

We also had some pretty great seafood - popcorn shrimp tacos, fresh grilled lobster, blackened Amberjack with mole verde sauce, grilled shrimp, and a fish stew seasoned with chipotle, leeks and fennel. The cochinita pibil which is citrus and aniseseed braised pork, is unbelievable. Served with grilled plantains and fresh tortillas, it's about the best taco you'll ever eat!

But the highlight of the week was doing cooking class with chef Enrique Silva at Los Tamarindos organic farm just outside Cabo San Lucas. The farm grows a ton of herbs and vegetables, including many kinds of tomoatoes, 7 varieties of eggplant, leeks, squash, parsley, thyme, basil, and so much more. In fact, Rick Bayless was there recently, filming a Baja Beach House Cooking episode for his show, Mexico One Plate at a Time. Very cool! The farm sells a good deal of its produce to local hotels and restaurants, and while they used to export a lot to the US, they are ceasing to do that due to increasing costs and regulation that make exporting unprofitable. Such a shame...but that's a topic of debate for a different kind of blog. ;-)

There were about 20 of us in the class, and we enjoyed it so much! Prepping and cooking in Chef Enrique's half indoor/half outdoor kitchen, we cooked a full menu of dishes, including a fresh zucchini soup with sage, stuffed poblano chiles (recipe below!), chicken in mole sauce, Mexican rice, and for dessert, squash blossoms stuffed with ricotta cheese and baked with a mango paste laid on top. Oh my, what a meal!

Before I share the recipe for the stuffed peppers, I will share another great secret with you...the best takeaway perhaps from the class. Herb oil. This will sound ridiculously simple, and it is. But the results are amazing. Simply combine half olive oil and half grapeseed, safflower or peanut oil (these latter oils cook better at high temperatures). Then chop a boat load of your favorite, freshest herbs (we used sage, parsley, thyme and basil) and add them to the oil. That's it. We used it to baste and roast veggies, to fry the rice before adding liquid, to cook everything where oil was needed. Not only did it add great flavor, but gave the dishes a common theme of flavors as well. Brilliant and simple. I love that! And according to Chef Enrique, it will last about two months in a cool place without a lot of light.

Ok, so now on to the recipe to share. Full credit to Chef Enrique of course!

Chile Rellenos with Vegetables

8 dried poblano chiles
2 each green and yellow zucchini, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 leeks, white parts only, rinshed and cut into thin slices
2 cups yellow, orange or mixed pear tomoatoes, cut in half
2 lb of large cherry tomatoes
herb oil (see paragrpah preceeding recipe)
1 cup fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
1 cup crumbled cotija cheese (or feta if you can't find cotjia)
salt & pepper 

Soak the dried chiles for one hour in very hot water, then gently split them open lengthwise on one side, remove seeds and veins, leaving stem intact.

Put the cherry tomatoes (not the pear) onto a large baking sheet and brush with a couple Tbsp of the herb oil. Roast in a 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes.  Allow to cool while you make the rest of the recipe.

In a large skillet over medium heat, heat a few Tbsp of the herb oil. Add the diced squash, garlic, leeks and saute until soft, about 8-10 minutes. Add the pear tomatoes and cook an additional few minutes until tomatoes are releasing their juices. Season with salt & pepper.

Spoon the filling into the peppers, evenly distributing the mixture between them. Pinch the open sides of the peppers to mostly close them.

Meanwhile, put the roasted cherry tomatoes in a blender or food processor along with the basil and blend until slightly chunky, but mostly smooth. Season with salt & pepper. Put the stuffed chiles in an oven-proof dish, side by side, and spoon the tomato sauce over them. Sprinkle some of the cotija or feta cheese over the opening of each pepper, and place in a 400 degree oven. Cook until warmed through and the cheese is lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Serve hot, and enjoy!

Buen provecho!

I decided to combine the rest of our culinary adventures in New York into one final posting. Not that I couldn't drag it out to at least two, mind you! 

The other big highlight while we were there was eating at a David Bouley restaurant called Brushstroke. Bouley has been very successful with a number of restaurants throughout NYC, but this one is different, and very special as a result. The entire restaurant is done Kaiseki style, which is the Japanese version of an haute cuisine tasting menu. Each course is meticulously planned and presented, and everything we ate was delicious!

To achieve the amazing flavors (the New York Times review of the restaurant aptly calls the meal a "haiku of flavors"), Bouley collaborates with a cooking school in Japan, the Tsuji Culinary Institue in Osaka, and the instructors from that school actually prepare the food at the restaurant. It's well worth the visit, and the price - an experience you likely won't get elsewhere. We had the sommelier, Seju Yang, pair wines for us with each course. He did an oustanding job of pairing various wines, sakes, a dry sherry and beer that matched each course perfectly. Here are a few photos of the restaurant and food, sourced directly from the NY Times review, written in July of last year.

We also had an absolutely awesome burger (maybe the best ever?) at a place called B&B, which stands for Burger and Barrel. This gastropub is filled with locals and tourists alike, and is in SoHo, a great spot for a drink and/or a meal during or after shopping in the area. We popped in for a drink while we were furniture shopping on nearby Greene and Wooster Sts and loved it so much, we put our name on the list to come back for dinner later. Off we went after a refreshing drink (try the B&B Spritz!) to B&B Italia right around the corner (I know, the naming coincidence is telling...) and we bought a dining room table and chairs on sale. Yay! Then we went back to the other B&B for dinner. Between the two of us, we had the Bash style burger (with caramelized onions, bacon jam, pickles and a special sauce) and the Mexico City (with house-pickled jalapenos, oaxacan cheese and guacamole). Unbelievably, mouth wateringly good. You must go.

And the final culinary highlight I'll mention is Sushi of Gari 46 in midtown. Holy sh*t, this is the best sushi we've every had. Including the best sushi places in San Francisco (Sebo and Kiss Seafood) and the best I had in Tokyo. Absolutely mind-blowingly fresh, and creatively seasoned, this place will blow your mind. Gari is the sushi chef, who became one at the tender age of 19. He now has four restaurants - his first in the Upper East Side, one in Tokyo, another in the Upper West Side and Sushi of Gari 46 in the theater district. We did the omakase menu (which essentially means I'll trust it to you in Japanese - in other words, let the chef show off his best and give you what he wishes). Each piece was a single piece of sushi but done with the most incredible touches of flavor, spice, sauce, or condiments. There was no soy sauce available...to use it would've been to ruin the delicate and thoughtful ways they prepared the fish. One dish that was particulary memorable was a piece of sea bass that was brushed with a ponzu, then topped with a smoky spice of some kind. Oh man, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. 

So there you have it - across three postings. My delectable eating adventures in New York. From Eataly (the food hall of any foodie's dreams), to the best sushi I've eaten anywhere, to a crazy kaiseki menu at Bruststroke, to an unbelievably great burger. I can hardly wait to go back. To all of them. 

Bon appetit!

As promised, I have several posts on my recent eating adventures in New York. This one is dedicated to Eataly. Surely you've heard about Eataly....the food mecca put together by Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich and Lidia Bastianich. It's 50,000 sqare feet (yes, 50,000!) of gourmet heaven. And you can get everything there...coffee, cheese, meat, fish, pasta, pizza, fresh produce, flowers, kitchenware, bread, wine, and so much more. 

I love the setup. In one large, open space, there are small "stores" that specialize in one of the things above. Visit the pesce counter to see the amazing array of fresh fish (the shark's head was particularly fun to check out). Stop by the salumi & formaggi counter to try one of hundreds of Italian cheeses and cured meats. Or hang out in the central La Piazza where you can sit or stand and have a glass of wine, a plate of cured meats, some cheese or a number of other lovely things.

The restaurant set up is just awesome....there are literally a dozen places to eat throughout, each with its specialty. A roof top beer garden serves food along with sunshine and boutique brews. There is a pasta/pizzeria that serves some of the best pizza in NY (dare I say it?!), and a whole variety of other spots to choose from.

As a foodie, I was in absolutely heaven the entire time. I felt like a kid in a candy store, browsing through aprons, dishes and kitchen utensils one minute, grabbing a glass of wine to walk around and ogle the fresh produce, then spent 15 minutes just examining all the kinds of fresh and dried pasta avaialble. After having some delicious cheeses, then lunching at the pasta/pizzeria place, and having a delicious cup of gelato I was truly satisfied. What an afternoon! My hat is off to Eataly!

Buon appetito!

I spent most of last week in New York -- one of my favorite foodie destinations! Fortunately, I had my husband along, so we indulged and hit some amazing places in between work obligations. I think my foodie adventures in NY are going to turn into at least 3 blog posts total, this being the first. So stay tuned for more foodie fun about my trip, including a rundown of a highly unusual and amazing dinner, an afternoon at Batali's Eataly, and a bunch of other great eating and drinking. See why I might end up with 3 blog posts?!

But first up, a post about an all-modern evening, which was actually a work thing. Fortunately, I'm as passionate about tech as I am about food, and this particular night was a great combo of both. The idea of the evening was to provide a group of Chief Information Officers (the folks who make all the important decisions about technology in their respective companies) a night of thoroughly modern and interesting technology, conversation, food, wine and art.  It started out with a tour of a highly sophisticated (read: way cool) data center facility just outside the city in New Jersey. For those of you readers who are purists in culinary adventures and don't know what a data center is, imagine a very large building full of computers and all their associated peripherals that "rent" computing bandwidth to various companies. The company I work for, Box, uses these facilities to run our own data centers (thus the reason for the tour). Here are a couple of photos I found online (I did not take any unauthorized photos, I promise!) to give you an idea.

Once we finished at the data center, we moved on to the NY Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). If you've never been, it's truly fabulous, espeically if you have the privilege to do a private tour with a really knowledgeable docent like we did. I swear I learned more about modern art in that one hour than I've learned in a very long time. For example, that Van Gogh's famous Starry Night was in part an objection to prior methodologies where the ground is the main focus and other things (clouds, skies, birds, trees) are complementing the main focus. In the case of Starry Night, the sky is the main focus so it's the opposite, which provokes conversation and introduces a different way of representing nature. Who knew?! We got to stand in front of Starry Night without another soul on the floor....pretty special. Here's the pic I took of the painting.

And finally, after all that priming, it was time for an amazing dinner at Danny Meyer's The Modern (at the MOMA). We had a private room, and kicked off the meal with a celebratory glass of French Rose Champagne. The whole menu was absolutely delicious, artfully prepared and everyone loved it. Naturally, as the wine flowed, the conversation did too and all had a great time. Here is the menu for our private dinner, along with the wines I selected.

A night of modern tech, art and food turned out to be a really fun and impressive evening. It was truly great.

Bon eppetit!

I had a hankering for Mexican food the other night (as I do so often!), and was looking for something quick and delicious. I swear this dish took me no more than 20 minutes to prepare and a half hour to cook. Delicious food with minimal effort and less than an hour to table - I love that!

The recipe is from Bon Appetit magazine, June 2009, and while I made a few modifications (reflected in the recipe here), I must give them full credit for originating the recipe. I served this with some Mexican rice, to which I added roasted poblano chiles (also called pasilla), and some spicy refried beans topped with cotija cheese and chopped cilantro. If it hadn't been so late, I'd have also made a green salad with some matchstick-sized jicama and radishes in a citrus-agave dressing.

Hope you enjoy these! This recipe makes 8 enchiladas, so serves 4 people.

Ingredients:

2 poblano (aka pasilla) chilese
2 jalapeno peppers
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 white onion
1.5 lb tomatillos, husked
2 generous cups cilantro leaves, finely chopped, plus extra for garnish
juice of 1/2 a lime
2 tsp ground cumin, divided
3/4 lb shelled, deveined raw shrimp, cut into 1/2" pieces
1/2 red onion, diced
2 Tbsp fresh oregano, finely chopped
3 scallions, thinly sliced
8 corn tortillas
5 oz cotija or feta cheese, crumbled
1/3 cup sour cream, thinned with 1 Tbsp water and 1 Tbsp lime juice
1 avocado 

Preheat the broiler in the oven. On a large baking sheet, place the tomatillos, jalapeno peppers, the white onion peeled and cut into quarters, and the poblano chiles halved and seeded (cut side down). Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and place under the broiler until everything is just starting to brown (about 5 minutes). Remove the poblano chiles, turn everything else over and broil until the other sides are lightly brown (about another 4-5 minutes).  Remove from the oven and let cool slighly.

Remove any charred bits from the skins of the peppers, and chop the poblanos into 1/4" dice. Place 1/4 of the poblanos into the bowl of a food processor. De-stem and roughly chop the jalapenos, and add to the processor bowl, along with the tomatillos, garlic cloves, and white onion. Add the cilantro and 1 tsp of cumin and juice of the 1/2 lime. Puree until smooth, then season to taste with salt and pepper.  Set the salsa verde aside.

In a large skillet, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add the red onion and saute until softened, about 4-5 minutes. Add the remaining cumin and stir for 1 minute. Add the shrimp and fresh oregano and cook until the shrimp is just opaque, about 3 minutes. Season with salt & pepper. Remove to a bowl and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a 13x9 baking pan, pour 1/2 cup of salsa verde into the bottom and spread until covered. Pour the remainder of the salsa into a shallow dish. To prepare the enchiladas, take a corn tortilla, and dip it into the salsa verde. Place it on a work surface and spoon some of the shrimp mixture (about 1/8 of what's in the bowl) onto the tortilla along the bottom third. Sprinkle with some of the scallions and the cotija or feta cheese. Roll up gently, and place seam-side down into the baking dish. Repeat with the remaining tortillas and filling. Top the enchiladas with the remaining salsa verde, and then sprinkle with remaining scallions and cheese.

Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes and remove from oven. Gently place 2 enchiladas on each plate, then drizzle with the sour cream (you can put it into a squirt bottle if that's easier), and then garnish with 2 slices of avocado and a bit of cilantro. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Bon appetit!

 

Last weekend was my birthday, and we decided to go with our best friends up to the wine country for the weekend. Living in San Francisco means we have plenty of wine country within an hour's drive, and this time we chose to head to the Russian River area to sample some of the amazing Pinot Noir's from that area, and of course, to enjoy some of the great local restaurants there. 

I could tell you everywhere we went and visited, and describe each one, but I'll just give you the highlights.

That first day, we had lunch at the Underwood Bar & Bistro, which was awesome. Located in Graton, they had great food and a wonderful patio so we could enjoy the great weather. The four of us shared a bunch of fun plates, including the pizzetta with arugula, ham and a fried egg; the harissa fries; hoisin baby back ribs and the Korean BBQ beef. Yummy!  We also shared a great bottle of rose from the Loire to make the meal all the better. Definitely recommend going to this spot if you are in the area.

After lunch we went to Merry Edwards winery, where we each bought a case of wine. The Pinot Noir is spectacular (particularly the Russian River Pinot and the Klopp Ranch Pinot). Then we stopped at a couple spots not worth mentioning, but rounded out the day at Rochioli. What a great spot! Once again, the Pinot Noir was the standout. Some of that wine made it home with us, too. :-)

That night, to celebrate my bday, we had dinner at Farmhouse Restaurant in Forestville. WOW! The atmosphere, food, presentation and wine were spectacular. Definitely deserving of the high rating it gets in Zagat and the michelin starred chef! We all had ridiculously good starters (sashimi, foie fras, octopus) and the main courses were to die for. Their specialty is Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit (rabbit served three ways), but I don't think you'll go wrong with anything on the menu. 

We spent the night at the Boon Hotel + Spa in Guerneville, which is a very cute, small and modern little hotel right off the main drag. Great spot with a lovely pool and grounds. And once we woke up the next day, it was off to more wine tasting! We bought wine from Joseph Swan (Rhone style wines), and visited Marimar Torres (just okay), but the find of the entire trip was Copain. This place is amazing. The wines are Rhone style, incredibly elegant, lighter in alcohol than a lot of today's California wines, and just...well, delicious. They make a fabulous Provencal style rose, Pinot Noir and Syrah, all of which are amazing. I think we each brought home 3 cases of their wines, and signed up for their mailing list. The wines are pretty small production, so you won't find them outside the winery and restaurants, but you can order them online and by phone. I absolutely recommend you try this wine. What a find!

We did manage to fit in a lunch on Sunday at the Smokehouse BBQ spot in Sebastapol. Great BBQ done right - low and slow. We had ribs, brisket and pulled pork, all of which were great. Along with some slaw, mac and cheese, and cornbread, we were all really satisfied, sticky fingers and all.

A fantastic birthday foodie weekend...I absolutely enjoyed turning a year older. :-)

Bon appetit!

 

We decided to host a St Patrick's Day brunch when one of my friends was craving one of my bloody mary's a week or so ago and suggested we have brunch soon. Seemed like a great idea, and with St Patrick's Day right around the corner, we thought we'd host a brunch for a handful of friends.

Naturally this got me thinking about what to make that would suit the holiday. Green food of course came to mind, but what kinds of green food would be visually pretty and palate-pleasing? Eventually I came up with the idea of pureeing herbs with a bit of milk to add to scrambled eggs, making them green but with a flavor I would want in the eggs regardless. It worked pretty well, and looked great! (recipe below.) Here is the full menu:

Irish Coffee
Bloody Mary's
Mimosas
Scrambled Eggs with Boursin Cheese and Pureed Herbs
Oven-Roasted Asparagus with Goat Cheese and Lemon Zest
Fruit Salad of Honeydew Melon and Kiwi
Irish Soda Bread and Morning Buns
Bacon
Green Goddess Dip with Green Veggies
Goat Cheese and Basil Spread with Crostini
St Patty's Day Mini-Cupcakes and Shamrock Cookies 

Everything was delicious, and we all had a great time hanging out together, celebrating the day and enjoying each other. I hope yours was just as great. Here's to the luck o' the Irish!

Scrambed Eggs with Boursin Cheese and Pureed Herbs
(serves 14) 

18 eggs
salt & pepper
1/2 cup of whole milk or half-n-half
1 small package of Boursin cheese with herbs (5.2 oz)
1 cup flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
4 Tbsp fresh tarragon leaves
4 scallions, white and green parts roughly chopped
2 bunches of chives, loosely chopped, plus 2 Tbsp of finely chopped chives, separated
4 Tbsp butter 

Crack the eggs into two bowls or 4-cup measuring cup and whisk lightly with a fork.

In a food processor, blend the Boursin cheese, the milk or half-n-half and the herbs (parsley, tarragon and roughly chopped chives) and scallions until thoroughly blended.

Melt 2 Tbsp butter in each of two large skillets over medium high heat. When the butter is melted, add one of the bowls/cups of eggs to each pan and season with salt & pepper. Scramble the eggs by stirring frequently, scraping the cooked egg from the bottom of the pan. When the eggs are nearly finished cooking, add half the cheese/herb mixture to each pan and blend in gently. The eggs should turn a light shade of green from the herbs. Place eggs in a serving dish and sprinkle with the finely chopped chives, and serve immediately.

Bon appetit!

No, thi sis not a low-cal burger recipe. And no, it isn't really for burger purists either. This is a messy, napkin-heavy concoctio that has become the only burger worth eating in our house. That said, we do have several favorite burger places in San Francisco, but that's for another post..

I originaly posted thi srecipe with an entry from last year about chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, but I've since mproved it. Not to mention that I made these last night, and that reminded me that I need to share! So here you go....enjoy!

Makes 4 burgers 

Ingredients:
* 1 1/3 pounds ground beef
* 6 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, plus 2 Tbsp of the sauce, divided
* salt & pepper
* 1 cup ketchup

* 1 tsp balsamic vinegar

* 4 slices of pepper jack cheese
* 1 cup guacamole (recipe below if desired)

* 2 small tomoatoes, seeded and diced

* 4 thin slices of red onion
* 4 large, fresh jalapeno peppers, charred peeled and seeded (instructions below)
* 4 fresh hamburger buns

* fresh lettuce leaves 

Directions:
Chop 3 of the chipotle peppers and add to ground beef. Add 1 Tbsp of the adobo sauce to beef and season with salt and pepper. Mix well and divide into 4 patties. 

For ketchup, chop remaining chipotle peppers finely and add to ketchup, along with remaining Tbsp of adobo sauce. Add the balsamic vinegar and blend well. Set aside.

For the fresh jalapeno peppers, you want to char the outside skin until blackened, steam them for 10 minutes in a closed paper or plastic bag, then remove the outside skin. If you have a gas stove, place peppers directly on the stove top above gas flame and turn with tongs (be sure they're not rubber coated!) to char peppers on all sides. When blackened all over, remove from stove and place in a paper bag, close the bag and leave for at least 10 minutes to allow skin to soften. Then remove and discard charred skin (this is most easily done with your fingers as the charred skin peels off easily). If you do not have a gas stove, you can do the same thing on the grill or you can use the oven. For the oven, place peppers on a baking sheet 6" beneath the broiler and turn as they blister/char on the outside. Once charred all over, remove, and place in a bag and follow directions above. It is highly recommended you wear plastic gloves (surgical style gloves are cheap and easy to work in) to prevent the oils in the chiles from burning your hands. Avoid touching your eyes and other sensitive skin after handling if you do not use gloves. Once the chiles are peeled, remove the stem, cut open and remove the seeds and ribs. Cut the remaining chile into small dice that you can lay on top of the burgers.

Make the guacamole by mixing 2 avocados, juice of 1/2 a small lemon, approximately 1/4 tsp salt and 2 dashes of Tabasco or other hot sauce. Mash the avocados and mix well. Mix in the chopped tomatoes.

Preheat the grill for direct heat. Grill the burgers to desired doneness, about 4 minutes a side. During the last 2 minutes of cooking, place a quarter of the chopped jalapeno chiles on top of the burger, and lay a slice of cheese atop the chiles. When done, remove the burgers to a plate and quickly grill the buns if desired.

Assemble the burgers by placing 1 Tbsp of ketchup on the bottom half of one bun. Place a burger patty on top of the ketchup, then top the patty with 2 Tbsp of guacamole, then lettuce leaves and onion slice. Put another 1 Tbsp of ketchup on the top bun half, then place on top of the assembled burger and serve. Serve additional ketchup and guacamole on the side, and enjoy!

This recipe is one that has a special story...every heard of Sally Schmitt? Probably not, unless you know the full history of the legendary French Laundry restaurant. While it came to fame under Thomas Keller's leadership, the original owner and chef was actually Sally. Her cooking style is all about fresh, flavorful, comforting food made from the freshest possible ingredients. Sally and her husband Don are quite the couple - he was mayor of Napa while she was running the restaurant. They eventually retired to their apple farm in Northern California, and for many, many years, Sally taught cooking classes there. (She's now retired, and her daughter runs the cooking school, teaching Sally's recipes).

The Apple Farm isn't just a cooking school. It's a working farm, a cooking school and home to many of the Schmitt family. One of the pleasures of going there to cook is that you can go for an entire weekend, staying in the on-site cabins, cooking Friday and Saturday dinners, Saturday and Sunday brunches. This recipe is one of those that Sally taught me on one of my several visits there, and one I make often. This past weekend, I had my marketing team to my house for a business offsite in the afternoon, followed by cooking this recipe together, having dinner and lots of great wine.

I hope you can find a great friends or family occasion to make this, too! Once the stew is ready, remove from the oven, cover to keep warm, and prepare the polenta (instructions follow).

Ingredients:

3 lb pork shoulder, trimmed and cut in 1 1/2" cubes
2 medium yellow onions, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
6-8 dried guajillo peppers (or New Mexican or California chiles)
8 sun-dried tomatoes (dry, not packed in oil)
1 1/2 lb tomatillos, husked and coursely chopped
2 red bell peppers, charred, peeled, seeded and cut into strips (1/4" x 2")
3-4 poblano or pasilla peppers, charred, peeled, seeded and cut into strips
3-4 jalapeno peppers, charred, peeled, seeded and finely chopped 
2 serrano peppers, charred, peeled, seeded and finely chopped (omit for a milder dish)
1/2 cup chicken stock 
salt & pepper 
cilantro 

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Remove the stem and seeds from the dried chiles, and soak in very hot water for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. When hot, brown the pork in batches (in a single layer) on all sides, salting and peppering the meat generously. As the pieces are browned, remove to a large casserole or dutch oven. Using the same skillet, adding a bit more oil if needed, reduce the heat to medium and saute the onions until softened (about 5 minutes). Add the garlic and tomatillos and saute another minute, seasoning with salt & pepper. Remove from heat and set aside. Drain the now softened chiles, and tear into pieces. Layer on top of the pork. Cut the sun-dried tomatoes into small pieces (about 1/4") and layer on top of the pork and chiles. Layer the onion mixture over the pork, chiles and tomatoes. Layer the various fresh, roasted peppers over all the other ingredients. Pour the chicken stock over the entire mixture, cover with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit the casserole or dutch oven, and put in the oven. Allow the stew to cook for 1 hour, 45 minutes (do not stir while cooking).

Remove the stew from the oven, remove the parchment paper, and stir to combine all ingredients. Cover to keep warm while you prepare the polenta.

Bring 3 cups of water or chicken stock to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce the heat to medium and slowly stir in 1 cup of cornmeal.  Cook, stirring frequently, until very thick, approximately 15 minutes. Add more liquid as needed, but the mixture should be stiff enough to lightly hold its shape in the pan. Mix in 4 Tbsp butter and 1/2 cup of cream or whole milk. Continue to cook until thickened again. Season with salt & pepper.

Spoon a generous portion of polenta in the center of a plate or bowl, ladel the pork stew over the polenta, and garnish with cilantro. Serve and enjoy...this recipe should serve 6.

Bon appetit!