Spicy Pepper Soups

What a gross day it is out, cloudy and cold, unlike yesterday which was sunny and warm and beautiful. The only good thing about a gross day is that it calls for hot and delicious soup. Todays soups are a bit on the spicy side (yes, I'm really white, so when I say spicy it's not that big of a deal for most people, but if you have delicate taste buds, just cut out the spicy bits or be prepared for a bit of burn). Soup is served with sliced french bread (leave this out if you can't handle gluten) and a mixed greens salad featuring shredded carrots, dried cranberries, and a honey dijon mustard dressing. If you are lactose intolerant, enjoy the red soup and stay away from the green. If you are vegetarian, simply replace chicken and beef stock with veggie stock.


Red Spicy Pepper Soup
Makes 12 small servings

Ingredients:
olive oil
6 red bell peppers, seeded and cut into quarters
1 habanero pepper, seeded and minced (remember to wear gloves when handling spicy peppers and don't touch your eyes)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 onion, diced
2 ribs celery
2 quarts (aka 8 cups) beef broth
1/2 cup uncooked rice (I used white rice, but if you have time, use brown rice)
1 tsp dried thyme (or 2 Tbs fresh thyme, if you have it)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to broil.
2. Lightly coat bell peppers in olive oil and place them skin side up on a baking sheet lined with tinfoil (this makes for easy cleanup, which is a big deal if you don't use tinfoil).
3. Broil peppers until the skin is blackened and blistered.
4. Place peppers in a paper bag, close it up tight to keep the steam in, and put in the freezer for 10 minutes.
5. When peppers are cool enough to touch, remove skins by rubbing with a paper towel or peeling off with fingers. This bit is kinda messy.
6. In a large pot, heat 2 Tbs olive oil over medium heat and saute onion, garlic, habanero pepper, and celery until the onion starts to turn glassy. If the garlic burns, start over using lower heat because the burnt garlic will make the whole dish taste nasty.
7. Add bell peppers, broth, rice, thyme, cayenne pepper, and red pepper flakes, bring to a boil.
8. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes or until the rice is tender.
9. Use an immersion stick blender directly in the pot or a regular blender in batches.
10. Salt and pepper to taste.

Green Spicy Pepper Soup
Makes 12 small servings

Ingredients:
olive oil
6 green bell peppers, seeded and cut in quarters
1 jalapeno pepper
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup half-and-half
salt and pepper to taste


Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to broil.
2. Lightly coat peppers in olive oil and place them skin side up on a baking sheet lined with tinfoil (this makes for easy cleanup, which is a big deal if you don't use tinfoil).
3. Broil peppers until the skin is blackened and blistered.
4. Place peppers in a paper bag, close it up tight to keep the steam in, and put in the freezer for 10 minutes.
5. When peppers are cool enough to touch, remove skins by rubbing with a paper towel or peeling off with fingers. This bit is kinda messy. Seed and mince the jalapeno pepper.
6. In a large pot, heat 2 Tbs olive oil over medium heat and saute onion, garlic, jalapeno pepper, and celery until the onion starts to turn glassy. If the garlic burns, start over using lower heat because the burnt garlic will make the whole dish taste nasty.
7. Add bell pepper and chicken stock, bring to a boil.
8. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
9. Use an immersion stick blender directly in the pot or a regular blender in batches.
10. Stir in half-and-half, salt and pepper to taste.

Tacos with Spanish Rice

Buenos dias, amigos. Inspiration for todays meal comes from the infamous street taco. The typical street taco (as far as I'm concerned) is a corn tortilla with meat, salsa, cilantro, and topped with queso fresco, maybe come lettuce and tomato if you're lucky enough to get veggies. While the typical street tacos are great, I wanted to mix it up a bit and get some delicious veggies in the mix.

Tacos

Serves 12

Ingredients:
Mushroom Corn Salsa:
2 bags of sliced mushrooms
4 ears of corn with the kernels cut off
4 anaheim peppers
2 habanero peppers
1/2 onion, roughly diced
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Beef Taco Filling:
4 lbs ground beef
1 Tbs cumin
1 tsp chipotle powder
1 tsp cayenne powder
1 tsp turmeric
salt and pepper to taste

The Rest of the Taco:
1 bunch cilantro
1 package of queso fresco, broken up into small bits
1 iceberg lettuce, shredded
8 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
corn tortillas (I chose the 70 pack instead of the 30 pack because I had a sneaking suspicion that some people would have more than 2)

Preparation of Mushroom Corn Salsa:
1. Wash and pat completely dry the peppers, then rub down in a small amount of olive oil to coat the entire outside.
2. Roast the peppers over an open flame using metal tongs until the skin is fairly evenly blistered and browned, then transfer directly to being wrapped up in paper towels.
3. Use the paper towels to gently rub away the tough layer of skin, revealing delicious smoky pepper flesh. Remove stem and seeds from pepper before chopping, anaheim peppers should be about the size of the roughly diced onion pieces and the habanero should be minced.
4. In a large skillet, heat 2 Tbs olive oil over high heat and add peppers, corn, and onions. Stir often.
5. When onion is glassy around the edges, add the mushrooms. Continue stirring until the mushrooms have changed color. Remove from heat and salt & pepper to taste.

Preparation of the Beef Taco Filling:
1. Heat a large skillet over high heat, brown beef on both sides.
2. Break up the meat with wooden spatula as it cooks. Sprinkle spices over meat and stir to get even coverage.
3. When meat is no longer pink on the outside and there aren't any huge chunks, remove from heat and drain off excess fat. Salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation of the Taco:
1. Place 2 tortillas on plate, side by side. Optionally, heat tortillas in a small stack in microwave wrapped in a towel for about 15 seconds (until just warmed) or individually in a frying pan until warmed.
2. Layer ingredients using a small amount of each. From bottom to top, the order is: beef, mushrooms, lettuce, tomatoes, cilantro, cheese. For dairy free, leave off cheese. To make vegetarian, leave out beef. To make vegan, leave out beef and cheese. Optionally, serve with avocado slices.

Spanish Rice
Serves 12

Ingredients:
2 Tbs olive oil
1/2 sweet onion, diced
3 cups uncooked white rice
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups chunky salsa (I chose medium because I wanted a little kick to the dish)

Preparation:
1. In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium to high heat, whatever you're comfortable with. Saute onion until tender (it will start to get glassy, which means transparent).
2. Add rice and continue stirring until rice starts to brown.
3. Stir in broth and salsa.
4. Reduce heat to low, cover, let simmer for 20 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed.
5. Fluff with fork before serving to keep it from getting too gloppy.