Putting it all together

Life simply put, has been hectic lately.

My husband and I are in the process of moving back to our home in New Mexico from Alabama. It has been really a trying time to move piecemeal, take our dogs with us, find accomodations for all of us. Not being able to cook, eating on the road has taken a toll on me! I have just found my set of knives in the box we packed (due to the fire - more about that later in this post). Gained 8 lbs and desire to have a kitchen to cook in again.

Once I arrived in NM -- I was looking forward to being able to cook in my own kitchen. The kicker is that without proper utensils and pans, then having to prepare to evacuate our home due to little bear fire in New Mexico life dealt me a bunch of bothersome hurdles. So, we began our list of things to save, funny how while you may have possessions, it the things which you hold near and dear to your heart which really help you reset your priorities about what is important in life. So, we began our gathering phase of pulling together all our papers, pcs, personal belongings, and medications. Found a store room in  a nearby town away from the fire and took our precious cargo there. Two days have passed since we arrived from a cross country drive starting in Alabama and ending in New Mexico. We suddenly we had to prepare our house for a possible evacuation due to a forest fire in New Mexico..

But, before I digress with photos of the fire way down below...let us review the basics of creating a miripoux, trinity, or as I call it a sofrito as it is called in Hispanic cooking. First crush the garlic, add salt to the garlic and mince garlic, add your vegetables and sauté in a pan with olive oil mixed with butter or corn oil. NEXT....Lets try to create your basic chicken and rice dish using the principles you have learned so far...

Lets put together a meal of Chicken and Rice with Borracho beans. Pull together the ingredients ( will add the recipe down below:

Add 1 Tbsp of Oil to your dutch oven, add 1 cup of long grained white rice. Brown the rice over med-high heat until you can see the rice color change to a nutty brown.

Next, take out the following ingredients:
1 can tomato sauce
1 teaspoon salt
Green pepper
Chicken
2 cloves of Garlic
1 rounded teaspoon of Cumin
1 lemon, juiced

Using a good knife, slice one side of a green pepper. Julienne it, or you may just set aside the green pepper.

Saute chicken in the pan, making sure to brown both sides.

Add the tomato sauce to the chicken, add two cans of water.

Crush Garlic in a molcahete, add cumin seeds and grind fine, you may add 3 - 4 peppercorns in the molcahete and crush with the mano negro. Add a little water to make a soupy paste. Add to the Chicken and Rice pot. Drop in the bell pepper and the Lime juice. Add 1 Tsp Pepper, the cumin and rice. Simmer for 45 minutes. Serve!

Delicious!


BORRACHO BEANS

For the borracho beans you need a few items:  1/2 to 1 lb pinto beans, pinto bean seasoning or you can substitute a can of tomato sauce, 1 tsp pepper (add salt after you cook beans), 1 can of beer, 1 peeled garlic clove per 1/2 lb beans, 2 slices bacon, water to cover the beans up to 5" above beans. Save the chicken for the chicken and rice dish.


Clean and soak beans overnight in 1 tsp baking soda, water in the crock pot of the slow cooker you will be using.

The next morning rinse the beans 3 times, discard water. Add beer, and rest of ingredients. Cook on high in the crock pot for 6 hours, checking the water frequently and stir occasionally. Spoon out into bowls or on a plate and enjoy!

Here the pics of the LITTLE BEAR FIRE IN RUIDOSO: