VOTE NOW! 2009 IMBOLC/LUGHNASADH RECIPE ENTRIES

[Earthwoman]

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This category contains original recipes for the current Eisteddfod..

[Earthwoman]

I entered this recipe in a previous Eisteddfod and decided that the recipe deserved another shot. Enjoy!

Chiles Rellenos

6 poblano peppers

About 1 ½ cups or so of Monterrey Jack cheese

Olive oil

Sauce ingredients:
1 can crushed tomatoes
¼ med. onion, minced
2 gloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

Batter ingredients:
4 eggs, separated
¼ tsp. salt


Heat the sauce ingredients to a gentle boil; simmer for about 20 minutes so that the flavors can blend.

Wearing gloves, slit one side of each pepper; remove the seeds and veins. Leave the top part of the peper, the stem top, intact. Rinse the peppers and pat them dry.

Stuff the peppers with the cheese until they are full but not overflowing (this is difficult for anyone who thinks that if a little cheese is good, more is certainly better). Set the stuffed peppers aside.

Beat the egg whites until they are stiff but not dry. Add the salt and egg yolks (1 yolk at a time), beating well after each addition.

Pat the peppers dry (yes, again), and sprinkle them lightly with flour. Coat each pepper with the batter.

Fry the stuffed peppers in the heated olive oil, turning them at least once, until they are a golden brown all over, about 3-5 minutes or so. You may have to fry the peppers in more than 1 batch.

Drain the peppers on toweling and place them in a cassarole dish. Spoon the tomato sauce over the chiles rellenos and serve immediately.

Serves 6.

[Wolfdance]

“Lumberjack” Mac & Cheese

Nice and cheesy… just in time for Imbolc…

1 pound pasta (elbow macaroni, small shells, penne, fusilli – anything that will trap the sauce)
Salt
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon dry mustard (optional, use if you like a little extra tang)
Pepper
2 cups milk (any percentage of fat is OK)
1 pound cheese of your choice. I use a mix of Monterey Jack (for meltability), extra sharp Cheddar, and a little fresh Parmesan

Put a large pot of water on to boil. When the water has come to a full boil, add a little salt and the pasta. Cook per package instructions until al dente.

Preheat oven broiler.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large (3 quart) saucepan over medium heat. When it’s melted, add the flour (and mustard, if using) and as much pepper as you like. If the butter you used was unsalted, add ½ tsp. of salt. Otherwise, it’s good as is. Stir the mixture together and let it cook just a little (but not until it’s brown). Slowly add the milk, stirring as you do so the flour doesn’t clump up.

Cook and stir the sauce until it thickens and starts to bubble. Remove from heat and add ¾ of the cheese. Stir until cheese is melted.

Put cooked noodles into an oven-safe casserole dish and cover with cheese sauce. If you like additional items stirred into your mac & cheese (caramelized onions are nice), now is the time to add them. Stir it all together and sprinkle remaining cheese over the top. (You can also use bread or cracker crumbs – just mix a little Parmesan into them.) Put dish under broiler and broil until top of casserole is brown and crusty. Remove from oven and dig in!

Serves 6 (3 in my house...)

[wyeuro]

Magic Pancakes

Take one high-yielding free-range dairy goat, fresh-in, milk her of her surplus, thank her, give her a hug and let her go and feed the rest to her kid. Give some to the cats. Let stand in the early morning sunshine away from cats, lizards and birds.

Meanwhile, collect one egg. If a hen is on the nest, pacify her by clucking gently as you slide in a hand and extract one of the eggs from under her. Make sure it's not the china egg that tells the hens where to lay. It will be warm and fragrant: carry it close to your body to keep it that way.

As you pass the kitchen garden grab a generous sprig of fresh mint, remembering to thank the fairy - it will then be blessed. Take also fresh garlic chives, enough for about a tablespoonful when chopped. Thank the fairy in Chinese, or just smile broadly, to give happiness back to the plant. And pick a ripe lime, lemon or grapefruit, and thank the tree.

Take all ingredients into kitchen, or if the sunshine is just too gorgeous to leave, bring organically grown stone-ground wholemeal flour and organically produced pure run citrus blossom honey out, find a hay bale to sit on and another for a table.

In a clean mixing bowl lightly brushed with a crushed mint leaf, break the egg into half a cup of the milk and throw the shell onto the compost heap. Whisk lightly until fluffy. Do not use a fork - if you stir milk with a fork the cow will kick you, and if from a goat, they have an uncanny knack of standing right on your instep... And whisk, don't beat. A beaten egg is a defeated egg. Eggs should always be lightly, encouragingly whisked. Add a heaped tablespoon of wholemeal flour, invoking the harvest gods to give thanks, and sending light, love and gratitude to the growers and all their assistants. Stir till smooth, add chopped herbs and let stand for a few minutes in shade while you build the fire.

Make the fire of clear-burning windfall wood gathered from under trees that have been thanked for their gift. Once you've got it a-blaze with leaves and twigs, few good-sized sticks is all you'll need. Invoke Brighid, the goddess of the Hearth, and the Element of Fire. Wait until the first fury of the blaze has died down and there is a steady flame. Heat a nine-ten inch frying pan and pour on a little organically grown (prefereably locally) cold-pressed olive oil. When a little batter dropped in begins to sizzle, pour out enough of the batter to cover the pan to a depth of a mm or two and fry until the bubbles which will rise have all burst. Turn and do the other side for a minute or two, lift out and place on a plate. Pour in the second pancake, adding more oil if necessary. While it is frying, drizzle a little honey across the diameter of the first one and squeeze a little citrus juice onto that. Roll up. Treat each pancake in the same way and garnish with sprigs of fresh mint. This makes two or three. You can just about double the quantity of other ingredients before adding a second egg.

Serve immediately while still hot with Orange Pekoe tea, or a tisane.

Having eaten, thank Brighid and give her a libation of fresh warm milk and a drizzle of honey, and give thanks to the Element of Fire.

(Note: After pouring two nice generous pancakes, there is usually not enough left for a full-sized third one. This should nevertheless be poured and fried just as carefully, and the tiny result given honey and lime juice and placed on an altar for the fairies.

Variations:
Some people prefer to use sour milk or to include some yoghurt. Both are delicious but the texture changes.

Nearly as nice with powdered milk, bought eggs, and chemically grown herbs and flour, as long as you thank the cows, the factory workers, the technology and the farmers etc, and the process: sending healing into it all as you go.

I sometimes prefer to dig up some fresh garlic and use half a large clove or a whole small one instead of the garlic chives, and sometimes I use finely shredded spring onions instead. A mixture of thyme, marjoram, sage and rosemary can be used for an entirely different result. Use less honey and withhold citrus juice. Remember to thank the herbs.

I offer it as a breakfast dish, but it can be delightful in the evenings, as a desert or a midnight snack.

Happy frying!

wyverne /|\

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