A Collection of Hispanic Recipes from Netters

From: lib1p@rosie.uh.edu (Tammy Stark Blandino)

This recent collection of Mexican recipes contains three for rellenos.


Keiko's Tex-Mex 7-Layer Dip

My boss, Keiko Horton, gave me this recipe. It's one of her most popular. The trick to keeping the dip from being runny is to drain and (in some cases) pat dry with paper towels everything.

Layer 1:

  • 2 large cans bean dip (preferrably Frito Lay)
  • drain any water from cans and spread on bottom of a rectangular cake dish
  • Layer 2:

  • 3 avocados peeled and crushed
  • 2 tbsp. lemon juice
  • sprinkling of garlic salt
  • mix 3 ingredients well and spread over bean dip
  • Layer 3:

  • 16 oz. sour cream
  • 1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
  • mix well and spread over avocado layer
  • Layer 4:

  • 1 bunch green onions, chopped fine
  • spread over sour cream layer
  • Layer 5:

  • 2 large tomatoes, sliced, seeds removed, patted dry on
  • paper towels, and diced
  • spread over onions
  • Layer 6:

  • small can sliced black olives, drained, patted dry, and chopped
  • spread over tomatoes
  • Layer 7:

  • 4-8 oz. cheddar cheese, grated
  • spread over black olives

  • Mexican Lasagne

    From: jagordon@agsm.ucla.edu

  • Soak, cook and mash 1 pound pinto beans, seasoned with a little garlic,
  • cumin and chili powder .
  • 1 dozen corn tortillas
  • 1 container non fat ricotta cheese
  • 1 16 ounce container salsa
  • non fat yogurt - optional
  • In a casserole, spoon a couple spoonfuls of salsa cover bottom of casserole with tortillas.

  • Spread a layer of mashed beans
  • Spoon on some salsa
  • Layer of tortillas
  • Layer of ricotta or tofu
  • Spoon on some salsa
  • Tortillas
  • Beans yogurt and salsa
  • Bake 350 degrees farenheit for about 1/2 hour. Good with mexican rice and/or a big salad.


    Flour Tortillas (Makes 12)

    From: MWORKMAN@vm.cc.purdue.edu

    Here is a recipe for tortillas that was adapted from Simply Simpatico: A Taste of New Mexico. It was originally posted by Steve H.

  • 4 cups flour, all purpose or 1/2 all purpose and 1/2 whole wheat
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 4 T shortening, margarine and Crisco both work
  • 1 1/2 cup warm water, may vary with the flour used
  • Combine the dry ingredients, then cut in shortening. Make a small well in the center and gradually add water. Knead the dough until it is soft, smooth and elastic. Set aside 10 minutes, then divide into 12 equally sized balls. Roll balls into 1/8 inch thick circles, and cook on a preheated, ungreased grill for about 2 minutes a side, until the tortilla is lightly speckled. Cover to keep warm.


    Tacos

    From: D.Rutherford@appbio.utas.edu.au (Macfudd)

    Dry Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoon Cumin powder
  • 1 tablespoon Nutmeg powder
  • 1 tablespoon Pimento (Allspice) powder (NB not pimiento)
  • 1 tablespoon Paprika (hot or sweet)
  • 1 tablespoon cracked peppercorn
  • salt to taste
  • Wet Ingredients

  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 medium green capsicum, diced
  • 1 medium red capsicum, diced
  • 1 seeded tomato, roughly chopped
  • 12 hot little fresh red chillies, sliced
  • 6 pickled jalapenos, sliced
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1/4 cup tomato juice
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 kilo beans, any kind(s)
  • To Cook

    The mixture should not be runny, if so remove lid and reduce.


    Taco Salad

    From: kmh2@toto.cc.lehigh.edu (Kathy M. Miller)

  • 1 head lettuce, broken into bite-size pieces
  • 4 medium tomatoes, diced
  • 1-1/2 lb. Nature's Burger
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1 (8 oz) bottle Thousand Island dressing
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 8 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 1 pkg. taco seasoning mix
  • 1 pkg. taco flavored corn chips
  • Brown the burger. Reserve 1 tablespoon taco seasoning mix. Add the rest to the meat with about 3/4 cup water. Simmer for a few minutes then remove from heat. Let cool. Layer lettuce, tomatoes, onion, burger mix, and cheese. Repeat layers until all is used. Refrigerate.

    Sauce: Mix 1/2 cup sugar, 8 ounces Thousand Island dressing, and 1 tablespoon taco seasoning mix. Just before serving, add sauce and broken taco chips to vegetables and toss. Enjoy!


    Taco Salad

    From: whitney@magnum.sybase.com (Whitney Martin)

  • 1 lb. beans, any kind(s)
  • 1 taco seasoning packet (I use Shilling)
  • 1/2 head of head lettuce, chopped
  • 1/2 bag tortilla chips, broken into medium size pieces
  • 1 can garbonzo beans, drained
  • 1 can kidney beans, drained
  • 1-2 cups grated cheddar cheese
  • 1 avocado, diced
  • 1 tomato, diced
  • 1/2 red onion, diced
  • sour cream and salsa for garnish, if desired
  • Brown the beans, and season with packet, following directions on package as if you were making for tacos. Set aside and allow to cool slightly while you make the rest of the salad. Mix together the lettuce, garbonzo and kidney beans, cheese, avocado, tomato and onion. Add tortilla chips and beans last, toss, and serve immediately, topped with sour cream and salsa if desired.


    Chile Rellenos (4 rellenos, serves two)

    From: spp@zabriskie.berkeley.edu (Steve Pope)

  • 4 Anaheim chiles, roasted and peeled (canned Ortegas work OK)
  • 3-4 oz. monterey jack cheese
  • 8 oz. mild green chile salsa (canned salsa works OK)
  • 2 eggs, separated
  • Stuff the chilis with the cheese. Whip the whites of the eggs until extremely fluffy; then add the yolks and stir once or twice (overstirring will deflate them).

    In a large frying pan, heat 6 oz. of salsa to boiling. Reduce heat. Place 2/3 of the egg mixture in the pan in four relleno-sized lumps. Place one stuffed chile on top of each lump, and the remaining egg mixture on top of the chiles. Use up the remaining salsa by carefully spooning a dollop of salsa on top of each relleno. Cover and cook over low heat for a few minutes -- until the egg is firm and the cheese melted; do not overcook. You will need a large pancake turner to dish the rellenos from the frying pan onto serving plates -- they have a tendency to fall apart, so do this carefully.

    To make these extra wonderful, start with fresh Anaheim peppers, two green and two red, roasting and peeling them right before preparation.


    Chile Relleno

    From: sfisher@megatest.com (Scott Fisher)

    The classic Mexican-restaurant chile relleno uses what's called a Long Green Chile, of a number of cultivars. Easiest to come by is the Ortega brand of canned green chiles, which are known as the Anaheim chile when fresh. They're almost completely fire-free but very flavorful, especially the ones we picked last night for chile verde (recipe later, this one's a winner). You can stuff any pepper you like; I've stuffed habaneros, poblanos, Fresnos, Hungarian hot wax peppers, Spanish Spice, etc. They're all good, but the one that is most often used in restaurants is the Anaheim, mainly due to Col. Ortega's trek in 1906 from New Mexico to Oxnard, California, and later to Anaheim, where he developed a technique for roasting and peeling chiles mechanically.

    If you're using fresh chiles, that's the trick: roasting and peeling. Batter won't stick to the shiny outer skin of fresh peppers, so you have to remove it. Besides, the taste changes drastically when you fire-roast a pepper, and it's worth doing at least once -- except you'll probably get hooked. (I covered roasting peppers not long ago, but basically, you hold them in an open fire till they turn black, then let them cool and peel off the black skin. The flesh of the peppers stays green, or red, or orange, and takes on a smoky flavor.)

    Once roasted, make a slit about 1/3 to 1/2 the length of the pepper, just below the calyx (the base of the flower around the stem). CUt out the core and seeds. Stuff the chiles with cheese -- the classic is to use Monterey jack, but I've become addicted to the salty-sour taste of feta or goat cheese (and goat cheese is more likely what the Indians of New Mexico would have used anyway, it turns out).

    For the Mexican restaurant flavor, beat egg whites to stiff peaks, then fold in beaten yolks with a little salt. Dip the stuffed peppers in this batter and then fry immediately in hot oil, removing to drain on paper towels when the coating turns golden brown.

    What I've come to like, however, is dipping the peppers in beaten egg, then in corn meal, then in egg and in corn meal again. Then deep-fry them and drain when golden. This gives a crispier crust with a great corn-meal snap to it; blue corn meal gives it a deeper flavor and looks really cool besides.

    In a restaurant, they'll serve these with a basic salsa ranchera, which I don't like well enough to know how to make it. I usually serve the ones I describe with sour cream and a fresh pico de gallo (chopped tomatoes, fresh chiles, onions, cilantro, cumin, salt, and lime juice). They would be Homeric with a green chile-tomatillo sauce.

    I've also stuffed them with cheese, topped them with a grated cheese and popped them under the broiler for a low-fat/low-mess variation. In some ways I prefer that: there's more roasted-chile flavor than there is with the battered-and-fried variety, but you do miss the nifty crunch and the corn-meal flavor.


    Baked Chili Rellenos

    From: jsmith@cyote.dasd.honeywell.com

    Stuff 6-8 fresh roasted and pelled chilies (remove seeds, but keep stems) with monterey jack or longhorn cheese. Lay in greased casserole and pour batter over. Bake 325 until batter is done and lightly browned on top, 25 - 30 minutes. Serve with cheese sauce.

    Batter:

    Beat 4 or 5 egg whites very stiff and add 1/4 tsp salt, add the yolks and continue beating while adding 2 Tbls flour.

    Cheese sauce:

    Heat and bubble 2 Tbls butter and 2 Tbls flour and 1/4 tsp salt. Add 1 cup milk. Heat and stir until thick. Add 1 cup shredded cheddar or longhorn cheese and melt.

    Note: To make for a party, open the chilies and lay flat, use grated cheese to make a complete layer, and add another layer of chili. Top with batter and bake as above.