Sometimes You Don't Know When A New Era Of Life Is About To Begin; But Then Again . . .

Mexican Pizza

I look back now at the "Mexican pizza" and realize that it was the start of my fun with cooking.

I had cooked before.  My mother still talks about the summer when I came home from college and cooked dinner every night.  But it was the Miami Herald's recipe for Mexican pizza that helped set me off on years of food exploration.

This was more than 20 years ago.  Cumin was exotic.  Dieters wanted carbs.  And Macy's sold pizza stones, but no one had imagined wood-fired ovens.

I moved into my first apartment and learned to cook solo from Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant and the Herald's food section.  The food section editor was really old.  She was probably 35.  She came through our bureau sometimes, but only talked to her friends among the editors.  Once, I asked her a question.  She was so dismissive that the memory surfaced regularly later when I had to decide whether to be distant or friendly to younger folks.

But she did print the recipe for Mexican pizza.  Basically pizza with a sauce made of beans, oil, cumin, cilantro and salsa.  Top with cheddar.  It was completely exotic, and, in an era when my paycheck didn't justify much meat, it was a staple.  Eaten month after month for my own dinner.  Taken as leftovers to work.  Served the sauce with nacho chips at the first parties that I hosted.  Brought as two trays of mini-pizzas to a friend's event to the first time that I remember people being actually impressed.

It's still a great recipe.  Or at least a great idea because you can adjust any ratio.  Honestly, I don't make anything today like the recipe from 1992.  Last time, I got inspired on a trip to Lily's Mexican Market in Columbia, and I snapped up ingredients -- cilantro, beans, cumin, canned chipotle peppers.  I had tomatoes that I canned from Larriland.

But it really marks out an era.  Black bean pizza was on the menu for my first real independence.  Out of college.  Cashing a paycheck.  Paying my own bills.  Back then, it was just something that I ate.  Now, I realize it was a real start of an exploration of food as ran through years in the kitchen and years of this blog.

Sometimes you don't know when a new era of your life is about to begin.  And, then again, sometimes you do.

Mexican Pizza 2.0
The beauty of this recipe is that you can adjust the flavors.  The original recipe just called for salsa.  That works, but I have made fresh salsas by pulsing my own canned tomatoes with other ingredients.  You use the same blender it doesn't add to the clean up.  As a bonus, the black bean sauce is a spectacular dip.  It's beans and vegetables.  You could eat the whole bowl and be healthy.  Great with chips at a party or watching a game.

A pizza dough

Black Bean Sauce Ingredients
1 can of black beans, drained
1/2 to 1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 jalapeño or chipotle pepper, seeded if you use a jalapeño
1-2 tsp or more olive oil (unless used to make a fresh salsa)
1/4 cup or more cilantro (unless used to make a fresh salsa)
1/4 to 1/2 cup or more salsa or the fresh ingredients below
1/4 to 1/2 cup red onion, chopped
shredded cheddar cheese to taste
chopped cilantro to garnish

Fresh Salsa Alternative Ingredients
1/2 cup or more canned tomatoes, drained
1/4 cup or more cilantro
1/4 cup or more chopped onions
the oil from above


1) Preheat oven to 500 degrees.  Spread out your dough and bake it.  A pizza stone is ideal, but a cookie tray works.  Bake it until it begins to brown.  You want a crisp dough before you pour on the toppings.

2) If you're making the fresh salsa, put the ingredients in a blender and pulse until chopped.  Add more vegetables according to your taste.  I like strong flavors with the cilantro and onion.  But don't puree smooth.

3) Put half of the black beans in a blender with the cumin, pepper, olive oil, half the cilantro, and half the salsa.  Puree until smooth.  Adjust the flavors by adding spices or vegetables.  Add the remaining beans and pulse once or twice.  You want a chunky texture.  Stir in the remaining salsa.

4) Spread the black bean sauce onto your partially-based pizza.  You may have extra.  It makes a great dip.  Sprinkle chopped onion and cheddar cheese.

5) Return the pizza to the oven and bake until the cheese melts and the toppings head through.  Remove.  Garnish with cilantro and serve.

If You Want To Splurge, This Should Be Your Signature Cocktail Of Summer 2014

San Remo cocktail from Scarpetta restaurant

Some of us have reason to drink a little this summer, and I'm exploring cocktails as my dropping alcohol tolerance lets me splurge.

When you're only going to have one drink, then you can splurge a bit on that glass -- especially if you construct it at home.

Our inspiration came from a very special birthday dinner for our niece at Scarpetta in New York City.  I tried their "San Remo" drink.  I thought it was delicious, and Mrs. HowChow was stunned to find a bourbon cocktail that she actually loved.

That's because it's about 10% bourbon.  The brown stuff is in the mix, but Scarpetta's "San Remo" is a bright orange glass with two juices and four liquors.  It's a bracing, refreshing drink.  No harsh alcohol flavor, especially if you follow the HowChow variation.  I think it would be popular with folks who want fancy cocktails and with folks who just want a fruity drink.

To make this happen, we went to Perfect Pour in Elkridge on the way home from New York.  We got good advice and toned down two of chef Scott Conant's liquor choices.  It's still a touch more than $100 for four bottles.  Of course, that's many, many drinks for you to enjoy this summer, and it's a great way to check out both Perfect Pour and the deluxe cocktail craze.

Scarpetta's San Remo
adapted from The Food Network's posted recipe

You can make one drink at a time or measure larger quantities, then shake individual drinks as you want them.  

You'll see that we bought cheaper versions of the elderflower liquor and the bourbon.  The Perfect Pour employee said the difference between St. Elder and St. Germain would be imperceptible in a mixed drink.  I just like Buffalo Trace, and it was less than the Michter's from the restaurant.  You can splurge even more if you want Conant's original.

Also, we doubled the orange juice.  The recipe calls for one ounce of juice.  We both thought the drinks tasted more like the restaurant with about two ounces.

1 1/2 ounces sweet vermouth such as Carpano Antica
1 ounce elderflower liqueur like St. Elder (or pricier St. Germain)
1-2 ounces orange juice like the fresh-squeezed stuff from Wegmans
1 ounce bitter orange liqueur like Campari
1/2 ounce bourbon like Buffalo Trace (or pricier Michter's bourbon)
Juice of 1/2 lime
Ice
Orange twist for garnish

1) Combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice.

2) Shake well, then strain over ice in a rocks glass.  Garnish with the orange twist.

You Say Tornado? I Say Tomato. Learning To Can Tomato Sauce As Irene Blew Into Town

The nut calling Harris Teeter during the state of emergency to ask whether they sell Ball canning jars?  That was me.  So sorry.  I just used the quart ones that I already owned.

Gorman Produce Farm had $25 boxes of tomatoes when I picked up the CSA on Thursday.  Maybe 28-30 pounds of tomatoes.  A second chance at learning to make tomato sauce after Larriland had been picked clean of the regular size on our visit earlier this month.

So I grabbed the box.  Then I panicked Friday night when I realized the storm could leave me with no power and rotting tomatoes.  It was a race to preserve.
.

Great Bread Without A Howard County Angle

This isn't local.  This isn't timely.  But you need to make exceptions to the blog theme if you want great bread.

Last week, I tried Jim Lahey's no-knead bread recipe.  The recipe got famous from a 2006 New York Times article.  I found it in Lahey's cookbook My Bread at the Howard County library.

This is one of those ideas brilliant in its simplicity.  Lahey basically recommends a method where you prepare a loaf over two days.  Almost no effort, but you need to plan a little -- and have one large pot.

On Day 1, you mix flour, water, salt and a 1/4 tsp of yeast.  Then you let it sit for 18 hours in a covered bowl.  On Day 2, you roll the dough into a round loaf and let it sit for another two hours.  While it rises the second time, you heat your oven to 450 or 500 degrees.  You heat it with a pot -- like a Le Cruset -- inside so that the pot gets super hot.  Then you place the dough inside.  Bake 30 minutes covered and then 15-30 minutes more uncovered.

The loaf was the best bread that I have ever made.  A dark mahogany color.  A crisp crust with an interior dominated by holes.  And tasty!  The bread tasted better than any loaf that I ever baked.  It looked and tasted like restaurant bread.  Better than most restaurant bread, Mrs. HowChow says.  Bakery bread.  New York bakery bread.

Start with Lahey's basic bread recipe, which he posts on the Sullivan Street Bakery Web site.  But the book offers more.  He has a bunch of recipes.  He also describes the reasoning -- why he bakes in the pot, why you need to replace the plastic handle of a Le Cruset with a plug of aluminum foil, and why you have to let the bread cool completely.

Hot bread used to be my ultimate goal.  Lahey explained that the bread tastes better when you let it cool.  It also tastes better when you bake the Lahey way.  Give it a try.  Try the book.

Smoked Salmon At The Town Grill In Lisbon

HowChow: The official blog of gas stations where you should eat fish. 

Visit the Town Grill in Lisbon for barbecue, but get a piece of smoked salmon to go.  The restaurant in the Citgo station smokes salmon fillets and sells the meat for $1 per ounce.  You pick the amount that you want.

I thought the smoked salmon was delicious.  Smoky with a firm crust coating tender meat.  Like prosciutto, good smoked salmon has a big flavor that gives you a full meal for a small amount of meat.  I cut the Town Grill's salmon into a pasta dish with onions, garlic, lemon and a little half-and-half. Four dollars of salmon made a special dinner.  You can put it in wontons.  Make salmon and cucumber rolls.  Put mustard and salmon on toasted baguettes.  And that's just a single Chowhound post.  This isn't the type of salty smoked salmon to put on bagels, but it's a great treat.

And if smoked salmon isn't your cup of fish, try the ceviche special in the R&R Tacqueria inside the Shell station on Rte 175 at U.S. 1.


Smoked Salmon Pasta
(serves two)

4-6 ounces of spaghetti or a similar pasta
2 TBL olive oil
1/3 c. chopped onions -- one small onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 c. water

salt

2 TBL lemon juice -- about one lemon
zest of one lemon (divided use)

1/4 c. cream or half-and-half

4 ounces of smoked salmon, broken into small pieces
ground pepper

1) Heat a pot of boiling water for the pasta.  Add the pasta and cook to al dente.

2) While the pasta cooks, heat a large skillet on medium heat and add the olive oil.  Add the onions and garlic, saute for two minutes.  Then add the water, a pinch of salt, lemon juice and the zest from half of the lemon.  Increase the heat and let the sauce boil down by half.

3) Take the sauce off the heat.  Add the cream.

4) Before you drain the pasta, save about a cup of the cooking liquid.  Then drain the liquid.  Add the hot pasta to the skillet.  Add the smoked salmon and the zest from the second half of the lemon.  Season with the pepper.  Add a little of the pasta liquid if the sauce seems dry.

Grilling Week At The Mexican Market: Shepherd's Tacos And Grilled Corn With Cheese

The recipes that pushed me over the top for Steven Raichlen's Planet Barbecue were tacos al pastor and grilled corn with cheese.

Lily's Mexican Market was one of my original food finds in Howard County, but Raichlen's book led me to ingredients that I had never noticed before.  It let me pair Lily's house-made corn tortillas with pork marinated in Mexican flavors, grilled thin-sliced, then served with pineapple for a dinner that felt more like a restaurant than my patio.

All week I have been posting about Planet Barbecue and promoting the book for people who want to explore Howard County's ethnic shopping.  You have to know Lily's Mexican Market in Columbia, and you will want to taste these tacos.

Grilling Week At The Halal Butcher: Lamb Kabobs Are Delicious, Even If I Can't ID The Cut Of Meat

In the short history of HowChow, the single greatest introduction to local food has been the halal butcher -- first Caezar International, then Columbia Halal Meat, and now Nazar Market.

Beyond the religious imprint for Muslims, the butchers open new opportunities to anyone who wants goat or lamb.  Ironically, the hardest part for me has been figuring out how to talk meat.  There are some language issues when the butcher was born in Turkey or Pakistan, but the real problem is that I was born in a world where meat comes wrapped in plastic.  I barely know how to order steaks, so I'm at a loss about what to do with a lamb shoulder.  Actually, I'm not sure that I had a lamb shoulder.

Let Steven Raichlen start you off.  All week, I'm posting about Raichlen's Planet Barbecue because the new cookbook's recipes offer gateways into Howard County's ethnic shopping.  Lamb kabobs should be your gateway into the halal butchers.  With one problem that I'll explain below, Raichlen gives you a hamburger alternative -- a ground meat patty flavored with parsley, onion, coriander and cumin.  The skills are nothing harder than forming a burger.  The flavors are new, but still accessible.  And you get to grill with long flat skewers that you can call "my swords."

Grilling Week At The Asian Supermarket: Whole Fish and Bacon-Wrapped Enotake Mushrooms

In celebration of Grilling Week at HowChow, I am reviewing Planet Barbecue by Steven Raichlen and suggesting some ways to introduce yourself to local ethnic shopping.

Planet Barbecue offers truly interesting ways to cook everything from meat to vegetables, and it is the perfect book for someone who wants to explore the local Asian grocery stores but doesn't know what to buy.

Any of Raichlen's Asian recipes are a fine starting point because he proposes authentic ingredients that you can find easily -- chicken flavored with lemongrass or fish sauce, pork belly cooked with Korean chili paste, rice vinegar and an Asian pear.  But I started with fish.  Whole fish are still a challenge for me, and Raichlen proposed a Loatian recipe that called for small snappers, oyster sauce, garlic and lime.

Planet Barbecue by Steven Raichlen: It's Grilling Week At HowChow And Time To Try New Food

Grilling season has arrived, and you should check out Steven Raichlen's Planet Barbecue if you want to get beyond the burger rut -- and maybe open the door to Howard County's ethnic shopping.

I have tried to find a better grilling cookbook.  Literally.  I got a paperback copy of Planet Barbecue, and I'm leery about reviewing a book just because someone sent it for free.  Generally, I avoid TV chefs and paperback books, so I cooked from Planet Barbecue while pulling a half dozen other books from the library.

Planet Barbecue stands out because it's actually creative.  For weeks, I have been flipping page to page and thinking, "Oh, I want to eat that."  It's techniques and dishes that are unusual, but accessible enough that I'm raring to try.

Grinding my own lamb for kabobs.  Baking bread wrapped on a flat skewer.  Stuffing small eggplants with bacon.  Coating grilled corn with cheese.  By the time that I served up tacos of marinated pork and grilled pineapple, I realized that I was not only going to priase Raichlen's book -- but I am going to have to buy a hardcover copy so that it can survive a few years in my kitchen.

Anyone could cook from Planet Barbecue.  But I love writing about the local ethnic markets, so I'm going to particularly recommend this book for anyone who wants an excuse to explore this summer.  Whole fish at an Asian grocery.  Lamb from a halal butcher.  Spices from a Mexican market.  Skewers at the new Persian store on Snowden River.  Raichlen does a wonderful job of talking about ingredients that are beyond a supermarket, but absolutely within your reach and guaranteed to bring new flavors to your grill.

Mushrooms Of All Shapes At H Mart

Mushrooms have sprouted everywhere at the H Mart in Catonsville, and you could add an exotic look to your table.

Yesterday, it seemed like H Mart had mushrooms everywhere -- fancy shapes for a few dollars.  I have no idea whether this is mushroom season, whether it's a special buy for the Lunar New Year, or whether I just noticed something that happens all the time.

But I bought mushrooms.  A package of regular buttons for 99 cents.  Then packages of enoki ($0.99) and beech ($1.99.)  It was hard choosing because there were actually multiple packages (and prices) of enoki and then a half dozen other varieties including oyster, king oyster, and shiitake.  The enoki and the button varieties are in the first produce aisle, and others -- like the shiitake -- are in the refrigerated case that runs perpendicular to the fruit.

My Valentine's menu abruptly converted to mushroom risotto.  I added some dried shittake, which I had in the pantry but you could also buy for a few dollars at the H Mart.  I thought the shittakes added the most flavor, and they have a toothy texture that contrasts well with fresh mushrooms.  With one great sausage, this became one of the best risottos that I have ever made.

What else do I do with mushrooms?  I bought three packages, and that was at least double what I needed for risotto.  Any other recipe ideas?


Click here for all my posts about H Mart.  If you go to Catonsville, definitely stick your head in the Hanoori Town next door -- for the home store downstairs or for Mango Berry frozen yogurt.  And consider stopping for lunch at Hunan Taste, the authentic Chinese restaurant in the same shopping center.

Mushroom and Sausage Risotto
This recipe is best with sausage.  You saute some good sausage, which adds some fat to the pot and a lot of flavor to the risotto.  I suggest you buy the sausage at one of Howard County's great butchers or at Whole Foods.  Handmade sausage is worth the drive.  I recommend a mix of mushrooms.  Button and beech were terrific.  The enoki shrank to the size of threads.  Cool, but I recommend you try something else.

Five or six dried shiitake mushrooms (less than a full one ounce package)
About 3/4 c. hot water
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 link of mild pork sausage (about a quarter pound) or 2 TBL olive oil
1 medium onion, minced
2-3 cups of fresh mushrooms, with large ones chopped
1-2 TBL butter (optional)
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
Salt and pepper

1) Soak the dried mushrooms in the hot water.  Heat the stock to simmering, then reduce the heat to just keep the stock warm.

2) Once the mushrooms are soft, slice them and save the hot water.

3) Break up the sausage.  Handmade sausage should be inside a casing, and the raw sausage will break up if you slice the casing open and pull out the filling.  Heat a heavy pot over medium heat, then add the sausage and saute it until fat starts to appear in the pan and the meat just starts to brown.  It doesn't need to be cooked through.  (If you want vegetarian, skip the sausage and add the olive oil.  Add a 1/2 tsp salt with the onion and mushrooms.)

4) Add the onion and about 2/3 of the mushrooms.  Saute them until the vegetables are tender -- about 10 minutes.  Add the butter.  Once it melts, add the rice and stir until the rice is coated with butter.  The rice will lighten on the edges so that you see a dark spot inside.

5) Add the hot water that you used to soak the mushrooms.  Let the liquid bubble.  Begin adding the stock about 1/2 cup at a time.  Stir every minute or so.  Add more stock when the liquid is almost absorbed.  Look for the time when your spoon creates a line on the bottom of the pan that takes a moment for the liquid to fill.

6) After you have added about two cups of stock, add the remaining mushrooms.  After about 15 minutes, start tasting the rice.  You want tender rice with a firm spot in the middle, but it's a matter of personal taste.   Once the rice reaches the level that you like, add salt and pepper to your taste.  (You may have some leftover stock.  Save it.)

Variation: Buy two one-ounce dried shiitake packages.  You could use those to replace all the fresh mushrooms.  That converts this recipe into a "pantry staples" idea.  If you keep a few sausages in the freezer, you could make risotto when you're trapped in a snow storm.  Like in June.

Cactus at Lily's Mexican Market

Easy and exotic. You can't find something more unusual for such little effort than the cactus paddles on sale at Lily's Mexican Market.

These are nopales -- a standard vegetable in Mexico yet something that I have never seen at a standard grocery store. Generally, they're available in the small produce section at Lily's, one of Howard County's best ethnic markets. Grilled or cooked on a skillet, the cactus becomes tender and has a mild flavor. It has a vegetable taste, a touch of sourness. You can find endless uses on the Web, but you could be eating cactus tacos this evening if you just stop at Lily's off Dobbin Road.

The cactus at Lily's already has the spines removed. Or at least almost all the spines. Be careful, and run a knife along the nopales to scrap off any errand spines once you get home. Pick pads that look plump. They have lasted me several days in the fridge. With some of Lily's store-made corn tortillas and any toppings that you enjoy, you can make weeknight tacos.

You can buy everything in the recipe below from Lily's. For more about Oaxaca cheese, check out Ready Set Kate's post. You can omit the chorizo or substitute chicken, ground beef (with or without "taco spices") or a diced potato that you have boiled until tender. I rely on good salsas to provide much of the zest to weeknight tacos, but you could jazz this up however you want -- homemade salsa, summer tomatoes, lettuce, etc. Next, I'm going to try this nopales in chipotle sauce.

If you haven't been to Lily's, you should definitely try Howard County's best Latin American market. Click here for all the posts about Lily's -- including ones about horchata, chips, takeout tacos, fresh corn tortillas, tamales, and more. Or click for the starting page for my "What I Learned" guide to food in Howard County.

Weeknight Cactus Tacos

(serves two or three)

2 cactus paddles from Lily's

1 can black beans or other beans, warmed on the stovetop (option: add some minced garlic)

1 jalapeno or other hot pepper, seeded and diced

shredded Oaxaca or cheddar cheese

salsa

1/2 pound chorizo, cut into small pieces

6-10 corn tortillas

1) Starting at one of the short ends of the cactus, make slices along the length of the cactus every half inch. Stop about an inch-and-half from the other end. When you're done, the cactus will look like a hand with many fingers.

2) Heat a ridged grill pan or a grill. Cook the cactus on one side until it chars a little and starts to soften. Flip over the cactus and cook until it is tender. (The "hand" cutting makes it easier to flip the cactus in one piece.)

3) While the cactus is cooking, saute the chorizo and cut up the other vegetables.

4) If the tortillas have been in the fridge, reheat them. Wet a paper towel and wring it out. Wrap one or two tortillas per person in the damp towel, then microwave for 15-20 seconds. Check to see if they're warm. Microwave more in 15-second steps until they're moist and warm.

5) When the cactus is tender, slice it so that the "fingers" become chunks of nopales.

6) Serve all the items in bowls and let people make their own tacos.

Empanada Wrappers at El Patio Market

Make your own empanadas with a spectacular convenience food in the freezer at El Patio Market in Jessup.

El Patio sells its own empanadas -- to be either heated at the store or carried home for dinner. But the freezer also holds packages of Fargo-brand empanada wrappers -- thick rounds of dough ready to be filled with anything that your heart desires.

I have always had a soft spot for empanadas. I learned to cook when I moved to Florida for my first job and worked through a Moosewood book of ethnic food. One of my recipes was empanadas stuffed with a mix of potatoes, onions, peppers and cheese. Sundays at Moosewood called for frying them. After coating that studio apartment with oil a few times, I shifted to baking those babies. Simpler, but it still involved making dough, which was sticky and slow.

El Patio's empanada wrappers solve that all. The 16 wrappers, imported from Argentina, come separated by waxed paper. I peeled each from the pack, stuffed the filling as I folded it in half,

and crimped the edges. Baked about 12 minutes at 400 degrees, they were browned and delicious. We ate them with Trader Joe's Corn & Chile Salsa. Super easy, and the truth is that you could stuff them with anything.

This is one of the best little tools that I have found at a market. They'll stay in the freezer. They could be part of some fancy dinner, or I could make filling the night before and use them as a super-fast weeknight meal. Sixteen pastries fed us three meals, including brown-bag lunches where the empanadas did well.

(Update:  See the comment from Marianne about sweet empanada fillings in Texas.  You could fill these pastries with anything.)

Notice that El Patio sells two versions of the wrappers -- one for frying and one for the oven. They're clearly labelled in English and Spanish, and the blue one above is for baking in the oven. While you're at El Patio, grab a Super Mango Lollipop or one of the peanut brittles near the cash register. If you like empanadas, you should check out the Jamaican patties at Golden Krust Bakery in Catonsville.

El Patio Market
7968 Washington Boulevard (U.S. 1)
Jessup, MD 20794
443-755-0385

NEAR: Just south of Rte 175 on U.S. 1. It's on the east side about a block south of the intersection. Very convenient from I-95.

Vegetarian Empanadas (adapted from Sundays At Moosewood)

4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 small onions or large shallots, sliced

1/2 sweet pepper (maybe red?), sliced

1 c. fresh or canned corn (optional)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 c. cream cheese

1 c. (or less) cheddar cheese, shredded

1 package of Fargo empanada wrappers, defrosted at least overnight in the fridge.

1) Preheat the oven to 400

2) Boil a pot of water and drop in the potatoes. Cook them until their tender. Check at about eight minutes and then keep checking. Drain the potatoes.

3) While the potatoes are cooking, saute the onions and peppers in a little bit of oil over medium heat. When they soften, add the spices (and the corn if you want). Saute another minutes. Then pour all the vegetables into a bowl.

4) Mash the potatoes in a second bowl. Add the cheese slowly. Use as much cheddar cheese as you want. (The original recipe called for two cups of cheese. That is too much for me.)

5) Add the other vegetables to the potatoes and mix.

6) Take a wrapper from the package. Put filling on half of the wrapper, leaving space around the edges. Fold the wrapper over the filling and press the edges together with your fingers.

7) Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the empanadas brown. The filling is all cooked, so you just want the empanadas to look browned.

8) Serve hot. They're great with Trader Joe's Corn & Chile Salsa.

There is nothing sacred about this recipe or these amounts. You could stuff the empanadas with anything that was chunky and solid/dry enough not to soak through the wrapper as it bakes.  Marianne comments below about sweet fillings in Texas.

Delicious: Chipotle Peppers

Chipotle peppers are the easiest way to add Mexican flavor to anything.

They're smoked jalepeno peppers, and they're sold in cans packed in adobo sauce -- a dark red sauce made from vinegar, oil, garlic and onions. I assume it's the vinegar, but chipotle peppers last for weeks if not months in my fridge. I pour the entire can into a plastic tub and pull that out whenever I need one pepper or even just a teaspoon of the adobo sauce.

They're essential for cooking many Mexican foods. See my post about Rick Bayless' book Mexican Everyday. They're also delicious mixed into your favorite foods like omelets, chili, or salsas. Make BBQ sauce. Make chipotle mayonnaise. Or better yet, go buy some avocados, goat cheese and salted pistachios for Mrs. HowChow's Philadelphia Guacamole.

Inspired by guacamole at El Vez in Philadelphia, Mrs. HowChow has developed a guacamole with bite, heat and crunch. It took months of experimenting, so we don't know how far her changes have taken the guacamole, but the chipotles and their adobo sauce provide the basic flavor. There are enough nuts, but no so many that you get one every bite. So the crunch is a surprise.

"Philadelphia" Guacamole

2 avocados, flesh removed and put in a bowl

1/3 c. soft, white goat cheese

scant (just less than) 1/4 c. chipotle peppers, chopped

scant (just less than) 1/3 c. salted pistachios (out of the shell)

Mix all these ingredients together. You'll see little flecks of red from the peppers and white from the cheese. Taste. Add adobo sauce in 1 tsp. increments and stir. Taste each time to reach the heat that you want. A little sauce is essential because it spreads more flavor than the peppers on their own. But heat increases with each spoonful, so go slow.

You can buy Chipotle peppers at Lily's Mexican Market in Columbia, Tere's Latin Market in Ellicott City, or at the H-Mart in Catonsville. You can also find them in some supermarkets.

Delicious: Grains at the Organic Markets

If you want to cook grains, start with plastic containers, then go to a crunchy supermarket.

Oats, bulgar, brown rice, couscous, etc. are delicious if you can find them and if you can keep them organized. I always ended up with a tangle of plastic bags and half-empty boxes. Until I bought tall containers, I never knew what I had, and I was never inspired to use them. I bought Decor Tellfresh containers, and they're great because you can jam more tall, thin containers on a pantry shelf. But buy anything that seals. The Container Store is expensive.

Grains are cheap. They're fun to try. They're super-nutritious. And you can get a world of beauties at Roots in Clarksville, David's Natural Market near downtown Columbia, or My Organic Market in "Columbia East."

Pick four or five grains to try. Start with two or three cups each to see what you like.

Go back for more of what tickles your fancy. Couscous for a simple side dish. Bulgar for salads. Barley for a

risotto variation. Rolled oats, quinoa and millet for breakfast cereal, then later for inspirations like "quinoa and carmelized onions." Wild rice for an exotic touch.

Borrow How To Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman from the library. He has descriptions and basic directions for two dozen grains. Then, he has 40 pages of recipes. (He also has recipes for lentils, which you should buy in bulk when you're trying the grains.) Or borrow Whole Grains Every Day Every Way by Lorna Sass. Her recipes are a little less accessible, but she has a brilliant section where she talks about making large pots of grain, then freezing them for future use.

My whole-grain weekend breakfast -- make several servings because you can store in the fridge and microwave a bowl for 2-3 mornings:

1. Put six cups of water in a pot and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer.
2. Set the timer for 40 minutes. Then add one cup of steel-cut oats. (They're different from rolled oats. Trader Joe's sells containers of steel-cut oats in the cereal section.)
3. Cover the pot, but leave a crack so that it doesn't boil over. Stir occasionally throughout the rest of the time.
4. When the timer says 25 minutes, add 1/3 cup of amaranth.
5. When the timer says 20 minutes, add 1/3 cup of millet.
6. When the timer says 15 minutes, add 1/3 cup of quinoa and 1/2 or more cups of raisins or other dried fruit.
7. As the timer runs out, the cereal should be moist without standing water. It should be soft, but still have a little "bite to it. You can add a little water if it dries out or stick to the pot. You can cook it a few minutes more.
8. When the cereal is done, add honey or brown sugar to your taste.
   

Try that once, then adapt to what you like. Use the grains in the mix that you like. Add wheat germ at the end if you want. Add fresh fruit like bananas or apples -- either early if you want them to disintegrate or late if you want a crunch. I'll eat this without sweeteners. Mrs. HowChow would consider that a punishment, not a treat.

You can borrow How To Cook Everything Vegetarian or Whole Grains Every Day from the Howard County library. Or you can buy either book on Amazon through these links (which means Amazon would pay me a referral fee):

My Organic Market (Columbia East)
7351 Assateague Dr. #190
Jessup, MD 20794
410-799-2175
www.myorganicmarket.com

NEAR: It's on Rte 175 just east of I-95. There is a large shopping center on the right just after you cross Rte 1. Look for the Starbucks. MoM is in that shopping center. It's a bit tricky to return home. You have to exit east-bound on Rte 175 and U-turn at the next light.

David's Natural Market

5430 Lynx Lane

Columbia, MD 21044

410-730-2304

www.davidsnaturalmarket.com

NEAR: It's in the Wilde Lake shopping center near the Columbia Mall. The shopping center is on Twin Rivers Road. Turn in at the light with a KFC. David's is on the right in a building separate from the main village center. David's has a main store with dairy and packaged goods, then a separate produce store down the row.

Roots Market
5805 Clarksville Square Drive
Clarksville, MD 21029
443-535-9321
www.rootsmkt.com

NEAR: It's on Rte 108 just north of Rte 32. The Clarksville Square shopping center is on the west side filled with "crunchy" businesses owned by the same people -- a restaurant, a pet supply shop, a decorating place. Look for the Jiffy Lube on Rte 108.