Fibermania

Let's Not Talk Turkey

It's only the two of us and making a big turkey for Thanksgiving is not gonna happen. Dave can't eat that much protein because of his meds, so we discussed what the menu would be. His first choice? Mexican food.

No surprise.

In a way, holidays have always been a time when families bring out the ethnic recipes that require more audience participation than the daily fare. But Dave doesn't have a favorite meal from his childhood, as cooking wasn't, um, how shall I put this...a creative endeavor with his mom. We have a wonderful memory, and I hope I am not talking out of school here, but one Thanksgiving his mom served commercial frozen lasagna. As we sat down to eat she mentioned that she considered making the lasagna from scratch but then thought,

" Nahhhh".

So whenever we talk about feasting we have to bring up those memories of being overwhelmed at the thought of all that planning and work as she saw it, and we laugh.

But here at the Mexican Chalet we are all about the fuss. And Dave wants Mexican and by George he is getting Mexican.

But not too much.

So here is the start of the week of cooking. I am making Enchiladas Poblano en Mole. At our house that means the filling of the enchies will be chorizo and potatoes. I don't like to buy chorizo as there is always too much fat and surprises and a pound cooks down to two ounces by the time it's done. So I buy fresh ground pork and make my own.

A pound of lean ground pork. But in this case the store had not a bit of it, so I got some boneless pork country ribs, which I cut into dice and froze for an hour so I could chop it fine in the food processor. It worked!

Add chopped garlic, a lot, and salt, oregano and lots and lots of chile powder, enough to completely change the color of the pork to dark red. Add a bit of vinegar to hold it all together. I use some of the liquid from a bottle of pepperoncini. Zing!

Mix it all up until it looks like this. One can always add more chili powder and may I say that the best chili makes the best chorizo. No brainer.

A pound of chorizo is way more meat than necessary for our enchiladas, so we will fry half this batch for breakfast. We have fresh corn tortillas and a gas stove to toast them on, plus of course, lots of eggs. Yummamente, ole!