Epic Portions

Tag: cheese

  • What John Wants To Eat Today

    Well, I haven’t put anything that I want to eat up here in a while so I thought today would be a good day to resume this.

    Today is simple.  All I want is….

    A gigantic burrito.


    I think the plan for today to actually fulfill this craving is to either make one of these bad boys at home, or stop at Qdoba for lunch.

    I got to thinking later on, why is Qdoba so delicious?  Why do I frequent Qdoba rather than Chipolte?  I think I can sum it up in three words.  Chicken Queso Burrito.  The queso sauce at Qdoba is incredible.  I can’t understand why they haven’t even attempted to create a queso sauce at Chipolte.

    If you ever feel like making the stuff at home, here’s how.  You can definitely decide not to roast the peppers and use canned tomatoes, but the stuff tastes a whole hell of a lot better if you do.

    Qdoba’s Queso Dip:

    Ingredients:

    • 2 medium (about 6 ounces total) fresh poblano chiles
    • 6 ounces (1 medium round or 2 plum) ripe tomatoes
    • 2 garlic cloves, unpeeled
    • 3 tablespoons chopped flatleaf parsley
    • Salt to taste
    • 2 tablespoons finely crumbled of each cheese, Monterrey Jack, American and cheddar cheese

    Preheat the broiler. Place the poblanos, tomatoes and garlic on a baking sheet. Set the sheet 4 inches below a very hot broiler. Roast, turning every couple of minutes, until the chiles and tomatoes are soft, blistered and blackened in spots and the garlic is soft, 12 to 13 minutes total.

    Place the chiles in a bowl, cover them with a towel, and let them stand 5 minutes, then wipe off the blackened skin. Pull or cut out the stems, seed pods and seeds; rinse quickly to remove any stray seeds and bits of char.

    When the tomatoes are cool, peel off and discard their skins.

    Slip the papery skins off the garlic.

    In a food processor, make a puree of the roasted garlic and poblanos.   Place the puree in a large bowl.

    Chop the roasted tomatoes (for this recipe it’s best not to use any of the juice from the baking sheet) and add to the poblano mixture along with the parsley.

    Coarsely mash everything together. Taste and season with salt, usually a scant teaspoon.
    Cover the mixture with plastic wrap, placing it directly on the surface, and refrigerate until you’re ready to eat.


  • What John Wants To Eat Today

    Huevos Rancheros.

    If you are unfamiliar with huevos rancheros, you are seriously missing out.  Huevos rancheros is a traditional Mexican dish that is usually eaten as breakfast, but can be eaten for any meal.  The basic components of the dish consists of a tortillas, fried eggs, with a tomato-chili sauce on top.  The great thing about this dish is you can add pretty much anything you like.  Here’s my version:

    1. Cook up some chorizo or regular breakfast sausage.  Chorizo is a smokier sausage that typically has red pepper added to it.
    2. Coat the bottom of a large pan LIGHTLY with oil.  Drop a tortilla in flat and let it sit until slightly crisp.  I’m talking SLIGHTLY browned.
    3. Fry two eggs.  I usually cook them over easy, but it’s up to you.
    4. Put tortilla on a plate, add chorizo on top of tortilla, and eggs on top of the chorizo.
    5. Add as much tomato-chili sauce as you want.  Canned enchilada sauce works great for this.
    6. Sprinkle cheese on top of that.
    7. I always put the dish in my toaster oven for a minute or so just to melt the cheese on top.

    There you have it.  You can serve this with beans and rice, or just eat it by itself.

  • What John Wants To Eat Today

    Nachos.

    Here’s how I do my nachos.

    I like to use about 1-2lbs of ground chicken.  Why?  I think I can flavor ground chicken a lot better than ground beef, like that taste better, and I hear it’s good for you as well.  I’m not down with the whole ground turkey thing because I just can’t eat turkey on anything but a sandwich or for a holiday that involves pilgrims.

    Ingredients

    • 1-2lbs of ground chicken, depending on if you want regular or monster nachos.
    • 1 tbsp. chili powder
    • 2 tsp. cumin
    • Salt/Pepper
    • 2 tsp. cayenne pepper — Add more if you like the heat
    • 2 tsp garlic powder
    • 1/2 half onion
    • 1 can Rotel or 1 large diced tomato
    • 1 small can re-fried beans
    • 10-12oz bag tortilla chips
    • Monterey Jack cheese — As much as you like
    • Sour cream

    I like the onions and tomatoes cooked with the chicken but feel free to just add them on top.  Season the chicken and cook until done.   Add it on top of your tortilla chips, followed by the rest of the ingredients.  I like to throw it in the toaster or conventional oven to melt the cheese before serving.