GCC: Tamales filled with Carnitas in Pipian Sauce

in , , , , ,

I have been itching to try my hand at making Tamales from scratch for a long time.  The reason is simple – I love eating them.  And like anything that I love, I like to learn to make it at home and teak it to my taste.

So, when we choose the Gutsy Menu up for September and Mexican ended as our theme, I could not help sneak in a Tamale recipe to finally force me to try this labor intensive recipe.

Dishes that take days to make, hours to compose and unifies family and friends together to create memories is the ultimate reason for why people cook in the first place. Tamales is a dishes that fulfill all of that.  Ask anyone in Mexico, and they will tell you that Tamale making is a labor of love.  They vary from region to region as does the process, ingredients and tools used. Almost as much as they do family to family.  Recipes (and ingredients) are protected and protocols are followed.  In many cases the person making the tamales keeps their secrets to themselves and those secrets are passed on from generations to generation. 

Read More

GCC: Chicken-Filled Enchiladas with Tangy Crema Tomatillo Sauce

in , ,

And after a very hot summer, the Gutsy Cooks are back in action.  With a new format, new cooks and new visions we are ready to rock on in our kitches the rest of the year.

This time around we are using tons of different creative outlets to set our monthly menus.  Inspirations now can come from a cookbook, or a particular chef, or a theme, maybe a particular technique or even our own cookbooks/recipes – because after cooking with this group of gutsy home cooks, there is huge amount of talent there and I’m really excited to see what they come up with.

For the month of September I decided to go the Mexican route

Read More

GCC: Menu 30 - Chicken Pot Pie

in , , , , , , ,

I think our fellow Raymond is reminiscing a bit his childhood with the options he has given us while hosting this months Gutsy Cook menus.  Not that I mind one bit.  Seriously, who can say no to chicken pot pie?

I usually don’t, specially when I go and order it in any restaurant that has it on the menu.  I have been holding off in making it at home, because it just seems like a long difficult dish to make.

But, I’m going to prove to you how wrong I was on that assumption and tell you that in less than 1 hour you can serve this to your family.  First the recipe is made with puff pastry and not pie crust, so you can just go out to the supermarket and get one of those frozen packages, that are just as good a homemade but without the hours upon hours of preparing it.  And while you are there, stop by your supermarket deli and pick up a roast chicken.

See? The most difficult time consuming part of the recipe is DONE.

Read More