Katie Meadow

Time to eat humble pie, but not chile rellenos casserole. So after eating possibly the worst chile rellenos ever in Texas--the batter was more like fried chicken--and then testing chile rellenos in New Mexico at every opportunity I've learned a few things. For a splurge night we stayed in the famous hotel in Marfa, where the cast of "Giant" stayed. It's lovely, built in the thirties, beautiful tile floors, etc. They have restaurant and bar. The bar snacks were excellent. Then came the terrible chile rellenos. Texas, sit down. In Las Cruces I had rellenos at a little place called El Jacalito. Very nice, good red sauce, hot chile, light batter. When I asked what kind of chile they used he said it was Anaheim. No CA anaheim chile tastes even remotely like that. the second NM try was better, but not fantastic, and I didn't ask what the chiles were. In Taos, in a lovely outdoor patio of La Cueva Cafe I ordered them again. My husband agreed these were the best of all the ones we tasted. The waiter said they were Hatch chiles. They were not like the Hatch chiles of my NM youth. These were sturdier and hot but not blisteringly so. He agreed with me that Hatch chiles seem milder than they used to be. I know the Hatch Valley is growing Big Jims, which are mild. Maybe the plants are getting hybridized? We went to a couple of grocery stores. There were no poblanos anywhere, but there was a big of very fresh looking chiles labeled anaheim, although the market said they couldn't swear to that. We bough a bagful to take home. At another grocery store we found pint containers of Hatch chiles, roasted and frozen. At our last Airbnb we cooked up scrambled eggs with some of those. They were quite hot and tasty. So go figure. Mystery of mysteries.

After using Le Creuset cookware for fifty years all I can say is that it doesn't stay pristine white, the way it looks on cooking shows. It definitely stains over time. Unlike seasoned cast iron, which can be handed down to the next generation, enamel coated cast iron gets pretty ugly after years of constant use. We have a couple of old darkened ones that are now dedicated for bread baking or marmalade. Over the years I have bought cheaper brands than Le Creuset and find them adequate for many years use. A 5.5 qt. capacity Le Creuset does make a wonderful gift, though! Over the years I've found this size to be the most useful of all. I don't really think that enamel coated cast iron that's dark or stained cooks any differently than perfect looking ones. Loaf pans and cookie sheets are another story. Dark cooks faster that light, but I think that's more related to the material than to darkness caused by use.

Definitions of grits vs polenta are ofter murky or confusing, or just wrong. I'm still not totally clear. Some say that grits are made from dent corn while polenta is made from flint corn. In my experience polenta is typically made from yellow corn and is usually a fine grind, making it smoother. Corn for grits can be white or yellow and is usually a coarser grind, giving the dish a more toothy bite. White grits are a little more delicate in taste, I think. That said I prefer the white, but my husband prefers the yellow. Actually I love them both. Get grits milled fresh as possible; my source is Marsh Hen Mill, on Edista Island on the low country. The couple who owns it inherited or acquired an old mill and ship quickly. You could certainly buy traditionally coarser grits and grind them further if you prefer a fine grind. My unverified thought is that polenta from Italy has been longer on the shelf. I wouldn't hesitate to use grits in place of an Italian dish that calls for polenta, but that's really because grits is what I stock at home. Can be kept frozen. I buy several bags and keep one in the fridge, but I don't think it hurts to be used straight from the freezer.

Another vote for Marsh Hen Mill (aka Geechie Boy) grits. Both yellow and white are equally good; the white is a little more delicate in taste. Here's how I make my grits, and I have no idea where I got the recipe from, although I know I've tweaked it. Bring 4.5 cups of water to a boil. Add a big pat of butter and a tsp or salt. Then incorporate one cup of grits, gradually, letting it sift through your fingers. Stir well and cook very low for about fifteen minutes, stirring to make sure it doesn't clump or stick to the bottom. Heat up a. cup of milk meanwhile. After the first fifteen minutes add 1/2 cup of the milk. Continue to cook, stirring, on very low heat, ten minutes. Then add the rest of the milk and continue cooking very slowly about 20 or 25 minutes, stirring, especially toward the end.. When done add in a knob of butter and some dairy of your choice. I like to add a dollop of creme fraiche. For cheesy grits add Oaxaca or cheddar or cheese of your choice, amount also to taste. Eat it right away, adding more butter and salt as desired. Or pour into a mold so the grits are about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick and smooth the surface best as you can. This will keep refrigerated and can then be cut into slabs and sautéed in oil, butter or whatever you like.

Yes, the last post was over four years ago. Chile Rellenos is one of my favorite foods, BUT it isn't an easy dish to make well. Until this past week the only place I ever had them was New Mexico; when they were good they were great. But here I am in southern Texas. I've never been to Texas before and really have no idea what Tex-Mex food is really like when it's good. Sadly all the so-called Mexican restaurants in Texas have been mediocre or worse, whether inexpensive or pricey, such as we had at the fancy hotel in Marfa. The batter was practically a half inch thick, crunchy, with rubbery cheese. The inexpensive one was like wet cardboard, drowned in a red sauce that tasted like it came out of a can. Every meal we have had that might be considered Tex-Mex has been bland at best. What passes for salsa tastes like Pace's or something else out of a jar. Nothing has any heat. Have we just been unlucky? I've had great Mexican food in Mexico, New Mexico, southern CA and Tucson. But Texas has been a mystery to me all my life. Now that I've been in one small corner of it, I'm still clueless.

Charge extra for looking under the bed.

What kind of pressure cooker takes up more than 2000 sq feet?

Try it before you decide to open that tin of beluga caviar.

I buy scallions, garlic and chives every shopping trip. I've only had ramps once, but I would buy them routinely if they were available. Of course here in CA they don't exist, seasonally or otherwise. There's another seasonal treat you have in the northeast: fresh apple cider and apple cider doughnuts.

Road food is always iffy. But here's a shoutout to a tiny hole in the wall in Douglas AZ called El Rinconcito del Sabor. Lovely people and very good huevos rancheros with perfect fried eggs. We were the only customers except for a group of eight older men who meet there every Friday morning. I wanted iced tea and they had no black tea, but offered me an iced ginger tea that was really unusual and very good. Tortillas all made in house. Red sauce and green sauce in large unmarked bottles on the table: both very very hot and tasty. Also the best refried beans I've ever eaten. Mostly I'm not a fan, but these were smooth and almost soupy and delicious. I rarely seek out doughnuts, but we left Borrego Springs early for a long day of driving and didn't want to dawdle. We stopped at Donut Avenue in Brawley CA. Best unglazed buttermilk I've ever had! You never know.

Yes, the late greatTownes was such an upbeat guy.

I like the cardboard once a year. After all, you wouldn't want to eat charoset and horseradish on a rice cracker, would you? Our friend who hosts the seder always sends us home with xtra matzoh and I make matzoh brei which I do like. Best if it uses egg and onion matzoh, though.

I was never a huge fan of downstairs at Chez P but always had great celebrations upstairs in the cafe. Lunch pizzas are great, and one of my favorite desserts in summer is the fruit sorbets. .Also the seating is so sweet. My most memorable downstairs dinner (not in a good way) was one where the soup course, served in a large graceful bowl, was about 1/8 inch deep. One of those occasions where you say "it wasn't very good and there wasn't enough of it."

No idea why I never went to Brandy Ho's. Did you ever eat at Barbara Tropp's China Moon? That was lovely. I went to camp with her when we were teenagers, and she was always kind and generous.

When the original Hunan opened in SF in 1974 I was living a few blocks up the hill on the edge of Chinatown on Powell St. This little hole in the wall was magical. We just couldn't believe how good it was.

Classic Easter dinner? Uh, no. We hit the highway this morning on our road trip to Texas. Easter mid-day meal was PB & Raspberry jam sandwiches on homemade bread. Downhill from there with misc fridge cleaning items. This was at a godforsaken rest area in the middle of nowhere under storm clouds. Now ensconced in a generic Holiday Inn Express, also in the middle of nowhere. Tomorrow will be sunny and we'll be in Palm Springs by afternoon!

It's pretty unlikely the chile rellenos were made using Hatch chiles. They don't have the structure necessary for stuffing and deep frying. They would just end up in shreds. Best to use poblanos for that dish; pick the flattest most straight peppers in the bunch.

When I lived in NM hot poblanos were a given. You bought them anywhere. I can't tell you how much I miss good chile rellenos. I don't know where the supermarket poblanos are coming from in northern CA, but they are almost always bland. For a while I had two good sources for hot ones, but those days are gone. Very sad for me. I'll be in NM for several days in mid-April and fingers crossed for good green chile dishes at hole-in-the wall kitchens.

@Shel_B Options above are worth trying, since we're talking little money and an easy experiment. But have you tried Berkeley Bowl for fresh corn? They have had fresh corn, presumably from Mexico, all winter, and usually it's been decent. We bought some just two weeks ago to make corn and mushroom quesadillas. Not as sweet as local summer corn, but worth using in various dishes.

You're a woman of catholic tastes. Mostly I'm not fond of chile in chocolate, brownies or cookies. The exception for me would be pan forte, the sweetish concoction of fruit and nuts and cocoa with a hint of pepper. But just a hint. Peanuts and chile, by all means. Ice cream sundae with both, well, I might not even taste it.

Looks yummy, but the recipe sounds more like a cross between a coffee cake and a crumble. I'm not really sure what defines a quick bread either. I know it doesn't involve yeast or rising time. I guess it can be sweet, like many loaf tea cakes and breads, or not sweet, as in some brown breads and soda breads. Maybe someone has clearer parameters?

Yes, date and nut bread with a swipe of cream cheese! I'm fond of the KA recipe; the dates get soaked in hot coffee. Another current favorite is Yossy Arefi's Simple Sesame Cake, which I don't consider a cake, as it isn't terribly sweet and gets cooked in a loaf pan. Another favorite is Doris Greenspan's Poppy Seed Tea Cake, which is really a quick sweet bread, also baked in a loaf pan. All three of these are delicious toasted and buttered for breakfast. As you probably figured out from my lack of posts in the breakfast thread, most of my morning meals are toast. I only cook once a day. Not that anyone asked, but my least favorite sweet breads on Earth are banana bread and pumpkin bread. And by least favorite I mean really hate.

Checking out some menus for restaurants along our route to south Texas I came across one that offered two fruit options: fresh and canned! There must be plenty of people who grew up on canned fruit cocktail, but I wasn't one of them.

Me neither. If I had any sense I would make them this week to take on my road trip to see the eclipse. We leave on Easter Sunday for south Texas. Packing alone is a chore, given my limited mobility healing from a hip fracture. But it does seem like a good idea for a car snack.

@Shelby send Ronnie fishing and you can use your Bass-o-Matic!