Roasted Mexican Corn and a New Year's Resolution

I'm not a big on resolutions.

I can't remember any of the resolutions I've made before.

That said, I do have a resolution for 2013: Cut dairy products out of all my savory cooking.

I can't do it when it comes to sweet cooking. I had chocolate mousse at midnight on New Year's, and I loved it. It was filled with heavy cream. It was heavenly. So I'm keeping dairy there.

I'm already meat-free, which I figure makes me challenging enough for friends willing to have me over for dinner, so I'm keeping dairy in my diet when I eat at friends' houses. We'll see when it comes to going out for dinner. I'll try to avoid cheese-laden dishes at restaurants, but I'm not going to drive myself crazy.

With that in mind, the savory recipes you see posted here coming up should be a little different. No cheese, no milk, no butter.

Still delicious.

For a food blogger, changing something in your diet forces you to cook all new recipes. I can't fall back on all my old cheese-filled favorites. Hopefully it will lead to lots of variety and new recipes up here.

I'm five days in and still sticking to my goal! Thursday I hosted my first small dinner party since deciding to cook dairy-free, and I went with a Mexican theme. This roasted Mexican corn dish was our side for the meal. It's adapted from a recipe for elotes, that delicious, creamy, mayonnaise and cheese-filled corn dish, that's one of my favorite Mexican dishes.

This adaptation felt light and fresh. I could go back for seconds without a touch of guilt.

Black Bean and Swiss Chard Mexican Lasagna

Last Sunday, my friend Casey suggested I make baked eggs for dinner. Truth be told, they sounded delicious. A bit of heavy cream, topped with whatever cheese and herbs you have handy. Crack an egg or two over the top, and bake it all in the oven. You get a runny yolk that spills over onto the cheese and herbs.

Yum.

There was just one big problem. Baked eggs don't reheat well.

If I made baked eggs for dinner Sunday, I'd have no lunch option come Monday. Or Tuesday. Or Wednesday.

I'd be forced to reheat an Amy's frozen burrito, or wait in line behind twenty children to buy a bagel and cream cheese. And, since it was only Sunday, I knew I'd be facing a whole week of that kind of eating if I didn't prepare something more practical tight away.

This lasagna certainly falls under that category. It's a layered dish, with layers of tortillas, queso fresco, swiss chard and mushrooms, and black beans and corn. Not the first dish most people conjure up when they hear the word lasagna.

Delicious nonetheless.

This dish is hearty and healthy. It comes together quickly (particularly if you cheat a little with store-bought enchilada sauce like I did). I made enough for two lasagnas and threw one right into the freezer before baking it. The perfect solution for the next week when I'm not sure what to make on a Sunday.

Chilaquiles From Your Fridge

I opened the fridge yesterday and it was pretty bare. I had some of the standards: eggs, butter and salsa. 

Then I had some random odds and ends. Some queso fresco leftover from a Mexican dinner. Limes (far too many), the result of a Bloody Mary bar. Radishes. Spring onions. Cherry tomatoes.

I decided to make a quick batch of chilaquiles, with no fancy ingredients and without buying anything new at the grocery store. I'd make due with what I had.

I couldn't have been more delighted with the results. I threw some cherry tomatoes in the pan with a bit of olive oil, and I let them simmer down. I added what was left of my jar of salsa, stirred and mixed in a generous handful of tortilla chips. That cooked until the chips were soft, and then was transferred off the heat and onto a plate.

I quickly fried an egg over easy, placed it in top of the tortillas and tomatoes and went to work decorating. I sprinkled green onions on top, added a generous amount of thinly sliced radishes and a sprinkle of queso fresco.

While this is certainly not an authentic chilaquiles recipe, it sure is tasty and it's quick to make. The whole dish was on my plate in less than 15 minutes, including chopping time. And it left me pleasantly fell until lunch.

Mexican-Inspired Coleslaw

We often sit around at dinner and ponder what cuisine we would choose if we could only eat one nation's cuisine for the rest of our lives.

My go-to response is Mexican (think the general family of foods, not terribly country specific). 

I love pupusas, arepas and enchiladas. I'm a sucker for plantains, both tostones and maduros. 

There are just two things that make me nervous: the overabundance of cheese and fried foods and the the lack of fresh vegetables. 

This coleslaw is one small attempt to rectify that problem and convince myself that fresh vegetables can make their mark in my Mexican cooking. It's loaded with fresh vegetables. I kept mine simple with cabbage, red onions, cilantro, and red and yellow peppers. However, the Rebar recipe called for jicama and carrots chopped up as well. I'm sure it's a delicious combination, but I was trying to simplify my cooking night. 

It was the perfect contrast with the heavier, cooked dishes I served it with. Each bite was fresh and crunchy. I was immediately a fan. 

What about you? One cuisine for the rest of your life. What would you choose? 

Black Bean and Sweet Plantain Quesadillas: Pequena Style

One of the problems with recreating your favorite restaurant dishes at home is that you are forced to actually confront how unhealthy the dishes are. This has been my main dilemma while recreating Pequena's black bean and sweet plantain quesadillas.

The Pequena quesadilla (featured below, left) oozes with cheese. The tortillas are perfectly crisp. The plantains are sweet and just dripping with moisture. The black beans are in perfect proportion to the plantains. It's topped with a hot salsa and a little more cheese.

For my first attempt, I sprayed the tortillas with a little cooking spray, sauteed the sweet plantains in just a bit of canola oil and butter, and added a tablespoon or two of cheese to each quesadilla. The finished product was not even close to the quesadilla that I loved. Where was the crisp shell? Where where the plump plantains and the oozing cheese?

A few modifications later, I had a quesadilla I was happy with that was still decently healthy. I buttered the tortillas (lightly) on one side, bumped up the ratio of butter to olive oil so it was equal, let the plantains blacken until they seemed almost inedible (to get that sweet flavor I was craving), and upped the cheese quantity slightly.

The end result is something I can not only enjoy eating for a few lunches and dinners in a row but feel good about.

And thankfully, Pequena is just a few blocks away when a craving for an authentic black bean and sweet plantain quesadilla strikes.