Monthly Archives: November 2012

Favorite Things: Dominican Republic Edition

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1. A chilly election night in DC calls for some Election Night Chili.  We gathered around CNN with hot bowls of meatless goodness to watch the results.  The results?  Chili for president, Nachos for VP.

2. Our bought-on-a-whim LivingSocial Escape to Punta Cana was the perfect weekend respite from plunging temperatures and a Sandy aftermath in the District.  It also quickly turned into a couples retreat.  #LightMyFire

3. Praise the Mostachioed Gods for Movember.

4. Essential reading materials for a Dominican beach.  Cook’s Illustrated definitely made it into the beach totes of these Tejanos.

5. Tastebud Highlights of the Week: Fresh Coconut, Pineapple & Bananas, Sancocho (look for a blog post soon!), and the illustrious Coco Loco- a perfect blend of white rum, creme de coco & nutmeg.

6. The views in Punta Cana are unrivaled- ok perhaps rivaled only by our fave entry in the DC High Heel Race this year: The View.  There was no lip syncing for their lives- these ladies were perfect!

Election Night Chili

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“Chili today, hot tamale” has long been one of my fam’s favorite phrases. While yesterday brought chilly temperatures and piping bowls of chili, today brought neither warmer temps nor hot tamales (stay tuned for these HungryTexans annual holiday tamales coming soon!). Today did bring reheated lunch and dinner chili and I dare say this funky spin on chili improved with age. Important to note, this is not this HungryTexan’s normal chili recipe — that I can whip up blind folded, but this was inspired by a real recipe (Cook’s Illustrated, of course) and required a wee bit more focus. It also requires a lot more time, so I might recommend you file this as a weekend recipe or a weeknight you’ll be glued to your TV (ahem…election night).

los ingredientes:

2 cans of black beans

2 cans of white beans

4 racquetball-sized onions

12 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup walnuts

2 ounces dried shiitake mushrooms

1 can diced tomatos (reserve that juice!)

3 tbl tomato paste

3 tbl soy sauce

2 jalapeños

1/4 cup chili powder

3 tbl oregano

cumin

veggie oil

1 cup barley

3 cups water

I recommend these three prep steps first:

  1. Combine mushrooms & walnuts in food processor until you’ve got a coarse walnut/mushroom meal
  2. Combine tomatoes (sans juice), tomato paste, soy sauce, coarsely chopped jalapeños, & garlic in your food processor
  3. Chop all your onions

With these steps under your belt, you’ll be ready to start simmering. Heat the oil (about a 1/4 inch high in your pot) and then dump in your onions, let those get soft and start browning, and be sure to salt them while they’re sizzlin’. Next, dump in your beans, add your chili powder, cumin, oregano. StirStirStir. Add your tomato mixture. StirStirStir. Pour in your walnut/mushroom mixture. StirStirStir. Add 1 cup barley & 3 cups water. Cover and let this bubbling pot ride the heat wave until your bulgar’s tender.

Serve piping hot and serve with your favorite dairy (I recommend that other HungryTexan’s sauced up sour cream!)

Pumpkin Bread

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Still crawling out of your Halloween candy coma? Believe it or not this HungryTexan resisted most of the tricks and treats this Halloween season (save a few handfuls of ceremonious candy corn), but I couldn’t resist nibble after nibble of this perfectly punk-in-y loaf. Baked at the height of the hurricane, this Fall treat warmed the home, hearts & tummies of our house-full of hurricane refugees. OneSockWonder described it as, “Fit for a pum-king!”

You’ll need:

Topping:

5 tbl brown sugar

1 tbl flour

1 tbl butter

1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

Bread:

2 c flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 can pumpkin

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

a hearty swirl of vanilla

1 c sugar

1 c brown sugar

1/2 c canola oil

4 oz cream cheese

4 eggs

1/4 c buttermilk

Mix all your toppings together in a small bowl. For the BREAD, preheat to 350 and prep a loaf pan (or two). First, combine your pumpkin, spices, and vanilla and heat on the stove for 8ish minutes (stirring constantly!). Remove from heat and add both sugars, the cream cheese, and your oil. On the side, combine your eggs & buttermilk and then add that combo to your pumpkin mix. Finally, fold in your flour mixture (flour, soda, powder, salt). StirStirStirStirStir. Pour into your pans and bake 35ish minutes or until your loaves pass the toothpick test!