Boxcar Coffee Roasters and Cured- Two of my favorite places in one space.

I live a block away from one of the coolest shops in Boulder.  It’s actually two shops: Boxcar Coffee Roasters and Cured, but they share a beautiful space right on 18th and Pearl.  I’m well on my way to becoming mayor of both on Foursquare:)

I like to think I’m the biggest fan of both businesses, but I’m sure their fan-base is much larger than me.

In any case, here are some photos, courtesy of Giovanni Castillo.

1825 Pearl Street, Boulder, CO 80302

Chicken Mole Enchiladas

A man called me last February from Mexico asking about food tours here in Boulder.  He had lived in Boulder, moved to Veracruz, and was returning for a week to attend a friend’s wedding. We made a deal over the phone that involved him bringing me a jar of traditional Veracruz mole. In July, he showed up on tour with a slightly sticky bag containing a slightly leaking jar of brown paste: Mexican Mole base.

The summer came and went. I went through a breakup, which led to a cooking hiatus, and this jar of mole moved with me into my new condo and new kitchen. I had no plans for this jar until I met Giovanni- an architect/designer who recently moved to Boulder and happens to be half-Mexican. Having lived in Mexico and learning to cook from relatives there, Giovanni offered to teach me how to make chicken mole enchiladas.

There were a number of steps involved.

First, we boiled a couple chicken breasts until they were cooked through.  When cool enough to touch, Giovanni shredded the meat with his hands. We also got to work making the mole sauce.  Approximately a third of the jar of paste went into a sauce pan with a couple cups of water and that reduced on medium-high for 30 minutes or so. We also sauteed some fingerling potatoes and carrots in a little olive oil and lightly toasted sesame seeds. We definitely had to use all burners on my stove for this meal.

When the chicken was cooked and shredded, the mole sauce was done (not too thick, not to thin), and the potatoes were cooked, we added the chicken to the potatoes, covered them in sauce (keeping a couple cups reserved in the pan), and made a chicken potato carrot mole combination for our enchiladas.  Then, the fun began.

First, Giovanni dunked 3 corn tortillas in mole sauce and lay them out on a plate. Next, he filled and rolled them, one by one. Finally, he drizzled them with extra mole sauce, toasted sesame seeds, and topped them with thinly sliced onions.  It was really cool to watch.

Mole sauce is a really complex sauce with many different variations.  This jar from Veracruz was great for my first traditional mole experience and I’m definitely looking forward to my next enchiladas de mole evening.

Caramelized Onion Gravy

Three pounds of yellow onions really break down to be not too much after 1.5 hours of caramelization. But, all that time spent stirring and checking on them is worth it. Trust me.

Every year for my Thanksgiving gravy base, I hang by the stove, diligently stirring a pot of gold.  The onions will turn into a beautiful pot of gold if done correctly, and it takes so much time, this pot is as valuable, time-wise, as a pot of gold.  I suggest you give it a try.  You can also scale this down for smaller meals and use it as your secret weapon gravy base.

This year I started with 3 pounds of thinly sliced locally grown Colorado sweet yellow onions. I put them in a 4 quart stock pot, knowing they’d end up as a splash in the pan once caramelization took over.  Start with the heat up at medium-high and add two sticks of butter.  Let this start to sizzle. You want to hear it doing something.

Give it a stir every few minutes and let the butter melt. Then, turn down the heat to medium and keep coming back and stirring… and stirring… and stirring.

This is going to take some time, so plan to spend over an hour in the kitchen. Multi-task if you can because it really is a long time to spend looking over one single pot.

There eventually comes a time I call a “crucial moment” in the caramelization process because if you get bored and leave, your onions are going to burn. Trust me. As they turn into golden brown deliciousness, start stirring them more frequently. They’ll eventually be a gorgeous pot of gold. So get them off the heat.

Next, stir in 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, a couple teaspoons of fresh thyme and a teaspoon of minced fresh rosemary.  Mix everything really well and taste it to be sure the vinegar cuts through the fat from the butter. You might find that it needs a little more vinegar and a dash of salt.  But, remember that this is just the base for your gravy, so all of those flavorful pan drippings are going to add a rich complexity to this somewhat straightforward caramelized onion base. This can be made in advance, refrigerated, and put on the stove with pan drippings when you’re getting ready to serve the bird.

Enjoy in moderation!

Pumpkin Peanut Curry Soup

Every autumn I have a craving for my pumpkin peanut curry soup.  I make it once or twice and then wait until pumpkins are in season the following year before making it again. Each time it comes out slightly differently depending on how much of this or that goes in it. Here’s what I did this time-

I roasted a locally grown pumpkin the size of a soccer ball at 375 for 30 minutes or so… I must admit, I totally lost track of time. I have NO idea how long that pumpkin was in there.  I’d say 30-40 minutes. I do know, however, that I cut it in half, seeded it (and saved the seeds to make Mexican Mole Roasted Pumpkin Seeds), covered the flesh in butter, and placed it cut side down into a pyrex baking dish with a cup or so of brandy.  I am sure of that part.

While the oven was preheating for the pumpkin, I toasted a cup or so of unsalted peanuts. Watch them! It’s really easy to over-toast (burn) nuts. Keep an eye on them and get them out of the oven when they’re starting to brown and smell like roasted peanuts.

But, before I even put the peanuts in the pre-heating oven, I had a thinly sliced sweet yellow onion sautéing on medium-low in some of the coconut fat skimmed from the top of an undisturbed can of coconut milk.  I let this start to caramelize while roasting the pumpkin. In the last 15 minutes or so I added a peeled, sliced apple.

So, when the peanuts were done, I put them in the Vita-Mix and made a little peanut butter.  Let’s all cheer for the power of that Vita-Mix. What a rockstar appliance. The next step is to blend all of the soft pumpkin flesh, onion, and apple with a can of coconut milk and a cup or so of water into the peanut butter.  Start on low, slowly turn it up to 10, then high, and then you’re ready to pour it into a pot and get it on the stove.

This is where the fun seasoning starts. I added a few tablespoons of soy sauce, Kecap Manis (called sweet soy sauce- it is palm sugar syrup, like molasses, but from palm), Vietnamese Sweet Lemongrass Curry (available at Savory Spice Shop), and some cayenne.  I let the soup simmer on medium for a while and added some thinly sliced kale that cooked down to be nice and tender after 20 minutes.

Just blogging about this now makes me want to eat another bowl. The creamy peanut-coconut combination is a nice compliment to pumpkin.  It brings me back to a small kitchen in Siem Reap, Cambodia, where I had my first pumpkin peanut curry soup.  Enjoy!

Dinner at Nathan’s

When a classically trained chef/baker/chocolatier invites you to dinner at his place, just say yes.  It’s that simple. Nathan Miller hosted a little soiree and I did not leave hungry.  There was food for nibbling, lots of wine, beer, brie, bread, cheese and charcuterie.  Then Nathan’s roommate made some proscuitto goat cheese flatbread.

Nathan had started a meat sauce with onions, peppers, carrots, and tomatoes that he let simmer for a while before serving us.

Pasta with a chunky sauce that brought my taste buds back to living in Spain with my host mom.  She made a sauce like this.  Nathan topped our bowls with celery, fresh herbs, spinach, olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Homemade goodness.

Now, we all know Nathan is the mastermind baker for The Tasterie Truck and owner/chocolatier of Nathan Miller Chocolate.  That means dessert was bound to be good.

He started to make a dry caramel sauce, which apparently is made more quickly than traditional caramel.  I’ve never made caramel sauce, so I saddled up next to the chef for a little Q&A while he worked.

There’s definitely butter in caramel sauce.

Grapefruit topped with vanilla ice cream, graham crackers, and caramel sauce. Yes please, and Thank You!