Echiladas Veracruz

Even the wannabe gourmand occassionally needs to whip up something fast & easy. In this case, we were staying at a lodge up in Tahoe and I had to make a yummy dinner for hungry skiers with a minimum of ingredients, no seasonings, and no leftovers in the tiny little lodge suite kitchen. They don't even stock salt & pepper in these places. So I grabbed a few instant food items from Safeway and whipped up some pretty delicious Crab & Shrimp Enchiladas Veracruz.


10oz Safeway Select Verdi Alfredo Sauce
12oz Wild Wife! Mild Chile Verde
8oz salad shrimp
8oz crab
Small package fresh pico de gallo
Small package fresh sliced peppers & onions
16oz shredded jack cheese
10 white corn torillas

Fry tortillas in oil until just slightly crisp. Drain on paper towels.

Mix together the alfredo sauce and the chile verde. Pour enough into a 9 x 12 baking dish to cover the bottom.

Discard all but 2 tbsp oil. Add pepper & onions and fry until onions begin to turn translucent. Add shrimp meat and crab. Add enough sauce cover the seafood, and then bring to a simmer. Remove from heat.

To assemble:

• lay a tortilla in the baking dish


• fill with a spoonful of the seafood


• sprinkle with cheese


• add a spoonful of pico de gallo

Roll and finish seam side down. Repeat until all tortillas are used.

Spoon sauce over enchiladas and sprinkle with remaining cheese and pico de gallo.

Bake in 350f degree oven for approximately 30 minutes, until cheese on top is melted and bubbly.

Bunny Bourguignon

AAAhhh man this was glorious. As Trisha once said "The good thing about bunnies is, they're cute and soft and you can pet them... and they taste good too!"

Better than chicken any day.

This recipe was dead easy as well. If you like, you may marinate the bunny overnight using the wine & herbs. However, I've found that marinating is more necessary with chicken or beef; rabbit tends to absorb the flavors of the broth nicely while braising.

For this recipe, I meant to use only bay leaf and thyme. However, when I sent Trisha out to the garden for fresh herbs, she brought in small sprigs of rosemary, mint, and corriander before finally finding the thyme. Instead of wasting it, I threw them in as well.

I used criminy mushrooms. Firm wild mushrooms such as chanterelle, black trumpet, morel, or porcini would also do well in this dish.

Madness:

• 1 Fryer rabbit, cut up
• Smoked streaky bacon, chopped
  
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Garlic
  
• A good bordeaux
• Broth (I used beef)
• Fresh herbs: thyme, bay leaf

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 500f degrees.
Fry bacon in large dutch oven. Remove when crispy, leaving grease in pan.
Dredge bunny in flour. Brown on all sides. Add S&P to taste. Remove when nicely browned.
Add diced onion and saute until clear. Add mushrooms and saute until they begin to release their water. Immediately deglaze pan with wine; add broth and bring to simmering boil.
Return bacon to pan and stir. Add rabbit pieces, coating with sauce as you add.
Cover and place in oven. Reduce heat to 350f degrees.
Cook for about an hour, checking the volume of liquid occassionally. Add more broth as necessary to nearly but not completely cover rabbit.

I served this with lightly fried new potatoes (just enough to impart a crisp golden brown crust), and buttered broccolini. You could probably serve it over noodles as well.