Chiles Rellenos "Dinner with John"

I don't have the entire recipe. Gram may have to be contacted if you really want it. I will write what I know. Most of this dinner is from the farmer's market which is another reason of why it was so delicious. You see in the pictures the peppers were roasted first then stuffed. They were stuffed or rellenos with goat cheese and mushrooms. The mushrooms were first sauteed, and the goat cheese was a bit melted with butter before mixing it with the mushrooms. Gram made quinoa which are the grains you see in the plate. The entire dinner was delicious and we all wanted more. John brought some delicious white wine that went well with the chiles rellenos. The dessert was donated by Jeff who is Gram's boss. It was filled with chocolate and that is all that matters!! John and I have just been loving Gram's days off because that's when the goodness happens.. so if you are lucky to be in town on a Wednesday or Thursday let us know!!

Veggie Tostadas

I can't let Gram cook all the time :) Well, I can but I like to do simple dishes like tostadas for example.
The tostadas we have bought at the store seem to break all too easily. A great solution is to make your own tostadas so that they can hold the goodness you'll put on top of them.
We get our tortillas from Rancho Liborio in Aurora, CO. Of course you can get your favorite brand of tortillas from any store you usually shop at.
Use a skillet or frying pan where you can add a decent amount of safflower oil. If you have regular size tortillas you may have to do one at the time, maybe two at the time. Wait a few minutes for oil to get hot and in you put your tortilla. You have to watch it or it will curl up. Flip it a few times until it has that wonderful golden color. Take out and place on a napkin so the oil will be absorbed. We usually eat three tostadas each with regular size tortillas.
Make the tostadas first, then start working with your ingredients.

Ingredients we use:

• black beans
• cilantro
• garlic
• onion
• squash or zuchini (or both)
• seasoning salt
• lettuce
• cayenne pepper
• salt
• pico de gallo (diced tomato, cilantro, serrano pepper and lots of lime)
• avocado (lightly salted and limed)

Make your refried beans as you like them. We add onion, garlic, serrano, salt and pepper to some olive oil and let it sit for a few before adding the can of black beans. Once you add the black beans you can start mashing them a little bit so they're not falling off of the tostada. Let all the juices get soaked up.

Prepare your veggies or other ingredients you may be using the way you like as well. Sometimes I season them with cayenne pepper and anything else that I can think of to make it taste yummy. Creative license here.

Once everything is ready, place some lettuce on your tostada, then add the beans to it (they will hold the lettuce down) then add the veggies, avocado and pico de gallo or your favorite salsa.

This is the fastest and easiest meal we make. Well not easier than mac n cheese, but definitely more delicious.

ENJOY the TOSTADAS!!

The BEST dinner ever and dessert

Seared Tuna with an avocado and jicama salad. On the side Green Tea noodles with a noodle sauce.

The Avocado and Jicama Salad:

• avocado
• jicama
• greens
• macadamia nuts
• chiles
• carrot

To make this delicious salads you need to do the following:
Shred the carrots and jicama, cube the avocado, roast the chiles and then dice, toast the macadamia nuts and toss all of these ingredients with the green leaf lettuce in lime juice, olive oil and salt. Serve this salad with the seared tuna and combine the two if desired.

Green Tea Noodles,

Follow the directions on the green tea noodle box/bag to cook them.
The Noodle Sauce:

• 1/4 cup of soy sauce
• 1/4 cup of white wine
• sugar
• dried mushrooms
• 1 cup of water
• 1 roasted chile
• 1 scallion

Place dried mushrooms in boiling water and allow to simmer for 2 minutes, add soy and wine and simmer for 5 minutest. Take mushrooms out and dice. Dice chile and put chile and mushrooms back in sauce and top with minced scallions.

Dessert:

I tried to get a fancy name for this dessert but Gram snapped me back to reality and reminded me that most fancy restaurants don't name their dessert and merely show a description of it. So here is the description for the fancy and delicious dessert Gram made.

• pain de genes ( the cake like on the picture)
• peaches
• greek yogurt
• oatmeal/almond tuile (see pic. and look for a craker/cookie almond like thingy )

I added some of Chef Gram's notes so you get an idea of how he works .
ENJOY!!

Pineapple Fried Rice

This dish was inspired by a delicious Pineapple Fried Rice offered in a Ollie's in New York. In Ollie's the dish is served in half a pineapple. You can do that if you want, but we don't do that although it would be fun.
This is very easy, and although I have not tried making it yet I think I could handle it. Gram, however does a great job.

Ingredients:
tofu
white rice (or brown if you prefer)
soy sauce
sesame seed oil
pineapple
any veggies you like, we use:
snap peas
carrots
sweet peppers
green and red peppers
squash
onion
garlic
serrano peppers

You chop all the veggies, mince the garlic, dice serrano and some of the pineapple and throw them in the wok with the oil until they are cooked. By this time you should have some plain rice already made. Then you add the rice to the wok and mix it up with the veggies and such... you can add soy sauce to taste and more sesame oil if desired.
If you'd like you can add some chicken or tofu. It should already be cooked. And if we're talking tofu it should already be dried out and added with the veggies to get some flavor.

Eat with your favorite hot sauce, ours is Sriracha-- sometimes we don't need it depending on how much serrano was added. If you have some fresh pineapple left over, add it to your dish before serving.

ENJOY!!

P.S. There are no measurements on things here because Gram just adds things to taste. Last night's we made rice in the cooker and we made 4 cups of plain white rice. Everything else depends on what you like and how you like it.

We don't always cook...

A long weekend calls for take out every once in a while- so here are a couple awesome places in Denver where you can eat for cheap.

US Thai
5228 West 25th Avenue, Edgewater, 303-233-3345
Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday.
By far the best Thai food we have ever had, their Hot dishes are really really hot, and sometimes even the Medium is hot so beware.

Sexy Pizza
1018 E 11th Ave
Denver, CO 80218-2814
(303) 830-8111
They deliver if you live in the area. We usually get a pineapple pizza with jalapeños, or a mushroom pizza. If you order the large pizza please order it well-done.

Chada Thai
2005 E 17th Ave
Denver, CO 80206-1105
(303) 320-8582
They don't deliver, but it is close enough to home that we just pick up. Not as awesome as US Thai, but pretty good. If you order your dish Medium you'll still may need more chili sauce and lime so if you like spicy order it Hot.

MOLE

As you can see here are some of the many ingredients that it takes to make Mole. Dried fruit, fresh peppers, onions, nuts, Mexican chocolate and lots and lots of chiles. The process takes Gram about 5 hours, but of course it all depends on how much he makes. If you really want to make your own Mole at home you can email us for the very long recipe . Or, you can visit us and have some Mole at home with us in Denver.

Vegetarian Tortas

Well, I don't know if this would be under $5 bucks if there are two of you, but if there is only one then most definitely yes!!
Vegetarian Tortas:
-bolillos (ours come from Grateful Bread, but you can find them at your nearest Mexican market or panaderia)
-aguacate (avocado)
-your favorite melting cheese; Gram used pepper jack cheese
-refried beans
-lettuce or greens
-roasted green chiles HOT!

You can cut the bolillo in half and toast it. Gram melted the cheese on the top half of the bolillo, then he spread the refried beans on the other half. ~Before adding the avocado we both love to soak it in lime and add some salt to it then it was added to the torta, followed by the lettuce or your favorite greens and roasted hot green chiles. Then you have a vegetarian torta ready to eat!!
Of course at most Mexican restaurants they add chicken or carne asada or even eggs for a breakfast torta (very much like a burrito). Mexicans are also known for using mayo on their sandwiches but most people are not down with mayo so... You can pretty much come up with your own torta. Just make sure to use a bolillo because it really is the best bread for a torta- if you go to a panaderia make sure to ask where the fresh baked goods are placed. They are usually near the kitchen or oven not in the cases yet.

scallops, dumplings and wine

The recipe will be posted very soon. These are just some pictures to give you an idea of some of the dinners Chef Gram cooks.

Grubbin'

Welcome to our food blog!! As many of you know Pastry Chef Gram is also an amazing cook and we hope to share with you some of his delicious creations. These creations are done at home and inspired by many of his favorite chefs and his lovely wife :)
Some of the chefs he follows are Rick Bayless and Ming Tsai among many others. Gram graduated from The French Pastry School in Chicago, IL. Gram loves to bake pies, cobblers, cookies, souffles and of course bread! He recently created a hybrid bread where he combined ciabatta bread and brioche bread. It truly is delicious. I will post pictures of the food and the recipes which of course are Gram's ideas.