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NM Green Chile Ham Cups

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New Mexico Green Chile Ham Cup
New Mexico Green Chile Ham Cup

While trying to come up with a good inspiration for a cupcake to make, I came across a few recipes that used sliced meat instead of paper for the cup.  So this was born.  Taking the well known quality of NM style Green Chile and putting it in an edible cup, stopped with some bacon and eggs.  I made 24 of these things and they disappeared so fast, I almost didn’t get a picture of them.

I’m working on more varieties of this so keep your eyes open.  They’ll be coming soon.

Serves 24

Ingredients

  • 24 slices Thin Sliced Breakfast Ham
  • 12 slices good quality Bacon
  • 24 Eggs
  • 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
  • 1 Medium White Onion finely chopped
  • 2 cups Chicken or Pork Stock
  • 8 NM Big Jim or Anaheim Chile Peppers, roasted and cleaned
  • 4 Garlic Cloves, roasted and minced
  • 1/2 tsp Oregano
  • 1/2 tsp Cumin
  • 1 tsp Ground Pepper
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 4 Tbsp Flour (or Whole Wheat Flour)

Preparation

First off your going to need 2 cupcake trays that have 12 tins for cupcakes.  You don’t need it right now, but make sure you’ve got them.

First we have to make our NM Green Chile.  Follow this recipe or in a pinch, you can substitute a jar of either El Pinto Roasted Green Chile Sauce or Colorado Green Chile Sauce in place of the peppers, garlic and spices.  Just follow the recipe as noted below.

On either a grill or in your oven at 400 degrees, roast your Chile and Garlic until the skin is blackened.  This should take about 20 minutes, turning them over once while cooking.  Remove and allow to cool until you can easily handle them.  Remove the skin from the Chile and chop into small pieces, less then 1/2 inch.  Fine chop or mince the Garlic.  Transfer to a medium sauce pan and heat to medium-high heat.  Add in the Oregano, Cumin, Pepper and Salt and stir until for about 3 minutes, then reduce heat to medium.

If your taking the short cut, simply put the jar of sauce into the medium sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Stirring occasionally, when boiling reduce to medium heat.

If you’ve taken the short cut, from here on the  where you start.

In a large sauce pan, over medium-high heat, add the oil and when hot enough, add the chopped Onions and saute until tender and starting to turn translucent (about 3 minutes).  Add in the sauce you have in the medium sauce pan and continue to stir until everything comes to a boil again.  Slowly add in the flour to thicken up the mixture.  Then add in the Stock and simmer on medium heat until it thickens up.  Add more flour if you need too.  This should be the consistency of a good thick gravy.

This should make about 3 cups of Green Chile Sauce.  I highly recommend letting this cool and refrigerating, covered for at least 12 hours until final assembly.  It brings the heat up a little while bringing out the flavors as well.

Prepare the Bacon by either baking in the oven at 375 degrees for 15 minutes per side or in a skillet until done.  The remove and drain on some paper towel.  After it’s drained, chopping each slice into 4 pieces.  Store until final assembly.

Final Assembly and Cooking

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Spray the cupcake tray with a light coating of Olive Oil.  In center of each cupcake hole, place one slice of Ham and push down on the center.  The Ham should go into the hole and form a cup.  Pinch one side of the slice to get the cup started.  Then scoop about a 1 inch ball of the Green Chile Sauce and place in each of the Ham cups, pressing to make sure it goes to the bottom and fills the cup.  Then put a couple of pieces of Bacon in each cup, on end so one end of the Bacon sticks up a bit.  Crack open and place one whole egg into the top of each Ham cup.  This should just fill the cups to the top.  Put into the oven and bake for 20 – 40 minutes, checking to see that you don’t burn the egg.  The time you take them out determines how done the eggs are.  30 minutes will usually yield an over medium yoke.  Remove from the oven when the yolks are done to your liking and serve.  I took these to the rink in the trays, double wrapped in foil to keep them warm.

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Jalapeno Black Eyed Pea Quiche

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At New Year’s celebrations in the South, eating Black Eyed Peas is supposed to bring luck in the New Year.  We’ve localized this to the Southwest by adding Jalapeño Peppers to the mix.  If you like though you can use some other kinds of spicy peppers.  But the Jalapeños are our favorites for this.

And we’ve got to pay better attention to how much we drink the night before.  This is the second quiche in a row that we completely forgot to take a picture until it was too late.

Serves: 16 -22 (2 quiches)

Ingredients

  • 2 – 15.5 oz cans of Trappey’s Jalapeño Black Eyed Peas
  • 1/2 cup Panko or bread crumbs
  • 8 – slices Bacon, chopped
  • 1 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded
  • 1 cup Swiss Cheese, shredded
  •  2 Pie Crusts
  • Base Quiche Mix

Preparation

In a skillet, cook the chopped Bacon until done, remove from heat and allow to drain on paper towels.

In a large pot over medium heat, pour the Black Eyed Peas, extra Chopped Bacon and the Panko and cook, stirring frequently to reduce the liquid volume by 2/3.  This should take about 15 minutes.  Remove and place in a container and refrigerate until ready for final assembly.

Prepare the rest of the ingredients and store until final assembly.

Final Assembly and Cooking

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Get the prepared pie crusts and loosely fill each of them with the Black Eyed Pea mixture prepared above.  Prepare the base quiche mix and pour over the other mixture.  Stir a little to make sure the quiche mix gets well mixed into the Pea mixture.  Top each pie with the cheese mixture and place in the oven.  Cook for 30 – 40 minutes, removing when the cheese starts to turn golden brown.  Serve or pack them up to take to the rink.

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Thanksgiving Frittata

Southwestern Thanksgiving Frittata
Southwestern Thanksgiving Frittata

This Thanksgiving themed frittata offers a Southwestern flair. Inspired by the favorite fruit of Southwest, yes Chile Peppers are technically considered fruit.  Some of us have slightly different traditions for Thanksgiving meals that are spiced up with Green Chile.  The “normal” Thanksgiving dinner in my house is actually Green Turkey Enchiladas, but that is a different story.

Serves 16 – 22 (2 frittatas)

Ingredients

  • 1 lb of Roast Turkey Breast (Try a Rotisserie Turkey, to have some extra for your Enchiladas)
  • 8 slices of good quality Bacon, chopped
  • 4 cloves of Garlic, chopped
  • 4 – 6 roasted and cleaned NM Big Jim or Anaheim Green Chile Peppers (more = hotter)
  • 1 cup Turkey Dressing
  • 3 Tbsp canned Cranberry Sauce
  • Base Quiche Mix
  • 1 cup Queso Fresco Cheese, shredded
  • 2 Pie Pans

Preparation

Rather than deal with a whole Turkey, I pulled 1 lb of breast meat off of a medium sized Rotisserie Turkey.  This is the best way to go, as these turkeys are really good.  In a skillet over medium high heat cook the Bacon until starting to get crispy.  Remove and drain on a paper towel.  Store these two ingredients separately until final assembly, refrigerating if more than an 1 hour away.

Before you take the skillet off the heat and drain the grease, put the Garlic in the skillet and cook until it starts to brown, about 3 minutes. Remove from the skillet and allow to drain for a couple of minutes on some paper towels.  Drop these into a food processor or blender with the Green Chile Peppers and Cranberry Sauce.   Blend this up to make a good Salsa.

Prepare the Turkey Dressing as directed on the package and reserve till final assembly.

Final Assembly and Cooking

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Put a light coating of oil or butter on the bottom of the pie pans.  Take the Turkey and Dressing and combine them in a large mixing bowl.  Make sure that it’s still a bit chunky.  Place equal amounts of this mixture into the two pie pans.  Then top that with the Bacon chunks and Cheese.  Then prepare the base quiche mix and add the Salsa into the mix while your whisking the eggs.  When done slowly pour over each pan, while continuing to mix to keep the Salsa evenly distributed between the pans.  Move the pans to the oven and bake for 30 – 40 minutes, or until the top starts to brown.  Remove from oven and either prepare to serve or take it to the rink.

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Bacon with Spinach and Shiitakes

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This is an attempt to be kind of healthy, but we just can’t resist keeping bacon in it.  It is just a matter of moderation.  We use the Spinach and Shiitake Mushrooms to tell ourselves that this one is healthy and good for us.  We use the smaller than normal helping of Bacon to make it taste extra good.  And unfortunately, this is one that didn’t make it’s photo shoot before it went to the rink and was consumed before a picture could be taken.

Ingredients

  • 8 slices of good quality Bacon
  • 2 Tbsp Butter
  • 1/4 cup Green Onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves Garlic, chopped
  • 16 oz fresh Spinach
  • 1/2 lb fresh Shiitake Mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded
  • 1 cup Asiago Cheese, shredded
  • Base Quiche Mix
  • 2 pie crusts

Preparation

Either bake your bacon in the oven at 375 degrees for 20 minutes (10 minutes per side) or in a skillet over medium high heat until just starting to get crispy.  Remove and drain on a paper towel.  When cooled chop up into 1/2 inch pieces and refrigerate until final assembly.

In a large skillet or pot over medium heat, melt the butter.  Put in the chopped green onions and garlic.  Cook while stirring until the green onions start to soften, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the spinach and shiitake mushrooms and continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the vegetables soften.  This should take about 5 – 7 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Refrigerate until final assembly.

Final Assembly and Cooking

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Mix together the two kinds of cheese.  In another large mixing bowl, add the bacon chunks, vegetables, mushrooms and 1/4 cup of the cheese mixture together and mix thoroughly.  When thoroughly mixed, half into the two pie crusts.  Prepare the base quiche mix and pour over the ingredients in the pie crusts.  Top this with the remaining cheese mixture and sprinkle with some extra salt and pepper to taste.  The pies then go into the oven for 30 -40 minutes or until the cheese on top is a golden brown.  Remove from the oven and either serve or transport to the rink.

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Canadian Drunken Pumpkin Bacon Balls

I was looking for a reason to make something that resembles the maple bacon cupcakes and doughnuts that everyone seems to be making.  But I wanted to step it up a bit, both for flavor (the drunken) and for fall (the pumpkin).  After researching how these things are typically made by about 20 others, I came up with this.

The boys liked them as much as they like the quiche so it’s got to be a hit.

This makes about 30 – 1 1/2 inch balls

Ingredients

Balls

  • 1/2 cup evaporated milk
  • 1 package of bacon, fried and chopped
  • 1/4 cup bacon grease from cooking the bacon, in solid form
  • 4 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast (2 packets)
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 1/2 cup your favorite spiced rum (Kraken or Captain Morgan‘s)
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 4 tablespoons of maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon of pumpkin spice
  • 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 2 2/3 of all-purpose flour, plus a little extra if needed
  • vegetable oil for frying (I used 2 quarts)

Glaze

  • 2 cup powdered sugar
  • 4 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoon bacon fat, melted
  • 2 tablespoons evaporated milk
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup of the rum used in the balls

Preparation

I did most of this the evening before just because everyone likes their balls freshly cooked and warm, right.

First you need to cook up the package of bacon. I find it best to bake this on a foil lined cooke sheet in a 375 to 385 degree oven for 7 to 10 minutes per side, draining the grease at the flip. Then take the finished bacon and drain on some paper towels. Put the bacon grease into a bowl and refridgerate long enough to make it the consistency of warm butter. Now to make some bacon butter. Add the evaporated milk to a saucepan over medium-low heat and heat until just warm enough to melt the bacon grease. Pour the warm milk over top of the bacon grease slowly and stir constantly until it’s fully mixed. Set side to let cool to room temperature.

While that’s cooling, take a few minutes to loosely chop half of the bacon. Finely chop the rest and keep the two separate.

The next thing you can premake is the glaze. In another bowl add all the glaze ingredients along with the finely chopped bacon and whisk until this becomes a glaze. Then refrigerate till ready to use.

Now to make the dough. In the large bowl whisk together the yeast and warm water to activate it. Let this mixture sit for about five minutes until foamy. Then add in cooled bacon butter. Mix well using an electric mixer on low speed. Add in the eggs, syrup, salt, nutmeg, pumpkin spice, rum, coarse chopped bacon and half of the flour mixture, mixing on low speed until combined. Add the remaining flour, mixing on medium speed until combined which will take about five minutes. Then knead the dough for about five minutes or until it fully pulls from the bowl. If it is sticky add a few tablespoons of flour and knead until it pulls off smoothly. Have another vegetable oil coated bowl ready and transfer the dough when it pulls easily, cover and let rise in a warm place for about and hour.

Prepare a couple cookie sheets with parchment paper and a little coating of oil or baking spray. Then pinch off pieces of the dough that you can roll into balls about an inch to inch and a half in diameter. Place these on the cookie sheets keeping at least a half an inch to one inch separation. Then cover loosely with a sheet of plastic wrap and let this rise at room temperature for another thirty minutes. Then move to the refrigerator for the night.

Assembly

First thing you need to do is get the dough nuts out of the refrigerator and allow them to warm to room temperature. If your pressed for time, warm up the oven a little and put the balls in there with the door cracked so it’s about 100 degrees in the oven for about five minutes. Warm up your glaze either in a microwave or pot just enough to liquify it again.

While the balls are warming, heat your oil a large pot on medium high heat, making sure it is about 365 degrees. You should also only need about two to three inches of oil. And if you want them a little crisper and healthier, use coconut oil. Add the dough nuts into the oil five or six at a time, frying on each side for about 1 minute, and flipping with a spider or slotted spoon. Remove and let drain on wire rack placed above a paper towel. When finished, dip each ball halfway in glaze. They are ready to serve or pack in a foil covered tray for transport. If your taking these to the rink, make sure to leave a little vent in the foil cover to let the steam out, but keep most of the heat in.