Mr. Hawthorne Makes Pepper Parfaits.

Previously, Mr. Hawthorne made refried beans and Mexican rice from Diana Barrios Trevino's Los Barrios Family Cookbook. I'm quite impressed with the man right now. He hardly ever goes by a recipe, unless he's making a cake or a pie and for the past month or so, he's been making several recipes from Los Barrios. He's canned the Salsa Ranchera and the Salsa Verde using our homegrown tomatoes, peppers, and tomatillos. Then came Irene. And sadly, there are no more tomatoes, no more peppers, no more tomatillos.

So, Mr. Hawthorne stopped at the produce market on his way home this afternoon. By the way, I just put a cheese souffle into the oven. Recipe later. And now, Mr. Hawthorne takes over the kitchen. He will be making Moreover Pepper Parfaits.

Here's Mr. Hawthorne's Mexican rice from Los Barrios Family Cookbook. He's going to doctor it up a bit.

He has two green peppers ready to stuff and he's working on chopped green, red peppers, white onion, and chorizo to add to his Mexican rice.

Mr. Hawthorne fried up his chorizo in a little olive oil.

Add in the chopped onion and peppers.

Add in the Mexican rice.

Heat through over low heat, stirring.

A little Jalapeno Mexican Hot Sauce ...

... couldn't hurt this at all. Mr. Hawthorne is ready to stuff.

Remember he's making parfaits so there's a method here. His bottom layer was refried beans.

Next a Queso Fresco layer.

Rice layer. I didn't show you the next layer on top of the rice. And it's very important to Mr. Hawthorne. After the rice, he put on a thin layer of refried beans ...

... the reason being that he didn't want the next layer of cheese to melt down into the rice. I'd have been perfectly down with that, but this is Mr. Hawthorne's Pepper Parfait.

Top with jappy jalapenos.

Mr. Hawthorne is going to cook his Pepper Parfaits in a bain Marie. Pour water in the baking dish halfway up the side.

After about 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven, I suggested he put a slice of Mozzarella cheese on top and melt that.

Total cook time: about an hour

Pepper Parfait!

I never met a parfait I didn't like.