Rosie's Ersatz Mexican.

After the success of my Pork and Tortilla Moreover, Youngest Hawthorne wanted another one for his next meal. Sorry, little dude, but Mama is out of pork. "You really should keep some extra pork in the freezer, Mama." Bad Rosie. She ran out of frozen pork. Sorry, but pork hasn't been on sale lately. We haven't even bought bacon because of the inflated prices. Sad sign of the times when you can't get reasonably-priced pig. I told Youngest Hawthorne not to worry. I'll fix something edible. Let's see ... What's in the fridge/freezer?

Frozen hamburger and chorizo sausage. Have you ever looked at the ingredients list on chorizo?It's got some good parts in it. Hmmm ... I wonder if they would eat it if they knew what was in it? Some people can be funny about that.

I put about 1/2 cup of the sausage in the skillet and one large, thin, hamburger patty.

Cook over medium high heat, breaking up the meat with a spatula.

When the meat is browned, tilt the pan and soak up the fat with a paper towel. That chorizo has a lot of fat.

This is one of those miniature peppers that look kinda like jalapenoes but aren't. They're sweet. I saved the seeds from the batches of peppers I got in January at the grocery store and now my garden is full of these in an array of colors - green, yellow, orange, red.

Chop onion and pepper.

Add some shakes of oregano. Some salt and pepper. Taste test.

Add in pepper and onion and cook about a minute, stirring. Set aside.

Fry up a tortilla.

Adorn tortilla with pig cheeks, savilary glands, and lymph nodes, and some cow, then give it some happy salsa verde and salsa roja and creme fraiche.

This one got another thumbs up. I''d give it a whoot and a hip-check.

Rosie Makes Her Corn Bean Tortilla Pie.

I've blogged about this particular dish several times before, but I'm doing it again in time for any Fourth of July parties you may be going to. If you ever need a special dish to bring to a party or picnic, this is it. I take this every year to our neighborhood Labor Day pig-pickin' and it's always the first dish to go. Trust Rosie on this.

Rosie's mise en place:
flour tortillas
can of corn
1 cup dried black beans, cooked
green, yellow, orange, and red peppers (2 TB chopped each)
1 small onion (1/2 cup chopped)
 scallions
 black olives
2 heaping cups cheddar cheese
 2 heaping cups Mozzarella cheese
 2 heaping cups Monterey Jack cheese

First, make the filling that goes between the tortillas.

Mix 1 can corn with the cooked beans. I do not use canned beans and don't recommend using them. If one absolutely must, be sure to rinse all the slime off the canned beans first. And even then, they still have a metallic patina that looks like an oil spill. No. No. No! I simply won't allow you to use canned beans. Do it my way or not at all. Back to dried beans. Beans take about 35-40 minutes to cook. They're cheap. There's no excuse not to use real beans. Don't bother with the instructions on the packages that tell you to soak the beans overnight. That's totally unnecessary. Listen to Rosie. All I do is rinse the beans first, then add them to salted boiling water and simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes. Drain the beans, rinse well, and refresh the water in the pan. Add salt, bring to boil, add beans. Reduce to simmer and cook until tender. Taste test. I like my beans al dente not mushy, so 15 - 20 more minutes is usually right for my tastes.

Next, prepare the onions and peppers. I used 1 small onion which is about 1/2 cup chopped.

The pepper wedges yielded about 2 tablespoons when chopped. This is one of those dishes where there really is no exact "recipe." You can add pretty much what you want and tailor the ratios to your own tastes.

One thing I love about this dish is the colors.

Mix well.

Pretty! Pretty! : )

I grated my cheese - about 2 heaping cups each of Mozzarella, cheddar, and Montery Jack. What I recommend is to go ahead and grate plenty of cheese. You don't want to run out at the end when you're layering the tortillas and have to stop and grate more. Have it ready. The cheese is the glue holding the whole thing together and when you started building the layers, the cheese is an important structural element. I use extra cheese around the edges to keep the layers even. If you don't build up the edges, you'll end up with a domed-shaped construction after baking. Start assembly.

First layer. Sprinkle assorted cheeses over the tortilla. Add corn/bean mixture evenly. Add extra cheese around perimeter so the next tortilla will lie flat.

Second layer.

I keep layering until I run out of corn/bean.

I ended up with six tortilla layers.

Melt a couple tablespoons butter and brush tops and sides.

Be sure to brush the edges of the tortillas with butter.

I topped the tortilla pie with a sprinkling of corn, beans, cheeses, chopped scallions, and sliced black olives. I dusted the edges with cumin and cayenne powder.

Ready for baking. Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 - 45 minutes. Check near the end in case you need to tent the pie.

Let sit at least ten minutes before slicing.

This is one of my favorite dishes.

I like to serve mine with homemade salsa and creme fraiche. For the salsa, just peel, seed, and juice however many tomatoes you want. Add in some chopped onion and minced jalapeno. A few teaspoons of sugar and cider vinegar. A sprinkling of cilantro. Freshly ground salt and pepper. If you've never made creme fraiche, then you owe it to yourself to do so. Get a cup of heavy cream. Add a tablespoon each of buttermilk and lime juice. Stir with an up and down motion 4-5 times. Cover and let sit at room temperature overnight. Next day, stir, cover, and refrigerate. Use as you would sour cream.

I like to add in a few sprigs of cilantro and a few fresh coriander seeds from my cilantro plants in the creme fraiche. Bon appetit, indeed!

Mr. Hawthorne Comments On Rosie's Photography.

Mr. Hawthorne is probably my toughest critic. Outside of myself. Or Mama Hawthorne. This was my entry for Dessert Wars' January Contest.

The theme was Nutella. I made a Molten Nutella Truffle Chocolate Lava Cake with a spread of thinly sliced strawberries, a sprinkling of powdered sugar, a toasting of chopped hazelnuts, and random drizzlings and poolings of Creme Anglaise and Sweet Vanilla Creme Fraiche. Mr. Hawthorne told me my Dessert Wars entry was "Too complicated to look at." Apparently, it was not too complicated to eat. Le sigh. Next, Mr. Hawthorne's criticism of my April photograph for the Outer Banks Voice: "That looks like a plate at a cafeteria. Except you don't have the different compartments."

This is my April entry for Dessert Wars - Vanilla Harmony Quartet: Vanilla Biscotti dipped in vanilla/chocolate sauce Vanilla Pots de Creme Vanilla Meringues Vanilla/Butter/Rum Sauce. And here's Mr. Hawthorne's comment: "Strawberry chicken carcass." YES. I see it. Crap on a cracker! I liked the asparagus cross on my Easter picture, what with all the symbolism I was talking about. Did no one notice the asparagus cross? ETA @ 9:47 PM: Thanks, Mar, for noticing.

Rosie Makes Burritos For The Hawthorne Chilluns.

One of my go-to meals for the Hawthorne Chilluns is burritos. Everybody loves Rosie's burritos.

And why wouldn't they love this? A quick homemade salsa on the side.

Ingredients for my burritos: Little over a pound of hamburger meat onion red pepper Lea & Perrins worcestershire sauce Tamari soy sauce Cumin Onion powder Granulated garlic Salt & pepper Pepper Jack cheese Cheddar cheese Tortillas

A pound plus of hamburger meat went into my skillet on medium high. Brown it, separating the meat. After it renders the fat, po' it it into the dawg bowls wif de kibble.

Whistle fer de dawgs.

Dey be comin'. Yeah, JuneBug. I'd definitely be sniffin' on Dixie's bowl rather than Beau's, you smart doggie you.

Dey happy now.

Doggies love burrito joos.

I love this picture.

Chop up some onion and pepper.

Into the browned meat. Cook maybe a minute.

Season with salt and pepper.

About a half teaspoon of granulated garlic.

Some onion powder.

A teaspoon or two of cumin.

About a tablespoon each Lea & Perrins and soy sauce. It's very important to taste as you go along. Add in flavors as you go. Season, taste, and adjust. You know - cook.

And this needed another poof of cumin.

I grated pepper jack and cheddar cheeses.

And assemble. Add in a little meat mixture.

Some jack cheese on the inside.

Roll up and top with cheddar cheese. These go into a 350 degree oven until the cheese is melted and slightly browned - about 7 minutes or enough time to make a quick salsa.

Ingredients for salsa - tomato, peeled, seeded, and juiced jalapeno to taste onion sugar cider vinegar s & p

Peel and slice the tomatoes.

Then use your fingers to juice and seed them. Just stick your fingers in the pockets and squeeze. The juice and seeds come right out. Slice on the right has been seeded. Left one hasn't.

Add some chopped jalapeno. I used canned since the ones in my garden aren't quite big enough yet.

A little sugar.

Splash of cider vinegar.

Salt and pepper. Mix. Taste. Adjust if necessary.

This is light, fresh, just the right heat, perfect.

And plate.

After I finished shooting pictures of the burrito I plated, I looked at Youngest Hawthorne's plate.

He got quite creative with his.

Two boys. Six burritos. No leftovers.

This is a very versatile recipe. You could easily substitute chicken or turkey meat for these burritos. Use the same seasonings. There are lots of additions you could use depending on your tastes. You could add black olives if you like. Perhaps some black beans. Some rice mixed with a can of RoTel tomatoes with chiles. Corn would be very nice as would tomatoes. A sprinkling of scallions over top with a multi-colored pepper confetti would be very pretty. Maybe cilantro to brighten it up. Or parsley if you're not partial to cilantro. I would not be averse to a bit of lime zest in my sour cream, or better yet, make your own creme fraiche. There are no hard and fast rules. Just cook!