Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2 (15 page)

1 peeled mango, seeded and
diced (about 2 cups)
¼ cup minced white onion
2 tablespoons minced red bell
pepper
1 teaspoon minced fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
½ teaspoon finely minced
habanero pepper
⅛ teaspoon salt

one 16-ounce box Velveeta, diced
¾ cup whole milk
1 green Anaheim pepper, seeded
and diced (about ½ cup)
¼ cup diced white onion
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and
diced
2 teaspoons minced cilantro
juice of 1 lime
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
(freshly ground is best)
pinch of salt
pinch of dried thyme
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and
diced (about cup)

GARNISH

¼ cup ranchero cheese, crumbled
tortilla chips for dipping

1. Combine Velveeta and milk in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat. Stir often as cheese melts. Be careful not to burn it.

2. When cheese is melted add all remaining ingredients except the tomatoes. Continue to cook over medium/low heat for 7 minutes, stirring often to prevent burning. Stir in tomatoes and remove the queso from the heat.

3. Pour queso into a serving dish, top with crumbled ranchero cheese and serve with tortilla chips for dipping.

6 to 7 cups water
4 medium/large russet potatoes
6 cloves garlic
6 tablespoons butter (¾ stick)
½ cup heavy cream
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

1. Peel potatoes, but leave some skin on. Slice the potatoes into quarters.

2. Boil the potatoes and garlic for 30 minutes in the water in a large saucepan or pot. Make sure the water completely covers the potatoes. When potatoes are tender drain them. Don’t lose the garlic—keep it with the potatoes.

3. Pour potatoes and garlic back into the pan. Commence with the thorough mashing. Mashing is fun. Stir in butter, cream, salt and pepper and reheat over medium/low heat until hot.

4 cups frozen corn, thawed
⅓ cup butter, softened (
⅔ stick)
½ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup milk
½ cup masa harina
½ cup corn meal
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Cream softened butter together with sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add milk and masa and mix well.

3. Use a blender or food processor to puree 2 cups of corn until smooth. Add pureed corn to butter/masa mixture and mix well. Add corn meal, baking powder, salt, and remaining corn and mix until combined.

4. Pour mixture into an ungreased 8x8-inch baking pan. Cover with foil and place it into a 9x 13-inch baking pan. Add hot water to the larger baking pan until it’s about ⅓ full. Bake for I ½ to 2 hours or until corn cake is firm in the center. Let it sit covered for 10 minutes before serving. To serve, scoop out ½ cup portions with a large spoon.

2½ cups granulated sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ cup hot water
3 cups whole milk
4 eggs
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

2. Combine cinnamon with 2 cups granulated sugar in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat. When sugar begins to melt, stir often until all sugar has dissolved and solution is light brown. Add water to pan and stir until smooth. Pour about ¼ cup sugar solution into each of six 6-ounce ramekins (custard cups). Swirl the sugar around the inside edge of each of the ramekins. Arrange the ramekins in a 9x 13-inch baking pan.

3. Heat milk in another medium saucepan over medium heat until it starts to bubble.

4. As milk heats up whisk together eggs, egg yolks, vanilla and remaining ½ cup sugar in a large bowl. Mix until sugar has dissolved.

5. When milk starts to bubble remove it from the heat. Carefully pour about ¼ cup of hot milk into the egg mixture while stirring. This will temper the eggs so they don’t cook while adding the rest of the hot milk. Slowly add the remaining milk while mixing.

6. Fill the ramekins to the top with the custard mixture. Remove any foam from the top of each ramekin. Add water to the pan so that it goes halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Place a piece of parchment paper over the ramekins and bake for 75 to 90 minutes or until custard is firm and a knife inserted into the middle of the custard comes out clean.

7. Cool flan and cover each one with plastic wrap. Chill thoroughly before serving. To serve, simply cut around the inside edge of the ramekin with a knife, then turn the flan over onto a plate. The golden, caramelized sugar will spill down over the edges of the flan. Forget about the leftover hardened sugar that stays inside the ramekin. Let the dishwasher deal with it.