Spilling the Beans

At our house we eat all kinds of beans, and we have them often, not just with TexMex. When asked what was for dinner, Dad used to say; "A thousand things, and we call them all beans!" Mom had a secret for resolving the problem with beans. You know what I'm talking about. After soaking the beans, she would cut up a raw potato and add it to the pot before cooking the beans. It really works!

WARNING! Throw the potato in the compost, don’t eat it! I repeat, DON'T EAT THE POTATO!

Beef Enchilada Casserole

This dish was not on my pop-up restaurant menu, but since we’re on the topic of TexMex I thought I’d throw it in. It’s the same principal as the chicken variety, but I use corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas and the sauce is totally different. It’s also gluten free! If I have a crowd over for Mexican food, I make chicken and beef enchilada casserole so that anyone who might be gluten intolerant can eat something besides beans and rice. 

Beef Enchilada Casserole

1 pound (450 g) ground beef

1 onion

1 bell pepper

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

2 ounces tomato paste

3 tablespoons cornstarch

12 corn tortillas

½ pound (250 g) grated cheese (gouda or cheddar)

Chop the onion and bell pepper and sauté in a skillet in a few tablespoons of olive oil. Add ground beef to the skillet and cook. Mix in seasonings and tomato paste. Dissolve the cornstarch in 2 cups water and pour over meat. Grease a 9x13-inch (22x32 cm) casserole dish. Layer twice, with torn up tortillas, ground beef mixture and cheese. Bake at 325° F (160° C) for 40 minutes.

Lasagne mexicaine à la viande hachée
500 g de viande hachée
1 oignon
1 poivron
2cuillères à soupe de poudre de chili 
1 cuillère à café de sel 
¼ cuillère à café de poudre d’ail
60 g de concentré de tomate
3 cuillères à soupe de maïzena
12 tortillas au maïs
250 g de fromage râpé (gouda ou cheddar)

Hacher l’oignon et le poivron et faire revenir dans une poêle. Ajouter la viande hachée à la poêle. Quand la viande est cuite, ajouter l’assaisonnement et le concentré de tomate. Dissoudre la maïzena dans 5 dl d’eau et verser dans la poêle. Porter à ébullition et cuire jusqu’à ce que le mélange commence à épaissir. Bien graisser un plat de 22x32 cm. Placer la moitié des tortillas déchirées en morceaux au fond du plat, recouvrir de la moitié du mélange de viande hachée, puis la moitié du fromage râpé. Répéter avec le reste des ingrédients. Cuire 40 minutes à 160° C.

This is so easy compared to regular enchiladas. I’ve made it at camp for 180 people. I can’t imagine making that many regular enchiladas. It’s very tasty too! I’ve seen people turn their noses up at the idea of enchilada casserole, then ask for the recipe after trying it. There’s not a good way of saying casserole in French, so I just called it “Enchiladas de Poulet, Chez Stéphanie” on the Restaurant Day menu.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

1 pound (500 g) chicken

1 onion

1 bell pepper

2 cups (5 dl) of milk

1 package (75 g) mushroom soup mix

2 tablespoons chili powder

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

12 medium flour tortillas

½ pound (250 g) grated cheese (gouda or cheddar)

Chop the onion and bell pepper and sauté in a skillet in a few tablespoons of olive oil. Cut chicken in small pieces and add to the skillet. When the chicken is done, mix the milk, mushroom soup mix, chili powder and garlic powder then pour into the skillet. Bring to a boil and cook until mixture begins to thicken. Grease a 9x13-inch (22x32 cm) casserole dish. Layer twice, with torn up tortillas, chicken mixture and cheese. Bake at 325° F (160° C) for 40 minutes.

Lasagnes mexicaines au poulet
500 g de blanc de poulet
1 oignon
1 poivron
5 dl de lait
1 sachet de soupe aux champignons
2 cuillères à soupe de poudre de chili
12 tortillas à al farine moyennes
250 g de fromage râpé (gouda ou cheddar)

Hacher l’oignon et le poivron et faire revenir dans une poêle. Couper le poulet en petits morceaux et ajouter à la poêle. Quand le poulet est cuit, mélanger la soupe aux champignons et la poudre de chili dans le lait et ajouter à la poêle. Porter à ébullition et cuire jusqu’à ce que le mélange commence à épaissir. Bien graisser un plat de 22x32 cm. Placer la moitié des tortillas déchirées en morceaux au fond du plat, recouvrir de la moitié du mélange poulet-sauce, puis la moitié du fromage râpé. Répéter avec le reste des ingrédients. Cuire 40 minutes à 160° C.

Burritos

I can still remember eating my first burrito during freshman orientation at Abilene Christian University. A group of us went to Taco Bueno and I ordered a burrito supreme. I think I was able to eat about half of it. I didn’t know anything could be so filling! My waiters on Restaurant Day told me most of the customers who ordered burritos couldn’t finish theirs either. When I serve them at home, I go ahead and make burritos with any leftover ingredients (without the fresh veggies) and freeze them. When Brady needs a lunch at the office, he grabs a burrito from the freezer. It thaws by noon and all he has to do is microwave and enjoy. It's surprising he still likes burritos so much because when we were first married and had a tight budget, we ate bean burritos every day for lunch!

Burritos

On a large flour tortilla, spread along the center:

1/3 cup refried beans

1/3 cup taco seasoned ground beef

1 oz (30 g) grated cheese

¼ cup diced tomatoes

¼ cup diced avocado

2 tablespoons salsa

Fold over the ends of the tortilla, then the sides.

Burritos

Etaler le long du centre d'une grande tortilla à la farine:

1 petite louche de purée de haricots rouges

1 petite louche de viande hachée assaisonnée à la mexicaine

30 g de fromage râpé

1/2 petite louche de tomates coupées en dés

1/2 petite louche d'avocat coupées en dés

2 cuillères à soupe de salsa

Replier les bouts de la tortilla, puis les côtés.

Taco Salad

I enjoy a good taco, but I don’t like frying. The nice thing about taco salad is that it’s not as messy or greasy as tacos. I usually set up a salad bar when I serve taco salad, that way everyone can choose the ingredients they like and the chips don’t get soggy. We didn’t have the setup for a salad bar on Restaurant Day, so we assembled each salad according to order in the kitchen.

My recipes have American measures and European measures so nobody has to worry with conversions. When quantities don't necessarily have to be precise, I usually round off. 500 g looks so much nicer than 453 g.

Taco Salad Bar (serves 5-6)

10 oz (300 g) corn chips

1 head of iceberg lettuce, chopped

2 tomatoes, diced

1 pound (500 g) taco seasoned ground beef

2 cups cooked kidney beans

7 oz (200 g) grated cheese

1 avocado, diced

1 10-oz (300g) can corn

black olives

salsa

sour cream

salad dressing

Buffet de salade mexicaine (5-6 portions)

300 g de chips au maïs

1 salade iceberg coupée en petits morceaux

2 tomates coupées en dé

500 g de viande hachée assaisonnée à la mexicaine

300 g de haricots rouges cuits

200 g fromage râpé

1 avocat coupé en dés

300 g de maïs

olives noires

salsa

séré

sauce à salade

Guacamole

The first item on my pop-up restaurant menu was guacamole. I can’t resist a good bargain, so when avocados went on sale for half price a week before Restaurant Day, I bought four dozen; trusting they wouldn’t go bad before I could use them (I had meant to buy three dozen, but I didn’t count how many avocados were in a box – 16, not 12!). It’s a good thing you can freeze guacamole. I’ll have you know two dozen avocados make 9 pounds of guacamole! 

The rest of the ripe avocados kept nicely all week in the fridge. To make sure they weren’t spoiling, every day I ate a whole one.

Guacamole

2 ripe avocados

2 teaspoon lime juice

½ teaspoon salt

1 pinch garlic powder

3 tablespoons salsa (optional)

Mash the avocados and mix in the remaining ingredients.

Guacamole

2 avocats bien mûrs

2 cuillères à café de jus de citron vert

½ cuillères à café de sel

1 pincée de poudre d'ail

3 cuillères à soupe de salsa (facultatif)

 Ecraser les avocats et ajouter les autres ingrédients.

Restaurant Day, August 17, 2014

I woke up Sunday as nervous as the morning of my first marathon! Once I started cooking my nerves settled. I still had to assemble the chicken enchilada casserole, purée half of the beans, and cook the rice. My husband Brady, my son Justin and his wife Martina set up the tables outside and decorated.

Catherine, my childhood friend, arrived and we began chopping vegetables for the taco salad. I got a few more reservation calls, but we were fully booked (probably at least in part because of this article in the local newspaper) and I had to turn them down. Two people from the organizer, Lausanne à Table, dropped by to see how things were going and to wish us luck. At noon, our first 20 customers arrived all at once and we really had to scramble to get the orders straight. It was Brady and Justin’s first time to wait tables, and my first time to process orders in the kitchen. I won’t say that by the time the second wave of customers ordered we had things down pat, but things were going much more smoothly. None of us had a chance to snap more photos though, and I didn't have time to talk to the two journalists who sampled the burritos. They did post this video with Chez Stéphanie appearing briefly 35 seconds into the clip.

Everyone (helpers and customers!) said they were willing to sign on for next year’s Restaurant Day. One thing’s for sure, I have a new appreciation for restaurateurs!

Coming up next, Tex-Mex recipes!

Restaurant Day, Behind the Scenes

Sunday August 17^th was Restaurant Day, with over 2000 pop-up restaurants opened in 30 countries. The city of Lausanne promoted the event by giving one-day licenses to anyone with a feasible restaurant proposal. I started preparing months in advance. First I had to choose what kind of cuisine to offer. My family suggested Tex-Mex, so that part was easy. Next, I had to submit a proposal; including the name of my pop-up restaurant, opening hours, number of patrons, reservation procedure, menu and prices. Of course, that involved lots of calculating: how many can we seat if the weather is nice, how many if it rains and we have to move inside; how much food to buy; how much to charge (my experience planning menus and ordering food for camp came in handy with all that).

After my proposal was accepted, I was sent pages and pages of reading concerning fire codes, hygiene standards, and all sorts of laws related to the restaurant industry.

Then I started making lists; a grocery list, a supply list, a list of decoration items, and a task list for my helpers and me. Finally, I made a timeline. I got all my shopping done by Friday.

By Saturday I was itching to get on with the actual cooking. Baking first!

Saturday afternoon I chopped veggies and browned the meat.

Everything else would have to wait till the day of.

What's in a Name

When I was in High School, I would bring cakes to class to celebrate classmates’ birthdays. I also baked hundreds of cupcakes for the school’s Christmas bazaar run by Mademoiselle J., our homeroom teacher. Mademoiselle J. had a vision for my future; I would open a Tea Room, pink would be the prevailing color and the waitresses would wear long dresses with poofy sleeves (it was, after all, the ‘70s). Of course Mademoiselle J. had a name picked out for the Tea Room; you guessed it, Chez Stéphanie! Mademoiselle J. must have still had that in mind when she sent me a wedding present years later; an apron and a serving tray that I still have today.

Wedding gift from Mademoiselle J.

Something to Say

I posted on my running blog regularly for 3 years, then about every ten days for two more years, and finally off and on for another year. It was fun while the ideas flowed, but when I began to rack my brain to come up with original topics, I knew it was time to quit. As my Dad used to say, “If you don’t have anything to say, you don’t have to say anything.” 

I do have something to say about cooking, so I’m launching Chez Stéphanie that will deal with all things cooking related. And, who knows, maybe from time to time I’ll find a connection to running too!