Right now, I’m overrun with winter squash – butternut, acorn, some giant weird looking blue squash… partly from a friend’s garden bounty. And I love Thai coconut soup. So I made a mild variation here with just a few ingredients, and it turned out to be a classic. I’ll be using this soup base and experimenting with all kinds of different vegetables – like sweet potatoes, cabbage, peas, beans, etc.
I used hot green chiles here, but I’m sure I’ll also be making it with mild; I would use 1/2 cup of mild chiles instead of 1/4 cup of hot. This soup is also good without chiles if you want it without any heat or that special chile flavor.
Easy Spicy Eggplant Dip, also called Mutabbal, is a Middle Eastern dish similar to baba ganoush but with yoghurt. This version has chiles added for extra spiciness.
I fell in love with baba ganoush several decades ago when I lived in Los Angeles. My absolute favorite restaurant was a Middle Eastern take-out place named Zankou Chicken. It served amazing rotisserie chickens with a tub of killer garlic spread, a bunch of spicy strange radish things, all the pita bread you want, and a tub of fabulous baba ganoush. Zankou Chicken is still there with maybe a dozen locations, and when I just went to their website, I discovered that what I’d been so crazy about was not exactly baba ganoush, but mutabbal. All these years I’ve been calling it baba ganoush because you never find mutabbal on a Middle Eastern menu here in Denver …. but you do find baba ganoush.
So what’s the difference between them? Of course, in different countries there are variations on both, but the simplest explanation is that mutabbal has yoghurt in it and baba ganoush does not. Otherwise they are the same. Yes, I’ve been researching this. It’s important to me; if you take me to a Middle Eastern restaurant, you can bet that I’ll order the baba ganoush. Every time.
Do you like hummus? Here’s another interesting tidbit – fundamentally, hummus and baba ganoush are the same except that hummus is made with garbanzo beans and baba ganoush is made with roasted eggplant. The rest of the ingredients are the same.
I’ve published recipes using Bush’s Hummus Made Easy before. Dump a packet in a food processor with a can of garbanzo beans and you get instant spectacular hummus. I’ll never make hummus from scratch again. So … I saw the obvious – a way to make spectacular instant baba ganoush and instant mutabbal. Add green chiles and you get spicy baba ganoush and spicy mutabbal. I will make the many, many times.
I used hot green chiles for this. A warning: as the mutabbal sits, the flavors blend and it gets spicier. So go a little light on the hot chiles. This is also great with mild or medium.
I hope you love this as much as I do. Sometimes I don’t bother with the pita, I just eat the mutabbal straight.
Chipotle powder or Smoked Paprika to sprinkle on top for garnish
pita bread or naan for dipping
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Peel eggplant and slice into about ½-inch thick rounds. Lightly brush or spray both sides with olive oil and place on a large baking dish or cookie sheet. (See notes.)
Roast for 30 minutes or until soft, getting mushy.
Dump eggplant with remaining ingredients into a food processor and process to desired consistency.
Put in a serving bowl, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
To serve, drizzle with a bit of olive oil (if desired) and sprinkle with chipotle powder or smoked paprika
Serve with pita bread, bread of your choice, or chips.
Notes
* This works fine without putting olive oil on the eggplant before roasting; I just prefer the consistency when I use olive oil. What I do is take a plastic bag, dump the peeled eggplant slices in, pour the olive oil in, and shake the bag to coat the eggplant. Then put eggplant on the baking dish and roast. ** If you don't have liquid smoke, this would also be good with about ¼ tsp chipotle or smoked paprika. *** This dish is traditionally served with the olive oil drizzled on top. Personally, I usually prefer it without.
Garlic Chile Soup is an easy flavorful soup poured over homemade sourdough garlic croutons, giving a thick almost stew with a mild chile-garlic flavor. Very popular, add chicken to make it a meal.
This is a bit unusual in that you take the inside of the bread bowl, tear it up into big chunks, toss it with garlic oil and then toast it in the oven – then pour the rather simple chicken broth with green chiles and egg drop threads over your homemade croutons. The result? A rather thick, satisfying sort of stew. It doesn’t taste overly garlicy or spicy with chiles and you may not realize that there is actually bread in the soup as the bread absorbs the liquid and just blends in with the soup broth. This recipe is actually an adaptation of the Garlic Soup recipe from Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken published in Cantina.
This doesn’t have to be made in a bread bowl; you can just tear up sourdough bread and otherwise make it the same way. But really …. I just love bread bowls, especially sourdough bread bowls.
This recipe also lends itself to variations. After I made this and ate a bread bowl of it myself for dinner, I took a rotisserie chicken and shredded it, then added 1/2 cup shredded chicken to about 1 cup of the soup (without croutons) and then poured it over the croutons in another bread bowl. Then I topped it with about 1/4 cup of shredded Colby Jack cheese and microwaved it for about 2 minutes. My son loved it. It’s really an ideal dish for a cold snowy day.
4 4-1/2 inch diameter sourdough bread boules (little round loaves) or about 4 cups sourdough bread torn into about 1 inch pieces (if you plan to serve this in regular bowls)
4 tbsp olive oil
8 large garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
½ tsp salt
½ tsp freshly ground pepper
4 14.5 oz cans chicken broth
¾ cup mild green chiles
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp fresh chopped oregano leaves
3 limes (2 squeezed and 1 sliced in wedges for garnish)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium skillet, warm the olive oil over low heat and add the garlic slices. Cook until soft but not yet starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Remove and discard the garlic cloves.
If you are serving the soup in bread bowls, take a knife and cut a cone out of the top of each boule. Then with your fingers, pull chunks of bread out of the inside of each leaving a wall of bread ¼ to ½ inch thick for each bread bowl. Also tear chunks off the inside bread on the cone you cut out. (You will end up with about 5 cups of torn bread and you will probably use only about 4 cups.)
Place the torn bread pieces in a bowl and drizzle the garlic oil over them. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper and toss to thoroughly coat the bread with the oil. Spread the bread evenly into a shallow rectangular baking dish and back for 15 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. Remove and set aside.
In the meantime, pour 1 can of chicken stock into a blender and add the green chiles. Pulse until mostly pureed but with some chunks of green chile remaining. Pour into a soup pot.
Add the remaining 3 cans of chicken broth and heat over medium heat to bring to a simmer.
Gradually pour the eggs in while stirring constantly, and continue stirring until eggs are set - about 3 minutes. Then add the oregano and the juice of 2 limes (about 4 tablespoons).
Place about a cup of the toasted garlic bread pieces in each bowl or bread bowl and pour the soup over them.
Garnish with a wedge of lime and serve. (See notes for variations...)
Notes
*Use as little or as much toasted garlic bread as you wish. If you fill the bowl with bread before pouring the soup over, you will have a thick soup. You can use leftover garlic bread pieces in a salad or as a topping for a casserole.
** Variations: I added ½ cup shredded rotisserie chicken per serving and topped with shredded Colby Jack cheese and microwaved it for 2 minutes. This was a big hit.
Chile Crab Dip – easy, rich, popular version of the classic dip. Great on crackers, bread, chips, or whatever
This is a classic favorite, great for any get together and especially game day parties. I’m taking this to a Christmas Eve family gathering.
I bought the lump crabmeat at Costco. It comes in 1 pound tubs for about $16. Okay, it’s not cheap. I’ve used the imitation crab and it’s just not the same. Of course, anything with this combination of ingredients is going to taste pretty good (and it’s great for the diet), but it’s worth using the real thing. I also used a hot green chile. If you are using a mild chile, taste it before putting it in the baking dish – you may want to add more chiles, perhaps even doubling the amount.
On a diet? Just serve it with celery sticks. That makes it a diet dish, right???
Veggie Green Chile Cream Cheese Spread is basically a copycat recipe for the Philadelphia Veggie Cream Cheese Spread with diced green chiles added. Wonderful on bagels, sandwiches, crackers, or even chips. And so easy to make!
I’m taking this to a Christmas party tonight! This is a favorite for spreading on bagels, though I’m serving it with celery sticks, Ritz crackers, and a sliced sourdough baguette. Very versatile! It’s similar to Philadelphia Garden Vegetable Cream Cheese, the top-rated flavor in our house. Plus it conveniently keeps for about a month.
This is also very easy to make – just finely chop many veggies in a food processor and blend … then store in the fridge for a few hours to let the flavors blend. I used some of the finely diced red and green bell peppers for garnish – fits the holiday spirit, doesn’t it?
Dump all ingredients except the cream cheese into a food processor and pulse till the veggies are about as finely minced as you'd like. Set aside a few tablespoons of this veggie mixture to use for garnish.
Add the cream cheese and salt and pulse to desired consistency.
Transfer into a covered container and store in the fridge for several hours to allow flavors to blend.
Serve with bagels, celery sticks, crackers, chips or whatever you'd like; garnish with the extra minced veggies if you wish.
Green Chile Chutney is an amazing condiment that’s also great as a dip or served on top of baked brie or cream cheese. Serve with bread or crackers for a great appetizer.
This is one of my all-time favorites – and perfect to take to a party. Simple with a sweet-hot exceptional green chile taste. It’s great served on a slab of brie or cream cheese with crackers or slices of a French baguette. Plus it keeps for months.
I’ll be taking this to a party tonight with a block of cream cheese and Ritz crackers. For the holidays, I like to garnish it with cranberries; I just boil them till they’re soft. This takes maybe 10 minutes prep time total, but makes an elegant appetizer ideal for a buffet. In the meantime, I keep eating it straight out of the crock pot. Gotta stop that. This one is just very hard to resist.
So … try it! I’m betting many of you will be adding this to your favorites file.
optional: cream cheese or brie, and crackers or baguette French bread slices
Instructions
Put all ingredients in crock pot & cook on low for 4 hours. Turn crockpot off to let the chutney cool down.
Pack in vacuum sealed jars to give as gifts.
Serving Suggestions:
- Serve as a condiment, a dip with chips or crackers or with cheese as an appetizer.
- For an elegant appetizer, place brie or cream on a serving platter, microwave for 15 seconds, top with the Green Chile Chutney and serve with crackers or baguette slices.
Good Times shared their recipe for green chile with me – an easy, spicy recipe that makes a great green chile sauce for smothering anything – burritos, chicken, fries, tater tots, whatever. Use it inside a burrito or smother it – one of the best green chiles for smothering.
Have you had the Hatch Valley Green Chile Breakfast Burrito at Good Times? How about the Hatch Valley Green Chile French Fries? Both are really, really good. And that “Hatch Valley Green Chile” in both dishes is more than just diced chiles from Hatch – it’s their special recipe for Hatch Valley Green Chile. It’s a smooth orange spicy and very flavorful green chile sauce that’s one of the best I’ve ever had for smothering. I’d pour it on nachos, smother burritos with it, pour it in and on an omelet. How about an eggs benedict made with Hatch Valley Green Chile instead of Hollandaise?
Good Times was generous enough to share their recipe with me. So I’m hoping lots of you will make it yourself and let me know just how you served it. In the photo above, I just served it with tortilla chips. In the photo below, I smothered tater tots with it. Holidays are coming, and this is great for taking to a party.
Thanksgiving was a few days ago, and I’m going crazy with leftover turkey dishes. I’ve been exploring new, interesting dishes that are also easy to prepare and healthy. This one is just perfect. Just a handful of nutritious ingredients, yet it is a bit tangy with just a touch of heat … and lots of flavor.
Flavors are a subtle, balanced combination. It’s a mild curry flavor with just a hint of green chile heat and taste. The buttermilk is what makes it just a bit tangy. And it’s full of vegetables and low in carbs. This recipe will be at the top of my list for leftover turkey. It can be made with either dark or light meat – I used about 2/3 dark and 1/3 light.
I’ve got a bumper crop of squash this year from a friend’s garden, lots of butternut, zucchini, acorn, and a giant blueish-green bumpy thing that is supposed to be really good, but I haven’t tried it yet. Butternut is one of my favorites, and this is an easy, basic, healthy recipe. I’ll be making this again and again.
It’s good with or without chiles – the chiles change the taste and add a bit of heat. I use just mild chiles. This has a delicate flavor and I think hot chiles would be too overpowering. This makes a good side dish in a cup, or sometimes I have it for a light meal.
Pumpkin Hummus – perfect for Halloween or Thanksgiving, and super simple to make. And, yes, it is a nice shade of orange. Awesome flavor and healthy! Add jalapenos or hot chiles to make it really spicy.
This is a perfect dip for any upcoming Broncos games, or Thanksgiving, or any get-together. And, yes, it is a lovely shade of orange. It’s got a fabulous, robust flavor. And you can make it in 5 minutes. Plus, it will keep for over a week. Can’t beat it. I like easy + fabulous.
In the photo above, the hummus is used as a dip with Broncos blue tortilla chips that were made by Safeway last year. They haven’t started making them this year, and may not unless the Broncos at least get in the playoffs. So… if you want the blue and orange for a game day party, you’ll have to use regular old blue tortilla chips. They just aren’t as bright blue as these.
Pumpkin Hummus is also great with crudites. Below I’m serving it on a plate with orange, purple, and green cauliflower. I bought all three at Sprouts. Isn’t it pretty? And I added some red bell pepper. Love red bell pepper, can’t get enough of it.
This recipe is super quick, thanks to Bush’s Hummus Made Easy. It’s a pouch with olive oil, tahini, garlic and spices – basically everything you need except the garbanzo beans. I have a dozen pouches in my pantry and I’m going to make sure I don’t run out. It comes in 3 flavors: Original, Roasted Red Pepper, and Black Bean. Judging by the best by date, it should keep in the pantry for about a year. Lately, I’ve been seeing lots of coupons for it in the Denver Post, usually $1 off of Hummus Made Easy & a can of Bush’s Best beans.
I’ve tried making this with and without chiles. This has such a robust flavor, it doesn’t need the chiles; but if you want heat – the spiciness of chiles, then you want to add jalapenos or hot green chiles. Don’t bother with mild – you’ll have to add a buttload to even detect them. This is a great recipe either way.
I really hope you try this one – and let me know how you like it. Got any other ideas for what to serve it with? Let me know!
Pumpkin Hummis with Crudites is super easy, big time tasty, and good for you! Perfect for fall, it’s a gorgeous orange and goes great with veggies, tortilla chips or pita bread. Plus, you can make it as much as a week in advance.
optional: If you want to add heat, add 1 tsp minced jalapeno or 2 tbsp hot green chiles
Instructions
Drain and rinse a 15 oz can of garbanzo beans.
Dump the pouch of Hummus Made Easy into a food processor with the garbanzo beans and the pumpkin.
Blend the mixture in the food processor until you get the desired consistency, maybe 15-30 seconds. You may need to add a bit of water.
If you want to crank up the spiciness and add some real heat, blend in 1 to 2 tsp minced jalapeno or 2 tbsp hot green chiles. Add a bit at a time to adjust to your desired heat level.
Spoon into a serving bowl and sprinkle with chili powder or paprika. Serve with pita bread, tortilla chips, or veggies.
Enjoy!
Notes
This is normally too thick for a blender, and the blades will tend to spin without circulating the mixture. You can make do with a blender, but you may have to add more liquid and stir frequently to get it to blend.
