A Mexican Themed Christmas Buffet

On Christmas Day Rick Podowski invites his friends and relatives to an evening buffet with a theme that reflects one of the cultures of the members of The Hefty Trio.  Over the past three years he has presented buffets with Irish, Italian and Polish themes. So in honor of Leti the theme this year is Mexican.

Since San Jose, California is a mecca for good Mexican food, Rick decided to make this an easy feast by purchasing many of the products.

All events start with lots of libation. He picked some Pinots, a couple of Cabs and some nice Chardonnays. Since the theme is Mexican, he created a margarita bar and of course salsa and chips help people to get started.

Rick went to the farmer's market and purchased the traditional Mexican Christmas dish--tamales.  However, there is a twist. In Oaxaca, a southern Mexican state, they spread the masa on banana leaves and cover  the chicken with mole (chocolate with twenty-seven spices).  For those who want to create their own burrito, the tortillas have been wormed in the steam tray.

Rick purchased pulled chicken from the grocery store and all he needed to do was to heat it in the microwave. He also purchased beef for fajitas and heated the strips in a pan.

Guests have their choice of accompaniments--sour cream, green onions, guacamole, cheese and a salsa.

Refried beans and rice round out the meal.. Rick bought the rice from the store and the beans were from a can.

So that you don't think that Rick is totally lazy, he made the bread pudding. the flan and even though it's not Mexican, he added a little Polish Nut Strudel.  These three desserts can be found in previous blog posts.

Felice Navidad

Be sure to read the five books in The Rick Podowski and The Hefty Trio Series.

Meatballs In Chili Sauce With Woodside Vineyards Kings Mountain Cabernet

This is a great dish to  take to potlucks and  parties. The chef at the Mexican restaurant mentioned in Death In The Science Classroom modified the original recipe from Bon Appetit  Serve this dish with rice. Woodside's Cabernet provides a nice pairing.

Meatballs In Chili Sauce With Woodside Vineyards Kings Mountain Cabernet

Serves 6

4 crustless squares firm white sandwich bread, torn into small pieces

1/3 cup whole milk

1/4 cup finely chopped white onion

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 pound lean ground beef

1 pound lean ground pork

1 cup diced canned tomatoes

2 large eggs

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

4 medium serrano chills, stemmed

2 garlic cloves, unpeeled

4 14 1/2-ounce cans diced tomatoes in juice

I 1/4 cup oil

1 cup water

1 teaspoon salt

For Meatballs: Combine bread, milk, onion, garlic, salt, oregano, and pepper in large bowl. Mash with fork until thick paste forms. Mix in beef, pork, tomatoes, eggs, and mint (mixture will be soft). Using 1/4 cupful for each, form mixture into 2- inch balls. Place on baking sheet; chill while making sauce.

For Sauce: Line heavy small skillet with foil; add chili
and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat until skins begin to blister and blacken, turning frequently, about 15 minutes. Cool garlic then peel. Working in batches puree tomatoes with juice, chills, and garlic in blender almost smooth.

Rick didn't have any fresh garlic so he added crushed garlic to the sauce

Heat oil in heavy large wide pot over medium-high heat. Add tomato puree, 1cup water, and bring to boil. Carefully add meatballs; bring to simmer. Reduce cover, and simmer until meatballs are cooked through, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Uncover and boil gently until liquid is reduced to sauce consistency stirring occasionally, about 18 minutes.

Place rice in a bowl under the meatballs, and top with sauce.

Woodside Vineyards

Woodside Vineyards, the grapes from which are farmed from twenty-four sites within the Woodside Township, some of them over a century old, is the oldest winery in San Mateo County, California. Some of the Cabernet wines come from the legendary La Questa vines, planted by E.H. Rixford in 1884. This winery has been credited with being one of the first to pioneer the "boutique winery" movement in California

The founder, Bob Mullen began producing wine from a little more than one acre of grapes at Woodside Vineyards in 1960. Bob and full-time winemaker, Brian Caselden, produce nearly 3,000 cases a year, specializing in Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, and Cabernet Sauvignon wines, along with other special small lots including sparkling wine and port.

In 2009, Louis (Buff) Giurlani and his partner Dick Burns purchased a 70% interest in Woodside Vineyards and the winery has moved to Menlo Park. They conceived the idea of starting a place for both fine automobiles and wines and created AutoVino. One of the many attractions of the new location is the window wall where patrons can see the wines barrels from the floor of the auto showroom.

Polish Strudel Redux

It's the holidays and time for Rick Podowski to make his famous Polish Nut Strudel

The recipe is found in Murder Before The Bell  

In Murder Before the Bell, Rick Podowski and the Hefty Trio fight to save their friend accused of murdering the school principal. The story begins when Rick arrives at Central High School and sees the administration building engulfed in flames. Later, the police discover the charred body of the principal and as the police start to gather evidence to frame the acting principal, Rick and the Hefty Trio start their own inquiry.

They discover that their friend and the principal are both involved in illegal activities with a South Vietnamese Colonel who runs a language school on the campus every Sunday. The community loves the Colonel and is unaware that he owns a house of prostitution in the neighborhood and employs a local Mexican gang for security. A rival gang wants part of the action and the excitement begins.

 Chapter 5                                                                                                               

 Holidays were closely associated with food for Rick.  Starting on December tenth, he would prepare his famous Polish nut strudel for his special friends, as well as serving it to all of his students on the day before Christmas vacation.  Within a week, he reflected now, his freezer would be filled with this delight.  Each night he would knead the flour, margarine, yeast, sugar, eggs, milk, and vinegar into a ball and then place it in the refrigerator.  The next evening, he would prepare the stuffing of ground walnuts, egg whites, sugar, and lemon.  Then rolling the dough very thin, he covered it with the stuffing, rolled it up, and baked it in the oven for forty minutes.  While the strudel was cooking, Rick would prepare another batch of dough. Over the course of ten days, he would make fifty rolls and for as many nights the sweet smell of the strudel baking permeated his apartment.  The highlight of the year was the tasting of the first piece of golden brown strudel hot from the oven.  The flaky dough with a slightly sweet taste from the walnut stuffing burst with flavor in the mouth.  Taken with a cup of coffee or with any late harvest wine this was the perfect snack.   
                                                               
Sometimes around Christmas, he actually went to a Polish delicatessen in a small town near San Jose just to watch the old grandmothers scurry around and argue in Polish.  Those were the times when he longed to be back in his grandmother’s house in Chicago on Christmas Eve where the smell of the ethnic food, and the old language permeated the air.

Roll out the dough

Rick's Famous Polish Nut Strudel                                                     

Rick makes fifty small rolls for all of his students and friends at Christmastime.  People love it because it is not too sweet.

Serves 20 (10 small rolls)

5 cups flour

8 tablespoons sugar

1 pound margarine

4 egg yolks

1 cup milk

2 packages of dry yeast

1 tablespoon vinegar

Stuffing

4 egg whites

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 pound walnuts, ground

Spread

1 egg white

In a food processor, make the dough in two batches, using ½ the ingredients for each batch.  Combine the flour with the sugar; slice the mar­garine or add it in tablespoons.  Add the egg yolks.  Put the yeast in a 1/2 cup of warm milk and add it to the processor.  Add the vinegar.  Process until a ball forms.  Put the ball into a large bowl.  Complete the second batch, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

The Egg Whites and Nut Stuffing

Beat the egg whites till stiff; add the sugar by spoonfuls, beating constantly.  Add lemon juice, beat 1 minute more.  Add the walnuts and mix slightly.

The dough with the stuffing spread on top

Brush the rolls with egg whites

Place on a buttered cookie sheet seam down.  Spread with egg white.  Bake in a moderate 375-degree F. oven for 40 minutes (350-degrees for non-stick pans.  Check at thirty minutes.  Rick cuts the finished rolls in half and stores them in his freezer.

Loyalty

This blog is usually about food and wine pairings from the five books in the Rick Podowski and The Hefty Trio amateur detective series. However this week we are going to do something different and talk about the theme of The Fishy Chips which is loyalty.  As of this moment the National Guard and police forces have been mobilized in Ferguson Mo, the two major political parties are locked in an epic battle and the recent election saw the lowest voter turnout since WWII.  As citizens of this great country we have to determine where to place our loyalty. Below is the note to the reader from  The Fishy Chips.

 "Loyalty cannot be blueprinted. It cannot be produced on an assembly line. In fact, it cannot be manufactured at all, for its origin is the human heart-the center of self-respect and human dignity. It is a force which leaps into being only when conditions are exactly right for it-and it is a force very sensitive to betrayal." ... Maurice R. Franks

Dear Reader,

Today the definition of loyalty is in the process of evolving. My father, the first person in his neighborhood to sign up for the Marine Corps at the time of World War II had no doubt that the war was being fought for reasons that no American patriot could afford to ignore. He returned, having suffered a broken back at Guadalcanal, with the scars left from bullet shots in his shoulder and even though he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and terrible pain, never doubted that he had been right to serve his country. His bonds to the men who served so loyally with him lasted until his death. Some fifty years later his tombstone was engraved with his Marine Corps rank.

I enlisted in the military during the Vietnam War and even though I didn't have to go to Vietnam, I was plagued by questions of what constituted loyalty to the country that I unquestionably loved. During my four years in the Air Force, I met many people who had been wounded in the war or had friends that paid the ultimate sacrifice. Several times I went to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, and each time I walked along the beautiful black marble wall, inscribed with the names of those who died, I asked myself why I had survived. In some bizarre way, it didn't seem fair. After leaving the military, I changed. I entered into endless discussions with a loyal friend, and the larger picture became clear, compelling me to participate in many peace marches.

My brother, who worked in an ammunition factory, had a very different view of the situation. He would stand in silent protest on a street corner with an artillery shell in his arms as the Vietnam anti-war protesters marched down the street.

The Vietnam War marked the point at which our definition of loyalty changed. Now, we ask whether we owe loyalty to our country even if our leaders lie to us. Is it disloyal to question their actions? Do we have a higher duty of loyalty to humanity? As the conflict within our government and  in the Middle East continues, these questions are being asked anew. It is with this in mind that I have written this novel.

"Conflicting Loyalties: An Excerpt from The Fishy Chips." was a winning entry in the 17th Annual Mendocino Coast Writer's Contest, Summer 2006. It was published in the Todd Point Review.