Authentic Greek Lamb

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Place many cloves of garlic under the skin/into the meat all around the
leg. Sprinkle lots of oregano, pepper, lots of lemon juice, and a bit of
salt on to the meat. Cover with aluminum foil & bake. The meat should
still be brown/pink when done (Approx 1.5 hrs). I like to uncover the last
1/2 hour to get a crust on the leg.

Tortillas

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2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cups warm water

Mix flour and salt together. Rub shortening into flour with fingertips
until mixture has a fine, even texture. Stir in water until dough forms.
Knead on a floured surface until smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Wrap in
plastic and let rest at room temperature for 20-30 minutes. Knead a few
times and divide into 8 pieces (for 10" tortillas), or 12 pieces (for 8"
tortillas). Roll each into a ball and cover with plastic to keep from
drying out. Roll each ball out on a floured surface, turning over
frequently. Stack between sheets of waxed paper.
Heat an ungreased heavy skillet over medium high heat until "a water
droplet flicked onto it dances in tiny droplets". Place a tortilla
in the pan and cook until the top is bubbly and the bottom is flecked
with brown (about 30 seconds). Turn it over and cook the other side about
20 seconds. If it puffs up during cooking, just flatten it back down with
the spatula. Cook the rest the same way. Tortillas can be refrigerated
up to 3 days or frozen up to two weeks. Reheat before using.

Tamale Pie

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Ingredients (for approximately 10 servings, if not more)

-2 lbs ground beef (don't use the leanest stuff, the fat gives flavor, and is
poured out after cooking anyway)

-2 approx. 16 oz. cans corn
-2 approximately 26 oz. cans diced totatoes
-1 ripe green bell pepper
-3 beef tamales (XLNT brand are recommended if available)
-1/4 lb. cheddar cheese (I use colby longhorn)
-1 small can pitted black olives

Directions:
-Thoroughly break up and brown ground beef, drain fat
-Combine equal amounts diced tomatoes and corn in a strainer, mix and drain
thoroughly.
-Grate cheese
-Slice tamales (make sure they're thawed and drained) into approx. 1/4 inch
slices
-Gut and slice bell pepper into approximately 1/8 inch ring slices (i.e. cut
horizontally through pepper).

-In an approximately 13 high by 8" deep casserole bowl, layer the above
ingrediants as follows, from bottom to top.

-1 layer tamale slices
-1 layer corn/tomato mix
-1 layer ground beef
-1 layer corn/tomato mix
-1 layer ground beef (Note: a layer is just enough to cover the
-1 layer grated cheddar cheese previous layer)
-1 layer tamale slices
-Decorate with bell pepper slices and olives, putting pepper slices so their
edges touch, but don't overlap (O.K. they can overlap a little!), and fill in
holes with olives, as many as you want.

Cooking:
Bake in a preheated 375 degree F oven for 1 hr.

Serving:
This dish can be served several different ways, it's great with flour
or corn tortillas as burrito stuffing, on a fried tortilla as tostada topping,
or served all by itself with sour cream, guacamole, salsa. Best of all, if you
can't possibly consume all of it's mass in one sitting it keeps for about a
week in a refrigerator, and makes GREAT leftovers,......the turkey of the
mexican world shall we say. I have yet to have any left over from a pot luck
however, so of you're partial to it, get yours before it's all gone!

CINCINNATI CHILI

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Ingredients:
------------
1 qt beef broth
2 lb ground beef
1/4 cup onion flakes
4 tblsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
3/4 tsp instant minced onions
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/16 tsp ground red pepper (cayenne)
1 bay leaf
15 oz can tomato sauce
2 tblsp cider or white vinegar
1/2 oz unsweetened chocolate

Instructions:
-------------
Boil beef broth in a 4-qt. saucepan. Slowly add beef to broth until
meat separates into small pieces. Cover and simmer 30 minutes. Add
remaining ingredients and mix well. Bring to boil. Reduce heat,
simmer, covered, 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Refrigerate overnight.
Skim off fat and reheat. Serves 6.

Chili Tex-Mex Style

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Ingredients:

2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 large onions, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large green-pepper, chopped
2 lbs lean ground beef
3 1-lb cans tomatoes, plus liquid from the cans
2 6-oz cans tomato paste
3 1-lb cans red kidney beans, drained
2 cups water
1 1/2 tsp salt
3-4 tbsp chili powder
tabasco or other hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste
grated cheddar or monterey jack cheese
sour cream

Method:

Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the onions, garlic, and green-pepper,
and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently and taking care that the
garlic does not brown.

Crumble the ground beef into the pot and continue to cook, stirring
frequently, until the meat is well browned.

Add the tomatoes, the tomato paste, the beans, the water, the salt, and
2 tbsp of the chili powder. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the
heat to a low simmer. Cook uncovered, for at least one (1) hour (the
longer the better), stirring occasionally to make sure the bottom is not
burning.

Season with additional chili powder if desired, tabasco, and salt and
pepper.

Garnish with grated cheese and a dab of sour cream on each serving.

Serves 10.

Enchiladas Chipotle

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Filling:
3 half-breasts chicken, cooked and cubed
9 oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated
3/4 c minced onion

Sauce:
2T butter
2T flour
1 c beef broth
1 c water
1 t cumin
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 t oregano
3-4 canned chipotle chiles, seeded and minced *see note
2 T adobo sauce from can
2 T sour cream

Melt the butter in a skillet. Stir in four. Cook this roux until it is
light brown. Remove pan from heat and slowly stir in broth. Place pan
over medium heat and whisk in water. Add the spices, garlic, chiles, and
adobo sauce. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Whisk in sour cream.

Preparation:
Heat some oil in a skillet. Lightly fry a corn tortilla to soften it.
Place it on a plate and fill with 1T cheese, 1T onion, and 1T chicken.
Roll and place in a 9" x 13" dish. Repeat 12 times. Cover the enchiladas
with the chipotle sauce. Top with any remaining onions and cheese. Bake
at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes, just until the sauce bubbles.

*note: Canned Chipotle Chiles are fully ripened jalapenos that are canned
in an adobo (vinegar-and-stuff) sauce. They are very hot and very tasty.
Because they are so hot, I usually only use 2 chiles and 1.5 T sauce. You
can find the chiles in Safeway in California and in Mexican food marts.

Fajitas

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Marinade:
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1 1/2 lb. steak or chicken, cut in strips

Fajitas:
1/2 cup cilantro (optional)
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 cup red peppers
1/2 cup sliced green onions
3 to 4 Tbsp oil
8 tortillas

Directions:
In skillet, quickly saute vegetables in oil until lightly browned. Remove
from pan. Saute meat 4 to 5 minutes. Return vegetables to pan and
toss with meat. Spoon into tortillas.

Jailhouse Chili

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This is from _A Bowl of Red_, by Frank X. Tolbert--the preeminent book on
chili. This recipe comes from a former director of the prison system in
Texas, Dr. George Beto. It is given in proportions that would be called
for in a prison.


Jailhouse Chili

25 lbs. coarsely gound beef
1/2 lb. comino (I assume this is cumin)
1/4 lb. chili powder
1/8 lb. paprika
2 handfuls of crushed dried red chili peppers
1/2 lb. finely chopped garlic

Put this all in a big pot with water to cover, closed tight. Cook 15
minutes on high before stirring. Then stir and simmer 30-40 minutes.
"Prison cooks never add water, although they 'correct the seasoning to
desired strength' in the final 30 minutes of simmering and put in 2
handfuls of monosodium glutamate 'for the desired taste balance.

Spinach Empanadas

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Pastry
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt

Filling
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 tbs bacon drippings
1 10-ounce package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 cup cottage cheese
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1 egg, beaten

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter till smooth.
(Use a stand mixer, since the mixture is heavy.) Gradually add in the
flour and salt. Lightly knead the dough by hand. Cover with plastic
wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours.

In a medium skillet, cook the onion and garlic in the bacon drippings
until the onion is tender but not brown. Mix in the bacon, spinach,
cottage cheese, pepper, and nutmeg; let the mixture cool.

Preheat the oven to 450 F. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface
to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Cut 3-inch circles in the pastry, place
1 teaspoon of the filling in each circle, just to one side of the
center. Moisten the edge of the circle with the egg, fold the dough
in half over the filling to make a semicircular empanada. Seal the
edges with fork tines, and poke the top of each pastry with a fork
to make a vent. Put the empanadas on an ungreased cookie sheet, brush
their tops with egg, and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden.

Makes 60 empanadas.

Mexican Pork Chops and Beans

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1 Reynold's Oven cooking bag, large size
2 tbsp flour
1 cup thick and chunky salsa
2 tbsp lime juice
3/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
4 pork chops, 1/2 inch thick, fat trimmed
1 can (16 oz.) light red kidney beans, drained
2 med. green, yellow, orange, or red sweet peppers, cut into cubes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Shake flour in cooking bag; place in
13x9x2-inch baking pan. Add salsa, lime juice, chili powder and garlic powder
to bag. Squeeze bag to blend ingredients. Place pork chops in bag. Spoon
bans and peppers around pork chops. Close bag with nylon tie; cut 6 half-inch
slits in top. Bake until pork chops are tender, 35 to 40 minutes. Let stand
in bag 5 minutes. Makes 4 servings.