There are only a handful things I miss about being a full-time student. Getting breakfast during the week is in the top three. My friend Jason and I used to meet up in the morning regularly, but for some reason, we let about two years pass since our last breakfast date. Yesterday, we had the opportunity to catch up over tea, coffee, vegetarian biscuits and gravy, steamed kale, and poached eggs with roasted red pepper sauce. The icing on the cake (or should I say, the cream in the coffee) was when I looked out the window and saw that someone had graffitied an out-of-commission mailbox with the words “SOLBREM PROLVED.”
Lucky me, I had a camera in my bag.
Then, my day got even better. I was able to get not one, but two chapters turned into my advisor. I’ll certainly have revisions. Lot’s of them. But it’s nice to know that I’m 55 pages closer to the end of this chapter in my life. I kind of hate it when people use a book as a metaphor for their lives, but it feels appropriate here, given that I am literally chapters away from a major life change.
Lately, I’ve been panicing in the evenings that my advisor is going to tell me that my thesis is failing work and that I need to re-write it. Which will mean that I can’t graduate in May. Normally, when I find myself plagued with unfounded fears, I write about them and then laugh at them. But I’m not so sure this one is that unfounded. It feels like a very real possibility. And, unlike with most of my anxieties, I don’t exactly have a back up plan for what to do in case of an emergency.
(I swear that soon, I will stop writing about my adventures with this stupid thesis.)
I’m working so hard to not dwell on this anxiety, however, which is aided by the fact that this week is Rick Bayless week in our house. That’s what we call it when I plan a week’s worth of groceries around Rick Bayless recipes. When it’s Rick Bayless week, I never get derailed before getting home by the thought of take out, because I know that nothing I can pick up on my way home from work will compare to what Andrew and I have planned for dinner. There are so many crossover ingredients, too, so Rick Bayless weeks are easy on the bank account. Here’s a recipe from Authentic Mexican. We decided to make it last Sunday evening because we had a bunch of tortillas that needed to be used up right away. Bayless calls it a Mexican lasagna of sorts. I’ve been referring to it as enchiladas verde pie. It’s so delicious that we made another version of it later in the week with sautéed spinach and mushrooms.
Budin de Tortillas (Layered Tortilla Casserole)
From Authentic Mexican
Ingredients
12 corn tortillas
2 cups tomatillo sauce (recipe below)
3 chiles poblanos
1 1/4 cups crema or thinned commercial sour cream
1 1/2 cups grated melting cheese
Preheat oven to 350F.
Quickly fry each tortilla in a small amount of vegetable oil for 2-3 seconds on each side. Drain well.
Roast the poblanos over an open flame on the stove top until blackened. Place in a bowl and cover and let cool. Peel (I usually end up rubbing the skin off under running water), stem and seem. Slice into 1/2-inch pieces.
Line the bottom of a 9-inch square baking pan using 3 tortillas (they’ll overlap slightly). Spread 1/4 of the sauce, cream and cheese and 1/3 of the chiles. Make another layer with three more tortillas, sauce, cream, cheese and chiles. Repeat until you have four layers. The top won’t have chiles.
Bake for about 30 minutes. Rick Bayless says to cover it first, but I didn’t and it browned really nicely on top. We also added a bit more cheese to create a nice top. Strew with opion rings and radish rounds or serve with a mixed green salad with cilantro-lime dressing (made by blending chopped cilantro, lime juice and zest, salt and pepper and vegetable oil in a blender. You can add a jalapeno or 2 serranos for heat.).
Quick-Cooked Tomatillo Sauce
(makes about 2 1/2-3 cups)
Ingredients:
1 lb fresh tomatillos, husked and washed
3 chiles serranos (or 2 jalapeños)
5-6 springs fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, peeled and roughly copped
1 T vegetable oil
2 cups broth (I use vegetable)
Salt
Boil the tomatillos and chiles in salted water until tender, about 10-15 minutes. Drain.
Purée the tomatillos, chiles, cilantro, onion, and garlic in a blender or food processer. Process until smooth. RB says to retain “a little texture.
Heat the oil in a large skillet. When well-heated, hour all the sauce in at once and stir constantly for 4-5 minutes, until darker and thicker. Add the broth, return to a boil, and reduce heat to medium and simmer until the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon. This should take about 10 minutes.
Season with salt to taste.
hello, i just came across your website while searching for tinga recipes. I really like your blog! Just wanted to let you know that. Keep up the good work. :)
Hi Rosalyn, Thanks so much for the encouragement!