Cooking in Dirt! :)

You're probably wondering what the heck I'm talking about. But seriously, clay pot cooking really is like cooking in dirt, don't ya think? The 2 pots that I am keeping from the last post were made from the natural mica clay from the mountains of Northern New Mexico- no additives, no fillers... just clay, dirt & mica... all natural elements from the earth... and yes! You can cook in them. The pots I've made in previous classes I've largely given away, but this time, after all that work, I had to keep a couple & test them out & see what this clay pot cooking is all about. Vegetarians close your eyes on this first one.

(Though this is free range, organic chicken from the farmer's market!)

:)

I don't think I needed to add the oil, but I did & check it out, you can saute in these pots, too! I actually got all my ingredients on Saturday from our local farmer's market... check out the goodies below~

If I was going to make some good, wholesome food, in my own clay pots, I wanted to know where my veggies & meat were coming from... and know that they weren't shipped in from some other part of the world, thus likely cold stored & tasteless, or tainted with pesticides. (Not to mention the fossil fuels used along the path from farmer to store.) Uh-uh- no way!

I know you're eyeing those chiles above.. they come from Romero Farms. I swear Matt grows & roasts the best chiles around. Have you guessed what I'm making yet??

Yes! My first ever Green Chile Chicken Stew... and I have to admit it was one of the best I ever tasted! (Note here my stove... I believe it's from the late 60's- just like me and my apt- and it is funky! I call it my easy bake oven because it totally reminds me of a hand-me-down used easy bake I had when I was just a wee lassie.)

The finished product! Have I mentioned it was delicioso? I brought it in to share w/ a co-worker and she concurred whole heartedly! The next night after work, I made Red & green chile Bolita Beans.

I kinda made up my own recipe on this one... I wanted them to have a little kick, so I added various hot dried red chile powders & fresh roasted green chile. Despite having soaked them all day when I was at work, these beans took forever to cook!  

But the final result again, was very yummy! Yup, I took these in to work to share as well... but still had quite a bit left from both meals to freeze. 

For my next meal (yes, I cooked 3 nights out of 4... what has gotten into me?!)

I made red chile chicken enchiladas, because I wanted to test out that casserole dish. (Despite receiving a hairline crack during the final pit fire- the casserole made it out of the oven just fine.) Another first was making my own red chile sauce. I do love that red chile! We're lucky in NM, because you can find the ground red chile powder just about anywhere. I got some mild red chile from the farmers market last weekend, but also had a stash of extra hot, and sun dried that I picked up last time I was in Hatch. Looks pretty good, eh?

I think I did add a bit too much sauce to my enchiladas, though I do tend to like things saucy, and I have to admit, they were excellent as well.

My thoughts on all this cooking? Well, I have to tell you, to cook out of something you have made from hand is just about one of the coolest things ever! (My poor co-workers had to hear about it constantly... it's all I could talk about!) Secondly~ Yum-O! Definitely worth all the effort, though I probably won't be cooking that much again soon. Partly because now I've got a lot of yummy leftovers in the freezer, but also because of the time involved. Seriously, I do not know how families that work full time have the time to come home & cook a good healthy meal! In between work & chores, all the time spent shopping, prepping, cooking & cleaning... it seriously leaves little time for anything else! And my soul has been longing for a little mountain time (my forays into the mountains have been placed on the back burner... no pun intended,) plus I just started a wheel throwing class that is only a few short weeks long... so I need to spend as much time in there as possible!

So, until next time~ Bon Appetit!

:)