"He played a boy without a home, torn with no tomorrow,
reaching out to touch someone, a stranger in the shadow." ('James Dean of Indiana' by Phil Ochs).
Here I am in the kitchen. I am told that I look a bit serious but I was thrilled to take part in Greg's fabulous challenge, inspired by his book and website Recipes for Rebels.
My Cowboy Cookalong took place on Monday 11th July 2016. Dave and I invited our friend Simon around. The fact that he has worked as a chef was a bonus as he was an excellent help in the kitchen.
I
set up my 'cantina' in advance and, while the 'Spirit of Dean' was
watching over the preparations, and listening to 'This Old Porch' by Lyle
Lovett, I wopped up a good mess of vittals. ("And
this old porch is like a steaming, greasy plate of enchiladas/
With lots of cheese and onions/ And a guacamole salad.")
Then my boys came back
from riding The Goodnight-Loving Trail; having stabled 'Old Paint' and 'Old
Dan', weary from feeding the little dogies in the coolie, watering 'em in the
draw and throwing the hoolihan...and we were ready to
begin.
First up was Eddie
Albert's Guacamole, served with some nachos and sour cream. I
wasn’t overly pleased with the colour once the tomatoes had been stirred in as
I like my guacamole to look green but the flavour was superb. I’m
not sure how many Eddie intended it to feed but the amount was just right for
the three of us. I had a normal portion and the boys ate the rest.
All plates were cleared.
At this point we were listening to ‘The Beautiful Waitress’ by Terry Allen (“And it's not rude/ When she takes away your food/ To touch her fingers/ And let them linger awhile with your loneliness.”)
As Dave sang raucously along to'Gamblin' Bar Room Blues' by Jimmie Rodgers
("Ho! He! Ho! He! You're just as drunk as me/ Ho! He! Ho! He! Heading for the deep blue sea")...
...Simon and I prepared
the next two dishes.
We had Old Borunda Cafe's Enchiladas Montadas with Ronald Reagan's Rancho California Rice as a side.
There had been an argument in the supermarket about the size (diameter) of the tortillas to choose. Dave tried to convince me that large ones were needed. I remembered that we were stacking them and I thought that smaller ones would be better. We bought both, knowing that we could freeze whatever was not needed and use them for another meal next week. Guess who was right?
But Dave did try to be helpful when I asked him to get the 'Mexican' plate.
The fried egg provided us with a dilemma. We made one stack with and one without.
And then there was Ronnie's Rice: This was the scary one. Simon and I know a thing or two about cooking and were very sceptical; Dave knows nothing but also thought it would be awful. In actual fact it was incredibly tasty and was a perfect accompaniment to the enchiladas.
I am not sure that I presented it as it would have been at the Old Burunda but it worked for us.
While he was waiting,Dave insisted on playing his live version of 'Hey Good Lookin' from the 'Live at the Grand Ole Opry' album. (Note that Jimmy has found his way into the dining room.)
This was my plate without the egg...
...This was Dave's with the egg.
While we were eating, Simon had to put up with Dave telling him for the hundredth time of how he shot Billy the Kid.
("Me and Billy the Kid never got along/ I didn't like the way he buckled his belt and he wore his guns all wrong" - Joe Ely)
After the main course, Simon had to let his belt out. (Dave didn't even bother to wear a belt!)
And for dessert...Jane Withers' Chocolate Roll.
This had quite an unusual texture (I was left wishing it had included flour). It was, however, very rich and chocolatey and was a lovely sweet ending to the meal.
The boys had a drink to celebrate the conclusion of a very enjoyable evening.
In fact, Dave got so carried away that he decided to bang a nail in the wall ready for the James Dean Commemorative Plate!
And, guess what? By the time we had finished the meal it was 'Cowboy Time'.
Cowboy Time? (Ten to ten to ten to ten to ten to ten...)
It was that point in the evening when it became necessary to listen to 'The Last Gunfighter Ballad' by Guy Clark, pour three glasses of Wild Turkey, and sing along.
And now, here is the serious bit..
The Food
The Starter:
EDDIE
ALBERT’S GUACAMOLE
The Justification:
Eddie Albert was a
contemporary of Dean’s. They starred together in an episode of General Electric Theatre.
The Ingredients
3 very ripe medium-sized
avocados
2 medium-sized tomatoes,
chopped
1 medium-sized onion,
diced
salsa Jalapena
wine vinegar or lemon
juice to taste
salt to taste
My Variations
I used a green chilli
pepper, peeled, de-seeded and chopped instead of the salsa Jalapena as we have
a glut of them in the freezer from the greenhouse last year. I added a
tablespoon of shop-bought salsa.
Greg says it doesn’t need
the salt but I added some when I tasted it (but then again, all my friends will
tell you I am a bit of a salt fiend!).
I also used freshly
squeezed lime juice instead of lemon/ wine vinegar.
The Shopping
Most of the ingredients
were easy to source from the local supermarket.
The Method
Remove avocado flesh and
mash with a fork so it is not too smooth.
Add the other ingredients
and mix well.
The Cooking
Very easy to make. Just a
case of chopping, mashing and mixing.
The Main:
OLD BURUNDA CAFÉ’S
ENCHILADAS MONTADAS (STACKED ENCHILADAS)
The Justification
James Dean regularly ate
at the Old Burunda Café while shooting Giant.
The Ingredients (serves 4)
For the sauce:
12 red chilies, seeded and
stemmed
½ onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
(pressed)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp flour (I used
plain)
1 tsp salt
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp ground black pepper
For the enchiladas:
3tbsp vegetable oil
12 corn tortillas
2 cups Monterey Jack or
Cheddar Cheese (I used Cheddar)
1 cup chopped onions
4 eggs
My Variations
Dave thought that 12 red
chilies would kill a herd of buffalo even after they had drunk the Colorado
River dry. I am guessing, therefore, that Mexican ‘chiles’ are a lot milder
than the ones we grow. I knew that I needed the same bulk, so I used three chilies and one large red pepper.
I used one small red onion
as I had a lot of small ones and it made sense to do this rather than to use
half a large one.
The Given Method (slightly adjusted to fit my oven and utensils)
Preheat oven to 450˚F
(This is my Gas 8 and I don’t need so much pre-heating).
Fill a large pan with
water and bring to the boil, then add the chilies. Reduce heat, cover and
simmer for 15-20 minutes until softened.
Remove chilies from the
heat and allow to cool.
Place chilies, onion,
garlic and 3 cups of water in a blender. Blend until well pureed.
Strain the puree,
extracting as much pulp as possible and discard the rest.
In a large flat-bottomed
pan, heat the oil and add the flour. Mix to make a blonde roux. Add the
strained puree, salt, pepper and oregano. Stir until it thickens, then set
aside.
To make the enchiladas
Heat the oil in a small pan.
Place a tortilla in the hot oil for about three minutes. Place on absorbent
paper towel and allow to cool.
Ladle a thin layer of
sauce onto a baking dish large enough to hold 4 tortilla stacks. Place 4
tortillas in a stack and ladle sauce over each.
Sprinkle with cheese and
chopped onions.
Add another tortilla and
repeat. Top with a third tortilla and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and
onions.
Bake for 10 minutes or
until the sauce bubbles and the cheese melts.
While the enchiladas are
cooking, fry the eggs “sunny side up”.
Place each stack on a
plate and divide the remaining sauce among the plates. Serve immediately with
an egg on top.
The Cooking
I gently cooked the onion
and garlic in a little oil before I put it in the blender.
Following the recipe, I
sieved the puree but it seemed such a shame to throw away the best bits so
Simon and I decided to put it all back in and we were glad we did. The sauce
had flavour and texture.
On a gas stove top, it
took less than the suggested 3 minutes to cook a tortilla. I would say it took
only 1 minute.
I always find it hard to
measure in cups, when using a solid rather than a liquid. I know it is 250 ml
but what is it in grams? If talking about cheese or onions, how tightly do you
pack them? In order to try to keep as close to possible to the original recipe,
I therefore used cups (lightly packed, bone china ones), even though I had
converted all other measurements to metric. In the grand scheme of things it
made no difference at all.
It was also a slight
dilemma whether to crisp up all the tortillas before assembly or to do them as
I went along (just like making a lasagne). I checked out Greg’s wonderful blog
which told me all I needed to know about the origin of the café and the recipe
but even this did not enlighten me on this particular point. I decided,
therefore, to cook and assemble as I went along. This was made possible by the
fact that I had Simon helping me in the kitchen.
The concept of ‘stacking’
was also not that clear – should there be four together or interspersed with
the sauce. I went for tortilla, sauce, tortilla, sauce, etc.
Not being a fan of raw
onions, and not trusting that they would be cooked enough later, I used chopped
tomatoes.
We tried it with and
without the fried egg. Opinion was mixed: Dave loved the egg but there is not
much he doesn’t like.
I served it in the cooking
dishes rather than removing it onto plates.
The Side:
RONALD REAGAN’S RANCHO
CALIFORNIA RICE
The Justification
In his early days, Reagan
worked with Dean on TV’s General Electric
Theatre and was renowned for his role as General Custer in The Santa Fe Trail, thus establishing
his credentials as a contemporary of Our Man Dean and a screen cowboy.
The Ingredients
1 onion, chopped
4 tbsp butter
4 cups cooked rice
1 cup cottage cheese
2 cups sour cream
1 bay leaf, crumbled
16oz can whole green
chilies
2 cups grated cheddar
cheese
My Variations
There were several. We argued
for a long time about ‘chiles’ in a can. Yes there were some made by ‘El Paso’
but I thought that these would probably be fairly mild and also a bit of a
cheat, so I used three home-grown green jalapenos and a green pepper to make up
the same bulk.
I also had more cottage
cheese than sour cream as we had used some with the starter so I changed it to
2 cups cottage cheese and 1 cup sour cream.
The Shopping
I was a bit extravagant in
my shopping as I searched for an alternative to the huge can of chilies which
Reagan used. I bought a jar of jalapenos in oil but apart from the fact that we
can store them until 2019, they were a bit of a waste of time.
I made up for it by
helping myself to a few fresh bay leaves from the tree in next door’s garden.
The Given Method
Saute onions in butter
until limp.
Add rice, sour cream,
cottage cheese, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Mix well.
In a greased casserole
dish put a layer of rice mixture, a layer of chilies (seeded and cut into
strips) and half a cup of cheddar.
Repeat, saving 1/3 of the
cheddar, ending with a layer of rice.
Bake for 25mins in a 375F
oven (Gas 5).
Top with remaining cheese.
Bake for 10m more.
The Cooking
I cooked an estimated
amount of rice to work out how much would be 4 cups. I am guessing that Ronnie
had some rice left over from the night before when he made Nancy a curry,
otherwise I think it would be better to specify a dried weight.
Simon and I worked out the
rest of this recipe as we went along. He gently fried the chilies and the
pepper in a little oil then added the chopped bayleaves while I cooked the
onions and made the rice mixture.
Then we assembled it with
rice, chili mix, rice, chili mix, rice.
In my particular oven it
needed Gas 8 for 20m to brown the cheese at the end.
The Dessert:
JANE WITHERS‘ CHOCOLATE
ROLL
The Justification
Jane Withers was,
apparently, one of the world’s most famous child stars. She was in Giant with James Dean
The Ingredients
5 large eggs, separated
2/3 cup of sugar (I used
caster sugar)
6 squares (6 oz) chocolate
3 tbsp strong coffee
1 ¼ cups heavy cream
(whipping cream)
My Variations
Jane says that 6 squares
of chocolate is the same as 6 ounces. Not by my scales! (Maybe the size of a
‘square’ of chocolate was different then.) I weighed 10 squares of cooking
chocolate at 3oz. I added this to a whole cup of coffee and considered that the
3tbsp from the recipe would probably contain the right amount (or somewhere
near) of chocolate.
NB Please, please, please
make this with free range eggs.
The Given Method
Butter a large baking
sheet (18 x 12 inch), line it with waxed paper and butter again.
Melt chocolate in with the
coffee and allow to cool.
Beat egg yolks and sugar
until thick and pale in colour. Mix in choc/ coffee
Beat egg whites until
stiff and fold in.
Spread mixture evenly over
prepared sheet and bake in 350F (Gas 5) oven for 15mins or until a knife
inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Remove and cover with a
damp cloth for about half an hour, until cool.
Loosen cake from baking
sheet and dust generously with cocoa.
Turn out on wax paper,
cocoa side down, and carefully remove paper from bottom of cake.
Spread with the whipped
cream, sweetened to taste and roll up like a jelly roll.
Dust top with a little
more cocoa.
The Cooking
This was done in advance.
I kept thinking, “Where is the flour?” As it was cooking it was very ‘eggy’ but
I was pleasantly surprised by its appearance when it came out of the oven.
When it was ‘rolled up’ it
looked a bit plain so I cut it into slices and arranged them on a plate with a
bit more cream and cocoa powder.
