Calabacitas- A New Mexico Veggie Favorite

I've been dreaming of vegetables: not bad dreams where carrots chase me and the next thing I know I am an ingredient in their stir fry, but dreams where I step outside and there they are, ripe for the picking. They are juicy, crunchy, delicious. Freshies! Steps from my door!

You see, we had a greenhouse assembled here at the ranch this past week, one that resembles a landed alien spaceship.

It's called a Growing Dome. I still have tons of work to do to get it up and growing, but I want veggies! Now!

Yeah, yeah, I know I could buy fairly fresh veggies at my local 40 mile away Super Wal-Mart. Or I could wait until June when the farmers' markets get going around here. Those are my choices, living in a high altitude place with long winters and short summers.

But I want my own veggies. Call me selfish or call me a stuck up foodie, but that's just how it goes. I want to eat tomatoes right out in the garden. I want people to run away screaming, "No, no!" because I might have more zucchini for them. 

A favorite New Mexico vegetable dish is called calabacitas, which in English is translated as squashes. I've always made this dish with zucchini or other summer squash, but was pleasantly surprised to eat calabacitas at Rellenos Cafe in Taos, where they used winter squash, instead. It was just as yum as my recipe. Here how I make it:

Calabacitas

2 T olive oil
1 medium onion
4 medium to large zucchini (by large we don't mean those gigantic ones that look like alien pods)
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups corn, either fresh, canned (drained), or frozen
2 fresh peeled green chiles (anaheim or poblano) or a 4-ounce can diced green chiles
Salt to taste (I like seasoned salt, like Goya Adobo)
1/2 cup grated cheddar, jack, or cojack cheese

In a large heavy skillet, add olive oil, let it heat a second, and saute onions and zucchini until they are tender. Add garlic and cook a minute more. Mix in corn, chopped chiles and salt. Cover and cook 5 minutes or until heated through. Mix in the cheese and serve.  Serves 4

Not only is this a great side dish, at Rellenos I had a choice of calabacitas tacos or enchiladas. An excellent vegetarian main dish is born!

Grass Fed and Spoiled Rotten

When we moved here the first thing we noticed was grass--hillsides and pastures full of the lovely stuff. It just grows, and when we met a neighbor who owns cattle, he immediately said, "You live there? I've had my eye on your grass for a long time!"

We were glad to have compliments on our grass.

We decided to put some cattle on the property so they could eat this coveted grass, mainly to reduce the fire danger. Grass eventually dries out and becomes fuel for wildfires. I also wanted the experience of raising our own meat, grass-fed, no hormones, no antibiotics.

We have traveled past feedlots, squinting our eyes against the blowing, manure-scented dust, cattle packed like commuters on an afternoon New York City subway. I have read Michael Pollan's descriptions of factory cattle farms and feel uncomfortable with that model for raising livestock. Do I still eat cattle from places like that? Yes, but I've cut back on my meat consumption because I feel guilty! And in about a year I will be able to say that the steak I am eating came from a cow raised with respect. And it was spoiled rotten.

There are times when it snows here and the grass is covered with the white stuff. For those times, we bought some bales of hay from a neighbor and stored them in an old stock trailer. We only had a few days of severe snow, but you would think that we'd opened a gourmet restaurant when Tom busted out a couple bales of hay.

At first one guy noticed what Tom was doing.

Then a few more trickled in after word got out that dinner was served.

It was like Nordstrom's half-yearly sale!

 

When they get a little hay on a cold afternoon, they have extra fuel for the night. That's what we were told.

Ms. Pearl was kept under wraps.

Now, when we are working around the ranch, guess who thinks we are treat dispensers?

Whattaya Got?