Refreshing Sangria

Refreshing, yes, but did you know where Sangria originated? Fundido.com dug around to find out. We also came up with our best sangria recipe. Introduced in America at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York, Sangria was originally developed and served in Southern Spain and neighboring Portugal as early as the 1700s. It was actually created by wine enthusiasts experimenting with fruit to make the wine more widely palatable. At the time, water was very often unsafe, and people used wine and other beverages containing alcohol to wash clothes and bathe! Even young children drank wine.

As such, the popular drink was born and referred to as Claret Cup Punch. Recipes differ greatly between regions, using varied ingredients including chopped or sliced fruit such as orange, lime, lemon, apple, peach, nectarine, various berries, pineapple, melon, grapes, or mango. Many recipes include brandy, a few contain spices (often ginger and cinnamon), and for those with an affinity to white wine, there is also a popular version of “White Sangria”. It’s all a matter of taste!

Fundido.coms Best Mexican Sangria

3 oranges, 2 squeezed & 1 sliced

3 limes, 2 squeezed & 1 sliced

1 bottle red wine

1/3 cup sugar

ice

optional: grapefruit & apple slices

In a large glass or plastic pitcher, squeeze the juice from 2 oranges and 2 limes. Add the wine and sugar. Stir until all ingredients are mixed and sugar is dissolved. Cover and chill 3 hours minimum, or overnight. Serve over ice with orange and lime slices. Enjoy!

Tex-Mex Breakfast Frittata

You can bake the TexMex flavor right into your breakfast with this fantastic dish that will brighten up and morning. Your eggs will never the same again!

Breakfast Frittata

½ cup onion, chopped
½ cup green pepper, chopped
½ cup tomato, chopped
½ cup potato, finely diced
4 slices bacon
4 eggs, beaten with a little milk and a dash of hot sauce
1 tsp prepared garlic
Salt & pepper to taste
¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese

Cook the bacon in a skillet and remove from pan but do not drain the oil. Finely chop bacon once drained and cooled. Add potatoes to the pan and cook until they begin to turn brown. Remove from pan and set aside. Add green (or other - see below) peppers and onion to the pan and cook until just tender, adding butter if needed. Stir in tomatoes, bacon and potatoes, then pour in eggs. Add garlic and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Lift veggies to allow eggs underneath. Once eggs begin to solidify, remove from heat, top with cheese and place the skillet in the oven under the broiler but on the middle rack. Broil 2-3 minutes until cheese melts. Serve immediately.

Note: This recipe can be modified to include broccoli, squash, zucchini, etc. For the authentic tex-mex flavor add Poblano (mild) or Jalapeno peppers in to match your heat tolerance.

Yum!

Guac and Roll - Guacamole Recipe

From http://www.Fundido.com

WATCH VIDEO

Some things are just too easy. The secret to the worlds greatest guacamole isn't in the recipe... it's in one simple ingredient. The avocado. Sounds simple but if you start with a perfectly ripe avocado it's almost impossible to make it bad!

One tip to finding the best tasting avocado is to give the avocado a poke. Use your thumb and give it a squeeze. If it's hard as a rock or a raw potato put t back in the rack. If you can make a dent (as if there's silly putty under the skin) then it's just right. I've noticed there are days when you simply can not find one that's ripe enough if you need guac that night. Check the organic produce section too. Make your choice on ripeness (otherwise skip the organic and save a dime or two). Cold hard truth: if you can't find a ripe enough avocado just skip it for another night.


After you can find three ripe avocados the rest is easy. Slice the avocado n two and remove the pit. Score the flesh with a knife then scoop out of the shell with a large spoon into a bowl. Repeat with all 6 halves. Add a half teaspoon of kosher salt, pepper, onions, tomato, cilantro, garlic and lime (this helps slow the dip from browning too fast) to taste. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and press the wrap flush against the surface of the dip (also to keep from browning).


Refrigerate for an hour before serving with home made tortilla chips.


EASY GUACAMOLE
3 Ripe Avocados
.5 tsp. kosher salt
.5 tsp. Fresh ground black pepper
1 small diced tomato
2 table spoons fresh chopped cilatro
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 minced jalaino pepper (remove seeds and core to temper heat)
1 clove fresh mincd garlic

West's Best Queso Fundido Recipe

West’s Best Queso Fundido
From http://www.Fundido.com

16 oz Jack Cheese (1lbs block)
2 cloves garlic mashed to a paste
salt and pepper
2 poblano peppers roasted, peeled, julienne (or substitute 2 canned chipotles)
cilantro
4 thumb sized chorizo sausages (approx 5 oz.)
Small Can Rotel brand

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove casings from the sausage and saute with the onion and garlic in a large skillet, breaking up the sausage into small pieces with the back of a spoon. Cook about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside on towel lined plate to remove excess oil (blot with additional paper towel if desired).

Mix in 1/2 cilantro and 1/2 poblano peppers (optional chipotle peppers)? 4. Transfer mixture to a 9 inch baking dish. 5. Combine remaining cilantro, grated cheese and remaining poblanos and Rotel in a medium bowl. 6. Layer cheese mixture over sausage mixture and bake for 10-15 minutes.

Fundido.com Easy Queso Fundido Recipe

The blastof flavor in this fundido recipe is the heavy dose of spicy chorizo. Because the beef and sausagecan get SO oily and greasy you may want to drain off the excess oil before mixing with the cheese. Please comment with your results.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound chorizo sausage, crumbled
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 tablespoon minced onion
• 1 (16 ounce) jar picante sauce
• 2 cups shredded four cheese Mexican blend
  chili powder to taste

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
In a skillet over medium heat, cook and stir the chorizo sausage, ground beef, and onion until evenly brown. Drain, and transfer to a medium baking dish.
Arrange the olives over the cooked meat in the baking dish. Top with the picante sauce and cheese, and season with chili powder.
Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until bubbly and lightly brown.

The Demise Of The Tomato

The Demise of the Tomato
By Ken Schulte

What happened to the good ole days of a tomato? What I mean is this, have you gone to the grocery store to buy a tomato lately? It is a crying shame to the consumer but a shot in the profit margins for the business owner. Think about this, because of the change in economy and the way fruits and vegetables are shipped all over the planet, tomatoes are now picked green and left to ripen on the way to your house. I have to object long and loud on this one and here is why. When I was young I worked on a vegetable farm, and we picked the tomatoes when they were ripe, and then they went to market. It was a simple concept, let them grow, pick when ready.

So why should this bug me? Well first of all, a tomato that is vine ripened tastes incredible. It's a cornucopia of flavor that can win your heart for fall tomatoes and olive oil. In the past, stores had different types of tomatoes but they all looked pretty good. If you went to the farmers stand on the corner in the country, you could get even nicer tomatoes. Now we are stuck with this pasty tasteless derivative of an old favorite. The funny part is, you can now choose to buy the premium vine ripe tomatoes for twice the price, if you want some flavor. These are the same tomatoes that used to be available all the time.

Restaurant owners

I really feel sorry for a chef. Not the cooks you find in some chain restaurant, but a real chef who insists on great ingredients and knows what flavor really is. There was incredible deli that I use to walk into to get their tomato and basil sandwiches. The Italian owner was a genius. He knew what made a tomato great and he knew what made a tomato taste better. The first thing you would do is ask "hey Lou, how the tomatoes look today?" He would smile and tell you to buy something else if they did not look like they should. So how is guy like Lou going to make a name for himself if the basic lifeline of an Italian chef is victim to mass production? My hat is off to you if you can find a way to make a decent red sauce without the can. (that's another story too)

Old School

My grandpa was the chief tomato grower in our family. He would grow like a zillion plants and in the fall we would have to give them away because we had so many. But he could tell you when to pick it and how to pick it and what would taste good with it. Unfortunately his English was horrible and he did not have any teeth, but he knew how to cook. I would think he would have a real problem with the grocery stores of today.

Alternative

Our only chance left is the old fashioned fruit stands of yesteryear. But even those great little businesses understand it's about moving volume. Volume does not taste good to me. Of course you could grow your own garden and then your problems are solved. Now if you do, it really comes down to a matter of dirt. Some states have better dirt for growing than others. My favorites are Michigan, Pennsylvania and New Jersey for a good beefsteak. Anyone trying to grow a tomato in Florida should be flogged for ignorance, the dirt just ain't right. (neither is the water, but that is another story)

So what's a guy with some decent basil, some good olive oil, just the right amount of onions, and garlic supposed to do? It's getting pretty hard to explain to your boss why you need a couple of weeks off in the fall to go and eat some decent sauce.

Ken Schulte is a contributing editor to Technocooks. Technocooks is an Italian cooking blog for geeks who like to cook. Technology pays the bills but cooking clears the mind.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ken_Schulte
http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Demise-of-the-Tomato&id=1586830

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