Mystery Meals

So, what did you do during those snow days?  If we took a poll, I bet cleaning would rank among the top 10 activities.  I took the opportunity to clean out some bins in the garage.  In one of them I found a bag of Mom’s old recipes.  What a treasure!  My taste buds were dancing at the thought of re-creating some of my favorite childhood treats like Apple Squares and Cinnamon Rolls.  But, about one third of the recipes had no names on them.  They were lists of raw ingredients that I imagine my Mother quickly scribbled from a fast-talking chef on TV.  There is no telling what those fixings might fix.  The recipes remain unfinished.

We are like those unfinished recipes.  Lent is a good time to recognize the raw ingredients of our humanity, to allow God to mix, to blend, to knead and to reshape us.  Like my Mother’s untitled recipes, we have no idea what we shall become, but we are called to surrender ourselves into the hands of the Master Chef.

As we continue our Lenten journey, here is a meatless recipe from one of our parishioners: 

Chiles Rellenos – serves 6

Ingredients

6 poblano chiles

1 ½ lb. of Cotija cheese or cheese of your choice

1 large pkg. sour cream

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic

4 chicken bouillon cubes

5 eggs

2 T flour

Char chiles on an open flame or by quick-frying in oil.  Remove outer skin.  Slice the chile and remove seeds.  Fill the chile with cheese and hold together with toothpicks.

Separate egg yolks from egg whites.  Beat egg whites until stiff.   Beat in yolks and two tablespoons of flour.  Dip the chiles in the egg mixture and fry them in oil  until both sides are browned.  In a large frying pan, saute chopped onion and garlic until onions are translucent.  Add sour cream then bouillon cubes and bring to slight boil.  If mixture is too thick, add hot milk.  Add chiles and cover allowing the chiles to soak up the cream.  Serve with your favorite rice.