Elle's New England Kitchen

Happy Thursday! I have a couple of thoughts in my head, and need to get them out. Too much rattling around in there.

The first is addressed to the Patriots fans that had the balls to boo the team and leave the stadium before the end of last Sunday's game. What were they thinking? We have been spoiled by being lucky enough to have Tom Brady go this long without any huge injuries. And here are just a few of their stats:

1963, 1976, 1978, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006

Thank you Rauzulu's Street for those stats.

The Patriots also have a record 21 regular season game winning streak, just broken on Sunday. So they have a bad day, and these spoiled rotten fans in the stadium jump ship and disrespect the team that has given New England so much these last years.

You guys suck. What happened to supporting your team? Do you think booing them makes them mad so they'll work harder and win? No, it's a slap in the face, and I'm embarrassed for you. Everyone's trying to be first to show up to the Super Bowl celebration parade through Boston, but one loss and they're jumping ship.

I for one, will proudly wear my official Belichick hoodie and watch every game, and cheer for my team, win or lose. They've worked so hard for us, and it's time for us to step up and support them.

My husband says I take football too seriously, hehe. Funny, right? A husband telling his wife she takes football too seriously. hahaha! He teases me and says we should now pick whatever team is doing best and root for them.

I think he almost felt the daggers from my eyes boring into his very soul.

And I know, a lot of people hate the Patriots and Belechick. But don't hate me for loving them--they're my team!

Rant #1 over. hehe!



Next up--rude 4 year old kids. Sitting in the dentists waiting room yesterday, waiting for my daughter to have some stuff done. There's this little boy there no older than 4, maybe a young 5. He is wreaking havoc in the toy area, tossing stuff around and being loud, like a 4 year old boy will do. I'm fine with that. But his mom, instead of sitting right near him and quietly telling him to behave, is sitting directly behind me, and YELLING across the entire waiting room "Gavin, knock it off!" "Gavin, cut it out!" You get the idea.

So then little Gavin--with a cherub face--comes walking over to where I'm sitting. Down a few seats from me is a man, minding his own business and waiting with his young daughter. Gavin comes around to this guy and looks up at him. I'm thinking he's going to say hi or some other sweet little thing.

No. No, no, no and no.

He looks up at the nice man and says "Hi douchebag!"

Knock me over with a feather. I gasped, and loudly. I was shocked! The man was so taken aback, that he didn't know what the heck to say. We looked at each other and gave the silent "WTF?!"

Did his mom say anything? Keep in mind, she was right behind me, so there's no way on God's green Earth that she didn't hear him. So did she say anything to sweet little Gavin?

Not. One. Word. If at that moment, he hadn't had his name called to go back and see the dentist, I'd have given an earful to his mom. No such luck.

I can forgive the kid, because you know, kids will hear something and pick it up, then say it to anyone and everyone. It happens, right? What I can't forgive, is the mother that let it happen and didn't say a word to him. He'll never learn not to say it if she doesn't tell him not to.

Mr. Nice Man looked at me and said "You know, if they aren't taught respect, they don't show respect."

Amen, Mr. Nice Man. Amen.

Rant #2 done.


And third--Pork Egg Rolls, because this IS a food blog, no?



These are a real favorite around here. I can even bribe my sister in law, Orietta, with these. (Hi Ori!) They are so simple. A little time consuming, wrapping them and all, but so worth it. I always double the recipe, because if you're going to the trouble, you may as well make more and have extra. And they won't be around long, let me tell you. If you can't eat them all, you'll most likely find someone that will help you. Or freeze them for another day. Oh, and since the filling is precooked, you can taste and adjust seasonings before you fry them all up and realize you have bland egg rolls!

These are from Everyday Food and a good, basic pork egg roll. But feel free to change things up here and there if you like. I added water chestnuts, not for flavor, because they have none, hehe, but for some crunch and texture.


Pork Egg Rolls


1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 Tbs brown sugar
veg oil (for frying)
2 napa cabbage, about 2 1/2 lbs, thinly sliced
water chestnuts
8 med carrots, coarsely grated
8 minced garlic cloves
2 Tbs grated fresh ginger
1 smallish can of water chestnuts, coarsely chopped
coarse salt and ground black pepper
2 lb ground pork
12 green onions, thinly sliced
32 (6-7" square) egg roll wrappers
2 large egg, lightly beaten

dipping sauce for serving



In a small bowl, combine soy, vinegar and sugar.

In a large skillet, heat 1 TB oil at med. high. Add cabbage carrots, garlic and ginger, and water chestnuts, season with salt and pepper. Cook 3-5 minutes, stir occasionally.

Raise heat to high, add pork and soy mixture. Cook, stirring, until pork is done and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 10-15 min. Transfer to a plate to cool. (I made the filling a day ahead and kept it in the fridge, but for faster cooling, spread the filling on a large rimmed baking sheet.)

Working on a flat surface, put down 4 wrappers, keeping the others covered with damp paper towels. With a pastry brush, wet the 4 sides of the wrapper with the beaten egg. Put 1/3 cup of filling in the center of each wrapper. (don't be tempted to overfill)

Fold the point of the wrapper that's facing you over the filling, tucking the corner under the filling. Fold both side corners in so it looks like an open envelope. Tightly roll the wrapper to close and press to seal the edge.

At this point, you can freeze them: Freeze in a single layer at least 2 hours, transfer to a ziploc bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. To fry, increase cooking time by about 3 mins per batch.

They say you can also bake these at 400° on a lightly oiled, rimmed baking sheet. Brush egg rolls with a bit of oil and bake till golden, 10 minutes. If baking from frozen, bake 15 minutes. (I have not tried this!)

For frying, I used a deep electric skillet. I like it because it's easy to control the temp of the oil. Pour in enough oil to be about an inch or 2 deep. Heat the oil to 350° and working in batches of 6, fry about 3 minutes on one side and flip the rolls, frying for about 2-3 minutes more. Remove to racks placed over paper towels to drain. Bring the oil back up to 350 degrees between batches. Serve with dipping sauce.






I don't have a special dipping sauce recipe, I usually just wing it till it tastes good:

Soy sauce, sesame oil, a little ginger, a bit of garlic, and a bit of brown sugar. Mix it all up and adjust to taste.


So that's it for this week's Thursday ramblings. Thanks for listening! Stay tuned for a Cinnamon Overload Apple Crisp recipe...

Damn enchiladas. They taste incredibly good, but those irritating little filled tortillas like to get all ugly for the camera. At least that's how it is for me. This is the second enchilada recipe that I've made and photographed, and the first one is still sitting in my files because even though they're delicious, the photos are just not good. Maybe I should just do a few days of ugly photo posts and be done with it, hehe.

Anyway, these enchiladas are George's recipe, at Culinary Travels of a Kitchen Goddess. (Check out her enchilada photos--they're much prettier!) I admit it, I'm a sucker for enchiladas, and these looked really interesting! I always make chicken ones, but these were ground beef and ground pork, with beans, too. Which is what my husband has been asking for--guess he wanted a break from chicken. They certainly don't disappoint! Now, she says right from the start that the spices are toned way down in these, because they were made for her Mum. No biggie, I just upped the spices, adding more cumin, chili powder, and as a quick afterthought, some of the homemade taco seasoning I keep on hand. Same with the sauce, just up the spices. For you recipe tweakers out there, this is a perfect one for you! You get an awesome base recipe, but you can personalize it to suit your spice/heat levels.

I only had one issue, and it wasn't a bad one. This makes 8 large enchiladas, like burrito size! So I used 2 11 x 7 pans with 4 enchiladas in each. This meant I didn't have enough sauce, and no more ingredients to make more of George's sauce. So I pulled out my trusty enchilada sauce recipe which is made from pantry staples and only takes about 15 minutes to make, and added it to George's sauce. The combination was perfection!!

And oh my goodness, are they delicious! Oh! Instead of buying ground beef and pork, I bought a meatloaf mix of ground pork, beef and veal. I also added a bit of a shredded cheese blend to the called for mozzarella topping--whatever kind you have on hand would be fine. Also, subbed black beans for the kidney beans.

These are satisfying and filling. And so good, that my husband took one for lunch, and wants the rest for dinner tonight. So there's a testimony for you!


And in case you're curious, here is my trusty enchilada sauce recipe, because the two sauces mixed together were just perfect--hers has pieces of tomato in it, and mine doesn't, but they added a nice texture to my sauce. Hers also has lime juice, which added an overall brighter flavor to the sauce.

1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tbs vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1-2 Tbs chili powder
1 tsp dried oregano leaves
1 1/2 tsp cocoa
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce


Cook and stir onion and garlic in oil in a 2-quart saucepan until onion is tender.
Stir in broth, spices, salt and tomato sauce.
Heat to boiling; reduce heat, simmer uncovered 10 minutes.


Thanks, George, for another winning recipe! :)