Since we live in San Antonio, I should have known that it wouldn't be long before we tried to cook some authentic Mexican dishes, but I had no idea that would require speaking Spanish!
Jeremy came home the other day salivating over a dish that one of his co-workers had brought in to share with everyone. It was a spicy chicken stew of sorts with a base of a green tomatillo sauce...which you can then smother on top of chips. Jeremy loved it and has been talking about it incessantly ever since! I think he would bathe in the stuff if he could.
At Jeremy's request, his co-worker tried to acquire the recipe from his Spanish-speaking grandmother, but unfortunately she is one of those grandmothers who just does all the cooking by sight. Needless to say we ended up with a cryptic recipe that either needed 3 tomatoes or 3 pounds of tomatoes, and a laundry list of items, of which I could only pick out the word "pollo" since as you know, I just learned how to spell and pronounce that one!! I knew we were in trouble!
I tried my best to Google all the items, on the Spanish Google site no less, and it took me almost 30 minutes to translate "herba buena," which apparently is our version of spearmint. Oh, and we either needed 4 leaves of the stuff or maybe a handful....I was just hoping the concoction would be edible!!
Jeremy headed off to frisbee and I was still working away on the recipe...in particular I was preparing the 10 jalapeno peppers and 5 habanero peppers...trying to roast them and get the outer layer of skin off....if only I had worn gloves! Why didn't I wear gloves!?!! About an hour later, just as we were biting into the finished Encilantrada dish, my hands were on FIRE!
Oh, and at this point our mouths were on fire too, along with faces turning red, and eyes watering! Let's just say we couldn't handle the heat...and maybe the jalapenos were just a bit too much for us.
I spent the remainder of the evening googling "remedy for jalapeno burn," and let me tell you, I tried it all...from dipping my hands in milk, rubbing alcohol, and even making a salve out of baking soda and water! In the end I just needed time...and over 36 hours later I finally got feeling back in my hands. So I hope you all can learn from my mistake...and put on those gloves...oh, and you'll just have to wait on the recipe for Encilantrada...or, if you want some, we've got a ton leftover in the refrigerator calling your name!
2 comments:
Clearly you do not eat enough jalapenos. You must train yourself!
That meal sounds awesome though! Any spicy liquidy Mexican dish on chips must be good!
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