A craft like cooking has to be fluid and alive. My day-to-day cooking for the whims and likes of other people is often filled with challenges and small victories and always much heartfelt appreciation and gratitude. The last part is what I probably love most about what I do. I cook food for people so they don’t have to. And yet in such a seemingly small gesture, I fill their home and kitchen with the aromas of life, of memories of maybe their favorite past meals, dinners out with family, that one romantic night without the kids. I bring that all to them, in the comfort of their home, where they are free to sit down in front of the tv in their pajamas or at the dinner table to get to more important business like family time, or gaining a few extra hours to go on that long walk or bike ride they had hoped to squeeze in before the sun sets for the day. I like that my work is the glue that holds these families together, because sometimes it’s hard enough getting the coffee right in the morning, or the kids’ clothes to match before they walk out the door, or keeping the new puppy from chewing every single piece of furniture you own.
I’ve recently had a resurgence of creativity in the kitchen thanks to a few new cookbooks and classes I’ve taken. It’s always great to step back and gain new perspective for something you devote a lot of your time doing. It’s easy to fall into routine for ease and efficiency, but making new connections with food and ingredients and ways to bring them together is something that always inspires me. Years ago when I first started creating recipes to post into a blog, I had a thought about how wonderful it would be that at the end of one year I would have this collection of new work, a body of work that was well within me but had no structure, no form or frame until I dreamed it, envisioned it and then brought it together to put here on this site. That thought still floors me and motivates me every day. It’s a great metaphor for anything in life really. You don’t really know what you are capable of until you have the courage and the curiosity to dream it and then make it real.
These enchiladas are real. Real delicious. I’ve made all sorts of variations of enchiladas but these are probably my favorite. They are infused with the smokiness of three types of peppers: ancho, chipotle and roasted poblanos. And, they’re a great vegetarian option that’s not just covered in cheese or cream. They were a late-summer creation with all the bounty of tomatoes and eggplant that filled the shelves at the grocery store this year. Yet surely the aroma of these baking in your oven will make them an any season favorite in your family.
Ingredients Instructions
I love how you describe feeling others. Beautiful. And I’m so drawn to these enchiladas! Yummy!
Thanks, Valentina! I love my work:)