Mexican vegetarian food

[Jenise]

I'm cooking a birthday dinner for a friend tomorrow night. The constraints are:

1) She's vegetarian
2) She can't digest onions/cabbage family stuff
3) I still don't actually have a kitchen: it's like camping. I have a stove, a grill, one skillet and one 8 quart dutch oven shaped pan okay for boiling pasta in. I have no place for washing up and no counters, just a 4' long board I work on.
4) Pasta is her favorite food, Mex is her favorite flavor

So the obvious thing is to anchor the meal with a green chile mac n' cheese. I can boil the pasta and make the sauce afterward in the same pan. Both will get loaded into one of those big aluminum roasters and baked.

With that, I thought I'd do grilled yellow crooked neck and green zucchini that I'll drizzle with an oregano pesto and sprinkle with cotija cheese.

A friend is bringing a green salad. I'll mex that up with some cumin and sliced radishes.

Tortilla chips and salsas will be served. Possibly an avocado and roasted corn guacamole, too.

I'll be serving family style, and this doesn't seem like enough. Too simple. And I'm longing for some red color. I was thinking of some version of a stuffed tomato but with Mexican enhancements. Not sure what, though. Hominy? Go with a posole type flavor? Cilantro hasn't been used anywhere else, it could go there.

Something with beans?

My stumbling attempts to replicate some of the Latin American dishes I tasted in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia haven't yet got me to the stage where I can recommend a good recipe, but how about doing a rice and beans combination, either as a dish in its own right, or used as a stuffing for hollowed out tomatoes, capsicums, and/or small squash? Level of spiciness can be adjusted, of course, to the preferences of those dining. (Cilantro goes well with rice and beans.)

I have no suggestions but I do want to compliment you for doing this for your friend. With hardly a kitchen to work in and the restrictions to her diet, she is very lucky to have you as her friend.

I'm not sure it would go with the rest, but how about a stuffed bell pepper with a Mexican-flavored rice, which would provide some red? Something with stewed tomatoes. Try broiled tomatoes topped with butter/cheese/s&p or another variation (I mentioned those in another thread--easy, tasty and red). Red chile posole. Red chile cheese enchiladas. A carne adovado without the carne and with potatoes. A fancy tomato soup. Roasted red bell peppers.

[Jenise]

I'm not sure it would go with the rest, but how about a stuffed bell pepper with a Mexican-flavored rice, which would provide some red? Something with stewed tomatoes. Try broiled tomatoes topped with butter/cheese/s&p or another variation (I mentioned those in another thread--easy, tasty and red). Red chile posole. Red chile cheese enchiladas. A carne adovado without the carne and with potatoes. A fancy tomato soup. Roasted red bell peppers.

Larry, I'm afraid the rice stuffed pepper would just seem a lot like an inside-out version of the mac n' cheese I'm making. I'd KILL to do cheese enchiladas but with my reduced cooking situation, those would be too complicated. I like the adovado idea, though. Can't serve soup--I don't have bowls to serve it in. I forgot to mention that I have but plastic plates. Roasted bell peppers--YES, I should add some of those to the grilled squash plate. That would look beautiful--great idea.

And Matilda, I think I'll do a bean stuffed tomato. Maybe with corn, if I don't find ripe avocados at the store to do that guacamole I wanted to do.

I'm wondering if those Morningstar Farms patties would be good pan fried and broken up to stand in as meat in a nacho platter? I've had them in burgers, but never worked with them separately. Anyone know?

[Jenise]

Okay, what I did:

Nachos: chopped up 8 Morningstar Farms 'burgers' and pan fried them to crisp, then used them like crumbled ground beef on taco chips with cheese and green onions that I threw under the broiler until the cheese melted, then doused with Valentina's bottled Mexican hot sauce.

Green salad with avocado and radishes (brought by a guest).

Green chile mac n' cheese.

Grilled slices of yellow crook neck and zucchini squash lightly marinted in a fresh oregano vinaigrette.

Whole filet of salmon slow-roasted (only 250 degrees) lacquered with a combination of honey and lime juice halfway through roasting and finiished with chopped fresh cilantro. And you're gbing to ask: yes I said she's vegetarian, and she is, but I forgot that until I was at the store and ran into the couple that was bringing the salad that she will actually eat some seafood (and she did eat this!).

The stuffed tomatoes: only bought one can of beans, and was going to combine this with corn (cut from the cob) which I already had. But it turned out the corn had grown mold, so I didn't have enough filling to stuff the tomatoes. So I scratched that, and eight hollowed-out-tomatoes are sitting in the fridge looking pitiful.

Dessert: I purchased a locally made white chocolate cheese cake with dark chocolate crust, and served slices on a puddle of rasberries, purchased frozen and thawed to a nice juicy consistency, to which I added two dried cayenne chiles.

So the obvious thing is to anchor the meal with a green chile mac n' cheese. I can boil the pasta and make the sauce afterward in the same pan. Both will get loaded into one of those big aluminum roasters and baked.

I'd like to try the green chile mac & cheese. Should I just add green chiles "to taste" to my regular mac & cheese recipe?

[Jenise]

So the obvious thing is to anchor the meal with a green chile mac n' cheese. I can boil the pasta and make the sauce afterward in the same pan. Both will get loaded into one of those big aluminum roasters and baked.

I'd like to try the green chile mac & cheese. Should I just add green chiles "to taste" to my regular mac & cheese recipe?

That's right! I also add quite a bit of parmesan--the additional piquance provides a better platform for the chiles than just cheddar alone.

Thanks Jenise, I was just getting the stuff together to make it, and you confirmed what I was thinking. I sometimes add parm with my cheddar (usually extra sharp), and make a parm/butter/breadcrumb topping. I'm going with 1/2 chile pepper since mine were kinda hot this year. Trying to decide whether I want to add the chiles to the sauce, or just mix in before I bake it.

I've reached another milestone - this will be my 1,000th post.

I made the chile mac & cheese with extra sharp cheddar and parmesan and 1/2 of a chile pepper. It was good, but maybe could have been a bit spicier. It definitely warrants more experimentation.

I like about 2 tbs of chopped, pickled jalapeno pepper in my mac 'n cheese. Adds just enough flavor and heat for my taste. Also use Havarti instead of cheddar now and then. Is that a heresy?

I like about 2 tbs of chopped, pickled jalapeno pepper in my mac 'n cheese. Adds just enough flavor and heat for my taste. Also use Havarti instead of cheddar now and then. Is that a heresy?

Heresy? You won't hear that from me. I like Havarti, and I bet it makes a good mac & cheese but I like really sharp cheddar in mine.

[Jenise]

I like about 2 tbs of chopped, pickled jalapeno pepper in my mac 'n cheese. Adds just enough flavor and heat for my taste. Also use Havarti instead of cheddar now and then. Is that a heresy?

Not in the slightest. I love the tangy sourness of Havarti, would use it myself!