Santa Fe - mostly all about food

Monday, October 10, 2016

Had to be sure to wake up on time this morning!  Jane is going to school!  Taking a class at the Santa Fe School of Cooking!  About 10 years ago I took a class here during a trip out the Santa Fe Trail when Ben was taking a week long class at Philmont – the national Boy Scout camp about 100 miles north of Santa Fe.  So when it was clear we would be in Santa Fe I checked to see what classes might be available.  Going to learn all about Rellenos.  So breakfast and Ben delivered me to the new location on Guadalupe Street.  It was really only about a mile from our hotel.

Rellenos are chili peppers of any variety stuffed with anything and cooked anyway – most people think only of the cheese stuffed Anaheim peppers that are deep fried – oh they are so much more!  Our class was a participatory one with 16 people from all over the country and one guy from Australia.  Only 2 of the participants were from the Santa Fe area.  My partner for the day was a gal from Wyoming that was here in Santa Fe visiting her sister.  Another small world experience – the hostess for the class was originally from Roan Mountain!

Our teacher was a world traveler chef – having been on staff here before, chef at a local restaurant, chef at a restaurant in New York City, and spent several years in Dubai organizing a Southwestern Cooking School there.  Interesting guy – our assignment for the morning was to prepare 4 different types of Rellenos.  Chilies Rellenos, Ancho Chilies Rellenos with Chipotle Tomato Sauce, Cream Cheese stuffed Jalapeno and Chilies en Nogada.  We were divided into groups to work on each and all helped where needed.  I primarily worked on the Chilies en Nogada which were Poblano chilies with a beef filling and a walnut cream sauce. 

My partner from Wyoming and Chef

Class hard at work

Our two leaders - Chef and sou chef

Chef's plate our creations

Cream Cheese stuffed Jalapenos

top - Chilies Rellenos  lower left -Chilies en Nogada and lower right - Ancho Chilies Rellenos with Chipotle Tomato Sauce 

It was great fun, I learned a lot, and then we got to eat one of each type – wow it was all great and I left stuffed.  They also have a nice retail shop and of course I did not get out without buying a few things!

Ben had spent the morning on the computer I think, seeing what all his Free Republic associates thought about the Presidential Debate and making plans and reservations for our 4 day return to TN on 1-40. Our camping nights are over and we will plan to drive about 400 miles per day to get home….so motels at stated spots makes us meet our objective!

Jane wanted to make a stop at a local grocery to buy some ingredients that just are not as available in TN.  Found a nice Albertson’s not too far away.  Then we drove up towards Taos for the views and to charge up the battery – we still use the refrigerator in the Sprinter and it runs from the extra battery we have installed.  It keeps the refrigerator and lights in the camper portion running even if we do not have “shore” power but you have to drive some to keep the second battery charged. 

One of numerous decorated overpasses on highway

We then did some research on a restaurant for dinner.  There are so many choices 400+ in Santa Fe!   We really wanted something besides Southwestern and Mexican cooking for a change – we settled on The Ranch House which it turns out is #2 in Santa Fe.

Jane's Cobb Salad

Ben's steak

Jane posted the blog for the past 2 days and then we headed out to The Ranch House.  It was about 5 miles out of city center south.  They had perfect selections for us – Ben wanted a small steak and Jane wanted a good salad.  Ben had a sirloin, Jane had a Cobb Salad, and we shared some spinach and artichoke dip with really great chips.