peppers

A Very Southwestern Casserole – SRC

by Suzanne on June 9, 2013

A Very Southwestern Casserole

You know, sometimes it just reaches out and grabs ya!  Sometimes, well, it doesn’t so much. I have so much I want to say about this month’s Secret Recipe Club assignment of mine.  Sid from Sid’s Sea Palm Cooking has a great blog and so many recipes that when I started making my grocery list for all the recipes I wanted to make, it was going to take a day’s worth of shopping and a loan from the bank.  Just toooooo many to choose from. Until . . . . (Queue the theme from Jaws . . . .) It reached out and BIT me! This recipe has one of my favorite food things in a can – and there are not that many canned things that I like.  El Pato Sauce. Or Duck Sauce, as some of my friends have begun to call it.  You see, El Pato means “the duck” in Spanish.  El Pato Sauce is produced in the United States by Walker Foods, Inc. which has been in business since 1914. “The company holds several “firsts”! In addition to being the first to produce salsa in the United States it is also the first American salsa to be exported to Mexico, and the first, and largest user of Cascabel chiles in the world. Pure, natural ingredients are the hallmark of Walker Foods and they are all that are used in their salsas, chilies, vinegar’s and mustard. “El Pato” Mexican style hot sauce has been a staple of the Hispanic community, who has relied on it as a cooking base for over 80 years.” Why is it called El Pato?  Well, there seems to be no definitive answer for that, in case you were wondering.  I was. El Pato LOOKS like a tomato sauce, but with a LOT of flavor – and a little spicy.  But not too much. So, Sid had me at “Southwestern Casserole” and had me hog-tied at “El Pato Sauce”.  And just LOOK at all the colors in this dish!  Who could resist?!? That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it. Needless to say, Mountain Man and I LOVED this casserole!  Lots of flavor and all of them melding together like a great hand of bridge.  Or something like that. Would I do anything differently?  Well, I might add some black beans, which I think would be so perfect in this dish.  And I […]

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