Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Enjitomatadas

Recipe Source: Bayless, Rick. Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen. Scribner, New York, 1996 pp. 176-7

We entertain a lot here in Fearless-land, especially during the summer. When we entertain we never know how many people are going to join us or who they'll be. I try to always have a vegetarian entrée on hand just in case we have vegetarians. (Er… that's an entrée for the vegetarians to eat, not an entrée made from vegetarians. That would be a completely different website.) This was the vegetarian entrée for one Sunday open house. We didn't get any vegetarians, but these little enchilada-like parcels were extremely popular nonetheless.

I made a few changes. I had to use a combination of fresh tomatoes and canned for the sauce, for which I also used serranos instead of jalapenos (preference), olive oil instead of lard (food allergy), yellow onion instead of white onion (no white onions were available that week), and Lemony Vegetable Broth instead of chicken broth. I used whole wheat sandwich wraps for the tortillas because I have yet to find store-bought tortillas that work for me and a combination of feta cheese and Parnassos cheese for the filling. I used more cheese than called for in the original because the wraps were larger than the tortillas and I wanted to fill them.

Enjitomatadas (makes 12; approx. $1.96/ea.)

2 28-oz cans diced tomatoes

6 plum tomatoes, chopped

4 Serrano chilies, chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 ½ cups Lemony Vegetable Broth

12 whole wheat sandwich wraps

2/3 cup crumbled feta

Cilantro, for garnish

Equipment:

• Large saucepan
• Immersion blender
• Deep dish
• Baking sheet

1. Heat the oil in the saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add the onion and fry, stirring often, until the onion is browned.
3. Add the tomatoes and serranos. Increase the heat to high and cook 5 minutes.
4. Decrease heat to medium-low, add the broth and cook 20 minutes. Let cool, then puree with the immersion blender.
5. Preheat your oven to about 300 ̊.
6. Ladle out about ½ cup of sauce into a bowl.
7. Dip the wrap into the bowl so that both sides have a bit of sauce on them. Lay the wrap on a plate.
8. Put a bit of both cheeses down the middle of the wrap, leaving about an inch of space at the top and bottom.
9. Fold the top and bottom down, then fold the sides over until the parcel looks kind of like an enchilada. Transfer to the baking sheet and repeat with the remaining wraps.
10. Bake about 5 minutes, then remove from heat and transfer to a serving platter.
11. Spoon some of the sauce on top of the parcels. Add a little cilantro and pass the remaining sauce on the side.
12. Serve.

Recipe: Scallops a la Plancha

Recipe Source: Bayless, Rick.  Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen.  Scribner Press, New York, 1996 pp. 332-3

I made this recipe on a Friday night.  The weather was beautiful and I wanted to celebrate with what was really a very beautiful dish.  I think I served it with quinoa, although it might have just been a salad night.  At this distance who knows?  (I've been pretty lazy about writing up recipes lately and can barely remember what I've cooked sometimes!) 

I did make a few changes to this recipe.  I had to use drained canned diced tomatoes for the salsa, as tomatoes are not in season around here.  The recipe called for "3 - 5" serrano chiles.  Who are we kidding?  I used 5.  I increased the amount of garlic and the amount of cilantro and finally I used scallops instead of shrimp.  This was one suggested variation, but I would have made it anyway.  We were having shrimp later in the week and I didn't want to get bored with them. 

Scallops a la Plancha (serves 4; approx. $5.96/serving)

1 14-oz can diced tomatoes, drained

5 fresh serrano chiles, diced

6 garlic cloves, crushed

1 onion, finely diced

1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt

1 pound sea scallops

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 avocados, diced

1 tablespoon olive oil

about 1/3 bunch chopped fresh cilantro

Equipment:

• Large saute pan
• 2 bowl

1. Combine the tomatoes, chiles, garlic, onion and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a bowl.  Set aside.
2. Put the scallops in the second bowl.  Add 1 tablespoon of the lime juice, the remaining kosher salt and all of the pepper.  Let sit 30 minutes, no longer. 
3. Put the olive oil in the saute pan.  Heat over medium-high heat.
4. Add the scallops in a single layer.  Cook 2 - 2 1/2 minutes, then flip and finish cooking.
5. Evacuate the scallops to your serving platter.  Top with the salsa and then the avocados.  Sprinkle the remaining lime juice on top and then top with the cilantro.
6. Serve. 

Recipe: Kale and Mushroom Tacos

Recipe Source: Bayless, Rick.  Mexican Everyday.  W. W. Norton and Company, New York, 2005 pp. 215-218

I made this recipe recently as part of my efforts to prove that a vegetarian meal doesn't have to taste like cardboard.  While I did make a few... spontaneous changes... I'd say that I succeeded in my goal.  These tacos were pretty tasty (if I do say so) and the whole dish was easy to make.  It was made even easier by one of those changes.  The original recipe called for making the salsa when you cooked the meal.  I'd found a container of Salsa Verde that was left over from a recipe my husband made in the freezer.  I decided to use it, which certainly made my life easier. 

One of the spontaneous changes I made involved the dish itself.  You see, the name of the recipe is on page 215.  The ingredients and instructions - the important part of the recipe - were on page 217.  I was a little rushed when I was making this, and to make a long story short I didn't realize that these were supposed to be enchiladas.  Looking at the photo - on p. 216, so visible while I was cooking - would have set me straight, but whatever.  These worked as tacos. 

Other changes I made were an increase in the amount of mushrooms (the mushrooms came in a 10-oz package and I didn't want leftovers), substituting kale for spinach (we'd already had several spinach dishes that week and I wanted more variety), omitting the (optional) chicken, using these odd multi-grain tortillas instead of corn (because I've bee really unhappy with the corn tortillas I can get here), omitting the sugar, and using feta for the queso fresco (which was a suggested option so I shouldn't really describe it as a change.)  I'm pretty happy with all the changes I made, although the tortillas were a bit larger than called for and so the filling didn't come close to... well, filling them. 

Kale and Mushroom Tacos (serves 4; approx. $3.70/serving)

1 1/2 cups Roasted Salsa Verde (or store-bought)

1 tablespoon olive oil

10 ounces mushrooms, sliced (I like baby bella)

1 red onion, thinly sliced

1 bunch kale, stemmed and sliced

Pinch kosher salt

12 tortillas - I used these strange multi-grain tortillas but corn tortillas are more authentic

4 ounces crumbled feta

Equipment:

• Saute pan

1. Heat the oil in the saute pan over medium-low heat. 
2. Add the mushrooms and cook until they soften.
3. Add the onion and salt and continue cooking until the onion is translucent. 
4. Add the kale.  Cook until it starts to wilt.
5. Add the salsa.  Cook 1 - 2 minutes and remove from heat.
6. Add the cheese. 
7. Spoon 1/12 of the mixture into the middle of the tortillas. 
8. Serve.

Recipe: Turkey "Taquitos"

Recipe Source: Palazuelos, Susanna.  Mexico: The Beautiful Cookbook.  HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 1996 p. 36

I had originally intended to serve this to my family for our Christmas tree decorating party, but that didn't happen.  I guess I kind of overreached myself, because I had too much to do and not enough time to do it in.  I also was assured by my family - very firmly - that there was plenty of food on the table and that no one was going to go hungry.  I had already done part of the prep - cooking the turkey - so I had to do something with it quickly.  I decided to serve it to my husband later that week as dinner.

It's just as well that I didn't try to do this for the party.  The tortillas I bought simply didn't work.  I've had problems using this brand of corn tortilla before, and I think that I shall simply not use this brand anymore.  I decided that I needed to do something else with the filling ingredients, so I was getting all ready to make a fried rice type dish with it when my husband suggested that we eat these just like fajitas. 

It wasn't what I'd planned, but at least it used some of those nasty tortillas. 

Anyway, I made a couple of other changes.  I used turkey instead of pork or chicken.  I had bought a turkey breast for another purpose that never got made, so I had to use the turkey for something.  I also can't eat pork and strongly prefer turkey to chicken.  I increased the garlic as well, and I used a bunch of Grains of Paradise instead of black pepper.  (This was because I had whole Grains of Paradise on hand and no whole black peppercorns.)  I served it with some salsa and guacamole on the side, which are not included in the cost per serving. 

Turkey "Taquitos" (serves 8; approx. $2.44/serving)

2 lb boneless turkey breast, cut into cubes

4 tablespoons Grains of Paradise

5 garlic cloves, peeled

8 cups water

2 onions, chopped

6 tablespoons chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons olive oil

20 corn tortillas, warmed

Equipment:

• Large saucepan or Dutch oven
• Saute pan

1. Combine the turkey, Grains of Paradise and garlic in the large saucepan with the water and a pinch of salt, if desired.  (I didn't.) 
2. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and cook at least 35 minutes or until the meat is tender. 
3. Drain and shred the meat when it is cool enough to touch.  Set aside.  (Note: this can be done ahead of time and then stored for a few days in the refrigerator if need be.)
4. Combine the onions and cilantro. 
5. Heat the oil in the saute pan.  Add the onions and cilantro and cook gently until the onions begin to get soft. 
6. Add the turkey to the saute pan and cook until heated through. 
7. Serve with the warmed tortillas.  We used a commercial salsa and guacamole to serve as well. 

Recipe: Crusty Squash Casserole

Recipe Source: Bayless, Rick.  Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen.  Scribner Press, New York, 1996 pp. 224-5. 

This dish says that it serves 8 people as a side dish, and I'm not going to argue.  Had things turned out the way that they were supposed to, I'm sure that 8 people would have been no problem for this dish.  However, I decided to try to remove the dish from the oven with one hand.  This was not my brightest moment.  More than half of the casserole fell onto the ground.  This is why it looks such a mess in the picture, and not at all like a casserole. 

There were some other changes I made.  Most of them were procedural.  For example, the squash was originally supposed to be steamed, not roasted.  Unfortunately our steamer had an unfortunate meeting with open flame, and was no longer serviceable.  (It did burn quite nicely though!)  I roasted the squash instead.  There were a couple more changes like that.  Finally, despite trying three or four different markets, I could not find chayote, the type of squash called for in the recipe.  I made do with golden acorn squash instead.  Please don't ask me what the difference between a golden acorn squash and a very tiny pumpkin is.  I suspect that it's in the little pointy bit on the end, but I'm not a horticulturist. 

The resulting dish was okay.  It wasn't spectacular, but I think I was probably just in a snit because of the dropped casserole.  There weren't any leftovers, so my husband seemed to get a kick out of it at least. 

Crusty Squash Casserole (serves 8 if you don't drop it; approx. cost per serving $0.80)

3 1/2 lb golden acorn squash

8 ounces fresh poblano chiles

2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 white onion, thinly sliced

6 garlic cloves, crushed

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1 package frozen corn kernels (you can use fresh corn if it's in season.)

2/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon kosher salt

5 ounces grated Monterey Jack cheese

3/4 cup breadcrumbs

1/3 cup grated pecorino cheese

Equipment:

• Roasting pan
• Paper bag
• Skillet

1. Roast the poblanos under a broiler until charred on both sides.  Put them immediately into a paper bag and let them sit at least 5 minutes.  Peel and slice thinly.
2. Preheat your oven to 350. 
3. Peel and chop the acorn squash, discarding the seeds. 
4. Roast 15 minutes or so, until vaguely softened.
5. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in the skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook until browned.
6. Add the garlic, herbs and chiles.  Mix thoroughly. 
7. Add the corn and milk to the skillet and bring to a boil.
8. Add the salt. 
9. Sprinkle half the cheeses over the squash mixture, then top with the pan mixture.  Bake 20 minutes. 
10. Stir the remaining oil into the breadcrumbs.  Top the casserole with the crumbs and the remaining cheeses.  Bake another 15 minutes.
11. Let stand 15 minutes.  Serve. 

Recipe: Scrambled Egg Tacos

Recipe Source: Bayless, Rick.  Mexican Everyday.  W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2005 pp. 210-1

This is the recipe that justified my making the roasted tomatillo salsa I posted recently.  One frankly unpleasant side effect of pregnancy is fatigue; another is pain.  I find that I have to really pace myself on both or I wind up not capable of making dinner.  The thing is, I'm really bad at judging my own limits, especially when they keep changing every day.  As a result, while I will plan to cook at home pretty much every day, we find ourselves eating a lot more takeout than I'd like and throwing away more spoiled food than I'm comfortable with. 

When I was drawing up my menu for the week I tried to minimize that kind of waste.  I looked for foods that would keep beyond a couple of days - no meat or fish, since my postage stamp sized freezer can't accommodate more additions.  Eggs were a great idea, since they're always useful and will keep more than a few days.  Scrambled eggs might be a traditional breakfast food, but they make a great choice all day long. 

I made a few changes.  I increased the garlic and chiles, used canned tomatoes instead of fresh (since it was November), and omitted the cilantro (I had run out.)  The avocado I had was softer than was good for cutting, but was still tasty, so I mashed it instead with some lime juice.  I was less than thrilled with the corn tortillas I bought, but other than that this dish came out quite well. 

Scrambled Egg Tacos (serves 4; approx. $2.20/serving)

6 garlic cloves, peeled

3 fresh chiles (I used 2 cayenne and 1 serrano), cut into 3 - 4 pieces each

1 white onion, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 14-oz can diced tomatoes

8 eggs

1 pinch kosher salt

1 avocado, mashed

12 corn tortillas, warmed

3/4 cup Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Equipment:

• Food processor
• Skillet or saute pan

1. Start the food processor running.  Drop the garlic and chiles into the food processor one at a time, letting each piece get finely chopped before adding the next.
2. Add the onion, then pulse until the onion is very finely chopped.
3. Heat the oil in the skillet over medium heat. 
4. Add the onion and chile mixture and cook, stirring, until the mixture starts to brown.
5. Raise the heat slightly and add the tomatoes.  Cook until the tomato liquid evaporates, stirring frequently. 
6. Beat the eggs with the salt.  Add to the skillet and cook, stirring, until the eggs are done to your taste. 
7. Scoop into a serving bowl.  Serve with the avocado, salsa and tortillas alongside. 

Recipe: Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Recipe Source: Bayless, Rick.  Mexican Everyday.  W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2005 pp. 154 - 5

New England can be a funny place to be a gardener.  I'll assume that proper farmers have been doing it for generations, or at least decades, and often have degrees in the subject, but for those of us whose experience is limited to the backyard it's sometimes a very confusing place to be.  Last year we got no produce at all, except for two tomatoes and one hot pepper.  On the same plot of land this year we had bumper crops of everything except cucumbers.  We had a sudden frost that necessitated quick harvesting of everything outside, and then the weather got warm.  Suddenly, we found ourselves with a bumper crop of tomatillos. 

Now, this sudden crop of tomatillos was surprising for two reasons.  First, it showed up in mid to late November.  We don't expect to get anythingin November except goose droppings.  Second, it's not like tomatillos are a native New England crop.  We planted them more as an experiment - hey, we like these, let's give it a shot and see what we get.  I guess that there are other things that we ourselves grow, like tomatoes and hot chile peppers, that are native to more hospitable climates, but those have been bred for generations to tolerate our weather here.  Tomatillos only got to be trendy relatively recently, at least around here.  Why are we suddenly overrun with them?

Not that I'm complaining.  I love tomatillos and I love having fresh produce that I don't have to fight my way through crowds of self-entitled suburban housewives to get to.  And it's especially satisfying to have such a thing when you didn't expect to get anything at all - kind of like Christmas a month early, really.  To use them, I decided to make a Rick Bayless dish that called for a roasted tomatillo salsa.  Now, I could have bought a salsa verde in a jar, and I'm quite fond of the Frontera brand for that sort of thing.  But salsa from a jar cost something like $4.39 or something like that the last time I bought it.  You'll note that, since the tomatillos were for free, the cost per ounce was much lower!  I doubled the quantity so that I could use up more of the tomatillos, freezing what was left over. 

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa (makes about 24 ounces; approx. $0.12/ounce)

16 ounces tomatillos, husked, rinsed and halved (this is about 8 tomatillos)

6 garlic cloves, peeled

4 chili peppers (I had chiles we grew ourselves, but they were unlabeled.  I think there were two serrano and one cayenne.)

2/3 cup roughly chopped cilantro

1 white onion, finely chopped

Kosher salt to taste

Equipment:

• Blender
• Saute pan

1. Put the tomatillos and the garlic into your saute pan, cut side down. 
2. Brown over medium-high heat until the tomatillos are well browned, then turn over and brown the other side.  The tomatillos should be quite soft, and you'll be surprised at how much they shrink.  At least, I was surprised by how much they shrank.
3. Pour the tomatillos, garlic and accumulated juices into the blender.  Add the chiles, cilantro and 1/4 cup water.
4. Process to a puree. 
5. Add the onions to the salsa, pour into a serving bowl and serve. 

Recipe: Molettes

Recipe Source: Milton, Jane with Jenni Fleetwood and Marina Filippelli.  The Food and Cooking of Mexico, South America and the Caribbean.  Anness Publishing, London, 2009 p.116

I made these for a recent Sunday dinner.  They might have been the easiest dish in the whole world.  If the original recipe wasn't simple enough, I simplified it even more by offering purchased bottled salsa instead of making it myself.  I did this for a simple reason: my husband and I like food, including salsa, that would make your hair stand on end.  Many of our usual guests prefer milder foods, and some of them actually consider black pepper to be dangerously hot.  (We like them anyway.)  At any rate, offering two types of salsa and letting people determine how much of which to use resolved the capsaicin issue. 

I will also point out that this was the recipe for which we originally made the Sandwich Rolls that we posted a few weeks ago.  I did not use them when I finally got around to making this dish.  They were too good!  They would have had to be made ahead of time, and that would have resulted in our eating the rolls plain, filling ourselves up, being too full to function and having nothing to offer our guests.  We used store-bought rolls this time. 

Molettes (serves 8; approx. $1.90/serving)

12 rolls, split

2 ounces olive oil

2 14-oz cans refried beans

10 ounces grated cheddar cheese

Around 8 ounces salsa to serve, whatever kind of salsa you prefer (or mix it up)

Equipment:

• Saucepan
• Baking sheet
• Pastry brush

1. Brush the crumb sides of the rolls with the olive oil.
2. Remove a little bit of the crumb from the rolls to make a hollow spot. 
3. Preheat your broiler.
4. Broil the rolls until crisp and golden.  Watch carefully so they don't burn - the original recipe gave a time of 5 minutes, but every broiler is different.  Remove from the broiler, but leave it running.
5. Heat the beans over low heat in the saucepan.
6. Fill the little hollow spot in the rolls with the beans, then top with the grated cheddar. 
7. Broil until the cheese is melted. 
8. Serve warm, with salsa to serve to taste on the side. 

Recipe: Fish Enchiladas

Recipe Source: Bayless, Rick.  Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen.  Scribner, New York, 1996 pp. 174 - 5

When I was planning my weekly menu recently, I found myself craving Mexican food.  Naturally, I turned to Rick Bayless for inspiration.  I wanted something a little more unique than the ubiquitous burrito - which has its place, of course.  I found what I was looking for in this dish. 

There were a few changes.  The original called for certain types of fish, generally more substantial than I had.  I decided to use trout fillets instead.  I love trout.  Not only does it have a clean, fresh flavor, but it makes me think of my dad, and anything that makes me think of Dad has got to be good.  I increased the garlic, and I used my Lemony Vegetable Broth for the "fish or chicken" broth called for.  I used Greek fat-free yogurt in place of the sour cream, as a matter of preference, and where the recipe called for cheese I used feta (because that's what I had available.)  Finally, I omitted the radishes.  It was the first game of a Red Sox-Yankees series and I was not going to miss one minute of it, thank you very much.  I have my priorities. 

The game, which I managed to sit for with literally half a second to spare, is responsible for the poor quality of the photo.  I rushed.  Sorry.  I probably could have saved some time by using jarred sauce - Frontera Grill makes a great salsa verde - but I didn't think of it at the time. 

Trout Enchiladas with Tomatillo Sauce (serves 4; approx. $4.23/serving)

9 tomatillos, husked and rinsed

2 fresh serrano chiles

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 white onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1 1/2 cups Lemony Vegetable Broth

1 potato, diced

8 or more corn tortillas

1/4 cup fat-free Greek yogurt

1/3 cup cilantro, chopped

3 tablespoons crumbled feta

Equipment:

• Broiler pan
• Saucepan
• Skillet
• Colander
• Food processor
• Steamer
• Kitchen towel

1. Put the tomatillos and chiles on the broiler pan.  Broil 10 minutes or until softened on both sides, turning once.
2. Transfer to the food processor and process until chunkily pureed.
3. Heat 1/2 tablespoon of the oil in a skillet.  Add half the onion and cook until browned, about 10 minutes.
4. Add the garlic.  Cook 1 minute more.  Transfer the contents to the food processor, which should still have the tomatillo puree, and process until finely pureed. 
5. Add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon olive oil to the skillet.  Heat over medium-high heat.
6. Add the puree and stir 5 minutes, until "darker and thicker." 
7. Add the broth, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
8. Put the fish in the saucepan with water to cover.  Simmer 5 - 10 minutes.  Evacuate with a slotted spoon and set aside.
9. In the same pan, with the same water, boil the potatoes until tender. 
10. Return the fish to the pan and mix gently with the potatoes and 1/2 cup of the salsa.  Set aside.
11. Set up the steamer however your steamer works.  Wrap the tortillas (use extra in case of breakage) in a kitchen towel.  Put them in the steamer and leave it boiling 1 minute.  Turn off the heat and let stand 15 minutes.
12. Carefully spoon some of the fish mixture into the middle of a tortilla.  Fold it gently and set it, seam side down, on the serving platter. 
13. Repeat for the remaining tortillas and fish. 
14. Mix the yogurt into the salsa, then top the enchiladas with the salsa, the cheese and the cilantro.
15. Serve.

Recipe: Zucchini Torte

Recipe Source: Milton, Jane.  Mexican.  Anness Publishing, London, 2002 p. 187

When I was planning the menu for our medieval dinner up in Maine, I intended to make a zucchini dish that dated back to 10th century Baghdad.  I decided at the last minute to scrap that dish, because of my husband's concerns about the zucchini "getting soggy" and because I ran out of time and energy.  This worked out fine - there was more than enough vegetable-type food on the table at the event - but it left me with a pile of zucchini in my fridge and not a whole lot to do with it.  I found a couple of recipes (from the same source - sorry!) that would work with minimal additional cost and decided to serve one of them for the Sunday open house.

I did not make many changes to the dish.  I greased the pan with cooking spray instead of butter, mostly to avoid having a spare lump of butter lying around.  I used olive oil instead of vegetable oil, because we always use olive oil.  When the option was given to use Cheddar or Monterey Jack, I used Jack. I didn't have self-raising flour, nor could I find self-raising flour, so I added a generous tablespoon of baking powder.  I did that not based on any kind of scientific reasoning, but because it sounded sort of reasonable and I couldn't think of another option at the time.

I can't tell you how this dish came out because I don't know.  I didn't get any!  We got more people than expected for our open house, and by the time that I was able to stick my head out of the kitchen it was all gone.  I will interpret this as a Good Sign, though, and assume that means it was good!  Note that this dish absolutely insists on being made ahead, but the original recipe really cautioned against refrigerating it.

Zucchini Torte (serves 8; approx. $0.94/serving)

1 1/4 lb zucchini

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion

3 fresh jalapeno chiles, cut into very thin strips

3 eggs

1/2 cup flour

1 generous tablespoon baking powder

1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Kosher salt to taste

Equipment:

• Large skillet
• Slotted spoon
• Large mixing bowl
• 9" baking dish

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Slice the zucchini into thin rounds. 
3. Beat the eggs well in the mixing bowl, then add the cheese, cayenne, flour and baking powder.
4. Heat the oil in the skillet.  Saute the zucchini rounds until they are lightly browned.
5. Evacuate the zucchini to the mixing bowl using the slotted spoon.  Add the onions and MOST of the jalapeno slices to the skillet - reserve a few slices for the garnish.
6. Cook the onions until they are softened and golden.  Use the slotted spoon to evacuate the onions and jalapenos to the mixing bowl. 
7. Mix the contents of the mixing bowl well.  Season with salt to taste.
8. Lubricate your baking dish with your lubricant of choice, then spread the contents of the mixing bowl into the dish.
9. Bake 30 minutes, until risen and firm to the touch.  Serve at room temperature.