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Archive for the ‘Mexican’ Category
I am tired today – even Tech Guy here at the office mentioned how tired I look. He’s a sweetheart, and as a Type II diabetic who struggles with his diet was quite sympathetic when I told him that although I’d tried very hard to eat right this weekend, we ate out so much that it knocked me all out of whack – Bob Evans and Cheesecake Factory don’t exactly do local and sustainable. I further botched things up last night; we stopped on a whim at our absolute favorite restaurant in Ohio. They do serve locally obtained, unprocessed food, but if you throw alcohol and dessert into the mix, well…
Cut me some slack – I’m paying for it this morning. (It sure was tasty, though.)
At any rate, I’m back on track today and will remain there until I’m seduced once again by the siren song of a four-star restaurant. Which doesn’t happen with any regularity, thank goodness.
So – pico de gallo. There’s some debate about the origins of the name, but it’s basically a fresh, uncooked salsa often served with Mexican dishes. It’s easy and delicious and has the added bonus of being extremely good for you, too. I don’t care much for cooked tomatoes, but I love them raw and this is one of my two favorite ways to eat them (I’ll get to the other way later in the summer when my own tomatoes ripen).
Note: Seed the jalapeños unless you like it really spicy.
Pico de Gallo
Pico de Gallo
makes 3 – 4 cups
2-3 medium sized fresh tomatoes, finely diced
1/2 red onion, finely diced
2 jalapeño peppers, finely diced
Juice of one lime
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste
Combine all of the ingredients except the salt and pepper in a medium sized bowl; taste and season. Let it sit, covered, for an hour or so at room temperature, to allow the flavors to combine.
Can be served as a condiment, side dish or as a dip with good quality tortilla chips.
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I think that I mentioned here recently that I’m a wee bit tired of beef. Don’t get me wrong, I love it but we’ve been eating quite a bit of it lately in our quest for some grass-fed, 100% pastured beef (which we found, but that’s a subject for another post). So there’s been a lot of chicken and pork and not enough fish on my table lately.
I think I’ve also mentioned before that Podunk isn’t the best place in the world to get Mexican food (there are “Mexican” restaurants here that give you a hunk of bell pepper wrapped in ground beef and deep fried when you order a chile relleno). Then there’s the fact that Mexican food isn’t exactly the best thing in the world if you’re reducing refined carbohydrates and grains in your diet.
However, there are Mexican dishes that are lovely and delicious and perfectly acceptable if you’re willing to bypass the rice and tortillas (or even if you’re not; if, unlike me, you can eat rice and tortillas without blowing up like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters, go for it I say). Carnitas is one of those dishes.
Carnitas literally means “little meats” in Spanish and is traditionally made from the rich, heavily marbled shoulder sections from the animal. It’s usually braised or simmered, then roasted briefly at high heat until the outside is brown and crisped, then shredded or cut into bite-size chunks. It’s usually served with lime wedges, cilantro, chopped onion and tomato, salsa, guacamole, refried beans and eaten with tortillas – and is absolutely delicious.
I made the process a little easier by putting a bone-in shoulder roast in the crock pot, then shredding and chopping it before roasting. Not quite traditional, but still quite good, especially served with homemade guacamole and pico de gallo (recipe to follow this week). The Young One ate his in tortillas, but Beloved wrapped his in lettuce leaves. I simply layered mine on the plate and ate it with a fork.
Whichever way you choose to eat it, it is delicious.
Carnitas
Carnitas
serves 6 to 8
3 to 4 pound bone-in pork shoulder roast (it might be labeled “boston butt roast”)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
about 1 cup water
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 or 3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup spicy salsa (any jarred variety is fine)
Rub the outside of the roast with the salt and pepper, then place in the crock pot. Pour the water around, but not over, the roast – you want to surround it, not cover it. Spread the onion and garlic over the top of the roast, then pour the salsa on top. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours, or until the pork is very tender.
Preheat the oven to 400º F. Carefully remove the roast from the crock pot, and shred the meat with two forks or cut into bite sized cubes (or both). Place the meat on a large, shallow baking pan and pour a little of the cooking liquid over it. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes, until the edges are brown and crispy.
Serve with lime wedges, cilantro, chopped onion and tomato, salsa, guacamole, refried beans and
tortillas, if desired.
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Well, it’s Monday in spades – I got into the office this morning and all hell just broke loose. So today’s post is going to be a quickie.
“Skillets” are popular at restaurants that serve breakfast; they usually consist of eggs and sausage and potatoes, along with other ingredients, that are all mixed together and cooked in the same skillet, then topped off with cheese (or even gravy) – they’re sometimes referred to as “scrambles.” They are quite popular here at the Sushi Bar, and are quite doable, even when doing a controlled carbohydrate diet.
We are also very fond of breakfast burritos, and every time I find real Mexican chorizo I buy it in large quantities and freeze it. Breakfast burritos in our house consist of tortillas (corn or flour – I prefer corn), fried potatoes, eggs scrambled with the chorizo, cheese and salsa. But since I’m not eating white potatoes or tortillas, I’ve made one of our favorite Sunday brunches into sort of a “skillet” using sweet potatoes instead of white. (Sweet potatoes are more nutritious, don’t screw with your blood sugar as much, and I just plain like ‘em better.)
This will make two generous servings, with plenty of the egg/chorizo combo left over for another meal, or for a 15-year-old boy who won’t eat sweet potatoes to devour with toast. You can, of course, use white potatoes and/or wrap it all up in tortillas if you wish.
Mexican Chorizo "Skillet"
Mexican Chorizo “Skillet”
two generous servings with leftovers
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1″ cubes
1/2 cup yellow onion, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons clarified butter or vegetable oil
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 pound spicy Mexican chorizo (in natural casings, if you can find it)
8 eggs
2 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 cup good quality salsa
Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil and add a teaspoon salt; add the cubed sweet potatoes and parboil for 3 to 4 minutes. Drain in a colander and run with cold water to stop the cooking process.
Heat a small, heavy skillet (I use cast iron) over high heat until nearly smoking; add the clarified butter or oil and wait for 15 seconds. Carefully add the sweet potatoes, season with salt and pepper, stir and lower the heat a bit to medium-high. Continue frying the potatoes for 8 to 10 minutes, until they are soft and beginning to brown. Decrease the heat to low and add the onion, continuing to cook while stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened and the potatoes have browned, another 2 or 3 minutes. Keep warm.
Heat another, larger, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Remove the chorizo from the casings and fry, breaking it up with a large spoon or spatula, until the fat has been rendered and it is just about cooked through. Lower the heat to medium-low.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs together until well mixed. Add to the skillet with the chorizo and cook, stirring frequently, until the eggs are set and the chorizo is cooked through.
Divide the sweet potatoes between two plates. Layer 1/4 of the egg/chorizo mixture, followed by half the shredded cheese and half the salsa on each plate. Serve immediately.
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Well, here we are! Welcome to the first recipe of 2010, and a new format (well, for me anyway) of presenting recipes. ‘Cause the whole food photography thing is beginning to become an obsession. I just hope you enjoy this as much as I do.
Anyhoo.
First, just let me apologize to a few people (most notably Jen, Michele and Erin): This recipe has pork in it. A LOT of pork. It is just chock-full of tasty pork goodness.
I was cruisin’ the net last week, wondering what to cook over the New Year’s holiday besides the requisite black-eyed peas (which turned out really well this year) and cornbread, when I came across this recipe for another “good luck” food, commonly eaten in the southwest as well as Mexico. And as I read it, my mouth began to water and I thought to myself, “Oh, I am SO makin’ that!” So I did, on New Year’s Eve.
And it was GOOD. Really, really good. Loaded with spices, flavorful chilies and chewy hominy, the first thing it made me think of was the menudo my former mother-in-law used to make rather frequently, without the nasty tripe and the awful smell the tripe made while cooking. (Let me just say, nasty tripe and awful smell aside, I like menudo. As long as I don’t have to smell it cooking or actually eat the tripe.) In fact, the posole smelled absolutely marvelous while it cooked – almost as good as it tasted.
The original recipe called for lime juice and cilantro, but the store was out of almost every fresh spice they carry (which will teach me to shop for something like this at the last minute on New Year’s Eve) and while I had the lime, I forgot to use it. Trust me, we didn’t miss it at all. In fact, the original recipe specified several things I couldn’t find here in Podunk – New Mexico chilies, ham hocks and Mexican oregano, for example – so I made several substitutions, none of which seemed to hurt the flavor at all. I served it with warm corn tortillas (it would probably go well with some good, hearty tortilla chips, as well) and Beloved loved it so much he called it a “new favorite.”
So, I guess I’ll be making it again. (It makes a lot, but reheats really well.)
Red Posole
serves 8
4 standard-size cans of hominy, drained
1 1/2 pounds lean pork, cubed
1 medium onion, diced
8 cloves of garlic, minced
8 slices premium, thick-sliced bacon, chopped and divided
4 cups of water
2 cans low-sodium beef broth
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons chile powder
5 large dried red chilies (I used ancho chilies)
Salt and pepper to taste
In a large Dutch oven, cook half the chopped bacon over medium-high heat until brown and almost crisp; remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel to drain. Lower heat slightly and add the chopped onion to the bacon fat in the pot; cook, stirring frequently, until soft – about 7 minutes. Add the cubed pork and cook, stirring frequently, until the pork is mostly browned. Add the garlic and cook for one minute more.
Pour the water and beef broth into the pot, and add all of the bacon (both the cooked and uncooked), the oregano, cumin, ground cloves and chili powder. Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat to a simmer and cover.
Heat a dry, cast iron skillet over high heat; one at a time, add the dried chilies, turning frequently, until flexible – take care not to burn them. While each chile is still flexible, cut off the stem and slit it lengthwise; remove the seeds. Add the seeded chilies to a bowl of very hot water and soak until soft, about 20 – 30 minutes. Reserve 1 cup of the water used to soften the chilies, then drain the chilies and add them and the reserved soaking water to a blender and process to a smooth puree. Stir the puree into the pot with the pork.
Continue cooking for another 1½ to 2 hours, until the pork is almost tender enough to be pierced with a fork. Add the drained hominy; taste and adjust the spices and add salt and pepper. Cook for another hour or so, or until the pork is fork tender.
Serve with chopped cilantro, lime wedges, sliced avocado and warm corn tortillas, if desired.
Yesterday was Father’s Day, so Beloved got whatever he wanted to eat. For breakfast I made him Eggs Benedict, and for dinner he got black beans, spoon bread and molé chicken enchiladas.
Molé refers to an often dissimilar group of sauces made throughout Mexico including Molé Rojo (red), Molé Amarillo (yellow), Molé Colorado (brown), Molé Verde (green) and Molé Negro (black), just to name a few. Molé is most often used to sauce chicken and many molé recipes include nuts, while Molé Negro often includes small amounts of unsweetened Mexican chocolate.
My molé is a colorado, or brown, molé, which is really more of a deep, brick red. It’s not hard to make, but is a bit time and labor intensive and does call for a couple of specialized ingredients, but if I can obtain them in Podunk, Ohio (not exactly a hotbed of Latin American cuisine) they shouldn’t be too terribly difficult to find in most urban or suburban areas.
The sauce uses ancho chilies, which are simply dried pablano peppers, and these are what gives it the deep, brick red color. It is not a terribly spicy dish, but it is a wonderfully rich and complex one. The original recipe calls for using a comal (a flat, cast-iron disk with a handle) to toast the chilies and garlic, but over the years I’ve come to handle all of the roasting, frying and cooking (in that order) in a 12-inch, well-seasoned, cast iron skillet. It certainly helps with the time factor, and gives you a lot less to clean up afterwards.
The original recipe also called for lard; for health reasons, I’ve substituted a non-hydrogenated vegetable oil. Also make sure you purchase the best quality corn tortillas you can find; many on the market are made with a corn powder, rather than a good stone-ground masa, and will disintegrate in the dish.
Tricia, you can leave the onions off of this. Elaine, this is egg free! Michele, I imagine a good TVP would make a nice, vegetarian filling for this. Janie, I’m sorry about the list of ingredients, and Jen – oops, this one ain’t real diet friendly. But it’s really, really good.
Molé Chicken
serves 6
12 corn tortillas
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups cooked and shredded chicken, kept warm
3 large ancho chilies
Hot water to cover
1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided
8 raw, unskinned almonds
1/2 large, very ripe plantain
2 medium tomatoes, broiled and cored
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 whole cloves
1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
1 large clove garlic, peeled
1 1/2 cups chicken broth, divided
3/4 cup queso fresco, crumbled
1/2 large red onion, chopped
Preheat the oven to 350 ° F.
Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat and lightly toast the chilies, turning them from time to time so they do not burn. While they are still pliable, slit them open and remove the stem, seeds and veins. Cover them with hot water and let them soak for about 15 to 20 minutes.
In the same skillet, toast the clove of garlic until golden brown, taking care not to burn it. Halve it, removing any green that may be in the center. Set aside.
Add 1 -2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil to the skillet and fry the almonds until they are well browned, stirring freuqently so they do not burn. Crush them slightly and set aside. Skin the plantain, slice it lengthwise and fry it until golden on both sides.
Place the plantains, almonds and broiled tomatoes into a blender or food processor and blend to a smooth puree; add a little water if necessary. Set aside.
Separately, blend the chilies with 1/2 cup of the water used to soak them, the spices and garlic to a smooth puree.
Heat another 2 – 3 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in the skillet and cook the chili puree on high heat about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the tomato/plantain mixture and then return to the heat, cooking for about 5 minutes on medium heat, stirring all the time so it does not stick; be careful, it can spatter about some.
Stir 1 cup of the chicken broth gradually into the sauce and continue cooking it for a minute or so. At this point you can strain it through a coarse sieve, but if you choose not to, that is fine; it will have a nice, rustic texture if left unstrained. Heat the sauce over low heat, salting to taste, and cook for another 15 minutes.
In a small skillet, heat the 1/2 cup vegetable oil but do not let it get too hot; place a tortilla into it for a few seconds – you want to soften the tortilla, not fry it. Gently remove the tortilla with a pair of tongs, letting the excess oil drop back into the pan, then lay it flat in a shallow glass baking dish. Cover the tortilla with a thin layer of the sauce, place some of the shredded chicken down the center, and roll it up, placing it seam side down. Repeat with the remaining tortillas, laying the enchiladas side by side, until the dish is filled.
Thin down the remainder of the sauce with the 1/2 cup of broth and pour it over the enchildadas. Sprinkle the surface with the cheese and onion.
TURN THE OVEN OFF. Place the dish of enchiladas in the oven, and let heat through for about 5 – 10 minutes.
Serve immediately.