Mexican Party [Tom & June]

                                                            CARNE ASADA TACOS

             Cinco de mayo is appoaching quickly. Here are 3 recipes to make your party fun.
                                                           


Marinade
4 Cloves Garlic – minced
1 Jalapeno (or Serrano) chili pepper – seeded and minced
1 tsp Ground Cumin (fresh or dried)
1 large handful Fresh Cilantro, leaves & stems, finely chopped
Kosher salt & pepper
2 Limes, juiced
2 Tbsp White Vinegar
½ tsp Sugar
½ cup Olive oil 

Other Ingredients

2 Lbs Flank or Skirt Steak

8 Flour Tortillas
See Pico de gallo recipe below 

                                                                            

Put steak in baking dish or large baggie. Combine marinade ingredients and pour over steak. Refrigerate 1-4 hours.  (It is even better if it marinates a day or two!!)

Preheat grill to medium heat. Grill steak until desired doneness. Remove to cutting board & let rest for 5 minutes.  Cut steak into small bite-size pieces.

Serve on warm flour (or corn if you prefer) tortillas. Easiest to warm is to microwave – can do several at a time - cover with a damp paper towel & microwave for 30 seconds.  Fill tortilla with carne asada.  Add your choice of toppings – pico de gallo, cilantro, salsa, cheese, jalapenos, avocado.

Pico de gallo – equal parts of chopped onion, cilantro, tomato.  Add Serrano or Jalapeno if desired.

   

Chicken Enchiladas [Tom & June]

You will need:

Shredded cooked Chicken (we use 4 half breasts – grilled)                                                        

Ingredients:
2 cans Enchilada Sauce

1/8 cup finely Chopped Onion

3 tablespoons finely Chopped Cilantro

8 Corn Tortillas

Shredded Cheese (we buy a 4-cheese Mexican mix cheese – might not be available everywhere)

Pour ½ can of the enchilada sauce in a 8 x 8 (or approximate) pan.  Mix remaining ½ can enchilada sauce, onion, chicken, cilantro and ½ of cheese.  You can make individual enchiladas or make a layered casserole.

1. Take a tortilla and fill with filling, roll up and place in dish.  

     2. Or, place a layer of tortillas over sauce, spread a layer of filling on top and repeat until all is used up.

Top with enchilada sauce, spread cheese on top and bake approximately 30 minutes or until heated.

Chili Relleno [Tom & June]

Cinco de mayo is approaching soon. This is one of three recipes for your Mexican party. We decided not to deep fry like most recipes do. This is fairly simple using some ready made ingredients.

Chili Relleno for 8

Shopping List:
~ 8 Cubano Peppers
~ 1/2 cup Flour
~ 18 ounces canned Enchilada Sauce
~ 1/2 cup Milk
~ 3 Egg Whites
~ 1/8 teaspoon of each Salt and Pepper
~ 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
~ 1 Brown Paper Bag
~ 8 oz. shreded or sliced Montery Jack Cheese

Prepare the Peppers:

Wash the peppers, towel dry. Lightly brush the peppers with oil. Set half the oil on the side.
Grill on a medium flame careful not to burn. Turn until a bit charred on all sides and softened.
Remove from the grill and place the peppers in a brown paper bag. Close the bag for 15 minutes. Remove the peppers and start to remove the charred outer skin if cooled enough to the touch. Make a slit lengthwise on one side and remove the seeds. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, brush a sheet pan with oil. The photo below shows the flank steak being grilled for our next recipe as well as the cubanos.
                                                                       

The Coating:

In a large bowl beat the egg whites, add the milk and beat in for a wash. Pour the flour in a flat dish combining the salt and pepper and mix. Place each pepper in the wash, then in the flour to coat. Lay the peppers on the sheet pan and bake for 15 minutes or until coating becomes firm.
                                                                       

                                                            
Baking:

Lightly coat the bottom of a 9" x 13" baking dish with 6 oz. of the enchilada sauce. Lay the peppers in the baking dish. Spoon the remainder of the enchilad sauce over the peppers. Place the cheese on top. Cover with foil. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Beer Battered Mexican Fish Tacos [Zack]

I don't cook fish very often.  I like it, but never really prefer it over a veggie or meat dish.  So I can say that my wife knows me pretty well judging by the note she left me (click to enlarge):

Since I was cooking for myself and I had some leftover guacamole and tortilla shells, I figured I'd try to beer batter the white fish.  You know, make it healthy.

The beer batter is extremely simple to make.  You pour everything into a bowl and stir it.  If it's slightly thinner than pancake batter, you're ready to coat something with a delicious crunchy armor.  The bubbles in the beer and the baking soda make the coating very light and crispy.  The cumin and paprika give it a nice Mexican flavor and color.

Process:

Gather your beer batter ingredients:

Slice your fish into finger-sized strips.  I cut against the grain so it flakes once cooked.  Make sure you check for small bones in your fish (if you find some, needle-nose pliers or tweezers can pull them out without damaging the flesh).

Prepare your beer batter:  pour the flour, beer, baking soda, salt, and seasonings into a bowl.

If you have whole cumin seeds, you can grind them with the mortar and pestle.  I like the flavor better :)

Whisk together to combine everything, but don't over-mix it - you'll beat out all of the bubbles in the beer.  It should be similar to a thin pancake batter.

Ready any garnish that you need for your tacos and heat up your pan on medium heat.  Also, warm your taco shells up.  For garnish, I chose to have guacamole, sliced tomatoes, sliced onions, cilantro, and a splash of lime juice.  You can always add sriracha too....

Add enough oil to the pan to coat the bottom with 1/4 of an inch of oil.  Let the oil heat up - you will know it's ready when you stick the handle of a wooden spoon in it and it bubbles quickly.

Toss your fish fillets in the beer batter and gently place them in the oil.  Cook them the same way you would cook pancakes (wait until the bottom browns around the edges, then flip!)

Once both sides are golden brown, take them out of the pan and transfer to a plate covered with a paper towel to absorb the excess oil.

Put the fish fillets directly into the taco or tortilla shells, garnish, and serve quickly while they are still warm.

Ingredients (makes about 5 tacos):
2 filets of white fish
3/8 cup flour
1/2 cup beer
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp of salt
sprinkle of paprika
sprinkle of cumin powder

Taco shells or tortillas

optional toppings:
sliced tomato
sliced onion
guacamole
lime wedges
cilantro
sour cream
tomato salsa
etc

Song to fry to:  Jamie Lidell - You naked:

Pulled Lamb Shoulder Carnitas V2 [Zack]

"Lamb Carnitas" have been the most popular keywords in a Google search that have led people to Mama Tommy's blog.  This only slightly edges out the keywords "bang bang sex", which leads to my mom's Bang Bang Shrimp post.  I still don't understand how someone looking for bang bang sex gets distracted and clicks on a picture of shrimp (or I don't even understand what bang bang sex means), but there are more important things to ponder in life.

This second version is easier than my first Lamb Carnitas post.  You don't need to confit the cubed shoulder, you just brown the whole sucker in a pot, and then let it roast in a covered vessel for about 6.5 hours.  The meat will fall apart with just one stern look at it when it comes out of the oven.

The savory, juicy pulled lamb is accompanied with a fresh tomato salsa that brightens up your tacos.  It will make your taco pop!

Process:

Arrange your ingredients for roasting the lamb shoulder.

Start a large oven-proof pot over medium heat.  You will brown your shoulder in here.  Loosely chop your big red peppers, slice your spicy peppers, and chop your onions.

Salt each side of the lamb shoulder and add it to the pot with 1T of oil.  Brown all sides of the shoulder, then add your whole cumin seeds, whole unpeeled garlic cloves, and your chopped veggies.  Stir it all around for a few minutes until you can smell the cumin and the veggies develop a bit of color.

Add in your chicken stock and then dust the lamb shoulder with your cumin and coriander powder.

Cover your pot and add it to your oven at 250F / 125C.  Let this roast for 6 hours or so, and then poke it with a knife to see if the meat falls apart.  I decided to pull mine at 6.5 hours, but it's not a science.

I placed the whole pot into the fridge and let it sit covered overnight (yes I added a 2nd shoulder because I wanted to make a lot and freeze it).  It's not necessary to let it sit - you can go straight to the shredding step if you can't contain yourself.

The next day, the fat had solidified on the top of the liquid and I scraped off the the fat with a spoon.

Shred the lamb with your fingers or a couple of forks.

Don't waste the valuable tasty liquid!  Heat it up and reduce it down a bit.  Puree the mixture until it's a smooth sauce.  You can use a tablespoon of this to add juiciness to the lamb (after cooking it in the frying pan).  Also, you'll have sauce more left over - this is a great sauce for pasta, use it as a base for a soup, be creative - go nuts!

Now, it's time to prep your salsa.  

Lightly chop the tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers (de-seeded if you want to cut down on the heat), and cilantro.  Toss it all in a food processor with 1.5T of red wine vinegar, and puree until chunky.  Add a pinch of salt.

In a frying pan over medium heat with 1T to 2T of oil, add in the lamb and cook until parts of it  become crispy and brown.  This should take about 5 minutes.  Add in 1T of the sauce if you want right before taking it off the heat.

Spoon it into a nice tortilla, top with salsa, cilantro, and maybe some fresh avocado.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2.5 lb / 1.1kg lamb shoulder
2 onions
1c chicken stock
1T cumin powder
1T coriander powder
1T whole cumin seeds
3 birdseye chiles, sliced in half
6 whole garlic cloves
a few tortillas
a few cilantro leaves for garnish
1 avocado (optional)

Salsa:
4 finger-hot peppers
1 handful cilantro
1 medium red onion
1 large or 2 medium tomatoes
1.5 T red wine vinegar


Song:  Jamie Cullum - Wind Cries Mary (cover of Jimi)

Firey Chipotle Beef and Bacon Enchiladas [Zack]

Happy July 4^th! 

I have a weird tradition with my friends that we cook Mexican food to celebrate holidays.  This recipe is what Pete, Lauren, and I are preparing tonight to celebrate July 4^th remotely.  If you’re tired of the traditional burger, give these spicy enchiladas a shot!

Overall, Belgium has really great food and I don't miss too many meals from the US. There are two main things that I do occasionally crave, a freshly-ground cheeseburger and good Mexican food. When  I fancy one of the two, my only option is to cook it myself.

This enchilada recipe is not meant to be a traditional recipe. This is my interpretation of what Enchiladas are to me. The bacon and the chipotle peppers add a smokey and spicy kick to the rolls that really make these special.

Process:

Here is a picture of the ingredients you will need.  I included the "less spicy" amount of chipotle peppers, but feel free to make it as spicy as you can handle!

Dice one whole onion. You are going to use half of it for the chopped beef and bacon, and the other half for the smoky salsa.

Hand-chop your beef and bacon until it is in roughly 1/8 inch cubes. The meat doesn't have to be exactly uniform (that's part of what makes this fun) and make sure you don't over-chop it into a mush.  

Place it in a bowl and add 1tsp cumin, 1tsp onion powder, ½ of the diced onion, 1tsp hot sauce, a pinch of salt, and an optional chopped chipotle pepper.

Let this sit for a while until you are ready to cook it (if it's going to sit longer than 30 mins, put it back in the fridge).

Start 2 saute pans over medium heat. Slice your 2 onions and 2 peppers into moons. Toss them into a sauté pan over medium heat with 1T of olive oil and cook for about 8 minutes until they soften and caramelize a bit.

 
In the second sauté pan, cook your beef mixture through - this should take about 8 minutes as well. Put both the veggies and the beef aside and continue working on the rest.

For your tomato salsa to top the enchiladas, grab a sauce pot and place it over medium heat. Put the remaining ½ of your diced onion in the pot with 1tsp of olive oil. Dice your 2 tomatoes and 2 chipotle peppers, and add them to the sauce pot. Add 1.5 T of hot sauce as well. Let it simmer for 10 minutes. You can also add 1T of sriracha for an additional kick!

Once that is reduced, you have all of your ingredients ready to get rollin. Start your oven preheating at 400F / 200C.

Place a tortilla shell on a flat surface and add the beef mixture in a line down the center. Add the sauted onions and peppers on top, 1tsp of the tomato salsa, and a splash of sriracha if you are feelin cray cray (you know if it's Pete and me cooking, it's going to happen).

Roll everything up into a tube and place it in a large baking dish. Once you have filled the dish with the rolls, brush them with 1T of olive oil and bake them for about 5 minutes. You want the top crispy, but not dark brown.

Take the dish back out of the oven, cover the tops with the tomato salsa, and then cover everything with a nice layer of cheese. Bake until the cheese melts and everything is cooked through.  Top with some cilantro and serve!

Ingredients (serves 4):
1.1lbs of beef (.5kg) either ground, or a whole piece to be chopped later
1/4lb bacon (100g)
6 tortilla shells
2 T olive oil
5 canned chipotle peppers in adobo (less spicy =3)
2T sriracha (optional)
2.5T of hot sauce
1 tsp cumin
1/2 cup Emmental or another melty cheese
3 medium onions, sliced into moons
2 colorful peppers, sliced into moons
2 medium tomatoes

1 small handful of cilantro

Creativity options:

• Make a green salsa to add to the filling (jalapenos, onion, garlic, cilantro)
• Go greek and use ground lamb and top with a creamy feta sauce
• Use pulled pork and make a green salsa for the top
• Go all-veg and use something like eggplant (aubergine)

Song:  Hugh Coltman - On my hands

Healthy Brunch Quesadilla [Tom]

This is a quick and easy Breakfast or Brunch.

What you will need:

1/4 cup diced onion
1/4 cup diced bell pepper
1/4 cup diced ham
1/4 cup shredded cheddar/jack cheese
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons milk
2 whole wheat tortillas
Salsa
Light sour cream
Cooking spray
A pinch of salt and pepper

Spray 2 frying pans with cooking spray. Heat one pan for the eggs.
Beat the 2 eggs and milk together
Saute the onion and pepper for 4 minutes until tender.
Stir in the ham and cook for 2 more minutes.
Pour the egg mixture in the pan to make an omelet. Heat the 2nd pan to medium low heat. Place one of the tortillas in the 2nd pan. When cooked to your desired taste, place omelet on the tortilla. Add the cheese and then place the second tortilla on top of the omelet and cheese. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes and then carefully turn over the tortillas and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
Serve with salsa and sour cream.

Enjoy.

Flounder with Pineapple Salsa [Tom]

Two servings ~ Easy to prepare ~ Ready in 20 minutes

You will need for the flounder and coating:

2 - Flounder fillets
4 - tbspns Wondra flour
1/8 - tpsns Cumin
1/8 - tspns Chili powder
1/8 - tspns Dried Oregano
2 - tbpsns Vegtable oil

You will need for the salsa:

1/4 - Cup Pineapple chunks canned or fresh
1 - tbspns Diced red onion
1/8 - Cup Diced green peppers
2 - tspns Fresh chopped cilantro
1 - tbspns Lime juice
1/2 - tspns Diced or minced jalapeno or other hot pepper
Dash - Salt and Pepper
2 - sliced scallions

Mix all the salsa ingredients in a small bowl except for the scallions and refrigerate.
Save the scallions to dress the dish at the end.

Heat the 2 tbspns of oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
Place and mix all the dry coating ingredients on a plate.
Coat both sides of the fillets and fry turning the fillets only once after 2 minutes. Cook 2 minutes on each side or until golden.

We served the fillets over yellow rice with peas. Add the salsa either on top or on the side.

Smokey Chipotle Chicken Tacos [Zack]

If you have ever played a video game system such as SNES or Sega Genesis, you will undoubtedly know about the Game Genie.  For the un-anointed, it’s a cartridge that you can plug into the gaming system that allows you to use cheat codes to make the games a lot easier.  As a child, it was fun to totally dominate a game every once in a while.  As this website progresses, I’m going to start including cooking tips that I consider a “Game Genie” cheat for cooking.  These will be simple items that you can add to your dish that will make it fail-proof and amazing.

I consider canned Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce a “Game Genie” for grilling and Mexican cooking.  The addition of a few peppers to your recipe adds depth, spice, and a smoky note to your dish.   I have used these peppers with great success in marinades for many grilled items: steak, shrimp, and sometimes a whole chicken.  You can even add the chopped chipotle peppers to salsas for a nice smoky kick. 

Most major grocery stores are starting to carry the peppers now, but if you can’t find them, try to find a Spanish or Mexican supermarket.  They don’t have the cans in Europe, so I have guests smuggle them in when they come to visit as "payment" for room and board.

Below is my favorite recipe for chicken tacos.  Instead of using the Taco Bell spice mix from your grocery store, you should try this recipe.  It’s not much harder to pull off, but is miles better in my opinion.

Process:

Dice the pancetta, onions, and cube the chicken thighs and add it all to a bowl.  

Add in 3 chopped chipotle peppers.

Add your dry spices: cumin powder, coriander powder, garlic powder, black pepper, and Adobo seasoning.  Stir to combine everything and let it marinade in your fridge for 30 minutes up to a few days.

Make your guacamole.   Prep the other taco ingredients - this is as simple as dicing an onion, dicing the cilantro, and cutting a lime or two into wedges.

Start a frying pan on medium-high heat and let it heat up.  While it is heating up dice a red onion, some cilantro, and slice up a lime for garnishing.  Add in olive oil or canola oil (your choice) and then saute your chicken until it is cooked through.  It should take about 6 minutes.

To assemble your tacos, warm up the soft taco shells, add the chicken, diced onion, cilantro, and guacamole.  Squeeze a lime wedge on top, grab a cold beer, and enjoy!   

Ingredients:

3 chipotle in adobo peppers finely chopped plus sauce from the can

1 small red onion

10 slices pancetta or 3 slices bacon

4 chicken thighs (or 2 breasts) chopped into bite-sized pieces

1 T cumin powder

1 T corriander powder

1 T garlic powder

1 T adobo seasoning (or seasoned salt)

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Garnishes:

Handful of chopped cilantro
1/2 diced red onion
a few limes cut into wedges

Guacamole

A good taco-cookin song:  D’angelo – Spanish Joint

Party Guacamole [Zack]

I'm not sure whether pounding spices in a mortar and pestle actually enhances the flavors in a dish. In my mind, a pesto pops more and guacamole is more intense when the ingredients are pounded. I haven’t read a definitive study proving that you get superior flavors, so let's assume that I’m imagining it.  Who cares? Your guests will love your guac presentation in the mortar and the placebo effect has never tasted better.

Guacamole is one of my favorite things to make.  I like mine to have a lot of flavor with a big back-end of spice.  Once you get a hang of balancing the tastes, you will find it’s very easy to make.  My buddy Mike Kelley and I have extensively tested this recipe by making multiple batches at multiple parties.  It was really tough work, but we ended up with a very good guacamole and Mike ended up getting a mortar and pestle solely for guac production.  It has become an unwritten rule that whenever Mike shows up to a party and people are bringing food, he will show up at the party with this guac recipe in his hands.

You can make this in a bowl, but it's much more fun in a mortar and pestle. 

Process:

Pour a cold beer into a glass.

Below is a picture of all of the ingredients you will need.  I omitted the jalapeno for the pic, but you should add it if you can handle the heat.

First, get your 2 garlic cloves and put them on a flat surface.  To peel them, lay the broad side of a knife on top of the cloves and then hit the knife with your fist to smash the cloves.  They are really easy to peel then.  Take a sip of beer.  Put the garlic in the mortar and add 1 T of coarse sea salt and 1 tsp of whole black peppercorns.  The salt will help you grind the garlic to a pulp.  Go to town.

Next, you need to add your cilantro leaves.  I don’t like wasting the stems since they have good flavor, so I roughly chop the leaves and stalks before adding to the mortar.  Grind this to a pulp.  Take a sip of beer.

Dice your onion, and add to the bowl.  Give it a bit of a beating to release flavor, but don’t mash all the way.  Beer.

Here is the time to prove your spice tolerance.  I chopped up a hot pepper and added it to the mortar and mashed.  If you are cooking for people who can handle the spice or will try it on a dare, you can add 1 deseeded habanero pepper instead…

Dice your tomatoes and drain all of the water out of them.  You can do this by simply squeezing them over a sink.  You will end up with a soupy and watery guacamole if you skip this step. This is hard work, so take a good sip.  

The next step is to add your avocado*.  Slice it in half long-ways and twist it 90 degrees like you are winding up an egg timer and you will have 2 halves in your hand.  The pit will stay in one half – to extract, nick it with the blade of your knife and turn it 90 degrees just like you did the two halves.  Drink some more beer.  Scrape out the insides and use two spoons to mash and chop the fruit.

*Note:  How to choose a perfect avocado:  The avocado should be a nice, dark color and have a similar feel as an ripe orange when you press on it.  If it gives too much, it’s overripe and if you get ones that are not yet ripe, you will have to wait a few days.  I prefer Haas avocados (they are the most common).

Roll your limes using the weight of the palm of your hand to loosen up the juices.  Slice them in ½ and squeeze the juice out into your bowl and mix. 

Taste and adjust the seasoning – if it needs more acid, add lime.  If you need more flavor, add a touch more salt.  

You should be finished with your beer just in time to grab a fresh one and some chips and enjoy!!

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic

1tsp coarse sea salt

small handful peppercorns

1/2 small red onion

1/2 tomato

30 cilantro leaves

1 1/2 limes juiced

1 cold beer

Serving suggestions:

With chips (of course)

On tacos of any kind:  fish, beef, pork, chicken, shrimp

On top of grilled chicken

Top a Mexican salad with a big spoonful

The White Stripes – Hello Operator