Carnitas

Happy Saturday everyone!  Not too much to report today, just being lazy.  We woke up to a light dusting of snow this morning.  It may still be fall, but winter is in the air.  I'm kind of hoping for a white Thanksgiving.  Hope everyone is doing something fun today, whatever your kind of Saturday fun might be!

Carnitas
What you'll need:
2-3 pounds pork loin, butt or shoulder (I had loins, you would usually use something more fatty)
1/2 cup orange juice
2 divided teaspoon salt
2 divided teaspoon cumin
2 divided teaspoon chili powder
shredded lettuce
corn tortillas
cilantro
lime wedges


Place everything into slow cooker and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.  Remove from cooker and let rest for about 30-60 minutes to cool enough to handle.  Shred and break up into large chunks.  Place shredded meat on to a foil lined cookie sheet. Preheat broiler.  Place meat under broiler and broil until tops begin to get crispy and slightly dried.  Around 10-15 minutes.  Be sure to watch it!


Avocado sauce (if desired)
1 avocado
juice of 1/2 a lime
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
few dashed green hot sauce


Place in food processor and blend until smooth.


Now make yourself some mexican rice to go with the awesome tacos you are about to love.  Pile some meat and lettuce, some cilantro and a squeeze of lime, top it all over with a little avocado sauce and eat eat eat!

 

 

This is one way that you can make carnitas.  Kind of the quick and easy way, set it and forget it method.  I plan on trying this recipe again, handing the initial cooking of the pork differently.  Plus, the loin just didn't have quite enough fat in it.  This will be a to be continued...Enjoy!

Any time is a good time...

FOR FISH TACOS!!!  On my top five list.  Forever.  And...I have found the secret for rich, ultra yummy, have to eat just one more.  I am serious about my fish tacos.  I have even mastered knowing when or when to not order them at a restaurant.  Would you like to know the secret?  I am not a fried food kind of girl.  Every once in a while I will have fries, but thats about it.  So, I have been through the fried fish taco over and over again, and been disappointed every time I'm brought that grease soaked little fishy slapped on a perfectly good corn tortilla. So, if you're with me on that one, if the menu has a description of how the taco is assembled, order away.  If it is just called fish tacos, with no description, stay away.  I have to be honest here, when I go to a new place, I always scan the menu first for fish tacos.  I love them.  Love them with me.


What you'll need:


For the fish:
1 pound white fish (like cod or halibut.  We found Pollock at one of our local grocery spots.  I was skeptical, thought it was going to be overly fishy, but to my surprise, it was wonderful)
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 tablespoons butter (Secret ingredient.  DO NOT SKIP!)


For the Avocado Bean Goop (Named by Kameron):
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
2 avocados diced (picture tip for dicing below, if you don't already have a technique)
1 cup diced tomato
1 cup corn (defrosted if frozen)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Juice from one smaller lime
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons abodo sauce.  (Refer to Mexican Inspired Meal for what I use)


8-10 corn tortillas (if you are a flour person, go for flour, just be sure to get the small ones)
1/3 wheel Cotija cheese crumbles (or any white cheese)
1/4 head green cabbage sliced thin or shredded 


First make your Avocado Bean Goop first.  Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix until well combined.  Place in fridge while you prep the fish to allow the flavors to blend.


Heat 1/2 tablespoon butter in a pan over medium heat and saute onions.  Once onions are translucent, add remaining butter and melt.  Add fish fillets.  Don't worry about chunking the fish before hand, you can do this easily once fish is cooked through, it's also a good indicator that your fish is done.  Sprinkle top of fish with cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper.  Allow to cook until you can see the fish begin to whiten around the edges, about 4 minutes.  Flip.  Allow to cook for another 4 minutes.  In the thickest part of the fish, press with your utensil.  If the fish easily flakes into chucks, it's done.  If it doesn't want to break apart very easily, allow to cook for a few more minutes.  Once done, it should flake easily.  Break fish up into bite sized pieces and fold into excesses juices in the pan.  


Warm your tortillas.  I tried something new by boiling water in my steamer.  Then placing the tortillas in the steamer pan, turning off the heat and letting them steam for about 2 minutes.  Then removed them from the pan, wrapped them in a slightly damn paper towel, and then inside of a kitchen hand towel to keep them warm.  Worked pretty well.  I'm always trying to perfect my tortilla serving styles.

My washer and dryer are in my kitchen, bonus counter space...

Pile fish, avocado bean goop, cheese and cabbage into a tortilla and get messy.  Don't be modest, lick your fingers.  Because it's that good.  Enjoy!

Chili Rellenos

Ok, yes I know that there are two ways to make Chili Rellenos.  Well three I suppose.  And I have done 2 of the three.  I don't really like the dipped and fried version, so I have never made those.  But I have roasted my own peppers, peeled the skins, stuffed, egged and baked.  And let me be the first to tell you, store bought peppers cut open and lay flat like lasagna noodles tastes just as wonderful, and is 3/4 less work!  If you really really care about presentation, maybe don't use this recipe, but if all you're looking for is a yummy dinner, then go for it.  It's all in the type of cheese you use anyway!

What you'll need:

1 28oz can whole green chilies (It might be a 26 or 30 oz can.  Its the Large one.  I threw the label away and I'm not going to go digging in my garbage full of egg shells to find out for sure.  I will update next time I buy one.)
1 1/2 cup Cotija mexican cheese crumbled (Must have!! It's with all the round wheels of mexican cheese at any grocery store)
1 cup cheddar or mexican style cheese shredded
12 eggs
1 teaspoon flour + 1 tablespoon water
A few shakes hot sauce (optional, I used Green Tabasco)
Tin foil

Preheat over to 350. Spray or grease a 9x13 baking dish.  Open and drain liquid from chilies.  Slide your kitchen scissors or a sharp knife up one side of a chili along the fold or crease keeping the two halves intact.  There will be some seeds still in the pepper, just rinse off.  Lay pepper in dish.  Continue until bottom of dish is covered in peppers.  Should be about half of the can. Sprinkle evenly with cheeses.  Lay another layer of peppers over top of cheese.  You may have one or two peppers left over, lay them in the gaps, or throw them away.  Crack eggs into a bowl.  Add hot sauce.  Mix your flour with water so its a thick liquid, no clumps.  Add too eggs.  Whisk eggs until well scrambled.  Pour over peppers.  Cover with tin foil and bake for 40 minutes, remove foil and bake for another 5-10 or until egg is cooked in the center.  Cut into squares and serve with mexican rice or whatever you'd like.  Here is my recipe for mexican rice if your interested.

This dish, like I said, isn't fancy, but its yummy.  And sometimes thats all that matters.  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  Enjoy!

A Mexican Inspired Meal

Marinated Carne Asada, a mexican inspired stir fry, and cilantro jalapeno corn cakes.  It was fun, delicious, and then gone in a flash.  And the best part, we got to bust out the barbeque for the first time this year.  Bring on summer...we are so ready!

What you'll need:

Carne Asada
1 lb carne asada (or thin cut filets)
1 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup abodo sauce (I found this great chipotle hot sauce that tastes just like the liquid from the chilies in abodo.  Its heaven in a bottle)
1 garlic clove minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
Juice from 1 lime

Make at least 24 hours ahead to give plenty of time to marinate.  Throw all ingredients in a gallon ziplock back and put into fridge.  Mix around once or twice.

Corn Cakes
1 1/2 cups masa flour
1/2 cup unbleached flour
1/2 jalapeno diced
1/2 bunch cilantro chopped
1/3 wheel cotija cheese crumbles
2 cups corn (if using frozen, make sure to defrost)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
2 cups water

Add first 7 ingredients to a large bowl and combine.  Next add wet ingredients and mix.  I wanted my pancakes to be fairly thin, almost between a tortilla and a thin pancake.  That way they could be used  like a tortilla if you wanted.  So you may need more water, after 2 cups slowly add more until you have a fairly think batter.  Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add a little oil to your pan. Use your 3/4 measuring cup and scoop batter into pan and cook like you would pancakes.

Set your oven on the lowest setting and place a cookie sheet inside, then put cakes when done inside keep warm.  These can be cooked while your making your stir fry too, they don't take too much attention.


Stir Fry
2 large carrots sliced at an angle for large peices
1/2 onion sliced
3 stocks celery sliced like carrots
1 bell pepper sliced
5 large mushrooms quartered
2 heads broccoli cut into bite sized florets
2 cloves garlic minced
1/4 cup abodo or chipotle sauce
1/2 lime juiced
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon oil
dash cayenne if you want more spice

Heat oil in large pan over medium high heat.  Add carrots and onion and saute for about 5 minutes or until carrots are starting to get slightly soft.  Next, add celery and bell pepper, abodo sauce, lime, garlic, sugar, spices and water and mix until well combined.  You may want to turn heat down to medium if things are cooking to fast.  Add broccoli and mushrooms.  Once veggies are the the desired doneness, about 15 minutes, turn down heat to low.

Just before you start stir fry, fire up your bbq and get nice and hot.  When your carrots and onions are sauteing, put your meat on the grill.  Return to your veggies, add the remaining of the ingredients until they are all combined.  4-5 minutes about, then go flip your meat.  Return to stir fry and and mix again.  About the time your veggies are done, your meat will be too.

here you can see what I mean when cutting carrots

I bet your excited to eat this beauty of a meal.  I took a corn cake, a few slices of meat and some veggies and made sort of a mexican gyro.  It was delish.  But everything is tasty enough to be eaten on its own.  I also had a little dish of cotija cheese crumbles, cilantro, and limes at the table.  Oh, and Kam had his beloved sour cream of course.  Enjoy!

(Note: Kam wanted me to mention that HE barbecued the meat.)

Mexican Rice

We love mexican food in our house, especially homemade mexican rice.  You can eat this stuff hot or cold, mix it with refried beans, taco salads,  add some in a can of soup, burritos, the options are endless.  This stuff is good!

What you'll need:

2 tablespoons olive oil (any oil would work really)
2 cups long grain white rice
1/2 onion chopped
4 cloves garlic chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can diced green chilies (you can get the diced tomatoes with green chili's mixed in, but I don't think            you get quite enough when you do it that way)
3 teaspoons tomato chicken bouillon

Start by heating oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high.  Dump in your rice and mix until rice is shiny and coated with oil.  You are going to fry the rice until it turns golden brown.  Half way through browning your rice (about 4 minutes) add your chopped onion and garlic.  About the time you onions are starting to look translucent, your rice should be a nice light brown color.  Reduce heat to medium low and pour in the can of tomatoes plus one and a half more cans of water, diced chilies, and bouillon and blend until everything is well combined. (When you pour in your tomatoes and water, you'd better put your apron on because it splatters quite a bit).  Cover and let stand for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, I like to move everything around again to keep the rice from burning to the bottom and ensure everything is cooking evenly.  I tend to check my rice every 10-15 minutes.  After your rice is the desired texture you like, about 40 minutes, but is a little wet still, remove the lid and let cook the rest of the way so it can release steam. At this point you will want to start fluffing your rice with a fork so you don't end up with a big mushy mess.  Total cook time is about 60 to 75 minutes depending on how dry you like your rice.  If you like it the way mexican restaurants serve, then let it go the full time fluffing every so often to let more steam release and to keep it from burning too much on the bottom.

We love this rice so much, we will even sneak bites of it cold.  Now I need to make some enchiladas or tamales to go with our rice.  Enjoy!  I know we always do!

Update 02.09.11 - - - We had this rice again for dinner last nice with some tamales I had in the freezer from our New Year's Eve Fiesta.  I added a tablespoon of cumin seeds into the rice when the onion and garlic when in.  It added that nice smokey cumin flavor, but only in the few bites when you got a seed.  Very tasty.  Give it a try!