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!

Taco Turkey Burgers & Black Bean Vinaigrette Salad

There are a number of things that I used to cook long before I started this blog.  Long before.  Yummy dishes that we made a bunch of times then forgot about.  These taco turkey burgers came back to me the other day.  Way back when (when we were living in Friday Harbor, around 2006) we made these burgers all the time...then just forget about them.  I used to just plain old taco seasoning, this time I opted to make my own.  You could totally grab a packet of taco seasoning and skip most of the spice ingredients I have listed.  Either way, these are really good, full flavor, and best of all, quick and easy!  I think I'm going to try and go deep into my brain and try and remember the archives of foods I used to cook.  Then revamp them...

What you'll need:

For the burgers
1 pound ground turkey (I used the extra lean)
1 egg

3/4 cup feta

1 cup crushed tortilla chips

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 can black beans, rinsed

1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons chile powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1/2 a lime juice

Put all ingredients into a bowl and mix until evenly combined.  Split into 4 or 5 burgers, and make patties.  Heat up grill over medium high.  Grill on each side for 5 minutes or until no long pink in the middle.  Serve with our without bun.  You can add whatever toppings you'd like, but we just left ours plain with a little mayo on the bun.  I did remove the center of my bun so it was hollow and just the crust left.  Easier to bite through and less calories/carbs.

For the salad:
1/2 can black beans
1 avocado
1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon green tabasco (optional)
1/2 a lime juice
1/2 head romaine chopped

Add vinegar, honey, tabasco and lime into a small bowl and mix until honey has dissolved into lime and vinegar.  Add in beans, avocado and tomatoes and toss to coat.  Evenly distribute onto a bed of lettuce.  The liquid will serve as your dressing.  You could also add lettuce into the bowl and toss everything together to be sure lettuce gets well coated.

Great dinner.  Fairly healthy.  Really filling.  I love the flavor of the corn chips and the spices mixed into the meat.  I wasn't sure what I was making when I created the salad, but it turned out pretty good.  Sweet, sour and spicy.  The creamy avocado and sweet tomatoes worked really well with the vinaigrette.  Good stuff.  Enjoy!

Shrimp Tacos

What is not to love here.  I mean really.  Shrimp flavored with a little butter, lime and perfect spices?  Granted, this is really similar to the fish tacos, but its shrimp.  What is it about the texture of shrimp that make them so perfect.  If you think about it, its kind of weird.  A little rubbery in a way.  Then when you bite one and it snaps back and splatters all over your face.  But secretly, thats the best part.

I am seriously a shrimp connoisseur.  When I was a kid, once or twice a summer my dad was the family shrimp boat captain.  He would spend a few weeks prepping and getting the boat ready, then off we would go to Hood Canal and duke it out with all the other shrimp boat captain dads.  Then at the end of the day, we would feast!  Best memories of stuffing yourself!!

What you'll need:
1 pound fresh shrimp, shelled and tails removed
1/2 teaspoon chile powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 lime juiced
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/4 onion chopped
2 teaspoons butter
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Corn or flour tortillas
1/4 cabbage sliced thin (optional)
1/4 wheel cotija cheese

Place shrimp into a bowl.  Add chile powder, cumin, lime, coriander, salt, pepper & garlic.  Toss to coat shrimp and let sit for 15 minutes.  Add chopped onions and butter to a medium fry pan.  Saute over medium until onions are translucent and tender.  Add shrimp.  Spread them out to make an even layer over pan.  Let sit for a minute or two or until you can see them starting to loose their translucent color.  Toss them a few times until they are a white-ish color and no longer that the see through look.  It should take no longer than 5 minutes.  Right before you remove from pan, toss in cilantro.  Serve in warm tortillas with a little of the cotija cheese.

I usually like to eat fish tacos with a little cabbage.  With these, I preferred to eat them as is.  The cabbage just wasn't necessary.  I even took the extra step to squeeze lime juice onto it, then didn't even use it.  Oh well!  Yay shrimp!  I have enough left over to make something else this weekend!  Happy day, weekend is almost here! 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!