Wednesday, July 21, 2010

MEXICAN FIESTA



This is one of those meals I only cook on special occasions. Mainly because there are a lot of steps, especially when you have a crowd where everyone wants something different: veggie taco, steak taco, fish taco, with onions, no onions, sliced avocado, no avocado... you get the idea. It's one of those meals that works best as a make-your-own buffet.







So here it is: fresh guacamole, flank steak tacos, baja fish tacos, special sauces, a slew of taco additions and Mexican rice. Viva Mexico



GUACAMOLE

If you're going to do Mexican, you absolutely have to start it off with some fresh guacamole.
It's the law. Mexican law. La ley de Mexico.
Guacamole is really simple to make too.
To make the guac... Just smash up a few avocados (no need to puree...guacamole is best with some chunks of avocado in it) and add about 1/2 large yellow onion (or a whole small one) finely chopped and a bunch of cilantro. Then, add the juice from two limes and some s & p to taste. Nada mas!




Tacos Ricos...!



STEAK TACOS


To start off your steak tacos, season flank steak with salt, pepper and garlic salt. Grill to medium rare.
Meanwhile, wrap the soft tortillas in foil and place in oven and heat at a low temp (under 200 degrees).


The sauce that really makes these tacos delicious is the chimicurri sauce. To make the chimicurri sauce, chop 1/2 cup cilantro and 4 cloves garlic. Add to the food processor with 1/3 cup white wine vinegar and abt 1/4 cup olive oil. Season with s & p.


To assemble the tacos, slather some chimichurri sauce on the warm tortilla, add a few pieces of meat and scoop in some fresh chopped tomato and red onion.







FISH TACOS


For the non-meat eating crowd, I prepared some baja fish tacos. I don't really know what makes a baja fish taco baja, but it sounds authentic. Purchase your favorite white flaky fish (I used tilapia but any mild white fish will do).

To prepare, cut the fish into 1 inch cubes and coat lightly in flower seasoned with salt and pepper. Drop the fish in a bowl of egg wash, which is just 1 egg with 1-2 tbspns water. Then coat the fish cubes in panko bread crumbs. You can use regular old italian bread crumbs as well but I find the panko bread crumbs much crunchier.

Place the fish into a pan of hot olive oil. Fry the fish and remove when lightly browned, crispy and perfecto and dry on a paper towel.


As a sauce for this taco, I like my a sort-of tartarish sauce. To make the tartar sauce, take a couple of hefty scoops of mayo and add the juice of 1/2 lemon plus a sprinkling of taco seasoning.


Top the warm tortilla with the mayo sauce, fried fish, sliced avocado and some dried coleslaw (which I guess technically would just be cabbage, right?).





MEXICAN RICE



Whenever I make rice, I find that it's most flavorful if I first toast the rice with some olive oil in a pan and then cook with chicken broth. I made Mexican rice this way as well.


Rice soaks up a lot of liquid so you will have to keep adding chicken broth to the pan until the rice becomes tender.



Once the rice almost tender, add 1 finely chopped onion, 1 chopped red pepper and 2 cloves garlic to the same pan. When the onions are translucent and rice is cooked add several tablespoons of tomato puree. Season the rice generously with salt and pepper to taste.










Monday, July 12, 2010

4TH OF JULY TARTA



I am a crappy baker. I don't like to follow directions. I prefer to start with some ideas and adjust as I go. That never works with baking...substitutions for flour, eggs or sugar don't end well.


That's why this cake is just a box of white duncan hines...but fancified.



I sliced the cake down the middle and filled it with cool whip mixed with diced strawberries, which I pureed together in the food proceesor. Then I spread vanilla icing over the cake and topped with blueberries/strawberries to create the stars and stripes on old glory and voilĂ !...a July 4th dessert at its best.




Monday, July 5, 2010

Cheeseburger Sliders & Waffle Fries







Who doesn't like a bite-size cheesburger? Well, me, that vegetarian thing sometimes gets in the way... but everyone else really seemed to enjoy them.

To make the sliders, I sliced 1 small yellow onion in long thin strips and cooked over med-low heat with a little bit of olive oil. Continue to scrape the brown bits on the bottom of the pan as the onions cook. When the onions begin to brown (abt 15 min of cooking), I like to hit them with a dash of balsamic vinegar to bring out the sweetness. Let cook for abt 5 more minutes.


For the burger meat, I just took ground chuck (abt 1/5lb) mixed with about 1 tspn garlic powder, 1 tspn onion powder and a little bit of salt and pepper. Form small mini-patties, about 1.5-2 inch circumferance. Once the patties are formed, you can throw them straight on the grill.

Meanwhile, cook the bacon and thinly slice the cheddar cheese.

The burgers cook quickly. As soon as you flip, you can top with cheddar cheese so that it gets nice and melty. You can also open up your buns onto the top rack of the grill in order to heat them.


Build your sliders: Bun, burger, cheese, bacon and onion. Pair with seasoned waffle fries and fresh watermelon slices.








WAFFLE FRIES




Although it's much healthier to bake your fries in the oven, they just don't taste as good.

If you're going to splurge and have fries, do it up right and fry 'em. Heat olive oil in a deep skillet and stick a frozen fry in the oil (just 1). When the fry begins to sizzle you know the oil is ready to cook.


After you've fried and have placed the fries on a paper towel rid excess oil, sprinkle evenly with salt, garlic powder, onion powder, a little bit of paprika and fresh squeezed lime juice.