Nadia G's Aztec Soup

Because I'm lazy and because there's no reason to mess with perfection, go here for Nadia G's amazing Aztec Soup recipe. Seriously yummy stuff, very filling and low-cal.

Salsa Verde

As mentioned yesterday, we've been looking for a good taco recipe. In the process of searching for one, it goes without saying that we stumbled across some pretty bad tacos. One of them was a fish taco recipe.

Now, I've had good fish tacos. These, however, required about two hours of preparation for an entirely underwhelming product. On the plus side, however, the salsa recipe that was paired with the tacos turned out to be a real winner. Paul especially likes the smoky grilled flavor of the vegetables.

A couple of things to note: if you like spicy salsa, use the serrano chiles, without the seeds. If you're a masochist, leave the seeds. If you like spicy things, but don't want to burn yourself, use jalapenos. They'll be just fine. Also, if you're like me, remember to wear gloves when chopping up the peppers! My hands burned for hours afterwards, and I had to sit around with my fist in a glass of milk to aleviate some of the pain. A margarita helped some more.


3 unpeeled garlic cloves
1 pound fresh tomatillos, husked, rinsed
1 small onion, quartered through root end
3-6 serrano chiles (HOT), or 2-4 jalapeno chiles (just hot)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 tsp sugar
Coarse kosher salt
2 Tbs olive oil
1 cup low-salt chicken broth
2 Tbs fresh lime juice

Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Thread garlic onto skewer. Grill garlic, tomatillos, onion quarters, and chiles until dark brown spots form on all sides, about 9 minutes for onion, 6 minutes for tomatillos and chiles, and 4 minutes for garlic. Cool.

Peel garlic. Trim core from onion. Scrape some of burnt skin off chiles; stem. Seed chiles. Coarsely chop onion, chiles, and garlic.

Transfer tomatillos and all vegetables to blender. Add cilantro and 1/2 teaspoon sugar; puree until smooth. Season to taste with salt.

Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over high heat. Carefully add tomatillo mixture (juices may splatter). Stir until slightly thickened, stirring often, about 2 minutes. Add broth and 2 Tablespoons lime juice. Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium and simmer until mixture measures 2 1/2 cups, about 10 minutes.

Season to taste with salt and more sugar and lime juice. Can be made ahead.

Originally from Bon Appetit Magazine.

Crispy Black Bean Tacos with Feta and Cabbage Slaw

Paul and I have been searching for a new taco variation for a while now. We've added chorizo to ground beef (WIN), tried a few types of fish tacos (FAIL), and finally stumbled upon black bean tacos in Bon Appetit Magazine. This is a delicious vegetarian option that is also super fast! Seriously, I made these in about five minutes. If you have a little more time, however, it pairs well with Lyn’s Mexican Rice.

1 15 oz can black beans, drained, rinsed
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
5 tsp olive oil, divided
1 Tbs lime juice
2 cups coleslaw mix
2 green onions, chopped
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 corn tortillas
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
Hot sauce of your choosing

Place beans and cumin in a small bowl; partially mash. Mix 2 teaspoons olive oil and lime juice in medium bowl; add coleslaw, green onions, and cilantro; toss to coat. Season slaw with salt and pepper.

Heat 3 tsp olive oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add tortillas in a single layer. Spoon 1/4 of bean mixture into each; cook 1 minute. Fold tacos in half. Cook until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Fill tacos with feta and slaw. Pass hot sauce alongside.

Notes: I found these to be a little dry. You might double the coleslaw dressing, or avoid rinsing the beans. Definitely add hot sauce.

Enchiladas

I have to say, these are always a hit and they're really not difficult to make. It is a VERY hearty meal and expect leftovers (not a bad thing as they reheat really well). They are also a good dish to serve at a party since all the work can be done ahead of time and you can serve it with the Mexican Rice recipe also posted on the fudblog. Enjoy!

1 package of boneless chicken
Red pepper flakes
1 large onion, cut into wedges
1 red pepper, cut into chunks
1 yellow pepper, cut into chunks
1 package of flour tortillas (burrito sized)
Olive oil or Olive oil infused with chili peppers
Tequila (optional)
1 can of refried beans
Grated cheddar cheese (lots)
1 can of Hot Enchilada sauce
1 can of Mild Enchilada sauce

1. Preheat oven to 350˚. Trim fat from chicken and cut into pieces approximately 1 sq. inch (can be a little larger). In a wok or large pan, heat a little olive oil (or olive oil with chili peppers) and throw all the chicken in to begin cooking. Add red pepper flakes to your taste.

2. When chicken is mostly cooked, add peppers and onions (these don’t have to be completely cooked through, since enchiladas will go into the oven) and a splash of tequila. Cook until chicken is done.

3. Spread refried beans on the tortillas, top with chicken and pepper mixture and cheddar cheese. Tuck ends in and roll the tortilla (so it looks like a burrito).

4. Spray a deep baking pan with cooking spray and place the enchiladas in the pan, flap down. When the pan is full, cover with enchilada sauce and top with grated cheddar cheese.

5. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Serve with sour cream and salsa.

Spicy Chicken Fajitas w/ Peri-Peri Marinade

These were supposed to be "sweet & spicy" chicken fajitas, but we forgot to add the sweet and the original recipe is incomplete and counter-intuitive. So here is how WE did it. The marinade is actually pretty fantastic.

Peri-Peri Merinade

two or three fresh hot chile peppers (hot red peppers are typical; jalapeno peppers and poblano peppers are also good), chopped
4 Tbsp lemon juice or lime juice (or cider vinegar)
4 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp cayenne pepper or red pepper (or one Tbsp dried red pepper flakes)
1 tsp minced garlic (or garlic powder)
1 Tbsp paprika
1 tsp salt
dried or fresh oregano or parsley (optional)

Combine all ingredients. Grind and mix the ingredients into a smooth paste. (we probably should've used a food processor, but it worked fine enough without). Adjust the ratio or pepper and paprika to taste. Rub marinade onto meat and allow to marinate in a glass bowl for at least thirty minutes; overnight if possible.

While the chicken was marinading, Sasha and I started preparing some of Robert Rodriguez's Homemade Tortillas. The fajitas themselves were kind of tossed together. We cut the chicken into slices and set them grilling in a pan while we set an onion and two bell peppers saute-ing in butter. We added a splash of tequilla to the chicken before combing the vegetables to our meat.

Serve with Spanish Rice and either a Pinot Noir or Chardonnay (or both). Enjoy.

Carnitas Guisado

(Stewed Little Meats)

I had a lot of roast pork left over from my birthday luau and a need to cook mass quantities of it before it went bad. I made one version of this stew but truly nailed it on the second go. Here's what you need.

3 lbs pork (mine had already been roasted, but you could toss in uncooked pork butt and still get a good stew out of it).
3-4 potatoes (experiment with this, I tried reds the first time around and yukon golds the second)
1 c carrots, chopped
1 c celery, chopped
2 cubanelles
1/2 c minced garlic (I'm not crazy, you're the one who's crazy, you're driving me crazy!)
2 Tbsp course ground black pepper
1 qt chicken stock
2 c spicy tomato base (when I got my roast pork from the market, they included about a pint of hot sauce. I'm not sure what goes into it, but I suspect it's a combination of tomatoes, water, jalapenos, garlic and vinegar - experiment with your own or just find a spicy, tomatoey - that's a word! - alternative).
1 Tbsp Cilantro
1 Tbsp Thyme
1 Tbsp Cumin
1 tsp Oregano

Toss all ingredients into your 6 qt crockpot and set a course for stew. About 7-8 hours on low should cook all the ingredients, soften the harder vegetables, and get the smells mixing around in there really well. The second time I made this it was for a potluck at work and I did it for 4 hours on high. The flavor was great, but the potatoes were harder than I prefer. I like them to completely break down and thicken the liquid. Enjoy.

Fajitas: Multi-blog Spectac-u-larrrr

For this recipe I am expecting you to have followed the entire blog. We're going to combine components of previously posted recipes into this meal. Watch me as I link.

This is a marinade that I made up for the steak portion of the fajitas. I think it would work better with chicken, these flavors seemed to be at odds with what the steak wanted to taste like. It still made for an interesting meal.

Steak Marinade

4 Limes
2 lbs steak (skirt steak will work best, but you have to let it soak in this for at least 24 hours)
a splash of the best tequila you can find
pepper (I like to grind black and white pepper into the bag until my hands don't work anymore)
1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp cilantro
4 cloves garlic
1 cup white vinegar
2 Serrano peppers, sliced

Cut up the limes and squeeze out some of the juice into a gallon sized ziplock bag. Add ingredients and let sit for 24 hours. Make sure that the entire steak is covered by the
sauce.

*time passes*

Okay, let's make some fajitas!

Chicken & Steak Fajitas

You've had chicken & steak brining and marinading for the last 1-2 days, and now you're very hungry. Pull those bad boys out and fire up your grill. We're going to cook the meat whole and then slice it into smaller pieces later; this way you have more control over the done-ness of your steak. Also, I think everything tastes better after being exposed to charcoal.

Remove steak from bag. Remove chicken from bag. Get ready to transport them to the grill.

Save the marinade from the steak's bag. This is going to turn into fajita sauce.

For the sauce -

Marinade

bell pepper (yellow & red), sliced
Spanish onion, sliced

This is so easy I hesitate to mention it. Heat the sauce until it boils, reduce to a simmer and add the onions and peppers.

Grilling

For the time being I'm going to assume the reader knows how to grill and understands how they want their steak cooked. I tend to use a high heat so that the steak is rare to medium rare. I'd throw the chicken on first and give it a 5-7 minute head start on the steak. Don't worry about that chicken - after brining it for a day it's not going to overcook. It's dummy proof.

Remove meats from grill and cut into slices.

You're ready to enjoy.

Take your sauce, assembled meats, add some guacamole, and roll them up in your homemade tortillas. Thanks for playing.

10 minute cooking school meets 50 minute movie deadline

When I was in the 4th grade, I got my first set of glasses. When I left the doctor's office I was astonished to see individual leaves on trees and little bumps in the sidewalk. I didn't really think about how the world was supposed to look. Last night I had another eye opening experience, thanks to youtube, Troublemaker Studios, and Robert Rodriguez's "10 Minute Cooking School."

With a movie showtime hanging over my head, I and a friend tried to squeeze this meal's square peg into a 1 hour 10 minute "prep + cook + enjoy" round hole (later we discovered it was more like an oblique spheroid, so it nearly fit).

You will never buy store bought tortillas again. I promise you.

Robert Rodriguez's Homemade Tortillas

2 cups flour
1/4 cup fat (either butter or lard, in his video he uses 1/8 cup of each)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup warm water

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and butter (this is what I used) in a mixing bowl. Mix.
The powder will get a little clumpy, but not terribly so. After the ingredients are mixed, slowly start adding the water until it gets doughy. Fool around with this, as I still haven't gotten it quite down.

When the dough looks like it's going to hold a shape, start pulling small handfuls out to roll into golf ball sized bits. Roll them up and set them down for a few. This made about 1 dozen little balls for me. If they aren't sticking together well enough, get your hands wet while rolling them.

Now it's time to start on your filling as these sit.

Mrs. Renfro's Salsa meets Mr. K's chicken

1 jar Mrs. Renfro's jalapeno salsa (green)
1 lb chicken
freshly ground black pepper
chili flakes
1 cup rice

You can get the same effect but making your own salsa (or just adding some diced tomatoes, and spices to the rice - but I was short on time). Cut up your chicken into bite sized pieces, pepper them, add a little salt, and toss them all in a pot with your cup of rice and about 2 cups of water. Turn to high heat. You folks know what's going to happen here. When the water boils, add anywhere from 6-8 oz. of the salsa to the rice + chicken mixture. Cover, reduce heat to low, and set a timer for 20 minutes. Now let's get those tortillas goin'.

Your flour balls have sat long enough, time to roll those suckers out. Get a clean flat surface, some flour, and a rolling pin (don't have a rolling pin? Neither do I. Wash off a beer bottle and cover the outside with flour - it works just as well). Get a griddle or large skillet heated up (med-high heat).

Squish the flour balls into discs and lightly dust both sides with flour. Also, make sure you throw a little flour down on your surface - you don't want them sticking. Roll them out into flat tortilla shapes and set aside. If your griddle is ready, grease it up with some butter and toss them on. You want them to get brown on both sides, RR says "watch them bubble up, that means your baking powder is working. Flatten them out and flip. When they're done toss them in a tortilla holder and cover them up."

I just used paper towel and a 9 x9 cake pan; worked fine.

Your tortillas should be done, your chicken and rice should be finished, all you need now is to throw a little cheese or sour cream on there and you have yourself a quick, decent meal. It was pretty fantastic. We even made it to the movie on time.

What's really great about the tortillas is that they are surprisingly easy to make and they taste noticeably better than their store-bought counterparts (mostly the texture, they aren't rubbery at all). I can't wait to try homemade hardshell tacos with these guys.

Guacamole

Not being that big a fan of guacamole in general, I was a little skeptical about making it. This recipe is pretty great though and managed to convert me into a fan.

Guacamole
4 ripe avocados, peeled, seeded
1 tsp ground cumin
1 ripe, medium Roma tomato, seeded, diced
1/2 cup minced sweet white onion
2 serrano chilies, seeded, minced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
4 Tbsp fresh lime juice
Hot pepper sauce, sea salt, white pepper to taste

Cut avocado in large chunks and mash coarsely in large bowl with a fork. Add remaining ingredients and blend gently-leaving some small chunks is fine. Taste and adjust seasoning with more pepper sauce, salt and pepper if desired.

Mexican Rice

This goes really well with tostadas or enchiladas but it also is quite tasty just on its own. Make sure to use decent rice (Meijer's own doesn't work well with this) and the tomato sauce IS essential.

Olive oil
1 cup uncooked rice your choice
1/2 onion
2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
2 cups cold water
Coarsely chopped small roma tomato, chopped into about 4 pieces
Hot pepper of your choice, sliced lengthwise
Tomato sauce (I'd say a little less that 1/4 cup)
1 Tbsp chicken bouillon
1 tsp ground cumin
Salt, to taste

Put a little olive oil (Tbsp or so) into a medium-sized pan and heat to a medium temperature, add the rice, uncooked, and brown in the oil. Make sure all the rice is lightly coated with the oil. You do not have to stir the rice around very much at first, while browning, but as the rice becomes browner you want to be stirring it around to make sure it all browns evenly and doesn't burn. It will turn brown, but it's not burning unless it's turning dark/black. Towards the end of the browning, add the garlic so that it is sort of sauteed/browned.

Next, dump the water on the rice (it will steam up loudly) and add the remaining ingredients. Stir well and cover (with a small air escape). Reduce heat to medium-low to medium, and let cook for 20-30 minutes. (Cooking time and temperature varies with your stove. Check after 20 minutes to make sure you don't burn.)The essential rule of this recipe is "Do Not Peek" while the rice is cooking. When it is ready, all the water will be absorbed, the rice will fluff, and each grain will be "split open" because of the browning. It should be dry, not saucy. You can adjust the spices/peppers to your taste. The recipe can be changed by keeping with the 1 cup rice/2 cups water ratio, and adjusting remaining ingredients.