Archive for the ‘Mexican’ Category

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Bringin Home the Bacon

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

Let’s face it, when you’re bringin’ home the bacon, weeknight cooking isn’t the easiest thing in the world.  I can hear stay at home moms everywhere saying that it’s not easy regardless, but I’m not them, so I can’t say for sure.  But for me… an 8 hour day wears me out.  I don’t have the time or energy to put into making a real meal on a weeknight.  … but when you think about food as much as I do, good meals can’t always wait for the weekend.

So what’s a girl to do when she’s dreaming up grilled chicken with mango salsa?  Two things.  1) Talk your roommate into grilling the chicken.  Working inside and outside all at once is just not worth it.  Get some help!  2) Also, buy the mango canned.

The first is pretty self-explanatory.  If you don’t get it, I’m not explaining.

The second is a really important lesson.  Canned mango makes mango a feasible option for weeknights as it cuts out all the nasty pealing and pitting you have to do with fresh mango.  No, it does not taste as good.  How could it?  But it tastes delicious.  Trust me.

I like to put it on quesadillas, in salsas, etc.  See?

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

I promise you.  This meal couldn’t be easier.  Or more impressive if you were, say, trying to impress a boy you had over for dinner.  Hypothetically speaking.

The chicken was thrown into some store-bought marinade.  Then grilled half an hour later by the same Nathan Clendenin.  The beans?  Opened can, dumped in bowl, microwaved until warm.  The guacamole and mango salsa were essentially the same with a different base.  Avocados + red onion + jalepeno + cilantro + lime.  Mango + red onion + jalepeno + cilantro + lime.  Rice… dumped in rice cooker with chicken broth.  Delicious!

Posted in Gluten Free, Mexican, Poultry, Recipes, Rice, Grains, and Beans | 4 Comments »

Tapas Night!

Saturday, July 31st, 2010

A friend of mine lives in Virginia, and my friend, my then-boyfriend (TB), and I were planning on visiting her for a weekend.  TB and I were talking on the phone about the trip, and he asked me if I had ever been to a topless bar.

<side note>Ladies, am I making too broad a generalization in saying that we don’t like our boyfriends to ask us that question?  Gay, female roommates, perhaps (…but that’s another story for another time).  Boyfriends, no.  For the record, despite my recent liberation, I have still never been to a topless bar, and I intend to keep it that way.  As a point of clarification, this conversation has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he is my TB and not my B, F, or H.</side note>

Awkward silence ensued, and eventually, TB understood my mistake.  He explained that he had said “tapas”, not “topless”.  As it turned out, I’ve never been to a tapas bar either.  Later, I was chatting with the friend in Virginia who asked me the same question.  I made the same mistake for a solid minute before I realized it.  I suppose I have a dirty mind.

… so when I decided we would have a sampler of appetizers for dinner one night and Nate and Bec called this “tapas night”, I was a little too embarrassed to adopt their name.  Still, it’s more efficient than any other name I’ve got, so I’ll go with it.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Interestingly, the cheese stuffed sweet peppers were made that same weekend with that same group of friends.  The taquitos are a recipe made for me by TB.  And the sweet potato cheese fries?  They just sounded good.

Chicken Taquitos:

  • shredded chicken
  • enchilada sauce
  • cheese
  • corn tortillas
  • oil

Mix the first three ingredients together.  Fry the tortillas in hot oil a minute or two on each side.  Roll the filling in the fried tortilla.  At this point, you can either fry them the rest of the way or bake them at 350 until golden brown.

Cheese-stuffed Sweet Peppers:

  • feta cheese
  • cream cheese
  • sweet peppers

Cut the tops of the peppers.  Remove the pepper’s innards while laughing maniacally*.  Mix the feta and cream cheese.  Stuff the cheese into the pepper, and place the top delicately back on the pepper.  Bake at 350 until browned, about 15 minutes, flipping the peppers once.

Sweet Potato Cheese Fries:

  • Sweet potatoes
  • Cheese

Chop the sweet potatoes into fry** shapes.  Coat with oil and place in greased pan***.  Bake at 425 until just barely golden brown.  Top with cheese and bake at 500 for 5ish minutes.

*Contrary to popular belief, this step is actually required.  If skipped, the peppers will make you feel guilty, old, and grumpy.  You have been warned.

** I have absolutely no idea how one spells the singular of fries, but I’m fairly certain I did it wrong.

*** It is extremely important that you not use a cookie sheet.  Doing so can make for terrible neighbor relations in your dorm when the smoke detector goes off.  … but, of course, this was years ago…

Posted in Appetizers, Comfort Food, Gluten Free, Mexican, Poultry, Recipes, Veggies | 1 Comment »

Jenny’s Most Excellent Burritos

Monday, January 25th, 2010

The last time I tried to make burritos out of ground turkey, it was an absolute failure.  The meal was edible, and my roommates were kind enough to not say much, but I certainly was not sneaky enough in my attempt.  The flavor was far too bland.  The chipotle chiles added a smoky flavor underlying everything, and my favorite Jack’s Special Salsa was the perfect topping.  I experimented with an expensive Mexican cheese which was not as exciting as the price would indicate.  Next time, I think I’ll spring for the more expensive but certainly more appropriate “melting cheese”.

Jenny's Most Excellent Burritos

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Ingredients:

  • 1-2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (depends on your preference for spiciness), minced
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/2 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/2 medium onion, sliced
  • 1/2 green bell pepper, sliced
  • 1 lb. ground turkey (you could easily use beef here)
  • 1 15-oz. can black beans, drained
  • 2 cups cooked rice
  • cheese
  • tortillas
  • salsa and sour cream (optional)

Procedures:

  1. Cook the ground beef in a greased frying pan.  Add spices, onions, ad bell pepper as it cooks.  If necessary, add 1/4 c. water to keep the meat moist.
  2. Stir in beans, rice, and cheese.
  3. Roll in flour tortilla.
  4. (optional step) Top with additional cheese and place in oven set to broil for a few minutes.
  5. Add salsa and/or sour cream as desired.

Notes:

  • One trick to delicious rice: cook in chicken broth.  It’s pricey, but it sure does add to the flavor.  What I normally do to accommodate the flavor without the price is add a chicken bouillon cube as it cooks in the rice cooker.  Small cost, little effort, nearly as good results.
  • Things to consider adding:
    • Mashed sweet potatoes make a great bean-like addition.  Be aware of the fact that you made need to add more spices to accommodate for the blandness of their flavor.
    • Chopped eggplant can “beef” up the filling without all the fat and calories of meat.  An excellent healthy alternative.
  • Where to shop: while none of the ingredients I used are particularly obscure, they’re not necessarily ingredients regularly used by white, middle-class Americans.  I’ve found Harris Teeter to be the worst possible place to find good selection in canned Mexican food products, with Kroger not too far behind.  A better alternative: consider tracking down a more authentic Mexican grocery.  In Durham, my favorite is La Superior.  They’ve got excellent produce, a large selection of canned chiles and sauces, fresh corn tortillas, and, of course, meat. If that’s a bit too out of the way for you, I’ve found Food Lion to have a large selection of Mexican food products, most of which are not made by Ortega.  :)

Posted in Mexican, Poultry, Recipes, Rice, Grains, and Beans | No Comments »

Chilaquiles Soup

Monday, November 9th, 2009

Some friends of mine from work began the wonderful idea of the “culinary collaboration” where people take turns bringing lunch for the whole group on a specific day.  Tomorrow, chilaquiles soup, a recipe I got when…

<flashback>Quentin was in desperate need of a suit for a job interview he had the very next day.  Despite our cooking styles, I am actually the planner and Quentin likes to “go with the flow”.  [Insert contradiction from Quentin here.]  If you’ll remember, Quentin didn’t have a car at school, and I did.  When I got off work, I picked him up, drove all over town before finally finding a nice pair of pants to go with a sports coat he already had.  We picked out a nice shirt and tie, and he was set.  It was 8:30 p.m. before we headed back to his place, we were starved and stressed.  Quentin had a meeting for work at 9, and his pants were in desperate need of hemming.  I made dinner during his meeting (pasta with canned vodka sauce cooked in a rice cooker in his dorm, if you must know), and set to hemming the pants as soon as he got back and we could see how long they needed to be.  It was a late night, and I had to be at my school for student teaching at 7:00 the next morning.  In the end, we both agreed that he “owed” me.

The following weekend, he made me and my roommates dinner: tacos and a variation of this soup.  I can hear the “aw”s through the time-space continuum now.  Yes, dinner was delicious.  Yes, he’s quite a man.</flashback>

The recipe has been modified on various occasions.  When Quentin last visited, we had it without chicken or zucchini.  Tomorrow, it will be had without the chicken since a coworker is vegetarian.  That night, he made it without the zucchini.  It’s what a friend of mine calls an “easy-going” recipe in that it’s wonderfully flexible.  Hope you enjoy!

Recipe for Chilaquiles Soup

Time: 20-30 minutes, tops

Ingredients:

  • 1 small onion, roughly chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, diced
  • 1/2 jalapeno, diced
  • 2 cans tomatillos
  • 2-3 cups chicken broth (I typically use water and chicken bouillon because I don’t figure there’s much difference)
  • 1 can corn
  • 2 zucchini, chopped into bite sized chunks
  • 2-ish cups shredded chicken (I’m totally just guessing here)
  • 1/2-ish cup fresh cilantro, chopped (as Quentin would say, too much cilantro is impossible)

Saute onions, garlic, and jalapeno in large pot.  Pour into blender along with tomatillos.  Blend until smooth.  Saute zucchini in same pot.  Add blended mixture, chicken broth, corn, and chicken.  Bring to a boil.  Stir in cilantro.  Serve.

Possible additions: tortilla chips and sour cream.

Possible substitutions: I totally forgot to get a jalapeno at the store yesterday and didn’t realize it until I had started to saute the onions and garlic.  My replacement was a dash of red pepper flakes and a couple dashes of black pepper.  Initial taste tests say go for it.  Quentin, please forgive me.

Posted in Gluten Free, Mexican, Poultry, Recipes, Soups and Stews, Veggies | 1 Comment »

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