Favorite Products

When people first dive into mexican cooking there can be a bit of a learning curve with ingredients...names & where to purchase them. 

Thankfully, before kids, my husband & I spent our first years married seeking out where to buy these interesting, delicious ingredients. 

This is just a small corner in the world of mexican products...

Cacique is a great brand available at most stores, especially Walmart

Quick Notes: 

Mexican Crema: similar to sour cream, watered down with heavy cream

Mexican Cheeses: 

Queso Fresco: fresh cheese, like a mild feta

Cotija: a stinky, aged cheese. Like a mexican blue cheese

Quesadilla or Oaxaca cheese: a melty white cheese

Chorizo

Queso Fundido Burger

By, Rick Bayless

For an amazing variation of the traditional grilled burger, you've got to try this. 

Seriously...Holy moly...talk about flavor EXPLOSION.

Queso Fundido Burger

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

2 fresh medium poblano chiles
1 medium onion, sliced into 1/4-inch slices
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons oil
1 1/2 pounds ground chuck
8 ounces chorizo, cooked
1 to 2 canned chipotle chiles den adobo, finely minced, seeded if you wish
8 thick slices Monterey Jack cheese
4 hamburger buns, lightly toasted

DIRECTIONS

Roast the poblanos over an open flame or 4 inches below a broiler, turning regularly until blistered and blackened all over, about 5 minutes for an open flame, 10 minutes for the broiler.  Place in a bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and let cool.  Rub off the blackened skin and pull out the stems and seed pods.  Cut into 1/4-inch strips.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium.  Once the oil is hot, add the onions, stirring frequently until it begins to brown, 7 to 8 minutes.  Stir in the garlic and poblano and cook for 2 minutes.  Season with salt, usually about 1/2 teaspoon.  Scrape the rajas into a bowl and cover to keep warm.

In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, cooked chorizo, chipotles and 1 1/2  teaspoon salt.  Mix until well combined.  Divide the meat into 4 equal portions and form the patties.

Heat a gas grill to medium-high, or light a charcoal fire and let it burn until the charcoal is covered with white ash (and about medium hot); bank the coals to one side. 

Place the hamburger patties on the grill and cook for a total of 4 to 5 minutes for medium rare.  Lay one piece of cheese on top of each burger, top with the warm rajas and then another piece of cheese.  Close the lid and continue cooking until the cheese has melted about 1 minute.  Remove from the grill and place on a toasted bun.  Serve immediately.

Voila! ...or better yet, QUE RICO!!! 

Beef & Potato Tacos

The first time I had beef & potato in many dishes was in northern Mexico on a work project trip with our church. An amazing piece of this trip....the ladies from the church we were working with cooked all of our meals. There's a flavor that was burned into my brain & this is a flavor I LOVE. They put potatoes in everything. Fast forward 8 years, still savoring & remembering the flavor, I fell in love with a little family owned mexican restaurant right by campus in college who made the same filling. It was a small, hole in the way place that was immaculate, serving everyone on mismatched dishes & the family got to know me. We would talk & I would listen to them singing worship music in spanish as they cooked. It wasn't just the flavors. I liked being there & something about it brought back memories of that trip to Mexico. I loved all of those things, but I think it also just came down to that Beef & Potato taco....

Ingredients: 

1 lb ground beef

1/2 onion, finely chopped

3-4 small potatoes. Idaho or Yukon Gold or 1-2 large. In 1/2 inch dices

10 shakes of cumin

5 shakes of chili powder

salt & pepper to taste

12 fresh, white corn tortillas

Brown the beef & onion until fully cooked

Meanwhile, add the diced potato to cool, salted water & bring to a boil

After the potatoes have cooked for a few minutes, add them directly to the beef

The potatoes should not be fully cooked. They'll finish with the beef

Gently fold the potatoes into the beef, so that they don't break apart

Add about 4 serving-spoon-fulls of water to the beef & potato 

(Somewhere between a 1/3-1/2 C) 

Cover & turn heat way down low to just let the water simmer & steam the potatoes

Now, moving on to the taco shells...

Heat canola or vegetable oil to 350º in a shallow pan

Using tongs, start frying the first side of the corn tortilla

Use the tongs to begin shaping the tortilla into the shape of a crispy taco shell

Carefully turn to fly the other side, while maintaining the shape with the tongs

Use the end of a wooden spoon to gently help continue shaping the shell. You can also use it to hold as it fries in the oil

Remove to a paper towel lined sheet pan

Before you plate your food....take the lid off of the filling & mash the beef/potato mixture a bit. Check the seasoning in case it needs more salt & pepper....


...and...

PLATE your dinner!

Gently, fill your taco shell with the filling

If it breaks, don't worry, just stand it on some beans. A nice, wonderful glue...

Red Pork and Hominy Stew (Pozole Rojo)

From the book Mexico One Plate at a Time by Rick Bayless

Serves	12
Yield	8½ qt.         Ingredients:

	2	lb. (about 5 cups) fresh or frozen nixtamal corn, well rinsed, or 1½ pounds (4 cups) American Southwestern dried pozole corn
	1	head garlic, cloves broken apart, peeled, and halved
	3½	lb. (1½ medium) pork shanks, cut into 1½-inch-thick pieces (you’ll have to ask the butcher to cut this for you)
	1½	lb. (2 medium) pork trotters (a.k.a. fresh pigs’ feet), cut lengthwise in half (you’ll have to ask the butcher to do this for you, too)
	1½	lb. bone-in pork shoulder, cut into 3 or 4 large pieces (again, ask the butcher)
	~	Salt
	2	large white onions, rather finely chopped
	8	medium (4 ounces total) dried ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
	3	limes, cut into wedges
	6	cups thinly sliced cabbage or head lettuce (though not traditional, I love Napa cabbage for pozole)
	15	radishes, thinly sliced
	3 to 4	Tbsp. dried Mexican oregano
	2	Tbsp. coarsely ground dried hot red chile (optional)
	24	tostadas (crisp-fried corn tortillas), store-bought or homemade

Steps

1. Cook the corn. The most careful cooks like to remove the hard, pointy end — the germ — of each lime-treated corn kernal (nixtamal) so that the kernels will splay into a rough flower shape as they cook. A fingernail or small knife works well for this job, along with a lot of patience. (This step is impractical when using American Southwestern dried pozole corn.)
2. Measure 6 quarts of water into a large (10-quart or so) pot and add the corn (either the rinsed nixtamal or the dried corn) and garlic. Bring to a boil, partially cover the pot, and simmer gently over medium-low heat until the corn is thoroughly tender — at a minimum, allow 2 to 3 hours for nixtamal, about 5 hours for dried corn. Add water as necessary to keep the water level more or less constant. Slower, longer cooking only means better pozole, as evidenced by the fact that in many places in Mexico huge pots of the fragrant mixture simmer over wood fires overnight before a fiesta.
3. Cook the meat. While the corn is simmering, place all the meats in another large pot, cover with 4 quarts of water, add 2 tablespoons salt, and bring to a boil. Skim off the grayish foam that rises during the next few minutes, then add half the chopped onions. Partially cover the pot and simmer over medium-low heat until all the meat is thoroughly tender, about 2 hours. Remove the meat from the broth and let cool. Or, if time allows, cool the meat in the broth for the best flavor and texture, then remove it.
4. Skim the fat from the broth; you’ll have 2 generous quarts broth. Pull the meat from the pork shanks and pull the shoulder meat into large shreds. Cut the bones and knuckles out of the trotters. Discard the bones and knuckles, then chop what remains into ½-inch pieces. Add to the shredded meat (there will be about 6 cups meat in all). Cover and refrigerate if not serving within an hour.
5. Season the pozole. While the corn and meat are cooking, rehydrate the ancho chiles in enough hot water to cover (lay a small plate on top to keep them submerged) for about 20 minutes. Purée the chiles, liquid and all, in batches if necessary, in a blender or food processor.
6. When the corn is tender, press the chile mixture through a medium-mesh strainer (this removes tough chile skins) directly into the simmering liquid. Add the pork broth and 1 tablespoon salt, partially cover, and simmer for 1 hour.
7. Serve. When you’re ready to serve, set out bowls of the condiments for your guests to add to their steaming, fragrant bowlfuls: the lime wedges, sliced cabbage or lettuce, sliced radishes, oregano, and optional ground chile. Scoop the remaining chopped onion into a strainer, rinse under cold water and shake off the excess, then place in a bowl and set out with the other condiments.
8. Add the meat to the simmering pozole and check the consistency. It should look hearty — chock full of hominy, with bits of meat — but brothy enough to be thought of as a soup or brothy stew. If necessary, add water. Taste the pozole and season with additional salt if you think it’s necessary; since hominy soaks up a surprising amount of sat, you may need as much as another tablespoon.
9. Either serve your posole extravaganze (brothy stew plus garnishes and go-withs) buffet-style or ladle portions of the pozole into large soup bowls and deliver them to your guests, then pass around the condiments.
10. Before sprinkling it over the bowl, each guest should powder the whole-leaf oregano by rubbing it between his or her palms. The crushed red chile is for those who really like spice. The tostadas are eaten as an accompaniment on the side.

Notes

Pozole prepared without the garnishes keeps very well — even improves — for several days, refrigerated. The biggest hurdle for most cooks is cooling it down quickly enough (I highly recommend immediately dividing the finished pozole among at least four 2- to 3-quart containers for quick cooling) and finding enough space in the refrigerator.

This content is from the book Mexico One Plate at a Time by Rick Bayless.

Balsamic Dressing

serving 8

 

I love to make my balsamic dressing with 2 parts oil to 1 part vinegar. You whisk it in a bowl, make it in a blender, mini chopper or shake in a jar. 

4 Tb Olive Oil

2 Tb Balsamic Vinegar

1 Tb Honey

1 (heeping) tsp Dijon Mustard

1 Garlic clove

Salt & Pepper 

Cut garlic clove in half & rub the bottom & sides of the bowl you're serving the salad.

Add the vinegar, honey & mustard to the bowl & whisk vigorously. Slowly add the oil & whisk vigorously as the dressing emulsifies.  

Add mixed greens to the dressing & toss 

Topped with freshly crumbled blue cheese, red onion slices (rinsed in cold water takes away the fire in raw onion) sliced apples, toasted almonds...And across the top, hit it with a little more fresh cracked pepper & kosher salt.