Archive for the 'Mexican' Category

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Carnitas with Roasted Corn Salsa

Even if Mexican food isn’t your thing, you have to love carnitas. What are carnitas, you might ask? Think something akin to a Mexican twist on pulled pork–juicy, tender, but paradoxically crispy and crunchy at the same time, all served on a tortilla, in this case, with a freshly made roasted corn salsa.

Carnitas with Roasted Corn Salsa

There are many approaches to carnitas out there, but I think they can pretty much be divided into two categories: semi-healthy using braised pork, or, as is the case with this recipe, a more traditional, heart-stopping approach on account of slow-cooking the pork in roughly a pound-for-pound equal amount of lard (like a confit).

Your reaction to that statement will go one of two ways: (1) holy shit awesome! (I agree :o ) or (2) grossed out and almost off-handedly ruled out as insanely unhealthy. If you’re in the latter group, slow down now and hear me out! After all, its not like you’re ultimately going to…
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Posted by mike on May 1st, 2008 under Main course, Mexican, Pork, Sauce | 26 Comments »

Chicken Burritos with Salsa Verde

I’ve had Mexican flavors on my mind lately, and with Cinco de Mayo approaching, it only seemed appropriate to make a distinctly Mexican-inspired burrito. These burritos include shredded chicken, freshly made salsa verde, a mild, Spanish goat cheese, and roasted poblano peppers, which all together, amounted to a new must-make-this-again-soon recipe.

I’d heard of tomatillos before, but had never actually tasted or seen one hands on. When I ran into them, I couldn’t help but just grab a ton of them without a clue as to what I would do with them. If you’ve also never worked with a tomatillo, they look kind of like small, green tomatoes with a papery wrapping (like a head of garlic). After a little thought, the most obvious thing struck me (another new thing for my tastebuds): salsa verde!

Now tomatillos are not tomatoes and salsa verde is a salsa that has no tomatoes (tomatillos are the star of the show), and in case…
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Posted by mike on April 28th, 2008 under Chicken, Main course, Mexican, Sauce | 25 Comments »

Chili con Carne

Chili is one of those dishes that can incite some passionate arguments, because when it comes to opinions on what should/shouldn’t be in a chili recipe, like ass holes, everybody has one (as the saying goes). Should it include beans? Meat? Tomato? Pasta (the answer to that, of course, is no and I don’t care where you come from ;-) )? These are life or death decisions in the chili world. So given that, here’s my take on a good and hearty bowl of chili.

Bowl of Chili, topped with cheddar and sour cream

While this chili has a lot of familiar flavors, it does nonetheless include one very special ingredient. I’ve been hanging on to this item for a few weeks now, keeping it near and dear until the right dish came along and beckoned for it as I only had one handy. See, if I like anything in my chili, its some punch–chili is a dish that simply should (must!) have some heat to it. I’ve grown my…
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Posted by mike on February 11th, 2008 under Barbeque, Beef, Main course, Mexican, Pork, Soup & Stew | 16 Comments »

Mojo Chicken Burritos

Who doesn’t love a good burrito?

Mojo Chicken Burrito

Like burgers, I think burritos get a bad rap (no pun intended). For this dish, I wanted to have something that was still hearty and scratched that Mexican-flavor itch, but I also wanted it to be fresh and flavorful, not greasy and drowning in muddled flavors hidden under some ground beef slurry.

The end result was very fresh and flavorful: I rubbed a chicken down with some pretty strong, savory spices (think cinnamony, limey adobo) and roasted it. This was then chopped and pulled into tender chunks of juicy meat. By itself, this was tasty, but a burrito just cries out for salsa, or at least some kind of sauce. Since beef wasn’t in the cards today, I thought a mojo sauce would be better for chicken than a tomato-ey salsa (mojo is typically a largely citrus-based sauce, if you’ve never had it. Sweet, acidic, and very vibrant), so I tossed the pulled chicken…
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Posted by mike on January 13th, 2008 under Chicken, Main course, Mexican | 7 Comments »

Acorn Squash Stuffed with Beef

Along with the pumpkins, October rings in a great variety of squash. Acorn squash is a fun one to work with, providing you with a rich, orange-colored, naturally sweet bowl that is ideal for stuffing with something savory. You’ll find a really wide range of interesting fillings out there–apples, nuts, rice, meats–all sorts of things. No matter what the filling though, they all have one thing in common: they showcase the tender texture and the sweetness of the squash.

Acorn squash stuffed with beef

In this case, I’ve stuffed my squash with a ground beef mixture which has Mexican flavors akin to a milder mole sauce that is tilted less towards spicy and more towards sweet and savory so as to enhance the sweetness of the squash. There’s a lot of savory spices and a small amount of heat, but a lot of the major players in this mixture work towards having a fuller profile of sweetness: dark molasses, balsalmic vinegar, golden raisins, bittersweet chocolate, honey,…
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Posted by mike on October 9th, 2007 under Beef, Main course, Mexican | 1 Comment »

Tamale Pie

Tamale Pie is a great dish with a weird name. I almost hate calling it by that name because it doesn’t sound appetizing and the name is so uninformative–its not a pie and has absolutely nothing tamale-like about it. Its sort of a tex-mex flavored casserole held together with ground beef, cornbread, and a salsa-like mixture. Its crumbly like cornbread, moist, and zesty. And for something tex-mex, its very comfort-foodish.

Serving of tamale pie w/avocado and sour cream

I was inspired by the version of tamale pie from Simply Recipes and was surprised to learn that this is actually a commonplace dish. Prepare yourself for some really heavy news: I never encountered tamale pie growing up.

For me, this dish is nice because you can easily make it from a lot of fresh ingredients or substitute in some pre-made components with ease. I try to strike a middle ground, keeping it full of fresh flavors, but still simple enough that it is in my quick-and-easy-to-make arsenal, rather than the better-save-this-for-the-weekend…
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Posted by mike on September 20th, 2007 under Beef, Main course, Mexican | 1 Comment »
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