Tag: mexican food
Avocado and Poblano Pepper Crema
I am not sure how this recipe came about. I was at the farmer’s market and I found these great looking poblano peppers. Once I had decided to make grilled steak fajitas, I wanted to make some kind of a salsa to serve on top. Instead I thought of making an avocado crema- what is that you ask??? Well, it is essentially a combination of creamed sour cream and avocado.
In this case, I grilled the poblano peppers, green onions, garlic and yellow onion with a drizzle of olive oil and salt. Once all the vegetables turned golden brown, I blended them with a cut up avocado, lime juice, Greek yogurt and salt. That was it- super simple and so flavorful.
I drizzled the crema over the steak and the vegetables. It complemented the spiced in the steak really well. The tang and the creaminess was delicious with the crunchy vegetables. I used up half of it for the meal and stored the rest away for another meal- hmm, how will I use it up??
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Black Bean and Mango Salad
This salad is perfect for summer time- no cooking involved. Just put some ingredients together and make your vinaigrette and you have a great side dish to complement anything at all. It is even great as a light meal at the end of the day or for lunch with a fried egg on top.
I made it with the fish tacos (recipe to follow tomorrow). I was going to make a simple green salad but then thought of doing a bean salad instead. I had mangoes and sweet peppers in my fridge and paired them with green onions and cilantro. I always have different kinds of canned beans in my pantry. Beans are super healthy and add great texture to any dish.
The dressing was simply, lime juice, honey, roasted cumin and olive oil. You can’t get this delicious vinaigrette out of a bottle and yet it is so simple to make. I added the dressing to the salad and let it sit for a few hours before serving it with the delicious tacos.
It was a big hit- super healthy and delicious- and best of all, very easy to make.
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Migas Tacos- An Austin, TX Favorite..
I made these tacos for the New York Times, Local a few weeks ago. It was right after my daughter and I returned from our trip to Austin. We go there almost every year to visit family and really enjoy the Mexican food- it tastes a lot more authentic and it is available almost everywhere.
One of the things I really enjoyed was something called migas tacos. Eggs were cooked with onions, jalapenos, tomatoes and topped with cheese. The one ingredient that makes these tacos different are the tortillas chips- yes thats right- crunchy tortillas strips are added to the eggs while cooking. The chips provided a great texture and flavor to the eggs. The cooked eggs are placed on a tortilla and topped with cheese- what could be better than that? Well, how about a roasted poblano and avocado crema…
I made this yummy, creamy sauce to complement the tacos. It was delicious on top of warm, savory tacos.
Overall, the meal was a big success. I made some vegetarian refried beans and roasted potatoes on the side. I made them for dinner and everyone loved them- including my daughter. For her, I skipped the jalapenos and tomatoes. She had some of the beans but doesn’t like potatoes.
Try these tacos for a brunch or dinner – you will love them.
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Mexican Chili Enchiladas-Great way to use leftovers…
I loved making these enchiladas- what a great way to use up my leftovers. I feel like a champion when I come up with a completely different preparation to use up stuff in the fridge.
I had the Mexican pork chili in the fridge and wasn’t in the mood to cook a whole new meal. I always have all kinds of tortillas and cheeses in the fridge. So, I immediately thought of enchiladas. I had enough to make 3 to 4 enchiladas which was perfect for my husband and I. A big salad with the enchiladas was perfect for a healthy, delicious dinner.
I separated the meat from the sauce and then shredded the pork with my fingers. I then placed the sauce in a flat platter so I can dip the tortillas in there to make them soft and pliable. I stuffed the tortillas, placed them in a shallow platter and then topped the whole thing with a mixture of Mexican cheeses- how easy was that!
This method can be used for any kind of leftover. Even if your leftover has no sauce, you can use a jar of your favorite salsa or tomato sauce and bake your enchiladas to perfection.
Dinner was delicious and didn’t look like old, boring leftovers…
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Quick Vegetarian Refried Beans
This is a quick, healthy side dish I came up with while I was cooking the rest of the meal for my friends. I had the enchiladas and rice. I was serving homemade salsa and guacamole with chips before dinner but something was still bothering me. I felt I didn’t have a balanced meal as yet. That is when beans came to mind.
As I started looking for recipe ideas for the refried beans, I realized most recipes called for frying the beans in pork fat or bacon. Normally I would add pancetta or bacon to the mix because as far as I am concerned, everything is better with bacon- but in this case I needed to make the dish vegetarian.
I started by cooking canned pinto beans in water and mashing them but left still them a bit chunky. As I was sauteing them with the onions and garlic, I kept thinking of a flavoring that would mimic the smokey flavor of bacon. Smoked paprika came to mind. That’s it- I thought. It was delicious paired with the creamy pinto beans, the onions and the garlic. In fact I would make this dish the same way again- why add extra calories with the bacon when I can achieve a similar flavor with the paprika?
I topped the dish with cilantro and queso fresco and the meal was well balanced, healthy and delicious!
Try these refried beans and you will never use the canned ones again!
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Mushroom Enchiladas with New Mexico Red Chile
This is a fabulous meal to make for company or if you just want to impress your family. It is a vegetarian meal but you can substitute any kind of meat in here including chicken, pork, shrimp or even fish.
I made this fabulous meal for a friend who was coming over with her family. They are vegetarian so I had to be careful and use vegetable broth where ever I normally use chicken broth, etc.
I made a delicious stuffing for the enchiladas with cremini mushrooms, onions and garlic. I added paprika and unsweetened cocoa. I wanted to emulate the mole sauce flavor which is a very labor intensive dish to make requiring lots of ingredients. I decided to introduce just the cocoa part to the stuffing to bring out the earthiness in the mushrooms.
I used whole-wheat tortillas- and guess what- no one noticed. Once the tortillas are doused with the super flavorful sauce, you can’t tell the difference. A perfect, sneaky way to make the dish healthy without anyone knowing.
I also cooked up some green rice and some quick vegetarian refried beans- recipes to follow tomorrow and the day after.
Definitely try making the mushroom enchiladas with new mexico red chilies- you will be impressed with yourself.
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Smoky Tomatillo Rice with Avocado and Mango Salad
Once in a while I come up with an absolutely genius one pot meal. Well, this is it- I even surprised myself when I tasted it. I wanted to make something with spanish and mexican flavors but didn’t want to make the normal quesadillas or fajitas or even burritos. I thought about it for almost the whole day and then finally came up with this fabulous dish. I had bought some ground turkey from Trader Joes the day before- I was actually planning to make meat balls with veggies but somehow didn’t feel like it. I have noticed that if I force myself to cook a dish, it doesn’t taste very good… I have to really want to make it – I usually visualize it in my head before I cook the dish- it sounds a little cooky but that is how my brain works. Anyway, I wanted to incorporate the ground turkey somehow in the dish, so I decided to pair it with rice and beans. When I think of Mexican food- tomatillos come to mind – I love using tomatillos– they have a very tart and creamy flavor. I also wanted to create a smoky dish but didn’t want to add any heat since I wanted Sia to enjoy it- so I decided to use smoked paprika which has a little bit of heat but a lot of flavor. I also decided to use one of my favorite ingredients- roasted frozen corn. It also has a nice roasted smoky flavor. I blended the tomatillos, garlic, cilantro and vidalia spring onions and used that as the underlying flavor for the rice. I don’t know if you all have noticed huge vidalia spring onions every where?? They are delicious- mild enough to use in salads but also have a lot of flavor for sauces, etc. Once the rice was cooked with all the delicious ingredients, I decided to take it to the next level and add cheese. My first thought was to add queso blanco but then I remembered I had a blend of shredded mexican cheeses in my fridge. It included monterey jack, queso blanco and a bunch of other cheeses- perfect! I love sweet and savory flavors in my dishes and decided to add raisins- they are optional but I would highly recommend them. The little burst of sweet juice midst the smoky rice was very pleasant. Now as we all know my daughter is obsessed with mangoes- so we have plenty in the house at all times. I wanted to make a cool salad to go with the rice and decided to combine avocados with mangoes. I thought very hard about this since both the ingredients have similar textures- my initial idea was to add some crunch to it but at the end I decided to keep it simple- some salt, lime juice and cilantro. I served the salad on top of the hot rice- it was out of this world!!! If you cook just one dish from this blog I would recommend this one- it was truly delicious. All the flavors went really well together- the hot smoky rice with the cool creamy salad- a match made in heaven!