There are 2 things I poach frequently: chicken breasts and salmon. Aside from the health/diet factor of reduced fat, I like that both retain moisture and are cooked in a really short time. My general poaching liquid may include any or all of the following: chicken broth, wine, water, olive oil, lemon, garlic and seasonings.
Because I was headed toward a Mexican dinner, I got the idea to steep it in Azteca Fire tea mix. (It seemed like the appropriate blend for Mexican.) Continue Reading
I was happy to “meet” so many of my food blogging friends on the virtual trail in Mexico. They came from various parts of the U.S., as well as Canada, Turkey, Australia and Italy. Please visit their blogs for winning recipes, great photos and witty conversation.
But, first, let’s check out what they brought to the fiesta. Cuidado: Be ready to drool over these mouth-watering photos. They’re ‘food porn’!
Bravo to all!
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Mexico is our closest ‘south-of-the-border’ neighbor and the first stop on our Culinary Tour. Please join us as we eat our way through El Salvador, Nicaragua, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba and Puerto Rico.
As they say in Mexico, “fiesta sin comida, no es fiesta cumplida“, meaning a party without food is not really a party. So, let’s go to the fiesta.
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This is an unconventional method for making sausage, but it resulted in a very tasty recipe.
Question: What makes a sausage? Is it the meat? the seasoning? the forcing? the casing? the shape? the cooking method? Or, perhaps, just because the cook says it’s sausage?
Although I’ve never made sausage, the other day I wanted to make sausage. I didn’t have a meat grinder or sausage casings. I didn’t even have a fatty protein. But that didn’t stop me. Continue Reading
Yellow rice and black beans are yummy in the tummy…but try adding plantain salsa made with a citrus vinaigrette for a new and brighter taste. It’s rice, beans and sweet plantains with an updated twist — and the fact is it was born out of leftover plantains made the traditional way.
It’s also good with grilled chicken, pork chops, over fried fish, in a ceviche, and alongside a grilled steak that has been drizzled with chimichurri sauce. Oh hell…just grab a tortilla chip and dig in! Continue Reading
Ben of What’s Cooking? issued a challenge to food bloggers to make tortillas. And, I issued a challenge to my team…let’s collectively make the tortillas and individually make a filling and topping. [I'm not a fan of dough-related recipes. I like to eat them, but I just don't have the temperament to make them. So, "collectively" means I issue ideas (I had a few), Jim does the actual work, and Cassie plays games on his I-phone.]
Ay, caramba! Qué pasó? Every recipe I saw said “masa harina” so I bought masa harina. While harina is the literal Spanish translation for flour, ‘masa harina’ as sold in our supermarkets is corn meal and not the right product. Did I know? When it became obvious things were going badly, I rushed out to pick up ready-made tortillas so we could at least have dinner and not waste all the delicious fillings and toppings. And, there, on a lower shelf all by itself, I saw Maseca corn FLOUR so I bought it figuring we’d (Jim) would give it another shot and if it failed again, we’d be ready to eat anyway with the store-bought tortillas.
1. obviously not working; 2. in the garbage; 3. the back-up plan
Blast Off. We didn’t have to abort and were able to successfully complete the mission and add our culinary points-of-view to the actual tortillas, the fillings and the toppings.
We used the standard tortilla recipe (easy with the right product) and made them ‘ours’ by pressing cilantro leaves into the dough (left); mixing in Sazon seasoning with achiote (center); and blending the dough with squid ink (right).
Jim made carnitas with a slow-cooked pork butt and pickled onions which we paired with the achiote tortilla; Cassie wanted to make a “salad” filling and chopped lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, olives etc. and served it with a citrus vinaigrette and we paired that with the cilantro tortilla; and I made a shrimp ceviche which I had planned to serve with the squid-ink infused tortilla. (Note: While none of the tortillas really took on the flavor of the infusions, they did make for a nice visual.)
Toppings. I made a salsa of black beans and crumbled Mexican cheese with cilantro, red onions, and a sherry vinaigrette. Jim shaved a few ears of corn and dressed the niblets in a bright and delicious citrus vinaigrette. He also made pickled onions. Cassie made a fresh guacamole to go along with her salad but we were so hungry, we just started eating it with blue corn chips and it never made it to the photography table.
After a disastrous start, we got our stride and created the meal I envisioned – and it was muy delicioso - so I’d like to thank Ben for coming up with the idea. I would have never thought to make my own tortillas! Visit Jim’s Our Family Food Fight for his take on the challenge, the pork recipe and more photos.
Recipe for ceviche:
16 jumbo shrimp
3 limes
1 lemon
1/2 cup Naranja Agria (sour orange juice) or use fresh squeezed orange
salt to taste
splash of hot sauce
red onion sliced very thinly
handful of cilantro
Marinate well in refrigerator for several hours (at least) until shrimp take on color.
I don’t know how many Mexicans will be celebrating Cinco de Mayo this year because of the health problems they are currently facing. But, here in South Florida in FOODalogue’s kitchen, with a heart full of hope and good wishes for the health and prosperity of a wonderful country, I decided to make a Mexican-inspired dinner. It started with a poblano pepper I bought at the market.
Interestingly, while Cinco de Mayo is considered only a “regional” holiday in Mexico, it’s a big deal in the U.S. It’s a day when everyone comes together and celebrates all things Mexican. And, for many, it’s a real good excuse to go out and consume pitchers of Margaritas!
I recently saw a Bobby Flay ‘Throw-Down’ where the subject was stuffed poblanos. His was stuffed with an eggplant mixture and the Mexican chefs he was battling made vegetarian stuffed poblanos with nogales (cactus). P.S. The Mexicans won.
Neither one of these thrilled me so I decided to stuff mine with rice, grill some shrimp, and serve them over a cilantro sauce with a rough-salsa.
First you have to char the pepper. I did it in a 450 degree oven and then placed it in a paper bag to sweat the skin off. As I saw on that Throw-Down show, I then cut a T in the pepper to ready it for stuffing.
Rice
• Saute finely minced onion, green pepper and garlic in a little olive oil and soften.
• Add rice to toast for a minute or two.
• Then add liquid (I always use chicken broth).
Seasonings: Sazón with culantro & achiote, S&P, a little chipolte powder and some fresh cilantro.
Cilantro Sauce
• Pulse a bunch of fresh cilantro with the juice of a lime, a dash of hot sauce, olive oil, a little salt, and a drop or two of honey.
Shrimp
• Marinate shrimp in olive oil, garlic, lime, salt, and a little Sazón. Sear on high in dry pan, then add a little of the marinade and cover for 1-2 minutes to cook shrimp through.
Salsa
• Chop fresh tomato, toss with cilantro, fresh lime juice and a little salt.
To Finish
Stuff poblano with rice and cover with cheddar cheese. Place under broiler a few minutes until cheese begins to bubble.
Final Comment
The drop or two of honey in the cilantro sauce was just the right counterpoint to the heat of the rest of the meal. Good call!
Other Mexican-inspired dishes from FOODalogue:
I’d been thinking recently about how to use Tequiza beer in cooking. (For those of you unfamiliar with it, it is produced by Anheuser Busch and combines the flavors of lime, agave and tequila). It’s very refreshing on a hot summer’s day and though I don’t drink it often, when I do…I really enjoy it!
Back to cooking. Because of the lime and tequila flavors, my mind naturally went to something Latin-inspired and the other day I came up with a dinner muy rico! Hats off to Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Peru…I used flavors from all of their kitchens (cocinas). And, I actually kept a note of what I did so herewith…a recipe! For two.
Adobo Shrimp Enchilado (spicy)
shrimp (I used 6 per person)
1 lime
1 packet Sazón (or adobo seasoning)
aji amarillo (or hot sauce) to taste
2 tbl minced chorizo (Spanish sausage)
1 garlic clove minced
2 tbl onion minced
2 tbl green pepper minced
1 sm can tomato sauce
sliced stuffed green olives & capers to taste
cider vinegar
1. Marinate shrimp for about 30 minutes with a blend of olive oil, 1 packet Sazón (adobo and annatto flavored seasoning), squeeze of fresh lime juice, and 1/2 tablespoon of Aji Amarillo paste (or splash of hot sauce) for a little heat.
2. Saute onion, green pepper and garlic. Add minced chorizo (about 2 tbl). It adds flavor and color! When it starts releasing its oil and color move to the side of the pan.
3. Add the shrimp on high heat to sear and then remove.
4. Add 1 can of tomato sauce, adobo seasoning, stuffed green olives, and capers and cook on med-low for about 15 minutes until flavors meld and it cooks down a bit. Add a drop of cider vinegar and put shrimp back in for last few minutes.
Tequiza Beer and Cilantro Rice
Pulse and set aside:
1 cup fresh cilantro
1 tsp olive oil
S&P
a squeeze of lime
Saute
1/8 green pepper minced
1 clove garlic minced
1/4 onion minced
Fold in 1/2 cup of rice and saute for a minute or two before adding 1 cup of liquid (3/4 Tequiza and 1/4 chicken broth). Cover and cook for 20 minutes.
To Serve:
• Finishing touch: a squeeze of fresh lime and a sprinkle of crumbled Mexican cheese.
• I also made Platano Maduro (sweet plantain) which I halved and baked in the oven for a little figure-friendly take on the classic frying. It was a perfect complement to the spicy dinner.
Lastly, lucky me, this dish meets the red, white and green criteria for this month’s Royal Food Joust challenge. I’m off to enter it on the Leftover Queen’s website…
We momentarily interrupt the Culinary Tour Around the World to introduce a healthy chili recipe.
For those of you who follow FOODalogue, you know I like colorful plates and lots of vegetables. I incorporate veggies into eggs for breakfast, in sandwiches at lunch time, and in pastas for dinner. But, admittedly, I also like pasta, crusty bread and wine a little too much (well, o.k., a lot) so my New Year’s resolution was to try bringing in even more vegetables as a substitute for the carbs I really crave.
I also like to ‘waste not’ in the kitchen…so when I had 2 small slices of pork loin leftover from a roast and I wanted to healthy-it-up, I thought about making a mainly vegetarian chili with a little pork to add flavor.
Like most of my recipes, this is more about food pairings and presentation than actual technique and measurements — but because it is ‘chili’, I’m sending it off to Gloria of Cookbook Cuisine* for her ‘chili cook-off‘.
What I did:
• baked 2 squash halves (butternut and acorn) in oven till tender; scooped out filling, cubed it and reserved to side for later. Meantime,
• sauteed shallot, green pepper and garlic in olive oil with some fresh thyme
• added about a cup of halved grape tomatoes
• a splash of wine
• 1 can of Goya white beans
• 8 ozs of tomato sauce
• diced pork loin
• chili powder, cumin, chipolte, pimenton (paprika)
• chopped fresh cilantro
• a squeeze of lime
• a dash of hot sauce
• simmer till flavors meld
• fold in reserved chopped squash and serve in squash shells.
*Gloria is a published author of some 2 dozen books and she is offering a free online course of how to write a cookbook. We’ve only had one lesson so far so I don’t think it’s too late to sign up. She’s out promoting her new book but will be back to resume her head mistress role soon.
The guests ‘may’ be sober, but the bird is definitely juiced! It arrives with a few cups of tequila and Grand Marnier in its belly.
Ben of What’s Cooking? issued a challenge to food bloggers to make tortillas. And, I issued a challenge to my team…let’s collectively make the tortillas and individually make a filling and topping. [I'm not a fan of dough-related recipes. I like to eat them, but I just don't have the temperament to make them. So, "collectively" means I issue ideas (I had a few), Jim does the actual work, and Cassie plays games on his I-phone.]
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