Surf n' Turf Tacos

Every once in a while, I'll pull out all my old cooking magazines I've bought and start perusing to see if there are any recipes that I remember sounding interesting, but never got around to making.

The hubby and I were trying to plan out meals for the week, and were eternally stuck on what we should do, other than our 'Pasta Wednesday.'  Thankfully, I have a pretty good arsenal of cooking magazines, spanning each of the four seasons, so I pulled out a few of my summer-themed magazines to see if anything sounded tasty.

Leave it to Rachel Ray to have a delicious recipe in her magazine. I hate to say that I find her a little over-the-top on her two cooking shows (I don't watch her talk show), but whenever I come across her recipes, I usually find something quick, easy and delicious. Thank goodness for magazines and FoodNetwork.com! I can search her recipes without actually having to watch a whole episode!

These tacos are light, yet filling, and very flavorful, even with the seemingly few spices. We even had some leftovers, which I then made into a breakfast burrito the next morning. Ah-mazing!

Whip up a batch of these for summer, and you won't be disappointed. You might even feel like you took a little trip to somewhere a little more tropical than your backyard or dining room table!

Surf 'n' Turf Tacos

Adapted Slightly From Rachel Ray Magazine

Serves 8

Ingredients

1 small head napa cabbage, chopped

Juice of 6 limes (about 1/2 cup)

2 cups sour cream

Sixteen 6-inch flour tortillas

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Salt

1 pound trimmed flank steak, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch strips

6 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 pound red snapper fillets, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch strips (I used Cod)

Pepper

1 cup store-bought guacamole, plus more for serving

One 16-ounce jar salsa, for serving

Directions

In a large bowl, toss the cabbage with half of the lime juice. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream and remaining lime juice. Cover and refrigerate.

Preheat the oven to 250°. Spread the tortillas on a baking sheet, cover with foil and warm in the oven for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk the garlic powder, paprika, cumin, chili powder, cayenne pepper, and 2 teaspoons salt. Add the steak, tossing to coat.

In a large skillet, heat 1/4 cup oil over medium-high heat until rippling. Add the steak, lower the heat to medium and cook, turning occasionally, until browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a large plate. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil to the skillet. Season the fish lightly with salt and pepper (Note: I also added a little cayenne pepper and cumin). Cook, in the skillet, turning once, until golden, about 5 minutes.

Lay the tortillas on a work surface. Spread 1 tablespoon guacamole on each, then top with some of the cabbage. Divide the meat among 8 tortillas and the fish among 8 tortillas. Fold to form tacos. Serve with more guacamole and cabbage, the lime-sour cream and the salsa.

Enchiladas Especiales Tacuba Style

Top Chef is one of those shows that the hubby and I can happily admit that we watch together. While Project Runway and Say Yes to the Dress are my domain, NBA and college hoops are his. Top Chef is just one of those shows that we can both look forward to sitting down and enjoying.

When Top Chef Masters was on for its inaugural season, it was my first introduction to Rick Bayless. Living in Chicago, I had heard of Frontera Grill, Topolobampo and Xoco, but I had never been able to put a face to the name. Watching him work in the kitchen was amazing, under pressure, he effortlessly put together a 30-ingredient mole sauce like it was nothing (that the judges raved about, later).

Though I haven’t been able to visit his restaurants (I would love to go to Frontera, but the waits there are insane!), I found that his website has recipes for the food he prepares on his public television show called Mexico: One Plate at a Time. These enchiladas looked both easy and satisfying.

They did not disappoint. The sauce takes a little bit of time to prepare, but for the relatively few ingredients this meal contains, the flavor is through the roof. The spinach is not something I would have expected in an enchilada sauce, but it just works, and the poblanos give ths sauce the most subtle heat that is so wonderful. Next time, I’ll probably add a touch more garlic, since we can never seem to get enough, but other than that, this meal was fantastic, and definitely one that we’ll be having over and over again at our house.

Enchiladas Especiales Tacuba Style

From Rick Bayless

Serves 4 to 6

This recipe is from Season 7 Mexico - One Plate at a Time

Ingredients

2 fresh poblano chiles

1 cup (lightly packed) roughly chopped spinach leaves

2 cups milk

2 cups chicken broth

6 tablespoons (3 ounces) butter—or you can use vegetable oil

3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

1/2 cup flour

Salt

3 cups coarsely shredded cooked chicken (I usually use a rotisserie chicken or leftover grilled chicken)

12 corn tortillas

A little vegetable oil for brushing or spraying

About 1 cup Mexican melting cheese (Chihuahua, quesadilla, asadero or the like) or Monterey Jack, brick or mild cheddar

A little chopped cilantro for garnish

Directions

Make the sauce.  Roast the poblanos directly over a gas flame or on a baking sheet 4 inches below a very hot broiler, turning regularly, until the skins have blistered and blackened on all side, about 5 minutes for an open flame, about 10 minutes under the broiler. Place in a bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and, when handleable, rub off the blackened skin, tear open and pull out the seed pod and stem. Quickly rinse to remove any stray seeds or bits of skin. Roughly chop and put in a blender jar.  Add the spinach.

In a medium (3-quart) saucepan, combine the milk and broth, set over medium-low heat to warm.

In a large (4-quart) saucepan, melt the butter (or heat the oil) over medium.  Add the garlic and cook for a minute to release its aroma, then add the flour and stir the mixture for a minute.  Raise the heat to medium-high.  Pour in the warm broth mixture and whisk constantly until the sauce boils.  Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove from the heat.

Pour half the hot sauce into the blender with the chiles and spinach.  Cover loosely (I remove the center part of the lid, secure the lid, then drape a cloth over the whole thing) and blend until smooth.  Pour the mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining sauce.  Taste and season with salt, usually about 2 teaspoons. 

Finish the enchiladas.  Heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Smear about 1/4 cup of the sauce over the bottom of each of four to six 9-inch individual ovenproof baking/serving dishes or smear about 1 cup of the sauce over the bottom of a 13x9-inch baking dish.  Stir 1 cup of the sauce into the chicken.

Lay half of the tortillas out on a baking sheet and lightly brush or spray both sides of the tortillas with oil; top each tortilla with another one and brush or spray those with oil.  Bake just to warm through and soften, about 3 minutes.  Stack the tortillas and cover with a towel to keep warm. 

Working quickly so that the tortillas stay hot and pliable, roll a portion of the chicken up in each tortilla, then line them all up in the baking dish(es).  Douse evenly with the remaining sauce and sprinkle with the cheese.  Bake until the enchiladas are hot through (the cheese will have begun to brown), about 20 minutes.  Garnish with the cilantro and serve without hesitation.

Enchiladas!

Mexican food is one of those things that I will eat out more often than I make it at home, simply because there are so many local places with delicious food at really reasonable prices. While I know it’s definitely less expensive to make it at home, I still have a difficult time replicating my favorite flavors.

I finally decided to try my hand at homemade Mexican food. While it did taste really good, I will mention that I did have a problem with my flour clumping. Not sure what happened there, but no amount of whisking would get all the lumps out. Thankfully, with the help of a strainer, I was able to get out most of them, and it really didn’t compromise the flavor of the dish at all – I guess it just meant my sauce was a little runnier than the recipe had anticipated. I think it was mainly because of the way the flour was added, so I may amend the recipe next time around to not add dry flour to a hot liquid. The resulting meal was saucy, cheesy, melty and absolutely delicious. It may not be the meal from my favorite restaurant, but it definitely curbed the craving (and probably three-day's worth of sodium!). We realized after this baked that our cilantro was no good, so we had to eat them without, I'd definitely recommend it if you have it, as that would add a nice, crisp flavor that would beautifully compliment the sauce and cheese.

I am notorious for halving recipes since we do not typically need food for four on our dinner table. This time, however, I made all eight, but reserved two for freezing and made six to eat that night. I froze the enchiladas along with a little container of sauce, with the instructions written on the tinfoil, so when it comes time to eat, there will be no lost sauce and no scrambling to find the instructions for reheating them.


Tex-Mex Beef Enchiladas
Adapted from Everyday Food
1 tablespoons olive oil1/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder1 teaspoon dried oregano1 garlic clove, minced1/2 teaspoon coarse salt1 can (14 1/2 ounces) reduced sodium chicken broth1 small chipotle chile in adobo, minced, plus 1 tablespoon sauce (from a small can)1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar1 small onion, finely chopped2 garlic cloves, minced3/4 pound lean ground turkey1 teaspoon oregano2 tsp cumin2 tbsp chili powder1 tbsp cayenne pepperCoarse salt and ground pepper8 flour tortillas3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Make sauce: In a medium saucepan, mix flour, chili powder, oregano, garlic, and salt into broth, then pour into pan, stirring to remove all lumps. Put the saucepan over medium heat and add chipotle, adobo sauce and 3/4 cup water, and vinegar; bring to a boil, whisking constantly. Reduce heat, and simmer until lightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
Make filling: In a 10-inch nonstick skillet, heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Add onion, garlic, cayenne, cumin, chili powder, oregano, and beef; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until cooked through, about 8 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (If freezing, don't place any sauce in baking dish.) Spoon 1/4 cup sauce in bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish. Set aside. Make enchiladas: Stack tortillas; wrap in foil, and warm in oven, 10 minutes. Fill each with a heaping 1/4 cup beef mixture (and this was for 6-inch corn tortillas, which I don't even think I did for 10-inch flour tortillas, so do whatever works for you) and 2 tablespoons cheese; tightly roll up.
Raise oven heat to 450 degrees. Arrange enchiladas, seam side down, in baking dish. Top with remaining sauce; sprinkle with cheese. Bake, uncovered, until hot and bubbly, 15 to 20 minutes. (I sprinkled the cilantro on top a few minutes before end of cooking time) Let cool 10 minutes before serving. Serve garnished with cilantro and, if desired, a green salad.
To freeze: make sauce and enchiladas; arrange enchiladas in baking dish without sauce (so tortillas don't become soggy). Place sauce in an airtight container. Cover dish with plastic wrap and foil. Label, date, and freeze enchiladas and sauce. Use within 2 months; bake without thawing.To bake from frozen: Thaw sauce in refrigerator overnight. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Remove foil and plastic wrap from baking dish. Pour sauce over top, and sprinkle with cheese; cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover; bake until lightly browned and bubbly, about 15 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes; serve.If baking right away: Spoon 1/4 cup sauce in the bottom of baking dish; pour the rest over the enchiladas.

Mexican Rice

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Hope you are all able to enjoy a little fiesta! I love Mexican food. Not only is it delicious but it’s also fun to say. You’ve got your chalupas, taquitos chihuahua cheese and m y personal favorite, chimichangas. Try saying it 3 times fast without cracking a smile.

Chimichanga, chimichanga, chimichanga!

Oddly enough, as much as I like the appetizers and entrees at Mexican restaurants, I am always the person that will take an extra serving of black beans in lieu of my helping of rice because I rarely enjoy the bland, dried out orange rice that inevitably ends up on my plate. So I’m not really sure what made me decide that I’d attempt Mexican rice when I was unsure I’d even like what came out of the oven. I’m glad I gave it a chance.

This rice is fluffy without being dry, and has a wonderful flavor with just the slightest ‘zip’ from the jalapeño peppers. The fresh cilantro and lime juice really brighten the final dish. As usual for me, the assembly of this dish is pretty simple – I dirtied one pot, one knife, two cutting boards, a food processor and a wooden spoon. The only complication may be having an oven-safe pot with lid that you can take from stovetop to oven.

Next time I will add even more jalapeño because the dish wasn’t quite spicy enough for our tastes, but I will also make sure to use gloves when I dice them. My pepper gloves that I used for my experiment with habaneros were enlisted for stripping the paint off of our deck last weekend and I forgot to purchase a new pair before preparing this dish. Next time, I will make sure to have them, my fingers were burning for a good twelve hours after I finished the dish.
Mexican Rice
serves 8 as a side

Adapted From A Pot of Tea and a Biscuit blog

14.2 oz canned chopped tomatoes
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
3 medium jalapeno peppers or canned jalapenos
2 cups long grain white rice
canola oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 lime juiced

Preheat your oven to 350F.

Process tomato and onion in processor or blender until pureed and thoroughly smooth. This should make two cups. I must have had a giant onion, because I ended up with nearly 2 1/2 cups of liquid. I measured out two cups from my liquid to add to the dish versus pouring in all of my puree.

De-seed and finely chop the jalapeno peppers. If you're using canned/pickled jalapenos, just chop them.

Put your rice in a fine sieve or colander and rinse thoroughly for about 2 minutes. (I rinsed mine even longer.) The water should run clear after that time which means that the excess starch is removed. Cover the sieve/colander and shake well to remove any rest starch still in the rice. This is really important so that the rice is fluffy and not sticky.

Heat some oil (I did about 2 Tbsp) in heavy bottomed ovenproof pan with tight fitting lid over medium high heat about 2 minutes. The oil should sizzle when you drop in a few rice grains. Add the rice and stir fry until the rice is light golden and translucent. This takes about 6-8 minutes (I cooked closer to 10).

Reduce heat and add garlic together with 2/3 of the chopped jalapenos and cook, stirring constantly for about 1 1/2 minutes.

Add the chicken stock, the pureed tomato/onion mixture and salt. Increase heat to and bring to a boil.

Cover the pan and place it in the middle of your oven to bake until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender. That should take about 30-35 minutes. Stir once after 15 minutes.

Add the rest of the jalapeno, the chopped fresh cilantro and the lime juice.