Mexican Food Fest

What a great spread this Memorial Day! We cooked and ate and just had a grand old time. We decided to do a Mexican themed meal and use a cook book by Rick Bayless for a lot of the inspiration. Everything was so, so good.

Amazing was the word that kept coming out of our mouths as we shoveled more and more delicious things into it.

We started the Tequila-Infused Queso Fundido and

some Margaritas. A great start! The cheese dip just kept getting better and better with every chip I dipped into it. One note: Eat it fast as the cheese will harden quickly, but this really isn’t too hard a task to complete.

The Margaritas were also a great thing to try, no premade mix for these! The first time I have ever made them from scratch.

We then prepared Tuna in Jalapeno Escabeche. This was really yummy and simple. It had a nice flavor from the pickled jalapenos. We toasted some baguette slices and piled it high on top. Great and not too hard!

Even though we were full, we then moved on to Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas with Creamy Tomatillo Sauce and Melted Cheese and Short Rib Tacos with Corn Salsa. Holy Crap! This stuff was freaking ridiculous! You have to make this right now! What are you waiting for, go, get going. We had pickled onion, corn salsa, and crème as possible toppings for our tacos. My favorite combo was the short ribs with corn salsa and a little crème, but everyone had their own favorite.

Note: We made a special trip to a Mexican Market and got fresh corn tortillas, crème and melting cheese. It made all the difference. Get the corn tortilla! Have to!

Anyway, it was great time of cooking and eating, two things I love to do.

By the way, none of this stuff is on the diet, oops, did a little backsliding this week.

Tequila-Infused Queso Fundido

by Rick Bayless

Ingredients:

1 Tbs. olive or vegetable oil

1 large ripe tomato, cored, seeded (if you wish) and cut into 1/4-inch pieces

1 medium white onion, cut into 1/4-inch pieces

Hot green chile(s) to taste (roughly 1 large jalapeño or 2 large serranos), stemmed, seeded (if you wish) and finely chopped

3 Tbs. tequila, preferably a silver tequila

8 oz. Mexican melting cheese (such as Chihuahua, quesadilla or asadero) or Monterey Jack, mild cheddar or brick, shredded (you'll have about 2 cups)

1/2 cup (loosely packed) chopped cilantro (thick bottom stems cut off)

Prepare the flavorings. Heat the oil in a large (10-inch) skillet over medium-high. Add the tomato, onion and chile(s), and cook, stirring nearly constantly, until the onion begins to soften and brown, about 7 minutes. Add the tequila and cook, stirring, for a minute or so, until reduced to a glaze. (If you tip the pan toward an open gas flame, the tequila will ignite. If you choose this route, simply shake the pan back and forth until the flames subside and the tequila has reduced to a glaze.)

Finish the queso fundido. With the skillet of tequila-infused vegetables over medium-low, sprinkle in the cheese. Stir slowly and constantly until just melted-too long over the heat and the cheese will become tough, oily and stringy. Scoop into a warm dish, sprinkle with the cilantro and serve right away with tortillas for making soft tacos or chips to dip.

Margaritas:

3 Tbsp silver tequila

3 Tbsp Cointreau

¾ Cup Lime Juice

Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas with Creamy Tomatillo Sauce and Melted Cheese

by Rick Bayless

A note about vegetables: feel free to use broccoli, asparagus, zucchini and other green vegetables, too. Just roast them on a separate baking sheet, since they’ll be done 5 to 10 minutes quicker than those suggested in the recipe.

Working Ahead: The sauce can be made a day or two ahead; refrigerate covered. After the tortillas have been heated in the oven, you need to work quickly and steadily toward serving in order to preserve their beautiful texture. Once out of the oven, the finished dish softens to near mush over a period of 15 to 20 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 pound (6 to 8) tomatillos, husked and rinsed

1 medium white onion, sliced about 1/4 inch thick

3 garlic cloves, peeled

Fresh hot green chiles to taste (2 or 3 serranos, 1 or 2 jalapeños), stemmed

1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus extra for roasting the vegetables and brushing or spraying the tortillas

2 cups vegetable or chicken broth, plus a little extra if needed

1/2 cup Mexican crema, crème fraîche or heavy (whipping) cream

8 cups cubed vegetables (about 1/2-inch cubes are good) — delicious choices are chayote, carrots, white or red onions, small turnips, kohlrabi, mushrooms and peeled butternut squash

Salt

12 corn tortillas

2/3 cup shredded Mexican melting cheese (like Chihuahua, quesadilla, or asadero) or Monterey Jack, brick or mild cheddar

A few sliced rounds of white onion, separated into rings, for garnish

Fresh cilantro sprigs, for garnish

Method:

1. Make the sauce. Roast the tomatillos, sliced onion, peeled garlic and chiles on a rimmed baking sheet 4 inches below a hot broiler until the tomatillos are soft and blotchy black on one side, 4 or 5 minutes. Turn everything over and roast the other side. Remove and reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees.

Scrape the tomatillo mixture into a blender or food processor. Process to a smooth puree. Heat the 1 tablespoons of oil in a medium-large (4- or 5-quart) pot over medium high. When the oil is hot enough to make a drop of the puree sizzle, add the puree all at once. Stir nearly constantly for several minutes until darker and thicker. Add the broth and the crema, reduce the heat to medium-low, partially cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.

2. Roast the vegetables. Spread the cubed vegetables on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle or spritz with oil, sprinkle with salt and stir to coat evenly. Roast, stirring regularly, until the carrots are crunchy-tender, about 25 minutes.

3. Finish the sauce, heat the tortillas. If the sauce has thickened beyond the consistency of a light cream soup, stir in a little more broth (or water). Taste and season with salt, usually about 1 teaspoon. Lightly brush or spray both sides of each tortilla with oil. Slide into a plastic bag and microwave on high (100%) for 1 minute to warm and soften.

4. Finish the enchiladas. Smear a few tablespoons of the sauce over the bottom of four to six 9-inch individual ovenproof baking/serving dishes or smear about 1 cup of the sauce over the bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Working quickly so the tortillas stay hot and pliable, roll a portion of the roasted vegetables into each tortilla, then line them all up in the baking dish(es). Douse evenly with the remaining sauce, then sprinkle with the cheese. Bake until the enchiladas are heated through (the cheese will have begun to brown), about 10 minutes. Garnish with onion rings and cilantro sprigs. These are best served piping hot from the oven.

Tuna in Jalapeno Escabeche

Atun en Escabeche de Chile Jalapeno

by Rick Bayless

Makes 3 scant cups, enough for 12 tacos or 1 and ½ baguettes

Ingredients:

12-ounce can pickled jalapenos

2 tablespoons good-quality olive oil

1 large white onion, cut into 1/4-inch slices

2 6-ounce cans tuna (tuna packed in oil works best here)

1/4 cup roughly chopped flatleaf parsley (or a mixture of fresh herbs)

Directions:

Remove the jalapenos and vegetables (typically carrots and onions) that have been packed with them; reserve the liquid. Cut the stems off 2 to 3 of the jalapenos, cut them in half and scrape the seeds out; discard stems and seeds. Thinly slice the chiles (you need about 1/4 cup). Thinly slice some of the vegetables (you need about 1/4 cup of these also).

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium. When hot, add the onion and cook until richly golden, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in 1/4 cup of the jalapenos pickling juice. Let cool. Stir the onions into the tuna, along with the sliced jalapenos and vegetables and the parsley or herbs. Set out for your guests to roll into warm tortillas to make soft tacos.

Short Rib Tacos with Corn Salsa

Ingredients:

2 racks beef short ribs (4 to 5 pounds)

Salt

2 red onions, cut into 2-inch pieces

4 stalks celery, cut into 2-inch pieces

3 carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces

3 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 bottle red wine (Merlot or Cabernet)

8 ounces ketchup

Corn Salsa:

3 ears corn, husked

1 green zucchini, diced small

1/3 cup minced red onion

1 lime, juiced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro leaves

Salt and pepper

To serve:

10 (6-inch) corn tortillas

1/2 cup crema*

Cilantro sprigs, for garnish

Directions

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

Place the ribs in a large baking dish, salt both sides, and place in the oven. While the ribs are cooking, place the chopped onions, celery, carrots, garlic, salt and olive oil in a pot over medium-high heat. Cook until the onions become translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the wine and ketchup and reduce for 20 minutes. Remove the ribs from the oven and lower the temperature to 300 degrees F. Pour the vegetable mixture over the ribs and return them to the oven for 3 1/2 hours.

While the ribs are cooking, prepare the corn salsa. Preheat a grill or grill pan over medium-high heat. Place the corn on the grill and grill about 10 minutes, until lightly charred and cooked. Cut the kernels off the cobs. Toss the corn, zucchini, red onion, lime juice, olive oil, cilantro, salt, and pepper together. Allow the salsa to marinate for at least 2 hours.

Remove the short ribs from the oven, and allow the meat to rest for 30 minutes. Shred the beef and assemble in the corn tortilla with the corn salsa and a dollop of crema. Garnish with cilantro.

*Note: Crema is the Mexican version of creme fraiche - it is more similar to extra thick cream than sour cream, but sour cream would be a suitable substitute.

Pickled Red Onions

Bring 3/4 cup lime juice, 1/4 cup each red wine vinegar and sugar, and 1 tablespoon salt to a boil in a saucepan. Remove from the heat and let cool, 5 minutes. Toss with 1 thinly sliced red onion in a bowl; cover and chill at least 4 hours, stirring occasionally.