Frijoles Refritos and Arroz a la Mexicana

Well, this picture looks familiar. I told you to get used to it. Refried beans and Mexican rice, these two sides are served with just about every Mexican meal I've had at restaurants. According to some reading I've done in my Mexican cookbook, the main meal of the day in Mexico is set up kinda like an Italian meal. The sopa seca course is served after the appetizer and before the main course and is like the pasta course in an Italian meal. However, in Mexico, 70 percent of the time this course will be a rice dish. There are many different kinds of rice dishes served in Mexico, but this one is the most popular and seems to be the one most often served in the United States. I got this recipe of the internet and I have to admit, it didn't do it for me. It was alright, but it needs work. The main thing was that it was a little soggy. I don't know how they get the rice so dry not lumpy in the restaurants but I must be missing on some technique. I didn't even realize my Mexican cookbook has an authentic recipe for this, I should have checked first.

As for the beans, the style I cooked them in is more traditional to Northern Mexico because I used pinto beans. There are many different styles of cooking beans, and many different types of beans you can use, so find one you like. No matter what kind of bean, or how they are cooked, beans are served with almost every meal in Mexico. Sometimes beans make it onto the plate three times a day. The reason for this is pretty obvious, beans are cheap. Luckily they are also delicious (and nutritious!).

Arroz a la Mexicana

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 cups chicken broth

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat and add the rice. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the grains are golden and puffed. While the rice cooks, add the garlic salt and cumin.

Stir in the onions and allow to soften. Stir in the broth and tomato sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Frijoles Refritos

This is as traditional and simple as you get with these beans. I love this cookbook, I'll talk more about it later.

First you have to make the Frijoles de Olla (or pot beans) and then fry them.

1/2 lb. dry pinto beans

1/4 white onion, roughly sliced

1 Tbsp of pork lard

Kosher salt

I did this the easy way and did not soak the beans overnight. In fact my book tells me not to do that; apparently bean skins give off an unpleasant flavor when soaked, who knew? I just added all the ingredients (except the salt!) to a pot with enough water to cover the beans by about 3 inches. Bring the beans to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the skins are soft, then add the salt. DO NOT add the salt at the beginning because it will make the skins tough. Legumes are the only thing you don't want to salt during cooking. Continue cooking until the beans are very soft and the broth is soupy. Now to fry them!

3 to 4 Tbsps of pork lard

1 Tbsp finely diced white onion

All the beans you just cooked

Heat the lard in a frying pan. Add the onion and cook until transparent. Add a cupful of the beans and broth and mash them over high heat. As they reduce, add more beans and broth and keep mashing until you have added everything. Continue frying, and constantly mixing, until it becomes a thick paste. Enjoy topped with some melted Mexican cheese.

Notes:

1. The pork lard is really necessary here. You can use oil or butter but you are not going to get good flavor. The lard adds an amazing pork flavor. I also do not recommend bacon fat, I think it would overpower the beans.

2. Don't throw away the broth you cooked the beans in, use it when you fry them. When you boil the beans, a lot of the minerals and nutrients are released into the water and you do not want to lose them.

3. The Mexican cookbook I keep talking about is Diana Kennedy's The Art of Mexican Cooking. Kennedy is considered an authority on authentic Mexican food and this book is great for all sorts of authentic recipes. Sometimes I find the recipes a little to simple though.

Pork Chile Verde Enchiladas

The weekly "Happy Hour" party was at our house this Wednesday and I decided I wanted to cook an authentic mexican meal for 20 people. Not the easiest thing I've ever done. After quite a bit of planning I decided on red and green enchiladas, refried beans, rice, chile rellenos, guac and pico de gallo. All made from scratch. I don't think I realized just how long this was going to take me. Needless to say with all the running around I was doing trying to get people fed, I didn't stop to take any pictures. This picture was taken the next day with the little leftovers I had (hence the sorry looking beans). But take my word for it, it was delicious. I'm just writing up the green enchiladas (the best part of the meal) right now. I'll do the rest later, so get used to that picture, you'll be seeing it again.

These enchiladas were absolutely delicious. They were by far my favorite part of the meal. Tender pork simmered with Anaheim chiles, onion and garlic, shredded and rolled in tortillas, and smothered in fresh salsa verde and cheese. I love Mexican food.

Pork Chile Verde Enchiladas

for the pork

8 Anaheim chiles

2 tsp ground cumin

2 Tbsp safflower or other flavorless oil

1 cup chopped onion

2 lbs. pork shoulder or country-style ribs, cut in chunks

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

4 cups water

Salt and Pepper

Char, peel, seed and chop the chiles, I've shown this before. Heat oil in heavy pot or dutch oven and saute onion for about 3 minutes. Add the pork chunks and brown while the liquid evaporates, about 15 minutes. Add chiles, cumin and garlic and cook for another 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Cover with water and simmer, covered, until meat is tender about an hour and a half. Then uncover and reduce the liquid a bit (otherwise you'll have soggy enchiladas). When you are ready to stuff the tortillas, shred the meat. I find a potato masher makes quick work of shredding meat. Place a bit of the meat mixture into a flour tortilla (I used soft taco sized because I was feeding a bunch of people) and roll it up. Place in a roasting pan and cover it with the salsa...

for the salsa verde

3 fresh Anaheim chiles

5 tomatillos

15 oz. chicken stock
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 jalapeno, deseeded and chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup sour cream
Salt and pepper

Char, peel, seed and chop the chiles like before. Combine the broth, tomatillos, jalapeno, garlic, and onion in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes and cool to room temperature. Transfer to a blender, add the chile, cilantro and lime juice. Blend until smooth. Whisk in the sour cream and season with salt and pepper. Pour over the rolled enchiladas, cover in some mexican cheese (I recommend asadero, chihuahua or oaxacan) and bake until the cheese melts.

Notes:
1. If you want to go real traditional then you can use corn tortillas and dip the tortillas in the sauce, shake off the excess, then roll the enchiladas. I think that the flavor of corn tortillas kinda bullies everything else in a dish, so I like flour. And I'm not spending all that time dipping and rolling.
2. If you can't find anaheim chiles, canned green chiles are usually anaheims or something pretty close. Get the whole canned chiles, they are already roasted, peeled and seeded.
3. If you want to add some texture to these enchiladas you can add some raw chopped onion on the inside and maybe sprinkle some chopped tomatoes ontop.

A Tale of Two Dips

Two food staples, opposite sides of the world. To call these "dips" is really a misnomer, or at the least a significant cultural misconception, because in their perspective countries they are not usually eaten as a dip. Tzatziki is a yogurt based cucumber sauce eaten around the mediterranean and middle east, but it's most well known in Greece. When I was in Greece, and everytime I've had a gyro or souvlaki since, this sauce was served as a side dish with the meat. Like I said, it is not usually a dip. The acidity of the sauce is used to cut the fatiness or to brighten up many dishes. We aren't in Greece though, so I serve this as an appetizer with bread or vegetables and it is delicious. 

Tzatziki Sauce

2 cups (16 oz.) of Greek plain yogurt

1 cucumber peeled and grated

3 cloves garlic, crushed and minced

2 tbsp chopped dill

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

Salt

Grate the cucumber and place in some paper towels. Squeeze as much liquid out of them as you can. Add everything else and stir it up. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour before you eat. Give it a stir right before serving.

Guacamole is one of my all time favorite things. I love it. I could eat it everyday. Because of this, I've eaten my fair share of guac. Now I don't mean to be immodest but my guac is the best I've ever had, and I'm not the only one who thinks so. The thing is, I don't do anything special. When people ask me what's in my guac, I tell them, and they wonder why mine tastes different from theirs. Everybody uses the same stuff; avacados, lime, onion, cilantro. What's my secret? Salt! I am blown away by the number of people who do not salt things. I put salt in almost everything I make. I even put salt in fruit dishes. I've even heard of people putting salt in their wine. The salt isn't there to be tasted and, if it is used correctly, does not make things taste salty. Salt is a natural flavor enhancer which intensifies all the other flavors in a dish.

My dad asked today, over a bowl of this deliciousness, "why is it called guacamole?" I said it probably means avocado in spanish, but I really had no idea. It turns out it is the Aztec word for "avocado sauce," which I should have known because I know "mole" means sauce. Now I said in the beginning of this post that these aren't usually eaten as dips. This is more true for the tzatziki than the guac, although guac is usually used as a topping for many dishes in Mexican cuisine. The coolness and fattiness of the avocados balances the spice of many mexican dishes in the same way I have described before. This fattiness of the avocados is another reason for using the salt. Avocados are kinda bland on their own and just adding other veggies isn't going to change that much, it needs salt. And lots of lime juice.

Guacamole

4 ripe avocados

2-3 limes (to taste), juiced

1/2 a medium spanish or sweet onion, diced

1 medium tomato, deseeded and diced

1 jalapeno, deseeded and diced

A handful of fresh cilantro (to taste), chopped

Salt and pepper

Cayenne pepper

Open the avocados by cutting around them the long way and then placing in the palm and twisting the top half opposite the bottom. To remove the pit, hold the half in your palm and smack the base of your knife blade into the pit so it sticks (watch your fingers). Twist out the pit. Scoop the flesh out with a spoon into a bowl. Add the lime juice right away because avocados brown very quickly. Add the onion, jalapeno, cilantro, salt, pepper and cayenne and mash it all up with a fork or potato masher. Leave it a little lumpy for textural purposes. Then add the tomato and stir with a spoon. Give it a taste and adjust the lime and salt. I like mine nice and limey. I recommend eating this right away because it really will brown fast. If you can't, put it in an airtight container to try and stop it. Enjoy!

Notes

1. I deseed the tomato because I want to keep as much liquid out of the guac as I can. It already has a bit with the lime juice and you want it thick and creamy, not mushy. To deseed the tomato, cut it in half and scoop out the middle with a spoon.

2. You can use any type of onion for the guac really, but I like the sweet onion the best. I used to use red onion but I had a few that were pretty harsh and I didn't like how they overpowered this avocados.

3. I add everything but the tomato and mush it up because I think it gets all the flavors incorporated. Add the tomato after so it doesn't get squashed and change the color of the guac.

4. Lime juice, like all citrus, slows down the browning of many foods (avocados, bananas, apples). The citurs acid in the juice denatures the proteins which cause oxidation of certain foods.

5. In the tzatziki I use english cucumber (seedless) to cut down on the amount of water. You could do this with a regular cuke by cutting out the seeds.

6. You can use mint instead of dill in the tzatziki if you want. That is more traditional of Cyprus and some of the middle eastern countries. For some reason I just haven't gotten into the whole mint thing. People put mint in a lot of things nowadays, including hearty meat dishes. Maybe I've got to try eating it more, I don't know, but I'm not big into the flavor.

Chicken and Corn Burritos with Poblano Peppers

I absolutely love peppers. They are one of my favorite ingredients and I especially like poblanos. The poblano is a dark green pepper from Mexico which has a waxy skin and a mild heat. You may know them from Mexican Moles or Chili Rellenos. The flavor of a poblano is deep and earthy/fruity. I know that doesn't really make sense but the flavor is hard to explain, I'll just say they are really good. This is a very quick and easy texmex dish which features the poblano.

Also, please forgive my pictures. I am amazed at how awesome the pictures are on some blogs. I'm not much of a photographer, but I promise I'm working on it.

Chicken and Corn Burritos with Poblano Peppers

adapted from bon appetit magazine
takes about 30 minutes

3 tablespoons safflower oil

3 poblanos, roasted, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 medium onion, diced

1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips

1 3/4 teaspoons ground cumin

1 3/4 teaspoons chili powder

3/4 cup homemade or store-bought red taco sauce

2 cups cooked corn kernels

6 burrito-size flour tortillas

Grated Mexican cheese blend or queso fresco

Chopped fresh cilantro

The original recipe called for the poblanos to be added without being roasted. I think this would have been a mistake because of the waxy, tough skin on the pepper. Whenever I use poblanos I always roast and peel them. Not only does this remove the waxy skin, but it intensifies the flavor of the pepper. If you have never roasted a pepper before, it is simple. Rub the peppers with some oil and place on a hot grill or underneath the broiler. Rotate the peppers until all the skin is black and blistered.

After the peppers have been blackened, remove from grill, place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. This will steam the pepper, allowing it to finish cooking and loosen the skin. After the peppers have sat for 10-15 minutes, remove them and pull the skin off. Finally, remove the stem and seeds and chop the meat of the pepper.

Place the oil in a large pan and add onion, cook until softened. Add the chopped poblanos, chicken, cumin, chili powder, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook the chicken until almost cooked through, about 2-3 minutes. Add the taco sauce and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the corn and heat through. Adjust your seasonings and remove from the heat.

Heat your tortilla on the burner or in the microwave to make it nice and pliable. Add the chicken mixture, cheese and chopped cilantro. Enjoy!

A couple things:

1. When I made this I scaled down the recipe a little and only used two poblanos. Their flavor was slightly lost in the dish and I think it would have been much better if I had used another pepper. For the full recipe I think four poblanos would be fine to use.

2. I used my favorite jarred taco sauce for this but I think it would be better with a homemade one. Unfortunately I have not been able to find a recipe for a taco sauce I like better than the store bought one.

3. If you have never had cilantro, I wouldn't add a lot. Cilantro is a very pungent flavor which can easily overpower everything.

4. I use safflower oil when I cook Mexican food because it has no flavor or odor. I think Mexican food is all about the ingredients and spices so I try not to mess with them to much. I do the same with Asian foods. They have safflower oil at my local supermarket in the specialty foods section. However, if you don't feel like owning another oil, you can just use olive oil.