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Category Archives: Mexican
Dinner Tonight: Oven Baked Fish Tacos
Today…was a day. All of my Monday meetings were pushed up a day along with all of my Tuesday meetings which meant time at my desk was scarce and I didn’t actually get to serious work until after 5:00. You’d think that leaving the office at 7:00 would mean no traffic. You’d think.
MEH!
Ok, now that I vented, there were three highlights of the day.
First — key lime pie. I made this last night for a meeting today and used some of my precious allotted calories on a slice. Heaven. I was almost transported to Key West for a millisecond.
Second, I got my new laptop speakers in the mail today. These have a great design — they clip on the back of your laptop screen and plug in through the USB port. Super space saving, there are no extra plugs, and they sound great! I’m now enjoying the soulful sounds of Joss Stone from our new media center while I’m typing this blog post. Maybe I’ll torture Sean with some Garth Brooks soon (guilty pleasure from my high school days! Go ahead. Mock away.)
Finally, we had fish tacos for dinner tonight. One of my absolute favorites and it allowed me to use up some leftovers I had from the salads we had on Saturday.
I make fish tacos A LOT. I decided to try an new way of cooking the fish. Normally I saute it with onions and peppers, but tonight I decided it would be quicker and easier to just put it all on a baking sheet and shove it in the oven. Since I used flounder which has thin fillets, it cooked up in 6 minutes! Dinner was ready in 15 minutes … and I was a much happier girl.
Oven Baked Fish Tacos
Makes 6 tacos — served 2 hungry adults
The best part of tacos is that you get to design your own!
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1 lb. flounder or tilapia fillets (these fish are nice and thin and will bake up super fast!)
1/2 avocado, sliced
1 recipe simple slaw (or leftover greens of your choice mixed with a simple vinaigrette)
Sour cream
Your favorite salsa
Cilantro, rinsed and pull the leaves off the stems
6 corn tortillas, warmed
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Whisk together the olive oil, chili powder, cumin, and salt.
Spread a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with non-stick spray or rub a thin layer of olive oil over the sheet. Place the fish on the baking sheet and use a pastry brush or spoon to spread the paste you just made over both sides of the fish.
Place the fish in the heated oven for about 6 minutes or until the fish is cooked through and flaky.
Serve on the tortillas with the slaw and avocado. Add sour cream, salsa, and cilantro to your taste.
Posted in Cabbage, Cuisine, Fish, Healthy, Main Dish, Meat, Mexican, Quick & Easy, Recipe, Vegetables
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Fish Taco Wraps with Simple Slaw
Sean and I headed to Albany this weekend for a pre-Thanksgiving celebration while his sister was in town from Reno. We spent Saturday at the New York State Harvest Fest where we sampled lots of NY State wine and foods. Then we had dinner with the family — roast pork, cabbage, latkes, and homemade applesauce.
On the drive home on Sunday morning we discussed our dinner plans. We decided to make fish taco wraps to use up a lot of the stuff we had in the fridge and freezer. Far from a gourmet meal, I bought frozen fish sticks at Whole Foods a few weeks ago (way better than the fish sticks you remember as a kid!) and used those.
Way better than Gortons!
Fish sticks, chimichurri sauce, simple slaw, and avocado. Yum!
I also had a quarter of a head of cabbage and a zillion carrots and red onions, so I whipped up this simple slaw to go with the tacos. I love a little cabbage on my tacos — and it’s fairly traditional when you get tacos from authentic taquerias. I also love slaw on sandwiches for an extra crunch and tang.
A note: I use a special vegetable peeler to shred my carrots. It’s a pretty awesome tool. But you can also just julienne the carrot with a knife — or just buy a package of pre-shredded carrots (I won’t tell!)
Oh yeah, I also baked a whole bunch of cupcakes for work — food porn below.
Simple Slaw
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. honey
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 medium head of cabbage, thinly shredded
1 large carrot, shredded
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
In a small bowl, combine vinegar, salt, pepper, cumin, garlic powder, and honey with a small whisk. Slowly whisk in canola oil.
In a large bowl, toss together the cabbage carrots, and red onion. Pour the vinaigrette over the shredded vegetables and toss well to combine.
Simple Slaw for Tacos
Cupcakes -- yellow with chocolate icing by popular demand.
Posted in Cabbage, Carrots, Cuisine, Healthy, Mexican, Recipe, Side Dish, Tools & Equipment, Vegetables, Vegetarian
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Corn and Poblano Chowder
Poblano peppers are my favorite type of peppers. They add heat, but that heat doesn’t get into the way of their great slightly-smokey flavor. I thought that they would work well in a vegetarian corn chowder since I was losing the smokey flavor from bacon that I’d normally use. A touch of cumin also helps create a smoky flavor. The sweetness of the corn plays well with the heat from the poblano.
The secret, I found, is steeping the corn cobs in the milk. I was really amazed at the intense corn flavor the cobs brought to the chowder! I also didn’t use a ton of butter or cream in this chowder. The creaminess came from reducing the liquid by simmering the soup and by blending the peppers with some of the corn kernels to give the chowder a thick, creamy texture without cream or a roux.
It would be awesome with some chopped avocados for garnish — but I didn’t think of that until it was too late this time!
Corn and Poblano Chowder
Serves 4
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. butter
1 cup leeks, cleaned thoroughly and chopped
2 poblano peppers, sliced into ½ strips
4 ears of corn
1 quart whole milk
½ tsp. cumin
salt, to taste
Heat olive oil and butter in a large soup pot over medium high heat. Once the butter is melted, add the leeks, and poblano peppers. Cook over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes or until the leeks and peppers are soft.
Meanwhile, take the husk and silk off the corn cobs. Cut the corn kernels off the cobs and reserve. Cut the cobs each into three pieces. Add to pot once the leeks and peppers are soft.
Add milk. Bring to a simmer and cover. Simmer for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the corn cobs and discard. Add 3/4 of the corn kernels and simmer for about 10 minutes uncovered.
Then, use a stick blender to blend the corn, peppers, and leeks until smooth.
Add the remaining corn kernels, cumin, and salt. Simmer for another 10 minutes uncovered. Serve and garnish with chopped avocado.
Posted in Appetizer, Corn, Cuisine, Healthy, Leeks, Main Dish, Mexican, Peppers, Recipe, Soup, Vegetables, Vegetarian
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Burrito-chiladas
I basically took the idea of a burrito and an enchilada and combined them into this baked hybrid. The special touch is the homemade enchilada sauce or ranchero sauce (I’ve tried the canned stuff — it does NOT come close.)
Ranchero sauce is a tomato-based sauce with chilis (powder and whole peppers), onions, garlic, and cumin — and it’s absolutely delicious. One of my favorite Mexican restaurants (Tortilla Flat in Merrimack, NH) makes nachos that are simply toritilla chips, ranchero sauce, and cheese. Yum!
This recipe has lots of steps and takes a little bit of time, but is worth it (and I did make it after work one night — though we did eat at 8:00!)
You could make this vegetarian by substituting sauteed veggies (zucchini, summer squash, onions, mushrooms, etc.) for the chicken. You could also sneak more veggies into your diet by adding veggies to the chicken mix.
Burrito-chiladas
Serves 4
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped roughly
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium red pepper, seeded and chopped roughly
1 red chile pepper (jalepeno or red fresno), seeded and chopped roughly
1 tsp. kosher salt
3 tbsp. chili powder
1 1/2 tbsp. cumin
2 tbsp. tomato paste
1, 14 oz. can diced tomatoes
1, 14 oz. can chicken stock (or veggie if you want to get vegetarian)
1 lb. chicken breast
1, 14 oz. can black beans, drained
1 lb. shredded cheddar cheese
4 large flour tortillas
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
Heat olive oil in a shallow sauce pan over medium heat. Add onions, peppers, and garlic and sprinkle with salt. Cook over medium-low heat until the mixture gets soft and the onions get translucent. Add the chili powder, cumin, and tomato paste. Stir together and cook for a minute. Add the chicken broth and diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 10-15 minutes, uncovered. Taste and add more salt, if neccesary.
Use and immersion blender to blend the sauce until it’s smooth. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can use the blender or a food processer to blend the sauce, but be careful — it’s hot! Make sure you don’t cover the blender or food processor tightly so that steam can escape. Add back into the pan.
Add the chicken breasts, bring back up to a simmer, cover, and cook for 30-45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked and tender.
Remove the chicken from the pan onto a cutting board. Bring the sauce back up to a boil and reduce by about 1/3. Remove 1/3 of the sauce and add it to the bottom of a lasanga-type baking dish. Put 1/3 of the sauce into a pie pan. Use two forks to shred the chicken and add the shredded chicken into the remaining 1/3 of the sauce.
Soak each side of each tortilla in the sauce in the pie pan until they are well coated. Fill each tortilla with 1/4 of the black beans, 1/4 of the shredded chicken, and a heaping handful of cheddar cheese (saving some for later.) Roll up into a burrito shape and add to the baking dish, seam down.
Cover the burrito-chiladas with the remaining sauce from the pie pan. Bake in the 400 degree oven covered with foil for 20 minutes. Uncover and top the burritos with the remaining cheddar cheese. Bake for about 5 more minutes or until the cheese is melted.
Serve with sour cream and guacamole.
Blue Ribbon Green Chili
Working at an internet company has its perks. Between Labor Day and Memorial Day, one of these perks is snack-time every other Friday. Last year, Friday snacks were planned by department. When my team got the task, we wanted to shake things up a bit. We hosted a chili cook-off.
It was a success given that many people in the office love to cook. There were 8-10 chili submissions all voted on by everyone in the office. Mine won!
I made chili verde. Several people asked me for the recipe, but I never wrote it down. I thought it would make a good first recipe post.
Chili Verde
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced small
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ lb. pork loin, diced into ¼ inch cubes
1 ½ lb. boneless chicken thighs, diced into ¼ inch cubes
1 quart low sodium chicken stock
3 tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. chipotle chili powder
2 lb. tomatillos, diced into ½ inch cubes
3 large green peppers – roasted, peeled, and cut into thin slices*
4 large poblano peppers — roasted, peeled, and cut into thin slices*
1 jalapeno pepper (optional) — roasted, peeled, and diced small**
1, 15 oz. can cannelloni beans, drained
salt and pepper
Cilantro
Lime slices
Avocado
Sour cream
Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 1 minute.
Add garlic and a large pinch of salt. Cook the onion and garlic on medium heat for 5-10 minutes until onion is soft and translucent. You’re sweating the onion and garlic, not sautéing so you shouldn’t have any brown bits.
Turn heat to medium-high and add the pork and chicken thighs to the garlic and onion mixture. Lightly brown the pork and chicken.
Add chicken stock, cumin, chipotle chili powder, and a large pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer. Add the tomatillos and peppers. Taste and add salt if needed. Simmer for as little as 20 minutes and as long as an hour.
In the last 5-10 minutes of cooking, add cannelloni beans. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Garnish with fresh cilantro, lime slices, avocado, and sour cream.
* To roast the peppers, coat each whole pepper with olive oil. Place on a cookie sheet in a rocket hot oven (450-500). Roast until skin is brown and bubbly. You’ll want to keep checking on them. Some might roast quicker than others. Once the peppers are brown and bubbly, put them in a plastic zip lock bag or in a large, covered container. This will allow steam to loosen the skin and make it easier to pull off once the peppers are cool enough to handle. Discard the seeds, membranes, and skin and slice into thin strips.
** For the cook-off, I added two roasted jalepenos. It’s a good thing that people in my office like spicy foods because the chili was *hot*. It was a bit too spicy for my taste. I’d add just one jalapeno or an extra poblano pepper if you want a medium-hot chili; add two jalapenos if you gotta have hot.