94 recipes down, 61 to go

Back on May 23rd, we had my sister and brother-in-law and their family over for dinner and the menu was, what else, Mexican!  I decided on two different kinds of taco, or really one taco recipe and one veggie dish that served as a delicious taco filling.

First was Spicy Yucatecan Beef “Salad” Tacos TEOCE2.  As a bonus, this recipe called for a previously unmade Essential Flavor: Essential Chopped Tomato-Habanero Salsa EF4.  So, for one of the last times in the project I was able to cook two recipes and have it count as three!  The beef in these tacos was beef brisket that was browned and then steamed, and finally shredded.  The beef was stirred into the salsa which consisted of red onion, chopped tomatoes, diced radish, cilantro, minced habanero (we followed the recipe and used half of one habanero), and lime and orange juice (standing in for the unavailable sour orange juice).  This was a very fresh tasting salsa and definitely makes Rick’s title of the dish as “salad” tacos an apt one.  The habanero in this case was not really very spicy.  Overall, I liked these, but they weren’t great, especially in comparison with the next dish.

Next I made Roasted Mexican Vegetables in Green Sesame Pipián VBRED3.  Having just made, and loved, the Green Pipián for the salmon dish, we were anxious to have it again.  Plus, I always like a good vegetarian taco.  As a reminder, the Pipián is Essential Tomatillo-Serrano sauce with the addition of toasted sesame seeds, cilantro, ground aniseed (last time I used fennel fronds; both are substitutions for the elusive hoja santa), and chicken broth.  This all gets simmered together and then is puréed. This time the Pipián was the coating for roasted vegetables: potatoes, chayote, zucchini and chard.  There was supposed to be cactus too, but my Whole Foods (which usually does carry it) was out of them and I didn’t want to scrap the whole recipe.  Honestly, though the recipe was absolutely fantastic and you would never suspect that there was anything missing from the dish.  The vegetables has good roasted flavor, and the chayote retained some of its crispness lending a nice contrast of textures as well.  And as before, the Pipián  was creamy, spicy, nutty, tart, and if that doesn’t sound appetizing, trust me, it is!  It was amazing and will become something that we make again and again in our house (post-project, of course)!

Finally, just a couple of project notes.  I’ve been slacking in the posting department but I have still been cooking.  We were in TX for a week and my next post will include the details of a fabulous Mexican Brunch that some of my good friends and I made while there.  I also made some quesadillas this past weekend and have something in mind for this week.  I swear that you will know all about all of it by the end of the week.  I mean it!

74 recipes down, 81 to go

I defied the decree for no Mexican Saturday night to make Tacos of Garlicky Mexican Greens with Seared Onion and Fresh Cheese (TEOCE7).  I guilted John into accepting it by letting him know that this could be the month that I officially fall behind schedule.  That, and another batch of Topolo Margaritas sealed the deal.

This was a good, light and easy recipe to make.  All you do is boil the chard to wilt it and then add that to sliced onions and garlic that have been cooked in a skillet for 10 minutes.  The filling gets topped with cheese (we used Parmesan) and served in a tortilla with salsa of your choice (we went with Rick’s recommendation of Tomatillo-Chipotle, purchased Frontera brand).

The result was a great light vegetarian meal.  The onion, chard, garlic combo was a good one and really went well with the smoky flavor of the salsa.  I would make this again because it was good and healthy, but also because of how easy it was to make.

8 recipes down, 147 to go

Today I made TEOCE25 Layered Tortilla-Tomato Casserole with Greens and Melted Cheese.  The base for this is EF6 Quick Cooked Tomato-Chipotle Sauce.  First the sauce.  You make this by combining chipotle chiles (which you have re-hydrated), roasted tomatoes, and roasted garlic.  Then you cook it for about 10 minutes.  For me, after toasting and rehydrating the chiles I found that not all of them had softened.  I don’t know if maybe the chiles I had weren’t the freshest or what, but I discarded those that did not fully soften.  I still had the minimum number of chiles for the recipe but wondered if it wouldn’t be a spicy as it should be.  I needn’t have feared.  The sauce was full of flavor and spice!!  The first thing you taste is the tomato flavor, then the spice coats your mouth a split second later.  Then, once the shock of the spice subsides you’re left with the smoky flavor, similar to the aroma of the dried chipotle chiles.

Now onto the casserole.  This is a sort of Mexican Lasagne with tortillas replacing the noodles.  The flavors of this dish are classic Rick Bayless: bold, spicy and yet fresh.  It’s a very hearty dish (especially for a vegetarian dish) without being heavy.  Each bite is full of fresh veggies (corn, zucchini, and chard) that could be distinctly tasted as they hadn’t been cooked to mush.  The spice of the Tomato-Chipotle Sauce remains strong though.  It also makes quite a lot; Rick says 8 as a Main Dish.  But as John put it: “He must mean 8 big fat Mexicans”.  I would make this for a crowd who wasn’t afraid of some spice.

One more note for the day.  I realized today that I accidentally left a recipe off the list (an essential flavor no less!), so tomorrow I’ll go back in and update.