Almost "Almost Oaxacan"

Look at all that fresh produce! It sure looks better in the shopping cart than a bunch of neon packaged whats-it that claims to be food.  I'll skip the self-righteous editorializing and recommend that you read Michael Pollan's In Defence of Food.  It's pretty much required reading for anyone who eats.

This week's recipe is another out of Fiesta at Rick's, "Almost Oaxacan" Grilled Tostadas with Chorizo, Tangy Guacamole, and Fresh Cheese.  In addition we also made Chunky Fresh Tomato Salsa (p. 144), Smoky Chipotle Salsa with Pan-Roasted Tomatillos (p. 149) and Pineapple (or Other Fruit) Skillet Upside-Down Cake (p. 301) from Mexican Everyday.

Flanking Maneuver

So thanks to this blog, the details of our weekly Mexican adventures have become legendary in our local circle of friends and family.  The statistics page on Blogspot tells me that we've also received visitors from Germany, the UK, and Singapore.  So welcome to all of our new readers! Make sure you subscribe, follow the RSS feed, leave a comment or at the very least, pass us along to a friend.

All of the attention means we can't stay stagnant; we've got to keep upping our game.  So we went back to Fiesta at Rick's for this week's Crispy Flank Steak Shreds with Golden Onions and Red Chile Salsa.

Mole Amarillo Explosion!

Enough stupid substitutions! It was time to make something properly for once, even if it meant trekking all the way across town to get one ingredient.  And there you have them: Guajillo Chiles.  Because we were looking for dried ones, there was some hope that they would be found in the international aisle of our local grocery store.  The only thing we found were more varieties of Herdez salsa.  Although one particular specialty store has Guajillos advertised on their website, they had none.  However, a tiny store right across the street has a virtually unlimited supply.  May we present: Good Price Grocery Store!

Friday Night Mexican, Slowly

This week it's a mash up between two of our favourites: Mexican and slow cookers.  One year, instead of spending my grandmother's Christmas gift on the usual rent and food I finally put it to good use and bought myself a bona fide Crock-Pot.  I realized that with minimal effort and no attention, these magical devices would do all of the cooking for you.  Since then, a wealth of soups, stews and pulled pork have spilled forth from its ceramic vessel at the blistering speed of 0.125 meal/hr.

Minty Meat Marbles

This week we took a little break from Fiesta at Rick's; we were finding that some of the recipes in there require a major time commitment.  Luckily, Senor Bayless figured that out and wrote Mexican Everyday which covers Mexican cooking for those of us who don't have the luxury of being Mexican cooks.  We pulled a recipe from the book based on how tasty the picture looked and ended up with Chipotle Meatballs.  Along side we cooked up Classic Mexican Red Rice, and Fried Beans.

Huaraches! Gesundheit.

Back to Rick's this week for "Sandal-Shaped Corn Masa Cakes with Black Beans, Salsa and Aged Cheese" - or I guess as they're known in less verbose regions, 'Huaraches'.  We ended up making a few substitutions in this one as some of Rick's recipes are a little difficult to make north of the Mason-Dixon line, let alone, in Ontario.  I mean, you could probably come up with most of the ingredients given enough lead time and searching effort, but this is "Friday Night" Mexican, not "I spent a month on it" Mexican.   Enough editorializing, onto dinner!

I'm not a rancher but here is breakfast

So there is a little second hand store across the road whose interior looks like an episode of hoarders.  If you have a clear idea of what you want, you can probably find it in there somewhere, as long as you're persistent. That's where we got Norma MacMillan's Tex Mex Cooking. Which is a 24 year old cookbook written (according to the book jacket) by a woman from the mid-west who has spent 18 years living in England.

Credibility not withstanding, what this book does have is beautiful pictures, simple recipes, and a lot of those basic things that trendier cook books wouldn't bother covering.  You can find recipes for refried beans, corn and flour tortillas, and today's recipe for Huevos Rancheros.