Another book on the shelf

 Apparently Rick Bayless has a new cookbook.

And then this happened!

Some day when things are finished up over at thishouseneedswork.blogspot.ca maybe we'll get a chance to read it!

Friday Night Keys

Thanks to everyone for their support during the life of this blog.  Perhaps some day you'll see some more Mexican cuisine show up here.  But until then, you can be sure I'll be putting all of my energy into my new project: http://thishouseneedswork.blogspot.ca. We get the keys on Friday night and you can be sure that work will start immediately.

See you there!

Tacos ver. 1.4

My friend was asking me the other day about my camera lenses, specifically the one I use to shoot most of the pictures you see.  It's a 50mm f/1.4, but I seldom shoot it at that aperture. I've usually got it parked at f/2.8 to get a little more depth of field in the photos.  But this week I figured hey, let's open it wide up; everything you see is shot at f/1.4.  So dial that aperture ring all the way down, and make the jump for tacos ver. 1.4!

Ersatz Taco Soup

Ever have an idea that was funnier in your head? I thought some black and white dithering would be funny.  Oh well. Too late now! Getting Friday Night Mexican back to its roots as an easy to prepare meal on a Friday is something that we've obviously struggled with.

It can be done however.  You just need to be prepared to sacrifice words like 'authentic', 'fresh', 'honest', and 'Mexican'.  Those words are all overrated anyway.  So if you've got limited time and energy and you want to phone it in like I'm obviously doing, print off the recipe and get to work on Taco Soup!

Tamales 2: Squashment Day

You know what I like about tamales? They come pre-packaged, so you can put them in your pocket or backpack.  And when you're done eating them in as few bites as possible, you can toss the wrapper into the green bin or onto your neighbours lawn in name of composting.

I've put mole attempt number two on the back burner as we're still eating the original batch.  In the mean time, there is more Mexican food to be eaten.  This week's guests drove down from Ottawa to visit so we gave them the full on Toronto experience.  And when people think 'Toronto' they think 'Tamales' so make sure you've tied a square knot, and make the jump for Butternut Tamales with Chipotle Chicken!

You can't spell Mole without...

And that's how it goes sometimes.  You make a plan, and you think you've got it all under control.  You've already gone to get your ingredients first thing in the morning and you're about to tackle the big one.  That ambitious project.  

But something isn't right.  You start down the path and something doesn't feel bang on.  You didn't have your daily cup of coffee. You're wearing mismatched socks.  The ghost of Rick Bayless is trying to pull a fast one on you.  And before long, your Easy Slow Cooker Mole is making you think about hanging up your tortilla press for good.  So make the jump and check out the post-mortem.  

Pollo Pulquero is a dish best served in the dark

Look at those beans!  They're sitting there because Pollo Pulquero is ugliest tasty dish you've ever seen.  Rick doesn't even put a picture of it in the book!  It's sort of symptomatic of being cooked in a slow cooker for six hours, so what can you do.

The prep on this one is silly easy.  You put things in a slow cooker, and then you come back.  So I'll be economical with my words.  Write a to do list, get some groceries and make the jump.

Summer Champurrado

The short story is that it's Mexican hot chocolate.  The long story is that it's much more than that.  One of the defining characteristics of champurrado that I've heard is that you should be able to stand a churro up in it.  Let's see you do that with hot chocolate made above the Mason-Dixon line. Not happening.

This recipe came out of my Better Homes and Gardens Ultimate Mexican recipe guide, and if I wasn't so lazy, I probably would've made the churro recipe too. There will always be another Friday.  Turn on the kettle, and make the jump!
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Pickled Chicken Comes Full Circle

800 million years ago when we started this blog, we posted about cajeta and the dessert we made with it.  As a footnote we mentioned that we made "Pickled Chicken" with little more than a blurry photo.  Now that the blog has fallen into a routine of witty comments and slightly better photography, it's time to revisit that dish.

It still lives on page 204 in Fiesta at Ricks, and that page is amazingly still attached to the rest of the book.  I also banged out some roasted tomato salsa, home made black turtle beans, and fresh corn tortillas.  Attach the drool guard to your keyboard and make the jump!

Mexican Submarines: hecho en Canadá

Apparently Mexican submarine sandwiches are called 'Tortas'.  I'm not sure this would be considered traditional fare, as the 'submarine' is an American invention of a largely Italian influence, so I gather.  I guess that begs the question of what you consider Mexican cuisine to be: traditional Mexican faire, or a Mexican take on someone else's dish.  In this case, it's a Canadian's take on an American's take, on the Mexican take on an Italian-American sandwich, made in Canada.  Do the math on that.

Let's have a look at Rick Bayless' Crusty Black Bean and Chorizo Subs after the jump!

A positive spinach on soft tacos

Friday night Mexican made a triumphant return to its roots as this week's dish was done with ingredients that we had on hand and all in about 45 minutes.  Single-handedly!


So here is Spinach Tacos with Caramelized Onion, Fresh Cheese and Red Chile from Mexican Everyday along with Smokey-chipotle salsa with pan-roasted tomatillos.  This dish doesn't look like much at all, but it is super tasty.  Promise.  Let's get down to business.

Yucatecan salad gone awry

It's been pretty steamy in Toronto recently so we went with a cold dinner this week.  Back to Fiesta at Rick's for Yucatecan Shredded Steak Salad with Habanero and Cilantro (p. 139) along with guacamole and roasted tomatillo salsa.  But we're starting with dessert, Caramelized Mango Tart with Mexican Chocolate and Pepitas.  Mad props to Mark, one of my oldest and dearest friends, and his wife Niveen for bringing not only a fine French wine, but legitimately bringing it from France.

Vegetative State - Black Bean Burgers

So I'm totally over compensating for last post's lack of photo-punch.  So if you're into reading and not into pictures, you'll have to suck it up for a week. Ha!

Here are three vegetarian recipes that with a little work could even become vegan.  And since we spend our Monday to Friday schedule being vegetarians and part time vegans, we figured we'd see if we could craft a few Mexican dishes in that spirit.  So we grabbed Rick Bayless' Sweet Potato Salad with Caramelized Onions, Watercress and Guajillo Chile Dressing from Mexican Everyday.  And then from The Complete Vegan Kitchen we made Mango Salsa, and a modified version of the Black Bean Burgers.

Soup N' Salad 2: Forget Old Mexico

Because this week we're taking our recipes from New Mexico; Santa Fe to be more specific.  They still have the same feel and vibrancy as our other dishes and nothing came out of an Old El Paso box, so I figure we're still in the clear.

On the agenda we've got Corn Soup with Poblano Chiles, followed by Santa Fe Slaw with Caramelized Pecans.  These recipes come from Seasonal Southwest Cooking by Barbara Pool Fenzl which is an absolutely beautiful cookbook to look through.  It also contains some great contextual information about the recipes which I find really makes or breaks a cookbook.  Be warned: there are pictures missing this week, so you'll have to use your imaginations for some of this.

Mexican Shawarma

Well, it's not exactly Mexican Shawarma, but apparently that's where it comes from.  And some guy named Al Pastor.  This week's recipes came from a special Ultimate Mexican issue of Better Homes and Gardens which is a pretty comprehensive chunk of information.  It's also got full page pictures of everything which is important for those of us who eat with our eyes first.  Let's face it, recipe books of all text don't exactly inspire you to cook.

So make sure your machines are well oiled and see what happens as we check out Tacos al pastor and Chayote salad.

Soup N' Salad

That photo makes me want to lick my screen!

Every week here at FNM we're pushing boundaries and trying new things.  This week it's Tortilla Soup and Ceviche Salad (Mexican Everyday).  The last time we did fish it turned out quite well and this week's guest is responsible for turning me on to all of the AYCE sushi restaurants in Ottawa, so ceviche seemed more than fitting.

But man cannot live on fish alone, so I made sure that the tortilla soup had lots of chicken in it.  So tighten the straps on your straight jackets and let's see what happens!

My eggs have style, Oaxacan style.

What happens when you keep pushing off Friday Night Mexican? You get Saturday Morning Mexican.  And if you push it off some more, you get Sunday Morning Mexican.  And if you push it off more than that, your reader gets angry. Yes, reader.  So these eggs are done Oaxacan style.  What makes them Oaxacan style? I'm not really sure.  Is it the cutting into ribbons? Is it the use of tomatoes?

This recipe came from "Everyday Mexican", which is not to be confused with Rick Bayless' "Mexican Everyday".  Seriously it's two different books.  One of the only things that this book has going for it is that it fits in your jacket pocket.  It has teeny tiny little print, no back story for the recipes, and completely lacks an author.  This is one of those books that companies crank out when they want to publish a book on topic X.  Regardless, it's where we got this week's recipe.  So strap in; it's over before you know it.

Shrimp Free Chipotle Shrimp

What happens when you take the shrimp out of chipotle shrimp? You get this tasty vegetarian dinner, that's what.  Next week we're going to try taking the chipotle out too, just to see what happens.   So this is Chipotle Shrimp from Mexican Everyday made with the Tofu instructions.

Beware, here be zucchini.

Check out the grill on that fish

Hot off the tasty success of last week's achiote experiment, we decided to go for round two with a completely different cast: Fish and Chicken.  We were also heading up to the cottage for this one so we knew we could get some real grilling done.  No more faking it under the broiler!

So fill your propane tanks and stock your cupboards with achiote as we dive into Grilled Fish (and Chicken) in Tangy Yucatecan Achiote with Green Beans (plus Chayote and Asparagus) and Rustic Roasted Tomato Salsa.

When life hands you limes, make Cochinita Pibil

I wouldn't have thought of this as being roasted suckling pig, as per the translation of cochinita pibil.  Rick says that this is only an approximation anyway.  We didn't roast anything, it was slow cooked; it wasn't a whole pig, just a shoulder; and it wasn't between 2 and 6 weeks old, I didn't check its birth certificate but I know that it spent 6 weeks at least in the freezer.

The complicated recipe is here while the easy recipe can be found in Mexican Everyday.  Break out your favourite citrus juicer and don't get any pulp in your eye.