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!

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!

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.

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.

Enchiladas: Reloaded

Due to the long weekend we took Friday Night Mexican on the road.

Playing the game from the visitor dugout has its challenges, but nothing that we couldn't overcome. We did bring the cast iron and the tortilla press along. Everything else was completely foreign.  Except for the meal. We revisited enchiladas this week but through the pages of Rick's Mexican Everyday:  Tomatillo-Sauced Enchiladas with Spinach and Mushrooms. The link here goes to the recipe hosted at Martha Stewart's site and even has a video of her and Rick knocking out the first half of the instructions.

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.