Look who is cooking with us

Finally my mom makes tortillas.  I have never known my mom to make a single tortilla in MY life.  Great job Rosie we are so proud of you and I think Nana would be laughing right along side you!!!
Nana's Tortilla's

Spicy Roasted Salsa

My mom makes this salsa the best.  I have to give it to her, I learned to make this salsa from watching her.  My husband loves spicy salsa and so this was the perfect mix.  I started making this salsa because of my mom and it just grew on me.  I also got a few of my friends hooked on it and would make it for them and surprise them on Sunday morning with a huge jar for them.  So over the last year I have been giving it way.  If you like like spicy salsa you will love this one!

 What you will need:

• 5 large tomatoes
• 4 Anaheim Chile
• 8 Serrano Chile
• 4 Yellow Chile
• 6-8 Jalapenos
• Salt to taste
• Blender

 From left to right: Serrano Chile, Anaheim Chile, Tomato, Yellow Chile, Jalapeno Chile

(we used all of these)

 Roasted Yellow Chile and Anaheim chile.

You can roast them in the broiler until they look like this, about 15 minutes or so.

 Remove pit on tomato, cut off the tops of all the chiles

Put tomato, serranos and Jalapenos to boil for about 30 minutes.

 Peel and dice roasted Yellow Chile and Roasted Anaheim Chile

In a blender (chop cycle) blend tomato, jalapeno and Serrano chilies together. 

After blended pour into a mixing bowl and add diced chilies.  

Add salt to taste.

Here's to some good food!

Barbacoa

Oh Barbacoa it has been a long time since we have had you!!! My Tia Irene and my Mom made this awesome dish for me for my birthday, per my request because no one has made it since my Nana passed away.  This dish brings a huge smile to my face because I can remember my Nana making it with my Tia Elsa for big family parties.   She made it for the day after my wedding.  I remember coming back to the house and having a plate with my husband and all our family.  It is a traditional dish that can be used in so many way!  As a left over it is great to make tacos out of, sopes, or have for breakfast with an over easy egg. Nana I love you for making this wonderful dish and hoping you all find the joy in making it as well.

Meat

10 pounds of meat

• Pesquezo
• Chamorro (Shank)
• Costilla (short rib)
• Carne de Res para desebrar - Beef Lifter Meat 

Cut meat into chunks – season meat with Chicken bullion (knorr suiza) Oregano, salt, pepper (to taste) and 1 whole bay leaf.

Salsa:

2-3 Chile Pasilla

1-2 Chile Guajillo (HOT)

2-3 Chile Ancho

Boil the chilies without seeds.  Once chilies are boiled blend with the following:

1 Tablespoon Oregano

2 – 3Bay Leaves

1 teaspoom Mejorana  or mix spices (see photo below)

3-4 cloves of garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

½ cup of white vinegar

½ of a large white onion

Bake at 350 degrees for ~2.5 hours, covered

 Service with your favorite side dishes and bread or corn tortillas!

Here's to some good food! 

Helpful Hints:

 

Tortillas

Oh how this post is emotional for me! This is the one thing I did most with my Nana. I can remember her making these almost every day. Yes every single day. It was what she did in the morning or in the afternoon. Usually in the summer she would make them in the morning as our biggest meal would be at noon time. I never actually made the dough but watched her do it and yet in watching her do it I never actually learned how to make them. I remember her leaning against the sink and just throwing things into the mixing bowl as she talked. I remember her complaining that our counter tops where make of title and so we had to use a cutting board to roll the tortillas our. I was the roller! The one who rolled the dough out. I was constantly mocked for never being able to make a round tortilla and I can proudly say I still can't. BUT I did finally figure out how to make the tortillas.

It took me and my son three attempts today to actually make the dough with the right consistency. I put my hands in the dough and it felt just like when my Nana would make them. I knew it was right. The only I would do is maybe add a little more salt. My Nana's tortillas where always thin and and hot. You really can not eat them the next day. It has been so long since anyone in our family has made homemade tortillas. I can hear my Nana saying how lazy we all are for never making them. Well here they are! I hope you enjoy them as much as we have!!!

What you will need:

1. 2 cups flour
2. 1/8 tsp baking powder (or less this is what makes the tortillas firm up)
3. ½-1 tsp salt (depending on your taste)
4. 1/3 cup of canola oil
5. 1/4 cup warm water (and a dash if needed) Just enough to make the dough consistent.

Start with the 2 cups of flour

add the baking powder and salt to flour and mix

SLOWLY add the oil, you must mix while pour the oil slowly into the bowl.

It should look like this. Be careful NOT to over mix and do not use a mixer, use a fork or your hands.

After adding the oil slowly add the warm/hot water (the hotter you can handle it the better)

Be careful not to over mix this step as it will make the dough too hard.

Your dough should look like this and

then it is ready to pull apart.

Roll dough into little 1 inch - 2 inch balls

You will then with your hands, flatten and stretch out to about 2 inch circle.

With rolling pin roll out the rest to the thickness you like. My Nana woudl make them super thin.

As you take them to the skillet to cook them toss them and stretch them out a little.

Here are the tortillas getting ready to be cooked.

CMR is actually touching the skillet

(I would not recomend this...I had it turned down low for him so he would not get burned!)

Make sure your skillet is hot and each tortilla should only take a few seconds to cook,

pressing down on the air bubbles as you go!

Here's to some good food!

Look who is cooking with us!

I love when you cook off the blog and make some of our favorite foods.  Here are some great friends of ours cooking their favorite rolled tacos and guacamole!  Great job guys!

Here's to some great food!

Arroz con Leche

It took me a long time to be able to enjoy this dish. My mom was the best at making this. She made it usually in the winter time and I can remember the day that I could say I loved it. It was cold and I was in high school. She always made it with cinnamon sticks in it and that was the one thing I did not like...having to pick out the little sticks. So now when I make it I use ground cinnamon and it could out great. Thanks mom for a great dish that me and my family love!!!

Boil Milk:

1. 1 quart whole milk (= 4 cups; or 2% milk)
2. 2 cans carnation Evaporated milk
3. 1 cup water
4. Add 3 sticks cinnamon to milk or ½ a teaspoon of ground cinnamon
5. 1 ½ cups sugar

Boil Rice:

In a separate pot boil rice.

1. 1 ½ cups rice
2. 1 cup water
3. Boil for 10 minutes (do not cover)

When rice is half done add to boiling milk

Cook on low heat for 1 hour. Do not walk away from this on the stove. Be careful not to burn it. You need to be stirring it so that it does not stick to the bottom of the pot. Do not try to rush it...it needs a full hour to cook and then about 15 minutes to set.

Here's to some good food!

Chicken Machaca

This is a dish my mom has done well!  I love the way she makes it and I am happy to say it is the best leftover food ever! She takes a rotisserie chicken and shreds it up.  We usually eat this for dinner or lunch and I have to say it has become a dish that I really only like when she makes it.  There is just something she does to it that makes it so great.

What you will need:

1. Cooked shredded chicken (you can buy it or make your own)
2. Oil
3. 1 Yellow chile(diced)
4. 1 Anaheim chile(diced)
5. 1/4 White onion(diced)
6. 1 Medium Tomato(diced)
7. Chicken Bullion (1 teaspoon with 1/4 cup of hot water) 

Saute the all the veggie in 1 tablespoon of oil.  Allow them to get translucent.  Add shredded and mix well.  Add dissolved chicken bullion in water and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes.  Be careful not to over cook as the chicken is really only trying to soak up the juices of everything else.

Eat on a tosada or plate it with flour tortillas, beans and avocado!

Here's to some good food!

Salsa con Huevo

This is one of my most favorite things to eat with salsa.  Usually I make a bunch of salsa on a Saturday and take it my friends on Sunday.  This past Saturday I made so much I was able to give three huge jars away, one medium jar and one little jar.  I kept a  small jar for us at home so I made this for breakfast today.  This is my own little creation and I hope it will inspire you to create new stuff with some of our old recipes.  This salsa I used was one that my mom makes so well.  (I will post how to make this salsa later this month) You can use any salsa.

What you will need:

1. Sourdough bread 
2. Egg
3. Butter
4. Salsa 
5. Cilantro

Toast your bread in the broiler or in a toaster.  Fry your egg in plenty of butter so that it crisps the egdes of the the egg.  Cook egg on both sides but be careful not to fully cook the yoke.  You want the yoke to be firm but still runny.  Place the egg on top of the toasted bread, cover with salsa and garnish with cilantro.

Here's to some good food!