Mexican Fiesta Revisited

My favorite Mexican dish to cook is a Mexican Lasagna.  Not very traditional, I know, but it's everything I love about Mexican food all in one awesome dish so I can't help myself from making it time after time.  I usually get one chance to make this classic after each visit to the US because I bring back enough corn tortillas, spices, etc for a one time use.  So to celebrate the agotaring of my stock, I invite all the peeps over and have a feast.  This time I made Mexican rice and homemade refried black beans to go along side.  Check out the recipes below and get cooking!

Stewing the chicken in tomato sauce

Cooked chicken before shredding

Shredded chicken

Rice before adding liquid

Sauteed onions for beans

Cooked onions ready to add to beans

Chicken filling

Mexican Lasagna

A bit of everything

Somehow hats got involved

And we all took a turn with the hats

Mexican Lasagna - Ingredients and directions can be found in my previous blog post.

Mexican Rice - I was inspired by this recipe (ignore the website name), but use all the stewing liquid from my chicken to cook the rice.  Whatever faltas, add water.

Refried Black Beans - 500 grams of dried beans soaked overnight.  Rinse them and cover with water.  Bring water to a boil and then simmer until cooked through.  About 2 hours.  I boil them with some salt, garlic powder, chili powder, and bay leaves.  Drain once done and return to pot.  You can do this a day ahead of time if you want.

In a separate pan saute chopped onion, garlic, a jalapeno in about a 1/4 stick of butter.  When the onions are cooked through, add to beans and mash until they are re-fried looking.  This is probably not the technique whatsover, but it's my interpretation.

Healthy Kale Pizza

Kale, Mushroom, Panceta, Goat Cheese, Cranberry Pizza

I probably make a pizza for lunch or dinner once a week.  There is no better surface than a pizza to try out different combinations of ingredients.  This was a good, healthy, but slightly rare combo that I liked: Kale, mushroom, pancetta, cranberry, and goat cheese.  I really love a hint of sweetness in my pizza.  My favorite combos are ham, pear, and cheese with a honey drizzle or fig, balsamic reduction, and cheese.  Squash, corn, and goat cheese is a good one too.  They are so easy to make especially with the premade crust from any bakery or market.  I also opt for Hausbrat's whole what pre-pizza chica.  The crust is delish! 

WARNING: This recipe is NOT for Argentine's.

Ingredients: 
Pizza Crust
1 bunch kale with stems cut off
10 button mushrooms sliced large
5 slices thinly sliced pancetta
Large handful or dried cranberry (raisins would work too)
Goat cheese
Garlic powder, salt, pepper, olive oil


Directions: Chop the kale, place on baking sheet, and sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, pepper, and a little olive oil.  Roast in oven for about 15-20 until it's wilted and reduced in size enough to fit on the pizza.  You can do this in a pan on the stove, but I find that it's so much you either need a big-ass pan or multiple.  The oven is just easier and gives a richer flavor I think.

Place the pancetta in a pan on the stove.  Let the fat render off and pancetta brown a bit.  Remove from pan and drain.  Chop into bite-size pieces.  With the bacon fat still in the pan, add the mushrooms and saute for 5-10 min.  This is the KEY to the pizza's deliciousness.

Add the kale, pancetta, mushrooms, cranberries, and cheese to the pizza crust and bake in oven until the cheese begins to melt or brown.  10-15 min and voila!

Why I miss America: Texas BBQ

My artistic first round

Polenta Lasagna with Beef Ragout

Cheesy, beef ragout, polenta lasagna

I really liked this recipe if you're looking for a hearty dinner that will make you feel warm and satisfied.  I was inspired by this recipe, but really didn't follow too much.  I opted to use larger pieces of beef, slowly cooked in tomato sauce rather than ground beef.  The key to this recipe is to let it sit for at least an hour to cool down or else the distinct layers melt into each other when you're trying to serve.  I'd even suggest making it a day in advance and reheating if you really want it to be lasagna-like with the different layers.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, minced
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 pound beef cut into large pieces
• 1/2 cup good-quality dry red wine
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1-2 canned tomatoes or pulp, juices reserved
• 1 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh basil leaves
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 pound semi-soft cheese, such as fior di sardegna or tuscan caciotta, or young Spanish manchego, shredded
• 2 cups instant polenta prepared according to package with milk, not water, and some cheese

Direction:  Prepare the polenta according to the package, but use milk or at least half milk for a much richer polenta.  I added some of the cheese in it to make it even better.  Also add salt and pepper to taste.  I find that it needs plenty of salt.  Add half of the polenta to the baking dish and let it harden why preparing the sauce.

For the sauce: add the onion to a pan with olive and saute until clear and cooked through.  Add garlic, onion, bay leaves, and beef.  Start to brown the beef and add the wine and let it cook off for a few minutes.  Add tomato paste and canned tomatoes.  Let cook on low heat for at least an hour until sauce reduces and becomes very thick.  Add salt, pepper, basil, or any other herbs you like (provencal, rosemary, etc).

Add half of the sauce over the first layer, then another layer of polenta.  Top with the rest of the sauce and all of the cheese.  Cook in the oven on medium heat until the cheese is melted and crispy.

Israeli Couscous with Roasted Fennel

Israeli Couscous with veggies, feta, olives, and basil

I love Israeli couscous!  I made this dinner with the last remaining trader joes resources I had stored away.  I was inspired by these two recipes: recipe 1 and recipe 2.  I had never cooked fennel before and I really liked it.  The key was letting it brown and caramelize enough before flipping it over.  Next time, I'll leave the tomatoes whole because they really shrunk up on me and nearly disappeared.

Ingredients: (serves 4)
- 2 packages of couscous
- 1/4 kilo of cherry tomatoes
- 2 large fennel bulbs
- 100 grams greek olives
- 100 grams feta cheese
- fresh basil
- salt, pepper, honey, balsamic, olive oil


Directions: Follow the directions from this recipe for the couscous, but add the feta and basil rather than the herbs listed.  To roast the fennel, just cut it in thick pieces and lay on a baking sheet with salt, pepper, honey, balsamic, and olive oil.  Roast until it get some color and then flip and continue cooking until done.  You can't really over roast it too easily, so just check until it looks good.

Benu Restaurant San Franisco

On my 4 days trip to San Francisco, I took the opportunity to eat at the restaurant voted "best new restaurant in the US" Benu.  The chef learned under Thomas Keller at French Laundry and there was a ridiculous amount of hype surrounding his solo-venture.  The hype, unfortunately, was better than the food.  The menu is a la carte or a $160 per person fixed tasting menu, which we should have ordered in the end I suppose, but due to funds, we opted to order a few plates that really llamared la atencion.  It was good, but I wouldn't go back any time soon. In fact, I also ate at Range that week and forgot my camera, but it was awesome and I'd go back any time!

Housemade Tofu

Abalone

Sturgon

Uni Risotto

Lamb 3 ways

Pear braised beef

Truffles

Coffee and Truffles

Roast beet, green bean, panceta, and corn salad

 So not the best photo for this one, but this salad was pretty delish in my opinion.  It's simple, colorful, and fresh.  I added a chipa on the side for a little treat!

Ingredients:
- Panceta, diced largely
- Beets, peeled and sliced thick
- Green beans, trimmed and cut in half
- Fresh corn
- Dressing of choice (I think I just did some lemon, honey, rice vinegar, and salt)

Directions: Place the beets on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt, pepper, some honey, and olive oil.  Roast until cooked through.  In the meantime, bring water to a boil and add green beans when ready.  Blanch the green beans for about 3 minutes and immediately strain into an ice bath.  This keeps them crunchy and bright green.  Add the panceta to a pan and let the fat render off until the pieces are crispy.  Drain excess fat and let cool on a pan.  Cut corn off the cob and set aside. 

Once the beets are ready add all the ingredients to a salad bowl.  If necessary, add a touch of dressing and salt.  I like to serve the salad warm, but any way is good.