Tinga

Continuing our little trip on the Mexican cuisine through the Mexican Cooking Workshop that I went last week... 
The next dish is made with shredded chicken, onions, tomatoes and chipotle chiles. You serve it on "tostadas", adding some shredded lettuce, salsa roja, refried beans and creme fraiche (or sour cream).

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts with bone, cooked in water with onion, garlic and salt.
1/2 white onion sliced in half
6 Roma tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
3 cloves
1 chipotle chili (from a can)
salt

Preparation:

Shred the chicken and set aside. In a mixer, put the tomatoes, garlic, cloves and chipotle. Beat.
Fry the onion till transparent. Add the tomato mixture from the mixer to the onion. Let it cook in low heat for about 20 min. Add the chicken to the sauce and let it simmer for 15 more minutes.
Serve over tostadas, this way:
First cover the tostada with a layer of refried beans (you can use a can of cooked pinto beans, then cook them in a pan, mashing with a wooden spoon until they look like a coarse paste, or buy ready to eat refried beans).
Then put some lettuce, some of the chicken, some fresh cheese ("queso fresco") or other type of cheese, crumbled. Add salsa roja (red sauce) and creme fraiche or sour cream.

Tostadas

chipotle chiles in a can

refried beans, ready to eat

heating refried beans

Pecan Soup with Chipotle Sauce

Another Mexican delicious dish (and spicy): "Sopa de Nuez con Chipotle".

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons grated onion
1 clove garlic, crushed
2-4 tablespoons tomato paste
8 oz shelled pecans
8 cups chicken stock
1 small can picled Chipotle chiles *
salt

Preparation:

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the onion and sauté over medium heat until transparent. Add the garlic and sauté a little bit more, but do not brown. Add the tomato paste and stir well. Set aside.
Place the pecan in a blender and add the chicken stock and 1 tablespoon of the liquid from the can of chiles. Purée and add to the tomato sauce, stirring to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add salt to taste and let the soup come to a slow boil over medium heat. Cook for 5 minutes, covered.
Serve in individual bowls and garnish with pecan halves or with strips of Chipotle chiles.

* Chipotle chiles that she used

Pecan Soup With Chipotle Sauce

Mexican Red Sauce (Salsa Roja)

Still in the Mexican Cooking Workshop, we learned how to make the famous red sauce, used with a number of dishes. For example, tacos, tostadas, etc.

Ingredients:

10 Cherry tomatoes
4 medium tomatoes
1 clove of garlic
4 Serrano chilies

Roast the tomatoes and chilies in a flat skillet. Mix in a blender, together with the garlic.

Note: if you prefer spicier, use Jalapeño peppers instead of the Serrano.

Guacamole

Of course Lucia gave us her recipe for Guacamole in the Mexican Cooking Workshop. It was the best I ever ate.

Ingredients:

3 avocados
1 jalapeño chili in vinegar, chopped (or 1 tsp lime juice) *
3 tablespoons diced onion
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
3 tablespoons diced tomatoes (optional)

Preparation:

Smash the avocados with a pestle. Mix with the remaining ingredients.
Serve with corn chips (tortilla chips).

* This is the can from where she got the Jalapeño in vinegar

Shrimp Cocktail

Today I went to a Mexican Cooking Workshop, my friend Lucia prepared wonderful dishes. I can't wait to make them at home, too.
Lucia, besides being an artist with brushes and canvas, is also an artist in the kitchen.

Shrimp Cocktail

Ingredients:

1 lb of cooked shrimp, shelled and tail removed
1/2 cup clam juice
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1 avocado cut in small chunks

1/2 cup diced onion

juice of 2 limes

1 cup ketchup

1 finely diced Serrano chili

2 tomatoes, diced

1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (more if your prefer spicier)

salt

Preparation:

Cut the shrimp in small pieces. In a bowl, mix the clam juice, ketchup, tabasco sauce, lime juice and salt. Add the cliantro, tomato, onion, chili and shrimp. Mix well. Serve with salted crackers.



Easy Baked Rice with Tuna

And what did I prepare to go with the New York steak that I baked on the other day? This rice with tuna. Perfect, I just needed to add it on the lower shelf of the oven. It just cooked in less time than the meat, but still great for a lazy dinner.

Ingredients:

1 cup rice
1 1/2 cup chicken stock
1 can tuna (in oil or water), drained
1 tablespoon olive oil or butter (optional). If you use tuna in oil, better not add more oil/butter.

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 180 C.
In a baking dish, drop and mix all ingredients. Bake for 25 minutes or until rice is tender.

Note: The tuna rises to the surface. Therefore, it would be good to stir halfway in the cooking process. This also prevents dryness of the rice on the surface.

Easy New York Steak in the Oven with Coarse Salt

Yesterday I was too lazy (and busy on the internet) to cook a long and laborious meal. I am still under the "finish-all-there-is-in-the-fridge, freezer-and-pantry" mode. So I got a huge NY steak chunk that I had in my freezer for some days (bought in Costco), and thawed it during a whole day. Actually, I had it in a tight closed zip bag, and dipped it into cold water for that period. This is important: the meat should be thawed completely before cooking. If not, it gets hard.

Another important thing: after cooking, you should cut very thin slices of this meat. Don't let your folks cut the meat for themselves, they might get thick slices, and therefore, complain that the meat is hard.

If you think the meat is too red inside, after you start slicing it, you can take it to the oven to cook a little bit more.

This is the most common way Brazilians barbecue their meat: only COARSE SALT on it. And the fat in the meat will melt all over the meat, giving it a brown juicy appearance. I can't barbecue right now, we are in 11 F and my barbecue is covered with snow... Also, if you think the meat slices are too dry, try filling a little bowl with some of the dripping liquid and use it as gravy over the meat.

Ingredients:

A large piece of  New York Steak, whole
coarse sea salt

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 F.
In an roasting pan with a rack, pour a little water (about 1/10 of an inch in height, maximum).
Sprinkle coarse salt throughout the meat. Don't worry, it's not going to get very salty, unless you do this a long time before the start of the cooking (so the salt melts and penetrates the meat).
Place meat on rack in roasting pan, with the fat up. This way, the meat will be "basted" with the liquid that comes from the fat.
Cover with foil. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and let bake another 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of the meat. If you think that the meat is too burned on the outside, cover it again with foil to finish cooking.
Remove the meat, bring to a cutting board. Cut into very thin slices. Serve.