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Chicken Enchiladas With Green Pumpkin-Seed Sauce

8 Jan

Enchiladas are always a good choice for a potluck, a big dinner party or a make-ahead-and-hide-in-the-freezer dish.

Remember a while ago, when I posted yet another chicken recipe, I mentioned I made some green mole sauce that didn’t get used? Finally, here’s the recipe and what I ended up doing with it. And it was certainly worth the wait.

Especially since we served it when our friend was here from Italy. He’s not Italian, but married a lovely Italian woman after growing up here in Laguna Beach. Therefore whenever he comes home, he feasts on Mexican food as it’s tough to get in a small Italian village. I can empathize: I did the same when I would come home on a visit from London. Continue reading

¡Viva Pollo Mexicana!

13 Nov

Perfectly roasted, perfectly seasoned. Really, this is a must try.

Okay, pretty soon this blog will need to be called “Tiny Chicken Stories” instead of “Kitchen” if I keep getting a chicken at the farmers market every week. But I must admit, I really did outdo myself this time, and it wasn’t even on the time-consuming pepita-cilantro sauce that accompanied the chicken. Sadly, we didn’t even need it, even though it was delicious. I will have to make some (chicken) enchiladas soon and use the sauce then.

So what did I do that was so amazing? I’m not sure if it was the spice mixture or the butter. Since I have been responding well to the sheep and goat milk products recently, I found some goat-milk butter at Whole Foods and decided to try it. It has a delicious flavor, not sour at all, as I expected. It also melts quicker too. But it tastes like the smooth, unsalted butter of Europe, and I’m hooked.

Last night as I’m cooking the sauce, I decide to take about half a stick of the goat butter and mix in some ground cumin. I went to toast some cumin seeds up to grind them, then found a mixture that I’d already made that had ground cumin, coriander and brown mustard seeds. What the heck? I thought, and mixed in about a teaspoon of it into the butter. Continue reading

Yes, we like tacos. So sue us.

23 Jul

Are you bored yet? I hope not, because I’m really enjoying writing this blog! So, this is a few days late, as we had these on

Black bean tacos

It wasn't even Taco Tuesday!

Wednesday night, another veggie-dinner night. I was happy to find the tomatillos at Whole Foods, because I love a green salsa, even though The Husband usually doesn’t. But I knew if I made it from scratch I’d win him over. Which I did–he loved them, and especially the salsa. Which I must say, was quite good.

And non-vegans, please, add cheese to these tacos! We were on our cleanse, so no dairy, but they really deserved some nice cotija cheese crumbled on top. In SoCal, you can find this and other delicious Mexican cheese varieties in the cooler section near the processed cheese. I would recommend investing–it lasts for a while and is great in salads as a nice substitute for feta. Speaking of feta, those who do not live in SoCal, like my dear friend Gaby in London, should use feta on top of these tacos. Although cheddar would work in a pinch.

And Londoners, if you can’t find tomatillos, try Booths near St. Paul’s Cathedral. They have a stall at Borough Market, or at least they used to. (How I miss that market!) You can get jalapeños there too, but I’m not sure about serranos. Substitute a green Thai or Indian chili if you can’t find the Mexican variety.

So here we go with the recipe, with my notes, as usual! Continue reading

Sunday Afternoon Snack

17 Jul
Shrimp Tacos

Nothing like tacos on a Sunday afternoon...

So, The Husband mentioned again today that we should start a blog (and by “we” he meant “me”) about the food we put together so often, from the place in the house we like to call the “one-butt kitchen”.

Sometimes we can fit in there together, if what I’m doing isn’t too complicated, and The Husband can squeeze in the corner to make some drinks. Which is why I’m going to be adding some of his frankly amazing creations with alcohol and whatever else happens to be in the fridge or fruit bowl.

Today, since we’ve been on a Trader Joe’s cleanse for a week (one more to go), we looked for something we could snack on that would fall in the “no red meat, no dairy, no wheat” category. The Husband suggested we use the leftover shrimp from last night’s dinner, some mango salsa from Whole Foods and some corn tortillas that had been loitering with intent in the meat drawer since my birthday weekend two weeks past. Add a little fresh avocado and Melinda’s Extra Hot Sauce*, and we were good to go.

Sadly, we couldn’t have a beer or a margarita with this snack, as we usually would, but it was delicious nonetheless!

If I had made the salsa, I would have put a little more kick in there, so I think I’ll add a very loose recipe for everything below. Continue reading