Quick Fix: Carrot and Green Chile Tacos with Ricotta and Cilantro

TACOS!!!!

These tacos need no explanation-- simple and awesome.

What you need!!
Super delicious tortillas (try Abbo Blue and Abbo Blanco local--to Boulder--heirloom, organic tortillas!)
Olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 carrots, grated
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 roasted Hatch chile (you can have these frozen from last year or from the can!)
1 tablespoon of plain almond/milk or 1/2 tablespoon of cream
Cumin
Salt

1/2 cup of ricotta cheese
1/2 cup of finely chopped cilantro
Salt
Pepper

To Garnish
Avocado*optional
Pickled Onion*optional (see previous recipe)


Saute your onions and carrots in a light coat of olive oil, until slightly sift and golden brown over medium-high heat (about 5 minutes)

Add green chile, almond milk (or cream) and let it evaporate, stirring to coat all of the veggies. Add 1 teaspoon of cumin and salt to taste. Stir and let ingredients simmer on medium low for about 7-10 minutes.

While veggies are simmering, mix ricotta, cilantro, salt and pepper in bowl...boom. Done.

Heat your tortillas (I prefer to heat mine in a lightly oiled, hot cast iron pan) and then top your tacos. Enjoy-- these were super tasty.

Chicken Tinga (for spicy shredded chicken tacos, tostadas, etc.

Ally, do you remember long ago when we had a BIG Mexican fiesta for your dad's birthday? And I made that REALLY spicy shredded chicken? Well this is the recipe, only I have since toned down the spice. **Though I did love how spicy that batch turned out, I didn't realize how spicy it was until the next day...and that is never fun. So this is a more, uh, forgiving recipe.

This chicken is good on tacos, on tostadas, in enchiladas, on a salad, with beans, with rice-- the possibilities are endless. I however, am always partial to tacos.

What you will need:

1/3 of an onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 lb of boneless skinless organic chicken breasts
1 32 ounce can of organic diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon of chipotle in adobo sauce or 3 tablespoons of fresh/previously frozen/canned green chili (either come canned in the "ethnic" aisle of the grocery store// you can get at Mexican grocers)
Ground cumin
Mexican oregano
Salt

To serve:
6-8 tortillas
"Stuff for ensalada" (today I used romaine, red cabbage and cubed cucumber, pickled onions and cilantro)
Sour cream/Crema or crumbly Mexican cheese

First, in a soup pot (that has a lid) saute the onion and garlic briefly over medium heat in a scant amount of olive oil two-three minutes, then add the whole chicken breasts, tomatoes and chili/chipotle. Cover the pot and let this simmer on medium heat for 45 minutes. 

While the tinga was cooking, I prepped a small salad to top my tacos with, chopped romaine, shredded red cabbage and cubed cucumber. I then discovered that I still had pickled onions in my fridge, and chopped them into small pieces and used them with a tablespoon of their juices to dress the salad. Wa-la. You have a light salad to top your tacos with.

After 45 minutes of simmering, remove your chicken breasts and let them cool. Turn the heat down on the tomato/tinga sauce that is still on the stove. Shred the chicken once it is cool (with your fingers or a fork) and add it back into the sauce. Season with cumin (about two tablespoons), Mexican oregano (about one hefty tablespoon) salt and pepper. Add up two half of a cup of water or broth to bring moisture back into the shredded chicken so that you may return it to medium heat without it burning or sticking to the pan. Let the shredded chicken simmer with the sauce and spices for about another 10 minutes, stirring regularly.

 Meanwhile, heat up your tortillas, today we did it the quick way in our cast iron, over high heat.

Ready whatever other toppings you have (cilantro, sour cream, cheese, lime).

Top your tortillas with all of the fixins.

Happy taco eating!!!

xoxooxoxoo

Simple Arepas

When AJ and I were in Colombia, we lived off of arepas, which are the most magical cooked and grilled masa dough cakes, for about the American equivalent for about fifty cents each. They were as big as your face, weighed about half of a pound and usually had cheese already melted into the dough. Every arepa stand made their own hot sauce to go with it, and usually had a woman up to her elbows in an industrial size bucket of dough grilling them on the street all day long. They were served with ham, cheese, eggs, sausage, veggies, fruit, jam-- on the side of soup, by themselves, cut in half as sandwiches--- every which way. They are really cheap and really delicious.

So we eat them a lot at home.

Whole Foods and most Mexican markets have the Colombian brand masa flour called "masa arepa" and it comes in white and yellow depending on what type of corn you might like. The Colombian brand is called "P.A.N." and has a cute Rosie the Riveter-esque woman on the front. I tried a new flour recently, which I like OK, but not as much--  however it lasts so long that I am stuck with it for another month or two. As long as it is PRE-COOKED CORN FLOUR, you can make an arepa. The dough has to be able to expand with water immediately (thus the precooked necessity)-- the type of flour I currently have is concurrent with making empanandas and tamales as well as arepas.

I do not mesaure this recipe. It is all about feel and getting your hands dirty :)

You will need:
Masa arepa
Salt
Water
Butter
Toppings (today we have my recently made refried beans, Cremoso (fresh Mexican farmer's cheese) cheese, chopped tomatoes, pickled onions, cilantro and avocados)

First: In a mixing bowl, measure out about four handfuls of masa arepa. Add a pinch of salt and mix with your fingers.

Second: Add water and mix with your hands. The dough will take a minute to fully absorb the water so add it slowly. The consistency should resemble fresh, Play-dough. If it sticks to your hands it is too wet and you need to add more masa arepa, if it is too crumbly it is too dry and needs more water.

Third: Make your arepa dough into balls and flatten in the palms of your hands into round, thinner "pancakes." You can make them fatter if you want to cut them in half and stuff them, however I am usually in a hurry to serve and prefer a smaller arepa that cooks faster. I like them between a quarter and a third of an inch thick when I make them.

Fourth: Coat your griddle or cast iron pan with a layer of butter. Have heating on medium-high. When your arepa pancakes are well formed, put them in the pan to cook.

Fifth: If you are having refried black beans with your arepas, like we are tonight, have them heating on the stove at this point.

Sixth: The arepas take about 5-7 minutes per side to get to the "golden brown and crisp outside with a chewy inside," texture.

Seventh: While your last few arepas are getting crisp on the stove, prep your other toppings-- today we have chopped cilantro and tomatoes, pickled onions, avocado and slices of Cremoso.

Eighth: Decorate your delicious arepas while they are still hot! :)

Happy dinner! Love Nicole and AJ

Ps. Our other favorite way to eat these arepas is with a slice of Cremoso cheese and a fried egg for breakfast.

Refried Black Beans

You will need the homemade black bean recipe from previous in this blog to make these black beans (or if you were in a pinch, obviously you could substitute canned black beans). I usually turn 75% of my black bean batched into refried beans to be in the fridge for general food stock for quick bites during the week.

Ingredients:

Olive oil

1/2 of a medium onion, diced

Chili powder (to taste)

Cumin (to taste)

Salt (to taste)

Four garlic cloves, minced

Black beans, about five heaping cups

1/2 of a lime, juiced

First: Saute your onions in a oiled-pan on medium high until translucent, about seven minutes. Add chili powder and cumin about two minutes in so that the tastes set into the onions as they cook. I use about 1/2 tablespoon of chili powder and one half tablespoon of cumin to begin, and then taste and season from there. Add garlic, and saute until tender, about three more minutes.

Second: Drain your black beans of most (about 75%) of the liquid that they cooked in with a slotted spoon. I am preparing these beans straight from my slow cooker as you can see:

Third: Add drained beans into your saute pan, stirring for a moment until they are warm and completely mixed with the other ingredients. Taste your beans--- season with more cumin, more chili and salt if you like, at this point.

Fourth:  Turn heat to low on the pan. With a potato masher or dough knife,  mash your beans until they are a nice, pasty consistency. If they need more liquid, add water, or better yet, use the liquid they cooked in until they are a texture that you like (some people like their refried beans really runny and some like they thick).

Fifth: transfer to a smaller sauce pot and return to medium-low, add the juice of half of a lime and add any additional salt for your taste's approval.

Eat with arepas (next recipe), in tacos, as a side or with your morning eggs. YUM! These last in the refrigerator for about five days in a good container (AJ says more, of course, but I like to recommend on the safer side...)

ENJOY!

Peasant's Veggie Chilaquiles

Ingredients:

One casserole dish
Olive oil
One large onion, sliced in thin quarters
Three small leeks, in thin slices
Two summer squash (yellow, zucchini or Mexican), diced
One large handful of Swiss chard or other greens
Six large cloves of garlic, minced
Salt
Half of a lime
Sixteen corn tortillas
One 16 ounce can of green enchilada sauce
10 ounces of  grated or crumbled cheese of your choice (today I used Cremosa a fresh, soft Mexican farmer's cheese)

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees

In a cast iron pan, drizzle olive oil and saute onions and leeks over medium-high heat until translucent, about 6 minutes.

While the onions are cooking, wash your chard and chop coarsely.

First, add your chopped squash and let brown slightly in the pan. Then add your chopped chard, and garlic and cover on medium heat, until slightly wilted.

Add salt and lime juice into the veggie mix to your taste preference. Take off of heat and cover.

In your casserole dish, slightly oil with a basting brush (or your finger) eight tortillas and line the bottom.

Cover your tortillas with your now cooked veggies and half of the grated or crumbled cheese you have.

Cover with the remainder of tortillas, again slightly coating them in oil. 

(If you had more layers you would like to add or other ingredients, this can be a multi-layer dish similar to a lasagne). Pour your enchilada sauce evenly over the top of the tortillas and scatter the remainder of the cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Eat warm! If you end up with leftovers to enjoy over the following days, fry and egg and eat it with day-old chilaquiles for breakfast.

XO!