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Authentic Tacos - Ben’s Mom’s Style

Posted on March 22nd, 2008 by Danielle.
Categories: Beef, Intermediate, cheesey, dinner, ground beef, mexican, recipe, tacos.

Hi All!
So I’m sure you’ve noticed that the winner of last week’s poll was…..TACOS!! For those of you that voted for pork chops or chicken, never fear, those recipes will be coming shortly regardless. So, on to tacos. When Ben and I first started dating I made tacos for dinner one night. He was a little confused by my method - taco shells, ground beef with that sauce-powder you get at the grocery store. Then we went to his mom’s house one night and she made the most amazing tacos and I understood.  She’d been making these tacos for him since he was little. Now granted, these are certainly not the best-for-your-diet tacos, but they are soooo good. I’ve learned to make them and even though it seems difficult and perhaps a little dangerous (see the extra below), they are so worth it if you can stick through the cooking. This recipe doesn’t have many ingredients, but make sure you read all the instructions before trying to make them, this is not a read-for-the-first-time-as-you-cook recipe.

Ben’s Mom’s Authentic Tacos:

For tacos:
1 lb lean ground beef
1 small pkg of corn tortillas (12-20 tortillas)
Vegetable oil

For garnish:
Avocado sliced thin
Tomatoes diced
Mexican style shredded cheese
Refried beans
Green Taco sauce
Salsa

Cooking materials:
cookie sheet covered in paper towel or news paper
Large round skillet
Large splatter screen
tongs - the longer the better
Paper towels

Open up the package of ground beef and the tortillas. With a butter knife or your fingers spread about 1-3 tablespoons of meat on half of one tortilla. Your tortilla should look like a pie graph with one half filled in with meat. Make sure you press the meat into the tortilla firmly, that will help keep the meat on the tortilla when you are cooking. Prepare all of the tortillas in this manner until you are either out of meat or out of tortillas.

Set uncooked tacos to the side of the stove. Heat the oven to 200 degrees and place the cookie sheet with the paper towels or newspaper inside it. On the stove heat about 1/2 cup vegetable oil in a skillet on medium-high heat. When the oil is heated, slip your first uncooked taco into the oil. The tortilla should be floating meat-side up. With your tongs move the tortilla around in the pan a little to coat the face up side of the taco with oil. This will help soften the tortilla to make it easier to fold. You’ll be able to see the ground beef browning on the side touching the tortilla. When it’s about 1/2 way brown use your tongs to fold the empty side of the tortilla over making the taco shape. Now that it’s taco shaped, turn the taco over in the oil to cook the other side. When the beef is browned, pull the taco out of the skillet.  Try to drip most of the excess oil back into the pan as you take it out. Place the cooked taco in the oven on the paper. This will soak up the extra oil and make the tacos crispy. You may put another taco in the pan now and restart the process. Replenish the oil as needed to cook all the tacos. When the last one is done, leave the tacos in the oven for 10 minutes so the last few can crisp.

Follow The Recipe Extra:
The Oil - It will spatter!! Make sure you are using your screen! I always make these tacos wearing long sleeves and it helps if you put a piece of paper towel on the top of the screen to keep spatter from jumping up at you. Also, towards the end you’ll find that the tacos and oil spatter more, and seemingly for no reason. This is for two reasons, 1.) the temp of the oil is too high or 2.) the oil has residual meat in it. The solution for problem 1 is to turn the stove down (duh!) and for 2 you can use an empty can in your sink to pour the old oil into and put new oil into the pan and continue. Do not touch the hot oil can with your bare hands until it has fully cooled!

The Tacos - You can usually cook two tacos at a time depending on the size of your pan. You should always be removing one, folding the other in 1/2, and then adding a new one to replace the one you just took out. I cannot recommend doing more than two at a time the first time that you do this.

The Meat - Sometimes the meat will fall out while you are flipping or removing. The key to avoiding this is long tongs and always turning, flipping or removing the tacos by using the tongs on the side of the taco that is open.

You - This recipe makes a lot of tacos. Lucky for you they are awesome left over. I included the list of condiments that we use, but use whatever you want. Everything is good on these tacos. Finally, if you’re a little nervous or concerned about splattering oil or burning yourself, then only heat the oil to the temp that you are comfortable with. The tacos will take longer to cook, yes, but you will have a more enjoyable time making them if you aren’t worried about the oil.

Enjoy - feel free to comment with questions!

2 comments.

Summer Spinach Salad - with Salmon and Strawberries

Posted on March 1st, 2008 by Danielle.
Categories: berries, dinner, salad, salmon, strawberry, vinegar.

Back when I worked at that previously mentioned restaurant (;)) they once had a salad that was seasonal and so good that I ate it probably once a day for the 3 months they carried it. My skin looked great and I felt healthy all that month as well if I remember correct. This is my take on that salad. Mine is just as good, but the dressing is easier along with the produce.

S is for Summer/spring Spinach, Strawberry and Salmon Salad

1 bag of pre-washed baby spinach
1 cup sliced strawberries
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of white vinegar
3 tablespoons of white sugar
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
1 Salmon Filet
juice from 1/2 a lime

In a piece of foil, place the filet in the center, smother the fish with the lime juice. Wrap fish up and bake or grill until cooked to your preference. (I usually do 15 min in the oven at 400 degrees, so it’s a little raw in the center.)

Slice and rinse strawberries and move to a salad bowl. Rinse spinach and place in the salad bowl. In a separate bowl or a salad dressing cruet combine the vinegar, olive oil, paprika, sugar and seeds. Shake or stir until ingredients are evenly mixed. Combine dressing with salad and toss well.

On a plate lay out salad making sure to get the strawberries. Place salmon on the top and serve.
Serves 2

Follow the Recipe Extra: I usually do more berries. blueberries, blackberries. Sometimes I use kiwis and that makes for an awesome salad. If you feel like you need a little good fat in there, avocado actually tastes great with sweet dressings and fruit. This dish can also be made with chicken. Enjoy!

1 comment.

Chicken Piccatta

Posted on February 23rd, 2008 by Danielle.
Categories: cheesey, dinner, lemon, shallotts.

Once my husband told me that a friend of his made chicken piccata for he and her boyfriend one night while he was in college. He then kept raving about how he would never have piccata that good again. Of course I took up the challenge. Here’s what I came up with. It’s one of the best recipes I ever cook with and I’ve made it like 1,000 times. As a side note…I realize that the the picture included is not actually of Chicken Piccata, it looked icky. Instead this is a picture of all the ingredients. I think I might like doing this from now on.

Chicken Piccata

Chicken breasts (1 per person should be plenty)
Flour
Paprika
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
2 tbs Butter
3-4 whole Lemons (depends on how much you’re making) - 3 juiced (1/2-1 cup of juice); 1 sliced
bottle of Capers
1 or 2 shallots - diced thin
1/4 cup White wine

1. Mix approx 1 cup of flour and salt, pepper and paprika to taste in a bowl. (D says: for more flavor make sure you can see the pepper and paprika thoroughly throughout the flour)
2. Pound chicken breasts until 1/4″ thick. Cut breasts into slices (D says: like Chicken tenders). Coat the chicken with the flour and set aside to be cooked.
3. In a Saute Pan, heat approx 2 tbs of oil on medium-high.
4. In the pan lay the chicken flat to be cooked. You can cook as many pieces at once as can lay flat in the pan. Cook for approx 1 min on each side, or until brown. Place finished chicken in a glass pan. For each batch of chicken you saute, add 2 more tbs of oil to replenish the pan. Cover the finished chicken and refrigerate.

5. In the same pan that you cooked the chicken, add 1 tbs of butter and shallots Cook shallots until golden.
6. Add in capers to taste and 2 tbs of caper juice. Add in White wine. Cook mixture down until it has reduced by half.
7. When reduced stir in the lemon juice. When sauce is bubbling slowly stir in the remaining 1 tbs of butter. Cook for 1 or 2 more minutes.
8. Pour the sauce over the chicken that is in the refrigerator. YOU CAN COVER AND RETURN TO THE FRIDGE TO BE COOKED THE NEXT DAY IF YOU WANT.

9. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lay the sliced lemon over the chicken. Cook chicken for 15-20 minutes.
10. Eat

Follow the Recipe Extra: Cook this recipe this way once, then anytime after that play with the amounts of ingredients. Everyone likes their piccata different. For Ben and I, I use the juice from like, 4 lemons and 3/4 cup of wine, I double the shallots and use more caper juice than capers cause I like the taste but not the texture. Make it your own !! Don’t worry about under cooking too much, you’ll be baking the chicken anyway. They should be golden brown on the outside. Watch shallots carefully they cook quick. You want them brown not burnt. Keep in mind, if you didn’t refrigerate the chicken the night before, it will still be warm from cooking reduce time to 10-15 in the oven.

0 comments.

EZ Jambalaya

Posted on January 15th, 2008 by Danielle.
Categories: Beef, Cajun, Stews, chicken, dinner, onion, rice, shrimp, spicy.

I love Cajun food! The spicier the better. So one day I was craving red beans and rice, so I went to look up a recipe. That’s when I came across a description of Jambalaya. It sounded way better, plus I like protein and it has 4 different kinds. Since I started making the dish, it has been a huge hit, the presentation is impressive (usually a large tray of rice in a circle with the stew in the middle) and no one guesses that it was one of the easiest dinners to make. Give it a try for a party!

EZ Jambalaya

1-2 skinless chicken breasts; cubed
1 package of beef sausage or kilbasa, sliced
1/2 lb frozen shrimp
-optional bacon; diced or ham steak cubed, or some type of white fish.
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1 bunch of green onions, sliced
1 green bell pepper diced
1 can beef consume
1 can french onion
1 small can tomato sauce
2 tbs. butter
tabasco
Creole seasoning (I use Tony Chachere’s)
3 cups rice

Begin by starting rice on the stove. (For making rice see here.) In a large stock pot combine remaining ingredients except for shrimp, tabasco and creole seasoning. Set pot on the stove and set burner to high or med-high. Allow the pot to boil for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly. In the meantime, defrost the shrimp per package instructions. After 10 minutes the chicken should be white and cooked almost all the way through. Reduce heat to medium and add shrimp. Also add tabasco and creole seasoning to taste. Let it simmer until rice is finished. Serve.

Follow the Recipe Extra:
If you’ve got a lot of time on your hands and an iron or high quality stock pot you can also put this in the oven with a lid (@350) for a few hours (stir occasionally, but be careful, the pot will be hot!). The crock pot also works, but not as well I think. You can usually find creole seasoning at your local grocery store. Add a little at a time till you get used to using it. It’s deliciously spicy but it’s also surprisingly salty. Use it sparingly at first; adding a little at a time as you taste.

3 comments.

New England Clam Chowder

Posted on December 31st, 2007 by Danielle.
Categories: Intermediate, Stews, bacon, chowder, clam, dinner, onion, potatoes.

…And We’re Back!

For two years while still in college I used to work for a restaurant that rhymes with Shmearl’s (ok the name of the restaurant was earl’s - and yes the name is not capitalized.) Anyways, over two years of late night bartending, double shifts and having family come in to visit while I was working there were a lot of days when all I had time to eat was a bowl of soup. The soup of choice was Clam Chowder. I never got the recipe; I asked, but it was not given up despite knowing all the chefs and having them over to my house for parties quite often. So finally after I left the restaurant and after I had officially eaten my 1,000th bowl I decided to try and make the recipe up myself. So here it is, and it’s pretty damn close. Not to mention delicious!

Shmearl’s New England Clam Chowder
2-4 slices of center cut bacon diced
1 large onion cut diced
1/2 tsp. thyme (powdered or leaves)
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup of instant potato flakes or left over mashed potatoes
2 bottles of clam juice
2 cans minced clams (save clam juice for use in chowder)
6-9 new potatoes cubed (about 1/4″)
2 Carrots; sliced
3 roma tomatoes; diced
1/2 cup heavy cream
water
parsley
salt and pepper to taste

In a large soup pot, fry diced bacon over medium heat until half cooked (should be pink not red). There should be about 2 tbs. bacon fat in the pot now, but if there isn’t add a dash of olive oil to the pot. Add onion, carrots and potatoes and saute, stirring constantly, with bacon until fragrant and almost soft (about 5 minutes.) Add thyme and bay leaves and continue to stir for 30-45 seconds. Stir in clam juice from the bottles and clam juice taken from the cans. Add some water (about a cup if there isn’t enough liquid.) Bring liquid to a simmer for about 10 minutes or until potatoes soften. Starch from potatoes should thicken the liquid, but add the potato flakes or mashed potatoes to thicken it up if necessary. Stir in clams, heavy cream, tomatoes and parsley. Then use salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat to medium-low and heat though. Serve.

Follow the Recipe Extra:
It will save you a lot of stress if you cut up and dice everything before even starting the chowder. Also, If you don’t trust yourself not to burn the bacon, pull it out before putting the potatoes, onion and carrots in. Throw it back in when you add the clam juice. I love the taste of clams, but hate the texture. With a food processor or sharp knife go back through the canned clams and finely mince. If you’re the opposite, feel free to use more clams and substitute the clam juice from them for the extra water.

0 comments.

Lamb Chops in Vinaigrette Reduction and Country Potatoes and Onion

Posted on December 10th, 2007 by Danielle.
Categories: Intermediate, breakfast, chops, dinner, lamb, onion, potatoes, reduction, vinegar.

Well hi everyone. So sorry that I haven’t posted in two weeks. To make up for it, I’m posting a double recipe. And it’s a big one! This is one of those “looks-impressive-but-really-isn’t-hard-to-make” recipes. So make it when you need to impress someone.

Lamb Chops in Vinaigrette Reduction

4 lamb chops (3/4″ thick)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/4 cup minced shallots
1/3 cup aged balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon of butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Pre-mix the salt, pepper, and thyme in a bowl. Use as a rub on the lamb chops. Season both sides of each chop and then place the chops, covered in the refrigerator for 15 minutes at least so they can absorb the spice (no longer than 20 min.). Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. The stove should be on high to medium high. Place the lamb chops in the skillet and cook for about 3 min on each side (for medium rare to rare). Remove when cooked to your liking and place on a separate plate covered with foil to let the juices redistribute.

In the pan add the shallots and cook until just browned (pan should still have a tbs. or so of oil, if not, add a little before adding the shallots). Stir in the vinegar and scrape up the bits of lamb that were left in the pan as the vinegar loosens it. Stir in the beef broth. Let the sauce reduce by half, about 5 minutes. Take your skillet off the heat and stir in the butter to cut the bitterness of the vinegar. Pour reduction over the chops and serve.

Country Potatoes and Onion (For 2 people)

3-4 Medium to large New Potatoes
1 cup of Onions sliced largely
Salt
Pepper
Parsley
2 tbs Olive Oil

Slice each potato in half and then into wedges. Cut onion into large quarter sized wedges. Put a skillet on the stove on medium high heat. Put oil in the pan and then toss in the potatoes and onions to get them coated in oil. Cook potatoes and onion until onion is fragrant and soft and potatoes are just getting brown (about 10 minutes). Drain excess oil. Place back on the heat and add salt, pepper and parsley to taste. Continue to cook until potatoes are golden brown and onion is almost translucent.

Follow The Recipe Extra:

Lamb: You want to put a nice sear on the chops so the oil needs to be very hot. The oil should be thin and have a glassy sheen, then it will be hot enough. When you drop the chops in, do not be panicked by the immediate cloud of “smoke”. You are not going to light your kitchen on fire! If you sear it just right each side should come out a dark perfect brown. Also, balsamic vinaigrette is bitter so if you’re sensitive to that kind of taste you can do one of two things to cut it: 1) reduce the amount of vinegar to 1/4 cup (this will reduce your reduction time though), 2) add more beef broth or 3) add more butter.

Potatoes: This is a recipe that’s all about personal taste and timing. There aren’t really any spice increments because everyone likes things differently. This is also an awesome addition to breakfast that can be made while preparing eggs or pancakes or whatever. For breakfast though, it’s usually good to cube the potatoes into smaller pieces though.

0 comments.

Mexican Casserole

Posted on November 11th, 2007 by Danielle.
Categories: casserole, cheesey, dinner, mexican.

This recipe is part of my childhood. Along with Gumbo sandwiches (PB&J premixed in a bowl then spread on bread) and chicken soup. My mom used to make this dish and we’d all be very excited to eat it. I made it for my dad for his last birthday because it’s his favorite meal. Then I married a guy who had never had it. In our first few weeks of marriage I made it for the first time and he thought I was nuts and that all that cheese and sauce couldn’t possibly be that good, but since then he has grown to love this meal and requests it often. Give it a chance…you’ll love it

Mexican Casserole

1-2 lbs ground beef
16 oz bag of mexican style cheese
3 small cans of hot enchilada sauce (red) / or 2 big cans
1 can of large black olives sliced
1 or 2 small cans of diced jalapeños
1 can of corn
1 small package of corn tortillas

Optional:
1 diced onion
1 cup salsa
1 diced avocado
2-3 diced roma tomatoes

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Begin by browning the ground beef, set aside. Pre-open all cans. Slice olives if not already sliced. In a 9×13 glass pan lay down enough corn tortillas to cover the bottom one time. On top of the tortillas, spread some ground beef to cover the bottom (you can leave some space since there will be two layers). Sprinkle corn over the beef so it’s evenly spread. Lay sliced olives over the corn so they span the bottom. Throw some diced jalapeños across the layer. Cover all with cheese. Top with Enchilada sauce (1 small can), the sauce doesn’t have to drench, just season. Repeat the process adding a layer of tortillas one more time. When finished with your second layer you should’ve used all of the ground beef, corn and 2 out of 3 cans of the enchilada sauce. For the top layer one final layer of tortillas, top those with cheese, jalapeños, olives and cheese. Finish off with the last can of sauce.

Cover the pan in foil and place in the oven for 30-45 minutes or until you can see bubbles rising in the bottom of the pan from the sauce. Pull off the foil and bake for an additional 10-15 so the cheese on top gets crispy. Let it cool for 30 min before serving (if you serve before that, serve it in a bowl. It’ll taste great, but it’ll be mushy)

Follow the Recipe Extra:

You can add all sorts of things to this casserole that will be great. Onions with the ground beef, avocados and diced roma tomatoes are good addition. This dish is a lot like pizza, you can add lots of different things to it and it’s almost better reheated from the refrigerator the next day. Hope you like it.

0 comments.

Beef Stew

Posted on October 23rd, 2007 by Danielle.
Categories: Beef, Stews, dinner.

Today it snowed for the first time this fall in Colorado. It was cold and wet and I was hungry. Nothing sounds better than Beef Stew on this type of day. Here’s the recipe

Ingredients:

Steak or beef (a lot of different kinds of beef work for stew, but mostly just make sure you get something nicely marbled, but not fatty. I used top sirloin.)
vegetable or olive oil

1 white or yellow Onion
1 large or 2 small carrots
3 cloves garlic minced
4 or 5 red potatoes diced
1 pkg of mushrooms
1 can green beans
1 can diced Italian style tomatoes
3 cans beef broth
water
1 tbs rosemary
Salt
pepper

Optional:
Celery
squash
bell peppers
red wine

To Make:
pour 2 tbs of oil into a large stock pot. Cube beef and put into pot to brown over medium heat. When beef is browned, remove from pot and set aside. Drain excess fat. Add 1-2 tbs of oil back into the pot. Add onions carrots and garlic, and stir over medium-high heat until soft (about 5 minutes). Add in potatoes and mushrooms and return the beef to the stock pot. Stir over same heat for 5 minutes. Add green beans, tomatoes and first two cans of beef broth plus one can of water. Add rosemary and salt and pepper to taste. Cover Bring stew up to boiling for 20 minutes. You will lose a lot of liquid in the steam. Turn the heat down to medium or until you have a rapid simmer. Add last can of broth and 1/2 can of water. Simmer for 1 hour or until beef proteins have been broken down and beef is soft.

Follow the Recipe extra:
For me, Beef Stew is all about knowing how things cook. The beef needs to boil for a long time to be soft and not chewy. The lower the quality of beef, the longer it will need to cook. Softer foods should be added later on in the process so as not to get too soggy. Potatoes can be added later in the simmering process to leave them a little crunchy. Try different things and taste a lot as you go. Also, if you’re like my husband and I and you can’t stand rosemary floating in your soup, use a coffee filter and some cooking twine and make a baggie. Take the baggie out of the stew before serving

You kinda can’t screw up beef stew.

2 comments.