Tag: mexican

I always like traveling somewhere and finding that there is a regular taco truck in that area.  I like it, but it pisses me off that there’s not one by me.  This afternoon I had a craving for an authentic taco made inside of a large automobile so I decided to take matters into my own hands and make my own taco truck style tacos.  I don’t own a large vehicle or the proper cooking equipment to fit inside of one so I had to settle for my kitchen.  While the atmosphere wasn’t the same, I think these turned out pretty damn good.

First thing I did was buy some nice pork cutlets.  Normally I like to buy an entire shoulder but I was in a rush and had no time to cook it.  Also, I wasn’t hungry enough to take out 8 pounds of tacos.  Lay those badboys out and chop them up into small strips.  I believe I used about 2 1/2 pounds

Next, throw the strips into a large ziplock bag.  Add about a table spoon of cumin, half a table spoon chili power, a quarter of onion (diced), 3-4 cloves of minced garlic, half cup of tequila and the juice from a half of a lime.  Put that in your refrigerator and let it marinate for about an hour.

During that hour, I decided to cook up a pepper relish.  I hate the word “relish” but it’s the only thing that fit here.  I minced 3 seranno chilis, a pablano, and an aneheim chili and let them roast in a pan until soft.  I then added a quarter cup of tequila and let it simmer for about 20 mins.

The relish should cook down to the point where you can see very little liquid.  The tequila should be pretty much cooked out of the mixture.

After the hour of marinating, take out the pork and cook it on extremely high heat until done.

After your pork is cooked all the way through, chop up some fresh cilantro.  I feel like that’s the key to the taco truck taste.

When ready to serve, grab a small tortilla, spread around a little sour cream, add a few pieces of the pork, top that with the pepper relish followed by a sprinkle of cilantro, and add some jack cheese to the top.  Your tacos should look something like this(amazing/beautiful/delicious/incredible/tasty):

My work here is done.

One of the first things I ever posted on this blog was my recipe for Mexican lasagna.  It sounds a bit strange, but this is for sure one of the best recipes I have ever come up with.  I made it over the holiday weekend for the NFL draft and it came out pretty delicious.  I had to hold back on the seasonings because my pops doesn’t like that kind of thing(no Lean Cuisine jokes please), but it still turned out pretty pretty good, as Larry David would say.

Mexican lasagna is pretty much just a Mexican casserole that I like to call lasagna.  I think my recipe is one of the better casseroles I have ever tasted, but I could be biased.  Some people use ground beef for this, but I prefer to use ground chicken.  I like the taste better, and oh yeah..  It’s healthier too, if you’re concerned with that sort of thing.  I don’t really measure my seasonings too much, so I will try to describe how much I use the best that I can.  I would probably sound more professional if I said “season to your liking”… Oh well.  Here goes.

First step, pre-heat your often to 360 degrees.  That’s always important when you’re cooking something.  Heat.  That’s a free tip.

Mix Together in a Bowl:

• 4 lbs of ground chicken
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• Half an onion.. Minced
• 1 can of original Rotel tomatoes.. You can use the mild kind if spicy scares you.  You can also use fresh tomatoes if you prefer, but Rotel is good stuff.  If you were going to use fresh, I would reccomend one to two, depending on how much you like them.  You could also use your favorite salsa.
• Two minced jalapenos.. You have a few options here.  If you don’t like the heat, you can either remove the membranes and seeds from the jalapenos, or substitute them with green chiles
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro.
• 1/3 cup of tequila

Mix all that together and add salt, pepper, cayenne pepper,  cumin, and chili powder.  Like I said, I have no idea how much of each I put in, so season to your liking.  Damn, that was professional.  The longer this mixture sits, the better it will taste.  I usually let it sit for an hour or two.  By the way, this mixture looks a little nasty before it’s cooked.  Don’t worry about it.  It will taste amazing.

I like to make my own red sauce, but any enchilada sauce will do.

Once you’re ready, cook up the chicken mixture on high heat.  Right before the chicken is done, add corn and black beans beans .  I usually use a 14.5oz can of each.  Turn the heat down after the chicken is cooked and let the beans and corn cook in the juices.  Make sure the beans aren’t hard before you take off the burner.

You will need about 5 medium to large sized tortillas.  Cut them in halves and quarters.

Line the bottom of the pan with a little bit of the enchilada sauce.. Just so its covered.  After that, line it with the tortillas followed by the meat mixture and cheese on top.  For the cheese, I use either a mild cheddar or monterey jack.  Keep repeating that order until your pan is filled, but make sure you have the cheese on top.

When you’re all done there, throw it in the oven for about 10 minutes.  I like the cheese on top to be a little browned, and for the edges of the tortillas to be a little crunchy.  Let it sit for about 5 minutes, and then dig in.  This should feed 5-6 people.  Enjoy!