Aaron's Central Coast Tacos. DELICIOUS

One of my best friends, Erica, recently returned from Thailand and she came over with a friend she met there - Aaron for dinner one evening. Apparently Aaron had been talking about these 'Korean Tacos' (we renamed them Central Coast Tacos - because there is more about them that is 'Central Coast' rather than Korean) for a while - so there was a lot of excitement to try these. These tacos are ridiculous. Probably the best chicken tacos I've ever had. Aaron said he has been working on perfecting this recipe for a while and he hopes to one day open a food truck. I will be one of the first in line. These tacos are fresh and flavorful. The slaw has the perfect amount of tang to constrast the mildly spicy chicken. And the pesto ties it all together. Served on a fluffy whole grain tortilla - these tacos are nothing less than divine. Here is a picture of Aaron and Erica :)

(Insert cheesy line here) - Aaron's creation really puts the TAsty in TAcos.

Korean BBQ Chicken Tacos

1. Buy or Roast 1 chicken and shred it by hand into a pot

2. Pour Korean BBQ Sauce (see recipe below) over the chicken and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes or until chicken has absorbed most the sauce.

3. Turn off heat.

Korean BBQ Sauce:

3/8 cup or 6 tbsp of Korean fermented hot pepper paste (gochujang)

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 to 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar (to your taste)

2 tbsp sesame oil

Asian Slaw

1. Shred a head of cabbage
2. Shred 1 or 2 carrots
3. Chop a bunch of green onions
4. Mix together in a bowl
5. Pour Dressing (see below) over the slaw
6. Mix every 2 minutes about 5 times
7. Let sit until ready to eat (at least 5 or 10 minutes)

Dressing

3/4 cup olive oil (extra light if possible)
1/4 cup white sugar (or a little less)
3/8 cup unseasoned rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup sesame seeds
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Lemon Pesto
4 to 6 oz pesto
1/4 cup lemon juice (personal preference, do it by taste)
*Note - Can either stir or blend together depending on the type of pesto.

Tortillas

2-3 small fresh flour tortillas or gorditas per person (fluffier tortillas are better)
*Note - Recipe serves about between 10 and 12 small tortillas 

Putting it all together

Heat flours tortillas, put season chicken on, put slaw on, put a spoonful of lemon pesto on.

Pam's Vegetarian Quesadilla

Friday was my last day at work and for the past six months I had the pleasure of sitting next to this awesome and very funny girl named Pam. She sent me this picture from her phone (shout out to the Droid!) of a quesadilla she made for dinner. While the picture is slightly blurry, you can tell it looks very yummy! The recipe is quick, easy, healthy and filling. Enjoy!

Pam's Vegetarian Quesadillas

(Makes 3 quesadillas)

Ingredients:

1 can organic black beans

1 whole tomato, diced

1/2 white onion, chopped

2/3 cup shredded cheese, (Pam recommends Monterrey and Cheddar)

1/2 avocado, sliced

3 whole wheat tortillas

Directions:

1. In a pan, saute the black beans, tomato, and onion. Let the mixture simmer for about 10 minutes.

2. Place a tortilla on a plate and sprinkle the cheese on it, place the avocado slices on it. Microwave the plate for 30 seconds.

3. Place the bean mixture on the tortilla, fold, press, enjoy!

Breakfast Burritos Made with Leftovers and Love

What to do when you have leftover enchilada filling and someone special who is hungry for dinner? Scramble some eggs, get creative and make breakfast burritos! The spiciness of the enchilada filling from my turkey enchiladas combined with the creaminess of the avocado, fluffiness of the scrambled eggs and the freshness of extra cilantro is a great combination. A dollop of sour cream and some extra cilantro for garnish, you have a lovely plate of breakfast burritos in bed.

Breakfast Burritos Made with Leftovers and Love

(Makes 2 burritos)

Ingredients:

1 cup Turkey and black bean enchilada filling

2 eggs

1/2 avocado, sliced

2 dollops sour cream

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

Directions:

1. Make turkey and  black bean filling according to directions and set aside.

2. Crack two eggs into a skillet over medium high heat and scramble.

3. Warm two tortillas over a stove grill. Place them on a plate, add the turkey enchilada filling, scrambled eggs and avocado slices. Wrap up tortillas and add a dollop of sour cream and some cilantro. Enjoy!

Turkey and Black Bean Enchiladas

I love enchiladas! This is maybe the second time in my life eating enchiladas and my first time making them. So easy and delicious! What is great, is that it is really easy to make these super healthy too! With a little extra effort in your ingredient shopping, you can find healthy versions of all the ingredients.  I don't cook with turkey very often so I thought this would be the appropriate time to give it a swing. I'm looking forward to making many more variations of these enchiladas with all sorts of different fillings. After assembling the enchiladas you bake them in a dish with the sauce and cheese, they become succulent and the tortillas absorb the flavors of the sauce, the melts and oozes deliciousness. I served these with fat free sour cream and some hot sauce. Last Thursday evening my good friend and his friends came for dinner. Any leftover filling you have, and I had a lot, can be used to make breakfast burritos, tacos, or mixed in with pasta to make a lovely spring time pasta salad.

Turkey and Black Bean Enchiladas

(Serves 5 with more filling for leftovers)

Ingredients:

Tortillas (I use Tumaro's Multi Grain Tortillas)

1 1/2 lbs extra lean ground turkey

1 1/2 cans low sodium black beans, drained and rinsed (I use Eden's Garden)

5 small green chilies, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 onion, chopped

2 1/2 cups diced Roma tomatoes

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

4 teaspoons cumin

1 1/2 Pepper Jack cheese, shredded (A soy substitute for cheese works perfectly)

Enchilada sauce:

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 small green chilies, chopped

3 tablespoons sofrito (Mexican tomato base)

1 1/2 cups tomato sauce

1 teaspoon cayenne powder

1 teaspoons cumin

3/4 cup low sodium chicken broth

Pinch of salt and pepper

Directions:

For the sauce:

1. In a medium sauce pan drizzle olive oil and saute the garlic until golden and fragrant. Add the chilies, sofrito, tomato sauce, cayenne powder, cumin and chicken broth. Pinch in the salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and let simmer for 7 minutes. Set the sauce aside until you are ready to use it.

For the filling:

2. In a skillet over medium high heat, drizzle some olive oil and cook the turkey until it is evenly browned. Use a spatula to break up the turkey as it is cooking. When turkey is browned add in the garlic, onions, black beans, cilantro, chilies, diced tomatoes, cumin and cayenne. Mix well, cover with some tin foil and let simmer for 10-15 minutes.

3. meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Drizzle a little olive oil over a 13x9 dish. Plop a generous amount of the turkey filling on the tortillas and wrap them up and place them in the dish, seam side down. When dish is full, pour the enchilada sauce over the wraps, sprinkle on the grated cheese. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cheese is completely melted. Top with a little low fat sour cream and cilantro for garnish. Enjoy!

Beer Battered Fish Tacos

A good friend of mine, Patrick, was visiting the city with his roommate from Chico State. I have known Pat since the early days of elementary school so it was awesome to be able to have him and his friends over for a meal during his first New York City trip. Because they were coming from California, I decided to make fish tacos but I wanted to mix it up and incorporate beer into the batter. Going with a Mexican theme I used a cold Modelo. I served the fish tacos with a mixture of chopped tomatoes, avocado and corn kernels, doused with lime and a bit of onion. Other sides included shredded cheddar cheese, pinto beans, spanish rice, cabbage, and sliced pickeled jalapenos. Here is a picture of Pat and I:

Beer Battered Fish Tacos

Ingredients:
6 Tilapia fillets
1 can Modelo beer
Flour
Cayenne powder
Olive oil

For serving:
Corn tortillas
Avocado, sliced
Cabbage, sliced
Salsa
Cheese, grated
Pickled jalapeno slices
Spanish rice
Hot sauce

Directions:
1. Mix together some flour with a sprinkling of cayenne powder. Pour in the can of Modelo and whisk together until you have a nice consistency. You may need to add more flour and cayenne powder to prevent it from being too liquidy. In a separate bowl mix together more flour and cayenne powder.
2. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees and line a baking dish with tin foil. Heat a layer of olive oil in a skillet over high heat.
3. Wash the fillets and dunk them in the Modelo batter. One at a time, take the fillets from the Modelo batter and coat them in the dry flour mixture. Place them on the hot oil and fry for about 4 minutes per side. You want to get a nice crispy brown coloring on the crust.
4. Place fillets in the oven to keep warm as you fry the others. Serve with toppings of choice and enjoy!

Veracruz Red Snapper

I took a half day at work recently to spend time with my Dad. After taking him to Macy's to get a pair of long over due blue jeans we made our way up to Columbus Circle and spent some time wandering the Williams Sonoma store in the Time Warner center. In the back of the store they were holding a cooking demo and dinner for a small private group of guests. Naturally we stopped and watched the greater part of the dinner being made and when they started serving the meal my Dad said a couple awkward comments to the guests about them giving him a sample and then we left. Anyways, I learned some important things about making tomato based sauces! An important tip is simply timing. When making these tomato based sauces it's important to let the sauce simmer for a very long time, that is how it thickens and gets that superb taste. I wanted to make a main course to go with the stuffed poblano peppers so I decided to make a Veracruz style red snapper. I found this recipe on epicurious.com and adapted it to make a thicker and more flavorful sauce. The sauce that I made for the fish would taste great with chicken or on a pizza with cheese! Shabbat Shalom everyone! Cheers to a Mexican Shabbat! Here is a picture of the sauce:

                           

Veracruz Red Snapper

Ingredients:

4 red snapper fillets

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice, well drained, juices reserved
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped white onion
5 large garlic cloves, chopped
3 small bay leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons oregano
1/3 cup chopped pitted green olives
1/4 cup raisins
2 tablespoons drained capers

Directions:
1. Place drained tomatoes in medium bowl. Using the bottom of a jar, crush  the tomatoes to a coarse puree. Drain again, reserve all the juices.
2. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and stir 30 seconds. Add garlic and stir 30 seconds. Add tomato puree and cook 1 minute. Add bay leaves, parsley, oregano, and 1/4 cup reserved tomato juices. Simmer until sauce thickens, about 3 minutes. Add olives, raisins, capers, and all remaining reserved tomato juices. Simmer until sauce thickens again, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
3. Preheat oven to 425°F. Spread 3 tablespoons sauce in bottom of 15x10x2-inch glass baking dish. Arrange fish atop sauce. Sprinkle fish lightly with pepper. Spoon remaining sauce over. Bake uncovered until fish is just opaque in center, about 18 minutes. Using long spatula, transfer fish with sauce to plates.

Stuffed Poblano Peppers

I have never had a poblano pepper until this meal. I was excited about them because I love the way stuffed vegetables look for dinner. This was part of a Mexican themed Shabbat dinner I was preparing for my Dad and boyfriend. This was the side dish. Filling, healthy, versatile, flavorful and vegetarian. I came across this fantastic recipe on the blog Budget Bytes and adapted it slightly. I can tell you right now that my stuffed poblano peppers do not look as glamorous and picture ready as they do on the blog. Perhaps I over stuffed them? Or the peppers were too soft to hold they shape during their de-seeding and dissection. Regardless of their appearance, the combination is wonderful! I would love to make these again and include chicken or beef, corn or perhaps pineapple pieces. My boyfriend's Mom, Elaine, makes a wonderful salsa that we used in these stuffed poblanos; it has great large chunks of peppers, tomatoes and onions. Because I had leftovers of the stuffing mixture, we just ate it with corn chips. Any leftovers can be used in tortillas, breakfast burritos or quesadillas anyone?

Stuffed Poblano Peppers:

(Makes 4 peppers with extra stuffing)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup long grain rice

1 1/2 teaspoons paprika

1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder

4 medium-large poblano peppers

4 ounces Monterey jack cheese, shredded

3/4 cup salsa

1 can black beans

Olive oil spray

Directions:

1. Cook the rice with 2 cups of water. Mix in paprika, garlic powder and onion powder with the rice. Set aside when ready. Mix in the black beans to the rice.

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and turn the broiler on high. Spray a baking sheet and coat all sides of the poblano peppers with non-stick spray. Place the baking sheet a few inches under the broiler (I use the second rack level) and broil on both sides for 5 minutes.

                         

3. After broiling the peppers, their skin should be blistery and bubbly. Immediately place the peppers in a zip-lock bag and let them steam for about 15 minutes. This will help remove their skin more easily.

4. Cut a slit down each the pepper and carefully remove the seeds and the seed pod.

5. Preheat the oven 350 degrees (bake not broil this time). Gently stuff the peppers with the rice and bean mixture followed by a large dollop of salsa and covered with shredded cheese. Stuff the poblano to the brim and then bake until the cheese is melted, about 20 minutes.

                          

Fried Tilapia Fish Tacos

I love fish tacos. I made them for the first time a few months ago using Catfish. Fish tacos can be made with pretty much any fleshy white fish. I've since refined my technique and while there is still a lot I can improve on, I have created a rather solid method for fried tilapia tacos. This is a wonderful meal for a party or large group. It's fun to create a buffet of toppings and allow guests to create their own tacos. It's difficult to go wrong with toppings; the hard part is making it all fit in the small corn tortillas! There is a well known restaurant near my apartment called Mercadito; I have yet to actually eat there but they have a $20 all-you-can-eat taco night on Tuesdays! I'll have to check it out for toppings and sauce inspiration. All the cutting and prep work for the toppings can be done ahead of time when you marinate the fish. This way it's all ready to go as soon as you fry the fish. Enjoy this meal with some mojitos or corona and you've got a fantastic fiesta on your hands!  I picked up delicious Indonesian Tilapia from Rainbo's Fish at Essex Market this weekend. They sell "Uptown fish at downtown prices" and have sushi grade fish too!

I also picked up a large Gwen avocado from the Essex Market. These are a large oval shape and the flesh is creamy and sweeter tasting that traditional avocado. The green skin is pebbly and these are available through late summer.

Fried Tilapia Fish Tacos

(5 large filets of tilapia can make about 20 tacos)

Ingredients:

Tilapia

Buttermilk

Hot pepper sauce

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 handful chopped cilantro

Flour
Cayenne powder
Olive oil

Toppings:
Spanish rice
Cilantro chopped
Green onions sliced
Chopped red onion
Avocado slices
Green cabbage sliced
Salsa
Lime wedges

Directions:
1. Wash the tilapia and place in a glass bowl. Fill the bowl with buttermilk until fish is immersed. Add in hot pepper sauce depending on how spicy you like your food. Then add in lime juice and cilantro. Gently mix the ingredients and flip the tilapia to make sure the pepper sauce and cilantro are evenly dispersed. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1.5 hours and no more than 3 hours.

2. In a large dish or bowl mix flour and cayenne powder (amount depends on your heat tolerance).

 

3. Heat olive oil in a pan. Keep olive oil readily available as you will need to add more between each fish filet.

4. Taking one filet at a time, remove from the marinade and place in the flour mixture to fully coat. Then place the coated filet bake in the buttermilk mixture briefly before placing back into the flour mixture for a second time. This double dipping in the buttermilk and flour mixtures makes the fried coating extra thick and crispy.

5. Place filet in the pan. Fry on each side for about 4 minutes. 

 

 6. Place fried filets on a pan in the oven at 200 degrees to keep warm and cook further while you prepare the other filets.

7. Heat corn tortillas over a flame for about 20 seconds on each side and flip with tongs. Cover to keep warm.

 

8. Put out the toppings and start creating delicious fish tacos!

 

CHEERS!!