Sister City Cooking Project (Part 1)--Patzcuaro, Mexico (Carnitas)

For years, my kids and I have occasionally noticed the sister city signs posted on the outskirts of our town of Naperville, IL.  It's been a sister city of Nitra, Slovakia, since 1993.

Recently, we noticed that the sign now also mentions Patzcuaro, Mexico, as another sister city.  Apparently it's not enough for Naperville to just have one sister city.

Anyway, it's more than enough of an excuse for a cooking project since my food blog has been lacking ideas for some time.  I decided to choose a food project that represents a dish from each sister city. Nitra isn't exactly low-hanging fruit in terms of famous dishes to choose (goulash?), so I went with something classic from the Michoacan region of Mexico, in which Patzcuaro is located.

Carnitas is a fairly well known pork filling for real tacos, especially in the Chicago area or other places with large Mexican-American populations.  I could write a whole series of blog posts just about local taquerias!

Carnitas is a fairly simple concept--braise pork shoulder slowly in a citrusy liquid to essentially make soft pulled pork, but then quick fry it in lard for the crispy texture and rich flavor.  You can easily get good fresh lard from a local Mexican grocery (ask for "manteca" if you know a little Spanish).

I used both oranges and limes in my version, but most recipes just call for one citrus ingredient.  You can find a ton of examples.  Citrus and salt are the main ideas though.

The 4-5 pound pork shoulder will take awhile to cook, maybe 3 hours on low heat.  Some recipes just call for water, but others might suggest beer or even some milk.

The main thing here is to get some of the lard going hot in a pan and toss around the shredded pulled pork until it is slightly crispy, then drain some (but not all) the juices before adding it to a taco.  I like real corn soft tacos with cilantro, onion, and chihuahua cheese, plus some salsa verde.  I think in this photo I just used lettuce, chihuahua cheese, and some salsa verde from a jar but you can do what you prefer and don't worry about being "authentic" unless you like it that way!

Buen provecho!

Huevos Rancheros con Chorizo!

One of my favorite breakfasts is to cook up some Mexican chorizo in a pan, fire up an egg or two, quickly grill a corn tortilla, and adding Chihuahua cheese on top.  Cholula hot sauce on top is a given!

Growing Cayenne Peppers

       Hi, this is Mike's daughter, Katie, and last year my dad, me and my brother Jack were planting some cherry tomatoes, basil, and some other herbs like we had done the past few years. This year, unlike the others, we decided to try something new: cayenne peppers. We planted them just the same as the others, but the growth was different. The cayenne peppers were visible earlier than the tomatoes. They started green, then over time turned red as they grew to a huge size. Almost as long as bell peppers, the cayenne peppers were, at the largest, 3 cm wide and turned purple after sitting out or staying on the plant for too long. We found that putting the peppers in a plastic bag and placing them in the freezer kept the cayenne peppers from getting too old and preserved the flavors. I recommend these peppers to people who like hot foods, but people who don't- maybe not.

Easy Weekday Tacos

      I am Mike's daughter, and I love to create unique recipes and dishes including bizarre ingredients and flavors. One night, my dad announced it taco night, and I was all over it.
      My ingredients consisted of one chopped nectarine, a chopped red pepper,  skirt steak, chihuahua cheese, lettuce, and taco sauce. I placed the steak and cheese on the flour tortilla and heated it up in a microwave. Next I placed the lettuce, chopped pepper and nectarine on it, and topped it all off with a splash of taco sauce.
      The flavor was amazing, and the crunchiness was delicious. This recipe will be sure to delight you and your family!

Simple Rice and Beans

I made a simple dish of rice and beans using some leftover, out-of-the-box Spanish rice I had.  I used some pinto beans from a can, shredded Chihuahua cheese, and some slightly sauteed green and serrano peppers.  I tossed some chopped cilantro on top and it was a great use of leftovers!
I'm not sure if this resembles anything Mexican, Tex-Mex, Cuban, or Southwestern but it worked out well enough.

Cocido Rapido!

Cocido is one of Spain's most famous dishes, and you can look up endless versions of it online.  I made a fairly quick version for lunch recently and it worked out really well:

 

Many Spanish dishes, and certainly cocido, are heavily influenced by Spain's long Moorish and Jewish cooking traditions--that accounts for the use of chickpeas, red peppers, rice, chicken, etc. 

My version was made just for me and included the following that I had available:

1/3 red onion, diced (I liked the red this time, but normally this would use yellow or white)

1 medium carrot, diced (use red pepper if you have it!  or both carrots and red pepper)

I sauteed the above in olive oil for 5 minutes or so, then added 1.5 cups of water and just a handful of long grain Mexican rice.  I used half a Mexican-style Maggi bouillon cube to add the broth flavor.  Yes, I'm mixing the various building blocks I keep around for my daily cooking and crossing New World with Old World concepts!  

When the rice was mostly cooked, I shook some Cholula hot sauce into the pan (again, more Mexican flavors invading a Spanish classic!) and roughly a half can of chickpeas.  At the end, I diced up a tiny bit of summer sausage (Usinger's, a Wisconsin classic) and finished it up a few minutes later.

In classic Spanish cocidos, leftover chicken or rabbit is often involved, along with some pork content and perhaps some seafood depending on the region in which the Spanish cook resides.  I should have used garlic cloves here, so don't forget that classic Spanish building block.  Spanish stews like this usually use chopped chorizo, which in Spain is pre-cooked and resembles the Polish kielbasa I can find commonly in the Chicago area (Note: Mexican "chorizo" is actually the uncooked, super spicy stuff that has nothing to do with Spanish chorizo, but nonetheless is an incredible flavor enhancer if you can stomach the grease--perhaps I need to make a cocido with Mexican chorizo!).  

They key point about this experiment is to learn to use a simple broth, some diced veggies, and leftover meat to create a healthy, flavorful stew that you can adjust in many ways!

Soft Chicken Tacos--Easy Weekday Meal

This is an excellent way to make fairly authentic Southwestern-style braised chicken for use in tacos or enchiladas.   This version came from "The Food of Santa Fe: Authentic Recipes from the American Southwest" by Dave Dewitt and Nancy Gerlach, a book of very simple but useful recipes with great pictures.  Years ago this book helped inspire me towards learning more complex dishes.

Simmer 2 bone-in chicken breasts (4 total pieces) for 30 minutes in roughly 1 quart of water with 1 chicken bouillon cube, 1/2 TBSP ground cumin, 1/2 TBSP oregano, and 1 TBSP onion flakes.

Pluck chicken out of the pot, let cool on a plate, then hand-pull and add back to pot and let soak for 5-10 minutes longer prior to using for taco filling.

Warm flour tortillas and prepare sides of shredded cheese, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, etc. If you want to have a more Mexican-style flavor, use cilantro, chopped white onion, and use green salsa (and skip the lettuce and tomato).  If you serve with a wedge of lime and squeeze on plenty of juice, it adds a ton of flavor.  Serve shredded chicken with tortillas and sides and enjoy!

Buen Provecho!

Cholula Hot Sauce!

This is my ode to Cholula hot sauce, my favorite and most versatile bottled hot sauce.  I also use Sriracha and other sauces, but this one has just the right amount of spice without killing a dish.  It's definitely got some zip, but won't rot out your stomach.  The photo above, being of decent quality, is obviously not from my iPhone camera and snaked from the internet.  

While Googling the image, I also saw the majestic photos of the Cholula (namesake) church in Mexico with Mt. Popocapetl in the background, and I felt compelled to post a scenic photo.  Cholula, at 2500 years old, is the oldest continually habitated town in Mexico.  Looks like I have yet another food and hiking destination on my long list!

Experimental Food Night

Last night the kids each picked a dish to test out, much like I've done in the past with new cuisines.  My son, who is 10, loves potatoes, so he chose something that is like a meatball sauce, but substituting potatoes for the meatballs.  We basically sauteed onions, garlic, and potatoes and then simmered it all with a jarred tomato sauce (he chose puttanesca, though I might have gone with marinara or simply chopped whole canned tomatoes).  He sprinkled on some mixed-blend shredded cheese at the end.  It turned out very well!

My daughter, 7, opted for a soft taco with cheese, spaghetti, salsa, and roasted potato.  Only she would add pasta to a taco!  Her dish tasted good but we ended up removing the potato chunks.  The pasta sounds a little odd in a taco, but keep in mind that some real Mexican tacos include rice inside!

Semi-Authentic Tacos

I visited a great little Mexican grocery in the western suburbs of Chicago last weekend and found some wonderful ingredients to make some tasty tacos.  Here's a picture of all the spices you can find on their shelves:

 

I ended up buying chopped steak, fresh chorizo, chihuahua cheese, yellow pepper, lime, cilantro, corn tortillas, and Goya canned chipotle salsa.  

I chopped up the yellow pepper and sauteed it with the steak and a little chorizo for flavor and spice.  I added some of the salsa, then placed that filling aside in a bowl.  Then I wiped out the pan, added a bit of oil, and fried the tortillas slightly; I melted some cheese on them after the last flip.

I served up the tacos with the filling and topped it with plenty of cilantro and lime juice!  Very tasty, and the next day I make leftovers with it and included the (non-authentic) sour cream favored in Tex-Mex cuisine.

Southwestern Pork Chops

About a month ago I had a craving for some pork, but also for Southwest flavorings, so I coated some pork chops with paprika, chili powder, salt, and cayenne and grilled them over charcoal.

I then made a basic pico de gallo with garlic, onion, jalapeno, and fresh tomato to place atop the chops. To accompany the chops I heated up some refried beans and added a dollop of sour cream to make this a very simple but hearty Southwestern-style dish. I also grilled up some fresh corn served with real butter and salt. Easy and tasty!

Steak Torta!! Muy rico!!

I had leftover steak from last night's dinner around (see post), some onion, french bread, and my usual collection of Mexican ingredients (refried beans, Herdez green salsa, co-jack cheese, and sour cream). Originally I was planning on some kind of steak po-boy with classic New Orleans garnishings (mayonnaise/hot sauce, lettuce, tomato, etc.) but ended up going Mexican.

So I sauteed the onion for awhile then added the beans, salsa, cheese, and sliced leftover t-bone steak, and loaded it onto toasted french bread with chopped tomato and some sour cream. Normally I'm a burrito fan but the torta is a delicious alternative that really should be more popular!! Muy delicioso!!

The Best Burritos Since 1989

I've been going to La Bamba for burritos since my freshman year at University of Illinois in 1989, where the now-chain began. La Bamba has spread to college towns all over the Midwest and is widely known in this region.

We just lunched at the one in Chicago's Loop and I had a chance to speak with the owner, who is a sister of the guy who started it all back in Champaign, IL. I wish I could reverse engineer this stuff but I've never come close. The hot sauce is like spicy liquid gold!!