Easy Spiced Salmon #1

This is a recipe that I will use when I just need to throw something together without spending a lot of time in the kitchen, which is becoming more and more.

The best way is to grill the salmon steak on the grill or parilla. But if you don't want to fire that up, use a grill pan or grill plate. Everyone show own one of those for quick and fast preparation of steak and fish. Whats a grill pan?
It a cast iron pan usually about 12 inches in diameter and instead of being perfectly smooth on the bottom, it has raised lines on it, so that when you have it hot and place meat or fish on it, the grill marks appear from the lines , it cooks the meat without touching all of it, using radiant hear AND it provide great grill mark caramelization for super flavor.

Take about 4 TBS of Achiote paste into a small bowl, to that add the juice of a lemon. About 1/4 of juice or just enough to be able to mix the paste into a free flowing sauce like consistency.You can add a little olive oil also. Make the sauce liquid enough to cover the fish not like a paste though.
Take the Salmon steaks and coat withe mix.
Let sit at room temperature for about 1/2 hour.

Lesson.
Before you cook meat, or even seafood, let it come up to room temperature from the refrigerator so that when you place it on the grill, it doesn't have to unthaw or have a large temperature difference between the outside and inside. This will provide better cooking control for you, so that you have medium rare steaks that are hot all the way, instead of done correctly on the outside but cold on the inside. With fish it allows even cooking so that the fish is not overcooked on the outside but undercooked inside. Overcooked fish, BAD......perfectly cooked GOOD!
This also pertains to Chicken also.

Then take the Salmon and place it on the grill or grill pan, cook for about 3 to 4 minutes per side, carefully run a metal spatula to release the fish from the metal and carefully turn, finish cooking for another 3 to 4 minutes until touching the fish with your finger offers some resistance......(learn how to tell doneness by feel)
If you don't have a grill you can place it in to a hot preheated oven. Preheat to 375, place on either foil or grill rack. You will need to cook it for about 12-15 minutes if convection, a few more if not. If you would like to use an instant read thermometer, pull the fish at 140.


Stuff you will need:

Achiote Paste
juice from lemon
salt and pepper
Salmon Steaks

Chicken with Huitlacoche

This is a complex recipe that takes about a total of 2 hours and is not a simple throw it together dish. I make this one for special occasions because of the ingredients that are a little hard to get. The Huitlacoche is very hard to get in the US, but look for it as a canned product under the Monteblanco and Goya brand. It is available in some of the ethnic markets in a 460. g or 14 oz can. Here in Mexico you can find it seasonally in the mercados.
Huitlacoche is a fungus growth that attaches itself onto corn cobs. It is considered a delicacy and is worth the effort to do this dish. It really looks weird, sort of like spoiled or moldy corn kernels, but indeed tasty with a distinct flavor.

To prepare the stuffing.

Saute the Huitlacoche in the skillet over low heat with butter for 3 to 4 minutes or until it starts to release it's juices. Throw in the garlic and serrano chilies and simmer for 8 more minutes, if it starts to dry out, add some chicken stock or water so that is doesn't scorch.
Add the marjoram and saute for another 5 or 6 minutes or until almost dry.
Take the skillet off the heat and let it cool completely.
Meanwhile remove the kernels from one large ear of sweet corn, or if regular corn, use that but add 1 tbs of honey and dry roast in another skillet, use a wooden spoon and stir it so that it doesn't burn.
Add the red pepper , cook for a minute or two, remove from heat and set it aside.

Take the corn bread into a medium bowl and toss in the cooked huitlacoche, corn mixture, scallions, hoja santa and epazote.
Toss in the salt and pepper and add the stock and egg whites. Combine all but try not to over mix, stir only enough to coat the ingredients totally.

Stuffing the Bird.

Put the breasts on a cutting board and make an incision lengthwise through the center of each breast. With a small paring knife carefully widen the incision and try not to cut through the breast.
With a spoon or zip lock bag with the end cut off, stuff the breasts until plump. Put into the refrigerator for an hour or two before cooking.

To cook the dish

Don't cook the dish, cook the chicken in stead.
preheat the oven to 425.
Season the breasts with some salt and pepper.
Heat the oil in a 12 inch skillet,until hot over medium high heat.
Place the breasts skin side down in the skillet.
Immediately reduce the heat to medium and saute until lightly browned.
Remove any excess grease from the pan and place it into the oven.
Be sure your skillet handle can withstand the heat of the oven otherwise you will melt the handle and chicken with a melted handle isn't a good thing.......
Roast the breasts in the oven for 13 to 15 minutes and test with an instant read thermometer for 135.
Remove the breasts and tent with foil.
Meanwhile......deglaze the pan with the vinegar. When you have deglazed the pan and the vinegar has been reduce by half, add the tomato salsa and sugar.

Taste the hot sauce (carefully so you don't burn your tongue) and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.

To serve
Ladle the warm sauce onto 4 warm plates that you have preheated, nap the plate and be sure it is covered , remove the breasts from the foil, and with a serrated knife cut into 4 even slices with the goodies inside and place them on top of the napped plate and serve.

I usually will serve this with whatever fresh vegetables that are in season, spinach, kale, asparagus all do complements to the chicken.


Stuff you will need

1 Cup Huitlacoche
3 cloves of roasted garlic chopped*
2 roasted serrano chiles, diced with seeds
1/2 tsp chopped fresh marjoram or 1/4 tsp dry
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1 cup crumbled up corn bread
1/4 chopped scallions
1 tsp chopped fresh hoja santa or 1 tsp chopped terragon
1 tbs chopped fresh epazote
1 egg white
1 tbs butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup chicken stock
4 whole chicken breasts with skin on without bones
4 Tbs olive oil
1/2 cup apple cider or wine vinegar
1 cup roasted grilled tomato salsa*
1 Tbs sugar


* Salsa recipe
8 medium sized Roma tomatoes
1/2 cup diced white onion
1 tsp olive oil
1 whole chopotle chile with adobo
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tbs sugar
juice from 1/2 lemon

Roast tomatoes on hot oiled pan in very hot oven, or blacken them on open flame or with propane torch. You want the flavor of the caramelized tomato skin. Saute the onion in the oil until the onion starts to brown or caramelize. Throw all into a blender or a molcajete and blend or grind until smooth. Add lemon to taste. Adjust the seasoning to taste, possible add another chili if not sufficiently hot for your taste.
(Recipe from Santa Coyote in Guadalajara)

To roast garlic

Cut garlic bulb in half width wise. Coat with olive oil, place into aluminum foil and place into 350 oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool, remove the roasted soft garlic from the bulb. Use this in recipes and it is great spread on bread!
Remove and cool, scoop out the roasted garlic and use on bread or recipes.

Indian Pudding

This is one of those recipes that is very cheap and once you stir it you can leave it on top of a warm oven for hours until dinner etc.

If you have fresh fruit you can use that to top it along with some fresh cream otherwise,you can add some flavors to it or just glop some vanilla ice cream on the top of it.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Toss the cornmeal onto almost boiling milk, (scalded) and start stirring. Be care full not to have the heat on too high since it could burn. Burnt cornmeal doesn't taste too good.
Cook until mixture starts to bubble, keep stirring for another 5 minutes or so.
Remove from the heat, (eye) put in the molasses, spices, salt and butter.

Take 2 TBS of butter and grease up a cazuela or 1 1/5 qt baking casserole.
Pour cornmeal mix into the dish and add 1/2 cup of hot milk and mix gently.
Bake for 2 to 3 hours. Serve with flavored cream or vanilla ice cream while it is still hot and melts the ice cream.

Flavored cream, would be if you take 1/2 cup whipping cream, add Kahlua or other liquors like raspberry or cherry.
You could also make some caramel and top it with that also.
Enjoy.


Stuff you will need.

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal ( or polenta)
3 cups milk, scalded
1/2 cup dark molasses
1/2 tsp. fresh ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp.salt
2 Tbs butter for coating the dish
2Tbs butter for the cornmeal mix
1/2 hot warmed cream or scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Tongue or Lengua

Ok, first of all some of your are going eeeeuuuuggg.
Well have you ever tried it?

If you haven't you owe it to yourself to try it first before whining about it!

It's pretty easy to make although a little time consuming it is great both served warm and cold. One of my favorite tacos is Tacos de Lengua which is tasty and loaded with tender tongue meat.....umm.

To Start:

Fill a large pot with water enough to cover the meat, add a onion some peppercorns and put on the stove over medium heat.

When it boils, lower the heat to a gentle simmer and go read a book.
Or you can even take a nap.
After about 2 hours, take a look and check it. If the water has been reduced too much go ahead and add a little more water in order to cover the meat again.

To check to see if it is done, take a serrated steak knife and jab into the thickest parts.
IF the knife goes in easy it is done, if it offers some resistance then let it cook some more.

Once cooked you can drain the pot and let the tongue cool so that you can work with it.

Take a shape knife and trim the outside skin off the whole tongue. You will see that the outside skin is extremely tough like leather. It is pretty easy to remove with a sharp knife.

After you have trimmed the outside skin off, you can slice it into serving pieces of about 1/2 inch thick.


Stuff you will need:

2 lb beef tongue
1 onion
1 tbs peppercorns
2 tbs salt.

Cilantro Tartar Sauce

I love fish, usually all the fish needs is a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice, maybe a little soy or salsa and that's it!
Occasionally there is just something that the fish needs or whatever...you know what I mean. In that case a little fat sauce will help.
Yep you can just throw a dollop of mayonnaise on it, but why? This is a simple recipe that adds some flavor and justifies the mayo.

To Start:
Place all the ingredients into a small food processor or blender and whirl away until all is combined.
Process until all is smooth,
Pour the stuff into a squeeze bottle, you know the kind mustard comes in, and stick in the refrigerator until needed.
To use,
take the bottle out, give it a shake or two and then squeeze your favorite design all over the fish.



Stuff you will need:

1/2 cup of Mayonnaise ( Best Foods or Hellman(east of the Rockies) )
1 TBS chopped fresh cilantro
1TBS finely chopped while onion
1 TBS finely chopped dill pickles
1/2 TBS finely chopped capers (drain and rinse)
1 TBS chopped fresh basil
1 TBS fresh Italian Parsley
1 to 2 TBS fresh squeezed lemon juice ( To taste)
1/2 tsp salt

Green Chile Corn Bread

This is an easy throw it all in the pot and throw it in the oven recipe. You can add some sweet corn kernels to the top as decoration when finished , if you have them available, but otherwise it is pretty plain.

Preheat oven to 325.
If you have a Dutch Oven this is perfect otherwise find a 9 inch square baking pan. Generously butter the Dutch Oven or pan.

In a bowl beat the butter and sugar, add the eggs one at a time beating after each egg. And the chilies, corn and cheese and homogenize all. In another small bowl, mix the cornmeal, baking soda, flour and salt. Once mixed, throw that into the egg mixture and mix until all the lumps are out, well the majority of them at least.

Put in the oven, close the door, go read for about an hour.
Find yourself a wooden match or skewer, jab it in the middle of the bread, if it comes out clean then remove from the oven, let rest and enjoy. If it comes out still clinging on to some corn meal particles, give it another 10 minutes or so, until the stick comes out clean. That's it!


Stuff you will need:

4 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tsp. salt
1 TBS. Baking powder
1 1/2 cups creamed corn
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 cup roasted, seeded and diced green chilies ( you can use canned if you must)
1/2 cup grated Monterey or Chihuahua Cheese

Yam Flan

This is one of my favorite twists on the flan, this adds a nice texture to the flan but keeps the caramel on the bottom of the custard, as usual.

To start, find a pan glass or ceramic to coat the caramel and put the custard in. I usually will use a 9x11 Pyrex dish, or one that has about the same surface.

To make the caramel,
Take the sugar and put in a saucepan on medium high heat.
Add the water and stir ONCE.
Then let it cook until the sugar water mixture turns a dark amber, go ahead and swirl the pan to be sure it is all mixed. Be sure and do not let the mixture turn much darker because it will burn and you will have a hard time cleaning out the burnt sugar.
Take the hot caramel and carefully put it into the glass dish, be sure and swirl it around to coat the whole dish and up on the sides a little.
Be very care full because it is very hot and will burn very bad should you get it on yourself..... ( Caramel lesson #1)

Set the pan to the side or into the refrigerator.

TO make the custard-flan.

Put cream into a medium saucepan add the vanilla extract and cinnamon sticks. Turn on the heat to a medium a and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and let the cinnamon soak for at least one hour. Strain out the cinnamon.

Find a pan that you can put the glass dish into and have it be surrounded with water half way up the Pyrex dish with the caramel in it. (This is called a water bath or bain marie.) This is done so that the cooking heat will be even and gentle while in the oven.
Preheat the oven to 325degrees.

Boil some water, enough to fill the bigger pan.

In a large bowl, add the now cooled cream , sugar, crushed yams allspice, cloves, eggs rum and Kahlua.
Take a whisk and combine into a homogenized mixture.
Pour into the glass dish.
Put the dish into the oven, immediately put the hot water which you boiled, so it it comes up halfway up the dish with the custard in it.

Bake in the oven for about 1 hour, open the oven door and shake the inside pan a little to see if it has firmed up. If your oven runs hot, it may be done, otherwise it can take anywhere from about 15 to 30 minutes more.

When the center is kind of firm but jiggles a little, remove from the oven and let cool.

When cool, cut or scoop into serving dishes, you can top with whipped cream flavored with Kahlua or just plain whipped cream and sugar. Or not.

You can use sweet potato in place of yams if you only have Sweet Potatoes.

You also could take some canned pumpkin , the kind you buy to make pumpkin pie, and substitute it for the yams, the flan will then become a Pumpkin Flan........

Stuff you will need:

for the Caramel

2 Cups sugar
2 cups water

For the Flan

4 Cups half and
half or Cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Cinnamon Sticks (whole)
3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cups brown sugar (packed firm)
1 TBS ground cinnamon
1TBS ground allspice
1 TBS ground cloves
5 whole eggs
6 egg yolks
1/4 cup dark rum
1/4 cup Kahlua
1 lb baked Yams, peeled and pureed or canned.