Tacos de Lengua (tongue tacos)

Ernesto and I are still in San Diego with his parents and eating Mexican food every day. Sunday is "family day" and mi suegra always cooks something delicious. The whole family comes over and there is a food extravaganza. She asked for requests this past weekend and Ernesto said tongue tacos. How does that sound? Ok ok, maybe it doesn't sound good, but you can't deny that is looks good!

{tongue tacos topped with onion, cilantro and salsa}

This was my first time eating tongue Mexican style. My mom made it sometimes when I was growing up, but it was a Hungarian recipe. I didn't like it from what I can remember, but I think that was more because it was tongue and I was a child!

I was surprised at the simplicity of this recipe.

You will need one cow tongue (we cooked three, but I have adjusted this recipe for one)

Rub all over with salt and oregano and place in a dutch oven.

Through in 2 bay leaves and 3 cloves of garlic.

Add 1-2 cups water and turn on high heat for 5 minutes.

Turn down to low for 2 hours. Take out of pot. They will look like this.

Wait for meat to cool and cut into cubes. Reheat. (many people shred the meat while hot)

Place into warm corn tortillas, top with chopped onion, cilantro and a salsa of your choice.

Buen Provecho!

Beef Brisket....Mexican Style!!

I am a daily food shopper. This means that I never fill up a grocery cart, I usually decide what I am going to make for dinner and then I go buy the ingredients. This is why it is important that I go to a store where I enjoy the shopping experience. (A big thanks to Kroger Edgewood for expanding) "With that being said" (did you just see the Curb your Enthusiasm about that phrase? love it!) "With that being said, I do sometimes buy a hunk of meat on sale at the grocery store, and put it in the freezer for future use. I find that it aids in picking a recipe, kid of a challenge, hmmm what delicious dinner can i make with this one meat. Beef Brisket.

This was adapted from a Food Network recipe.

Mexican Beef Brisket

• 3 1/2 pounds beef brisket
• 1 tablespoon coarse salt
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
• Flour for dredging
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch lengths
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 10 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 5 chipotle pepers in adobo sauce (less if you can't stand the heat)
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 quarts chicken stock or water
• 5 bay leaves
• Salt to taste
• 4 scallions, white and light green parts, thinly sliced on the diagonal, for garnish

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Start with a good piece of meat, trimmed of most of the fat.

Sprinkle the brisket with the coarse salt and pepper. Dredge in flour to coat and shake off any excess. In a large Dutch oven heat oil over high heat. Sear the meat until browned on all sides. Set aside.

Reduce heat to moderate and add the carrots and onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and saute 2 minutes longer. Return the meat to the pan along with all remaining ingredients except the salt and garnishes.

Bring to a boil, cover the pot and transfer to the oven. Bake for 2 1/2 hours, or until the meat slips off a fork when pierced.

Lift out the brisket and place on a cutting board. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Pour the broth and vegetables into a blender. Puree until smooth, add salt to taste. Shred the brisket and warm up some tortillas. Place brisket in tortilla, top with freshly chopped onion, cilantro and the sauce. Serve with scallions and refried beans. To. die. for. Let me know if you agree!

Carnitas in Paris?

Ok, If you haven't seen David Lebovitz' blog, you should really check it out. He is an renowned American pastry chef and author living in Paris. Not only does he post recipes I want to try, he makes me laugh while reading them. One of his recent posts "8 Coping Tips for Living in Paris" is a good place to start.

Ernesto's has made David's carnitas recipe three times now, and every time we think it is the best we have ever tasted! cooking the pork for 3.5 hours really makes this tender.

David includes a beautiful red cabbage slaw to go on the tacos, but Ernesto likes to keep the toppings traditional to this Mexican dish and only tops them with chopped onion, cilantro and salsa.

Serve with a side of refried beans

Carnitas Recipe
(Recipe from The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz)

4-5-pounds boneless pork should, cut into 5-inch chunks, trimmed of excess fat
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
2 tablespoons canola or neutral vegetable oil
water
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon chile powder
1 teaspoon ancho chile powder
2 bay leaves
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and thinly-sliced

1. Rub the pieces of pork shoulder all over with salt. Refrigerate for 1- to 3-days. (You can skip this step if you want. Just be sure to salt the pork before searing the meat in the next step.)

2. Heat the oil in a roasting pan set on the stove top. Cook the pieces of pork shoulder in a single layer until very well-browned, turning them as little as possible so they get nice and dark before flipping them around. If your cooking vessel is too small to cook them in a single-layer, cook them in two batches.

3. Once all the pork is browned, remove them from the pot and blot away any excess fat with a paper towel, then pour in about a cup of water, scraping the bottom of the pan with a flat-edged utensil to release all the tasty brown bits.

4. Heat the oven to 350F (180C) degrees.

5. Add the pork back to the pan and add enough water so the pork pieces are 2/3rd's submerged in liquid. Add the cinnamon stick and stir in the chile powders, bay leaves, cumin and garlic.

7. Braise in the oven uncovered for 3½ hours, turning the pork a few times during cooking, until much of the liquid is evaporated and the pork is falling apart. Remove the pan from the oven and lift the pork pieces out of the liquid and set them on a platter.

8. Once the pork pieces are cool enough to handle, shred them into bite-sized pieces, about 2-inches (7 cm), discarding any obvious big chunks of fat if you wish.

9. Return the pork pieces back to the roasting pan and cook in the oven, turning occasionally, until the liquid has evaporated and the pork is crispy and caramelized. It will depend on how much liquid the pork gave off, and how crackly you want them.

Neto's Fish Tacos

I eat fish tacos every chance I get.  You see them more and more on menus these days and I like to compare them to Neto's.   Rubios is a fast food place in California, that I can honestly say, makes a mean fish taco. There is a place in Atlanta called Taqueria del Sol that serves up simple yet delicious fish tacos (and many others). They fry up tilapia fish and add a white sauce with pickled jalapeno slices.  When we lived here before, we would take out of town guests there, and they love it.   Somehow they can't compete with Neto's tacos.  When we get together with my parents, my dad always [read: every time] requests that Ernesto makes his fish tacos.  They were in Atlanta this past weekend. So here you go, written out by Neto himself:  

Neto's Fish Tacos

You will need:

1-1½ lbs fish (Red Snapper or other firm fish) cut into 3-4 inch pieces and lightly covered with flour

veggie or canola oil for frying fish

thick corn tortillas


Batter

1 cup flour

1/4 cup corn meal

1 bottle of dark beer

salt & garlic powder to taste



White Sauce

½ cup mayo

½ cup yogurt

1-2 pickled jalapenos, diced

lime and salt to taste



Salsa

5 Roma tomatoes

15 jalapeno or Serrano peppers (2-3 for rookies)

small cilantro bunch

salt to taste



Garnish

head of cabbage, shredded

lime, cut into wedges



Instuctions

Fish:

Combine batter ingredients and start heating oil. Cover fish pieces in batter allowing excess to drip off before placing in oil (try not to let them touch). Cook until batter is a light golden color.


Salsa:

Make this roasted salsa.

Warm the tortillas flipping them a few times but don’t toast and cover them with a towel when done to keep warm.

Place everything on the table and start to assemble your tacos. They go great with Mexican beer.

How to assemble: grab a warm tortilla and place a piece of fish in it. Top with white sauce, salsa, and cabbage then add a squirt of lime. You may need to add a little salt. Enjoy!