Mexican turkey meatball soup

I often make a large batch of soup on the weekends, so that I have a tasty healthy lunch every day at work.  This was a soup that I made last week and enjoyed for 4 lunches.  Luckily I am quite happy to eat the same thing several days in a row, but it would freeze well if you had problems with that. Though warming and comforting as all soups are, it has the tastes of Mexico so invokes a little taste of summer at the end of winter.

Turkey meatballs

• 
  
• 1lb ground turkey
• 1 jalapeno pepper finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon of ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon of ground coriander
• salt and pepper

Mix all the ingredients together

Form in to small meatballs, about the size of a large marble, and place on a lined cookie sheet.

Cook in a preheated 350 oven for about 15 to 20 minutes until cooked and turning golden.

Chicken Tortilla soup

I am always inspired to try cooking dishes of the country that I have just visited, and so at the moment I am exploring the cooking of Mexico.  I did not have this dish in Mexico, but I have had it before and a love the clean bright flavours.  I found this recipe at Melissaguerra Latin kitchen Market. Though of course I have changed it a little.

4 dried  chilies
4 tomatoes or equivalent small ones
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled
8 cups of chicken broth
1 tbsp. chopped cilantro
Juice of 4 limes

In a small saucepan, boil chilies until they are softened.

When soft and cool, remove stem, seeds, and veins. Place chilies in a blender/food processor container, along with tomatoes, onion, garlic, and about 1 cup of chicken broth (enough to facilitate blending). Puree well.

Puree well.

Carnitas - Mexican pork

Saturday evening was May 5, or Cinco de Mayo, a big celebration in Mexico, so there was nothing for it but to have Mexican food for dinner.  I wanted to try something new, and I have visions of the carnitas that I had in Sausalito over 20 years ago. This was one of those meals that stands out in your mind as being perfect. It was beautiful sunny warm day, and we were sitting out on a deck over looking San Francisco bay, drinking margaritas and eating an enormous platter of long cooked pork with corn tortillas.

I could not replicate the sunny warm day in this cold damp spring that we are living through, and the view from my house though actually very nice, is not quite up to the standards of San Francisco Bay, but I could try to replicate the pork.

I stole ideas from several different recipes and this is what I came up with. This served 8 people with a little left over for fridge picking.

4lb pork shoulder roast
1 lemon halved
1/2 cup of orange juice
1 onion chopped
6 cloves of garlic peeled

If you are lucky enough to have skin on your pork remove it for later, then place the pork in a large pot with the remaining ingredients and almost cover with water.

Mexican lettuce wraps - Mexican pot roast part 2

On the weekend I made Mexican pot roast and there was some leftover. Normally I would have made a type of fajita wrapping the heated up meat along with cheese salsa and peppers in a flour tortilla.  But I was on my own for dinner so I decided to make a take on one of my favourite Chinese dishes lettuce wraps, it is really the only time I like to eat iceberg lettuce.

I replaced the flour tortilla with an iceberg lettuce leaf, replaced the hoisin sauce with a fresh salsa and added cheese. You could of course use ground beef (or turkey) if you had no left over beef, but this is certainly a light refreshing way to use left over roast or pot roast beef.

For 2

For the filling

• 6 oz left over beef pot roast chopped
• 1 tablespoon of chili powder (or less to taste)
• 1/2 cup of beef stock (or left over juices from the roast or even water)

Quick fresh Salsa

• 1 tomatoes chopped
• 1/2 a small onion chopped
• 1 tablespoon of fresh cilantro chopped
• Juice of 1/2 lemon or lime
• Hot sauce to taste

1/2 an Iceberg lettuce with the leaves separated
1 cup of grated cheddar cheese.
Sour cream would also a good addition

Daring cooks challenge - food containers

Renata of Testado, Provado & Aprovado! was our Daring Cooks’ April 2011 hostess. Renata challenged us to think “outside the plate” and create our own edible containers! Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 17th to May 16th at http://thedaringkitchen.com/!


So we are to make food served in editable containers, it is wide open and we can make any food and any container and as many as we want.  She did suggest the food container should go well with the contents.

Fish taco served in corn tortilla cups

This is cheating a bit as I blogged this dish last month, See fish taco's but I also made some in corn tortilla cups with this challenge in mind.


First I softened the corn tortillas in a little oil in a frying pan.

This doesn't take much oil or much time just long enough to warm them up maybe 30 seconds.  Then I pushed them gently inside a custard cup and placed them on a cookie sheet

              

I baked them in a 350 oven for about 10 minutes until they were crisp and just turning brown on the edges.

Cooked tortilla cups

In the bottom of the tortilla cups I put in the fish which I cooked with a spicy rub on it and topped them off with home made salsa. I served them on a bed of spring greens with some lime wedges.

Finished fish tacos

I really liked the presentation and they tasted great. You could use the same cups for any mexican style filling such as shredded pork or taco fillings etc.

This challenge was a lot less work than others that I have done, but as usual made me do something new and I am always glad for that.

Had I not gone away for 2 weeks and worked killer hours at work the last month I would have tried another one, but oh well.

Fish taco's

On Saturday Nancy was busy working so I was sent out to hunt and gather, and I felt like fish tacos.  We were on the coast were there is lots of fresh fish so this seemed like a really good idea.

I went to the fish shop and bought some true cod (I hope that is a sustainable choice Connie) but any firm white fleshed fish would do or even prawns.

First I made the salsa

4 campari tomatoes (or equivalent) chopped
1/2 red onion chopped
1/2 avocado chopped
juice of two limes
1 chili pepper chopped very finely
1/4 cup of chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper (more salt than you think or need for that matter)

Toss all the ingredients together best when fresh but this is the same salsa that we had left over and I spooned over the chicken kebabs. Put in the fridge while the rest of the dish comes together.