Mexican migas

I’ve been hearing a lot about migas recently. So much so that I checked with Google Trends to see if there had been a recent uptick in “migas” searching. There hadn’t been. Anyway, I decided to make migas for dinner tonight. Honestly, it’s not that far from our normal scrambled eggs. Perhaps there’s a little more stuff in migas, and I never put fried tortillas in my eggs, but other than that, they’re conceptually the same. I started with Food Network’s Mexican Migas Recipe and went from there.

• oil (we used corn)
• 2 corn tortillas
• 2 slices bacon
• 1/4 onion
• 1/4 bell pepper
• 1/4 c corn kernels
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 t cumin
• 4 eggs
• salt, pepper, red pepper to taste

In a skillet, fry the tortillas until crispy. Remove tortillas from pan. Cut up bacon and fry to desired doneness. Drain all but a few T of oil. Add onions and saute until soft. Add pepper, garlic, and cumin and cook for 5 more min or so. Turn heat down (as low as you’re willing to, really–I like my eggs scrambled slowly). Put bacon and tortillas back into the skillet. Beat eggs, add them to the skillet, and scramble. Once the eggs are done, eat!

It was good. I thought it was a touch too sweet; Juliana didn’t.

Jerry’s Pollofino

We went to Jerry’s Pollofino (reviews) for dinner. I got the tri-tip and quarter chicken combo. Juliana got a steak taco and a chicken taco. It was all good, but we paid more than $20…

Sadly, I think it was my least favorite of all the Santa Barbara Mexican we’ve tried.

Mexican hot chocolate

BRW, Mexico, p 664

Juliana made it entirely by herself! She’s spectacular (and even obsessive) about following the recipe. Even so, she made a substitution: bittersweet chocolate for semisweet. This worked very well; the hot chocolate would have been much too sweet for my taste if she’d have used semisweet.

chicken enchiladas

red enchilada sauce, HCE, p 48
chicken enchiladas, HCE, p 826-827

red enchilada sauce

• 4 large yellow onions
• 56 oz canned whole tomatoes
• 1 dried ancho chile
• 15 cloves garlic

We followed the recipe.

poached chicken

• 2 qts water
• 2 parsnips
• 2 carrots
• 1/2 large yellow onion
• 5 cloves garlic
• whole chicken (~5 lbs)

1. chopped parsnips and carrots
2. minced garlic and onions
3. brought all ingredients except chicken to boil
4. added chicken and brought back to boil
5. simmered for 20 min
6. turned off heat and let sit for 10 min
7. temperature at thickest part of the thigh should be 155 F – 165 F

This made delicious broth, delicious chicken, and delicious vegetable mush. We threw away the bones and the skin.

chicken enchiladas

• 3 c grated cheddar
• 12 large corn tortillas (~6 1/2″ diameter)
• half the meat from of a poached chicken (~5 lbs)
• 5 c red enchilada sauce

We followed the recipe except for the garnishing.

Santa Barbara Mexican: The Quest

Two weeks ago, a friend was visiting and wanted to go out to Mexican. Of course, we live in Santa Barbara, so there are plenty of Mexican restaurants. We knew this in an intellectual sort of way, but we didn’t have any personal experience with the quantity; we’d only been out to two Mexican places since we moved here 18 months ago. Therefore, we had to do some research for her visit, so we could take her someplace good. In the process we found this list, and now I’m on a mission. Before we move away in three years, we’re going to try as many of the Mexican restaurants as possible. we won’t be able to declare a “winner”, but we’ll surely become Mexican aficionados, which is what I’m really after.

We’ve now been to these restaurants:

1. El Rincon Bohemia, reviews
2. Los Gallos, reviews
   
3. La Super Rica Taqueria, reviews
4. Mariscos Boca De Rio, reviews

So far, I’d say that my favorite is La Super Rica Taqueria, with Los Gallos as a close second. The food is delicious at both of them, but I like how you order many small plates at La Super Rica (at Los Gallos, you order a meal based around an entree, like a normal U.S. restaurant).

The salsas at all of them are delicious. Los Gallos wins the prize for variety (though it has some weird tasting ones), La Super Rica’s tastes the most fresh, and El Rincon Bohemia’s was awesome (as were the fresh corn chips).

synopsis of the past month

Though I took a leave from posting, we didn’t take a leave from cooking. Foods we’ve prepared in the last few weeks include:

• blackberry jam
• blackberry cobbler (2x)
• corn on the cob
• roasted peppers (2x)
• biscuits
• steak w/ Peruvian seasoning
• Peruvian mayonnaise
• pineapple-coconut rice
• Mexican steak and mushroom stew
• caramelized onions
• hummus
• fried rice
• ganache-frosted brownies
• truffles
• huevos rancheros

Also, we had friends over and tried the ratafia that I started at the beginning of the summer. It was slightly thick, boozy, and tasted of peaches and honey—delicious! Finally, I have some plans for the future:

• use the rice cooker for grits and oatmeal
• make Bittman’s new no-knead bread recipe
• make a soaked cake
• to make something with butternut squash

Descriptions are below.

quick avocado soup

I made quick avocado soup (CEV, p 157 and Mexico, BRW, p 118-119) twice. The first time I sweetened it and had a sort of “avocado smoothie”. The second time I made it as in the recipe. Both times it was delicious for the first bites but so rich that I became fatigued before finishing the bowl.

bisteces rancheros

Bisteces rancheros was the second dish I made from All About Braising, by Molly Stevens. It is a layered dish of potatoes, tomatoes, roasted poblanos, onions, and–of course–bisteces, a.k.a. beefsteak. Stevens says that this a traditional dish in Sonora, in northwestern Mexico, so I figure that making this recipe is part of my preparation for Santa Barbara!

It has been months since I made this dish, so I don’t remember too many details. I want, however, to record everything I can remember. Mostly, I should say that the dish was delish. It provided amazing leftovers, too. I did make a few changes to the basic recipe, though.

1. I’m not a huge fan of potatoes, so I replaced the potatoes with sweet potatoes. That worked well.
2. I used 50% more roasted poblano than the recipe called for.
3. We bought flank steak instead of chuck or shoulder steaks. Stevens mentions this as a “beefier-tasting”, though less tender and fattier, variation. It tasted great, but was certainly not “melt in your mouth” tender. Of course, no beef I’ve ever had in a Latin setting was.

Everything else we did according to the recipe, including toasting and grinding the spices. We charred the peppers over a gas flame in Mom’s basement kitchen. It set off the fire alarm! The next time I char peppers, I’ll try to set something up outside… I also did a small experiment, charring the poblanos different amounts. I found that the skin should be completely charred, or as close to completely charred as possible.

The next thing to do is to prepare this dish without extreme cooking (e.g. use store-bought roasted peppers and pre-ground, untoasted spices) to see 1) if it changes and 2) whether it’s a dish that can be made under normal circumstances. I suspect that a simplified version would be very easy. It would also be cool to try this in a slow cooker. I haven’t tried adapting a braising recipe for the slow cooker, yet.

aside:
I’m typically not going to copy recipes out of a cookbook. This is for two main reasons. First, there is a fine line on how much a recipe is like a novel, in which case verbatim replication is, I think, a no-no, and how much it is like a piece of music, in which case the real art is in the execution, and I would happily post the chords. Second, it takes a long time to write down a whole recipe. Referencing prior art saves time–I’ll publish only original contributions.

Mexican pantry soup

I finished off the goulash last night, so it was time to hit the kitchen. I am happy to report that the second slow cooker meal of the summer has turned out incredible! I raided the pantry in the dormitory kitchen for spices and ingredients that may work in a slow cooker. I ended up liberating a pound of small white beans (a.k.a. navy or haricut beans), some ground cumin, and some chili powder. I had a can of diced tomatoes left over from last week’s goulash and plenty of Better Than Bouillion in the fridge. Also, when I last went to the store, I had picked up a jar of roasted red peppers (they were on sale), two onions, and two pork tenderloins.

When making the dish, I was concerned about when to start cooking each ingredient. The beans require much longer than the meat (4-5 hrs vs. about 1 hr). Also, acid (like that found in tomatoes) supposedly causes the proteins in beans to tighten and makes them harder. Cook’s Illustrated tested that once, however, and concluded that any such effects are not noticeable. Nonetheless, force of habit kept me from adding the tomatoes and peppers at the beginning.

When making this dish, I did something very much out of character: I spiced by whim. I should have been measuring, so I could write it down later. The seasoning measurements in the recipe are guesses.