Camacho Watcho

Mexi Month started with a bang – literally…as the handle of our newly acquired tortilla press smacked the counter and broke. Oops! But I’ll get to tortilla making later…first, let’s talk about Mexi Month.

My love for Mexican food runs deep, rivaling my obsession with eggs and addiction to coffee. I could eat Mexican food for every meal and, in fact, have done this before unintentionally for several days on end. As we were finishing up the Bon Appetit challenge in April, we started thinking about the Mexican recipes we have been wanting to try. Of course we make homemade salsa, guacamole and various tacos and enchilada dishes fairly often, but there are some traditional Mexican and Mexican-inspired contemporary cuisine that we’ve been wanting to try out at home. So why not dedicate a month to making this happen?

The original thought was to eat only Mexican food in the month of May – but as the challenge of April wore on, I decided to change this. The new goal is this: Any large meals that we make at home in May will be Mexican. Oh – and don’t forget the Mexican beer and tequila drinks…those are a must, too, right?

May 1st came and went – Twins tickets saved me from cooking and I thoroughly enjoyed my Top Dog at the Metrodome (honestly – the best hot dog stand in the dome…don’t settle for the Dome Dog). Saturday was also easy, as we went to the Cinco de Mayo festival in St. Paul to sample food and photograph for this Heavy Table article. Sunday we were summoned to cook and invited some friends over to celebrate our first Mexi Month meal.

The one thing that Kyle has been most excited about were the tortillas. We made a trip to El Burrito Mercado the previous weekend and purchased a new tortilla press for the occasion. The first batch was whipped up in no time (we decided to try corn first), then left to rest a bit in the refrigerator. Walnut-sized dough balls were formed and then pressed out and grilled on a hot skillet. Admittedly, I wasn’t expecting much from homemade tortillas, but these were really good. They were a bit thicker than store-bought and had a nice, pliable but crisp texture. Very tasty. We continued making tortillas, even after the press broke, by putting the press on the ground and standing on it to apply pressure. No problem, it still worked – but we do have a new pimped out tortilla press that arrived in time for dinner two nights later…so we’re all set again!

The first Mexi meal we made were some skewered shrimp, grilled tilapia tacos, Grandma’s mexican rice and a sweet and savory slaw (recipe below). The shrimp were good (anything brushed in butter and grilled is prone to be tasty), but nothing special. The tilapia was given a light salt and pepper and then grilled and then topped with the slaw, raw onion, cilantro and queso fresco. I have not been one to make fish tacos at home (it’s hard to justify with Sea Salt so near), but these were definitely good.

The next night we grilled some grass-fed flank steak and substituted it in for the fish from the previous night. Again, another tasty taco meal made in no time flat. Future Mexi Month recipes promise to be more than just tacos, but for these first few days, these were perfect, easy meals.

Cabbage Slaw with Lime-Ancho Dressing
Adapted from Bobby Flay’s recipe (but only because I forgot to buy the jicama and carrots from the store)

1/2 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons ancho chile powder
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup mild vegetable oil, such as canola
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 head cabbage, cored and shredded
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Make the dressing:
Whisk together the lime juice, vinegar, ancho powder, and honey in a bowl. Whisk in the oil and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Make the slaw:
Combine the cabbage and cilantro in a large bowl. Pour the dressing over toss to coat well. Mix in the cilantro. Refrigerate for an hour to allow flavors to blend and the cabbage to soak up the dressing.

Tags: Food, mexican, recipes

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 7th, 2009 at 7:20 am and is filed under Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.