Tagged with Mexican …

Aug 05 2009
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Beef, Cheese

Carne Asada Enchilada Bake

I’m sure I’m not alone when I say I’ve had many crises in the kitchen – ones that make me want to throw up my hands, walk away from the stove and head to the nearest Chipotle.  It’s not often that it happens, but it certainly does happen.  I’ve found that I’m much less critical of what I’m eating if I’m the one who made it, so it takes a lot for me to completely give up.  Not giving up usually leads to a little improv and obscene amounts of cheese, which can mask the greatest of errors.  Putting down a couple beers can also make near disasters seem not so disastrous.  The following recipe is the result of one such averted crisis.  
What was initially going to be carne asada enchiladas turned into carne asada enchilada bake, thanks to the unworkability of my defrosted tortillas.  I realize that the jump from enchiladas to enchilada bake is not a huge one, but believe me, it was a frustrating one.  I know from experience that, while maybe not ideal, it is possible to freeze tortillas, defrost them, and use them as you would normally.  I’m not sure if it was the specific brand of tortillas I was using, the length of time they’d been in my freezer, or just bad luck, but I was only able to separate a few of them without ripping them in half.  And, oh my god, you know what?  Sometimes I don’t realize why things didn’t do according to plan until I am writing about it on here.  Here I am whining about the stupid, unworkable tortillas, and then it dawned on me that I am a complete bonehead.  I was about to say that the tortillas ended up brittle when I realized that I was preparing them for the wrong dish.  Have you ever made migas before?  You know the part where you fry the tortillas in a little hot oil to crisp them up before mixing them with the eggs?  That’s what I did with my tortillas, except I wasn’t making migas!  When you make enchiladas you are supposed to soften the tortillas by quickly warming them in the oven, not by crisping them up in hot oil.  Sometimes I wonder how I got into law school.  Or even college.  
In hindsight I guess I could have made enchiladas with the tortillas that I had, although few of them remained intact after defrosting.  Had I made enchiladas, however, I would not have realized that I could make a lazy man’s version of them, bypassing the wrapping process and creating a lasagna-like dish.  
Carne Asada Enchilada Bake
1-1/2 lbs. carne asada or marinated skirt steak 
2 cups grated cheese (monterey jack, cheddar, chihuaua…)
1-1/2 cups corn
1/4 cup cilantro
10-12 corn tortillas
1-1/2 cups enchilada sauce
Guacamole/sour cream/salsa for serving
I’m usually not a fan of buying pre-seasoned meats, but for some reason I grabbed this carne asada from Trader Joe’s.  Hey, at least it’s autentica.  

Grill over high heat until the internal temperature hits 160.  Do not overcook it for the sake of your jaw.   
You don’t even want to know how many times my smoke alarm went off while cooking this.  My arms got a good workout from the amount of towel-waving I was doing.  
Slice the meat into thin strips.  
Trim the strips down so they’re about an inch long.  
Shred the cheese.  I used a combination of monterey jack and colby jack.  
I’d guess this is about 1/4 cup of cilantro.  Chop it well.  Thanks to Matt’s mom for the bounty of cilantro! 
Combine the carne asada, corn, cilantro, and about 1 cup of the cheese.  
How good does that look? 
Lightly coat the bottom of an 8″x8″ baking dish with enchilada sauce.  Cover with a layer of tortillas, and then add a layer of the meat mixture.  
Spoon some enchilada sauce over the meat.  
Repeat the layers of tortillas, filling, and enchilada sauce.  
Add another layer of tortillas topped off with a liberal dose of enchilada sauce.  
Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top.  
Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly.  
I guess it wasn’t a failure after all.  And you can bet I’ll never again forget the proper way to prepare tortillas for enchiladas.  
Tagged
Apr 21 2009
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Beef

Spicy Beef Tacos

I have a confession to make.  I joined Twitter today.  I’m not sure how I feel about it, and I’m really, really not sure how it works.  At all.  I just typed in my gmail address, clicked through a few pages, and before I knew it I was following about 15 people.  Matt has tried to explain it to me on several occasions, but I still feel like my grandparents trying to learn how to use a computer.  While I’m not so clueless that I need someone to write down step-by-step directions for me (talking to you, Grandpa!), I still don’t really get the concept.  Since my grandpa was finally able to learn how to use a computer and order books from Amazon at the age of 90, though, I am confident that I will someday understand a little more about this Twitter business.  
One thing I was able to do was become a follower (after years in real life, I made it official on Twitter) of Rick Bayless.  After reading his updates all day describing each of several courses he was preparing for his staff to taste I knew I needed a little Mexican for dinner.  He was really tasty.  Hardy har har.  I actually made some spicy beef for tacos and tostadas.  Definitely not to the level of RB, but not bad for a quick, weeknight dinner.  
Start by sautéing half an onion in a little oil for about 3 minutes.  

While the onion is cooking, measure some spices.  For 1.75lbs of meat I used a generous tablespoon of cumin, a generous teaspoon of cayenne (although I would cut that in half and add more at the end as needed), and about a teaspoon of cinnamon.  

Add the spices to the onion and cook for a few more minutes.  
It will start to smell awesome.  
Add ground beef.  Or pork.  Or chicken.  
Once the meat is cooked through add about 3/4 can of chipotle chiles in adobo sauce.  You may want to start with less and add more as you go.  If I wouldn’t have added enough cayenne to bring tears to my eyes earlier on, I probably would have added the whole can of chiles.  They’re mighty tasty.  
Stir to combine and let it cook away for a few minutes so the flavors can meld.  If the heat still brings tears to your eyes, a little mild salsa can be added to mellow it a bit.  
Here are all the additional toppings I threw together.  Nothing too fancy.  
I had been doing a lot of taste testing throughout the cooking process, so I wasn’t too hungry when it came time to eat.  I decided to make a tostada for a lighter meal.  It’s a perfect way to use up broken hard taco shells.  Just spread on some beans and meat.   

Top that with a bunch of lettuce, tomato, olives, guac, etc.  Did anyone else think of Teen Witch when I said “top that”?  Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting…  If you have no idea what I’m talking about, then 1) you are really missing out and 2) you can catch up by clicking here.  

Tagged
Dec 06 2008
3 Comments
Cheese, Pizza

Hawaiian Pizza, Mexican Pizza, + Sauerkraut Pizza

I was always a skeptic about homemade pizza until my mom purchased her first pizza stone a year or two ago.  That day changed my life forever.  No more weird, kind of crispy crusts.  Just delicious pizza.  It always seemed like a kind of pain, though, to have to mess with making the dough, letting it rise and rolling it out.  I don’t know why, but making things like pie crusts or bread have always seemed beyond my reach.  Then, a couple months ago, my friend Mary made some awesome pizzas for a dinner party.  I spent the next couple weeks craving homemade pizza, and I knew I had to get myself a pizza stone, get past my fear of messing with crust and just try it out.
Luckily I have an awesome mom who owns every kitchen gadget known to man and is willing to purchase kitchen gear for her kids.  I returned to Iowa one October weekend, and lo and behold, there was a pizza stone waiting for me.  Thanks, Mom!
So, for the last two months Matt and I have been making pizza after pizza after pizza.  We are slightly obsessed.  While I was marathon training I could somewhat justify the amount of dough I was consuming, but that time has come and gone and we are still going strong with making pies.  I think I might have a problem, but they’re so easy to make that they’ve become our default dinner when we can’t think of anything else to make and don’t want to go out anywhere.
On our latest attempt we ended up making 4 pizzas: one Hawaiian, one Mexican, and two mini canadian bacon & sauerkraut.  Not sure where the sauerkraut was for this photo…
And not all of the ingredients pictured for the Mexican pizza actually made in onto the pizza, but they give you an idea for possible toppings, no?  And Matt likes condiments, so he gets to see all of his options.  I’m just trying to help out.
First, I should mention that I haven’t had the courage (or time) to make my own dough yet, so we’ve been buying pre-made dough from Trader Joe’s.  It’s only about $1.20, comes in 3 flavors (regular, wheat & garlic herb), and is incredibly convenient.  I think the original is probably the easiest to work with, but we’ve liked them all.
If you have a pizza stone just follow the directions that come with it.  Mine needs to be heated at 450 for 20 minutes or so before you start cooking on it.
Then generously cover the surface of the paddle or whatever you’re working on with cornmeal.  The cornmeal I have right now is pretty coarse and I would highly recommend using some that’s more finely ground, but it works either way.
Next, work the dough until you have a disc or a square or whatever odd shape you’re into, and then throw on on the paddle.
Spread on some sauce.
Add your toppings
And don’t skimp on the cheese!  Ok, I generally don’t put that much cheese on, but the site is called morecheesemorechocolate, right?

And here it is in my teeny tiny oven.
Cook it until…until it looks ready?  Sounds good.  Maybe 20 minutes or so.  This one was kept in a little too long for my tastes, but it was still good.

While the first one is in the oven you can start working on the next one.  This one is ham & sauerkraut.  Don’t scoff at the sauerkraut.  It’s a highly underrated pizza topping.  Is that an oxymoron?  Regardless, sauerkraut is not given the chance it deserves when it comes to pizza.  The only restaurants I’ve been to with sauerkraut offered as a pizza topping are Wig & Pen Pub in Iowa City and Red’s Savoy in St. Paul.  Matt was a little uncertain until he tried it at RS this summer, but they easily won him over.  Or maybe that was the pre-pizza pitcher of beer.  Either way, pizza + sauerkraut = delicious.
Yum.  Here’s what it looks like after you give it a healthy topping of cheese and cook it:
Now onto the Mexican pizza.  I started by sauteing the chorizo in olive oil for a few minutes until it was slightly browned.  I actually used soy chorizo from Trader Joe’s.  It’s more on the sweet side than the spicy side, and it works well with pizza.  Or migas.  Or tacos.  I could go on.
While the chorizo is cooking go ahead and spread some refried beans (or taco sauce or just mashed up pinto beans if that’s what you have) onto the dough.  Sprinkle on some green chiles if your heart so desires.  Just a warning – don’t go too crazy with the beans.  They can really overpower everything else if you put too many on.
Then ponga el chorizo en la pizza.
Y el queso y el tomate.  Then into the oven you go.
Top it off with some lettuce, salsa, sour cream, maybe some crushed up tortilla chips…  Et voila!  Mexican pizza!

More pizza recipes to come…  Maybe my mom will share some of her pizza recipes with you one of these days (hint, hint).  Lamb, feta, & kale pizza anyone?
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