Tacos de Crema

These have been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. Most would call these enchiladas, but growing up mom always called them Tacos de Crema, so Tacos de Crema it is!! These are always a hit too!!

Ingredients:
2 dozen tortillas
2 chicken breasts, boiled and shredded*
2 pasilla peppers
8 oz. tomato sauce
16 oz. sour cream
16 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded
vegetable oil
*can also used store bought roasted chicken, just shred it.

Turn oven to 325 degrees.

Sauce:
Roast the pasilla peppers over the open flame on your stove. Turn them constantly until the entire peppers are black. You may have to use tongs at times to hold pepper over the open flame from time to time to ensure every spot of the pepper is black. Warning...it  begins to smell delicious now!!!
Once completely roasted, place both peppers in a plastic bag or ziploc bag and let sit for about 10 minutes. The bag will steam up and ease the removal of the black skin. Without opening the bag, with your hands rub the pepper (over the bag) to slip the black skin off. Remove the peppers and dispose of bag. Cut the stem off and place the peppers in a blender.
Add the sour cream and tomato sauce to the blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Take a whiff of the sauce .....and imagine just how delicious these tacos will be. Place the sauce in a shallow bowl for dipping of tortillas in a later step.

Tortillas:
Warm oil in a pan over medium heat. Sautee one tortilla at a time for about a minute on each side. They should still be soft and foldable, you don't want them fried. Place them on a plate with paper towel to soak up the oil.


Assembly:
Grease a baking dish or cookie tray, you may need two.
Set up a production line to ease assembly. Dip a tortilla in the cream sauce and place it on the baking dish. Add some chicken and cheese. Roll the tortilla like an enchilada, and align it against the edge of your baking dish with the seam down to prevent it from opening up. Repeat until all tortillas are gone....your fingers will be messy through this process, but it'll be totally worth it! It is best not to layer tacos on top of one another, only side by side, as they will stick to each other during the baking process. 
Pour additional cream sauce and mozzarella over the tacos. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes.

Serve with refried beans to complete the dish.

Just thinking about it is making me crave these, but I'm out of pasillas. Note to self, ALWAYS have pasillas in the pantry!! They can be used to make salsa, in refried beans for added flavor, in potatoe dishes...oh the possibilities. Pasillas are the best!

Fish Tacos, just on time for lent

Just on time for Taco Tuesday...and lent!
Here is my recipe for delicious fish tacos.
I don't care if these tacos are "Mexican" or not.  Just eat them!  
And thank me later.

Tilapia filets marinated in...

-lime juice (squeezed fresh from a lime)
-pepper
-salt
-minced garlic

Pan fried with very little olive oil.  I lke to start at medium heat, then raise it because I like a few seared, well done parts... then really low heat while I heat up the tortillas on the stove (en un comal...how do you say comal?)

Oh, but make the salsa and red cabbage "slaw" first!!

For red cabbage slaw, mix... 

Sour cream
red cabbage
lime juice (you know the deal)
salt

For salsa, blend...

3 dried guajillo chiles and 3 dried California chiles, soaked in warm water for about an hour (poured just a bit of this chile juice in the blender before mixing all this)
1 pasilla chile, roasted then placed in zip lock bag to steam for 15 minutes, then wash the burned layer off)
2 tomatoes (forgot to roast them, dang it)
1 (or more) small chile of your choice for kick
lime juice (esqueeeezeee...)
salt (blow it off your hand like it's fairy dust...)
cilantro
yellow onion (like a fifth of it)
large garlic clove

Put the caggabe slaw mix on the warm corn tortilla.
Follow with tilapia.
Pour some slasa on those puppies.
Then top with cilantro. 

Que rico!  Don't forget to wash them down with a refreshing cerveza.

I should have cooked more fish...I devoured my tacos in minutes.  I'm still thinking about them now, shooot. :)


Provecho!
Sandy

Salsa Fresca - Fresh Salsa

Super easy, quick and tasty fresh salsa.

Sorry, I made this so quickly and last minute I completely forgot to take pictures of the process. But trust me, it's simple.

1  large tomato
2  chiles colorados (red chiles)
1  bunch of cilantro
1 garlic clove
salt and pepper to taste

Place tomato in a pot and cover with water. Boil for a few minutes.
Cut the stem off the chiles.
Blend the tomato, chiles, cilantro and garlic with just a bit of the water the tomato boiled in. Add more water if you need a more runny consistency. Salt and pepper to taste.

Done and done!!

Tacos de Papa

Ingredients:

-2 lbs of Russet potatoes, cut into 1-2 inch chunks

-2-3 small cloves of garlic, chopped or minced

-Fresh cilantro

-2 green onions (as topping)

-3 tablespoons of olive oil for coating potatoes

-1/4* cups of olive oil for frying

(*depending on size of pan-I used a small one)

-Salt and black pepper to taste

Heat oven at 400 degrees.  Cut potatoes and toss in a bowl with olive oil, garlic,

salt, pepper, and fresh cilantro.  Make sure the potatoes are generously coated.

Place in a baking pan and heat for about 30-35 minutes, or until the potatoes are

soft to a fork's touch.

Once the potatoes are thoroughly cooked, place in a bowl and mash 'em up!
(I chose to add a small amount of shredded cheese here.)
Meanwhile, heat up some olive oil over medium/high heat.  I chose a small deep pan since
I'm only cooking for one tonight-by choice. ;)
Anyways, taste the mixture to see if it needs more salt, it probably will.

To prevent tortilla breakage, heat tortillas slightly in a microwave before
you spoon some of the potato mixture onto them.
Use a piece of tortilla to test
if the oil is ready for frying...

Fold the tortilla in half and fry on each side for about 20 seconds.
Notice that I prepared a drying area with paper towels.
Please be careful not to place the paper towels too close to the open flame!
Just sayin'...

Serve immediately with toppings of your choice.

There are so many choices of toppings to dress up these tacos.

I dressed mine up with some avocado salsa and a side of avocado slices.

I've seen them topped with chopped tomatoes and lettuce.

My mom tops these with the same sauce used on the tostadas from a previous post:

http://mexicanfamilyrecipes.blogspot.com/2010/08/tostadasjust-like-moms.html

I have so many ideas to improve this recipe!  Feel free to share your variations

We would LOVE to hear from you!

Easy and Delicious Holiday Buñuelos

Buñuelos are tortilla-like fritters covered in cinnamon and sugar.  These delicious treats are always a hit so make a BUNCH!!  The following steps make approximately 2 dozen (I should have made more for the cookie party I went to; I didn't even have any leftovers to bring home...no bueno!).  Anyways, read on and pay attention to my "secret" ingredient... ;)

I bought this white flour tortilla mix at a local Mexican market grocery store.  To make 2 dozen you mix 4 cups of the mix with 1 cup of WARM water (I ended up adding about 1/4 cup of water extra...you want to the dough soft enough to knead.)

Knead the dough for 5 minutes then cover and let stand for 5 minutes.

Divide the dough into separate balls.  If you were making tortillas, you would make a ball for each tortilla in the size of your choice.

In this case, I used LARGE holiday themed cookie cutters on the rolled out dough. 

I used gingerbread man and Christmas tree shapes.  The gingerbread men came out looking kinda funny.  But it's always fun to bite their heads off. :D

This is what they look like before they get fried!

I heated up some vegetable oil over medium-high heat.  I used enough oil so that each buñuelo would be submerged just barely (so the amount depends on the size pot you use).  I tested the oil's heat by dipping the end of a buñuelo.

Poor gingerbread man!  I fried for about 10 seconds on each side sometimes using the spatula to flatten them out.  This gingerbread man was looking pregnant at one point. Oh, and cover a plate with some paper towels to set the freshly fried fritters on.

Make sure you have a container ready with a white sugar and cinnamon mix.  After the buñuelos are done frying they get tossed in this sweet concoction.  Now....here's my secret ingredient: honey. I LIGHTLY DRIZZLE some honey on the buñuelos (I do one side only) before I coat them in the sugar and cinnamon mix.

Your done!  Now make sure you try one before you serve them.

Perfect with a hot cup of coffee.....drool....