Mexican Food Recipes

Chipotle Meatballs Recipe

Chipotle chiles are jalapeño peppers that have been smoked and dried. They are often served in an adobo sauce made with chiles, garlic, vinegar, onions and tomatoes. We came across this recipe for Chipotle Meatballs recently in the New York Times (a corrected version of the recipe) and it sounded so good we gave it a whirl. The verdict? Excellent! Particularly good served with plain rice or tortillas. Quite spicy, best accompanied by something cool - sour cream, salad. It has been added to our list of new favorites.

• 3 slices bacon in 1-inch pieces
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup bread crumbs
• Salt
• 1 ¼ pounds ground pork
• ½ cup (loosely packed) coarsely chopped mint leaves, more for garnish
• 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes (preferably fire-roasted), drained of all but ¼ cup juice
• 1 or 2 canned chipotle chilies in adobo, stemmed, seeded and sauce reserved
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• About 1½ cups beef or chicken broth.

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. In a food processor, combine bacon and 1 garlic clove. Process until finely chopped. Add eggs, bread crumbs and 1 teaspoon salt. Pulse several times to combine thoroughly, then add pork and mint. Pulse a few more times until well combined but not a paste. Remove meat from processor.
2. With wet hands, form meat into about 16 plum-size balls and space them out in a 13-by-9-inch baking dish. Bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes.
   3 While meatballs bake, combine tomatoes, ¼ cup tomato juice, chipotles, 1 to 2 tablespoons chipotle sauce, oregano, remaining garlic cloves (cut in half) and ½ teaspoon salt in a blender or food processor. Process to a smooth purée.
3. When meatballs are ready, spoon off rendered fat from baking dish, then pour tomato mixture on top, covering meatballs evenly. Bake until sauce has thickened somewhat, 15 to 20 minutes.
   5 Heat broth in a small saucepan. Divide meatballs among four dinner plates, leaving sauce behind. Stir enough broth into sauce to give it a spoonable consistency. Taste and season with salt, if necessary. Spoon sauce over meatballs, decorate with extra mint leaves, if you wish, and serve.
   Serves four.

Fish Tacos Recipe

In Mexico, practically every meal is accompanied by a stack of fresh warm corn tortillas, much in the way that bread is served here in America. As you eat, you can wrap whatever is on your plate in a fresh tortilla, and voilá, you have a taco. Almost everything tastes good in a taco smothered with fresh salsa, and that goes for fish as well. Preparing a taco is much like preparing a sandwich; it's all in the assembly. For these fish tacos you will be preparing and then assemblying the fish, the tortillas, the salsa, and the cabbage or lettuc.
This super simple fish taco recipe was inspired by the Is My Blog Burning? blogging cook-off, hosted by wonderful Wena of MumMum.

• 1 lb of very fresh fish fillets - (Good fish for tacos are halibut, cod, red snapper, or shark)
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil
• 1 doz corn tortillas (3 tortillas per person)
• Vegetable oil or butter
• Salsa - (See Mango Salsa Recipe.)
• 1 ripe Avocado
• Cabbage (or iceberg lettuce)
• Cider vinegar
• Salt

1. Prepare the salsa. Either use store bought or make your own. (See above link for Mango Salsa, which is especially good with fish.)
2. 2 Prepare the cabbage and avocado. Thinly slice cabbage. Put in a small serving bowl. Sprinkle with cider vinegar (about a Tbsp) and salt (about a tsp). Mix in the vinegar and salt. Peel avocado and remove seed. Chop and reserve for later.
3. 3 Heat the tortillas. Heat a well seasoned (black) large cast iron skillet to medium high heat. Add a teaspoon of oil to the pan or spread a half a teaspoon of butter on one side of one tortilla. Place tortila in the pan (butter side down if you are using butter). As the tortilla sizzles, flip the tortilla with a spatula so that the other side gets some of the oil or butter from the pan. Continue to flip every 10-30 seconds until the tortillas begins to develop air pockets, about a minute. If the pan begins to smoke, lower the temperature. Remove the tortilla from the pan and place it folded on a plate. If the pan is large enough you can prepare two or more tortillas at once. Continue until all the tortillas (estimate 3 per person) are cooked. Set aside. Note the low-fat quick-and-easy way to cook a tortilla is to simply heat it in the microwave for 25 seconds on high heat, on top of a napkin or paper towel to absorb the moisture that is released.
4. Cook the fish. Soak the fish fillets in cold water for at least one minute. Heat a large stick-free skillet to medium high heat. Add a couple of teaspoons of olive oil to the skillet. Place fish on skillet. Cooking time depends on the thickness of the fillets. A thin fillet may take only one minute on each side to cook. A thicker fillet may take a couple of minutes. Fish should be still barely translucent when cooked. Break off a piece and test if you are not sure. Do not overcook the fish. Remove from pan when done to a separate plate. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
   5 Assembly. I think tacos are best when you assemble them yourself. Place the plate of tortillas, the plate of fish, the salsa, the cabbage, and the avocados on the table and let everyone assemble their own.
   Serves four.