It’s raining right now and snuggling up to a bowl of something warm and comforting is the perfect way to spend these kinds of days. This recipe was inspired by traditional Mexican posole soup which tend to be served right around the holidays. While this isn’t classic Thanksgiving fare, this soup is a lighter option for your post holiday recovery plan. I haven’t tried this but I have a hunch that leftover turkey would sub in well for the chicken if you need leftover ideas. This recipe calls for a medley of green chiles that offer their own unique flavors. I used dark meat for the chicken which has more flavor but you can use whatever option you have available. I recommend being very generous with the fixins–the more lime juice, cilantro and avocado cream the better!
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Mexican
Green Chile and Chorizo Soup with Smokey Croutons
I love soups and tex-mex food and this recipe combines the best of both worlds! This soup combines a delicious mix of green chilies and tomatillos, chorizo, hominy, potatoes and spices. I went a little overboard with the garnishes and topped the soup with crumbled queso fresco, green onion, fresh lime, cilantro and smokey baked croutons. Even the croutons alone in this recipe are stand out awesome and could easily be snacked on alone! The recipe does require a lot of ingredients and time to prepare but it is totally worth it in the end. I actually never made anything with hominy before and I thought it worked really nicely with the other ingredients. The soup was hardy, with multiple layers of sweet, spicy and savory flavors. I chose a beef chorizo for the meat but soy and pork varieties would work fine in this soup. All of the ingredients blended together so well and I was happy with how it came out!
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Chipotle-Lime Roasted Chicken Tacos
Once I had my Corn Esquites Salad ready I decided to try it out in tacos. I settled on using a whole oven roasted chicken because the meat is tender and shreds easily so its perfect for tacos. I was thinking about which spices I wanted to use to season the chicken and I thought chipotle and lime would work well with the corn salad. I settled on a simple dry rub of chipotle pepper, smoked paprika, cumin, allspice and oregano. While the chicken was roasting the kitchen started to smell heavenly and I couldn’t wait to try them out! The tacos were really tasty and easy to put together. The smoky flavor of the chipotle and the tangy lime juice were a great combination. The recipe makes 12 tacos, or enough for two people for two dinners (3 tacos each).
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Corn Esquites Salad with Avocado (Mexican Roasted Corn Salad)
When I came across the recipe for corn esquites salad I took one look at it and knew I had to give it a try. This salad is basically Mexican elote which is roasted corn on the cob seasoned with cayenne, butter, mayonnaise, and cotija cheese. The corn in this recipe is cut off the cob and pan roasted until the kernels char and caramelize. Then the corn is mixed with the elote ingredients, garlic, lime, jalapeno, and cilantro. I decided to kick it up a notch and add sliced tomatoes and avocado to the salad. It was so tasty! The combination of ingredients was sweet and spicy from the corn and jalapenos yet creamy and tangy from the lime juice and cotija cheese. It ended up being the perfect topping for tacos!
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Pickled Red Onion and Cucumber Relish
This recipe was inspired by the Mexican pickled red onions that I had made for the Cochinita Pibil Tacos. This time I wanted to try a Korean/tex-mex fusion so I experimented with the ingredients and came up with a cucumber and red onion relish marinated in rice vinegar and apple cider vinegar. The relish was pretty bitter from the vinegars so I mellowed it with honey. Then I added the zest and juice of a lime which really added a nice touch to the relish. It turns out that it’s surprisingly easy to pickle veggies. I let the veggies sit in the vinegar for a couple hours and they came out just a little bit pickled with lots of flavor from the vinegar and lime. The result was a great condiment for the Korean Grilled Chicken Burritos.
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Cochinita Pibil Tamales with Roasted Tomatillo Salsa and Queso Fresco
Tamales are a great traditional Mexican dish that is made with masa (corn flour), and stuffed with a meat or bean filling. They are then wrapped in corn husks or banana leaves and steamed. For the filling, I decided on a nice pork shoulder that I seasoned with savory annatto seeds, cumin, and allspice–the same recipe for the Cochinita Pibil Tacos. I made Chicken Tamales before, and I wanted to try pork. I decided to use a roasted tomatillo salsa and queso fresco again since salsa verde is so good with pork.
This dish is labor intensive and requires some planning–about 2 days. The first day is to get all the ingredients together and cook the filling. The second day is assembling the tamales and steaming them and of course eating them! When the tamales are in the steamer all you have to do is wait. Once the wait is over it is time to unwrap and enjoy some tasty tamales.
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Cochinita Pibil (Puerco Pibil)
I recently made some pork tamales with tomatillo salsa. The pork filling I decided on was a recipe for Cochinita Pibil, a traditional mexican recipe consisting of ground annatto seeds, cumin, allspice and sour oranges. The pork is sweet and fragrant and roasted on low heat so it’s extra tender. Then the pork is shredded and can be added to tacos, sandwiches, quesadillas, or in my case tamales! The pork is wrapped in banana leaves (found at Latin grocery stores), but foil works fine too. The recipe sounds daunting but it’s actually pretty easy to make, especially if you have a spice/coffee grinder. Using whole spices is key as it produces the freshest flavor. The recipe calls for sour orange but I used a blend of juice oranges and limes and that produced a good sweet and sour flavor. The nice thing about a recipe like this is that you can put it in a variety of different sandwiches or mexican foods. I will be making this again in some way or another.
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Cochinita Pibil Tacos with Queso Fresco and Pickled Onions
Cochinita Pibil tacos is a traditional Mexican/Central American dish that is made by slowly roasting pork shoulder with a savory spice blend that consists of cumin seed, annatto seed, cloves and allspice berries. The pork is marinated in spices and orange juice over night, wrapped in banana leaves, and baked in the oven. Thankfully it was easy to find the annatto seeds and banana leaves at a latin grocery store. After several hours, my kitchen smelled amazing from the spices and the pork was ready to be shredded and wrapped in warm corn tacos. I added a little crumbled queso fresco and Mexican pickled onions for garnish. To add a substantial amount of heat I put a tiny bit of roasted habanero salsa on them as well. I topped the tacos with fresh cilantro. If the salsa is just too firey, add a little sour cream to cool the heat.
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Mexican Pickled Red Onions
I had never tried pickling anything for a recipe before but it turned out to be surprisingly easy and was a delicious condiment on tacos. A simple pickling technique is to submerge the onions in vinegar, salt, and sugar for several hours. You can also add acidic juices and spices to provide more flavor. In this recipe I used orange, lime, and apple cider vinegar for a vibrant citrus flavor. I also added a little fresh oregano which tasted great with the onions. After a few hours, the onions soften and turn an even brighter shade of red. Another way to get the onions even softer is to blanch them prior to pickling. This will be a great condiment on mexican food and even sandwiches so I plan to use it again soon!
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Roasted Habanero Salsa
Habanero Chilis are one of the hottest peppers in the world–just a few steps down from pure concentrated capsaicin (the ingredient found in pepper spray). I had never tried the habanero and I was looking forward to this very hot salsa. I recently made Cochinita Pibil tacos but the tacos had very minimal heat. I decided to try the habanero salsa with the tacos and the results were great, though I only needed a tiny bit (1/4 tsp per taco) to add the right amount of heat. The heat from the habanero sneaks up on you while eating so make sure to have sour cream, milk, or yogurt around to cool down the mouth. Water won’t do much when eating a habanero, and dairy or bread are the only things that really help. I can’t wait to use the habanero in tex-mex dishes like chili for some added heat.
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