How was your Cinco de Mayo? Mine was delicious, thanks to Sandra in London...

S

sandi-in-hawaii

Well-known member
Decided to make a little Cinco de Mayo luncheon for the office, and Sandra in London's Chile Verde was the highlight, accompanied by my simple rice, salsa and guacamole.

The only thing missing was the Corona beer, but I just didn't think the boss would approve smileys/smile.gif

 
REC: Sandra in London's Chile Verde

Chile Verde
Recipe By : Sandra in London

2 tablespoons lard
3 pounds lean, fresh boneless pork butt, cut into 1 1/2" cubes
2 medium white onions, thinly sliced lengthwise
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon ground oregano
8 small tomatillos, husked and finely chopped or 1 cup canned
4 fresh Anaheim chiles, seeded, deveined and finely chopped
(I used one 7 oz. can diced green chiles)
1 large tomato, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
3/4 cup chicken stock
2 teaspoons lime juice

Heat the lard in a 6 quart dutch oven over medium heat until hot. Add about 1/3 of the pork in a single layer. Cook, turning occasionally, until brown on all sides, about 10 minutes, remove to a plate. Repeat until all the pork has been browned. Remove and discard all but 2 tablespoons of the drippings from the pan.

Add onions and garlic and saute over medium heat until soft, about 4 minutes. Stir in salt, cumin and oregano. Add the tomatillos, chiles, tomato and cilantro leaves to the pan and stir in the stock.

Heat over high heat and bring to boiling. Return the pork to the pan and reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, until pork is tender 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Uncover pan, increase heat to medium. Cook at a low boil, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened, 20-30 minutes longer. Stir in lime juice.

To serve, spoon pork over rice and sprinkle with sliced almonds, cilantro leaves, radishes and lime slices.

 
REC: Mexican Rice

Mexican Rice
One 16 oz. can stewed tomatoes
One 14 oz. can chicken broth
Water
2 tablespoons oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups rice
One 4 oz. can diced green chiles

Drain the stewed tomatoes, pouring the liquid into 4 cup measuring cup. Add chicken broth and enough water to equal about 3 cups; set aside.

Heat oil in large pot (nonstick would be good). When hot, add onions and garlic, saute until softened, about 3-4 minutes. Add rice, saute until slightly browned, or until it smells kinda nutty.

Add tomato liquid mixture, as well as the drained tomatoes and the green chiles. Smash the tomatoes with your spoon.

Bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat. Cover the pot, and simmer about 20 minutes or so, until the liquid has evaporated.

 
REC: Guacamole

Guacamole

1/4 small red or sweet onion, such as Maui onion, minced

2 small cloves garlic, finely minced
3/4 teaspoon of salt

1 large avocado, diced
1 tomato, diced
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Soak the minced onion in a small bowl with ice cold water; set aside.

Mince the garlic with the salt, mashing with the blade of a knife, to form a paste.

Combine the garlic/salt mixture with the avocado, and mash the avocado, leaving some chunky pieces.

Fold in the remaining ingredients, including the drained onions.

 
REC: Salsa

Salsa
1/2 small red or sweet onion, such as Maui onion, minced

2 small cloves garlic, finely minced
3/4 teaspoon of salt

2 cans stewed tomatoes (drain off some, but not all of the liquid)
One 4 oz. can diced green chiles
One 4 oz. can chopped olives
Chopped jalapenos, to taste
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Soak the minced onion in a small bowl with ice cold water; set aside.

Mince the garlic with the salt, mashing with the blade of a knife, to form a paste.

Combine the garlic/salt mixture with the stewed tomatoes in a blender, and pulse until tomatoes are roughly chopped. (I usually dump everything in a bowl, and use an immersion blender to chop it up.)

Fold in the remaining ingredients, including the drained onions.

 
I made some green chile pork enchiladas - Yum! I thought I had some

of my favorite green enchilada sauce in the pantry - but of course, it wasn't there when I went to assemble them. So I made a sauce with Hatch green chiles, cumin, some TJ's salsa verde, and a bit of salt and whirled it up in the FP. Heated that with a bit of cream cheese, and there was my sauce. Surprisingly good, though not authentic. smileys/smile.gif

 
Sounds delicious, Sandi- I made oven-baked Chimichangas, refried black beans, Mexican rice

A while back I figured out a way to get the fat content down a lot without compromsing the flavor and Chimichangas are a favorite at my house. I stay almost completely away from any oil or extra fat while cooking Chimichangas, rice and refried black beans- and I use two kinds of sauce on the chimichangas- Salsa verde and a hot red sauce. I would love to share the recipes but I have never written them down.

 
I catered for a party here...

I made for 40 people:

Quesadillas - chicken, mushroom, pepper, shrimp
Chimichangas - bean and cheese
Chilaquiles - red and green
Meatballs in chipotle sauce
Red rice with vegetables
Black beans
Guacamole and salsa
Tres leches cakes (I know, not Mexican, but requested)

It was a great success, everyone had a good time and thoroughly enjoyed the food and the host's margaritas!

Sandi, sounds like your party was very good also!!

 
I assume these folks are British? I'm trying to picture this. Maybe like...

..."I say! What EVER do we do with thee smattering of salt about the rim of these glawsses? How bloody FAScinating!"

Michael

 
Dampen flour tortilla with warm water, fill, roll and brush with a bit of melted

butter or margarine (I use butter) then bake at 500 degrees for about 10 minutes. They get nice and crisp.

I use the low fat tortillas too-but any will do.

 
HAHAHAH!!!

That would sound hilarious!

Actually, they were expat Americans with a big craving for Mexican food!

 
And, as those of us who have...

...prepared your offerings on this and the old board know, they're bloody fortunate to have Chef Sandra cooking for them.

Michael

 
We used that as the theme for the monthly lunch at work.....

and it was sort of funny and pitiful at the same time. I put together a menu that I thought even the non-cooks in our group could handle. Thought we could put together a 'bar' that you could make nachos, tacos, burritos or whatever you liked, right? Wrong.

One lady made her taco meat this way and just had to brag to me about it - she puts the meat in a double boiler type microwave dish where the top one is perforated. She nukes it then puts it in a food processor and chops it until it's like mush in my opinion. She stirs in a can of chili beans and seasonings. YUMMMMM. The boss thought it was chili and put it in a bowl to eat like chili.

The taco shells were stale - but I can't blame that on the people that got them - the last Old El Paso ones I got were the same way and they weren't past their expiration date.

The guy that was supposed to bring lettuce brought a whole head of Romaine and then just broke the leaves apart and rinsed them. Hard to put on a taco and only one plastic knife left in our supplies.

Honestly, my Mexican casserole was the best thing on the menu and it was completely gone.

The person that was to get a Tres Leches cake from the grocery settled for a plain birthday cake. The cheese that was supposed to be grated for tacos and such was the stupid little tray of three or four kinds of cubed cheese for appetizer cheese trays.

Thank goodness the person getting the guacamole went down the street and got a cup from the local Mexican restaurant and the person getting the cokes got real Coke.

 
Oh, now I'm blushing!

And at the same time, having some chilaquiles! As it is at these functions, the cooks don't really get to eat, so I had a craving also!

 
I made this same recipe but fried up some bacon and the onions in a bit of the fat. Brought my elec

frypan to work and cooked it up right in my office. Added some chili powder too.

 
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