No grill? No worry!: Steak Tacos with Sweet and Spicy Pickled Onions

A good portion of our last summer was spent discovering and perfecting the Mexican street taco.  We made batch after batch of carnitas and carne asada with various toppings, kept simple to be authentic, and hit our stride after a while.  Marshall's birthday last year even had a taco theme.  We had a huge BBQ at my parent's house and backyard with close to 30 people and Marshall and I cooked up chicken, carnitas, carne asada, and marinated portobello mushrooms.  I threw together homemade guacamole, pico de gallo, and salsa verde, as well as the below-mentioned pickled onions.  Lime wedges and warm Trader Joe's homemade corn tortillas were provided and we flew through all our food.  Everyone enjoyed our tacos and Marshall was delightfully pleased with his grilling and cooking skills.  Since I'm usually the one to cook for our parties, it was great to hand over the responsibilities to Marshall for his birthday. 

After my previous post (in addition to the above paragraph) talking about how great it is to grill, it seems rather scandalous that I would follow up with a recipe for steak tacos without using a grill.  But I am.  The thing is, these steak tacos are awesome.  They're not carne asada (only modeled after), but they do taste authentic and entirely delicious.  They're also very easy to make AND, like I said earlier, they don't need a grill.  You actually don't miss the lovely grill flavor, since the steak is so incredibly tasty and succulent.  This was also a wonderful way to make really great steak tacos when it's too cold to grill or when you don't have a grill at all.  You don't need an indoor grill (like a George Foreman), either, which is great.  These are perfect apartment tacos-you can ferret away for an evening to the dusty streets of Mexico City and sink your teeth into these incredibly tender and tasty tacos!

Oh, and did I mention the recipe is built for 2 people?  That's right.  I found this awesome recipe in America's Test Kitchen's Cooking for Two 2010 collection.  You can, of course, increase this recipe as needed, but it's great for being on your own or sharing with the one you love, like, or just live with.  :)

¡Que Sabor! - Grilled Baja-Style Fish Tacos

Before I say anything else, I want to get this out there:  I love fish...but I'm afraid of it.  The problem comes from not being familiar and comfortable with preparing fish.  I've been on the wrong end of bad fish before and it is NOT pretty.  I would hate to do that to Marshall or myself or any guests for whom I cook.  I'm comfortable with chicken and lamb.  I've gotten continuously comfortable with red meat (I used to hate the blood-factor).  I just never worked on strengthening my relationship with fish.  Of course, it all comes from how you were raised, right?  Unfortunately, we never got to eat a lot of fish when I was growing up.  My dad is deathly allergic to all types of fish.  He'll even start coughing if there's even the smell of fish.  When he was little, his parents fed him fish, unaware of his allergy, and he ended up in the hospital not being able to breathe.  Since then, he's steered clear of fish as much as possible.  This meant, of course, that my mom and I couldn't cook fish for dinner.  We did, however, take advantage of the nights my dad worked late or when he volunteered at my elementary school's weekly bingo night.  My mom and I would pop over to the store, pick up some fish and cook it up.  Normally it was marinated catfish, which was easy to throw in a fry pan.  I remember eating salmon a few times, but nothing really elaborate.  Since then, my repertoire has been skimpy on the fish.  Marshall and I try to eat healthily and what's more healthy than fish, right?  I've worked hard to get over my squeamishness over fish.  I'm learning more and more with every dish I make.  I've gotten to the point where I'm consciously searching for new fish recipes to add to our menu each week.

A few weeks ago, I found a recipe for one of my favorite things:  fish tacos.  They're so easy, but so easy to screw up.  I definitely do not care for fried fish tacos; I really like grilled fish.  Thanks to my trusty friend in the kitchen, Cooks Illustrated (I really should just bite the bullet and order a subscription already!), I found a great recipe for Baja-style Fish Tacos.  The recipe overall was easy and prepared not only the fish, but also a spicy spread and cabbage salad to garnish.  The page also showed a recipe for a Mexican-Style Marinated Tomato Salad.  Sure, it was just the salad version of guacamole, but it was really delicious and paired well with the tacos.  Plus, it photographs really well!  Both dishes were delicious and perfect for the warm weather.

The recipe also called for mahi-mahi, but unfortunately the fishmonger I frequent did not have any when I went shopping.  Luckily, the recipe provided some helpful replacements, if mahi-mahi could not be found.  I love when recipes provide options for main ingredients.  Since I'm unfamiliar with fish, I don't really know what substitutes can be made.  It's not like picking out substitutions for cuts of beef or chicken.  Each fish has its own distinct flavor and texture, which play well with different flavors and cooking methods.  One of the fish they suggested was red snapper, which my fishmonger had, so I used that.  The recipe also suggests using halibut or swordfish, as well, in case mahi-mahi and red snapper cannot be found.  Just be careful of the swordfish, since high levels of mercury is found in swordfish.  A helpful link is Seafood Watch, which is prepared and constantly updated by the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  Seafood Watch provides helpful suggestions and tips for which fish to buy at certain times throughout the year, as well as whether or not to buy farmed or fresh and how the fish is caught.  Normally, fresh-caught fish is best, but the sticky bit is how it's caught.

The Perfect Family Meal: Shredded Pork Tostadas

One of the many things Marshall and I promised after we got married was to have different people over for dinner at our house to use all our new things.  Marshall and I have been going down the list of people and one of those select few was my sister.  My sister and her husband have two amazing kids (twins), so I had to come up with something that everyone would enjoy.  Luckily, my niece and nephew aren't too picky, so finding something wasn't too difficult.  We're all big fans of Mexican food, plus it's great for casual get-togethers, which is what I was aiming for having my sister and her family over.

I turned to my new favorite cooking magazine:  Cooks Illustrated.  Unfortunately, when I received the horrible news that Conde Nast closed shop on Gourmet, I had to find something else to feed my repertoire.  I'm not the biggest fan of Conde Nast's other cooking magazine, Bon Appetit, even though I was slated to fulfill the rest of my Gourmet subscription with BA.  That's another post altogether, though.  In any case, I picked up CI off the news rack at the grocery store.  I loved its minimalist design (all 1-color printing, except for the last page), down-to-earth writing style, tried and tested recipes (CI is the companion to the PBS show, America's Test Kitchen), and lastly (but not least) for the fact that there are NO advertisements.  Even Gourmet was inundated with big annoying advertisements and BI is no different.  I understand that's where the magazine gets the majority of their revenue, but they really get in the way.  I've since bought 3 issues of CI in a row and I'm beginning to wonder if I just shouldn't buy a subscription already.

Anyway, the March/April issue contained a recipe for Shredded Pork Tostadas.  I had never cooked up pork shoulder before, but the recipe made it look like such an easy process and I could practically taste the spicy deliciousness by merely reading the ingredients.  Also, the magazine included some great tips, like using a potato masher to shred the cooked pork and then using the SAME potato masher as a weight for frying the tortillas.  By the way, the best tortillas for this are the "Homemade" corn tortillas at Trader Joe's.  They don't contain any preservatives and they smell delicious.  My sister commented that my kitchen smelled like a Mexican restaurant, when I was frying these up!


I made this the first time right when I got the magazine, but when faced with decided what to cook my sister and her family, I decided to gladly make it again.  It was a big hit with everyone, even though my niece and nephew complained it was too spicy.  I only used the smaller amount of chipotle powder, but I suppose for little mouths it might have been a little too much.  My sister brought over some leftover black bean soup, which had the consistency of really good black bean dip, and that ended up being a perfect topper for the tostadas.  I can't seem to have a tostada without beans:  the first time I made these for Marshall and I, I insisted on having beans.  Anyway, my sister and her husband gobbled theirs down and my sister kept complimenting, so I'll chalk that up as a W and move on from there.  :)  It was fun having everyone over and I realized we need to do it more often.  When my sister and her husband moved into their house a few years ago, Marshall and I were going over there every few weeks to play Settlers of Catan.  I miss those nights.  Anyway, it was a treat cooking for others and even bigger treat that everyone really enjoyed the food.

Among the black beans, we had the typical toppings:  avocado (I was lucky and found some California-grown Organic ones at the store, which were less than the ones from Mexico), Napa cabbage, fresh cilantro, and lime wedges.  Oh, and you know we had the perfect libations to wash down the delicious pork:  Modelo Negro, naturally!




Spicy Mexican Shredded Pork Tostadas (Tinga)
Tinga
2 pounds boneless pork butt, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 Onions (medium-sized): 1 quartered and 1 chopped fine
5 Garlic Cloves: 3 peeled and smashed and 2 minced or pressed through garlic press
4 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
Table salt (Kosher salt, which is what I use, works just fine)
2 Tbs Olive Oil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 (14.5-ounce) can Tomato Sauce
1 Tbs Chipotle Powder (You can easily substitute whole canned Chipotle in Adobo Sauce, if you have those on-hand.)
2 Bay Leaves

Tostadas
3/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
Table salt

Garnishes
Queso Fresco or Feta Cheese
Fresh Cilantro
Sour Cream
Diced Avocado
Lime Wedges

1. FOR THE TINGA: Bring pork, quartered onion, smashed garlic cloves, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, and 6 cups water to simmer in large saucepan over medium-high heat, skimming off any foam that rises to surface. Reduce heat to medium-low, partially cover, and cook until pork is tender, 75 to 90 minutes. Drain pork, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid. Discard onion, garlic, and thyme. Return pork to saucepan and, using a potato masher, mash until shredded into rough 1/2-inch pieces; set aside. The pork can easily be made up to 2 days in advance, kept in an air-tight container in the fridge.

2. Heat olive oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add shredded pork, chopped onion, and oregano; cook, stirring often, until pork is well browned and crisp, 7 to 10 minutes. Add minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

3. Stir in tomato sauce, chipotle powder, reserved pork cooking liquid, and bay leaves; simmer until almost all liquid has evaporated, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove and discard bay leaves and season with salt to taste.

4. TO FRY TOSTADAS (OPTIONAL): Heat vegetable oil in 8-inch heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat to 350 degrees. Using fork, poke center of each tortilla 3 or 4 times (to prevent puffing and allow for even cooking). Fry 1 at a time, holding metal potato masher in upright position on top of tortilla to keep it submerged, until crisp and lightly browned, 45 to 60 seconds (no flipping is necessary). Drain on paper towel-lined plate and season with salt to taste. Repeat with remaining tortillas.

5. SERVE! Build your tostada in whatever fashion you see fit.

bon appetit!