During a visit to the in-laws over Thanksgiving weekend, I had a chance to peruse their sizable collection of cookbooks and picked up Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless. And so it was decided – Cuisine Theme Week No. 3 would be Mexican!
Mexican week was a huge success – just as successful as Middle Eastern week! Core ingredients included: garlic, onion, cilantro, chipotle chiles, and chorizo.
Dinner No. 1: Enchiladas Verdes de Espinacas y Hongos
Tomatillo Enchiladas with Spinach and Mushrooms
This was an awesome first dish – It set the tone for the whole week! It was vegetarian, but with the spinach and mushroom – very hearty! The tomatillo sauce was pretty easy to make with the help of my food processor.
Rating: 5/5
Dinner No. 2: Crema de Elote con Pollo y Poblano
Creamy Corn Soup with Chicken and Poblano Chile
A tasty soup indeed, but not too special. Roasting the poblano was my favorite part – I can’t wait to make something with poblanos again!
Rating: 3.5/5
Dinner No. 3: Ensalada de Hongos Asados con Espinacas y Chorizo
Roasted Mushroom Salad with Spinach and Chorizo
This was a pretty simple, yet filling salad. The flavors were surprising and perfectly matched. It was light and refreshing, and very tasty.
Rating: 4/5
Dinner No. 4: Camarones Enchipotlados y Arroz Blanco
Chipotle Shrimp and Rice Pilaf
Mmmmm, spicy! Lots of chipotle peppers, garlic and tomatoes. It had some serious kick! Nicely paired with the rice.
Rating: 4.5/5
Dinner No. 5: Tacos de Huevos Revueltos a la Mexicana
Mexican Scrambled Egg Tacos
One of our favorites for the week, even though I slightly botched the recipe! It called for food processed onion, garlic, and jalapeno… I accidentally over processed and thus had to go again, but being out of jalapeno, I used some leftover chipotle chiles instead! The recipe also suggested adding chorizo, which I did and it was wonderful!
Rating: 5/5
Dinner No. 6: Tacos de Chorizo y Frijoles Refritos
Chorizo and Fried Bean Tacos
I partially made this dish up, but followed a very basic recipe for beans and chorizo as a meal. I added onion and some more chipotle chiles to kick it up a notch!
Rating: 5/5
Dinner No. 7: Sémola de Maíz con Frijoles Pintos y Chorizo
Polenta with Fried Pintos and Chorizo
I totally made this one up and I’m pretty proud of myself! I had some leftover chorizo to finish up and found some other appropriate ingredients in the pantry. The polenta filling/topping included: garlic, shallots, pinto beans, frozen corn, chipotle peppers, chorizo, queso fresco, and cilantro. I also put a bit of queso fresco in the polenta to add some flavor. It worked out pretty well :)
Rating: 4.5/5
—
Victory overall! I’ve got to take a break again from theme week as I’ll be going out of town next weekend and won’t be able to invest myself as much. But I’m thinking, Cuisine Theme Week No. 4 might be something like Thai or Indian… hmmm!