20 Monday Jan 2014
The Mighty Hibachi was fired up for the last time in Auckland.
Lump charcoal getting happy.
When the charcoal was ready, meat was tossed on the fire…
Flank steak getting happy.
When the steak was cooked, tacos were made…
My tummy getting happy.
17 Tuesday Dec 2013
I was on a mission today to find skirt steak.
At the grocery stores here in NZ, what they call “skirt steak” is actually flank steak – an entirely different bit of cow. When you ask the butcher at the meat counter, they tell you that’s all they get, boxed meat. That is not acceptable!
What I needed was a proper butcher, someone who fabricates a whole side of beef. As it turns out, there is a proper butcher just down the street. But, would a Kiwi butcher know about skirt steak? Only one way to find out.
I walked down to the butcher shop and asked for skirt steak. He said, “just a minute” as he opened the door to the walk in cooler. A moment later he returned with a package and handed it to me, “This is what you want.”
Indeed. There it was: skirt steak.
A proper skirt steak.
As it turns out, the butcher fabricates beef on Monday and Wednesday and I showed up just in time to buy the last one. Lucky, as there are only four skirt steaks per animal.
Time to fire up The Mighty Hibachi!
Yeah, I know, the meat is already grilled. I was paying so much attention to grilling the meat, I forgot to take a photo of the meat sizzling away over the coals. You’ll just have to trust me.
I suppose now I’ll have to fire up The Mighty Hibachi another time, so I can take a couple pictures to share with you.
I heated a few corn tortillas on the plancha and made some fresh guacamole. I would typically make these tacos with two tortillas per taco, but I did not have very many tortillas, so I went with a single tortilla. Get over it.
Are you hungry?
12 Tuesday Nov 2013
Posted in Mexican
Tags
I had about two cups of cooked, shredded chicken from when I made chicken stock earlier in the week, so I decided to make chicken tinga for tacos tonight.
Chicken tinga tacos with homemade corn tortillas
Chicken Tinga
Ingredients
Two cups cooked chicken, shredded
Two dried Ancho chiles, one dried Cascabel, stem removed, seeded, deveined.
One chipotle chile, in adobo
One fresh, roasted Anaheim chile, from The Potted Kitchen Garden
One 340g (12 OZ.) can of whole tomatillos, drained (if you have fresh tomatillos, use them!
One cup of homemade low sodium chicken stock
One tablespoon of vegetable oil
salt
Method
Heat a dry cast iron pan over medium heat and toast dried chiles on both sides, 10 seconds each side. Place all chiles in small saucepan with chicken stock over medium high heat. Bring to the boil and reduce heat to simmer until chiles are completely tender, about 15 minutes. Add tomatillos and continue simmering for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and blend until very smooth either in a blender or with a stick blender.
Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add vegetable oil. Once hot, add blended chiles and tomatillos to pan (careful, it will splatter a bit!). Turn down heat and continue reducing until thickened, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Add salt to taste.
Add shredded chicken to pan and combine with sauce. Keep warm whilst you make corn tortillas.
Serve with warm tortillas, diced onion, and fresh coriander (cilantro).
28 Sunday Jul 2013
Posted in Mexican
Tacos were on the menu tonight.
I had some leftover Picadillo Oaxaqueno in the freezer from my last batch of Chiles Rellenos and a jar of pickled red onions sitting in the fridge.
I made some Spanish rice and refried beans for sides, along with lime cheeks and a few roasted chiles Serranos from The Potted Kitchen Garden.
The only other prep work was to open a bottle of Corona and make a stack of homemade corn tortillas.
Tacos de Picadillo Oaxaqueno, refried beans, and Spanish rice.
Anybody hungry?
