Fabulous Family Recipes

Category: Mexican Food Recipes

  • Carnitas – Joyanne Sloan

    Carnitas – Joyanne Sloan

    • 3 lbs boneless pork roast
    • 1/4 cup water
    • 1-1/2 cup beef broth
    • 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
    • 2 tablespoons chile powder
    • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
    • 1 large onion, chopped
    • 2 (4 ounce) cans chopped green chili peppers or 1 – 7 oz. can
    • 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
    • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin plus 1 tsp salt
    • 2 cups sour cream – low fat
    • 5 cups shredded Monterrey Jack cheese, divided or 1/2 pepper jack & half cheddar
    • 1 cup oil for frying
    • 30 corn tortillas

    Place roast in a large saucepan that has a tight fitting lid. Pour in water, cover, and simmer on low for 30 minutes increase heat to medium/high, and brown the roast on all sides.

    Once the water has boiled away, pour in the bee broth, vinegar, chili powder and 1 tablespoon of cumin. Cover tightly and reduce heat to low simmer for 2 hours or until the beef falls apart when you try to pick it up.

    Shred the beef, using 2 forks or your fingers. Place shredded beef back into the saucepan with all the juices. and let cool to room temperature.

    In a large skillet, sauté the onion until just soft, not browned. Mix in flour and green chilies. Stir constantly for 2 minutes to cook the flour taste out. Stir in sour cream and 2 cups of Monterey Jack cheese, Cook on low for 10 minutes, stirring often, until the cheese is all melted and milled. Set aside and let cool

    In a large heavy skillet, heat the olive oil. Using tongs dip the tortillas, one a time, into the oil for 30 seconds each side. Drain on paper towels.

    Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Spread 1 tablespoons of sour cream mixture down the center of the tortilla. Top with about the same amount of pork. Roll up and place seam side down in one of two 8 x 11 inch baking dish. Repeat for each tortilla. Continue until you are out of filling.

    Sprinkle with remaining Monterey Jack cheese.

    Bake in a pre-heated oven for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbling.

  • Carnitas – Sarah Joy Park

    • 3-4 lb pork butt cut into about palm sized chunks
    • Juice of two oranges, keep the rind
    • Juice of two limes
    • Half a large onion cut into 3 chunks
    • Salt
    • Oregano
    • Cayenne
    • Cumin
    • 3 Bay leaves

    Put all of that into a Dutch oven and cover with chicken stock. Include the orange rinds…never the lime rinds

    Bring to a simmer on the stove top

    Put it into a 300 degree oven with lid on for two hours.

    Take the chunks and onion out and put on a cookie sheet. Break up the meat chunks into smaller chunks.

    Add honey to the liquid in the Dutch oven and reduce for about 20 min.

    Put some of the reduced liquid over the meat on the tray. Put under the broiler for 6-8 min.

    Take out and turn the meat over. Put more of the reduced liquid on top and put under the broiler for another 6-8 min.

    You will have the most crispy yet tender flavor bombs!

    Sarah Joy Park

  • CHILE CON QUESO DIP

    CHILE CON QUESO DIP

    • 1 large onion, minced
    • 1 large clove garlic, minced
    • 4 Tbsp. butter or margarine
    • 1 large can tomatoes (1 lb. 13 oz.)
    • 1 can chopped chiles (4 oz.)
    • 2 Tbsp. flour
    • 1 c. evaporated milk
    • salt, Tabasco sauce
    • 1/2 lb. sharp cheddar cheese, grated

    In medium pan, melt 2 Tbsp. of the butter; saute onion and garlic til soft but not brown. Add tomatoes (broken up into small chunks), and simmer til thick. Stir in chiles.

    In a smaller saucepan, melt 2 Tbsp. butter; whisk in flour, then evaporated milk. Cook sauce til thickened; add to tomato mixture. Season to taste with salt and Tabasco.

    Shortly before serving, stir in cheese til melted. Add more salt and/or Tabasco if needed. Serve with tortilla chips. This dip is best when kept hot in a chafing dish or on a hot tray.

    “Many of you may remember my mother’s famous chili con queso dip that she would regularly bring to parties in a chafing dish! Anyway I thought to share it with the whole family if you are looking for a crowd-pleasing recipe. I was going through my old recipes and found this and it is a wonderful thing to remember her by and her typing it up on her IBM selectric typewriter. The clickety clack is such a sweet memory of my mom.” – Joyanne Sloan

  • Tamale Pie

    Tamale Pie
    Tamale Pie

    This is a recipe we grew up with as kids. Our Mom, Ann Barczay Sloan, used to cook this. I went ahead and made my own version but while she was living with me, before she passed away, I asked her for HER recollection of the recipe. I present both, you can try both, hers is probably faster. I think mine is pretty rockin’, too.

    Mom’s Tamale Pie

    1. Chili – can or scratch
    2. Layer or two of corn tortillas in casserole
    3. Layer on chili
    4. Layer sharp cheddar
    5. Layer green onions
    6. Keep layering to top
    7. Add water to the last bit of chili so it is like a soup. This will soak the layers
    8. Top w cheese and sliced olives
    9. Bake covered at 350. Uncover last few minutes to crisp.

    Sean’s Tamale Pie

    Ingredients:

    1. One large yellow or brown onion diced
    2. 2 tbsp. Olive oil (or 1 ea. Olive oil and bacon grease)
    3. 1-½ lbs. Ground turkey
    4. 1 tbsp. Oregano
    5. 1 tsp. Cumin
    6. 4 tbsp. jarred red salsa, medium hot
    7. Black olives
    8. 2 cups 3-cheese shredded Mexican blend cheese
    9. 15 corn tortillas
    10. 1 can of enchilada sauce 19 oz. (example but in a bigger can size)

    Cooking:

    • I like to brown the onions in pan, Salt and pepper to taste and then set them aside
    • Now brown turkey in the same pan with a little more olive oil as turkey can be very low fat and stick to the pan. Salt and pepper to taste.
    • Add back the onions and mix well to spread the flavors around
    • I like to grind the Mexican oregano (slightly stronger smelling and more like
    • whole flowers than standard oregano) between my palms and into the pan.
    • Sprinkle cumin on.
    • Add the salsa, not too much, its meant to be edible by kids and people who can’t handle spice
    • In your baking dish: start by pouring out a thin layer of the enchilada sauce then add a layer of tortillas followed by a layer of the spiced meat and onions mix followed by most of the cheese
    • Next layer starts with tortillas then enchilada sauce, spiced meat and onion mix then cheese
    • Final layer, the top most layer, is tortillas, the enchilada sauce then cheese then decorate with a freshly sliced olives placed around evenly. Sometimes it put a sprinkle of chili powder lightly across the top.
    • Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, remove from oven and let it cool/set up a bit before serving.
    • This dish is even better the next day as all the flavors have melded, the enchilada sauce has been incorporated into the tortillas and it reheats amazingly well in the microwave

  • Vegetarian Southwestern Breakfast Pie

    Vegetarian Southwestern Breakfast Pie with soyrizo
    Vegetarian Southwestern Breakfast Pie with soyrizo

    This is delicious and reheats in the microwave for a super-fast, very healthy breakfast, it’s vegetarian!

    • 4 medium potatoes, boiled and sliced into wedges
    • 1/2 large onion diced
    • one package soyrizo
    • 1 tsp. cumin
    • 1 tsp. oregano (finely ground)
    • 12  eggs
    • 1/2 cup flour
    • 1/4 cup milk
    • 1 tsp. baking powder
    • 4 heaping tbsp. chunky salsa (as spicy as you like)
    • 2 tbsp. olive oil
    • 8 oz. package of Mexican cheese blend

    Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Sautee onion in olive oil until clear then add soyrizo, cumin and oregano and brown, set aside. In a bowl crack 12 eggs and whisk in baking powder, flour, milk and salsa.

    Place potatoes evenly spread out in your shallow baking dish. Add chorizo and onion mix evenly across this. Put in 4 oz. of the cheese then add the egg mixture and top with the final 4 oz. of cheese. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

     

     

     

  • Chipotle Lime Garlic roast chicken ala Mexicana

    Chipotle Lime Garlic roast chicken ala Mexicana
    Chipotle Lime Garlic roast chicken ala Mexicana

    Quick ingredients list:

    • 1/4 cup olive oil
    • Juice of 2 small limes
    • 2 tsp. powdered garlic
    • 2 tblsp. Chef Merito Steak and Meat Seasoning (image coming)
    • one whole chicken, washed in warm water and dried with paper towel
    • 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, cut into small pieces
    • 2 tblsp. brown sugar

    I like to fill the chicken with warm water and let it sit in there for 30 seconds and I do this twice while washing the chicken in order to try to warm it up to room temperature before cooking.

    In a metal bowl I added the oil, Chef Merito Steak and Meat Seasoning, lime juice, garlic and cut up chipotles. This is the marinade that I coat it with.

    So I hold the chicken upside down and pour in ALL of the marinade mix to the main body cavity while holding the neck cavity closed and swish it around the inside of the chicken to coat it. Then I pour it out into the bowl and coat the exterior of the chicken, on a vertical roaster, and paint it on with a brush for the first coat.

    Cook for 30 minutes at 425 degrees, pull out and do the second coat of marinade, put back in for 15 more minutes but now at 375 degrees. Now take it out again (after the 15 minutes), add 2 tblsp. brown sugar and some of the drippings from the catch pan of the vertical roaster to what remains of the marinade and do the glazing stage for the final 15 minutes.

    Next time I’m going to add Mexican oregano and ground cumin. My goal is to match (or surpass!?!) the chicken from El Toro Bravo here in Costa Mesa.

    *Here’s another one of my attempts to match the fabulous chicken from El Toro Bravo.

  • El Toro Bravo-style Roast Chicken

    this is the chicken with the spice mix brushed on, on our vertical roaster the better to simulate the rotisserie at Toro Bravo

    This is my experimental attempt to duplicate the recipe of my favorite Mexican-style roast chicken restaurant El Toro Bravo on 19th Street in Costa Mesa.

    Latest ingredient list as of 2.3.13:

    • juice of one medium lemon, seeds removed
    • 2 tsp. ground garlic
    • 1 tsp. ground oregano
    • 2 tsp. pasilla chile powder
    • 1 tsp. paprika
    • 3 tsp. Chef Merito Sazonador para Carne
    • 1 tsp. salt

    I brushed this on one large chicken and put it in at 350 degrees.

    This is the spice paste/sauce that results from mixing all the ingredients.

    Completed Chicken

    My second attempt. Looking and tasting good. I feel like I need at minimum 3 attempts to get a recipe down.