Mexican Recipes
487 recipes found
Avocado Soup With Salsa
Roasted Tomatillo-Poblano-Avocado Salsa
One of my favorite new cookbooks of this season is “A Mouthful of Stars” (Andrews McMeel), by Kim Sunée. The book is a memoir, travelogue and cookbook all rolled into one, written by an author who earlier published another compelling memoir with recipes, “Trail of Crumbs.” Kim is a poetic world traveler who loves many cuisines. She is a big fan of taco trucks and loves salsa, the spicier the better. This salsa is based on her recipe for roasted tomatillo-poblano salsa. I love its balance of char, heat, acid and creamy. I’m a moderate when it comes to heat, but you can make this hotter by adding more chiles.
Cauliflower and Red Onion Tacos
Vegetables bathed in vinegar are typical condiments in Mexico, but you can bring them to the center of the plate as a filling for a taco. If you want spice, add the chipotle, or garnish with some salsa. If salt is an issue, use ranchero rather than cotija cheese.
Avocado and Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
I have been making tomatillo and avocado salsa for years, but I usually simmer the tomatillos rather than roasting them. Roasting the tomatillos, chiles and garlic – toasting really, as I use a skillet for this, on top of the flame – produces a salsa with a delicious charred flavor. I learned something recently from the chef Iliana de la Vega, who demonstrated the recipe at the “Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives” conference in Napa Valley in March: she says, in no uncertain terms, that you should not add water to tomatillo salsas. Without the water, this is a more intense salsa with pleasing density.You can use it as a sauce to serve with chicken or fish, or as a dip with chips or other vegetables.
Frijoles Borrachos (Drunken Beans)
The method of cooking beans with beer originated in northern Mexico (Monterrey is the country’s brewery capital), then traveled with the cowboys on cattle drives. It’s easy to imagine a cauldron of beans simmering over a fire, the cook tossing in bits of meat from the grill, then pouring in beer to cover the beans, which might have been more convenient than water. According to “The Taste of Mexico” (Harry N. Abrams, 1986) by Patricia Quintana, the food of northern Mexico is often associated with grilled meats, but it is also epitomized by spicy beans like frijoles charros (or cowboy beans) and drunken beans. Bacon (or Mexican chorizo or other fatty meats) provide a rich base in which to cook vegetables like onions and peppers, while the beer makes the beans brighter and sharper but not boozy. Eat a bowl with grilled meats, flour tortillas or solo.
Mexican-Style Marinated Steaks
Tostadas With Beans, Cabbage and Avocado
Beans are traditionally fried in lard, but I use a small amount of grapeseed or sunflower oil instead, and rely on the broth from the beans for flavor. This is a great buffet dish for a Mexican dinner party. I prefer to toast the tortillas using the microwave method, but you can also deep-fry them.
Cowgirl Beans
Drunken Beans
Guacamole Tostadas
Fried Guacamole
The fried guacamole that Angelo Sosa serves at Abajo, his tequila bar, reminded me of the fried ice cream served at some Chinese restaurants. It’s creamy, crunchy and cool on the inside. It’s easier than you might think and it makes for a nice tidbit to enjoy with a drink, or as a first course with a salad. You can prepare the guacamole and freeze it early in the day, leaving only the frying for the last minute. The fritters can also be kept warm in a 150 degree oven for at least 30 minutes.
Fresh Green Chorizo
Because it’s not stuffed into casings, this vibrant and fiery Mexican fresh pork sausage comes together fairly quickly. The most time-consuming part is roasting the green chiles and garlic, which are then puréed and mixed into ground pork along with spices, parsley and a tangy dose of sherry vinegar. Use the green chorizo as a base for tacos or scrambled eggs, or simmer it with beans into a thick, hearty stew. Wherever you use it though, be prepared for a kick. This is spicy stuff. And here are several more of our delicious chorizo recipes.
Poblano Guacamole
Roy Choi's Carne Asada
Roy Choi is the dharma bum of the Los Angeles food scene, a Zen lunatic bard of the city’s immigrant streets. He is a founder of Kogi BBQ, which used food trucks to introduce the city to Mexican mash-up cuisine, and the creative force behind a handful of Los Angeles restaurants that celebrate various iterations of big-flavor cooking at the intersection of skater, stoner, lowrider and Korean college-kid desire. He cooks poems, and they taste of Los Angeles. Choi's carne asada — grilled meat — might raise eyebrows in Puebla and Laredo alike. There is mirin in the marinade and a lot of garlic. But there is purity to its expression of urban Southern California. This is a recipe to expand minds, a delicious take on a venerable classic.
Grilled-Onion Guacamole
Tomatillo Guacamole
This is a guacamole with a punch. The roasted tomatillos blended with hot chilies add acidity and spice to the creamy avocados. It has the luxuriousness of guacamole at just over half the calories.
Basic Pepper Salsa
Spoon this pepper sauce over eggs, beans, pork chops or roast chicken. Or toss stewed, shredded chicken, pork, or beef with abundant salsa for a spicy, flavorful filling for tacos or enchiladas.
Aztec Hot Chocolate Pudding
It looks alarming when you make it -- it's hard to believe that sprinkling sugar and cocoa on top of a cake batter and then pouring hot water over it will end up edible, but it does, it truly does. This is a luscious, homey dessert, one of those self-saucing puddings that turn themselves as they bake into a layer of gooey sauce topped with tender cake.
Chicken Tacos With Chipotle
For good tacos, you need fresh, hot tortillas and a zesty filling. Canned chipotle chiles will do the trick with their smoky heat; it's an easy way to get flavor fast. Look for small cans with “chipotle chiles in adobo” on the label. And Mexican groceries generally have better-quality tortillas than the ones you find in supermarkets; it's worth seeking those out and heating them gently over steam, or by toasting them in a dry cast-iron pan. You can also use this recipe with precooked chicken, which makes this already quite simple recipe as easy as falling out of bed.
Tacos With Roasted Vegetables and Chickpeas in Chipotle Ranchera Salsa
These winter vegetables sweeten with roasting and contrast beautifully with the chipotle-spiked cooked tomato salsa. It’s another easy do-ahead dish that can be reheated when the crowds are hungry.
Pork and Mango Salsa Burrito
Big-Batch Ranchero Sauce
There is no other aroma coming from the kitchen — not truffle, not freshly peeled orange, not a chocolate cake baking — that will stop you in your tracks and make you inhale as deeply as this ranchero sauce simmering away. Here’s a large batch to use in many ways: Poach eggs in it for brunch, simmer shrimp in it for taco filling, or spoon it over shredded chicken with avocado slices inside a flour tortilla for lunch for the kiddos. Put it in tightly sealed Mason jars and bring it to friends as a host gift.
Salsa Ranchera
Mexican-Style Atole
Atole, a hot, corn-based drink popular in Central America, provides warmth and comfort when the chilly weather hits. This Mexican-style version, from Veronica Ruiz, a home cook who grew up in Mexico City and immigrated to the United States in the 1990s, is made with milk, cinnamon, piloncillo (pure cane sugar) and masa harina, a finely ground corn flour also used to make tamales and tortillas. You can find strawberry, coconut, chocolate and many other flavor variations of atole, but this one is rich and satisfying, and allows the corn flavor to shine.