Mexican Fish Soup

Assemble your ingredients before you start, and this soup comes together quickly

1 dried chile (or more), opened with seeds and veins removed.

Cook dried chile in a small amount of water until softened (about 5-7 minutes) and put into blender with:
1 white cooking onion
2 cloves garlic
3 fresh tomatoes (plum tomatoes work well)
1 canned chipolte chile

Blend on high until smooth and add to a large soup pot along with

4 cups fish stock*
2 cups vegetable stock
1-2 large potatoes (like a Russet) cut in chunks
1-2 large carrots cut in thick slices
3 large bay leaves

Bring to a boil and lower heat to simmer until vegetables are starting to soften (about 10 minutes) then add

1-1/2 lbs firm white fish like Pacific Snapper

2-3 cups coarsely shredded cabbage
5 cilantro stalks

Simmer until fish flakes and vegetables are cooked (about 10 minutes)

Adjust seasonings adding salt, pepper, Old Bay Seafood Seasoning, etc.

Serve with lime wedges, chopped cilantro, sliced avocado, tortillas, taco chips, tostadas or rice as desired.

Serves 6 main course dishes.

*Fish Stock (made ahead of time)

I made fish stock using the bones, fins and head of a mild, non-oily white fish from our fishmonger (about 3 pounds) simmered in a stock pot of water with one onion, leek tops, one large carrot, one large celery stalk, 1 tsp pepper corns, 3 bay leaves, 1 tsp each thyme and oregano, fresh parsley (or cilantro) stalks, salt. Simmer for 30 minutes, strain and cool. It made enough stock for 3 batches of this soup. Store unused broth in freezer.

Vegetable Barley Soup

This is a hearty vegetable soup/stew which takes just a few minutes to put in a slow cooker in the morning. It can be served over rice or pasta or with biscuits.  Ingredients can be changed according to the vegetables you have on hand.

3 onions finely diced 
1 cup sliced celery
1 diced green pepper
1 diced red or yellow pepper

Saute the first 4 ingredients in a frying pan in a little oil or broth until softened.
Put in slow cooker and add:

1 large carrot sliced
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
3 cups kidney beans, rinsed and drained (other beans can be used)
1 28 ounce can stewed tomatoes
1/2 cup pot barley (not quick-cooking)
2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning or a mixture of oregano, basil, thyme, hot pepper flakes to taste
1 carton vegetable broth (4 cups)

Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5 hours. One half hour before serving add:

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced 
4 cups or more of chopped fresh spinach or kale
salt to taste

Burritos

Stephanie made burritos for our bus trip and for my plane ride back to Canada. She wrapped them in foil when they were hot and they stayed warm for a few hours. Burritos are rolled flour tortillas with a warm filling. They can be served for a meal, packed for a lunch, or frozen and quickly reheated in the future. We had them for supper tonight with a salad, guacamole and salsa.

2 cups cooked brown rice
3 cups cooked black beans
2 roasted poblano chilies finely chopped
2 roasted red peppers finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 clove crushed garlic
salt to taste

Grated cheese (optional)
Strips of cooked chicken or beef (optional)

12- 8 inch whole wheat tortillas (I buy this size at Costco. You can use 6 or 10 inch tortillas)

Method:

Mix first 9 ingredients together
Warm tortillas in microwave or on a skillet
Place 1/3-1/2 cup filling in tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese and lay meat on top if using
Roll tortilla up into a cylinder and place in an oven proof dish, seam side down

Continue until all tortillas are filled.
Cover dish and heat burritos in a 350 F oven for 30 minutes. (or warm individually in microwave)
Serve hot with garnishes as desired (salsa, sour cream, guacamole)

Burritos can be wrapped individually for bag lunches.

Variations:
The internet is full of burrito recipes for meat lovers and vegetarians. Breakfast burritos with eggs are also filling and easy to make.
I also cook onion, sweet and jalapeno peppers, mushrooms, spinach and seasoning until soft in a skillet. Add 2 ounces of cream cheese to the vegetables, heating until the mixture is creamy. Put a thin layer of refried beans on a tortilla, then a layer of vegetables and grated cheese if desired. Roll and heat as above.

Guacamole

We had a wonderful meal at a vegetarian buffet in downtown Tepic and the guacamole was the best I have ever tasted. I wanted a bowl of it, not just a condiment portion! I made some tonight to go with our burritos and it tasted almost a good as what I had in Mexico.

Mash together

2 large ripe avocados (or 3 small)
Juice of one fresh lime
1 clove garlic, crushed
A dash of cayenne pepper
2 tbsp hot red chunky salsa
3 tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro
salt to taste

Rosca de Reyes

Ingredients

4 cups flour
1-11 g package of dry active yeast
150 g sugar (3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp)
6 g salt (1 rounded teaspoon)
3 eggs
120 g melted butter (1-1/3 bars with one bar equivalent to 1/2 cup)
125 g warm milk or water (1/2 cup)
Flavouring to taste i.e. vanilla, orange peel or extract
Decorations as desired such as citron, cherries, dried fruit, slivered almonds

Filling (relleno)

3/4 cup chopped nuts such as almonds and pecans
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
Flavourings as desired
Plastic infants

Method

1. Dissolve the yeast and 1 tbsp sugar in warm milk or water and let it rest for 10 minutes.
2. Put flour in a bowl, make a well and add yeast, eggs and all other ingredients. Stir until well blended and smooth.
3. Knead on floured board until dough is a good consistency
4. Place dough in bowl, cover with a towel and allow it to rise in a warm place for 45-60 minutes until doubled in size
5. Roll dough into a 70 x 25 rectangle

6. Spread filling over dough, place the desired number of plastic infants on the surface and roll it up from the long edge.
7. Make a ring and place it in baking pan covering it and letting it rise again in a warm place until doubled in size.

Place decorations on dough before it rises the second time or you can glaze and decorate it after baking.

Bake at 375 F for 10 minutes and then at 325 F until done (approx 35 minutes)

Note- This recipe was taken from an insert in the package of yeast
Tradi-pan La levadura casera

Tortilla Spinach Lasagna

Stale corn tortillas are used instead of lasagna noodles in this tasty layered casserole. Tortillas can also be used with a tomato based sauce.

Ingredients

1-1/2 -2 cups milk of choice
2-3 tbsp flour
Dash of salt and pepper

Add milk slowly to flour to make a smooth paste. Add rest of milk and seasoning and heat on stove or microwave stirring often to make a white sauce.

Heat a frying pan and cook until softened...

8 ounces of spinach
1/2 cup mushroom
one diced jalapeño or poblano pepper
one clove of crushed garlic
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Add vegetables to white sauce. (Feel free to alter vegetable mixture)

Using 12 stale tortillas in a greased 9 x 9 pan...

Put 4 tortillas on bottom of pan. Add a layer of vegetables and repeat layers finishing with a sauce layer. Cover the top with a layer of crumbled or grated mild cheese. You can add cheese to the layers if desired. You can also add mashed beans as a layer. I like the texture of white kidney beans in this recipe.

Bake in oven for 30 minutes at 350F until bubbly or heat in microwave for 5-10 minutes.

Serves 4-6

Agua de Frutas

I am not a fan of sweet drinks, but the fruit drinks and teas served in Mexico are very refreshing and the sweetness is easily controlled.

Fresh fruit drinks

Blend a mixture of fruit such as strawberries, melon, mango, pineapple, orange, etc in the blender with a little water until you have a thick puree. Sweeten to taste. This is your concentrate. To serve, add some fruit to a glass or pitcher and add water a little at a time until desired consistency is reached. The drinks are thick enough that they are difficult to get through a straw. Garnish with lime if desired.

Jamaica

Add boiling water to dried hibiscus flowers and let it steep until it is a deep red color. Strain and cool and add sweetener to taste. Dilute concentrate as described above. I make hot hibiscus tea regularly and use 1 teaspoon dried flowers per cup of boiling water. For the cold concentrate I would start with 2-3 teaspoons per cup of water.

Nut Pinwheel Cookies

Make a basic sugar cookie dough (like this or this)

Combine
3/4 cup pecans
3/4 cup almonds
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
in a food processor and process until you have a coarse paste. Add a little milk or water to bind ingredients if necessary.

Roll dough into a rectangle that is about 3/8" thick. Spread nut mixture within 1/2 inch of edges. Roll from long edge into a roll refrigerate or freeze log. Slice cookies and bake at 375F for 6-8 minutes or until set and lightly browned.

Icebox Cookies

Icebox cookie dough is great to have on hand if you want to bake a few fresh cookies. This recipe goes together quickly and will keep in the freezer for a few weeks.

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4-1 cup candied fruit, nuts, dried fruit of choice (chop up larger pieces)

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Combine dry ingredients and add gradually to butter mixture. Add fruit and nuts if desired. 

Divide dough into three and roll into logs that are about 1-1/4 inch in diameter. Chill in the freezer for at least 1/2 hour or freeze for use later. Slice chilled dough in 1/4 inch slices and place on baking sheet. Roll edges in coarse sugar if desired.

Bake in a preheated oven at 375 F for 6-8 minutes until set.

Corn Tortillas

I have made some pretty awful corn tortillas with masa flour in the past. Our daughter brought me a tortilla press from Mexico this summer and taught me how to use it. When I was in California I tasted delicious corn tortillas that were made with a little wheat gluten. They were very flexible and easy to handle when making tacos. I added some gluten to the masa flour when I made tortillas today and they were every bit as good as the ones we had in California.

1-3/4 cups masa flour
1/4 cup wheat gluten
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix together in a large bowl and add

2 cups very hot water (I let boiled water cool for a couple of minutes)
Stir until combined adding a little more water if necessary to get the ingredients to stick together in a dough you can shape into balls.

Divide into 16 balls and cover with a towel to keep the dough from drying out.

Flatten each ball in a tortilla press or by pressing it with a round plate. Place each tortilla on an ungreased hot skillet and cook until brown spots form and the tortilla puffs up. Place warm tortillas in a clean tea towel or tortilla cover.

You can freeze these in an air tight bag and heat them in a moistened tea towel in the microwave.

Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

For years I have made scalloped potatoes by layering sliced potato and onion in a casserole dish and dumping a can of cream of mushroom soup on the top. The result can be gummy and grey depending on the type of potatoes used. I wanted to get away from a milky sauce over the potatoes and experimented with this method. It was very well received by our family!

Slice 3-4 lbs of potatoes in a food processor. (I used new red potatoes and did not peel them.)

Parboil the slices in boiling salted water for 8 minutes (this step could be omitted if you bake the potatoes a little longer)

Butter a 9x13 pan

Put 1/3 of the potatoes on the bottom and sprinkle with 1/2 c grated cheddar cheese, 2 oz of cubed cream cheese, 1 tbsp of flour, salt, pepper to taste.

Add 1/3 of the potatoes and sprinkle with 1/2 c grated cheddar cheese, 2 oz of cubed cream cheese, 1 tbsp of flour, salt, pepper as above. I added 4 oz of lightly cooked sliced mushrooms on the layer too.

Top with remaining potatoes, season with salt and pepper. Add 8-12 oz milk.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Cover lightly with foil for the first 1/2 hour and then let the top brown for the last 15 minutes.

Spicy Lentil Tacos

I saw this recipe on Phoo-d and we had it for supper tonight. We have made tacos with veggie ground round in the past but it is expensive and too salty for my liking. This lentil version tastes better. You can follow the link to the recipe I used but it is copied here as links are prone to going dead.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups Diced Onion
• 4 cloves Garlic, minced
• 2 Poblano Peppers, diced (or peppers of choice)
• 1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon Salt
• 2 teaspoons Ancho Chili Powder (I used regular chili powder)
• 1/2 teaspoon Dried Oregano
• 1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Coriander
• 4 cups Cooked Lentils (2 tins, drained and rinsed)
• 1/3 cup or more* Vegetable Stock (Low Sodium)
• 1 small tin Tomato Paste (4-6 oz)
• 1 Tablespoon Hot Sauce (optional)
• 2 teaspoons Olive Oil or cook onions in vegetable broth

Cooking Directions

Place a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil, onion, garlic, and peppers and saute until soft. 

When the vegetables are soft add the black pepper, salt, chili powder, oregano, cumin, and coriander in and stir for a minute. Add the lentils, vegetable stock, tomato paste, and hot sauce to the skillet. Stir until well combined, reduce the heat to medium, and cook until the lentils are warmed through and most of the vegetable stock has evaporated, about 4 minutes. If the mixture begins to look dry add more vegetable stock*. 

 

Serve in a corn tortilla or tostada with traditional taco toppings. Serves 4.