Flashback Friday - Miguel's Cocina y Cantina

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on September 28, 2011.

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MinxEats is a proud supporter of Dining Out for Life and we did our part this year by dining out at Miguel's Cocina y Cantina, which offered 50% of their take to Movable Feast. We are big fans of Mexican food and Mr Minx and I looked forward to sampling chef owner Michael Marx's authentic fare from the moment I made our reservation.

Miguel's is in the hideous new Silo Point complex and is a bit hard to find, so thank goodness for the well placed signs and arrows. Once inside, we were taken to a tiny table across from a large bank of windows in the bar area. It was dark and gloomy outside, so unfortunately, it was rather dark and gloomy inside as well. And a bit noisy, despite the few other diners partaking of our normally early dinner hour.

While perusing the menu, we nibbled on a basket of freshly fried corn tortilla chips accompanied by two salsas - a tangy bright tomatillo and an almost creamy roasted tomato. I had a bad day and was in the mood for a margarita - the Miguel's, with Espolon Silver, Gran Gala, Miguel’s mix (simple syrup + fresh lime juice) really hit the spot. Mr Minx tried the Agave wheat beer, which was light and mild.

Chips and salsas and the Miguel margarita

While my mood was gloomy, the food definitely was not. Because the prices at Miguel's are reasonable and we wanted Movable Feast to get as much money as possible, we ordered three appetizers - the guacamole for two, the shrimp corn cakes, and the birria Guadalajara. The guac and corn cakes came out first, competing for space on the table with the basket of chips and salsa, and our beverages. The guac was nice and chunky, had a nice kick of heat, but was perhaps a tad too acidy for me. It came with fried flour tortillas, which were flaky and brittle and didn't work as well with the thick dip as corn chips did. The corn cakes were terrific - three delicate and fluffy discs topped with a scattering of very flavorful shrimp, some salsa fresca, and a drizzle of crema.

Shrimp with corn cakes

Guacamole for two

Our third appetizer, the birria, arrived with our entrées - enchiladas de pollo, and carne asada. My two large enchiladas were filled with pulled chicken bound together by a bit of cheese and were topped with a lake of molé negro. The molé was surprisingly mild and sweet, redolent of Mexican chocolate. Under the enchiladas were black beans and an arroz verde made with a pesto-like mixture of cilantro, basil, and pumpkin seeds that gave it a lovely nutty flavor.

Enchiladas de pollo

The carne asada - which also came with arroz verde and a pile of sliced zucchini cooked with achiote and a good dose of cinnamon (weird, but it really worked well) - was very tender and full of flavor. The molé Amarillo reminded me a bit of New Mexican red chile sauce, but with a brighter flavor. The components of this dish really worked well together - it was meaty, creamy, nutty, spicy, and tangy, all at the same time.

Carne asada

The birria had yet another, completely different, sauce, this one primarily tasting of dried chiles and cumin. Combined with the very tender, very lamb-y lamb, it seemed almost like an Indian dish. It was topped with a garnish of toasted almonds, which lent a pleasant crunch to the dish.

Birria Guadalajara

Finally, we ended up with two desserts, the churros, and a chocolate bread pudding, both accompanied by Taharka Brothers vanilla ice cream and a puddle of cajeta (goat's milk caramel - if you haven't tried this stuff, go find some NOW!). The bread pudding had a rather loose consistency, and was very moist and fudgey, but not overly chocolaty. The churros were even better, with super crisp, cinnamon sugar-dusted outsides and an almost creamy middle. Both were large enough to share.

Chocolate bread pudding

Churros

We were pretty happy with the goodies we sampled from the limited menu offered for Dining Out for Life and look forward to a return visit to taste some flautas, carnitas, and maybe a taco or two.

Miguel's Cocina y Cantina
1200 Steuart St
Baltimore, MD 21230
www.miguelsbaltimore.com
(443) 438-3139

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Gluten-free, Sugar-free, and Dairy-free Mexican Pasta and Meatballs

One of the drawbacks to being food writers is that it is all too easy to overindulge and put on weight. It's especially bad when we are working on projects where we have to go to a lot of restaurants in a short period of time and sample all manner of food and drink which is so delicious but so detrimental to our physiques. The Minx decided that she was overdue for a curtailing of her naughty foods intake and put herself on a month-long boycott of wheat, sugar, and dairy. I was not willing to go quite that extreme, but I certainly wanted to help by creating dinners that would suit her dietary restrictions.

The biggest challenge for me was to find a way to work my favorite food, pasta, into a meal that we could both eat. We remembered that, several month ago, we tried gluten-free pasta made from corn. It was tasty enough, but for me it didn't quite work with an Italian red sauce, my mind being too conditioned to the taste of semolina in relation to Italian cooking. I tend to associate the flavor of corn with Mexican food. That's where the idea came to me to create a red sauce with Mexican flavors.

I was going to make a meat sauce, but Kathy really had a craving for meatballs, so I had to not only bring Mexican flavors to the meatballs, but also find a way to avoid bread crumbs. Kathy suggested oatmeal, which worked perfectly. The recipe that follows is a low-and-slow, all-afternoon, labor-of-love kind of affair, but everyone should make a meal like that now and again. There's a real sense of accomplishment when you take the time to create something really flavorful and satisfying.

Mexican Pasta and Meatballs

For the sauce:

28 oz. can tomato puree
14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 medium onion chopped
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ancho chili powder
1/4 cup cilantro chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste

For the meatballs:

1.5 pounds of ground beef
1 chipotle chopped
2 cloves garlic smashed
1/4 cup cilantro chopped
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

For the pasta:

1 pound corn pasta
4 teaspoons kosher salt

Start your sauce by sauteing the onions in a large sauce pan with a tablespoon of olive oil. Once the onions have sweated and are slightly caramelized, pour in your tomato puree and diced tomatoes, Add the garlic and tomato pasta and stir to combine. Then stir in the chili powder, cumin, salt, and ancho chili powder. Bring to a simmer, then turn down the heat and cover. Let it continue to simmer with the cover on for two hours, stirring occasionally. Add cilantro.

After two hours, you can create your meatballs. Combine all the ingredients for the meatballs in a large bowl and mush it all together with your hands until everything is thoroughly integrated. Form the mixture into golf-ball-sized meatballs. Heat a frying pan until a drop of water will sizzle in it and add the meatballs. Regularly turn the meatballs with tongs until all sides of the meatballs are nicely browned. Then add the meatballs to your sauce and allow them to simmer in the sauce for at least another half hour.

To cook your pasta, bring five quarts of water to a boil and add four teaspoons of kosher salt. Pour in your pasta and stir. Use the instructions on the package as a guide, but use your own judgement. I find that the instructions for cooking corn pasta tend to overstate the cooking time. After about ten minutes, check a piece for doneness.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain it, put some in a bowl, set two or three meatballs on top, and then ladle sauce over the whole dish. The flavors will remind you of a Mexican restaurant while the textures and the visual with make you think of an Italian red sauce joint. There's also the added comfort of knowing that you're not eating wheat, dairy, or added sugar.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Mexican Blini

Why is it that buttermilk only seems to come in quarts? Most recipes call for a cup, maybe two, of the stuff, but there are four cups in a quart. What to do with the leftover buttermilk?

I happened to be thumbing through one of my many cookbooks, Vegetarian Planet, and found a recipe for masa cakes that require 1 2/3 cups buttermilk, plus masa, corn kernels, and a few other ingredients we already had on hand.

I don't know why I don't use that book more often. It's terrific.

We also had various other oddments in the fridge. A bit of smoked trout. Some leftover tomatillo salsa. Pomegranate arils. Rather than serve the masa cakes as a straight-up sort of Latino thing, I topped them with smoked trout and sour cream and made them blini-ish. Of course, they were nowhere near as delicate as a properly made blini, but they sure did taste good. And isn't that all that really matters?

Mexican Blini (adapted from Vegetarian Planet)

2 eggs
1 2/3 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons melted, cooled, unsalted butter (divided use)
1 1/2 cups masa harina
1 cup white flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup corn kernels, thawed if frozen
Tomatillo salsa (recipe follows)
Sour cream
Smoked trout (optional)
Pomegranate seeds
Chopped parsley or cilantro

Beat the eggs and add the buttermilk and 2 tablespoons of the butter. Gradually stir in the masa, flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda. Stir well until the mixture forms a mass. Stir in the corn.

Add the remaining tablespoon of melted butter to a large skillet over medium heat. Make small patties with the masa dough, about 3" in diameter, and place in the hot pan. (If you have too many patties to fit without crowding, make them in two batches.) Cook until the undersides of the cakes are browned, 3-4 minutes. Flip and cook 4 minutes on the other side.

To serve: puddle some of the tomatillo salsa on a plate. Top with 2-3 masa cakes. On each masa cake, place a dollop of sour cream, a bit of smoked trout, and garnish with the pomegranate seeds and parsley or cilantro.

Tomatillo Salsa

4-5 tomatillos
2 jalapeno peppers
3 scallions
Handful fresh cilantro
1 small clove garlic
1-2 teaspoons brown sugar
Pinch cumin
Salt, to taste

Remove husks from tomatillos, rinse them and cut into quarters. Stem and deseed the jalapenos (leave some seeds in, if you want more heat). Remove root end from scallions and chop remainder into 1" pieces.

Put tomatillos, jalapenos, scallions, cilantro, and garlic into a blender and puree. Pour into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir in the brown sugar, cumin, and salt. Cook about 5 minutes, until mixture darkens. Taste for seasoning, adding more sugar or salt if you think it needs it. It should mostly be tart, but not sour.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Korean-style Pork Meatball Tacos

The flavors of Korea and Mexico work well together, disparate though they may be. Cuisines that seem more similar, like Indian and Mexican, which share the use of strong flavors like cumin and cilantro, are almost never combined. Have you ever seen a chicken tikka taco or vindaloo burrito? Why not? But there is a proliferation of bulgogi burritos and tacos garnished with kimchi in the current culinary world. And they work.

I've fallen in love with making my own corn tortillas, so tacos are a common occurrence in our house. Ground pork called out to become meatballs, and because we had a tub of the Korean red pepper and soybean paste called gochujang in the fridge, they fell into the whole Korean-Mexican melting pot. While I also flavored a bit of sour cream with some gochujang, sesame oil, and sugar to make a sauce, the rest of the elements, avocado, cilantro, and roasted corn salsa, were more likely to be found in a traditional taco. And they all worked deliciously together.

Korean-style Pork Meatballs

For meatballs:
1.15 lb ground pork (amount approximate...some packs may weigh slightly more or less)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3 scallions, white and green parts, chopped
1 tablespoon gochujang
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon agave syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
Vegetable oil for frying

For glaze:
1/4 cup ketchup
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon gochujang
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds

To make meatballs: Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Form 30 small meatballs.

Heat about a tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan. Add meatballs and cook until browned on all sides and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove from pan and drain on paper towel-lined plates. Wipe out frying pan.

To make glaze: Place ketchup, vinegar, soy, sugar, and gochujang in a sauce pot and bring to a boil. Stir to make sure sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in sesame oil.

Place drained meatballs into cleaned pan. Pour over the bbq sauce and stir well to coat. Heat over medium heat until sauce coats the meatballs like a glaze. Sprinkle sesame seeds over and toss to coat.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Mari Luna Bistro to Host Mason Dixon Master Chef Tournament

The Mari Luna Bistro, the newest member of the Mari Luna Restaurant Group’s family of restaurants (http://www.mariluna.com), is set to be the home of the 2013 Mason Dixon Master Chef Tournament.

Renowned for filling the void of authentic Mexican food in the Baltimore region, each of the Mari Luna Restaurant Group’s three area restaurants are family owned and operated by the Luna family, which includes executive chef Jaime Luna, his wife Alba, and their daughters.

The roots of the Mari Luna Restaurant Group reach back to the City of Mexicali in Baja, California where Jaime Luna was raised on traditional Mexican cooking. When he came to the United States in 1984 he began a 20-year career in the culinary field working with nationally acclaimed chefs and restaurateurs in the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore markets, including Michel Richard at Citronelle and Steve de Castro at Babalu Grille. In 2004, he opened his first namesake restaurant, Mari Luna Mexican Grill. Today, the Mari Luna Restaurant Group consists of three restaurants, the Mari Luna Bistro in Baltimore, and the Mari Luna Latin Grille and Mari Luna Mexican Grill both in Pikesville, Maryland.

Combining the warmth of the Luna family with sophisticated and delicious food preparation for a unique dining experience, the Mari Luna Bistro is the perfect place for the Mason Dixon Master Chef Tournament. The Bistro brings authentic Mexican food to the cityʼs cultural district. Highlights of the menu include seven styles of guacamole, each served in a traditional stone mortar called a molcajete, extensive taco offerings made with fresh corn tortillas, and house made white and red sangria. The basement of the Bistro called the Luna Lounge is a unique private party room with a built in bar and dance floor.

The Mari Luna Bistro is conveniently located right in the heart of Baltimore’s cultural district, just steps away from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Joseph Meyerhoff Hall, and the Cultural Center stop of the light rail.

Tickets for all 15 dates of this summer-long single-elimination chef competition are available for purchase at: http://www.masondixonmasterchef.com.  Tickets for most matches are $25 for general admission and $45 for judging experience (including all taxes). In addition, the Mason Dixon Master Chef Tournament donates 10% of the net proceeds of each ticket sold directly to their charity partner Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland (http://www.mealsonwheelsmd.org).

Competition Dates (5:30pm – 9:00pm):
June 17, 18, 24, 25
July 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, 30
August 5, 6, 19, 20, 27

Event Timeline:
5:30 p.m. – Happy Hour with Complementary Appetizers and Wine Tasting, plus Drink Specials
6:30 p.m. – Cold Prep Begins for the Competition
7:00 p.m. – Chef Competition
8:00pm – Judging Begins

For more information about the events, go to the Tournament's Web site: http://masondixonmasterchef.com/

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Esquites

Do you ever get something stuck in your head that you just can't shake? I don't mean crappy pop music or commercial jingles (which, these days, can be one and the same) but stuff that your brain MUST HAVE NOW. The other day I skimmed something about esquites, a Mexican street food made with corn, and got the word stuck in my head. Only I pronounced it "ess-KWEETs" because I had never heard it pronounced. I just looked it up and it's es-KEY-tez. You're welcome.

It's corn season, at least in parts of the country not hit by drought, so after picking up a couple four ears of bi-color corn at the grocery store, I decided it was time to make some es-key-tez. Except, while I had the corn, I didn't have the cotija cheese, epazote, or crema to make an authentic esquites. So I improvised with some non-italicized ingredients. I'd seen recipes that called for mayo, which I did have, and for chile powder and lime juice, which I also had. As for the cheesy bits, what doesn't taste good with Parmesan and Cheddar? (Chocolate cake, that's what.)

Fake it 'til you make it should be my motto.

And what do you know? My bastardization tasted pretty freakin' fantastic. While it was good on its own, it was even better as a filling for veggie tacos with leftover black bean hummus. Wow.

Minxquites

4 ears corn, cooked to your liking, kernels removed
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons chile powder
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons chopped scallions

Mix everything together (except the cobs, natch) in a bowl. Serve warm.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

More Food Trucks!

The stream of food trucks cruising Baltimore City seems never ending. And that's a good thing. Recently several more popped up, including Noodlerolla. While it doesn't sell noodles, it does serve Korean/Japanese fusion lunches including this "banto" box filled with chicken, rice, pickles, dumplings, and California roll.

Even better is the Korean burrito filled with bulgogi beef or marinated short ribs and a dash of kimchi.

And then there's my new favorite truck, Busia's Kitchen. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the candy-striped truck outside my building. "Busia" is an Americanized-Polish name for "grandma," and I was excited that a truck would serve the cuisine of my people. I tried a sampler of three items of my choice (a fist-sized pierog, a potato pancake, and one of the stuffed cabbage rolls called "golombki").

They were all pretty terrific, very grandma-style. I was impressed and very pleased. For those folks who aren't quite ready to experience the food of Poland (wimps), there are egg salad and tarragon chicken salad sandwiches and a very un-Slavic Mediterranean chicken pita.

Another truck making the rounds is Karlita's, which serves Latino food like burritos, tacos, and quesadillas. I had a steak quesadilla that was very simply made with lots of melty cheese and found it to be extremely satisfying. Next time I'm trying a burrito, or maybe the tacos. Or maybe something else will catch my eye.






Posted on Minxeats.com.

Mari Luna Mexican Grill

Mari Luna has long been on our "must-try" list. After carefully perusing the menus for both the Mexican Grill and the Latin Grille, we decided that we were most interested in taking a little trip to Mexico.

Once at the tiny but festive little restaurant, we ordered one of everything. Well, almost everything.

First we shared a bowl of black bean soup. It was terrific - mostly smooth, with some chunks of bean at the bottom of the bowl, and a nice bright flavor that didn't emphasize any one particular spice.

We also tried two tacos, one with beef tongue and one with lamb. As with everything we ordered, they were brought on separate plates with piles of guac, sour cream, pico de gallo, lettuce, and a lime wedge. Mari Luna would have saved a bit on dishwashing had they put both tacos on the same plate. However, the table was large enough to accommodate all of the extra dishes, so no worries on our part! I loved both tacos - the meat was tender and subtly flavorful. They really didn't need all of the extra accompaniments.

One chicken enchilade verde and one somewhat obscene-looking chile relleno, again on separate plates with piles of garnish. Both were very good. Mr Minx particularly enjoyed the chile relleno. We ordered a Caesar salad, too, because I thought a Mexican restaurant should be able to do that well. But not so much. It was a pile of romaine with some shreds of cheese on top, dense polenta croutons, and dressing on the side. The dressing was creamy and tasted strongly of anchovy. It would have been much better had the salad been dressed in the kitchen, because it's hard to get the right amount of thick creamy dressing on a plate of lettuce while using only a spoon and a fork. Honestly, people who order dressing on the side have ruined salads for many of us.

We also got an order of the carnitas, but by the time we got to them, we weren't very hungry anymore. It seems like every restaurant has its own unique way of making this meat dish, basically pork cooked in its own fat. The pork at Mari Luna was a little hard, as if the pork had additionally been fried or grilled after braising, and it had been tossed in a chile sauce. Pretty good, but not the best I've had. The sides of rice and charro beans were very good. (The whole reason to order so many small plates was to avoid multiple orders of rice and beans, which came with entree selections.)

The service was amazingly fast - food was on the table in no time flat, despite the restaurant being fairly busy. I think our server was amused that we had ordered so much, but he was very nice. We'll be back.

Mari Luna Mexican Grill
102 Reisterstown Rd
Pikesville, MD 21208
(410) 486-9910
mariluna.com


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Chicken Molé

We Minxes tend to eat dinner the way god intended - at the dining room table, with cloth napkins and real utensils. Very occasionally, however, we'll eat off of paper plates while glued to the basement television. Those occasions would be football games starting at 4:05pm and the Superbowl. If we're going to be paying more attention to the TV than the food, I think finger foods that can be prepped in advance are easiest to deal with. Bonus points if the items can be fully cooked during halftime! Usually, this means a pizza or nachos.

Nachos seem easy, but I tend to make a production out of it. If I'm lucky, I have leftovers that I can throw together, but even then I have to make a variety of salsas. Sure, I know I can buy salsa, but I really enjoy making them out of whatever I have on hand. For the most recent nacho feast, I made a salsa with canned tomatoes seasoned with scallions and smoked salt, a corn salsa, and one with fresh raw cranberries, honey, and lime juice.

I didn't have any leftover protein this time, so I poached several skinless, bone-in chicken thighs in chicken stock. I also made a kind of molé sauce to flavor the meat.

Molés are rather complicated sauces involving many types of chiles, nuts, and spices. I used what I had on hand and made a rather nice, mild, and non-sweet sauce that worked really well on the relatively bland chicken.

Fauxlé Sauce

1/2 cup chopped onion
olive oil
pinch salt
1 15oz can chopped fire roasted tomatoes
1 mulato chile, soaked in hot water until softened, destemmed, chopped coarsely
1 canned chipotle in adobo
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup blanched almonds, toasted and ground finely
1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons chocolate chips
1 tablespoon honey or agave syrup
salt

Over medium heat, cook the onion in the oil with a pinch of salt until onion is translucent. Add tomatoes, chiles, and garlic and simmer for about five minutes. Stir in the remainder of the ingredients and cook over medium-low heat for another 10 minutes. Add salt to taste.

Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Puree in a food processor or blender. Strain.

Makes one pint.

To use with protein: toss a few tablespoons with protein of your choice in a sauté pan; heat until warmed through. Or heat sauce and meat separately. :)

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Miguel's Cocina y Cantina

MinxEats is a proud supporter of Dining Out for Life and we did our part this year by dining out at Miguel's Cocina y Cantina, which offered 50% of their take to Movable Feast. We are big fans of Mexican food and Mr Minx and I looked forward to sampling chef owner Michael Marx's authentic fare from the moment I made our reservation.

Miguel's is in the hideous new Silo Point complex and is a bit hard to find, so thank goodness for the well placed signs and arrows. Once inside, we were taken to a tiny table across from a large bank of windows in the bar area. It was dark and gloomy outside, so unfortunately, it was rather dark and gloomy inside as well. And a bit noisy, despite the few other diners partaking of our normally early dinner hour.

While perusing the menu, we nibbled on a basket of freshly fried corn tortilla chips accompanied by two salsas - a tangy bright tomatillo and an almost creamy roasted tomato. I had a bad day and was in the mood for a margarita - the Miguel's, with Espolon Silver, Gran Gala, Miguel’s mix (simple syrup + fresh lime juice) really hit the spot. Mr Minx tried the Agave wheat beer, which was light and mild.

Chips and salsas and the Miguel margarita

While my mood was gloomy, the food definitely was not. Because the prices at Miguel's are reasonable and we wanted Movable Feast to get as much money as possible, we ordered three appetizers - the guacamole for two, the shrimp corn cakes, and the birria Guadalajara. The guac and corn cakes came out first, competing for space on the table with the basket of chips and salsa, and our beverages. The guac was nice and chunky, had a nice kick of heat, but was perhaps a tad too acidy for me. It came with fried flour tortillas, which were flaky and brittle and didn't work as well with the thick dip as corn chips did. The corn cakes were terrific - three delicate and fluffy discs topped with a scattering of very flavorful shrimp, some salsa fresca, and a drizzle of crema.

Shrimp with corn cakes

Guacamole for two

Our third appetizer, the birria, arrived with our entrées - enchiladas de pollo, and carne asada. My two large enchiladas were filled with pulled chicken bound together by a bit of cheese and were topped with a lake of molé negro. The molé was surprisingly mild and sweet, redolent of Mexican chocolate. Under the enchiladas were black beans and an arroz verde made with a pesto-like mixture of cilantro, basil, and pumpkin seeds that gave it a lovely nutty flavor.

Enchiladas de pollo

The carne asada - which also came with arroz verde and a pile of sliced zucchini cooked with achiote and a good dose of cinnamon (weird, but it really worked well) - was very tender and full of flavor. The molé Amarillo reminded me a bit of New Mexican red chile sauce, but with a brighter flavor. The components of this dish really worked well together - it was meaty, creamy, nutty, spicy, and tangy, all at the same time.

Carne asada

The birria had yet another, completely different, sauce, this one primarily tasting of dried chiles and cumin. Combined with the very tender, very lamb-y lamb, it seemed almost like an Indian dish. It was topped with a garnish of toasted almonds, which lent a pleasant crunch to the dish.

Birria Guadalajara

Finally, we ended up with two desserts, the churros, and a chocolate bread pudding, both accompanied by Taharka Brothers vanilla ice cream and a puddle of cajeta (goat's milk caramel - if you haven't tried this stuff, go find some NOW!). The bread pudding had a rather loose consistency, and was very moist and fudgey, but not overly chocolaty. The churros were even better, with super crisp, cinnamon sugar-dusted outsides and an almost creamy middle. Both were large enough to share.

Chocolate bread pudding

Churros

We were pretty happy with the goodies we sampled from the limited menu offered for Dining Out for Life and look forward to a return visit to taste some flautas, carnitas, and maybe a taco or two.

Miguel's Cocina y Cantina
1200 Steuart St
Baltimore, MD 21230
www.miguelsbaltimore.com
(443) 438-3139


Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

Chiles Rellenos - Yet Again

Our recent trip to H Mart yielded several types of produce, including some huge poblano peppers. These babies were HOT! After roasting them over an open flame (i.e. the stovetop) and allowing them to steam in a paper bag, the fumes that emanated as I peeled and de-seeded them made me literally gag. Ai chihuahua!

Considering I've posted about chiles rellenos several times already, you know I love making and eating stuffed peppers--as long as they aren't bell peppers. (If bell peppers ceased to exist, I would not miss them.) This time I stuffed them with the blue crab meat I had originally picked up to use with the rockfish. I eschewed the usual Maryland-style Old Bay-inflected mixture and instead added pinches of cumin and ancho chile powder and a wee bit of molé paste to an otherwise fairly typical crab cake base of milk and bread (also called a panade), egg, and mayo.

Rather than batter the peppers, I simply pan-fried them as-is in a bit of canola oil. They looked stunning, especially when topped with a bit of colby jack and cotija cheeses, a drizzle of sour cream, and placed on a bed of TJ's chipotle salsa, but somehow the flavors were off. The intensity of the pepper and the salsa made the crab seem fishy, although bites of the crab on its own tasted just fine. So, good idea, bad execution? Or just a bad idea? Regardless, I shan't attempt this combination again. Next time, I go back to a pork or chicken stuffing for my peppers. And hopefully they won't be as incendiary.

Leftover Tacos

We had tacos for dinner the other night, using up bits and pieces of leftovers: pork tenderloin from the weekend, and both black beans and reduced-fat sour cream from that brownie fiasco. I mixed the beans with the dregs of a bag of frozen corn and concocted a kind of warm salsa, seasoning it with cumin and both jalapeno and ancho chile powders. Three wilting scallions were also called into action that evening, as was a fresh avocado, TJ's Chipotle salsa, and some whole wheat tortillas.

As we were eating, Mr Minx remarked that he would have liked to know about doing something like this in his bachelor days, but back then, a "taco" to him involved one of those nasty u-shaped hard-shell things that come in a yellow box, filled with ground beef mixed with ultra-salty packaged seasoning. He knew of flour tortillas, of course, but never thought to use them at home for anything. They seemed to be the jurisdiction of restaurants specializing in fajitas and burritos. Now we eat flour tortillas all the time - usually filled with whatever might be hanging around in the fridge.

Long have I toyed with the idea of writing a cookbook on using leftovers creatively. There's no need to eat three-day-old pork tenderloin with the same sauce and sides it was served with originally! Use it in pasta sauce, or on pizza, or...in tacos.

Would anyone be interested in my book, should I ever write it?

Product of the Week - Charras Tostadas

I love to tinker with the flavors of Mexican and Tex-Mex foods, but like most average American home cooks, I don't want to fuss with making my own tortilla chips at home. Yeah, I know there are a zillion commercial brands available, but just about every one of them is too salty for my tastes - and I like salt - so I avoid them like the plague.

So what do I do when I want to make nachos? I grab a bag of Charras tostadas. The subtly spicy chipotle flavor is my favorite. When I make nachos, I break them up into wedges, but sometimes I leave them whole. I also like to use them as the basis for their namesake tostadas, eating them unbaked and covering them with a pile of shredded and sauced meats, salsas, guacamole, etc. Kinda like a flat taco, and marginally easier to eat than the American-style hard taco - a tostada doesn't automatically fall apart at the first bite.

They're pretty tasty on their own, too, especially with a nice margarita on the side. Mmm. :)

Soft Tacos

I'm always printing out interesting recipes I find on the Internet. I have a stack of paper 2" high that desperately needs a binder to keep it all organized. Maybe I'll have time during my holiday vacation (16 days this year!) to work on it. Or not.

One of those recipes was for soft corn taco shells. Kinda sorta tortillas. But maybe more like pancakes or thick crepes.

The first one I poured out ended up more like a gordita, so I used a lot less batter for the rest of the batch. They were kinda interesting - a little rubbery in texture and they needed a bit more corn flavor. But they did the trick.

I served them with some flank steak that had been marinated in my usual soy/ketchup/garlic/Worcestershire, plus a healthy dose of sambal oelek. And sautéed mushrooms and onions, plus a heaping spoonful of Trader Joe's corn and chile salsa. (So good - I can almost eat the whole jar in one sitting. Love the coriander seed and spicy kick.)

Kinda looks like Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors having lunch, doesn't it?

There are several "taco shells" left, and I might try melting some cheddar cheese on them and pretending they are "corn bread." Or not.

Re-rellenos

After my initial successful attempt at chiles rellenos, I tried again last weekend. Again with success!

Ok, so these don't look as pretty. But they tasted pretty darn good!

The chiles are stuffed with manchego cheese plus a minx-style picadillo of leftover pork rib meat, mushrooms, onions, walnuts, dried sweet cherries, green olives, cilantro. On the bottom of the plate is a molé, or rather, faux-lé sauce that I concocted by making a pretty standard red chile sauce and adding chocolate and almond butter (because dark molé has nuts and chocolate). It was a reasonable fascimile, if I do say so myself. The rice is mixed with onions and tomatoes, for a little acid to cut the richness of the other elements.

What should I stuff them with next time?

Fish Tacos

Fish tacos is one of those dishes I don't get. I find the combination of fish, shredded cabbage, and crema to be as bland as bland can be. But we had some mahi mahi in the freezer, so I thought I'd concoct a version that had some flavor.  

What you see below has mango/pineapple salsa, sliced avocado, scallions, and cilantro. The fish was dusted with cumin and pimenton before cooking.  And guess what - it was still bland. 

I'm stickin' to chicken in my tacos.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

So what are you going to do to celebrate this holiday which has little or no national significance in Mexico? Good thing we can't contract swine flu from cerveza!

And speaking of Mexican food - only on Facebook can one have a conversation with Olivia Newton-John about the price of avocados in Florida vs. Baltimore and New York and favorite ways to eat them...one of hers being guacamole.