Street Tacos with Restaurant-Style Salsa

This is "Sarah's Salsa Recipe" for Restaurant-Style Salsa:

Throw the following ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until the salsa is of the consistency that you like (I like it in tiny, tiny bits):

2 (14.5 ounce) cans of diced tomatoes

1 1/2 (10 ounce) cans of diced tomatoes with green chili peppers

2 tbsp lemon juice (Adrienne's note: I used lime juice)

1 fresh jalapeno chopped (Adrienne's note: The salsa is VERY spicy if you leave in the jalapeno seeds)

1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 large yellow onion, chopped

3 drops hot pepper sauce

1 clove garlic, minced

Street Taco Recipe:

The key to authentic tasting Street Tacos is the tortilla. Mercado de la Raza sells 5 dozen fresh corn tortillas for $5.50. They're located at 1315 South Beretania Street. Take two of these tortilla shells, warm them with a little bit of oil in a saucepan, then fill with your favorite meats and toppings. We filled ours with lime-marinated flank steak, sour cream, cilantro, and the restaurant-style salsa.

The recipe for flank steak appeared in an earlier blog post, here: http://greenivoroushawaii.blogspot.com/2011/03/lime-marinated-steak.html.

You could also make a nice guacamole for your tacos. The recipe for guacamole appeared in an earlier blog post, here:

http://greenivoroushawaii.blogspot.com/2011/02/guacamole.html

TGIF Cilantro-Lime Dressing

This recipe comes from allrecipes.com. This dressing is a little on the sweet side, but I imagine it would go well over a salad with grilled chicken, roasted corn, black beans, avocado, red onion, and cilantro.

Ingredients:

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped

1 clove garlic

3/4 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root

1/4 lime juice

1/3 cup honey

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1/4 cup packed cilantro leaves

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions: Place the jalapeno pepper, garlic clove, and ginger into a food processor or blender; pulse until the jalapeno and garlic are finely chopped. Pour in the lime juice, honey, balsamic vinegar, and salt, add the cilantro leaves; pulse a few times to blend. Turn the food processor or blender on, and slowly drizzle in the olive oil until incorporated unto the dressing. Season to taste with salt before serving.

Mojitos, Mo' Problems!

Willie's Mojito We first had mojitos in Key West (at Turtle Kraals) in 2001. Willie the bartender has recreated the recipe here: Muddle some mint leaves at the bottom of a shaker container. Add in some crushed ice. Throw in a jigger of Bacardi light rum. Throw in an equal amount of simple syrup (1 part white sugar and 1 part water, dissolved on the stove). Squeeze in some lime. Shake!!! Pour into drink glass, top with club soda, and garnish with lime and mint sprig.

Shrimp Ceviche

Willie made a delicious ceviche a month ago (see "Cod and Clam Ceviche," adapted from "Red Snapper Ceviche," recipe here). This time around, we experimented with a fine, fine dice on all of the ingredients. The result is a delicate ceviche that can be eaten with tortilla chips as if it were a salsa-- a chunky, protein-filled salsa. Here is the recipe we adapted, from simplyrecipes.com:

Ingredients:

1 lb medium-small shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 tbsp salt

3/4 cup lime juice (juice from 4-6 limes)

3/4 cup lemon juice (juice from 2-3 lemons)

1 cup finely chopped red onion

1 serrano chile, ribs and seeds removed, minced

1 cup chopped cilantro

1 cucumber, peeled and finely diced

1 avocado, peeled, seed removed, and finely diced

Directions:

1. In a large pot, bring to a boil 4 quarts of water, salted with 2 tbsp salt. Add the shrimp and cook for 1 minute to 2 minutes max, depending on size of shrimp. (Overcooking the shrimp will turn it rubbery). Remove shrimp with a slotted spoon and place into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking.

2. Drain the shrimp. Cut each piece of shrimp in half or into inch-long pieces (Adrienne's note: even on the shrimp, we did a fine dice-- about 1/4 inch). Place shrimp in a glass or ceramic bowl. Mix in the lime and lemon juice. Cover and refrigerate for a half hour.

3. Mix in the chopped red onion and serrano chile. Refrigerate an additional half hour.

4. Right before serving, add the cilantro, cucumber, and avocado.

Serves 4-6.

Lime-Marinated Steak

Lime-Marinated Steak Marinate over night a 3 lb flank steak in a combination of the following, enough to cover it: shoyu, olive oil, Montreal seasoning, red pepper flakes, steak sauce, Sriracha sauce, and the zest of one lime. The next day, grill it in a Foreman grill for five minutes. This steak was cut against the grain and served with massaged kale salad (recipe here) and garlic-parmesan-cream mashed potatoes. To make the mashed potatoes, boil 2 Idaho potatoes until fork-tender. In a separate saucepan, heat up 1 tbsp olive oil, saute two minced garlic cloves, and add in 1/2 cup cream and 2 tbsp butter. Reduce over medium heat. Melt in 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese to thicken the sauce. Mash the potatoes into the cream-butter-garlic-parmesan sauce. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste.

Mom's Chicken Enchiladas

Mom's Chicken Enchiladas

This recipe is from Eating for Life by Bill Phillips, p. 114. So this is Bill's Mom's recipe, not either of our mom's. This is Willie's specialty dish. We used three MA`O ingredients for this dish: Tahitian limes, baby Romaine heads, and green onions. It was delicious, as usual.

Ingredients:
4 portions chicken breast (about 1 lb)
4 green onions, sliced
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
3 cans (10 oz each) green enchilada sauce
8 corn tortillas
1 cup reduced-fat cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups lettuce, shredded
1/2 cup salsa
1/2 cup light sour cream
1 tomato, diced
1 can (2 oz) ripe olives, sliced

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a 9" x 13" baking dish with cooking spray.

2. Place chicken breasts in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until no longer pink in the center, about 15 minutes. Drain and let cool slightly. Shred cooked chicken by pulling apart with 2 forks; set aside.

3. Lightly coat a large skillet with cooking spray and place over medium-high heat. Add green onion, cilantro and jalapeno; saute for 2 minutes. Add shredded chicken and 1 can of enchilada sauce. Cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through, about 5 minutes.

4. Pour the 2 remaining cans of enchilada sauce in a medium bowl and microwave until warm, about 2 minutes. Dip each tortilla in the heated sauce and fill with about 1/8 of the chicken mixture. Roll up and place, seam-side down, in the prepared baking dish.

5. Pour remaining heated sauce over enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese. Bake until enchiladas are heated through and cheese is melted, about 15 minutes.

6. Divide lettuce onto four plates and place a portion of enchiladas on top. Top with a spoonful of salsa, a dollop of sour cream, tomatoes, and olives. Serve and enjoy!

Adrienne's note: We also like a squeeze of lime on our Mexican dishes.

Lime and Tonic

From time to time, I like to go alcohol-free. Here is a good drink to make when you still like the ritual of unwinding at the end of the night with something in a long-stemmed glass. Just squeeze some Tahitian lime into a glassful of tonic water. The lime is so fresh and fragrant that adding gin to this drink would be an unnecessary distraction.

Cod and Clam Ceviche

Adapted from "Cherry Snapper Ceviche," recipe from Executive Chef Roger Ruch of the South Beach restaurant, 1220 at the Tides. The original recipe can be found on page 139 in The South Beach Diet book by Arthur Agatston.

Ingredients:

1 box of "Steamers in Ten" clams from Costco, cooked then shelled

2 cod filets in large dice, bought frozen in a bulk bag from Costco

3 limes, fresh juice of

1/2 teaspons sambal oelek

2 ripe Roma tomatoes, medium dice

1/2 yellow Spanish onion, medium dice

2 1/2 tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped

Kosher salt

Black pepper

Directions:

Soak the diced fish and shelled clams in 3/4 of the lime juice for three hours. Drain off the liquid and discard. Mix the fish and clams with the sambal oelek, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and the remaining lime juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. The fish is cooked by the lime's acidity rather than by heat. Serves 4.

Guacamole

Guacamole Recipe (from Willie and Adrienne)

Two avocados, pitted
1/4 white onion, finely chopped
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tomato, seeded and diced finely
half a bunch of cilantro, leaves and stems finely chopped
juice of one MA`O lime
salt and pepper
5 dashes of hot sauce (like Tabasco)

Mash the avocado up (we use a potato masher), then stir in the onion, garlic, tomato, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper, and hot sauce.