<p>We usually use the famous Ninfa’s recipe for green sauce in our family. Killer good, can’t be improved upon. Also, whenever available, used Texas 1015 onions when making pico do gallo.</p>
<p>Ninfa 's Green Sauce </p>
<h2>Ingredients</h2>
<p>3 medium-size green tomatoes – coarsely chopped
4 tomatillos (Mexican green tomatoes with husks) – cleaned and
chopped
1 jalapenos – stemmed and coarsely chopped (1 to 2)
1 small garlic cloves
3 medium-size ripe avocados
4 sprigs cilantro
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sour cream (can use light or fat-free)
Tortilla chips </p>
<p>Combine tomatoes, tomatillos, jalapenos and garlic in a saucepan.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until
tomatoes are soft. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Peel, pit and slice avocados; set aside. Place tomato mixture,avocados,
cilantro and salt in a food processor (you may need to do this in batches).
Process until smooth. Pour mixture into a large bowl. Stir in sour cream,
cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Serve in small bowls with chips.
Promptly refrigerate leftovers. Makes 4 to 5 cups.</p>
<p>And for queso…this is one of those recipes that kinda evolves on the stove top…</p>
<p>Saute green onions or sweet 1015s and chopped jalapenos in about a half stick of butter, add a big container of processed cheese like Velveeta, add ‘half and half’ until mixture is desired thickness, add freshly chopped tomatoes to taste. If you like cilantro throw a bit of that in as well. How much tomato, jalapenos, cilantro depend on personal preference. Add white pepper, but no need to salt; the processed cheese and chips have enough salt. </p>
<p>For variety, scramble and cook well mild breakfast sausage or chorizo. Add to the above queso dip. (We prefer the breakfast sausage.) This is a favorite when we have people over to watch football games.</p>
<p>I think we are going to be trying the casserole tonight, so I’ll let you know how that goes! :)</p>
<p>My fiance was wondering if anyone has a good recipe for taco seasoning. We are getting sick of the packaged seasoning. We know it involves cumin, garlic powder, and chili powder, but we were wondering if there is anything special in it and what proportions to use.</p>
<p>BTW, since this is a “beginner” Mexican thread, maybe we should start with clinatro. The stuff invariably is loaded with sand. There is only one way to really wash it.</p>
<p>Fill a large bowl or pot with cold water. Dump in the cilantro and swoosh it around with your hand. Let it stand for a minute, then lift the floating cilantro out from the top. Dump the bowl of water and accumulated sand than has settled to the bottom. Then repeat with a fresh bowl of water. </p>
<p>There is no other way to get the sand out. Just rinsing the bunch of cilantro under the faucet won’t do it. You’ll end up crunching on sand in whatever you’ve added the cilantro to.</p>
<p>If you like green salsa try this recipe
Roasted Tomatillo salsa
1.5 lbs of fresh tomatillos. Remove the outside husk and wash off the sticky coating
4 cloves of garlic peeled
large onion cut in large chucks
as many jalapeno’s or serrano’s as you think you can handle. I don’t like it to hot so I use 2 or 3 jalapeno peppers
a bunch of cilantro
Broil on a jelly roll type of pan the tomatillos, garlic and onions and peppers till charded.
In a blender put all the vegetables and add the cilantro. Blend.
I don’t like it to hot so I also take the seeds out of my peppers before blending.
You can serve it hot with burritos or cold.
I also use it to make chicken enchiladas. When I make the enchiladas I sometimes add a little chicken broth to the salsa.
I discovered this recipe when I picked up on a whim at the garden store a tomatillo plant. It grew like a weed and I needed to find something to do with all the tomatillo’s. I don’t have a green thumb and was pleasantly surprised at how easy they were to grow.</p>
<p>Guaranteed winner! Pozole/Posole is a Mexican style soup that’s a meal in itself. </p>
<p>POZOLE</p>
<p>1 large head garlic
4 cups water
10 cups chicken broth
2 pounds country-style pork ribs
1 tablespoon (or more) dried oregano (preferably Mexican), crumbled
2 dried New Mexico red chiles
One teaspoon Pimienta Roja
One teaspoon California Chili powder (or any chili powder)
1/2 large white onion
3 teaspoons salt
30-ounce can white hominy (preferably Bush’s Best)
8 corn tortillas
about 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
Accompaniments:
diced avocado
thinly sliced iceberg or romaine lettuce
chopped white onion
diced radishes
lime wedges
dried oregano
dried hot red pepper flakes </p>
<p>Peel garlic cloves and reserve 2 for chile sauce. Slice remaining garlic. In a 7- to 8-quart heavy kettle bring water and broth just to a boil with sliced garlic and pork. Skim surface and add oregano. Gently simmer pork, uncovered, until tender, about 1 1/2 hours. </p>
<p>While pork is simmering, wearing protective gloves, discard stems from chiles and in a bowl combine chiles with a cup of boiling-hot water. Soak chiles, turning them occasionally, 30 minutes. Cut onion into large pieces and in a blender purée with chiles and soaking liquid, reserved garlic, and 2 teaspoons salt until smooth. </p>
<p>Transfer pork with tongs to a cutting board and reserve broth mixture. Shred pork, using 2 forks, and discard bones. Rinse and drain hominy. Return pork to broth mixture and add chile sauce, hominy, and remaining teaspoon salt. Simmer pozole 30 minutes and, if necessary, season with salt. Pozole may be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered. </p>
<p>While pozole is simmering, stack tortillas and halve. Cut halves crosswise into thin strips. In a 9- to 10-inch skillet heat 1/2 inch oil until hot but not smoking and fry tortilla strips in 3 or 4 batches, stirring occasionally, until golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer tortilla strips with a slotted spoon as fried to brown paper or paper towels to drain. Transfer tortilla strips to a bowl.
Serve pozole with tortilla strips and bowls of accompaniments.</p>
<p>Try seasoning your ground taco meat by going the fresh route. You really don’t need the seasoning if you use fresh garlic, chopped fresh jalapenos or other chili peppers (canned is okay), chopped fresh tomatoes (again, canned Rotel is okay) and then add spices like comino(cumin), salt, pepper… I also blend ground pork with the ground beef sometimes.</p>
<p>It’s a different flavor if you are accustomed to the taco seasoning in a pouch…but I much prefer my tacos this way. My husband hits his tacos pretty hard with the picante sauce, so if you like more heat you can always do that as well.</p>
<p>And it’s really worth the effort to fry your own corn tortillas for tacos. I grew up on home fried (soft and/or crunchy) tortillas…and we didn’t have the fancy tortilla tongs to shape them either. Box tortilla shells can’t compare.</p>
<p>Helpful Hints…We also keep box of latex (or nonlatex) surgical gloves in the kitchen to use when chopping fresh peppers. This is especially important if you wear contact lenses. And to get the garlic smell out of your hands, rub them on a stainless steel surface, like a sink. It’s an absolute miracle how well this removes the smell.</p>
<p>BTW…Amen on the cleaning cilantro. You have to soak it to get it clean. I do the same with romaine lettuce.</p>
<p>I was chopping a habanero a few weeks ago without gloves, and got some pretty nasty burns on my hands, and (of course) rubbed my eyes about five times over the course of the night. Owwww.</p>
<p>Oh, man…habaneros chiles are dangerous. Wash hands, cutting board, and knife IMMEDIATELY after chopping those things. You have to be seriously careful with those babies. Serranos, too…but nothing like habaneros.</p>
<p>BTW, fresh habaneros chiles freeze really well. If you buy a package, just put the extras in a baggie in the freezer. You can grab one and chop it frozen for salsas.</p>
Ooooooooooooh!!! Be sure to come back and let us know how you liked it! It was one of the top stars in Cooking Light’s 10th Anniv. magazine back in 1997 because despite its ease of preparation, it looks GORGEOUS and tastes wonderful. I like to serve it with homemade fresh salsa and chips, either regular or baked (the kids like to scoop up the casserole with them!). I also like to garnish it with red onion rings and fresh cilantro.</p>
<p>Meanwhile I’m taking some SERIOUS notes on this thead! Mexican food is a personal fave of mine, along with Mediterranean and shellfish of any kind!</p>
<p>jmmom~
My guacamole is also legendary (no sour cream either), but that will NOT stop me from trying yours!</p>
<p>And I’ll third the glove dealio! Eyes and peppers do NOT mix!</p>
<p>Adding black bean paste and/or oyster sauce (usually in the international aisle of your grocery store is a big help.</p>
<p>I don’t think this one is too authentic (I got it from an Anglo in New Mexico), but it’s pretty tasty:</p>
<p>4Tb powdered chili
2 Tb. lard or bacon fat
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp bullion
1 tsp flour
water</p>
<p>Melt lard add chili and flour stir 1-2 min. over med. heat. Add oregano, bullion and water till it’s a thin sauce.</p>
<p>1 doz. corn tortillas
1 pt sour cream
5 green onion chopped
1 tsp. cumin
1 cup mild cheddar cheese</p>
<p>Heat tortilla briefly fill and roll up with rest of ingrediants. Stack in a casserole. Sprinkle with a little more cheese and pour remaining sauce over.</p>
<p>Bake at 325 degrees 20-30 min.</p>
<p>Another little trick when I’m too lazy to make homemade salsa is to chop up cilantro and add it to store bought.</p>