Pico de Gallo (The Rooster's Beak)

One of Mexico's favorite salsa, and a popular standard at any parillada (barbecue) is salsa fresca or salsa cruda, a raw salsa, known most commonly to us as pico de gallo. Literally, pico de gallo means the beak of the rooster, but that name is more of a sexual entendre than a description of the salsa. The others names, salsa fresca or cruda, are much more helpful...and appropriate for children.

Traditionally (or at least in my personal traditional experiences), pico de gallo is very finely chopped tomatoes, onions, jalapeños and cilantro with a squirt of lemon and a sprinkle of salt. I also find that pico de gallo is not an everyday table salsa, but is definitely served steak-side at every barbecue that I've ever been to. (That is why I chose this recipe for today, the official start of BBQ season. Happy Memorial Day, my fellow gringos!)

Ingredients
8 roma tomatoes
3 medium sized white onions
4 jalapeños
1 large bunch of cilantro
the juice of 3 limes
1 1/2 Tbsp. salt

Directions

1 - Slice open the tomatoes and remove the seeds. Chop into tiny square pieces.

2 - Chop the onions into tiny square pieces.

3 - Chop the jalapeños (seeded or unseeded - your choice) also into tiny square pieces.

4 - Chop the cilantro (no stems) into - surprise, surprise - tiny pieces.

5 - Toss all the ingredients thoroughly.

6 - Add the lime juice and salt. Toss well again.

7 - Serve steak-side with warm tortillas and grill cheese (that's queso asadero, not a grilled cheese sandwich).

**Important Note - Pico de gallo is not an exact recipes. The general guideline is that there should be equal amounts of chopped onion and tomato, but everything else is to taste.**

Taquitos

When I was in college and working at Barnes and Noble, I arrived home after midnight with one thing in mind - taquitos! Five nights a week for four years, I came home from work to 4 frozen taquitos (and usually a slice of buttered bread, but that's irrelevant). And nothing could have been better for dinner than those frozen taquitos from Costco (El Monterrey is the best) - the true staple of my college life. Like most American interpretations, this delicious take involves the unauthentic taquito filling of chicken and Monterrey Jack cheese.

What we see as taquitos are really a cross between Mexican taquitos and flautas, but here in Mexico there is a difference. Real taquitos, or taquitos dorados, are corn tortillas tightly wrapped around a chicharron or mashed potato filling and simply served with a salsa borracha (tomato sauce, cilantro, jalapeño, onion). Flautas, on the other hand, are fatter, have a variety of fillings and are served as an actual dish with the typical Mexican garnishes - lettuce, crema and queso fresco. But flautas will be for another day because I have tortillas and leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge.

These are delicious and easy and versatile. If I had known how cheap and easy, I would have tried making these a long time ago. So many wasted meals.

Ingredients
25 fresh corn tortillas
2 cups prepared mashed potatoes
vegetable oil, for frying

Directions

1 - Find a shallow, square dish that fits into your freezer. (Very important!)

2 - Put a small spoonful of mashed potatoes on a warm, fresh tortilla (should be flexible) near the edge. Shape it into a thick line, about 1 cm thick and 2 inches long.

3 - Roll the tortilla tightly around the line of mashed potatoes, and place it firmly seam side down in the square dish.

4 - Repeat until there are no more tortillas or mashed potatoes. Pack the taquitos tightly in the dish so that they cannot open.

5 - Put the dish of taquitos in the freezer, uncovered, for about an hour.

6 - Fill a deep pan with about 2 inches of oil. Heat over a high flame.

7 - When oil is hot, place taquitos into the oil one at a time, seam side down. Hold each one still for about 20 seconds, so that the seam sets, and your taquito does not burst open. Repeat until there are no more taquitos.

8 - Allow taquitos to drain thoroughly.

9 - Enjoy plain or dipped into some salsa borracha (to be posted in the future, or I guess you can look it up somewhere else....no, wait, do not look somewhere else).

Tacos, the Mexican Treat

Sorry! It's been a while (for those of you who follow - Katie), but I had been experiencing, trying and failing to make one of my Mexican City street favorites - gorditas de chicharon - at home to share with you. After each failed attempt, I went to the corner instead to indulge myself in some professionally made street food.

Of course, the standard and most well-known street food is the taco. And, apart from that one Taco Bell in Monterrey, tacos in Mexico are not what the average gringo thinks they are. First, there is no hard or soft option - tacos are built on soft corn tortillas. Period. I have never seen shredded chicken or ground beef as the meat topping; a shaved pork (al pastor), tripe or pig head are much more common - and extremely popular. As for toppings? Raw onion and cilantro come on the taco, liquid salsas and limes on the side - that's it.

Unfortunately, because I suffer from coda-ness (being cheap), I rarely enjoy the overpriced tacos of Mexico City and instead opt for a torta or the aforementioned gorditas (bang for buck options), when I'm craving street eats. However, when I go to the casi-pueblo of Martinez de la Torre, tacos with cheese are always my first night meal...and my last night meal. And since I'm usually only there on the weekend, it's technically what I eat for dinner every night, a taco-filled vacation. But it has to be that way - I have to fill up while I can. (Martinez de la Torre - 8 tacos al pastor con queso and onion for 35 pesos; Mexico City - just 1 taco al pastor con queso and onion for 20 pesos. No, that doesn't even come close.)

American Enchiladas

A couple of weeks ago (before I totally slacked off for my pretty lame spring break), I wrote about my reluctance to try authentic Mexican enchiladas - and these delicious American impostors were the reason. Not only are they quick, simple and delicious, but they're also a taste of nostalgia for me. Enchiladas are one of the five meals in my house that didn't come out of the freezer or a nearby restaurant. They're my go-to comfort food for girls' night in. This is the first meal that I cooked for my authentic Mexican boyfriend (and he loved them, by the way - traitor).

This meal is also an homage to some of the best supermarket ingredients out there - without which, these enchiladas would not be possible. The most important element is Old El Paso Hot Enchilada Sauce....ok, maybe Medium or Mild, if you really can't handle it. My favorite (and only) filling is chicken, but my family frequently fills them with refried beans or occasionally Steak'ums. Fill them as you please; it's not really the filling that matters anyway - it's all about the sauce and the cheese!

Ingredients
6 fajita-size flour tortillas (Mission)
1 1/2 cups shredded chicken (from a $5 Costco rotisserie chicken)
2 cans Old El Paso Hot Enchilada sauce
4 cups shredded cheese (Kirkland Fancy Shredded Mexican 4 Cheese Blend)

Directions

1 - Preheat the oven to 375*.

2 - In a glass enchilada dish (as we call them in my family, but it's just a 9"x13" glass tray), empty one can of salsa and cover the bottom completely.

3 - Put 1/4 cup of chicken onto each flour tortilla. Roll them up and place them into the salsa-lined dish, seam down.

4 - Cover the enchiladas evenly with the rest of the sauce.

5 - Sprinkle the cheese on top until the enchiladas are smothered.

6 - Bake in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until the cheese is melted, bubbly and a little crunchy around the edges.

7 - Serve with white rice or Chi-Chi's corn cake and chow down. If any are left, they make great leftovers (that's a big if!)