Showing posts with label Mexican. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mexican. Show all posts

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Carnitas Burrito Bowl

The beauty of the burrito bowl is its flexibility to accommodate different tastes of people sitting at your table. For the vegetarians, lose the meat, add more beans. For the manly men, get a burrito wrap and make a full burrito. For the low carb people, go easy on the rice. For the conscious of their diet, such as I, the desired portions of carbohydrates, vegetables, protein, and dairy that are sought after can be fulfilled, simply by adding more or less into the bowl.


My burrito bowl consisted of shredded pork carnitas (see the slow cooker recipe here), rice, pico de gallo, black beans, cheese, and cilantro with a dollop of sour cream and hot sauce. The reasons for these choices was because they were easily at hand. I had tried to also add an avocado, but was not fully ripened yet. I also considered adding bell pepper, but not all people at my table digest that well. Additionally, I thought about adding roasted corn, but my desire for lowered carbs kept this from the choices.



Here is a list of ingredients you may want to consider adding when building a carnitas burrito bowl:
  • ·        Avocado
  • ·        Guacamole
  • ·        Salsa
  • ·        Roasted Corn
  • ·        Roasted Bell Peppers
  • ·        Diced Jalapeno Peppers
  • ·        Pickled Jalapeno Peppers
  • ·        Black Olives

 
Bowl Construction Steps:

1. Add the rice.
2. Add the carnitas.
3. Add the pico de gallo and black beans.
4. Add the cheese.
5. Top with chopped cilantro, sour cream and hot sauce.
6. Give a little stir and enjoy!

Friday, January 3, 2014

Pork Carnitas in Slow Cooker

Tomorrow I have a date night with my Mom for dinner, so I will be leaving my husband alone for dinner. Normally, I would say that he can fend for himself because he is truly capable of culinary genius. However, he has to work the midnight shift so and I feel like a bad partner when I leave him hanging.

Therefore, to get out of the sticky situation, I made a large meal so he could eat the leftovers tomorrow. Since I have been on a slow cooker kick, I thought that I would make pork carnitas. Carnitas are my favorite thing to order in my burrito at Chipotle. I am definitely a pork fan, and when it can be mixed into fresh Mexican food, I am all for it.



I googled many recipes for carnitas and took my favorite aspects out of them to create the recipe below. I chose the ingredients that were my favorite and I knew would not get lost in the cooking process. I also considered the cooking time. My slow cooker always seems to cook quicker than the recipes call for, yielding extremely dry meat. My cook time below is based on my slow cooker. Most recipes recommend cooking the meet on high for 4-6 hours or on low for 6-8 hours.

I was overly pleased with this recipe. The majority of the meat was tender and juicy, with shredded crisps to bring out smoky flavors. I am looking forward to using this recipe to eat standing alone, or adding it for other Mexican creations. Keep posted for new ideas!


Pork Carnitas Recipe

Yields 4 servings

Ingredients
1 14 oz can Chicken Broth
2 lbs boneless pork shoulder
1 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tsp dired oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 onion, coarsely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1 orange, cut in half
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Directions

1. Pour the chicken broth into the slow cooker.

2. Rinse and dry the pork shoulder. Trim any excess fat. Mix together the salt, pepper, oregano, and cumin. Brush the pork with olive oil, then rub the spice mixture into the meat.

3. Place the pork in the slow cooker and top with the onion and jalapenos.

4. Squeeze the orange halves over the pork, then place the halves next to it.



5. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours (see my cooking note above)

6. When the meat is tender, remove from the slow cooker and let cool for five minutes. Then, pull apart and shred the pork with two forks.



7. In a large pan, heat the vegetable oil over high heat. Press the carnitas into the oil and fry until crisp on one side. Break crisps apart to desired width.


8. Serve and enjoy!

Saturday, June 22, 2013

El Tapatio

Style: Mexican
My Rating: 4/5 Stars 

Website: None

Likes: Friendly Service, Fun Décor, Ranchero Sauce

Dislikes: There were no dishes with chorizo listed on the menu, food was a little over salted

We were going to see World War Z at the Regal Cinemas at New Town, in Williamsburg, VA. For over a year, we have walked by El Tapatio and said, “We should go!” but we never did. This is partly because there is a decent Mexican Restaurant close by called Plaza Azteca. The tinting outside of the restaurant is also very dark and you cannot see it as you walk by. This did not necessarily intrigue me and heighten my interest in eating there.

As we walked into the restaurant, we were greeted by very loud Mexican music with lyrics in Spanish. Initially I thought that the music was overly loud, but my husband said that he liked it because it drowned out potential drunks and sports commentary. There was a soccer game on the TVs posted, and everyone can understand how those soccer fans can get!

A nice host promptly brought us to a large booth, with dark wood and white cushions. We were greeted by a server who gave us a large basket of standard tortilla chips and sides of salsa and ranchero sauce. I was pleased that almost as soon as were almost done, the server came and replaced both the chips and the two sauces.

Brad ordered the Chile Colorado. It came out on a large plate with refried beans and rice. We loved this and think that it has been the best chile colorado that we have tried on the eastern end of Virginia. There was nothing fancy about how it was plated, but it didn’t need to be. The chile was spicy with small chunks of jalapenos and cilantro. The refried beans were, in the words of my husband, “standard beans with nothing fancy to mess them up.” They were just as he liked them.



I ordered the Soft Beef Chimichangas. The beef was so tender and soft, falling apart when taken from its wrap. It appeared to have been slow cooked for hours. There was a spicy cheese topping that was thinner than most cheese toppings at Mexican restaurants. I liked it immensely because it had more flavor and was not as gloppy. My sides were Mexican rice and guacamole salad. The Mexican rice was very tasty, but over salted. The guacamole was very fresh and the tomato was not over hard. It was pretty standard, but I was pleased.



And just in case the meal is a little to salty for you, they give you GIANT water glasses.



Now onto dessert. My husband loves churros, so we shared one order. He is usually very patient with me as I make us pause to take pictures of our food for this blog. However, at the moment I went to take the picture below, it was like I got between a mother bear and her cubs. There was fury and there was almost rampage. Therefore I took the picture below very quickly…. Hence the blur.




The best part about our churros dessert was that it came with caramel sauce. Picture a stick of deep fried dough that is slightly crunchy on the outside, and soft on the inside. It has been drizzled with chocolate sauce, and then you can dunk it in thick, gooey caramel. Yup, just a little bit of PMS heaven.


Saturday, April 27, 2013

Chuy's

Style: Mexican
My Rating: 5/5

Websitehttp://www.chuys.com/#/menu


Likes: Two meals worth of food, CAKE, neon signs and pink walls, CAKE, good recommendations from the server, CAKE, visible prayers, CAKE

Dislikes: Mandatory valet parking. Really?

We pulled up to the parking lot at Chuy’s (pronounced Chewy’s) and were flagged down by a bunch of adolescent boys. If we wanted to park outside of the restaurant, we had to participate in complimentary valet parking. It wasn’t a huge inconvenience, but we had no singles to tip the teenagers. If you decide to check out this place, and you definitely should, bring teen tip money!

We sat down at a table in a restaurant that was packed at 4:00 on a Saturday afternoon. That sheer amount of people is always a good sign at such an off time. There were lots of families, some younger couples, and a mish mosh of others. We were greeted by a friendly server who brought us a couple of cervezas. As I sipped a Negra Modelo, I noticed a sign that said Hecha a Mano, meaning handmade, since every food item is made by hand at this restaurant. They also have bright pink walls, fake palm trees, and great oldies music to listen to. 




One thing that took us by surprise was that the silverware was wrapped in a paper packet that guaranteed their sterilization. The next weirdest thing, was that the back of the paper packet had prayers on them for Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish religions. Although I am not institutionally religious, I admire that there are different prayers of thanks that were presented.




Next we snacked on homemade tortilla chips. They were extraordinarily thin and were paired with fresh salsa made with limes and cilantro. These chips were the best I had ever had and the taste of the salsa made me want to drink… a lot. I had visions of sitting on a back porch with the salsa and a beer in some hot summer heat with just one bite.




Our entrees greeted us on very large plates overflowing with sauces and aromas. Brad ordered the Elvis Presley Memorial Combo, which came complete with a Beef Tex-Mex enchilada, cheese Ranchero enchilada, chicken Tomatillo enchilada, seasoned ground sirloin crispy taco & homemade tostada chips dipped in chile con queso. I snuck a bite of the cheese ranchero enchilada, which was a mouthful of elastic cheese that laced my mouth with flavor and grease. The chicken tomatillo enchilada was also a bite of Mexican goodness, with a tangy verde sauce that cleansed the palette from previous bites. 




I ordered the Comida Deluxe Combination, because I wanted to try a bit of everything. I am just saying that on an empty stomach, I could not finish this entire meal. It came with Cheese Tex-Mex enchiladas, chicken flautas, a seasoned ground sirloin crispy taco, guacamole & homemade tostada chips dipped in chile con queso. The chicken flautas were smaller than I was used to seeing and at first I was unimpressed. Then I crunched through the crispy shell and tasted a smoky chipotle sauce that was to die for. Plus, those tostada chips with the chile con queso were my favorite thing on my dinner plate. I could eat a whole meal of these. The queso was slightly spicy, but had a salty, smoky chipotle taste that oozed over the crisp tostada.




The best part of this whole meal came last. We decided to grab a dessert because it was our first time there. We thought we would split some churros, but they did not have them. Our server recommended the Tres Leches cake, so we ordered it. I think my eyes must have doubled in size when this came out. It was a huge square portion of cake, with a caramel topping and some strawberries. It had been soaked in sweet milk, which trickled to the bottom. The entire cake laid on a bed of vanilla cream, which tasted as though it came directly from the bean and the cow that morning. Upon one time, my mouth was greeted by a symphony of moist cake, thick vanilla cream, and a crisp and sweet strawberry slice. It was absolutely breathtaking. 




By the time we went to check out, were stunned that we had two large entrees, a dessert, and two beers for under $35. When we walked out around 5 pm, this place was packed. We could barely make it to the door. However, if I had the chance to be stuck here with Tres Leches cake, I would have no qualms about not being able to get home.