Jalapeño - Cheddar Sausage Soft Tacos with Chioggia Beet Salsa

I've been making a lot of comfort food lately, and I wanted to change things up a little. I had some jalapeño and cheddar sausages, and I thought they would make great tacos. I shredded some Napa cabbage to go on top. I made a salsa with chioggia beets, lime juice, cilantro, and onion to go with. I had made some ancho chili polenta the other day, so I sliced that thin and fried it up. I made some black beans with onion and cumin as a side. I warmed up some flour tortillas to wrap everything in.

The sausages were Johnsonville Jalapeño & Cheese Smoked Sausages. I liked them. They were moderately spicy, and the cheese kept them moist. I sliced the sausages in sixths lengthwise, then into thirds, to make little fingers. I fried them until brown over medium-high heat.

For the beans, I started with a can of Bush's Seasoned Recipe Black Beans, then added 1/4 onion, diced, 1 teaspoon cumin, and a pinch of salt.

The polenta I had made earlier in the week, thinking I would use the sausages, when a friend called and wanted to do dinner before flying out of  town. So, the polenta got stored in the refrigerator for later. I'm inherently lazy, so wanted to find a method to make polenta in a rice cooker. I found this recipe, which was my inspiration. I mixed water, polenta, cumin, ancho chilies, and salt in the rice cooker. It cooked perfectly. Since I could not use it the day I made it, I stored it in a rectangular container, and it firmed up nicely. I popped it out of the container, and sliced it thin. I fried the slices in a tiny bit of olive oil over medium-high heat, until golden brown.

Recipes

Ancho Chile Polenta

1 cup polenta
3 cups water
3 dried ancho chilies, de-stemmed, de-seeded, and chopped
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt

Place all ingredients in a rice cooker. Switch to cook. When the cooking cycle is complete, let stand on warm 10 to 15 minutes, until it is the consistency you want. The longer you wait, the thicker it gets. If stored in the refrigerator, it will firm up enough to slice.

Chioggia Beet Salsa

3 small chioggia beets, finely diced
1/4 medium yellow onion, diced
2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
3 tbsp. lime juice
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt

Place diced beets in a small sauce pan with enough water to cover. Simmer over medium-low heat until tender, about 3 - 5 minutes. Drain, run under cold water to cool. Mix all ingredients, let stand in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Happy Eating!

 

Grilled Lime Chicken Soft Tacos and Mexican Rice

Our CSA has provided us with an abundance of peppers, tomatoes, and tomatillos over the last few weeks, so I thought a good Mexican meal would help use up some of that. As well, a friend gave us a pile of limes from her tree as well. Some were what you expect limes to look like, small and green. A few, however, looked like lemons; large and yellow. Scratch them, and they smelled of lime.

The lime marinated chicken came out moist and tangy. I got a good sear, and great grill marks. Slicing it across the grain ensures that it will be tender. After turning of the gas to the grill, I used the residual heat to warm up the fresh corn tortillas from my local tortilleria.

I made salsa verde, which I love, with the tomatillos.  I had a pile of wonderful cherry tomatoes from the CSA, so diced those up. I had some mixed sweet peppers, no idea what varieties other than pale yellow, orange, and bright red. I grilled those, to get a nice char on the outside, and then sliced them in thin strips. I also included some chopped cilantro, sliced avocado, and a couple of lime wedges, just in case.

Instead of sour cream, I used fat free Greek yogurt. It works really well, having a great mouth feel and tang, and being healthier, to boot.

I am generally not a fan of Mexican rice, as served at most restaurants. I haven't worked out what they do, but there is always an off taste to me. So, I thought I'd try my own, see how it came out. I'd recently tried it in a rice cooker, and it was better flavor wise, but the texture was off.  I was determined to get it right.

My recipe is based on this one from the food.com website, which has an average rating of a smidge under 5 stars, with nearly 500 reviews. It deserves it! The method is flawless, most of my changes are out of frugality, the ingredients I had to hand, and preferred flavor profile. It produced the best Mexican rice I've ever had. Part of that may be ingredients.

For the tomato puree, I used a couple of largish yellow heirloom tomatoes, and 3 or 4 small red ones, all at the upper edge of usable ripeness. I used serranos instead of jalapenos, because that's what I had, but the flavor was great. I cut way back on the cilantro, as I didn't want it to be the dominant taste. Finally, I pureed the tomatoes and onion a little at a time to creep up to 2 cups, rather than make more than two cups and throw away the extra, as recommended in the original recipe. Just seemed wasteful to me. Rinsing the rice did seem to produce a wonderfully fluffy rice. I found that the aroma of the toasting rice was heavenly.

Recipes

Grilled Lime Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
zest of one large lime
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. dehydrated onion
1/2 tsp. dehydrated garlic
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. cumin

Place all ingredients in a sealable storage bag. Remove as much air as possible. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Remove breasts from marinade, pat dry. Grill until done. Rest meat for 5 minutes, then slice thinly across the grain.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde

1/2 lb. tomatillos, hulled and washed
1 serrano chili
1 shallot, diced
1 Tblsp. diced cilantro
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
juice of 1/2 a small lime

Cut tomatillos in half; place cut side down on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Place under a low broiler until soft, and slightly browned, about 3 - 5 minutes.  Let cool. Roast serrano chili over a burner until charred. Cool, remove skin, seeds, and inner membranes. 

Place tomatillos, chili, cilantro, salt, and lime juice in a blender.  Blend on low until smooth.

Mexican Rice

8 -12 oz. ripe tomatoes, cored
1 small yellow onion, diced
3 serrano chilies
2 cups long grain white rice
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 Tblsp. minced garlic
2 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 Tblsp. chopped cilantro

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a blender, process onion on, adding tomatoes a few at a time, until you have 2 cups puree.  Remove stems, seeds, and inner membranes from serrano chilies, then mince. Place rice in a strainer, and rinse until water runs clear, 1 - 2 minutes. In a large ceramic lined cast iron pot, heat vegetable oil over medium high heat for two minutes. And rice, fry about 8 minutes, until translucent and lightly toasted. Add garlic and serrano chilies, fry and addition couple of minutes. Turn heat down to medium low, and puree and stock. Just bring to a boil, then put on the lid, and place in oven. Bake about 25 minutes, until fully cooked.  Stir at the 15 minute mark to incorporate everything evenly.

Happy Eating!