Lou's Most Excellent Breakfast Tacos

Few things other than this can start your day any better.

Breakfast tacos are a funny thing. They're either great or absolutely lousy, with the latter being the usual case here in DC (assuming you can get them to start with). Super easy to make, a taco like this is immensely satisfying. I ate two - I could'a eaten four more.

The tortilla is what really makes or breaks these things. Fresh, flour tortillas (fajita sized) work great. However, if you have access to fresh corn tortillas, give those a shot. We used a brand (corn) from La Tortilla Factory. They're the best packaged corn tortilla's I've come across.

Cooking potatoes for breakfast is also a pain: they take too damned long. Here I've made the potato chunks a little smaller and cooked with the onion, over medium heat and covered, to speed the cooking. It cut the time in half.

This is also a great breakfast to feed a small army who stayed over. Very scalable.

You can add other stuff to these things too. Breakfast meats (chorizo, breakfast sausage, ham, bacon) go great in them but don't go overboard - it's easy to over load these things.

[For four good sized tacos.]

5 eggs (I used 5 whites and one whole egg)
1 medium red skinned potato, coarsely peeled and chopped into ¼" chunks
1 small onion, cut into ¼" chunks
1 whole pickled Jalapeno (or 8 presliced ones), diced
1 TBS canola oil
½ can (8 oz) refried beans, reheated according to directions
Grated cheddar cheese
4 flour or corn tortillas
Salt & pepper
Picante sauce or favorite salsa

In a large, non-stick skillet, add 1 TBS of canola oil over medium heat. Add the the potato and onion, toss in oil, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, and saute for about 5 minutes uncovered. Add the Jalapeno pepper, toss, and cover with a small, domed lid and let cook for another 4 - 5 minutes.
Meanwhile....

Preheat (over medium) a small skillet that can hold the tortillas. As that's going on.....

Beat the eggs together with a pinch of salt and a few cranks of pepper.
When the potatoes/onions are done add to the pan and scramble together.

Reheat the tortillas in the small skillet, one at a time, and set aside covered in a clean kitchen towel.

Spread a layer of beans on the tortilla, top with a generous helping of eggs, and top with grated cheese. Add picante/salsa/hot sauce to your content.

Feed the dog when you're finished.

Lou's Most Excellent Easy Migas

"If that dog gets near my fuckin' breakfast I'm gonna kill him." - JKF, October 11, 2009.

My wife, JKF, has that in common with the dog b/c if you get near his breakfast he's likely to kill you too.

JKF also introduced me to migas, which is a Mexican style of scrambled eggs with tortilla's in them. It's a great way to use up staled corn tortillas...if you have them.

And most often, one doesn't. But tortilla chips work just fine.

I should not be eating eggs. If you haven't guessed it by the blog here, I pretty much eat anything with reckless abandon and I shouldn't. Eggs are LOADED with cholesterol. I mean, they're a cholesterol delivery vehicle. One egg gives you about 80% of your daily USDA recommended cholesterol intake. Now think about a three egg omelet with cheese, ham and fried in butter. Buttered toast on the side and you're done.

Egg whites, however, are virtually cholesterol and fat free. But they taste like egg whites and are watery and just ick scrambled up.

Compromise here: 2 parts egg white plus 1 whole egg. Sure, it's still running high with fat & cholesterol but tastes pretty damned good. In this recipe, which is for two, I use 5 whites plus 1 whole, which still works pretty well.

5 egg whites + 1 whole egg [extra large sized eggs], scrambled
3 TBS chopped onion
1 Jalapeno pepper, minced
1 big handfull of tortilla chips
¼ cup of cheese of your choice (fontina used here)
Canola oil
Salt & pepper

Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat. Add a TBS of canola oil to the pan and the onion. Saute for about 3 minutes. Add the Jalapeno and saute for an additional minute and then add the eggs all at once.

Let the eggs sit for about 30 seconds, just until it's solidifying on the bottom. Crush the chips with your hands and add to the eggs, continuing to cook the eggs the way you normally make scrambled eggs. With 30 seconds left on the clock, remove from the heat, add the cheese, toss to mix and voila.

You can eat these alone or put them in a tortilla to make a breakfast taco. Judy went for the taco but I went with a bagel on the side since they were fresh from the Old Georgetown Bagelry.

Lou's Most Excellent Spicy Tequila Succotash

I never say this when I make something before it's done, but while scooping this into the bowl - before I even tasted it - I said to Judy, "This is gonna be f'ing good."

Turns out I was right. So right that this morning Judy wanted this as her side dish for her sandwich this afternoon instead of Cheetos, which are pretty hard to pass up.

A lot of things went into this and I think some could even be left out if you don't have them, such as the parsley, chives, and Romano cheese. Otherwise this comes together pretty quick and is a different take on the classic succotash.

Two ears fresh corn
One medium zucchini
Two roasted Hatch or Anaheim chili peppers
One jalapeno pepper
3 TBS Tequila
1 TBS butter
2 TBS heavy cream
2 TBS grated Parmesan
1 TBS grated Peccorino-Romano
1 TBS minced parsley
1 TSP minced chives
Salt

Shuck the corn and cut off the kernels, set aside. Cut the zucchini in half, then quarter each piece and halve each of those; you wind up with each piece cut into eighths. Cut the inner wedge/seeds out of each by running a knife up each piece so you are only left with the skin of the zucchini with about ¼ inch of flesh. Dice the zucchini into corn-kernel sized chunks.

Remove the skins and seeds from the chili peppers; cut into dime sized chunks. Remove the seeds from the jalapeno and finely dice.

In a large, non-stick skillet heat to medium-high. Add the butter and allow it to brown, then add the corn and zucchini bits. Allow to sit for 3 - 4 minutes undisturbed, then quickly toss. Check to see that the vegetables are browning. If they aren't, let them sit longer prior to tossing. Do this for about 10 minutes; check for doneness by eating a corn kernel. Add the peppers when the corn is done and cook an additional 3 minutes.

Add the Tequila and mix, let simmer off for 3 - 4 minutes and then add the cream. Toss in the cheeses, mix, then add the herbs. Add salt to taste...in our case we didn't need any as all the flavors worked without the need.

Lou's Most Excellent Roasted Hatch Chilies

It's that MOST, won-der-ful tiiiiiime, of the year.....

It's Hatch Chili Pepper season and usually here in DC we get screwed on the deal: in the past we've smuggled them out of Texas by checking a case of them in as luggage...much to the strange stares of everyone.

But this year I FOUND some at Whole Foods and quickly swiped most of them up, screwing anyone else that might want some. So you may be asking, "Lou, what's so special about these Hatch Chilies?"

Well, it's a terroir thing: they only come from Hatch, New Mexico and there's something in the heat, soil, handling of Anaheim peppers there that turn them into Hatch Chilies. They're hot yet buttery smooth and form the foundation of all good things needing chili peppers. From enchiladas to scrambled eggs these things add that extra something special.

But before they can be eaten they must be roasted, and that's why we're here today.

Roasting Hatch Chilies, or any pepper for that matter, is pretty simple. You can do this in an oven, over a gas stove, or the real tasty way by over a raging fire. The fire is preferred because what you want to do is get the peppers to sear and blister; the skin of the pepper isn't too pleasant on the palate. Also, roasting them bring out their great flavors.

Wash the peppers first and get a kitchen towel that's soaked and squeezed damp in water. You'll need one towel per 10 peppers. Set up a little workstation as such:

With the fire now raging in the grill, put your peppers on. They'll start to pop and smoke up a bit almost immediately. You want to char these little bastards pretty good but not cook them through. All you're really trying to do is get the skins off. They're going to blacken pretty good but there will be some peppers - notably the curved ones - that just won't fully blacken in some parts. Don't force the matter because you'll wind up cooking it through instead.

When nicely toasted, place the peppers in the center of the damp towel and fold the towel over them in thirds. Soon you'll see steam coming off the towel and the smell of fresh roasted peppers will fill the air...even if you're outside. Allow the peppers to cool to room temperature underneath the towel. Start your next batch if you've got 'em.

When done, you can use the peppers immediately or store for later use. Prior to using the peppers you'll need to remove the skins, which should come just right off. If storing, put anywhere from 2 - 6 peppers in a Ziplock bag (skins on), remove as much air as possible, and freeze until you're ready.

Lou's Most Excellent Green Chili Mayo

This one is pretty simple, assuming you have some green enchilada sauce left over. This was pretty good, as evidenced by my finger in the stuff.

If you don't you could achieve a satisfactory result with the following:

1 small can of Hatch chili peppers, loosely drained
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ yellow onion, minced
¼ TSP salt
Up to 1 cup chicken broth
Corn oil
Flour

Sweat the onion in 3 TBS of corn oil until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic, saute for 30 seconds more, then add 1 TBS of flour. Stir until blended and pasty; thin to a gravy with the chicken broth. Add the peppers, loosely cover and simmer for 15 minutes on low heat.

The Mayo

½ cup of Enchilada Verde sauce or the above quickie sauce
1 roasted poblano pepper, peeled and seeded
8 - 10 pickled jalapeno slices
¼ mayonnaise

In a mini food processor add the sauce, poblano and jalapeno slices. Process until smooth and nearly uniform in color and texture, about 2 minutes. Add the mayonnaise and then process an additional 30 seconds.

Lou's Most Excellent Guacamole

What is guacamole?

For starters it's about 95% avocado. And that means if you've got crappy avocados you're going to get crappy guacamole. QED: you need great avocados. A great, ripe avocado is somewhat soft to the touch. The kind of soft that if you pinch too hard you get a little worried you damaged it.

That's a ripe-I'm-ready-for-guacamole avocado. Anything harder don't bother with. Really...and I'm sorry to say that if that's all you got...you ain't having great guacamole tonight.

Avocado's originate in the New World from the tree Persica americana. Avocado's are not a fruit but rather a berry: it's a long story and I'm not getting into it as it has to do with ovaries and such with plants. Speaking of "such," the word 'avocado' derives from āhuacatl, which is the Azetecan/Nahuatl word for 'testicle'.

Nice!

Anyways. There are two main types of avocados found in the US: Haas (the black, rough ones) and Fuerte (the big green ones with smooth skin). The Fuerte's tend to be much larger so adjust as necessary as this recipe is written for Haas berries.

3 ripe (and I mean ripe) Haas avocados
½ yellow onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Jalapeno, finely chopped
1 Roma tomato, seeded and chopped
2 TBS unsalted butter
Juice of one lime
Salt

In a small skillet sweat the onion with three big pinches of salt in the butter over medium-low heat. It should barely be simmering. You're goal here is to make the onions translucent without browning. This will take about 5 - 7 minutes. In the last 30 seconds add the garlic and Jalapeno.

Let cool to near room temperature, about 15 minutes.

Peel the avocados and put the pulp into a bowl. Add the onion mixture and lime juice; coarsely mix then add in the tomatoes. I like my guacamole with a few chunks of avocado in it and not fully pureed.

Add additional salt if needed.

To store the guacamole without it browning, put a layer of plastic wrap directly on top of the guacamole, trying to remove as much air as possible. Store in the fridge for up to two days; remove from fridge 30 minutes prior to serving.

Lou's Most Excellent Enchiladas Verde

This isn’t my dish – Judy got it from some guy named Ed Ward. But it’s her dish and I just started making it and ‘took’ it from her. It’s a slight issue between us. She’s probably fuming at the fact I’m calling it a Lou’s Most Excellent dish because I would have never gotten it if it wasn’t for her.

Judy? You there?

The recipe is on an old piece of oil stained yellow paper with near chicken scratch for writing. As the oil stained recipe condition indicates, this dish is an absolute mess. It’s also helpful to have someone help you when it comes to rolling the tortillas as it’s a) a lot of rolling and b) you can easily set up an assembly line (one person dips, the other rolls) to make it go by much faster.

If you’re tired of lasagna and looking for a casseroley thing to do try this. Note: this is a very spicy dish. If you find that the Anaheim’s and Poblano’s give enough heat, skip the jalapenos.

If you’re fortunate enough to have access to Hatch chili’s, definitely use those instead of the called for Anaheim’s. The Hatch peppers give the sauce a great, smooth-heat profile. Hatch’s are seasonal and pretty hard to find outside of the southwest US. We often pick up a case in TX and check them in as luggage on our trips to and from there.

In a departure from the original recipe, I add a half-pound of Poblano’s to give it some extra punch. I also add the garlic toward the end of the onion sweat; this helps preserve the garlic flavor rather than sapping it all out. I do this for all my dishes.

I’ve recently come across expeller pressed corn oil from Spectrum Naturals. The oil is really orange and not yellow like that near chemical-grade stuff. And guess what? It tastes like corn - really. If you can find this use it.

The flavor of garlic results from an aromatic compound called allicin, which is released from garlic when stressed (chopping, cooking, etc.) from the combination of alliin and an enzyme called alliinase. Generally, the more you cook an aromatic compound, the more you lose it: if you’re smelling your aromatics you’re actually putting your flavor into the air rather than keeping it in the dish.

This will likely yield more sauce than you need. Try remaining sauce in an omelet. Or over grilled chicken, on a grilled chicken sandwich, or even a burger. There's a lot you can do with this stuff so don't throw it out. This sauce also freezes well. If you're going through the effort you might as well double it and freeze the remainder. I do.

1 pound of Anaheim peppers, roasted, peeled, and chopped into dime sized pieces
½ pound of Poblano peppers, roasted, peeled, and chopped into dime sized pieces
2 jalapeno peppers, diced
1 medium yellow onion, chopped and diced
5 cloves of garlic, minced
20 oz of chicken broth
2 TBS flour
1 package (30 – 36) of corn tortillas
18 oz freshly grated Monterrey Jack cheese
Corn oil (a lot)
Salt
Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 for one hour.

In a large skillet add about 5 TBS of corn oil to the pan over medium heat. Add the onions plus two big pinches of salt and sweat for about 8 – 10 minutes, do not brown or come close to browning the onions. When the onions are nearly translucent add the garlic then 30 seconds later add the flour. Gently stir until slightly pasty, then slowly pour in 1 cup of chicken broth and stir until the flour is dissolved.

Add the peppers, stir and simmer for 20 – 30 minutes, uncovered. If the mixture is very thick add some more broth; it should have the consistency of a light tomato sauce.

In a small 6” skillet, heat one TBS of oil over medium heat. Once hot, dip a tortilla into it and push down with tongs until it starts to blister, about 5 seconds. Flip the tortilla and cook for 5 seconds more. Transfer the tortilla directly onto the sauce and gently flip to cover.

Place the tortilla in a 13 x 9 baking dish and add a good finger full of cheese, about ¼ cup. Roll the tortilla and move to one end of the dish. Repeat this process until the dish is full (about 20 – 25 tortillas). Add more corn oil as needed too (about every 4 tortillas).

[You can stop here and continue a few hours later if need be. Store the enchiladas in a fridge until ready.]

Cover the tortillas with remaining sauce and sprinkle any left over cheese on top. Place in the oven and cook uncovered for 15 minutes (if going from a cold plate cook for 30 minutes, covered for the first 15 minutes).

Lou's Most Excellent Margarita

Just about 99% of all Mexican/Tex-Mex/Bars that make a Margarita destroy it.  The history of how the Margarita came into existence is wrought with debate: no one really knows.  But here's what we do know:

THERE. IS. NO. MARGARITA. MIX. IN. A. MARGARITA.  

How "mix" came into it is pretty astounding considering that a Margarita only has three ingredients: tequila, orange liqueur, and lime juice.  I guess some marketing genius said, "You know, three steps takes too long.  People only need two steps: "mix" and tequila.  Plus, we got all that corn syrup laying around...."

From the Food Lovers Companion, a (if not the) definition of a Margarita:  a cocktail made with tequila, an orange-flavored liqueur (usually triple sec) and lime juice.

I saw a Margarita recipe once that had all the good stuff in it - and two other things - with one of the other "things" being Sweet & Low.  

Sweet & Low?!?!?!

Ingredients matter here as do all recipes when you have less than four of them.  For the below the recipe is given as "parts" so you can easily figure out how to scale it.  If you did it as "shots" you'd have one knock-you-on-your-back Margarita.

2 parts "good" (silver) tequila (Corazon, Patron, Herradura...)

1 part Cointreau or Grand Marnier

1 part fresh (and I mean FRESH) squeezed lime juice.

Put all ingredients in an ice filled shaker and let sit for about 1 minute.  Vigorously shake for about 30 seconds, strain into your favorite salt rimmed glass (or not) and you're done.  Garnish with a lime wedge if you've got some laying around.

Watch it with these though.  A - it's an expensive drink.  If you go and order it as above, you're likely to run up a drink that's going to cost near $20.  What's more sad is that your average bartender will look at you funny saying you want a Margarita made this way.  But B - this is highly potent.  You only need a couple of these before you're having a grand time.  So if making them by the pitcher for a party do warn your guests.  Otherwise you're going to have what looks like Sangria all over your floor....

You can experiment with this.  Say some aren't too fond of tequila?  Make the ratio 1:2:1.  It's a bit sweeter and still tastes great - I like tequila so I go with the 2:1:1 but for large groups I tone it down.  Figure what works best for you and I guarantee you'll never use a mystery mix again.