I was in the mood for Mexican. My favorite. I hunted the strange grocery store for all the ingredients. Even found the cilantro, was very pleased with that.
I chopped tomatoes and made black bean corn salsa, okay so there were no black beans, but kidney beans were a good substitute. Couldn't find any hot peppers, so I bought a can of verde sauce that had hot peppers in it and sprinkled some of that in the salsa. Not quite the zest of fresh summer peppers but it worked okay.
Zapped a can of beans in the food processor to turn them into refried beans (that was a suggestion I got from Doc a long time ago). I spiced them up with garlic, onions, more verde sauce. Pretty good.
I made my favorite homemade cooked sauce. I couldn't get the salt right. It seems like the sea salt I'm working with isn't as salty or something. It was a pretty close proximity to what I was after though.
I didn't have a shred feature on the food processor so I hit the white cheddar cheese from England with the regular blade. It turned the cheese into tiny clumps but it would crumble apart. When I go to buy my own food processor, I will check for a cheese shredder option.
We sat down to eat this burrito/mexican concoction with fresh tortillas made in Espana. About $5 for a dozen or so! And a bag of tortilla cheese chips. The chips were okay, the cheese flavoring didn't really have anything but color to it. I prefer plain chips for a meal like this anyway. They weren't very salty either, but they tasted crunchy with the sauce. The tortillas sadly leave something to be desired. Stiff and papery and not really much of a flavor to them. After all I'd put into the meal, the tortillas just weren't up to snuff. We still enjoyed our dinner though and have left overs for tomorrow. Especially lots of tortillas.
Speaking of tortillas - here is an update on the home front.
ReplyDeleteYou know the Mexican Price Chopper in Roeland Park. They just opened the new Price Chopper next to the old one and I asssume they will soon tear the old one down.
Anyway, we visited the new one last Friday and they have a Tortilla factory on the inside, where they make fresh tortillas everyday.
Oh, the variety!
The Mexican food was great - but the tortillas were made for endurance. To all of you who are in KC - get down to the Price Chopper and enjoy!!!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a lot of the food is similar out there, but not quite as strong. Does that sound about right?
ReplyDeleteNot as strong, and similar but definitely not the same thing. Everything I make right now is approximates - especially since I don't have my cookbooks!
ReplyDeleteAll this talk about beans, cheese and tortillas are making me hungry for Chipotle.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you are experimenting with food. You make it sound good!
Ahh...I remember the days of "border runs" after the library closed, back in college. They better never tear down the T. Bell on Glenstone....lol! (I know its not the real mexican, but it worked great on our budget)
ReplyDeleteOMG I want Mexican for lunch!!!
ReplyDeleteMaybe we'll end up at Dos Reales this evening....
I imagine you could look up a recipe on the internet and make (then fry) your own tortillas. Probably cheaper and much better. The ingredients should be fairly standard.
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