Salpicon ... Mimi Style!

Today's recipe is not mine.... My friend Mimi! She is a wonderful Mexican cook! And I love her wittiness and style! I am so happy I found her blog! If you know how to speak Spanish I am sure you will love it too: Me gusta cocinar pero odio lavar los platos (I love cooking but I hate washing the dishes) and she actually repeatedly refers to herself as "The lazy cook" ... So anyway.... Don't get discouraged if you don't speak Spanish! I am here to translate! And that's exactly what I am doing today... I am bringing one of her recipes to all of you! in English!

Today it will be "Salpicon" and it's delicious! as I've already explained (probably with all my recipes) each Mexican dish has its original foundation and flavors... BUT EVERY SINGLE FAMILY has their own version of it! Recipes in Mexico are usually not very "precise" they are transmitted from the older generations to the younger ones based on experience and it's all about your senses... When your "abuelita" or "mamá" (granny or mom) tell you how to prepare a dish they usually use phrases like "When it looks like this, when it tastes like this, when it smells like this and even when it sounds like this or that" so... Mexican cooking is all about feeling and experiencing through your very own palate, hands, eyes and ears! not so much about 1/2 tsp. of this or that....

Of course, we, modern cooks and bloggers are trying to put it all in a way where most people would be able to reproduce it... So ... here goes Mimi's version of Salpicon! I hope you enjoy it:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound skirt steak (cooked until tender in water with some salt and a big piece of onion and then thinly shred it with the help of a fork)
• 1 carrot thinly sliced (julienne)
• 1 potato cut into julienne
• 1 serrano pepper (roasted directly over the fire on your top stove, on the grill or on a flat pan if you don't have "Fire on your stove" and it's electric) make sure the pepper gets slightly charred - then thinly slice it -
• 1/2 white onion (sliced in circles)
• a little bit of vinegar (here we go, you see? It all depends on your taste, it's just for dressing)
• olive oil (once again, it's for dressing, so just eye ball it!)
• dried oregano (remember it has a strong flavor so it won't be more than 1 tsp)
• Salt and pepper (to taste)
• The ingredients above MAKE the salpicon but to eat it you will also need:
• Thinly sliced lettuce
• tostadas
• 1 avocado

Directions:
Mix the shredded meat, carrots, potatoes, serrano (green) pepper and the onion, mix the olive oil and vinegar separately (it would be about 1/3 cup) and add it to the meat and the other ingredients, season with a little bit of oregano, salt and black pepper to taste.

Then place it all over the tostadas and top it with lettuce and avocado (season again with a little bit of salt)

Enjoy!!!

Thank you for sharing this recipe with all of us Mimi!!!

Paloma.

Tostadas de Pollo

Hola amigos! I just want to give a quick update from my very Mexican Kitchen.... which is even more Mexican now that my mom and grandma' are here spending some days with us!

I haven't cooked anything! but I am still eating real Mexican food! From tostadas to a potato/carrot soup, it's been great! So I thought I should share a "Chicken Tostadas" recipe with all of you...

There are different ways to make chicken tostadas, these are the ones we had last week:

Ingredients:
(for 4-6 people)
- Corn Tostadas (12)
- 1/2 a can of Refried Pinto Beans (these brands are easy to find in USA and they are very good: "La Preferida", "Goya" "Adelita" "La Costena" "La Sierra"
- Cooked and shredded chicken (you can use leg quarters or chicken breast, or even mix the two) approx. 2 pounds. (just boil your chicken with enough water, salt, 1/2 white onion and 3 whole cloves of garlic, once it is cooked, let it cool a little so you can handle it and shred it)
- 3 red tomatoes (chopped or thinly sliced)
- chopped (in stripes I would say, julianne) lettuce (about 1/2 a lettuce, or more)
- 1/2 big white onion (chopped)
- 4 oz. queso fresco (Mexican fresh cheese, it's not too hard to find) (crumbled, you can easily crumble it with your fingers)
- 1 thinly sliced avocado (1 big avocado or 2 small ones)
- Mexican style sour cream (if you can not find Mexican style sour cream just use more queso fresco)
- Salsa verde (optional)
- Salt to taste

Directions:

- Spread a thin layer of the refried beans on all of your tostadas
- Add the shredded chicken (equally on all the tostadas)
- add the rest of the vegetables (lettuce first, then avocado, onions, tomatoes)
- Add the crumbled queso fresco and then each person can add the sour cream and salsa.
- Add a pinch of salt to each tostada on top and voila! You are set to go to have a wonderful Mexican meal!

Today we will be having "POLLO CON MOLE" for lunch... I will share the recipe with all of you soon! So, stay connected!

Provecho

Paloma.