Cilantro Pulled Pork over Polenta

Polenta is the new addition to my menu! I wanted to try it for so long, I didn’t even know what it was!? Well, to my education, it is just corn meal coarse grind. I was so surprised that being a Mexican, and corn being such an important part of our diet, we Mexicans do not prepare this kind of dish, or at least me and nobody around me don’t, it comes form the northern part of Italy. Its flavor is so mild that you can give any flavor you wish, depending what you want to pair it with. This time, I prepared without any addition, since I wanted to taste its true flavor. But I think you can add any spice and also you could add any sharp cheese. It might become americanized since traditionally it is served plain.

I prepared a pulled pork with a cilantro enhanced flavor and paired perfect with the polenta. Combination of cultures!!

CILANTRO PULLED PORK WITH POLENTA

Ingredients

Dry Rub Pork Ribs

Slow cooker is the best! This ribs are delicious and so easy to cook. Marinate them over night, and the next morning all you have to do is brown them, put them in the slow cooker and it does everything for you. I really like the process of slow cooking, it lets flavors penetrate deep into the meat, the meat remains juicy and it becomes so tender. Delicious! This time I prepared them with paprika to give them a spicy flavor and served them with some beans, some slices of avocado and a cauliflower “stake” (Stay tuned for that recipe too!).

DRY RUB PORK RIBS

Ingredients

Chicken with Leeks, Sundried Tomatos, Mushrooms and Rosemary

This recipe came out of the blue, and I really, really liked it. It has all the ingredients I like. As all my recipes it is simple, easy and delicious. The aromas while cooking and while eating are so great, I barely waited to be ready!

Plenty of vegetables, you can have your dinner prepared all at the same time. Better, slow cooker will do it for you!

 CHICKEN WITH LEEKS, MUSHROOMS, SUNDRIED TOMATOES AND ROSEMARY

ingredients

Lime Rosemary Chicken

 

Did I said I love my slow cooker? It is so convenient! It cooks for you. It let you do your thing while it takes care of dinner. This recipe is so easy and so delicious! Just put everything in your slow cooker and voila! after a couple of hours you have a delightful dinner!

LIME ROSEMARY CHICKEN

Ingredients

Balsamic Short Ribs With Butternut Squash Puree

 

I’ve been wanting to cook Short Ribs for a long time, but I just didn’t know what kind of seasoning to cook them with. I browse through the internet, but I didn’t want to add sugar, or wine or beer, and all the recipes that I found had one or the other. So I came up with this idea! And it came out absolutely delicious!

Crock pot is so convenient, I like it so much, just put all the ingredients and forget about it, until all the aromas find you! Give them a try, and let me know!

BALSAMIC SHORT RIBS WITH BUTTERNUT SQUASH PUREE

Happy Birthday Ricky!

Today is my son Ricky’s birthday. We had to celebrate it before he returned to Europe to join Cycling Team Roth-Skoda. To remind him we celebrated all the mexican flavors,  I’m posting this now, even though this happened 3 weeks ago. We all knew he will miss some good home-style beans. He asked me to prepare some “Enfrijoladas”.You can check how to prepare pinto beans on a previous post .

This mexican dish is similar to the enchiladas, but with a bean base salsa. Full of flavor, filling comfort food. This time I filled them with slow cooked chicken and cheese, but if you want to go vegetarian, you can omit the chicken and fill them just with cheese. Cotija cheese, mexican salty crumbly cheese, delicious. This cheese won’t melt, so you don’t have to fight the strings as you eat it (sometimes I do love filling my mouth with strings of cheese though).

You’ll enjoy them as much as Ricky did! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICKY!

ENFRIJOLADAS

Ingredients

Serves 2

Simply Beans

Beans and corn tortillas, the base in almost every Mexican family diet. Proteins are built by amino acids. Animal proteins are considered good sources of complete protein. Vegetable proteins are considered incomplete proteins because they are missing, or do not have enough of, one or more of the essential amino acids. But, when we combine in this case, pinto beans and corn tortillas we complete a protein, because what beans are missing, the corn provides. It amaze me that before the Spanish came to Mexico to conquer the Aztec Indians, they had the diet figured out. Mainly they ate fruits, vegetables, beans and corn. To the corn the indians did a special procedure called “Nixtamalizacion” which consist in cooking the corn in water with lime (cal in spanish). With this process they prepared the “nixtamal” (the dough to make tortillas). This way the corn becomes easy to digest and adds calcium to it. Sadly some mexicans have been switching the corn tortillas for bread and does not provide de same nutritious effect.

Beans are very easy to cook, consider cooking them instead of buying a can, You don’t want all the sodium in those. I cook them in the slow cooker, I remember my mother when I was growing up, cooking them over the stove in a clay pot. I don’t think she owns that pot anymore!  I cook a load, then divide them in 1 or 2 serving size portion plastic bags and freeze them.

So here in honor of the Aztec Indians, I cook beans for you!

PINTO BEANS

Ingredients

Different kind of tacos!

Because Luis and my husband Ricardo are home and I know they LOVE mexican food, I’m preparing this meat recipe for tacos. It is very flavorful, comfort food perfect for the cold weather! This kind is pulled beef with new potatoes in fresh tomato sauce. Very easy prepared in the slow cooker so you can enjoy family time!

All you need to do is season the meat, put it in the slow cooker and pour blended tomatoes. Go to the movies, go for a hike, or watch football with your family while it cooks!

Serve it with some vegetables, avocado, rice or beans, and if you are brave enough, go ahead and try the serrano chili that gave its wonderful flavor to the meat!

BEEF AND POTATO TACOS

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

Before Luis left

Well I am continuing with my children’s favorite dishes. What Luis likes the most is Mexican food! He loves any kind of “taquitos”. So last night before he left for school we had Pork Taquitos. Did I mentioned he is a soccer player? Yes, he plays for his school team, for a team in the city league and for an intramural team. So besides school, that keeps him very busy.

I like this kind of “taquitos”, because now that everybody is home, I don’t want to spend precious time in the kitchen, I rather be with them. So I prepared the meat before going to bed, in the morning I put it in the slow cooker and I can forget about it until dinner time! Isn’t that amazing? Because it slow-cooks, the meat is so tender, full of flavor with the mix of spices.

This is Luis, playing soccer of course

SLOW COOKER PULLED PORK

Serves 6

Ingredients