Tag: Latin American
Mexican-Style Watermelon
Mexican-Style Watermelon
Once you eat watermelon the Mexican way, you’ll ask yourself where has this been your whole life. Chamoy is a Mexican hot sauce made for fruit. Tajin is a spice blend of dried chilies, lime, and salt. Together on watermelon, this will become your new addiction. This combination is also great on mangoes, pineapple, and other melons.
Ingredients
- watermelon sliced into triangles
- chamoy
- tajin
Instructions
- Cover both sides of the watermelon with chamoy.
- Sprinkle tajin on both sides of the watermelon.
Arrachera (Mexican Skirt Steak)
Serve the skirt steak on corn tortillas with cilantro, onion, jalapeños, and your favorite hot sauce.
Relleno Negro (Stewed Black Turkey)
Relleno Negro (Stewed Black Turkey)
I was just recently in Belize and my tour guide to the Mayan ruins was telling me about this dish called relleno. He was describing it to look like a pot of mud with shredded turkey in it. He said how flavorful it was and that I should try it out…so I needed to learn how to make it.Relleno negro originated from the Mexican Yucatán, but is also eaten in Belize and Guatemala. The paste is made out of charred arbol and ancho chilies, cloves, cumin, garlic, sour orange, oregano, and achiote. You can only find this paste in Latin markets if you’re not going to make it from scratch. I got mine in Belize for $1. Turkey gets simmered in this paste with giant egg yolk stuffed meatballs known as “the boot”. The turkey gets shredded and the meatballs sliced. The relleno negro is always served on top of tortillas. Not the prettiest looking dish but unbelievably flavorful.
Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 small onion diced
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- 1 small tomato diced
- 3 small sweet peppers sliced
- 2 quarts water
- 4 oz recado negro paste
- 2 bone in turkey thighs 3-4lbs total
- salt and pepper to taste
The Boot
- 1 lb ground beef or pork
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 small tomato finely chopped
- 1 egg
- 3 hard boiled eggs yolks and whites separated
- 3 sprigs epazote leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat up the oil in a large pot. Sauté the onions and garlic for 3 minutes over medium high heat.
- Add in the tomatoes and peppers. Sauté for 2 minutes.
- Pour in the water. Dissolve the recado negr0 paste. Add in the turkey thighs. Cover and simmer for an hour.
- While the turkey is simmering, separate the yolks from the whites.
- In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, chopped egg whites, the raw egg, onion, garlic, tomato, salt and pepper.
- Form into 3 meatballs; stuffing the yolks in the center.
- At the 1 hour mark, add the meatball’s into the pot with the turkey. Simmer for 1 more hour or until the turkey shreds off the bone.
- Season with salt and pepper.
Slice the meatballs and shred the turkey. Serve with tortillas.
Shrimp and Scallops in Garlic Sauce
Shrimp and Scallops in Garlic Sauce
This seafood dish is to die for and couldn’t be easier to make; ready in 8 minutes. Camarones y vieiras al ajillo are jumbo shrimp and scallops cooked in a rich garlic sauce. The sauce is made of butter, olive oil, crushed red pepper, parsley, and obviously a shit ton of garlic. The shrimp and scallops are sautéed in the sauce for 4 minutes, then plated; pouring the sauce over. You can eat these as an appetizer with fried plantains or as a main course with rice or pasta.
Ingredients
- 1 lb 16/20 count shrimp peeled and deveined
- 8 oz 10/20 count scallops
- 3 tbsp butter
- 5 tbsp olive oil
- 1 head garlic peeled and thinly sliced
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
- 3 tbsp parsley chopped
- salt and cracked black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Melt the butter into the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium low heat. Add in the garlic, crushed red pepper, salt and cracked black pepper. Sauté for 4 minutes, making sure to not burn the garlic.
- Increase the heat to medium high. Add the shrimp and scallops to the pan. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Flip the shrimp and scallops over. Cook for 2 more minutes.
- Add in the parsley and toss the seafood in the butter sauce.
