Tag: main course
Birria Enchiladas
Birria Enchiladas
I had previously made birria tacos and made way more than I needed. So I froze down the leftovers for later use, which led me to now: behold the birria enchilada. The leftover meat was put into a corn tortillas with chunks of mozzarella, then bathed in the birria broth. I topped it off with more cheese and baked it for 20 minutes until the cheese was bubbly. Easily the best enchiladas I’ve ever eaten.
Servings: 12 enchiladas
Ingredients
- 2 lbs birria meat
- 2 cups birria broth
- 12 corn tortillas pan fried for 1 minute to make pliable
- 8 oz block mozzarella cheese cut into 12 equal wedges
- 4 oz monterey jack cheese shredded
Garnish
- white onion finely chopped
- avocado sliced
Instructions
- Place 2 heaping tbsp of birria meat across the center of a corn tortilla. Top with a chunk of mozzarella cheese.
- Tightly roll up the enchilada. This recipe yields 12 enchiladas.
- Place all of the enchiladas seam side down in a 9×13 glass baking dish.
- Pour the birria broth over the enchiladas.
- Top with more cheese.
- Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.
Birria Tacos
Over the last 6 months, there has been a huge trend in the Mexican culinary world. All of a sudden, every Mexican restaurant is carrying birria tacos. So what is a birria taco? Birria originated from the Mexican state of Jalisco; also home of pozole and menudo. It all started with caldo de birria, a meat stew in a pepper broth. Traditionally goat and lamb are used, but beef can be substituted. I used a combination of all 3 meats. Corn tortillas are dipped in the birria broth, then assembled with the meat, onions, and cilantro. The tacos are folded over and grilled on a griddle until they are crispy. The tacos are served with a side of the birria broth to dip the taco in; just like a French dip sandwich. I chose to use an Instant Pot to make the birria. It only took 90 minutes to prepare. You can make this in a Dutch oven or a crockpot if you don’t have a pressure cooker. It will take anywhere from 4-6 hours to get the meat tender enough to shred. Either process will get you the same results.
Servings: 24 tacos
Equipment
- food processor
- instant pot
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs beef chuck cubed
- 1 beef shank
- 1 1/2 lbs bone in goat shoulder cubed
- 1 lamb shank
- 3 dried ancho chilies
- 6 dried guajillo chilies
- 3 roma tomatoes
- 1/2 medium white onion sliced
- 6 garlic cloves
- 4 whole cloves
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 tsp Mexican oregano
- 1/2 tsp marjoram
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1/2 cup vinegar
- salt to taste
- 2 cups water
- corn tortillas softened
Garnish
- white onion finely chopped
- cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Dry toast the dried peppers in a sauté pan over medium heat for 5 minutes.
- Place the peppers in a bowl of hot water for 20 minutes.
- Dry toast the cumin seeds, cloves, and cinnamon stick for 2 minutes. Remove from the pan.
- Dry toast the tomatoes, onions, and garlic for 10 minutes.
- Place the rehydrated roast peppers, tomatoes, onion, garlic, whole spices(except the cinnamon stick), oregano, marjoram, vinegar, and salt in a blender.
- Purée until smooth.
- Arrange all of the meat in a glass baking dish.
- Pour the sauce from the blender over the meat. Cover with foil and marinate overnight in the refrigerator.
- Place all of the meat and sauce in the Instant Pot along with 2 cups of water. Toss in the cinnamon stick. Turn the function to pressure cook on high for 90 minutes. Put on the cover and push start.
- Remove all of the meat and bones from the Instant Pot.
- Keep all of the birria juice warm.
- Pick out all of the bones from the meat. Place the meat in a large sauté pan over medium high heat.
- Cook down the meat until the majority of the liquid has evaporated.
Birria Taco Assembly
- Dip the softened corn tortillas in the birria juice.
- Top the tortillas with the meat, onion, and cilantro.
- Place the tacos on a griddle over medium high heat. Fold the tacos over.
- Grill the tacos for 3-4 minutes a side until the tortillas are crispy.
Smoked Turkey Pot Pot Pie
Smoked Turkey Pot Pot Pie
Happy 420 2021! I have something really special right here. Pot pot pie. Yes, you read that right. Pot pot pie. Made with smoked turkey and homemade smoked turkey stock; and maybe a stick of green butter. Not only is this pot pot pie unbelievably tasty, it will seriously fuck you the fuck up. Like enough to hallucinate fucked up. You can definitely use whatever protein and stock you’d like; chicken, pork, beef, lamb, fish, or even just veggies would all be delicious. If you have the time, you can make your own pie crusts with 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/3 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 egg yolk, and 8 tbsp of cold butter; mixed together in a standing mixer and rolled out. But honestly, there’s nothing wrong with premade crusts. Before you consume this pot pot pie, make sure you are aware of how strong your butter is. Mine uses 1/4 oz per stick, which is quite a lot. Especially when you eat half of the pot pot pie and realize that you just consumed an 1/8.
Ingredients
- 1 stick 420 green butter
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 2 ribs celery diced
- 2 medium carrots peeled and diced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tsp thyme
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 cups turkey stock or chicken
- 1 lb smoked turkey breast or thigh; chopped
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 3 tbsp parsley chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 pie crusts pre-packaged
- 1 egg beaten with 2 tbsp of milk
Instructions
- Melt the green butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat.
- Sauté the onions, celery, carrots, garlic, and thyme for 6-7 minutes.
- Whisk in the flour. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Pour in the stock and milk. Bring to a boil and continue whisking for 2 minutes.
- Mix in the turkey, peas, and parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a round baking dish. Line the baking dish with one of the premade pie crusts.
- Pour in the pot pot pie filling.
- Place the other crust on top of the pie. Crimp the edges of the crusts with a fork to seal. Cut a small vent in the center of the pie crust.
- Brush the entire top crust with the egg wash.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until the crust is browned and flakey. Let rest for 15 minutes before serving.
420 Butter
Caution when consuming this. This butter is extremely strong. I put a melon ball sized scoop in my Potato Poblano soup I was eating and was fucked up for 18 hours.
Equipment
- Ardent Nova Decarboxylator
- Magic Butter machine
Ingredients
Decarboxylation
- 1 oz greens, stems and all
The Butter
- 1 oz decarboxylated greens
- 1 lbs unsalted butter
Instructions
Decarboxylation
- Using the Ardent Nova Decarboxylator, add your greens. Don’t break up the buds. Leave in any extra stems. You want to use everything. This machine only holds 14 grams, so you’ll have to do this process in 2 batches.
The Butter
- Using the Magic Butter machine, add all of the greens and 1lb of butter. I let the butter sit out for half a day to soften to room temp.
- Put the cover on the Magic Butter machine. Set the settings to Butter, 160 degrees. This will take about 2 hours to make. Let the magic happen.
- After the 2 hours are up, let sit for a couple of minutes. This butter is very hot.
- Strain the butter through the mesh butter trainer that came with your Magic Butter machine. Make sure to wear the food gloves that came with the machine. You are going to want to squeeze out as much of the butter as possible from the greens.
- Save in a container. Keep in the fridge. If you aren’t going to use all of the butter within a month, keep it in the freezer.
Smoked Turkey Breast
When I see a bone in turkey breast on sale for $.99/lb, I hop on that shit. You can pay up to $10/lb for good quality smoked turkey deli meat; so why not make it at home for a fraction of the price. Even if you don’t have a smoker, you can still brine the breast and roast it in the oven at 325 degrees for 15 minutes per lbs. The internal temp needs to read 165 degrees.Most bone in turkey breasts will weigh between 6-8lbs. For maximum flavor, I like to brine my turkey breasts for 12 hours; pretty much overnight. The turkey breast will need to be pat dry and let to rest at room temp for at least an hour before smoking. If you want to add anymore seasonings to the outside of the breast such as Cajun, lemon pepper, mix herbs, honey, etc, do so now. I left mine plain since there is plenty of flavor in the brine.The nice thing about poultry is that it will take on the flavor of whatever wood chips you choose gor smoking. I used a combination of oak and cherrywood. Smoke the turkey breast at 250 degrees for 3 hours. At the 3 hour mark of smoking, use a probe thermometer to monitor the internal temperature in the thickest part of the breast. You want the thermometer to read 165 degrees. Depending on the size of the breast, this can take an additional 15 minutes – 1 hour. Let the turkey breast rest for 30 minutes before serving.
Equipment
- Electric Smoker
- Probe Thermometer
Ingredients
- bone in turkey breast 6-8lbs
Brine
- 1 gallon water
- 1 cup sea salt
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 head garlic minced
- 1/2 medium onion chopped
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- 1 tbsp thyme
Wood Chips
- oak wood chips
- cherrywood chips
Instructions
- Mix all of the brining ingredients together. Place the turkey breast in a gallon sized storage bag. Pour in the brine. Brine for 12 hours.
- Pat the turkey breast dry with paper towels. Let sit at room temp an hour before smoking.
- Preheat your smoker to 250 degrees according to the manufacturer’s directions. Place the turkey in the smoker. Smoke for 3 hours.
- At the 3 hour mark of smoking, use a probe thermometer to monitor the internal temperature in the thickest part of the breast. You want the thermometer to read 165 degrees. Depending on the size of the breast, this can take an additional 15 minutes – 1 hour.
- Let the turkey breast rest for up to 30 minutes before slicing.
Homemade Turkey Stock
Wait a minute. Hold it right there. Are you really going to throw away that turkey carcass? That carcass still has much more to give. What you really should be doing is turning that carcass into a batch of turkey stock. I couldn’t be easier to make and is a great substitute for chicken stock. I honestly think that it has a lot more flavor than chicken. If you don’t have a carcass, you can make stock out of wings, drumsticks, necks, and backs.There are a couple of different approaches to making your turkey stock. The most basic way to make stock is to throw the carcass, your mirepoix(carrots, celery, and onion), garlic, peppercorns, and bay leaves into a pot of water and simmer it for hours; which is this particular recipe. If you want really extract the flavor from the carcass, place your carcass on a baking pan and roast it at 400 degrees for 1 hour. While that is roasting, sauté the mirepoix and garlic in the stock pot. Doing both of these steps will result in a richer, darker turkey stock. Personally, I don’t like to add any salt to my stock. I adjust the saltiness when I’m cooking with it; just in case another ingredient happens to be salty.When you’ve finished reducing the stock to your likeness, strain through a colander. I like to nibble on any leftover meat that was attached to the carcass. If not using within a few days, freeze the stock down into ice cube trays and store in freezer bags.
Ingredients
- turkey carcass
- 3 carrots cut into sticks
- 3 ribs celery cut into sticks
- 1/2 medium onion
- 1 head garlic
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 gallon water
Instructions
- Place the turkey carcass in a large stock.
- Add in the vegetables, peppercorns, and bay leaves.
- Pour in a gallon of water. Turn on high heat. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 6 hours.
- You will want to reduce the stock by at least half. I reduced a gallon down to 6 cups.
- Strain the stock of the carcass and other ingredients.
Xinjiang Cumin Lamb
Xinjiang Cumin Lamb
North Western China has a Muslim population of about 20 million; where lamb is quite popular. Cumin lamb is one of the more commonly eaten lamb dishes. Cubes of lamb are stir fried with onions, garlic, ginger, and dried red chilies. The lamb is seasoned with cumin, Sichuan peppercorns, and chili flakes; ready in under 10 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless leg of lamb cut into cubes
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp shaoxing cooking wine
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
Spice Mix
- 2 tbsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp chili flakes
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground Sichuan peppercorns
Stir Fry
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup dried Sichuan chilies
- 1/2 medium white onion sliced
- 6 garlic cloves sliced
- 1 tbsp ginger minced
- 1 cup cilantro roughly chopped
Garnish
- toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Marinate the lamb with the soy sauce, cooking wine and salt for 30 minutes.
- Pour out the liquid and coat the lamb in cornstarch.
- Heat up 2 tbsp of cooking oil in a sauté pan or wok over medium high heat. Add the lamb, sautéing for a minute a side. Remove from the pan.
- Pour in the rest of the cooking oil. Sauté the onion, ginger, garlic, and dried chilies for 1 minute.
- Add the lamb back into the pan. Season with the spice mix. Sauté for 1 minute.
- Turn off the heat. Stir in the cilantro.
