Cinco De Mayo

Holla Amigos, Feliz de Cinco de Mayo!

Tonight was a great night spent with friends. There is nothing more rewarding that spending time with those you love especially after a long hard day.

My buddy T Chan called me up yesterday night and said, "Hey what are you doing for Cinco de Mayo?" I was leaving work after a long day and hadn't really thought about it. So he invites me over to have dinner at his place with his girlfriend. (My thought... never pass up an invite from T Chan, my foodie/wino friend who always has a good time.) The two of them were planning to make chorizo and potatoes with green salsa.

By the end of the phone call it had turned into a dinner party of 6, at my place....

When I got home the plumber had come by to fix a leak in my bedroom, so all my stuff was piled up in my living room. Dinner location once again changed, to the Surf Club House. Let me tell you when I'm cooking there, my juices are flowing and I'm creating.

Tonight at dinner I made a quick salsa, cilantro couscous, and nopales. Kate whipped up an amazing chorizo and potatoes and green salsa. I managed to get the recipes from her. After our dinner and several Mexican beers I busted out the "A Day Without a Mexican". We need to get our country on lock down, take back our jobs.

Here's the recipes from tonight. I'll take pictures next time

Chorizo and Potatoes

1.5 lb Chorizo (from Bristol Farms)
1/2 onion diced and sauted
2 Pasillo Pepper
3 Yukon Golds

Saute onions, add chorizo, and cook till half way done, add sliced peppers. DIce the potatoes and cook them in boiling water. Mix the two in when each are done.

Green Salsa

8 tomatillos
3/4 cup cilantro chopped
2 garlic cloves sliced and caramelized
1 jalapeno

Husk and wash the tomatillos. Cover the jalapeno and tomatillos in Oil. Salt. Broil. Make sure to turn once so that each side is roasted. Start on High then switch to low. Saute the onions and when the tomatillos are done, blend everything together and chill. Add the cilantro when the salsa is at least room temp. Salt at this time, then allow it to finish chilling before serving.

Cilantro Cousous (Coucous is great because it takes only 5 minutes to cook)

1 cup couscous
2 cup water
1/2 cup cilantro
2 tspn chopped fresh oregano
1/2 red onion diced and caramelized
Juice of 1 large lime

Cook the couscous and stir in the rest. Salt to taste.

Quick Salsa

1 14oz can of diced tomatoes in juice
3 large cloves of garlic
1/2 onion diced and sauted
1 Jalapeno
2 tbspn of Jalapeno juice
1 cup of chopped cilantro
Salt

You can saute the garlic and onion if you want, but during the summer time I like to keep it fresh. Just dice everything and throw it in the blender. Don't blend it smooth but leave some texture.

Nopales

Harvest young pads that are full of spines from a prickly pear cactus. I used the sharp part of my knife to scrape off the spines. going along the direction of the spine growth... kinda like shaving. I still got spines everywhere. But definitely worth it. After despining them, wash them off. Dry them then coat them in some oil (I prefer canola due to its subtle flavor and high tolerance to heat). Grill for 5-10 minutes. Slice, salt and serve.