Mexican inspired

Roasted corn salad

- Roasted corn removed off the cob, leftovers that have been in the fridge are great and because it's cold easier to slice too.

** to make the corn I soak it in it's husks in a large pot of salted water and then grill it until it's steamed and the inside is slightly charred, then enjoy with butter or seasoning of your choice.

- Black beans (canned or fresh, I always use fresh beans which means soaking the night before and boiling/simmering until tender)

- Chopped tomato, red onion, jalapeno, chopped cilantro and extra for garnish.

- Chopped roasted red pepper (options, but I had some on hand)

Dressing:
- Lime juice

- Crushed garlic

- Olive oil

- Salt

- Dash of cumin


Flank steak tacos

1 flank steak rubbed with fresh garlic, season with salt, pepper, paprika and oregano. Let it marinade and come to room temperature then oil the grill and the meat and grill on the bbq until both sides are very browned and charred/roasted. Remove and let rest then slice it very thin.

To prevent it from curling up on the grill slice across the grain with a sharp knife and get the seasoning/marinade in there.

Guacamole

My guacamole recipe:


It is the simplest thing to make, and so much big flavour.

I like a lot of tomatoes in mine so generally it's around equal ratios of tomato to avocado.

- 2 ripe avocados

- 2 medium tomatoes

For those of you who know how much I HATE tomato skins then you probably guessed right, I will peel the tomatoes.

Recently I've been doing it this way (there are peels in the picture because it was from last Halloween) but now I simply slice the top of the tomato off and make an X at the bottom with a knife, put it face down in a strainer in the sink and pour a full kettle of boiling water over.

Now simply drain and place back on the cutting board, the skin peels away easily and they can be diced finely.

Slice the avocados, remove pits and make into rough medium cubes by slicing inside the avocado with a small knife then using a small spoon to scoop it all out and into the bowl.

- 1 small onion, a slice of red onion or a shallot diced very finely.

-2 small or 1 medium large clove garlic, grated or mashed on the cutting board (use salt to help mash it or use a mortar and pestle)

- A few sprigs of fresh cilantro chopped up and some whole leaf for garnish

- Salt

- Lime juice

- a pinch of cumin

- Jalapeno (optional!)

- A drizzle of olive oil (optional, I do enjoy the oily texture to my guacamole, maybe because I'm middle eastern and it reminds me of hummus and other arabic style dips that are drizzled with olive oil)

Serve with a nice corn tortilla chip, here I have a chipotle salsa one.

Empanada with Guava Sauce

Here's an empanada recipe using pie dough. Of course I always seem to have some on hand, this was from the last time I doubled the recipe to make those little cherry pies.

I froze the leftover dough disks and they come in handy once removed from the freezer 30 mins in advance to whipping up something. (or in this case frying up)

The filling is easy, just sauteed finely minced onion and green pepper then browning the ground beef nicely, adding salt & pepper, a dash of cumin (not sure if that's authentic or not) and I would have added paprika but I wanted to leave it simple this time. A splash of Worcestershire sauce and a tbsp of flour (not to make it goopey) but just gather up the rest of the liquid on the bottom and seize it into a nice filling that won't drip out. The mixture is cooled before stuffing.

Rolling the pie dough out I made circles using a bowl, about 5 inches in diameter.

Filled them and crimped the edges for a scalloped or twisted look. Now they chill a bit in the fridge while the oil heats up and off they go (everything is cooked inside so it's just a matter of browning that lovely dough to create a flaky crust)

For the sauce it's guava paste (comes in cans and plastic tubs at your local Caribbean grocer) then melt it down with a bit of hot water whisking it (it's pretty gummy but it'll soften) And a drop of plain vinegar goes in and that's about it.

Easy as "pie"

Next time I'll make the dough for empanadas specifically and go with an authentic recipe, I think there is supposed to be an egg in the dough.

Mango Salsa

Mango Salsa

- Mangoes (ripe or unripe - depends on your taste!)

- Red onion, finely diced (optional)

- Green onion, finely chopped
- Tomato, chopped (optional)
- Garlic clove (for rubbing inside the bowl -optional)
- Lime juice

- Salt

- Olive oil
- Cilantro, chopped and for garnish
- Jalapeno, finely diced (optional)

Mix it all together and you have a fresh salsa to top your tacos, burgers, steaks, goes well with fish or chicken! Great for summer and BBQ.

If you're doing it ahead of time then I would put the tomatoes in last because I hate how they get mushy, the cilantro too.