My mexican fiesta!

So I'm pretty obsessed with Tomato rice.This place I love named "La Palapa" has the best red rice I've ever had and I never stop trying to find that recipe somewhere. Here's another attempt.

How Mine looks:

Tomato Rice:

INGREDIENTS – Serves 2
• 1 cup long grain rice, soaked in water for 10 minutes (I use Basmati Rice)
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 Jalapeno chile (remove ribs and seeds if you can’t handle the heat)
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced (or as per taste)
• 1 tbsp Tomato paste
• 1 to 1-1/2 cups vegetable stock (or water)
• salt to taste
• few sprigs of cilantro to serve
• juice of 1 small lime (optional)

Method

• Process the tomatoes and onion in a processor until pureed.
• It should give you about 1 cup worth of puree. Set aside.
• Meanwhile in a skillet, heat 1 tsp oil (you can use upto 1 tbsp). Add the drained rice to the oil and saute until rice is golden and translucent.
• Add garlic and jalapeno and cook for another 1 minute.
• Add the pureed tomatoes, 1 cup of vegetable stock along with tomato paste and salt. Depending on the rice quality you might need 1/2 or 1 cup more of water. I use totally 2 cups of 1 cup of Basmati rice to get that perfect cooked yet separate rice texture instead of mushy.
• Close with a tight fitting lid and cook for 10-15 minutes (stirring halfway), or until the rice is tender and cooked completely.
• Garnish with cilantro and squeeze lime juice (if using) You can otherwise serve lime wedges to be squeezed on individual plates as per taste.

Re-fried Pinto Beans:


Ingredients:

• 2 cups pinto beans
• 2/3 to 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 bulb of roasted garlic, approximately 6 or 7 cloves
• 2 - 3 tsp seasalt, depending on how much salt you like
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 finely chopped tomato, vine ripened or home grown
• 4 quart pot

Method:

• First pour your beans out on a table or cutting board. Sort through them and discard any rocks or shriveled beans. This shouldn't take but a couple of minutes to do.
• Put the beans in a colander and rinse them under cold water. Pour the beans into a pot.
• Add 8 cups of cold water and the bay leaf.
• Put the stove burner on high and cover partially with a lid. As soon as the beans start to boil, lower the heat a little but still continue to boil.
  
• Cook for 2 hours and keep adding water as it cooks away. Stir occasionally. Keep the water level at 2 inches above the beans.
• After two hours of cooking, the beans should be soft and darker brown in color. If not cook
  them another 20 to 30 minutes. Then add the oil, salt, tomato, and roasted garlic.
• You can slide the roasted garlic out of it's sleeve in the bulb, right into the beans.

• To get the best flavor, simmer your beans 1- 1 1/2 hour or as long as you can with all the spices and oil. The longer these pinto bean recipes simmer, the better they will taste.

• After 1 to 1 1/2 hours, it seems like all the beans want to do is stick to the pot. This is the point where you turn off the heat, remove the bay leaf, and mash them with a potato masher.

Ingredients

• 12 chicken thighs
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place flour in a shallow plate or bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Put the bread crumbs in another shallow plate or bowl and beat the eggs in another bowl.
3. Dredge the chicken piece by piece in the flour, then the egg, then the bread crumbs, until all pieces are coated. Pour the oil into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Add the chicken to the dish and sprinkle with paprika to taste. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, then turn pieces over and bake for another 30 minutes. Remove from oven and drain on paper towels. Enjoy!

July. 4

How it's supposed to Look and How what I made Looks:






Just to show how long ago I should have posted this, these meals are from July 4th. My friends, Oscar and Jasmine, my aunt and I had a bbq. It was super hot, so we spent most of the time in the AC running out to check the fire or put stuff on the grill.

I had several things I wanted to do. 1. Try this Italian chicken thing my friend's mom made at their BBQ last week. 2. FINALLY, make the tomato rice taste good. 3. Just get together with my buddies and eat. Which is always a fave passtime of mine. Below is what came of these goals.

The chicken I simply call Italian Chicken:
Via Barbra Sabater

The breasts marinating:





Ingredients:
1. 4 Chicken Breasts (or how ever much you need)
2.A bottle of Italian salad dressing


Directions:

Cut the chicken breasts in slices, taking your chicken breasts from 4 thick slices to 8 lean slices of chicken. If it is still too thick, beat it until it is a nice, tender and lean. Soak it in Italian salad dressing and marinate it over night or for at least four hours. Then put it on the grill, for 20 minutes or until cooked.


Me looking awful, cutting an onion:





Tomato Rice:
via Allrecipes.com

Required Ingredients

* 1 can of whole tomatoes (drained)
* ½ a small white onion (roughly chopped)
* 2 garlic cloves (halved)
* 1-¾ cups of chicken broth or water
* 1-½ tablespoons of olive oil
* 4 whole tomatoes (unpeeled)
* 1-½ cups of rice (medium-grain)
* 2 carrots (scraped and chopped into ¼ inch pieces)
* 2 serrano chilies or 2 jalapenos (slit lengthwise nearly end to end)
* ¼ cup of chopped fresh parsley
* ½ cup of a 10-oz. Box of frozen peas
* Salt


Instructions

* Combine the canned tomatoes with onion and garlic and blend in a blender. Blend the tomatoes smooth to equal 1 cup.
* Heat the broth/water until it is steaming and then lightly oil the tomatoes.
* Grill the tomatoes enough to char their skins. When the tomatoes have cooled, remove the peels and chop them.
* Take a 3-quart saucepan and heat olive oil in it over a medium flame. To this add raw rice and stir regularly during a cooking period of 5 minutes.
* Add the tomato mixture and carrots, and stir for a few minutes. Let it cook until it looks somewhat dry.
* After this, add the warm broth or water, chilies and parsley and stir the mixture thoroughly.
* Cover the pan with a lid and place on a range burner or a cooking grate of charcoal or gas grill (indirect, medium flame).
* Cover this for 15 minutes or until the liquid is almost absorbed. Then add peas and grilled tomatoes, and stir with a fork. Cover the pan and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
* When done, gently fluff the rice with a fork. Remove the chilies and use it to decorate the top of the rice and serve.


Pasta Salad Via Oscar Nunez
Ingredients:
12 oz of Pasta (a box)
A Can of tuna Fish
Diced Green peper
Diced Red pepper
Onions
Mayonnaise (depending on taste)
Black Pepper
Salt

Directions
*Cook the pasta in boiling water with a pinch of salt.
*While pasta cools, dice the peppers and onion and mix it all together
* Mix the tuna with the peppers/onion mix and pour in with pasta
*Add Mayonnaise to the pasta and mix
*Keep cool until ready to eat.

BBQ Chicken:


Ingredients

1. BBQ sauce
2. Chicken wings
3. Paprika
4. Garlic powder
5. Adobo all purpose seasoning

Directions:
*Season the chicken with paprika, garlic powder and adobo
*let stand overnight in the fridge (or for at least 4 hrs)
*Make sure the grill is hot
* Put the chicken legs on the grill and start cooking
* After 10 mins (or when half-way cooked), apply BBQ sauce with a cooking brush.
*Let stand for for 5 mins
*Apply more BBQ sauce
*Let stand until completely cooked.




Conclusion:
It was GREAT! I FINALLY, FINALLY! Got the tomato rice right. I had to pour some water in, once the tomato sauce was sucked up, because it still was a bit hard, but once the water was in there, it was pretty amazing. I enjoyed dinner so much and was so pleased. Oscar made the pasta salad, he made it very light and there were complaints that there should have been more mayo, but there was no evidence of that, as the food disappeared. The Italian chicken was a big hit, but I didn't like it! LOL, i'm not a fan of white meat and after biting into it I realized, "wait, you know, I think it was dark meat she made." So I should have grilled bonless thighs, instead of chicken breast, UGH! Whatever, next time. Everyone else loved it and while I enjoyed the taste, I fine all white meat a bit dry, everyone else stared at me like I was insane and asked "you call this dry?" as they chomped down on my chicken. All in all a meal, well made.



My Sister happy after her meal

Shrimp Quesadillas and Tomato Rice

How it's supposed to Look:




For the last few weeks, my really good friend Oscar and I, have been in nonstop discussion about how we have to cook together. We're always throwing recipes and foods out at each other and saying We should make this!!! Finally we got together, with our friend Jasmine, to cook.

Unfortunately, I am currently unemployed and have limited funds. Which sucks, because I could not cook the fancy meal we had planned. We decided to go mexican. Making everything from quesillas to flan, but that did not happen exactly. We had to economize. So we made Shrimp Quesadillas and a new recipe for my tomato rice.

Shrimp Quesadillas recipe via http://planetgreen.discovery.com/f
(note we exchanged black bean salsa for sour cream and could not find quacamole





How Mine Looks:

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small red or green pepper, sliced
1/2 pound medium shrimp, (26-30 count)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and Pepper
8 (6-inch) flour tortillas
1 cup Fresh Tomato Salsa
1 cup Guacamole
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, coarsely grated
Corn and Black Bean Salsa, recipe follows

Method:
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large nonstick saute pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add the peppers. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the shrimp, season with cumin, salt and pepper. Cook until golden and just cooked through, about 2 minutes per side.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat and drizzle 1 1/2 teaspoons of the remaining oil in the pan. When hot, add one of the tortillas. Spoon over tortilla, 2 tablespoons fresh tomato salsa, 1 tablespoon guacamole, and 1/4 cup shredded cheese. Divide the shrimp into 4 portions and add one portion on top of the cheese. Top with another tortilla and press down. Cook, undisturbed, until golden brown and crisp on the bottom, about 2 to 3 minutes. Carefully turn to the second side, and continue cooking until golden on the second side, 2 to 3 minutes longer. Transfer to a large plate or cutting board, cut into wedges. Repeat with the remaining quesadillas.

Tomato Rice Recipe 2 via. allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 2 cups chicken broth

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and add rice. Cook, stirring constantly, until puffed and golden. While rice is cooking, sprinkle with salt and cumin.
2. Stir in onions and cook until tender. Stir in tomato sauce and chicken broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Conclusion:

The food was good. I really enjoyed it. I have never made a quesadillas before, but I had a good time making it. We really filled the quesadillas with peppers and shrimp and so they were kind of a mess, but a good mess. I wish we could have browned and made the tortillas crisper, but it didn't matter in the larger scheme of things.

Jasmine is against vegetables, so I made a tomato rice that has no carrots, tomatoes, etc, just onions. Which meant the rice was less flavorful. I was very disappointed in the rice, the last time i made it, it was soo much tastier. Also, I used to cans of tomatoes so when I poured it into the pot I thought it was too much. So I added another half cup which was a mistake, it sucked up too much juice and left the rice less flavorful then it should have been. That did not stop us from cleaning our plates though!

Also, can I say cooking as a team is so much better then cooking alone. Oscar is AMAZING at cutting up the ingredients. I suck at cutting onions, peppers etc, and he cut it up like a pro. Also, this entry is so much better cuz we have multiple pics, which I couldn't do if we didn't have Jasmine there. Whenever I'm cooking I think, I wish I could get a pick of this, but of course I can't because my hands are dirty, etc.

Tomato Rice and Pinto Beans

How it's Supposed to Look:




There's this amazing Mexican restaurant called La Palapa in Manhattan and I'm obsessed! with it's tomato rice and pinto beans. I've been known to drag a friend there, just so I can eat the rice. Of course when you go there, you just can't eat the rice and beans, you have to eat tacos, and drink margaritas. Which usually ends with me spending way too much money. My roommate Katharine suggested I learn to cook it, so I did.









How Mine Looks:



Tomato Rice

Required Ingredients

* 1 can of whole tomatoes (drained)
* ½ a small white onion (roughly chopped)
* 2 garlic cloves (halved)
* 1-¾ cups of chicken broth or water
* 1-½ tablespoons of olive oil
* 4 whole tomatoes (unpeeled)
* 1-½ cups of rice (medium-grain)
* 2 carrots (scraped and chopped into ¼ inch pieces)
* 2 serrano chilies or 2 jalapenos (slit lengthwise nearly end to end)
* ¼ cup of chopped fresh parsley
* ½ cup of a 10-oz. Box of frozen peas
* Salt

Instructions

* Combine the canned tomatoes with onion and garlic and blend in a blender. Blend the tomatoes smooth to equal 1 cup.
* Heat the broth/water until it is steaming and then lightly oil the tomatoes.
* Grill the tomatoes enough to char their skins. When the tomatoes have cooled, remove the peels and chop them.
* Take a 3-quart saucepan and heat olive oil in it over a medium flame. To this add raw rice and stir regularly during a cooking period of 5 minutes.
* Add the tomato mixture and carrots, and stir for a few minutes. Let it cook until it looks somewhat dry.
* After this, add the warm broth or water, chilies and parsley and stir the mixture thoroughly.
* Cover the pan with a lid and place on a range burner or a cooking grate of charcoal or gas grill (indirect, medium flame).
* Cover this for 15 minutes or until the liquid is almost absorbed. Then add peas and grilled tomatoes, and stir with a fork. Cover the pan and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
* When done, gently fluff the rice with a fork. Remove the chilies and use it to decorate the top of the rice and serve.



PINTO BEANS: Recipe via find.myrecipes.com


Ingredients

* 1 cup dried pinto beans
* 3 cups reserved chicken broth
* 3 bacon slices, diced
* 1 small onion, chopped
* 1 small green bell pepper, chopped
* 2 teaspoons ground cumin
* 2 teaspoons chili powder
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Preparation

Sort and wash pinto beans; place in a large saucepan. Cover with water 2 inches above beans, and bring to a boil. Boil beans 1 minute. Cover, remove from heat, and let soak 1 hour. Drain.

Bring beans, broth, and remaining ingredients to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 2 hours. Chill, if desired; reheat over medium heat.



In the end it was ok, but no La Palapa. The beans came out a dark brown color instead of the reddish brown color I was expecting. Also, I jumped the gun and added the tomatoes to cook into the rice as opposed to waiting till the end and putting it in later as decoration... Well, I had some and my family had some and they liked it, so better luck next time.