Fried Finger Enchiladas

Preparation time:  5 minutes

Total cook time: 45-Minutes

Ingredients:

• Prepared Barbacoa
• 12 Taco Sized Flour Tortillas
• 1/2 white onion - diced
• Cilantro - Snipped
• Shredded Mexican cheddar cheese blend
• Vegetable oil
• 1 large skillet
• Grilling tongs
• 1 Large baking pan

Preparation:

1. Chop 1/2 white onion, set to the side
2. Snip about 1 cup of fresh cilantro
3. Remove tortillas from bag, set near by

Rolling the tortillas

1. Place approximately 1 tablespoon of shredded barbacoa in a strip in the middle of the tortilla.  If you do not have barbacoa, I would cook some before this step
2. Lightly sprinkle some cheese, chopped onion and cilantro ontop of the beef (see below)
3. Gently roll the tortilla (see below)

Cooking:

1. In the large skillet, pour about 1 table spoon of vegteble oil into the center of the pan
2. Turn the stove on, let the oil heat for 2 minutes on medium
3. Place 2 or 3 of the rolled tortillas into the center of the pan
4. It only takes 2 or 3 minutes on each side of the enchilada to brown.  Be careful at this step, the oil will be very hot and is likely to splash and burn you if you do not use care.

Baking:

1. After frying the enchiladas, place them closely together in a large baking pan. 
2. Sprinkle more Mexican cheddar cheese blend on top 
3. Bake for approximately 10 minutes at 350 degrees. 
4. Allow to cool for safe eating.
5. Eat! Enjoy.

Notes:

I originally intended to use the barbacoa recipe to cook taquitos.  The ended up being fatter and flatter than I wanted so I moved away from that recipe and created this dish, which are essentially sauce-less fried enchiladas.  There are called Fired Finger Enchiladas because you eat them with your hands.

Barbacoa Tacos

Preparation time:  15-20 minutes

Total cook time: 8-hours

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sized crock pot
• 2 teaspoons ground Ancho Chile pepper
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (or ground sea salt)
• 1 teaspoon dried Mexican Oregano crushed
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds fresh beef brisket, trimmed of excess fat 
• 1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, un-drained
• 1 fresh jalopeano Chile pepper, stemmed, seeded and minced
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• White corn tortillas, warmed
• Mexican crema or sour cream
• fresh cilantro
• Diced white onions (optional)
• Shredded Cojita cheese 
• salsa (optional)

To start, I substituted the brisket for a round bottom roast because of availability, but the remaining ingredients are the same as the recipe.  The round bottom roast is a bit tougher than the brisket but slow cooking it will tenderize it

Preparing & cooking the round:

1. Combine the ground ancho chilie pepper, salt, oregano, cumin, salt and black pepper in a small bowl.  I also minced the Jalopeano and sliced the garlic at this step, combine the minced jalopeanos and garlic in a bowl and set to the side.  Please be careful with the jalopeanos, do not touch your eyes, nose, ears, mouth etc.  The oils from the pepper will get on your skin and will burn for about 30-minutes
2. Remove the round from the packaging and set on the cutting board.  Notice one side has a pretty decent size layer of fat, while the other is fairly learn (see images below)
3. Cover the meat with the ground ancho chilie pepper, salt, oregano, cumin, salt and black pepper evenly on all sides of the meat until covered completely (image below)
4. Open the canned tomatoes and add to crock pot along with the jalopeano and garlic
5. Place the round on top of the tomato/jalopeano/garlic mixture with the fatty side facing down in the crock pot.  Set to low and allow to cook for 6-8 hours. The lower temperature/cook time allows the tough portions of the meat to break up which allows better shredding and increases the tenderness.

After cooking the round:

1. Remove the round from the crock pot and place on a cutting board. Starting with the fatty side, cut the layer of fat off the roast and discard into the trash
2. Using two larger forks, shred the meat by using the forks to pull the meat in opposite directions from the center towards the outside.  Imagine both forks vertically place in the middle of the round and pull each fork in the opposite direction, essentially stripping the meat in layers at a time.  This can either be done from left to right, or top to bottom (referencing the image above the shredded beef).  Top to bottom creates thinner shreds while left to right creates more chunky shreds. 
3. Place the shredded meat back into the crock pot and on medium/high for another 10 minutes.  Add the lime juice at this step.
4. Warm the tortillas in the oven, you will need 2-tortillas for each taco serving, up to 8 servings total for 16-tortillas max.  Place the tortillas in a cooking sheet and place in the oven at 325 degrees and let them warm for 5-minutes
5. Snip the cilantro for garnishing the tacos
6. Prepare each taco with the shredded round, cojita, cilantro and the Mexican cream sauce.

Enjoy!  Comments and feedback are welcomed!

Adobo Fish Tacos

Prep Time: 20-30 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

Fish preparation

• 2-3 fish fillets (halibut is preferred, I used talapia for price) approximately 2lbs
• 4 teaspoons of Ancho Chili powder
• 2 tablespoons of lime juice
• 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 6-8 tortillas, each taco will use 2 tortillas
• Cotija cheese
• white corn tortillas

Coleslaw

• 1/4 cup reduced fat sour cream
• 1/4 cup low-fast mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
• 1 teaspoon lime zest
• 2 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2/3 teaspoons of salt
• 3 cups of green cabbage finely shredded cabbage

Preparing the adobo rub:

Combine chili powder, lime juice, oil, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and paper in a small mixing bowl.  Rub the adobo rub all over the fish.  It is fairly difficult to evenly spread the rub over the fish given the olive oil and it can take up to 10-minutes.  Very frustrating but well worth the efforts

Adobo rub ready for the fish

Initially sprinkled the rub as evenly as possibly

After about 10 minutes of mending the rub into the fish, the fish becomes a nice dark orange/red color.  Place the fish/plate in the fridge to marinade for 20-30 minutes

Preparing the coleslaw:


Mix the cabbage, mayonnaise, sour cream, cilantro, lime zest, sugar, salt, and pepper in a small mixing bowl.   Mix until the ingredients until the coleslaw is smooth and creamy looking.  Put this in the refrigerator for now

Cooking the fish:
Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the fish cooking.  However, it is a fairly simple process.  The fish can be grilled or pan fried and takes about 5 minutes on each side of the filet. Either pan or grill cooking will need some olive oil so the fish does not stick/burn.  The fish will begin breaking apart fairly easy once it's close to being fully cooked.


While the fish is cooking, prepare the tortillas by lightly frying then on the stove.  Use a very small amount of butter for each tortilla.  Flip occasionally, place in oven to stay warm until the fish is complete.

The proper way to eat the tacos is by lightly shredded the easily crumbling cotija cheese and spreading some of this cheese in-between the two tortillas for each taco.  Follow this up by placing 1/3 of the talapia filet in the middle of the tortilla with a spoonful of coleslaw.

Enjoy!  Comments and feedback are welcomed!