Machaca {Shredded Beef Tacos}

This time of year always makes me crave Mexican and Southwest flavors. Part of it is seeing my twitter and Facebook feeds filled with scenes from SXSW in Austin, Texas, and part of it is that we’re finally starting to see a few signs of spring: cherry blossoms, later sunrises. Spring means summer is just around the corner, and summer means sunshine and tacos.

Today we’re making machaca! Machaca (which I had never heard of until now) is slow cooked beef, flavored with peppers and spices, shredded for tacos or taquitos. It satisfies my summer cravings, but is warm and hearty enough for the chilly March weather. Perfect for early spring!

This recipe comes from my friend Jessica. From birth until I was about eight years old, Amanda and I spent nearly as much time with Jessica (Amanda’s age) and her brother Jared (my age) as we did with each other. They were our first best friends, and we’ve always had a connection with them, regardless of time and miles. They moved away from Washington to Arizona the summer before I went into second grade—my first heartbreak.

Obviously their years in the Southwest have paid off, because this recipe is awesome. Jessica said it was a labor of love, and through tons of trial and error, she finally came up with this recipe. The meat marinates in lime juice and spices overnight, then slow cooks all day. When it’s time to eat, you have juicy, tender shreds of beef that fall apart with the poke of a fork.

I’m always so busy creating new recipes that sometimes I forget how good family recipes are—one bite and I felt like I was sitting around the table with Jessica and her husband and four kids. Or, like I was six years old, with Jared, Jessica, and Amanda frantically helping me clean my plate so we could all go play. 

PS. I have no trouble finishing my dinner these days.

Beef Machaca

Recipe from Jessica Gilmore

Plan ahead. This needs to marinate overnight, and then cook for at least 6 hours. If you’re making taquitos, Jessica recommends letting the cooked meat sit in the fridge overnight (a 2nd night…torture!) to bind. 

Marinade:

2-3 lb chuck roast
¼ cup Worcestershire

Juice of 2 limes

1 teaspoon granulated garlic

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

½ cup oil (canola or olive oil)

Machaca:

1 large sweet onion, diced

½ green bell pepper, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalepeno, minced

1 14oz can diced tomatoes (and juice)

½ cup beef broth

1 tablespoon oregano

1 tablespoon cumin

Salt & pepper

Hot sauce

Trim beef and cut in two to three pieces, and lay in a baking dish or in a large ziplock bag. Whisk together marinade ingredients, and pour over meat. Seal bag (or cover dish with plastic wrap) and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, add marinated beef and remaining marinade to slow cooker, along with all remaining ingredients except salt, pepper, and hot sauce.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Shred and stir into juices. Add salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste.

Serve with warm tortillas and taco fixings.

For baked taquitos: Refrigerate shredded beef and juices in an airtight container overnight. Roll inside flour or corn tortillas, and bake in a 425 degree oven for approx. 10 minutes (until crispy, but not burned).

Number One Rule in Dating

I’ve always wondered why people think Italian food is a great choice for a dinner date. Sure, the wine and candles and ambiance at most Italian restaurants is ‘romantic,’ and if you were to slurp down the same spaghetti noodle and end in a kiss Lady and the Tramp style, that would be cute… but in reality, spaghetti is messy and difficult to eat. I guess I never learned the fancy noodle-fork-twirl or something, but I guarantee you I don’t look sexy eating pasta.

This is what I look like when I eat Spaghetti... and humans.

I’m probably the last person to dole out dating advice though, since I’ve been in a relationship with the same guy since I was 18 (with the exception of a short break that I have to throw in there, or Amanda will call me a liar). I also don’t have lots of good tips for where one should go to eat on a date, since I’m not one of those girls that ate daintily on dates or ordered the side salad to look lady-like. I’ve always been more of the ‘order everything on the menu, and finish my date’s meal’ type of gal. I probably finish the food on Evan’s plate (after finishing my own) nine out of ten times.

While I can’t give you the best advice on where to eat for your first date, I can tell you that if you’re lookin’ for a kiss at the end of the night, you should probably avoid Puerto Rican restaurants, or at least make sure you both order the tostones with mojo. Actually, Puerto Rican is probably an excellent choice for a date, with spicy flavors, sultry music, and super sexy Latin flare. One of our favorite date-night restaurants is La Isla, an amazing Puerto Rican restaurant and rum bar just down the street from us, where we go a little too often (for his wallet and my hips). If Evan and I have learned anything about how to make a relationship work though, it’s that we don’t eat the mojo alone…something we learned it the hard way.

Tostones are twice fried plantains, served with mojo (or mojito)- a raw garlic dipping sauce. If you think you’ve had garlic breath before, you just wait until you’ve had mojo. The worst part… it tastes so good you just can’t resist. In the beginning of our love affair with La Isla, we were so obsessed we went all the time, with or without each other. Until the day Evan had the mojo without me. It’s one thing if you’re both garlicky… but let’s just say that vampires steered clear of Evan…no- Ballard…no- SEATTLE for at least 3 days after the mojo madness. I couldn’t kiss him for a week, let alone be in the same room as him! The garlic smell was literally oozing from his skin and hair. It was so bad I felt nauseous just being around him (never a good thing in a relationship). If you want a goodnight kiss after a dinner date at a Puerto Rican place, make sure you both eat the mojo.

Garlic breath aside, Puerto Rican cuisine is muy delicioso. For dinner at La Isla, Evan gets the fiery Bistec Encebollado, a steak, marinated in a spicy olive oil, garlic, and vinegar sauce, topped with sautéed onions. I usually get something with Pernil- slow roasted Puerto Rican pulled pork. Sometimes I just go crazy with the Pernil bowl, other times I get the Pastelon, a sweet and savory plantain and pernil ‘lasagna.’ For lunch we get the blackened salmon salads, or the amazing Guisada bowls. Guisada is Puerto Rican stew, made with either pollo or carne, and a mix of green olives, potatoes, and sofrito, served over rice and beans. We also get tasty empanadillas filled with cheese or saucy meat for appetizers, and we always get pink beans and rice, and tostones with mojo if we’re there together.

Along with the Food 52 Fig Challenge, I entered the week’s challenge for ‘Your Best Stew with Olives.’ I couldn’t think of a better stew with olives than carne guisada- Puerto Rican beef stew. In my version, green olives with pimentos, peppers, onions, garlic, oregano, cilantro, tomatoes, and capers are used in two ways- blended to make sofrito- the base of the stew, and left chunky to create yummy bites of texture. I also added sweet potato to my recipe, which basically melts into the stew, adding a bit of creaminess and hints of sweetness. Serve over rice and beans, garnished with avocado and sour cream.

If you’re eating with your date or flying solo, be sure to whip up some easy to make tostones and mojo to go with this awesome guisada! (Once again) my recipe didn’t win, but Amanda, Evan, and I all thought it was a winner- see for yourself!

Tostones
2 green plantains
Oil (for frying)
Salt
Heat the oil to 375 degrees.
Peel and cut the plantains into 3/4 inch slices.
Fry the slices in the hot oil for 2-3 minutes, until golden-yellow and soft.
Remove the plantain slices with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
When the slices are cool enough to touch, smash them into flat rounds.
Fry the rounds in the hot oil for 1-2 minutes on each side, until crisp and golden-brown.
Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Salt to taste.

Mojo
1 cup olive oil, warmed
4 cloves to 1 head of garlic peeled, crushed and finely chopped (adjust to your liking)
1 cup cilantro, finely chopped
juice of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lime
salt to taste

Blend all the ingredients together with a food processor or blender, in a nonreactive bowl. Serve in small bowls for each person.

Carne Guisada
Serves 4-6
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 cubanelle (or other mild sweet pepper)
1 small hot chili pepper
1 large yellow or white onion
5 cloves garlic
1.5 cups cilantro
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1.5 cups spanish green olives (with pimentos)
1/4th cup capers
2 medium size tomatoes
salt & pepper
1 large sweet potato or yam
2 russet potatoes
1.5 pounds beef stew meat- cut in 1 inch chunks
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4th cups tomato paste

Dice and combine peppers, onion, garlic, cilantro, oregano, 1 cup green olives, capers, and tomatoes. salt and pepper to taste. Separate in two bowls- set one aside. (Leave 1/2 cup of olives whole, set aside).
To one bowl of diced veggie mixture, add vinegar, and blend (in food processor, blender, or with hand blender) until smooth.
Heat olive oil in large pot to medium heat. Add Beef and brown for 10 minutes.
Add both bowls of veggies (blended and diced) to pot. Cook on medium heat for 3o minutes.
Peel and cube potatoes and yam. Add potatoes, yam, tomato paste, and whole olives to pot. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer (add water to thin if necessary).
Simmer on low for an hour. Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with fresh avocado slices and a dollop of sour cream.

To Slide or Not to Slide

For quite some time, I've had mixed feelings about sliders. The slider-craze is out of control, with the mini-burgers popping up on menus all over the place, from upscale restaurants, to happy-hour bar menus, even to fast food drive-thrus! What's so special about bite-size burgers, and why are they kicking their king-size big brothers out of the limelight?

After a little investigation, I think I have the answer. Nothing can beat the charred, outdoor grilled, big 'n' juicy BBQ burger (with it's promise of summer, fun, baseball, and beer in every bite)... but there is something delicious, different, and a little bit 'gourmet' about a slider. With approximately 2-bites per burg, one doesn't feel overly full, and the flavor is exciting from start to finish. Also, (some meat-purists out there might disagree) my favorite part of a burger is the charred, grilled, seasoned, sometimes cheesy, sort of crunchy and caramelized outer layer. The slider provides the perfect ratio of flavorful outer layer to juicy inner burger, something that it's plus-size counterpart lacks. The idioms are true when it comes to sliders...'everything is better in moderation,' and 'dynamite comes in small packages.'

How did I arrive at this conjecture? After initial distrust, hesitation, and even trash-talk about the baby-burger revolution, I have officially jumped on the slider bandwagon. It all started last week, at BalMar happy hour, with one little, delicious burst-of-flavor that kept me yearning for more (slider accompanied by fries with truffle aioli) , and was further intensified after I ate one too many full size burgers (on top of one too many full size beers) last weekend. What finally pushed me over the edge, to the slider-side, was the simple act of making (and devouring) my own sliders.

My delectable little beef morsels, sandwiched between toasted baguette slices, were covered in melty, gooey jack cheese, slathered with spicy, smokey chipotle mayo, and piled high with greens, lettuce, avocado, tomato, radishes, and my kick-ass-honey-mustard-caramelized red onions. With so much flavor jammed into such a tiny package, they were 10 times better than the best burger I've ever made. They were fun to make, even more fun to eat, and Evan and I both felt satisfied without being overly full and weighed down.

To make chipotle mayo, simply mix together mayonnaise, chipotle peppers in adobo- add sauce and chopped pepper (more or less depending on how much heat you can handle), and a dash of liquid smoke, which really brings out the smokiness of the chipotles (which are smoked jalapenos). For ooey-gooey, super carameltastic, extra delicious caramelized onions, my secret is to mix in honey and brown mustard right before you take the onions off the heat. It works every time. Now... to REALLY enjoy the mayo and the onions, promptly jump on the slider-train and never look back!