Author: ivan

This is my go-to recipe for red sauce enchiladas.  Fast, incredible flavor, and stress free to make.  Sound too good to be true? Don’t let the simple ingredient list deceive you.   The combo of roasted tomatoes, cumin, and chipotles in adobo creates a where-have-you-been-all-my-life flavor that is far superior to anything you can get at your …

It’s tough to beat the combo of warm tortilla chips, melted cheese, and spicy black beans.  In other words…NACHOS! 1. tortilla chips topped with melted cheese and warm goopy beans 2. an increasingly popular exclamation used to denote an impending, much deserved reward; similar in use to Yes! or Right on! We’re using chipotles in …

Avocado Salsa Verde usually inspires a gushing “What is this?” from those who’ve never made it at home before.  It has such a vibrant, distinct flavor that people assume there are some big-time chef skills involved in producing this masterpiece. But there’s not.  It happens to be one of the easiest of Mexican sauces to make, and once it’s …

Once your kitchen is stocked with Mexican cooking ingredients they’ll spread out and influence just about everything you make.  In a good way! This Spicy Chicken and Pickled Jalapeno Pizza is my kitchen’s best example of that phenomenon.  I’ve made it at least 10 times over the past few months and I now prefer this …

This Pinto Bean Soup (Sopa Tarasca) has a reward-to-effort ratio that’s off the charts.  By keeping just a few key ingredients on hand you’ll always have the option of turning this popular soup into a whoa-what-is-this meal. Quick summary of instructions: Put bowl of Sopa Tarasca on kitchen table along with spoon, lime wedges, and a quesadilla bursting …

Yes, the spicy beef mixture combined with some gooey cheese makes these empanadas total keepers.   And yes, adding a dipping sauce will take them into a culinary stratosphere. But first things first… The unsung hero of these empanadas is the dough.  A few simple tricks will ensure that you are always pulling out a …

This Mexican Green Rice is the perfect counterpart to our easy Arroz Rojo.  They use similar techniques; once you’re familiar with one of them you’ve always got the option of making the other one just by swapping out the puree. Of course, this batch also comes with the alluring smell of roasted poblano peppers infiltrating …

Pork carnitas have never tasted this good to me.  Partly because carnitas are a natural fit for the slow cooker, and partly because I’ve been eating kale salads for the past couple weeks. If carnitas are even slightly on your radar it’s worth trying out a slow cooker version.  The lower temperature of a slow …

Once again, the slow cooker is the perfect fit for this easy, stress-free batch of beef barbacoa. Of course, that’s assuming you don’t want to dig a hole in the backyard and cover it with maguey leaves to make an impromptu oven. The slow cooker has put these backyard ovens out of business, but they …

Thus begins the quest for some homemade masa dough that will hopefully lead to mind-bending corn tortillas, tamales, and maybe even some pupusas. We’re taking some shortcuts here to prove that the process is accessible to anyone willing to give it a try, and so far the results are off the charts. Homemade Masa Dough …