Sprouted Wheat Ceviche

This recipe comes courtesy of Nicole Salgado author of the Bajio’s Bounty cookbook. It is a vegetarian version of a classic fish ceviche.

Wheat Berry Ceviche Recipe

Recipe for Sprouted Wheat Ceviche

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sprouted, cooked wheat berries
• 4 tomatoes chopped
• 1 onion, minced
• 1 bell pepper minced
• 2 small carrots shredded then chopped
• 1-2 serrano chiles, minced very finely
• Juice of 3 limes
• 3 Tablespoons catsup
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce/tamari
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 package tostadas

Instructions:
1. Sprout the wheat berries over several days.
2. Then cover with water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer until tender. Allow to cool.
3. Mix with the rest of the ingredients and serve over corn tortillas. Makes about 16 to 20 tostadas.

Tuna Salad a la Mexicana

This spicy tuna salad makes a great appetizer or light lunch especially on a hot day. It is light and refreshing. You’ll never find it in a restaurant but everyone serves it at home.

What differentiates Mexican tuna salad from a typical one is the bite it has from the serrano chiles and the tang from the lime juice.

Two cans of tuna used in this recipe go a long way when you mix in all of the vegetables. It is very economical. You can adjust the measurements to suit your tastes and the ingredients that you have on hand. This is a recipe that doesn’t require precision. Have fun with it.

Spicy Tuna Salad

Spicy Tuna Salad Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 Cans tuna
• 2 Serrano chiles minced
• 1 Medium tomato diced
• 1 Small onion diced
• 1 Medium avocado diced
• 1 Medium carrot shredded
• 3 Sprigs of cilantro diced
• 2 Cups lettuce finely shredded
• 4 Tablespoons mayonnaise
• Juice from 2 limes
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Hot sauce – Try Cholula
• Saltine crackers
• Tostadas

Prepare:

Add all of the ingredients except the saltine crackers, tostadas and hot sauce to a large bowl. Mix thoroughly.

Serve the tuna salad on the saltine crackers or tostadas. Sprinkle each serving with hot sauce. Provecho!

Tuna Salad Recipe Serves 4-6

Unique Flavor with Squash Blossoms

Squash Blossoms also known as zucchini flowers are commonly used in Mexican cooking to make a filling for quesadillas and to make a delicious soup, sopa de flor de calabaza. My favorite method to cook them is as a filling for quesadillas. They add add a rich yellow color to any dish made you add them to. If you have a Mexican market in your area look for flor de calabaza.

In Mexico, the best squash blossoms come from street vendors who bring them in from the country and sell them the same day they were picked. They are in season from mid spring to mid summer.

Squash Blossoms

Squash blossoms don’t keep well. The day they are picked they are beautiful. The second day they are looking tired. By the third day they have shrivelled and are covered with black spots. Use them quickly. If you can’t use the right away, store them in the refrigerator until you can. They will keep for two days.

When you cook the blossoms you will be surprised how much your big beautiful bunch of flowers will shrink down to nothing. It takes a large number of flowers just to make a small amount of quesadilla filling.

To prepare the blossoms for cooking, break off the yellow part of the flower and discard the spiky stem and base.

Recipe for Squash Blossom Quesadilla Filling

Squash Blossom Quesadilla Filling

Ingredients:

• 40 squash blossoms prepped and torn into two pieces
• 1 small onion finely diced
• 2 roma tomatoes finely diced
• 3 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 pinch of epazote
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• Salt to taste

Step 1 Saute the onion and garlic over medium low heat until soft. Do not let the onion brown.
Step 2 Lower the heat as much as you can. Add the tomato and epazote. Stir to blend. Cook for about 5 minutes until the tomatoes are soft.
Step 3 Add the squash blossoms. Stir only once to blend all of the ingredients. Cook for 4 minutes until the blossoms have reduced in size and cooked through. Do not overcook. Add salt to taste.

Recipe makes 1 1/2 cups of filling which will make about 10 small quesadillas.

Quesadilla Filling
To make squash blossom quesadillas fill the tortilla with your choice of cheese and add about 1 tablespoon of the quesadilla filling. Cook until the cheese melts.

Crepe Filling
To use this recipe as a crepe filling add one tablespoon of filling to the crepe and add a teaspoon of cream. Serve immediately.

Mexican Style Scrambled Eggs and Bacon

Scrambled eggs and bacon is a comon dish in Mexico. More often than not it is eaten as a light dinner instead of being eaten as breakfast. It’s quick, inexpensive and filling.

Typically the dish is served with refried beans, tortillas, and salsa. We like our eggs with hash browns on the side although hash browns are rarely eaten in Mexico. You can omit them for a more authentic version.

Scrambled Eggs and Bacon with Refried Beans and Hash Browns

Ingredients:

Makes one hearty portion. Increase as needed.

• 3 eggs
• 2 strips of bacon – diced
• 1/4 cup of grated cheese – asadero, oaxaca, or Chihuahua cheeses work well.
• Refried beans
• Hash browns
• 3 tortillas – preferably corn tortillas
• Table salsa

1. Chop the bacon and brown it in a little bit of hot oil. Drain the excess fat when the bacon has taken on a nice dark color.

2. Beat the 3 eggs and add them to the pan with the bacon.

3. Gentle stir the egg mixture to incorporate the bacon. Allow the eggs to set and gently turn the egg mixture over. Once the eggs have fully set break them apart with your spatula.

4. Place the scrambled eggs and bacon on an ovenproof plate and spinkle the grated cheese over the top. Place the plate under the broiler until the cheese has melted and is just starting to brown. The plate will be VERY hot. Use an oven mitt or towel to remove the plate from the oven.

5. Add the refried beans and hash browns to the plate and crumble a bit of ranchero cheese over the beans.

The last and most important steps – Pile the scrambled eggs and bacon onto a tortilla add salsa and enjoy.

Another Great Mexican Breakfast You Might Like

Traditional Huevos Rancheros

How to Make Chicken Tostadas

This easy to make recipe for chicken tostadas can be completed in about thirty minutes. Tostadas make a nice light lunch and are very kid friendly. Tell your kids that they are eating flat tacos. They will get a kick out of it.

Chicken tostadas can be assembled from scratch or from store bought ingredients. We usually use refried beans from a can and a homemade salsa.

For this version of chicken tostadas, I used a red tomato based salsa, but you can you use almost any salsa that you like.

Ingredients for Chicken Tostadas

• 2 chicken breasts – shredded
• 8 corn tostadas
• 1 can refried beans
• 2 cups red tomato salsa
• 2 cups shredded lettuce
• 1/2 white onion sliced into rings
• 1/2 cup Mexican cream

Prepare the Chicken Tostadas

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer the chicken breasts until just cooked through. Remove from the chicken breasts from the water and allow to cool to the touch. Shred the chicken breasts with a fork and set aside.

Heat the refried beans in a pan over low heat. Shred two cups of lettuce. Slice half an onion into rings.

Once the beans are warm assemble the tostadas. Spread the refried beans on the tostada. Add a quarter cup of shredded chicken. Add the shredded lettuce and a few onion rings. Cover with the red tomato salsa and a dollop of Mexican cream. Serve immediately.

Recipe makes 8 chicken tostadas.

A tomatillo salsa recipe that goes well with tostadas.

Crispy Tortillas with Melted Cheese and Beef

Crispy tortillas with meat and cheese on top are called volcanoes. Why volcanoes? I’m assuming the name comes from the round shape of the tortilla and the hot bubbling cheese on top.

Volcanoes are a tasty way to use up some day-old corn tortillas and left over meat. Plus, they are quick to make, really tasty, and loved by kids.

It takes very few ingredients to prepare volcanoes and you can have a plate of them prepared in under 15 minutes.

Ingredients:

• Corn tortillas – the smaller taco size works best

• A melting cheese – queso Oaxaca, asadero or Chihuahua are good choices. Mozzarrella works fine too.

• Diced beef – Use any leftover beef you might have. You can omit the beef if you like. Volcanoes taste good with just cheese.

• Limes

To make volcanoes:

Preheat a pan or comal over medium heat.

Place a tortilla on the comal or in pan and let it heat up until it begins to char on the bottom side. Don’t worry, the charred tortilla is the best part of the recipe. **A word of warning – the tortillas will start to smoke so turn on the exhaust fan or open a window.**

A nicely charred tortilla. Charring the tortilla gives a lot of flavor to the volcanoes and makes the tortilla hard so that you are able to pick it up with your fingers and eat it like a tostada.

After you have charred the first side of the tortilla, turn tortilla over and then place a good white melting cheese and the diced meat filling on top. Allow the cheese to melt and the tortilla to burn some more.

Take the volcanoes off the heat. Squirt lime juice on the volcanoes. Add salsa to taste and eat immediately.

Variation:

Strips of roasted Poblano chiles are a nice addition.

I also like the volcanoes with a tomatillo salsa.

How To Make Quesadillas

Quesadillas are a quick and easy snack or light meal. A typical Mexican Quesadilla is much more modest than the quesadillas you will find in an American style Mexican restaurant.

An authentic quesadilla consists of a corn tortilla, sometimes a flour tortilla, a little bit of cheese and maybe a small amount of filling such as beef, chicken, or shrimp heated in a pan or on a comal. That’s all there is to them – no guacamole, shredded lettuce, or sour cream.

The quesadillas in the example photos have shrimp added as a filling.

Preparing the Quesadillas

Quesadillas don’t really require exact measurements. They are so simple to make and the size of the tortilla dictates how much cheese and filling you can add.

4 or 5 quesadillas made with a standard size corn tortilla makes a filling lunch for an adult. 2 or 3 quesadillas will fill up most kids.

The pictures below give you an idea of how much cheese and filling to add.

Ingredients:

• Standard size corn tortillas – You can use flour tortillas if you prefer. Flour tortillas are more common in Northern Mexico

• Mexican white cheese – Oaxaca, Chihuahua, or asadero styles work well. Try them with jalapeno cheese for a spicy variation. In a pinch, mozzarrella cheese is acceptable if you don’t have any Mexican style cheese. Don’t use cheddar cheese or American cheese.

• Filling of choice – optional

• Salsa of choice – optional

Quesadilla Variations:

You can add a filling to your quesadillas to add flavor and make them more substantial. Leftover meats and chicken make good fillings.

Common fillings:

• A slice of ham – A quesadilla made with a flour tortilla and a slice of ham is known as a sincronizada

• Chicken – shredded or diced

• Beef – shredded or diced

• Shrimp – diced

If you want to fancy up your quesadillas you can add a little bit of diced onion and cilantro with a squirt of lime juice, just as you would with tacos.

To make the quesadillas, place a tortilla in the pan and let it heat up for a few seconds. Warming the tortilla up allows you to fold the tortilla without it breaking.

Add a small amount of cheese and filling on one half of the tortilla. Fold the other half of the tortilla over to close it. Don’t add too much filling.

Cook the quesadilla on one side until until the tortilla starts to brown. Turn it over and do the same on the other side. I prefer my quesadillas really well browned.

Whatever you do don’t cook quesadillas in a microwave. It melts the cheese well but makes the tortillas rubbery and lacks flavor that comes from browning the tortillas.

Enjoy! Because quesadillas are simple to prepare, tasty, and filling, they will easily become a staple at your house.

If you cook Mexican food regularly, consider purchasing a cast iron comal. A Comal gives your food a more authentic taste and is perfect for preparing quesadillas, many types of antojitos, and heating tortillas. You also might consider a cast iron tortilla press to make homemade tortillas.