My Alter Egos

Last weekend I took a break from my kitchen and went to Boston Comic Con. It was my very first time in Boston and I loved it! It was really beautiful and comic con was loads of fun. I'm not sure if you all know this, but when I'm not cooking, I like to run around pretending I'm a comic book character. For Boston, I brought out my favorite costume, 1960s TV Series Batgirl and threw together Danger Girl's Sydney Savage.

Here are a few pictures of my costumes.



 I even got a shoutout from the creator of Danger Girl, J. Scott Campbell!
 

 I'm back in the kitchen now, working on a Cinco de Mayo post for all of your fiestas!

Holy Guacamole

Need a quick dish to take to an Easter brunch tomorrow? Here's my recipe for a hearty Guacamole that will add a great touch to any brunch dish or stand alone as a dip.


Guacamole 

Ingredients 

3 ripe Hass avocados
1/2 cup diced onions (white, vidalia, or red)
1/2 cup diced tomatoes (seeds and pulp removed)
1 jalapeño, diced (remove seeds for less heat)
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 lime,juiced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
Salt Pepper


Directions 

Cut the avocados in half, remove seed, and scoop into a bowl. Mash with a fork, add the remaining ingredients, and mix everything. When seasoning with salt and pepper, do it gradually, you'll want to taste and then adjust if needed.


I added this handy guide on how to buy avocados from avocadocentral.com

Here's how to pick the best Hass Avocados:
Step 1 – Take a look at the chart below. When comparing a group of Hass Avocados, check the outside color of the skin of the avocados for any that are darker in color than the others. These may be riper than Hass Avocados with lighter skin. Check the outer skin of the avocado for any large indentations as this may be a sign that the fruit has been bruised.

Step 2 – Place the avocado in the palm of your hand.

Step 3 – Gently squeeze without applying your fingertips as this can cause bruising.

Step 4 – Picking ripe ready-to-eat Hass Avocados. If the avocado yields to firm gentle pressure you know it's ripe and ready-to-eat. If the avocado does not yield to gentle pressure it is considered still "firm" and will be ripe in a couple of days. If the avocado feels mushy or very soft to the touch it may be very ripe to overripe
 

Tacos Dorados de Papa

When my cousin, Betty, got married, she was very young. As a new and young bride, she worried that she would not be able to live up to her new husband’s expectations. See, when you marry a Mexican man, more often than not, he has been spoiled all of his life by his mother’s cooking. When you marry a man who has grown up with enchiladas, mole, and tamales, as meals that his mother just “threw together,” you have very big shoes to fill. The pressure was on for my cousin. To prevent  him from missing his mom’s cooking back home, she needed to come up with dinner ideas that were easy enough for her to make and would satisfy both their appetites. The very first meal that she made for her husband was “Tacos Dorados de Papa” (in English please: Deep-fried Potato Tacos). It was the perfect meal, it called for a few ingredients and were delicious and easy. She served the tacos with salsa, sour cream, and shredded cabbage. He loved them! She was so delighted with the success of the very first meal she prepared for her husband that the very next day she made him some more tacos! Her husband, not wanting to hurt his new bride‘s feelings, didn’t know how to bring up that he was starting to grow tired of eating tacos every day for the last few weeks, not to mention that he was worried that this diet might lead to weight gain. Eventually, he had to break it to her that, although she had now become an expert taco maker, he could not possibly eat any more tacos.

Tacos Dorados de Papa are a very popular street food in the town that I grew up in, La Blanca, Zacatecas. A lady, or sometimes man, would set up outside their house with a “cazo” (cauldron) of hot oil, you’d tell her how many “orders” you’d like and in a few minutes she’d hand you a plate of fresh and crispy corn tortillas filled with a savory mashed potato filling.

These are quite easy to make, hence why my cousin made them her first dish as a blushing new bride. You can even prepare the ingredients ahead of time to save you some time. You’ll also want to make sure that the oil is hot enough, but not too hot, to prevent them from absorbing too much oil and getting soggy. If you’re not using the best quality tortillas, it’s really hard to keep them from falling apart, or the filling from coming out, so I use two toothpicks to pin the sides together. Just make sure you remove the toothpicks before serving. Although, my cousin is still married to her husband, I suggest that you not try to serve these to your loved ones every day.


Tacos Dorados de Papa


Ingredients

15-20 tortillas
Oil for frying
6 potatoes (russet or golden)
Salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup of cheese (cotija, crumbled queso fresco, cheddar, monterey jack)
Toothpicks

Toppings

Salsa
Shredded cabbage
Avocado
Sliced Tomatoes
Grated cotija
Sour cream or Crema Mexicana


Directions

Boil the potatoes in water, add a tbsp of salt, cover and cook for about 30 minutes or until soft enough to put a fork through them. Drain water and set aside to cool. Remove the skins and mash potatoes until broken up. Add the pepper, cumin, garlic powder, salt (about a teaspoon, adjust to taste), and cheese. Mix well until the mixture is smooth.

Heat about a cup of oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat.

Warm the tortillas on a griddle just enough to soften them. You don't want them to be on the griddle too long that they start to harden. Once all the the tortillas are warmed, add a heaping tablespoon of potato mixture to the middle and spread slightly so that you don't have just one big lump in the middle. Fold the tortilla in half and "thread" a toothpick on one half to create a closed seam, then do the same to the other half (pictured above).

Once you are done putting together the tacos, gently place in the heated oil. Fry on each side for about 2 minutes or until golden and crispy (it's ok if a bit of the filling comes out). Remove and drain on a paper towel-lined plate.

Remove the toothpicks. Open them up slightly, and stuff with your favorite toppings. Crunch away!