Sunday, May 18, 2008

Puffy Tacos. Except NOT.

Yesterday, I watched Booby Flay's Throwdown with Diana Barrios Travino.
Puffy Tacos was the featured dish.
I was intrigued.
So, today, I was bent on making Puffy Tacos.


I went to the Food Network site to get Booby's recipe.
I was kind of put off from reading Booby's recipe.
TexMex/Asian fusion.
He was doing peanut butter, peanuts, ginger, soy sauce, and something else not TexMex.
I forget.
But kinda Asian.
Plus the recipes were loooooooonnnnng.

I decided to head out on my own.
No surprise there.


I have Country Style Pork Ribs, with Stubbs Hickory and Mesquite Liquid Smoke, some salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil and simmer for about 2 hours until the meat falls off the bone.


Start up some kidney beans.

Get ready for the sauce.
I have a poblano pepper, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and spices - jalapeno, cinnamon stick, clove, cumin seeds, coriander, oregano.


First I put garlic cloves (skins on) in olive oil for about 15 minutes until softened.


While the beans were simmering, I put the tomatoes in the boiling water for about 20 seconds so I could peel them.



See the skin cracked along the side of the tomato?
Perfect to peel.

The skin comes off easily.



After you've peeled the maters, put your fingers in the pockets and seed and juice 'em.




I threw in the squuzzed out softened garlic, the red onions, the poblano, and the tomatoes.

I threw in some tomato sauce, then wrapped up the whole spices in cheesecloth, and simmered for about 2 hours.

Now, I'm starting my guacamole.
I have the avocado, red onion, tomato, garlic, lime, jalopeno, cilantro, salt, and pepper.




I've minced the garlic, jalopeno, and red onion.



Mince the tomato and add.
Then add the avocado and mash.



Add in some lime juice.



Garnish with cilantro and slices of radishes.



Next up, Booby Flay's cole slaw.
Frankly, I was disappointed.
But I'll walk you through it anyway.

First, here's his recipe:


Red Cabbage Slaw:
1/2 head red cabbage, finely shredded
1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint leaves
Place cabbage and onion in a large bowl. Whisk together the vinegar, orange juice, oil and honey and pour over the cabbage. Add the cilantro and season with salt and pepper. Garnish with mint. Let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving.




Red cabbage, red onion. I didn't have rice wine vinegar but used rice vinegar and red wine vinegar. Sourwood honey, orange juice, cilantro, and canola oil.


I shredded the cabbage and chopped the onion then mixed the dressing and poured over the slaw.

It tasted PURPLE. REAL PURPLE.

I won't be making this again.

The mint was very nice though.

Now, on to my ... unfortunate ... tacos.
The recipe called for corn masa mix.
Perhaps I had the wrong mix.
I don't know.
Are there different types of masa?



Here, I'm adding the water to the masa.



I rolled the dough into ping pong size balls.


I carefully pressed each ball of dough.


If the dough is too thin, the tortilla falls apart. And you don't want it too thick either.



Drop into hot oil.



Halfway through frying, fold over to make a taco shape.




Finally, a puffy taco.



One stinkin' puffy taco out of the whole mess.
I'll try this again to get it right.
The non puffy ones weren't bad, but I liked the puffy.
Making puffy tacos is a lot of hard work.



Here are the country style ribs.



I chopped them finely, then added salt and pepper and ancho chili powder.


Mix meat with the beans and tomato sauce.



Here are the filled tacos, topped with cheese, the disappointing cole slaw, and the gaucamole.
My boys and their friends loved these.

But crap. I started cooking at 3:00 and finally served dinner at 7:30.

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