Mexican Fiesta, Cilantro Salsa, Oscar Sunday

It’s a rainy Vancouver Sunday, but it’s Oscar telecast day, so I am choosing to pretend that I am in (what I assume is) sunny California. I can’t wait to see the pretty dresses and the handsomely dressed men and to find out who wins what. (If Anne Hathaway doesn’t win for Best Supporting Actress for Les Miserables, something is wrong with the world.) I stayed in bed reading a bit longer than planned, but that’s what Sunday’s are for, right?

Yesterday was actually quite nice out and we had our lovely friend Jen over for a Mexican fiesta of sorts. I absolutely LOVE Mexican food (as demonstrated by my Mexican adventures back in November) and have been wanting to make a full dinner of it for a while. Sean and I made Mexican when we were in Alberta over the holidays and, other than the salsa (cheese and sour cream – because those are a bit beyond me to make!), everything was made from scratch. Same thing this go ’round – for some reason, traditional salsa alludes me, either in prep time or something else I haven’t quite put my finger on, but until I apply myself, store-bought salsa will just have to do.

On the menu for last night:

APPETIZER

Lemon and Tequila Infused Tiger Prawns – A tasty appetizer adapted from a recipe from PopularPaleo.com (a great blog I recently stumbled upon – excellent recipes).

DINNER – FAJITAS! With the following:

Fresh Corn Flour Tortillas – My absolute favourite thing that I learned to make when I was in Mexico. Tortillas taste so much better when fresh and NOT made from wheat.

Pulled Pork – made by Sean with our slow cooker and very loosely based on this recipe (because Sean doesn’t really use recipes).

Sautéed Red and Orange Bell Peppers and Onions – no recipe, Sean’s very tasty creation. 🙂

Guacamole – One of my taste palette’s recently adopted favourites. Until we went to Mexico the first time a few years ago, I couldn’t handle the texture of the avocado – Sean still cannot. But I now love avocado and make an excellent guacamole. (Eventually Sean will get there , too. I am determined, even if I have to make a thousand different kinds!)

Cilantro Salsa – Based on the recipe I was given from the folks at El Dinamita in Nuevo Vallarta. I love cilantro. It’s such a fresh and comforting taste.

• 1/2 cup cilantro – fresh, washed, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 small yellow onion
• 2 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 or 2 (depending on size) green tomatoes – peeled, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic – roughly chopped
• 1 piqui or jalapeno pepper – seeded and chopped (Piqui is something I have yet to find in Canada, but a jalapeno pepper worked just fine.)
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (optional depending on the desired texture)

Add all ingredients to a mini or regular food processor and mix, stopping occasionally to scrape the sides of the bowl and taste test for desired flavouring and texture. Yields approximately 1/2 cup of salsa.

Cheese, Salsa, Light Sour Cream – The store boughts.

DESSERT

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Fresh Whipped Cream (Click here for cake recipe.) – With a Mexican twist. For the cake, I added 1 tsp and a bit of ancho chili pepper and a large pinch of cinnamon. For the whipped cream, I added 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1 tsp Mexican vanilla, and a pinch of the ancho chili powder while the mixer was beating the cream.

LIQUIDS

Jen brought us a lovely Italian red (because if you are going to have wine, you should be drinking something from the experts) to have with dinner and dessert. The brand is called Masi and it was really nice and full bodied. Normally, I would have made margaritas, but there’s only so much one can do and it was more a wine kind of night.

Jen is someone we know from concert work and she is one of the funnest people I know. We share a lot of common interests and it looks like she and I are going to take beginner ski lessons together. (Which would be wonderful, because, as Jen stated to Sean’s great amusement and my slight trepidation, we will find the tree together. LOL.)

LEFTOVERS

As with most dinners, you always end up with leftovers. What to do? Make an omelette.

3 eggs with some dried oregano, some cheese, small pieces of pulled pork, the pepper and onion sautée, some spinach and, voila!

And now, I need to do some storage room organization, maybe a workout and get dinner ready for Oscar night – thinking acorn squash bowls full of pulled pork, the peppers and other goodness. But I’m not totally sure I will get a work out in there. But you know what? It’s Sunday and some say that’s the day of rest. 😉

Who are your Oscar picks? I’m predicting some wins for Silver Linings Playbook, Les Miserables, and Argo.