It’s football season, which means Sundays are now devoted to three things: beer, food and watching the game.
We recently had a few people over for the game and Joey wanted to have a fiesta filled with homemade Mexican foods. He spent 2 hours carefully selecting the recipes and then we headed for the grocery store. When we returned home from the store, we spent the rest of our Saturday night prepping two salsas, jalapeño poppers, carne asada, regular tacos and Spanish rice. After several hours of cooking, I went to bed anticipating the wonderful flavors that awaited us on Sunday. Joey anticipated hours of sitting and watching football while yelling at the TV.
Sunday morning rolled around we got back to cooking. Everything was delicious, especially the jalapeño poppers, which were filled with cream cheese, cheese, bacon and scallions and then deep-fried in our fryer. When you combine two types of cheese with bacon and frying, you’re bound to have good results! I also loved the salsas, which called for lime juice, red onion, jalapeños, fresh tomatoes and juicy sweet corn. The flavors were a fantastic blend of sweet, spicy and tangy. I was ready to ditch the chips and just use a spoon.
The carne asada was a different story. Even after marinating it for 6 hours in a blend of citrus, olive oil, onion and jalapeño, it was flavorless (the marinade called for white vinegar. I used distilled white vinegar. Is that the same thing?). Joey carefully grilled the steak for just a few minutes and although it was still pink in the middle, the meat was tough. After factoring in the money it cost to buy and the time it took to prepare, it was pretty disappointing.
Now I have TONS of leftovers. We used up the steak in a yummy steak salad last night with a side of jalapeño poppers. I’m thinking about using up the rest of the leftovers, like the salsa, taco meat and Spanish rice, in a taco casserole.