Mexican Food - Rick Bayless style!

Well, I've been hooked on the reality t.v. show TOP CHEF MASTERS... Rick Bayless was one of the fantastic chefs on the show. His recipes always looked interesting during the show, so I googled looking for some of his recipes. I ran across his restaurant - FRONTERA GRILL in Chicago. He has many, many recipes posted on this site. Here is one that I will be making tomorrow... I have changed his recipe slightly, as I know I won't be able to find some of the ingredients here in our little town before ever going to the store. I couldn't even find cilantro this weekend! Crazy huh?

BLACK BEAN BATHED ENCHILADAS (with Chorizo & Fresh Cheese)
aka: Enfrijoladas
RICK BAYLESS

Serves 4 as main course

1 cup dry black beans, rinsed
2 chipotle chiles (in adobo sauce), minced
1 1/4 cups (10 oz) chorizo sausage, casing removed (bacon, ham, or other sausage can replace chorizo)
1 medium white onion, sliced
Salt, 1/2 tsp
12 corn tortillas
Serrano-Tomatillo Salsa; or Chipotle Salsa (3/4 cup)
3/4 cup crumbled queso fresco or dry goat cheese
3 T. roughly chopped flat leaf parsley

Directions:
BEAN SAUCE...
Place beans in medium size saucepan, cover with 3 cups water, remove any beans that float. Heat to simmer.

Using saucepan, add 1/4 cup of chorizo and 1/2 of the onion. Saute. Put into beans. Simmer over medium to medium-low heat, stir occasionally, until the beans are fully tender, 1 1/2 to 2 hrs. If you see the beans peaking up through the liquid, add water to cover them by 1/2 inch.

Coarsely puree the beans in batches in a food processor. Return to the pot and add enough water to thin the consistency of a medium cream soup. Taste and season with salt.

TORTILLAS & CHORIZO...
Set up steamer (veggie steamer in saucepan filled with 1/2 inch of water); heat to boil. Wrap tortillas in a heavy kitchen towel, lay in steamer & cover with tight lid. Boil 1 minute, turn off heat and let stand without opening for 15 minutes.

In saucepan, cook the remaining 1 cup chorizo until done (10 min), breaking up any clumps. Drain off fat. Add the minced chipotle peppers. Keep warm over low heat.

FINISHING:
Turn oven to the lowest possible setting and warm a serving platter in it. Onto a deep plate or tray pour out 1 1/2 cups of the warm bean sauce onto the deep plate. One by one, dip both sides of the tortillas into the sauce, fold into quarters and transfer to the warm serving platter. Lay the tortillas in 2 rows, slightly overlap. Keep warm in oven.

Scrape any leftover bean sauce from the deep plate back into the pot. If the sauce has thickened, add a bit of water to get back to the original consistency. Quickly bring to simmer, spoon over the folded tortillas (should be lots of sauce), top with warm chorizo, splash on the optional salsa, sprinkle on the cheese, parsley and remaining sliced onion. Serve right away - they don't like to sit!

Variations: with bean sauce and tortillas as a base, you can vary toppings or fillings as you like.

Serve with a nice salad, and margaritas of course!

**ORIGINAL RECIPE**

Patty's Margaritas! Ole...

Well, I seem to be transitioning from Italian cooking to Mexican Food! Shrimp Tacos was my last post; and now I'm moving on to a nice refreshing drink to accompany your tacos...

Patty's Margaritas

3/4 blender of ice
1/2 can frozen limeaid
4 oz tequilla
2 oz triple sec
4 oz water

BLEND. Serve in salt rimmed glasses.

Simple and tasty!

Tacos With Spicy Shrimp!

Who wants a yummy taco? This is a wonderfully easy and tasty recipe for Shrimp Tacos. When living in California, I used to love going to a casual restaurant called Rubios. My favorite on the menu? Shrimp Tacos! Well, I found this recipe for shrimp tacos. Not the same as Rubios - but excellent and SO EASY!

SHRIMP TACOS
Serves 6

12 oz bacon (cut into pieces)
1/2 onion, chopped
2 lbs. large cooked shrimp (peeled, deveined & cut into bite size pieces
3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced
12 corn tortillas
1 cup chopped cilantro
1 lime, juiced
salt to taste, optional
Mexican cheese
Avocado
Sour Cream

In large, deep skillet fry bacon until evenly brown. Drain bacon fat. Add onions to the pan with the bacon. Saute five minutes (till onions are translucent). Stir in the shrimp and chipotle chiles; cook 4 minutes until heated.

Heat tortillas on ungreased skillet over medium-high heat for 10-15 seconds. Turn over and heat another 5-10 seconds. Fill heated tortillas with the shrimp/bacon/onion mixture.

Top with preferred toppings. I use sliced avocado; a sprinkle of cheese, and sour cream.


CILANTRO CHILE CREAM SAUCE
(16 Servings)

This sauce could be an option to serve as a sauce for these shrimp tacos! Works great for either chicken or fish tacos. Makes a dip as well.

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped coarsely
3 chile peppers (seeded & chopped)
3 cloves garlic
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup heavy cream
salt/pepper to taste

Place all in food processor. Puree till smooth.

Both recipes courtesy of Allrecipes.com
CHIPOTLE SHRIMP TACOS