Since finding this forum I've been reading the posts by
chilerelleno
with envy. They would make me drool and cry at the same time. Drool because they look amazing and cry because I just suck at making Mexican food. That's a shame too because both Tracy and I absolutely love Mexican. It's one of our favorites but it's without doubt my worst style to create meals or cook. Well, I was asked by Tracy the other day to make something Mexican with some of the tenderloin tips and I was crushed. The last thing I want to do is make another dismal failure for the person I want most to please and make happy. Decided to spend some time doing a crash course on Mexican food, spices, and flavor combinations. This started by spending several hours poring over John's recipe index he has posted. I was looking for flavor and spice combinations, trends, and common denominators. Next was to crunch the 'net looking for what to make with the beef tips. Decided on the Bistec A La Mexicana but with my own from-the-ground-up recipe. I shut down everything Internet related, opened a blank Word document, and started putting things on paper. It was tweaked a couple times but reached a point that I was comfortable giving it a run. Fingers crossed, said a little prayer, and here's what I came up with:
Tenderloin tips
Tips in a plastic bowl tossed with flour and first round of spices
Doing this in a cast iron skillet. Tips browned, add jalapenos, green onions, beef stock, and rest of spices
Gravy starting to thicken nicely. This is looking and smelling great!!
Whipped up some homemade guac
Made a guacamole salad on a bed of Romaine lettuce and some green onions. This was actually very good!!
Bistec all done.
Money shot...I hope. Dinner plated with Mexican rice, re-fried beans, warm torts, and the salad on the side. Still got my fingers crossed.
Took the first bite and asked myself where has this been my whole life?? It was absolutely delicious and vastly exceeded every expectation I had going in. This was yet another time that Tracy looked at me, rolled her eyes into the back of her head, smiled, and and said "this is awesome". The meat was tender, succulent, and unbelievably flavorful from the spices in the gravy. Gravy was perfect consistency, deep and rich in flavor, very complex, and had a really nice little spice tingle. Being that this was my very first time creating a Mexican meal and I hit it out of the park (at least as far as my expectations go) I couldn't have been happier. Chile has been a huge inspiration and now that I've finally taken the plunge, this could be a life changer for us. In retrospect I will share where my previous failures stem from. First is not taking the time to start the learning process on how to blend the correct flavors. From there I could have expanded based on what I learn from each cook. Second was not ever having the correct spices on hand. After putting together the recipe, I ordered from Amazon a 3-pack of spices that included Guajillo, Ancho, and Arbol. As soon as they were delivered yesterday I did the fingertip taste test on each and knew immediately that these were what I've been missing all along. Well, here's the recipe exactly as I made it:
1 lb. beef tenderloin tips
2 T olive oil
1 T all-purpose flour
4 cloves garlic
1 ½ t beef bouillon
2 t guajillo pepper
1 t arbol pepper
1 t ground black pepper
½ lime juiced
2 jalapeno peppers seeded and chopped
3 green onions chopped
½ cup beef broth
½ t salt
¼ cup chopped cilantro
-Coat beef with flour, guajillo pepper, arbol pepper, black pepper, and salt. Cook in large pan with olive oil and garlic until meat is browned.
-Add beef broth, lime juice, beef bouillon, jalapenos, and green onions.
-Simmer until sauce thickens and beef is tender. Serve with rice and beans or on tortillas and garnish with cilantro.
The only thing I plan to change is to nix the salt. I guess the beef bouillon and possibly the beef broth have some salt in them and it was just a bit too salty for my tastes. Tracy didn't pick up on it but she'll never know if I leave it out next time. John....you're the expert on Mexican food. If you see anything here that doesn't look Mexican or a revision you feel would be beneficial, please let me know. From my perspective though it hit every note of authentic Mexican food that I've been looking for and missing by a country mile. Now...as good as the stuff was, we aren't through yet. It was so good I decided to make an omelette for breakfast this morning with the leftovers. Weird but really good!!
It appears that some doors are opening to expand my cooking horizons. This has helped develop a bit of a comfort level that I can actually do it. Not sure what's next and have not even started thinking about it but I'm sure something will inspire me real soon.
Basking in my 15 minutes of fame,
Robert
chilerelleno
with envy. They would make me drool and cry at the same time. Drool because they look amazing and cry because I just suck at making Mexican food. That's a shame too because both Tracy and I absolutely love Mexican. It's one of our favorites but it's without doubt my worst style to create meals or cook. Well, I was asked by Tracy the other day to make something Mexican with some of the tenderloin tips and I was crushed. The last thing I want to do is make another dismal failure for the person I want most to please and make happy. Decided to spend some time doing a crash course on Mexican food, spices, and flavor combinations. This started by spending several hours poring over John's recipe index he has posted. I was looking for flavor and spice combinations, trends, and common denominators. Next was to crunch the 'net looking for what to make with the beef tips. Decided on the Bistec A La Mexicana but with my own from-the-ground-up recipe. I shut down everything Internet related, opened a blank Word document, and started putting things on paper. It was tweaked a couple times but reached a point that I was comfortable giving it a run. Fingers crossed, said a little prayer, and here's what I came up with:Tenderloin tips
Tips in a plastic bowl tossed with flour and first round of spices
Doing this in a cast iron skillet. Tips browned, add jalapenos, green onions, beef stock, and rest of spices
Gravy starting to thicken nicely. This is looking and smelling great!!
Whipped up some homemade guac
Made a guacamole salad on a bed of Romaine lettuce and some green onions. This was actually very good!!
Bistec all done.
Money shot...I hope. Dinner plated with Mexican rice, re-fried beans, warm torts, and the salad on the side. Still got my fingers crossed.
Took the first bite and asked myself where has this been my whole life?? It was absolutely delicious and vastly exceeded every expectation I had going in. This was yet another time that Tracy looked at me, rolled her eyes into the back of her head, smiled, and and said "this is awesome". The meat was tender, succulent, and unbelievably flavorful from the spices in the gravy. Gravy was perfect consistency, deep and rich in flavor, very complex, and had a really nice little spice tingle. Being that this was my very first time creating a Mexican meal and I hit it out of the park (at least as far as my expectations go) I couldn't have been happier. Chile has been a huge inspiration and now that I've finally taken the plunge, this could be a life changer for us. In retrospect I will share where my previous failures stem from. First is not taking the time to start the learning process on how to blend the correct flavors. From there I could have expanded based on what I learn from each cook. Second was not ever having the correct spices on hand. After putting together the recipe, I ordered from Amazon a 3-pack of spices that included Guajillo, Ancho, and Arbol. As soon as they were delivered yesterday I did the fingertip taste test on each and knew immediately that these were what I've been missing all along. Well, here's the recipe exactly as I made it:
1 lb. beef tenderloin tips
2 T olive oil
1 T all-purpose flour
4 cloves garlic
1 ½ t beef bouillon
2 t guajillo pepper
1 t arbol pepper
1 t ground black pepper
½ lime juiced
2 jalapeno peppers seeded and chopped
3 green onions chopped
½ cup beef broth
½ t salt
¼ cup chopped cilantro
-Coat beef with flour, guajillo pepper, arbol pepper, black pepper, and salt. Cook in large pan with olive oil and garlic until meat is browned.
-Add beef broth, lime juice, beef bouillon, jalapenos, and green onions.
-Simmer until sauce thickens and beef is tender. Serve with rice and beans or on tortillas and garnish with cilantro.
The only thing I plan to change is to nix the salt. I guess the beef bouillon and possibly the beef broth have some salt in them and it was just a bit too salty for my tastes. Tracy didn't pick up on it but she'll never know if I leave it out next time. John....you're the expert on Mexican food. If you see anything here that doesn't look Mexican or a revision you feel would be beneficial, please let me know. From my perspective though it hit every note of authentic Mexican food that I've been looking for and missing by a country mile. Now...as good as the stuff was, we aren't through yet. It was so good I decided to make an omelette for breakfast this morning with the leftovers. Weird but really good!!
It appears that some doors are opening to expand my cooking horizons. This has helped develop a bit of a comfort level that I can actually do it. Not sure what's next and have not even started thinking about it but I'm sure something will inspire me real soon.
Basking in my 15 minutes of fame,
Robert
