Oven-fried flautas

When I saw Pam’s (of For the Love of Cooking) post of baked flautas I made immediate plans to get them on my table. Last night was my opportunity. I was looking for a way to use up some turkey breakfast sausage we had gotten in the manager’s special bin at Safeway. This was perfect. Of course by using sausage and smoked cheddar I wasn’t exactly being authentic, but I did make (from scratch) tomatillo salsa and guacamole as garnishes. Doesn’t that count for something?

Pam called for you to turn the little “flutes” after 8 or so minutes in the oven. As soon as I did that they started to open up (I hadn’t fastened them with toothpicks). So I left them seam side down for the remaining few minutes of baking. They turned out fine, more than fine actually. Peter made us a side salad of garden fresh arugula and cherry tomatoes. It was a swell meal.

The tube of turkey sausage was a full pound. I knew I didn’t need it all but cooked it all anyhow because it had bumped up against it’s “best if used by…” date. The good news is that we have enough of everything to repeat the meal tonight.

My salsa and guac are deliberately very simple. I like a lot of lime flavor in the guac. I didn’t make either of these spicy at all, just nice, nice, nice. You could certainly use a good jar of Mexican salsa, but they don’t put guacamole in cans – you’ll have to make it yourself. It’s easy.

Flautas (with a nod to Pam) (makes 6)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
8 oz. turkey sausage
1 cup grated cheese (any kind you like, we used smoked cheddar)
flour tortillas
cooking spray

Heat the oil over medium in a large skillet. Add the sausage and sauté until no longer pink, breaking the sausage up gradually as it cooks. Remove to a bowl and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a baking pan with cooking spray. Assemble the flautas by putting cheese and turkey on each tortilla (not quite in the center, closer to you). Roll them up tightly, tucking the filling under. Spray all over with cooking spray. Bake for about 15 minutes until crisp and hot throughout. Serve with salsa and guacamole.

Tomatillo salsa
1 tbsp vegetable oil
¼ large onion, diced
4 tomatillos, diced
½ jalapeno, seeded and diced
garlic powder
salt and pepper
½ cup chicken stock

Heat the oil in a sauce pan or sauté pan. Add onion, tomatillos, jalapeno, garlic powder and salt and pepper (all 3 to taste). Saute, stirring frequently for 4-5 minutes until everything is softened. Add chicken stock and simmer over very low heat until all of the liquid is gone. Remove to a bowl and set aside.

Guacamole
2 avocados
juice of 2 limes
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chile powder
½ tsp smoked Spanish paprika
salt and pepper to taste

Peel the avocados and dice them into a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mash the whole thing up. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.

Fish tacos

I was once again inspired by Jenn when she posted her fish tacos several days ago. There were several decisions to be made: what kind of fish; how was I going to cook the fish; what other miscellanea would go into the mix; cheese or no cheese. Answers: fish – tempura fried; avocado, sour cream, tomato salsa, lettuce; no cheese.

Fish tacos
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/2 jalapeno, minced, seeds left in (optional)
2 scallions, chopped (white and green parts)
1 garlic clove, minced
juice of 1 lime
salt and pepper
lettuce leaves
1/2 avocado, sliced
sour cream
1 lb. cod, cut into 1” strips
tempura batter
oil for frying
4 flour tortillas

Start by making a salsa. In a bowl, mix together the first 6 ingredients. If concerned about the heat, remove seeds from the jalapeno.

Place lettuce leaves, avocado and sour cream each in its own small bowl.

Mix the tempura batter according to package directions. I had to adjust the amount of batter mix and water as I had exactly 1 cup of mix. As it was there was enough batter left that we will make shrimp tacos using it tomorrow.

Heat 2 inches of oil to 350 degrees. Sprinkle some salt on the fish, dip each piece into the batter, and fry until crisp and lightly browned, about 1 ½ minutes (do this in batches so as not to crowd the pan). When each batch is done, drain on paper towels.

Wrap 4 tortillas in a kitchen towel and microwave 30 seconds. Done! Assemble tacos at the table and chow down.

Pork and black bean tacos

I had about 5 oz. of boneless pork country rib meat left over from another application. I’d been thinking about making gorditas (Mexican sandwiches. When I finished cooking the cubes of pork I turned it into, I had one basic problem. I feared that if I kept reducing the liquid in the pan it might intensify its spiciness to far. Then the 5 watt bulb went off in my head. Sandy had given me some of her prepared-from-scratch black beans. I did the step below of adding them to the pork. After they were mashed and simmered for a bit, the liquid thickened perfectly and the beans add a depth of flavor I didn’t even know was missing.

Please bear in mind that I brine all pork before cooking. I’ve posted about that and won’t do so again here. After brining and then rinsing I do not add more salt.

Now, about the gorditas. I have masa (corn flour) in the pantry. I tried making gorditas quite a while ago. Tried again this time – with not great results. So forget about that and just make tacos with this filling.

For the pork::
1 dried pasilla pepper
1 dried Mexican red chili pepper
5 oz. lean boneless pork, cut into 1” cubes
1 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
½ cup chicken stock
1 cup cooked black beans (2/3 of a 14-15 oz. can, rinsed)
Store-bought corn or flour tortillas
Chopped lettuce (any kind)
Grated cheese

Chopped tomato (optional)
Avocado (optional)

Remove the seeds and stems from the peppers and soak them in just enough hot tap water to cover for 30 minutes. Use an immersion blender or food processor to puree them.

Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the pork. Brown slightly (about 5 minutes), stirring every minute or so then reduce heat to medium. Add pureed peppers with their liquid and the chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and cook over medium-low heat until the pork is tender (about 10 minutes).

Push the pork to the side of the pan. Add the beans and mash with a potato masher. Stir and bring back to a low simmer. The beans will thicken the dish in about 10 minutes. If there is too little liquid when you get to this step, add a bit more chicken stock.

To assemble:
Heat a griddle. Spray tortillas very lightly with cooking spray. When the griddle is hot, toss on the tortillas for just 1 minute per side.

Transfer to cutting board. Stuff with lettuce, cheese, pork, and avocado and tomato (if using). That’s all there is to it.