Cinco de Mayo: Tacos Bistek

It's a post so epic that it was three weeks in the making (which definitely had nothing to do with the onslaught of weddings monopolizing my time recently). At last, I present the thrilling conclusion to our Cinco de Mayo festivities: The heart and soul of any fiesta: THE TACOS! (I'm pretty sure I get blogger bonus points for using multiple colons in one sentence.). For our main course, we went with a Kevin and Faron classic- Tacos Bistek, where perfectly seasoned rib-eye steak serves as the centerpiece of a mouthwatering tortilla encased classic.

Tacos Bistek
From the minds of Faron and Kevin

One day I won't live with Kevin, and I'll be woefully unprepared to make meat.

Time: 20 minutes (plus 1 hour for marinading)

Rib-eye steak
Olive oil
Fajita seasoning
Cumin
Onions, diced
Cilantro, chopped
Lime, wedged
Cotija cheese
Salsas (recipes here)
Corn tortillas

1. Prep the steaks. Marinade them in olive oil then rub on the fajita seasoning and cumin and let sit for an hour.
2. Cook the steaks to medium rare on a grill. For extra flavor, you can baste them with the adobo sauce from canned chipotles (conveniently found in the salsa recipe) right before they're finished.
3. Sauté the onions in olive oil until soft and translucent.
4. Grill the tortillas. 
5. Tear the chips away from the delicious salsa long enough to use on your tacos then fill the tortillas with steak, cotija cheese, cilantro, onions and salsa. Sprinkle them with your lime wedge and enjoy.

By showing a second picture at a different, much weirder angle it's like an entirely different dish (Nope, I'm definitely not being lazy).

These tacos served a key function for the evening; they provided the delicious bridge to get us from the heavenly salsas to the perfectly drunken margarita cupcakes (plus they probably added some much needed nutrients and protein to round out a complete feast). Faron and Kevin's Tacos Bistek are a superb addition to any taco night that is easy to prepare yet provides a truly authentic tasting Mexican experience that rivals anything you'll find in a Taco Truck. With the smashing success of each course of our Cinco de Mayo celebration, there's only one logical place to go from here: form an awesome Mexican band. Stay tuned for the exciting new adventures of My Mariachi Their Kitchen!

Cinco de Mayo: The Salsa Compendium

Hand modeling and picture taking at the same time. I'm so very talented.

First impressions are of the utmost importance. As such, my salsa experience often dictates whether or not I like a Mexican restaurant. If a restaurant can have me doing a rough calculation of how many tortilla chips my stomach can handle before bursting, then that establishment will rate highly in my book. I want my dining experience to come with the shame of looking over and realizing you just demolished your third basket of chips before your drinks came. Luckily, we had resident salsa expert Faron on hand to help us perfectly capture both ends of the salsa spectrum with some of the finest red and green salsas this palate has tasted.

This man knows how to turn a tortilla chip into a powerful tool in your culinary arsenal.

Salsa Roja
Servings: Enough for a grand fiesta
Time: 30 minutes

Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
3 Roasted Poblanos (tutorial here)
1 large tomato
1 large onion
3 garlic cloves
1/4 cup water
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
Handful of cilantro

1. Roughly chop everything and add it to a pot. 
2. Cook until the veggies soften (10-15 minutes). If it's overly liquidy, bring to a simmer and let reduce.
3. Mix in the olive oil and puree in a blender.
4. Let cool then stuff your face using convenient tortilla shaped transportation tools.

Kevin, our floor and my t-shirt learned that the immersion blender should be completely immersed before turning on.

Roja caliente may have been a better description of this delightfully spicy salsa. The roasted poblanos and chipotles yielded incredible flavors and a memorable kick. Aside from gracing your favorite chip or taco, this salsa was tailor made to liven up a breakfast omelet or migas (which I made sure to test out the next morning.).

Salsa Verde

Adapted from The Homesick Texan

Servings: 4-5 cups

Time: 25 minutes

3 medium-sized green tomatoes, coarsely chopped

4 tomatillos, cleaned and chopped

1-2 jalapenos, stemmed, seeded and coarsely chopped

3 small garlic cloves, minced

3 medium rip avocados, peeled, pitted and sliced

4 sprigs cilantro

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups sour cream

1. Combine the tomatoes, tomatillos, jalapenos and garlic in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
2. Remove from heat and let cool.
3. Add the tomato mixture to the avocados, cilantro and salt in a blender and puree until smooth.
4. Pour into a bowl and stir in the sour cream.

Just when the red salsa had you sweating, the cool and creamy green salsa based on Ninfa's recipe was there to bring you back down with its splendid combination of tomatillos and avocados. This truly was an almost exact replication of the amazing salsa from Ninfa's (up next, we must figure out Chuy's creamy jalapeno salsa). Trying to pick a favorite between the two salsas proved impossible, so we loaded up our tacos with both and our stomachs thanked us for it. 

And now a brief intro to canning (Watch your feet because Kevin's about to drop some knowledge.):

If only he could knit too, Kevin would make the perfect husband for some lucky lady one day.

1. Read the above paragraphs and make your salsa.
2. Say "hot damn" after trying the deliciousness and decide you want to share it with all your friends through the magic of canning (note: please don't can the green salsa as the sour cream may prove less than pleasant afterwards).
3. Boil the jars and lids.
4. Add your salsa to the jars and wipe the tops off.
5. Seal the lids and boil the jars for 40 minutes.
6. Listen for the popping sound when you remove them from the water to know that they're sealed.
7. Spread joy throughout the world.

Now they just need their Kevin's Crazy Canned Salsa Cans labels.

Cinco de Mayo: Margarita Cupcakes

This picture is tilted, much like your world is after nights involving Patron.

Much like St. Patrick's Day, Cinco de Mayo is a most holy day reserved for drinking stupid amounts to properly honor what is being celebrated. Since Kevin and I realized we are no longer in our early 20s (with constant reminders from our bodies), we opted for a quiet night in with friend to the blog Faron and a whole lot of cooking. We started off the evening with some truly mouth-watering rib eye tacos (with 2 kinds of salsas!) and ended it with some of my most spectacular alcoholic cupcakes yet. As always, we'll start with the most important part of any meal- the cupcake course.


Margarita Cupcakes
Adapted from The Brown Eyed Baker
Servings: 12 cupcakes
Time: 45 minutes (plus cooling)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temp
Zest and juice of 1 1/2 limes
2 tbsp decent tequila (plus more for brushing)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
Lime curd (recipe follows)
Margarita buttercream frosting (recipe follows)
Lime wedges for garnish

The sheer amount of lime zest had me excited.

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. 
2. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.
3. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium speed.
4. Add the eggs one at a time until thoroughly incorporated.
5. Mix in the lime juice, zest and vanilla extract.
6. Drop the mixer speed to low and alternate adding in the dry ingredients and buttermilk in three intervals (dry->buttermilk->dry->buttermilk->dry). Be careful not to overmix.
7. Realize you forgot to add the tequila (forgetting things: a side effect of tequila) then add it in and pray to god the batter doesn't curdle (which it fortunately doesn't). You could also add the tequila in with the lime juice step, but since my Cubanness means I'm superstitious, I will continue to add it in at this step in the future.
8. Fill lined cupcake tins 2/3 full with batter then bake for 18-23 minutes or until the toothpick tests comes back clean. Also, make sure to turn once halfway through.
9. Let cool on a wire rack.
10. Core the cupcakes and fight the urge to eat all of the cupcake holes when you notice these are freaking delicious.
11. Brush the tops and holes with tequila then spoon in the lime curd filling.
12. Frost the cupcakes and garnish with a lime wedge.

You will not find a more perfectly composed cake.

Kevin and I were both a little hesitant about these cupcakes to start since tequila tastes like regret to us (thanks, college!). I have been craving lime recently, so I was willing to look past the devil liquid's presence. Just like I had hoped, the true star of the cupcake is the lime that comes through spectacularly in the cake itself, the curd and the frosting. Brushing with tequila helped add the tequila flavor for a true margarita experience without triggering my gag reflex. Just make sure you use decent tequila since not all of it is going to bake away. These delicious flavors were bolstered by what may have been the perfect cake. I often talk about moist and bouncy cakes, but this truly was the epitome of what a cake should be. It almost seemed like a crime to be removing the centers for filling.

Lime Curd Filling

Adapted from All Recipes

Servings: Enough for 12 cupcakes

Time: 30 minutes plus cooling

1/2 cup sugar

1/8 cup butter

6 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 1/2 tsp lime zest

1 egg, beaten

Tarty kick in convenient Ghostbusters slime color!

1. Determine that you hate limes with a fiery passion after juicing and zesting so many of them.
2. Combine the sugar, butter, lime juice and zest in the top bowl of a double boiler and stir over high heat until the butter melts.
3. Spoon about 1 tbsp of the hot mixture in to the eggs and mix well. 
4. Reduce to medium heat and slowly whisk in the eggs.
5. Cook for 20-25 minutes, whisking occasionally until the mixture thickens (and can coat the back of a wooden spoon.
6. Let cool then put in the freezer once you're sure the bowl will no longer shatter from the temperature shock.

I've flirted with lemon curds and blackberry curds in cupcakes before, and I am a huge fan of the tartness they bring to the table. In order to properly mimic a margarita, I wanted these cupcakes to have some kick (that didn't come from tequila). The slight shock of sour from the curd served its purpose beautifully and again hammered home the wonderfulness of the lime. In a cupcake that has three excellent components, the curd somehow managed to shine the brightest.

Margarita Buttercream Frosting

Adapted from The Brown Eyed Baker
Servings: Exactly enough for 12 cupcakes
Time: 5 minutes

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2-3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp tequila
Pinch of salt

Quite possibly the tastiest and smoothest buttercream frosting

1. Whip the butter on medium speed using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer.
2. Slowly add the powdered sugar and let mix. make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl .
3. Add the lime, tequila and salt and mix until light and fluffy. If it's too soft, add more powdered sugar.

Just remember not to bite into the lime wedge.

Whenever I make buttercream frosting, I always find myself lamenting passing on yet another round of the always delightful cream cheese frosting. This time, however, I knew I had the right frosting for the task. This was an unbelievably silky smooth and flavorful buttercream that I will definitely be trying variations of in the future.

To make the cupcakes more flashy, I'd recommend adding some light green food coloring to the frosting then making an outer circle of decorative sugar pearls to mimic salt.

My Cinco de Mayo Margarita Cupcake quickly joined the pantheon of cupcake greatness. It even made a believer out of the typically sweet averse Kevin, whose declaration that he would have 1/4 of a cupcake quickly quadrupled after his first bite. From cake to curd to frosting, everything came together perfectly for an adventure in cupcakery that none of us will soon forget. Furthermore, it solidified in our aging minds the fact that we made the right choice by staying in and celebrating with food (a fact further proven by me not being curled up in a ball on the couch this morning).

The best part about making cupcakes: incorporating them into a healthy breakfast (It's just like a muffin, a far more sugary and fattening muffin with the alcohol you need to get you going in the morning!).

More Cinco de Drunko Mayo fun to come with rib eye tacos and 2 kinds of salsa!