Shredded Chicken Tacos

• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 6 tbs taco seasoning, see recipe below
• 4 cups water, plus 4 tbs for thickening
• 1 tbs corn starch
• 12 flour tortillas or taco shells
• cheese
• lettuce, shredded
• tomato, diced
• sour cream
• guacamole

Taco Seasoning

• 3 tbs paprika
• 2 tbs chili powder
• 1 tbs sugar
• 1 tbs garlic powder
• 3 tsp salt
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp chipoltle pepper ground, optional

Cooking the Chicken

Place the chicken in a deep skillet or dutch oven.  Cover with the 4 cups of water and add 4 tbs of taco seasoning.

Bring the mixture to a boil and then turn down the heat to a simmer.  Cover and cook for 30 minutes.  Check the chicken to make sure it is fully cooked and tender.

Remove the chicken from the liquid and place on a plate to cool.

While the chicken is cooling, bring the liquid back up to a boil and let it reduce.  Don’t worry if you have a lot of liquid left.  It will reduce.

When the chicken is touchable, shred it with two forks, your fingers, or whatever utensils you have lying around.

Place the chicken back into the liquid.

In a small bowl or cup, add the 4 tbs water, 2 tbs of seasoning and 1 tbs of cornstarch.  Mix thoroughly and then add to the chicken.

Stir until thickened.

Remove from the heat and your taco meat is ready to go.

Layer your favorite ingredients on to a tortilla or taco shell and go to town.  These tacos were delicious.  You can adjust the seasoning for your personal preferences.  I like mine spicy, however, Dana does not.  So I posted the mild recipe.

Spicy Shredded Beef Tacos

• 10 flour tortillas
• 4 oz Queso Fresca
• 1/2 head shredded cabbage
• Spicy Beef
  • 2-1/2 pounds beef roast
  • 1 can tomato paste
  • 1 can chipotles in adobo, diced
  • 1 small onion chopped, or 4 tbs dried onion flakes
  • 2 cups beef broth
  • 1 tbs garlic powder
  • 1 tbs chili powder
  • 1 tbs honey
  • 3 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tsp ground cumin

Trim the beef and place it in your crock pot.  I know this sounds obvious, but make sure to buy a roast that will fit in your crock pot.

Then add the tomato paste, chipotle peppers with adobo sauce, beef broth, onion, garlic, chili powder, honey, salt and cumin.

Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.

Remove the beef from the crock pot and shred it with 2 forks.  Just like you would shred pulled pork.  At this time remove any remaining fat.  Then place the shredded meat back into the crock pot.  Let the meat simmer in the juices.

Serve the shredded beef on a corn tortilla with the fresh cabbage and a little queso fresco.

One of the best meals of the week.  You have to try this one.

In honor of Cinco de Mayo I decided to do a little list of my favorite south of the border recipes. Since this is Cocktail Wednesday the first has to be a refreshing beverage. Nothing starts off a good Cinco de Mayo like a Margarita!!

The Margarita

Nothing beats a Margarita on Cinco de Mayo

Chicken Tacos with Homemade Tortillas

Chicken Tacos with homemade tortillas and hot sauce

Flank Steak Tacos

The tequila makes these amazing

Steak Fajitas

Steak Fajitas served with Roasted Peppers

Chicken Fajitas

Chicken Fajitas served Family Style

BBQ Chicken Quesadillas

A little play on traditional quesadillas

Chicken Nachos

Nachos

Tostada Pizza

Only the best pizza around

Hopefully these recipes will get you through this south of the border holiday.  When in doubt, have another shot of tequila.

Rex

The tequila makes these amazing

Grilled Steak Tacos with Roasted Peppers

• 1lb flank steak
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 tequila
• 2 limes
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tbs cumin
• 1 tbs oregano
• 1 tbs onion powder
• 1 tbs chili powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Roasted Peppers

• 6 poblano peppers
• 1 zip top bag for steaming the peppers

Lay the flank steak out on a cutting board and dry it off with a towel.

The flank steak

With a flank steak I usually tenderize it before I use it.  To do that use a hard object or a meat tenderizer and hammer the meat.  This will tenderize it and make it so that it is not too chewy.

Take all of your aggression and use it against the poor helpless piece of meat.

Mix all of the seasonings above and place in a zip top bag.  You can add as much tequila as you like.  Jeff likes tequila so I think that we added about a 1/2-3/4 cup of tequila.

Add as much tequila as you like.

Then seal the bag and squeeze as much air out as you can.  Then refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.  2-3 hours is preferred.

Jeff was a great hand model. I think he has a future in the business.

Just like the shrimp tacos from a couple of days ago, we are going to serve these with roasted peppers.  While the meat marinades, roast the peppers.  Place the peppers on high heat and turn them every minute or so until all of the sides are blackened.

It is alright to let them burn as it will make the skins come off easier.

Make sure to rotate them so that all of the sides get blackened.

Once all of the sides are blistered and black time to remove them from the grill

Remove them from the grill when blistered and place in a plastic bag.   The plastic bag will help to steam the skins off.

Zip top bags make the perfect container for steaming the skins off.

After about 10 minutes it is time to peel the skins.  As you can see, the skins come off in giant sheets.

It might be a little dirty, but this is a hands on sort of thing.

Slice into strips and serve these tender, smokey, and tasty treats with any and everything.

Now that the peppers are done, it is time to grill the meat.  Place the flank steak on the grill over high heat and sear the outside. 

Place the meat on a pre-heated grill

After about 5-7 minutes you should have good grill marks.  When you have good grill marks and the meat looks golden it is time to flip.

Flip when you have good carmelization

Now continue to cook for another 5-7 minutes.  The meat should be about medium-medium well.  Remove and let the meat sit for 5 minutes before carving.  This will let the juices redistribute throughout the meat.  Then carve the meat into thin strips.  Make sure to cut against the grain.  Otherwise, the meat will be chewy.

Make sure to cut against the grain

Serve the steak tacos on a flour tortilla with some cheese, roasted peppers, salsa and some sour cream.  Makes for a perfect summer meal.

The tacos are great with just a little lime juice to add a tad bit more acidity.

These tacos were the best of the night.  The meat was cooked perfectly and the seasoning was awesome.  Now that it is summer time, it is time to grill.  You don’t always have to make burgers and hot dogs.  Next time make grilled steak tacos.

These tacos were great, especially with the grilled peppers.

Grilled Shrimp Tacos

• 1 pound peeled shrimp
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup tequila
• 2 tbs honey
• 2 limes juiced
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 3 tbs chopped cilantro
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp parsley (fresh or dry)
• pinch of salt and pepper

Roasted Peppers

• 4-6 peppers of your choosing – I used poblano peppers as they have mild to moderate heat.

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl and then pour into a ziplock bag.

Zip top bags work great for marinades. The seal out the air and help the marinade to do its work. Not all zip top bags are created equal so make sure to place the bag on a tray in the refrigerator.

Jeff wanted to make sure that you know to add enough tequila. If you would like to add more feel to up to a 1/3 cup more.

Jeff with the free pour. And yes, the tequila was in the freezer.

Let the marinade to its work for about 30 minutes.  Don’t let it sit too long or else the acid in the limes will start to cook the shrimp and make them rubbery.

While your shrimp sit in the marinade, roast the peppers.  Place the peppers on high heat and turn them every minute or so until all of the sides are blackened.

It is alright to let them burn as it will make the skins come off easier.

Make sure to rotate them so that all of the sides get blackened.

Once all of the sides are blistered and black time to remove them from the grill

Remove them from the grill when blistered and place in a plastic bag.   The plastic bag will help to steam the skins off.

Zip top bags make the perfect container for steaming the skins off.

After about 10 minutes it is time to peel the skins.  As you can see, the skins come off in giant sheets.

It might be a little dirty, but this is a hands on sort of thing.

Slice into strips and serve these tender, smokey, and tasty treats with any and everything.

The next step is to grill the shrimp.  If you a grill pan that will hold the shrimp then you are set.  If you do not you will need to skewer the shrimp.  Remember to soak bamboo skewers in water for 30 minutes before skewering.  Then place the meat over a medium/high heat grill.  Using your hand, if you can hold it over the grill at a height of 5 inches for 5-7 seconds then your grill is at medium/high heat.  This is roughly 340-370 degrees.

Shrimp sitting nicely in a grill pan.

After about 5 minutes your shrimp should be almost all red and ready to eat.  If using a pan, stir every 30 seconds.  If you are using skewers, flip the shrimp after 2-3 minutes.  Basically when the shrimp start to turn bright red.

Ready to eat

Once done remove the shrimp from the grill and serve. De-skewer the shrimp if you used skewers.  Removing the from shrimp from the skewers will make it easier for your dinner guests.

Serve the shrimp on a flour tortilla with some cheese, roasted peppers, salsa and some sour cream.  Makes for a perfect summer meal.

These tacos were great, especially with the grilled peppers.

These chicken tacos are so easy.  Even with making your own tortillas it was on the table in 2 hours.  30 minutes or less with store bought tortillas.

Chicken Tacos Marinade

• 1-2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts (3-4 chicken breasts)
• 1 tsp salt (fine sea or kosher preferred) corrected on 11/3/09
  
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 1 lime squeezed

First things first. Time to prepare the chicken so that you can marinate it. I bought standard chicken breasts that are rather thick and not uniform by any means. So I layered the chicken in plastic wrap and pounded them out so that they were more uniform in thickness. This will help the cooking and also will make it so that all of the strips are uniform for presentation.

Layer with plastic wrap

Use any heavy object to flatten the chicken

Place the chicken in a zip top bag and add the marinade ingredients.  Mix it around making sure that the ingredients touch all of the exposed surfaces of the chicken.  Let sit 20 minutes to overnight.  This can be done the day before making it an even quicker meal.

Time for the tortillas – (From Allrecipes.com – Authentic Mexican Tortillas)

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup hot water

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. With a pastry cutter or a fork.  Then cut in the shortening till the mixture is crumbly. If the mixture looks more floury than crumbly add a bit more shortening. Then add about 1/2-3/4 cup hot water to the mixture, or just enough to make the ingredients look moist.

Flour and Baking powder mixed.

Cutting in the shortening

With your hand or a large fork, knead the mixture making sure to rub the dough against the sides of the large mixing bowl to gather any clinging dough. If the dough still sticks to the side of the bowl, add a couple more tablespoons of flour until the dough forms a soft round shape. Cover the dough with a dish towel, and let it sit for about an hour or so.

The dough formed a ball and is ready to rest for 20 mins to an hour.

Take the dough, and pull it apart into 10 to 12 balls. Place the dough ball between two sheets of wax paper.  Then roll out the dough till it is about 1/8 inch or less.  I found that using a rolling pin makes uneven tortillas, but if you go to your local international super market they have tortilla presses for less than $10.  The presses make thin and perfectly round tortillas every time.  If you think that you might make more than 12 tortillas in your lifetime then I would suggest the purchase.

Place the ball between wax paper and roll

Tortilla after being rolled out

Place each tortilla on a medium hot skillet. Cook for about 1 to 2 minutes on each side, or until the tortilla does not look doughy.  Keep the tortillas warm in the oven covered with a damp towel.

Place on skillet

Cook over Med till brown

Now it is time to prepare some toppings for the tacos.  I like to have saute’d peppers and onions on my tacos.  To prepare the peppers, first grill the peppers to blister the skins.  Once the peppers are blackened on the outside remove them from the grill and place them in a plastic bag for 5-10 mins.

I used and indoor grill pan as it was raining outside. You miss a bit on flavor but adding the heat to the peppers makes them taste amazing. As you can see I used red hot peppers, jalepenos, and bell peppers.

The plastic bag will allow the peppers to steam allowing the skins to come off easier.

After steaming the peppers in a plastic ziptop bag you can easily peel them with the edge of a knife or even your fingers.

Dice up the peppers along with a medium onion and saute’ over medium heat for 5-10 minutes. To saute’s add a couple of tablespoons of oil to the pan along with a tad bit of salt.  This will soften the onion and carmelize the peppers.  Tasty.

Peppers and onions saute'd together, mmm.

Time to grill up the chicken.  Remove the chicken from the marinade and place over a high heat grill.  I used an indoor grill pan as it was pouring outside, but an outdoor grill will give a better result.  Cook for 4-5 minutes on each side and it should be perfectly done.

Chicken on the grill

Remember we pounded the chicken flat making it so that it was an even thickness all the way across.  This makes it so that our grilling time is less.  Plus the tad bit of lime juice that we put in the marinade has already started to cook the chicken.  You have to love acidity.

Indoor grill pan doesn't leave the marks like a charcoal grill but it still looks amazing.

Remove from the grill and let rest for a couple of minutes.  Then either cut into strips or cube the chicken.  Serve on the homemade tortillas with the saute’d peppers and onions, some homemade hot sauce and a tad bit of cheese.

Amazing. The chicken, peppers, onions and hot sauce worked together perfectly.

A quick note – The tortillas tasted perfect but were a little thick for me.  Next time I am going to invest in a tortilla press.  Otherwise this dish was amazing.  Enjoy and happy Cinco De Mayo!

The expectations for this restaurant were very high.  With Jose Andres and Katsuya Fukushima one could expect nothing but perfection.  After eating at Cafe Atlantico I have come to the harsh reality that my expectations were completely wrong.  Everything started great.  We sat at the bar and had a few excellent cocktails.  After the cocktails we were seated and then everything came crashing down.  The first thing that happened was that the hostess came to our table and asked us if we were the group that complained about the restaurant week menu.  We were not, but it just shows the quality and strength of the menu.  To begin with the restaurant week menu was cut down to two choices for the night.  The website and front door menu listed six options for both the appetizer and the entree.  This was not that bad except that they replaced one of the six appetizers with a green salad, and one of the six entrees with a lunch special. 

Dinner menu

Appetizers

• Chef’s special soup of the Day – gazpacho
• MIxed Green Salad (lunch)

Entrees

• Salmon con Quinoa y Cous-Cous de Coliflor
• Specialty of the day (lunch) – Pork served with stewed tomatoes, olives, onions, capers and fresh lime with avocado

Dessert

• Sorbet of the Day, Coconut Sorbet
• Choco-Banana

I had the soup, pork and the Choco-Banana.  My Girlfriend had the salad, salmon and the sorbet.  We also ordered the table side Guacamole. 

Out first came the Guacamole, a mere 15 minutes after we ordered.  For a course that they prepare tableside, it took a long time to get to us.   The Guacamole is rather plain, but really shows of the flavor of the avacado.   I would recommend it for the first timer to Cafe.  Once made it was good, but it was not enough to tide us over until our appetizers came out 25 minutes later.  The appetizers were rather boring.  The only little bit of fun was the fried worms added to the top of the mixed green salad.  The salad was way over seasoned and showed just how much the restaurant likes restaurant week. 

I must digress, restaurant week is a time for restaurants to gain new patrons.  You are supposed to show of the best of the restaurant to get patrons that would not normally enter your restaurant to become repeat customers.  Cafe Atlantico and many other restaurants miss the point.  If you want patrons don’t simplify your menu, don’t offer food that I can get at taco bell, offer me something that distinguishes your restaurant from any other restaurant.  Make me want to come back, make me want to spend my hard earned dollars on your food.  Take pride in your food and don’t offer me something that you are throwing out there just to turn a 100% profit.

Back to the gazpacho.  Good body, good flavor, nice acidity.  It was a well balanced dish.  Probably the best of the night.  Just shows how the night went.  A cold soup beat out everything.

After the appetizers we had a good 30 minute breather before our entrees came out.  It gave us enough time to finish our wine and to discuss how everything was going.  Obviously not very well as it was 1:10 minutes into our dinner service and we had only our appetizers in our empty stomachs.  It was like we were the unlucky guests on one of the first nights of Hell’s Kitchen. 

Finally we received our entrees.  My pork had the texture of country fried pork without the breading.  After I cut out the bones, my portion was half its original size.  It was seasoned alright, but the combination of olives, capers, tomatoes and guacamole just did not work for me.  I just did not understand the guacamole.  The salmon came out well done and on underdone couscous.   This was a bit of a joke at the table as the waiter made sure that we were alright with medium-rare salmon, as that is how the chef liked to cook it.  I guess that the chef was not in, as the salmon came out cooked well done.

Finally we were given the gift of dessert a mere 2 hours after we sat down at the table.  This would not be bad if we were eating a six course meal, but for a three course meal that appeared to be pre-cooked this was horrendous.  The dessert consisted of coconut sorbet (enough said), and a Warm Chocolate cake (actually cold) with Venezuelan chocolate flan, banana foam and fresh banana lime salad.   The cake was cold, the foam was creamy and the flan was, well great.

Overall my experience was horrible.  The staff was inconsiderate, the food was moderate at best and restaurant weekers are treated as third-class citizens.  Would I go back?  Maybe for minibar, but for restaurant week, probably not.  

Reviewed 8/14/07