Mexican Recipes

If it's hot in your neck of the woods tonight, think Tex Mex and make vegetable quesadillas on the grill. Although the recipe has you roast the veggies in the oven, they would be equally delicious charred on the grill. Have the kids help you grate the cheese and assemble the quesadillas. Vegetarians can enjoy the quesadillas as is, but for those who want to throw in protein, cooked bay shrimp, grilled chicken, or sliced steak are wonderful options. Ready for the easy but tasty recipe? Read on.

The dish that I've probably made the most in my life is guacamole. When I started cooking, it's the first thing I mastered; I still remember learning how to make it from my dad. It's a dip that I never get tired of because there are tons of different variations and it's just so good! My latest favorite involves a whole head of roasted garlic. It's amazing how creamy and rich this guac is. The roasted garlic gives it a smooth texture and depth of flavor. The ingredient list doesn't call for tomatoes, but if you prefer guacamole with tomatoes, add them. Really, feel free to adapt the recipe to your liking! Check it out after the break.

Sometimes it's nice to prepare a big bowl of beans; then, you can use the beans over and over again to make different dishes throughout the week. Tonight I suggest you throw together a pot of these fragrant and flavorful black beans. The recipe calls for canned beans, so you don't have to worry about overnight-soaking or cooking for a long period of time. Serve the beans in a crispy taco shell, layered between two soft tortillas as quesadillas, or tossed with greens in a hearty salad. To get the fast and easy recipe, keep reading.

If you're in the mood for Mexican, but don't want to go the taco-enchilada route, I have the perfect dish for you: fish Veracruzano. It's a fragrant recipe from Katie Lee that was inspired by a meal she had in Veracruz, Mexico. The fish is cooked in a lip-smacking good sauce that's full of onions, jalapeños, and tomatoes. Green olives and capers give the sauce an irresistible salty and briny quality. The ingredient list calls for red snapper, but since it's on the avoid list in terms of sustainability, I opted for another white flaky fish. For a complete meal, serve with Spanish rice and a cold beer! Get the scrumptious recipe now.

On Saturday mornings, I often enjoy watching Marcela Valladolid's Mexican Made Easy on Food Network. She cooks authentic cuisine with traditional ingredients. One ingredient that she always uses is Mexican crema. Somewhere between sour cream and crème fraîche, Mexican crema is a slightly sour, cooling, and creamy condiment.
Although you can purchase it at many ethnic markets, it's super easy to make at home. It's also wildly delicious: I couldn't stop myself from dunking chips into it and eating it like a dip. It pairs wonderfully with all types of Mexican food, from steak tacos to cheese quesadillas — basically anything you would have sour cream with. Ready for the recipe? Keep reading.

When it comes to making Latin cuisine at home, I normally cook Americanized dishes like nachos. However, at a restaurant, I eat more traditional dishes that involve a side of rice and beans. While the beans vary, sometimes they're refried pintos other times they're saucy black, the rice is almost always Spanish rice. It's orange and has a distinct tomatoey taste.

My friend Emily has been making her grandmother's Spanish rice for years and with Cinco de Mayo on the horizon, I begged her to finally share the recipe. The secret is the tomato sauce. It gives the rice a delicious al dente texture and rich comforting flavor. To get the easy technique to this humble side you'll enjoy over and over again, keep reading.

Normally I purchase salsa verde, the Mexican condiment that's made from tomatillos, but sometimes it's nice to make it from scratch. Like most salsa, it requires a food processor or blender for pureeing. This one gets its reddish-green color from the tomatillos, green chiles, and chipotle chilies in adobo. The ingredients are broiled in the oven before being blended, so the salsa has a nice depth of flavor. The chipotles give the salsa the perfect amount of heat. To learn how it's done, keep reading.