Grace's Mexican Rice

I have been meaning to publish this recipe for a long time.  For those of you that already have it, I have made some improvements that I hope you will like.

Grace's Mexican Rice

1 lb ground beef
1 lrg onion, diced
2 8 oz cans tomato sauce
1 6 oz can tomato paste
2 tsp each chili powder, cumin, and dried oregano
1 tsp cumin seed
3 tsp salt
1 1/2 c rice
4 c water

Brown the ground beef and onion together.  Add the other ingredients and stir to combine.  Bring to a boil and stir once more to make sure the rice isn't clumping on the bottom of the pot.  (I recommend wearing an apron for this step.  I can't tell you how many times the tomato sauce has jumped out of the pot to get me.)  Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer 30 minutes, stirring half way through.

Serve with:

avocado
lettuce
cheese
onion
olives
tomatoes
salsa
sour cream (or ranch dressing)
Fritos


When I first started making this, Emily suggested to me that I add more water and extra spices--very good advice.  But, I always hated buying the minute rice for this.  First, I don't actually like minute rice, and second, I had a perfectly good sack of rice already in my kitchen.  I started experimenting with regular rice, but, I usually ended up with it being slightly crunchy.  Then I was reading a recipe in America's Test Kitchen where they were cooking rice with other ingredients, and they said to put in more water and cook for a longer time.  So, I tried it with the Mexican Rice and, lo and behold, the rice was perfectly cooked and the meat-rice mix was moist, even a little juicy.  Yummy!

Since first writing this post Dad Abbott has given some more information about the recipe and its origins.  Here it is:


About "Mexican Rice." Judy has often quipped that she married me so my mother would share her secret recipe for Mexican Rice. Here's the background.

After the war and delayed schooling, like so many others couples, my parents struggled financially. Mexican Rice was an unusual dish suitable for entertaining that didn't cost an arm and a leg and was always a big hit. One night guests commented that they had just eaten the same "Mexican Rice" a night or so earlier at a friends, someone my mother had given the recipe.

That was disappointing, so my mother made "Mexican Rice" a family secret. I recall on more than one occasion women saying they had tried to duplicate it, but they could never get it right. This was the early, early 1950's before Mexican cooking was common among Anglos. Our friends didn't recognize the taste of cumin in the meat & rice base.

I hope everyone in our family who likes Mexican Rice has an authentic recipe. It is my all time favorite recipe, but is so labor intensive I usually request it only for birthdays. And now that my mother has passed on, I'm sure she won't mind you sharing it with your friends. You might check with Judy first though if she's your source. Look what she went through to get it.

Not the Typical Quesadilla

I got this recipe a few years ago from a little cookbook at a grocery store checkout lane. This is my modified version. I always eat more of these than I should; they also make good leftovers.

Ranch Quesadillas

2 cups chicken, cooked and shredded
2 cups (8 oz) Colby Jack cheese, shredded
1 cup Ranch dressing
1 medium tomato, diced and seeded
1/2 - 1 can (4 oz) diced green chiles, rinsed and drained (depends on how much you like)
8 flour tortillas, approximately
salsa (optional)
guacamole (optional)

Combine chicken, cheese, dressing, tomatoes, and chiles in a medium bowl. Place about 1/2 cup of the chicken mixture on each tortilla, then fold in half. Put quesadillas on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Cut in half or thirds. Serve with salsa and guacamole.

Chicken and Rice

One really fun thing about living with Kristen is dinner time. Often we have to come up with something to eat with what we have on hand (we keep meaning to plan menus, honest) that will fill up all of the boys as well as the usuals of being yummy and healthy. And since that wasn't enough of a challenge, we decided to go on a diet together so dinner also has to fit within that. Well the other day, we were looking through the cupboards and thinking and bouncing ideas and ended up with this really yummy chicken and rice dish:

Chicken thighs cut into slices (Kristen really likes thighs because they tend to be more moist than breasts)

red, orange and yellow bell peppers, sliced (green would probably work too but we didn't have any of those)

chopped onion

cumin (a decent amount)

garlic salt

green salsa

splash of water

cooked brown rice

Season the chicken with cumin and garlic salt and saute lightly with the peppers. Add the salsa (almost the whole bottle) and a splash of water. Cover and let it boil until the chicken is cooked. Serve over rice.

It was really good that night but was even better the next day because the flavors had time to mix and mingle. It would also be good with green chiles.

Churros

Jen asked me to post this recipe. We were talking about yummy Mexican food while we were at Los Hermanos. I was drooling about churros. Sometimes you just get a craving.

I recommend some specialized equipment for making these. You don't have to have it, but it makes it all so much easier.
1. a spider (a mesh scooper for frying)--you can also use a slotted spoon
2. a 12inch pastry bag--you can use a gallon plastic bag, but watch for breakouts when hot oil splatters on it.
3. a large open-star tip (the kind you would use for frosting a large cake)--you can use this with the plastic bag or with the pastry bag. You can also do it without the tip, but they look less like churros and more like, to quote Hannah, poop.
4. a helper
5. a candy thermometer--this you actually need.

Churros

2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 c. sugar
1 c. milk
6 Tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. flour
3 large eggs
5-6 c. vegetable oil, for frying

1. Stir together cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl (I like a pie plate This makes a ton, I usually reserve the rest for cinnamon and sugar toast, but you may want to reduce it.); set aside. Bring milk, butter, and salt to boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add flour, and cook, stirring, until mixture forms a ball and pulls away from side of pan, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat, and let cool 3 minutes. Add eggs, and stir until batter is smooth. (I like to transfer to my mixer at this point. It goes so much easier.) Spoon mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a large open-star tip.
2. Hear 4-5 inches oil in a large Dutch oven until it registers 330 on a deep-fry (candy) thermometer. (I heat it to around 300 on high and then turn it down to medium.) Holding pastry bag a few inches above the oil, squeeze out batter, snipping off 4-inch lengths with a knife or kitchen shears. (This is where the helper comes in handy. Watch for splattering hot oil.) Fry 6-8 churros at a time, turning once, until deep golden brown all over, about 5 minutes; transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain.
3. Roll churros in cinnamon sugar. Serve immediately with hot chocolate. (I like Abuelita's Mexican Hot Chocolate with these.)
Makes about 20

These are best when warm, if you can wait that long. Our family easily finishes them off in an evening. Katrina has one right now. She keeps saying "umm" every time she takes a bite.