Quest

I saw a new thing today on my monthly trek into Central Market - green (or spring) garlic. Have you ever heard of it? I hadn't and it could be that I'm being sucked in by the evil spin-doctors. However, they claimed this garlic to be sweeter than normal and the shoots have a mild garlic taste and can be eaten like chives. So I thought what the heck? (on a side note, this just proves that I am TOTALLY sucked in by those end-cap displays or those displays right by the cash register. sigh) And that brings me to the second half of this post...

As I may have mentioned before, I love mexican food. (I am using "mexican" as a generic term to include authentic Mexican, Tex-Mex and any other mezzo-or-south American Latin food.) So in light of the fact I will be in Italy this time next year, I am on a quest to find and perfect good recipes that I can recreate overseas.

I've gotten pretty good with salsa, have a couple that I can break out when I need to, but am still perfecting them.
Guacamole - no problem. Got it down.
Margaritas - woohooo, been making those for years.

Now my sights are set on a really good street taco recipe. In particular, the marinade for beef or chicken to put in the taco. "Mojos" that can be used as a good marinade or condiment depending on what ya want. I have heard that some good mojos use orange or pineapple juice - is that true? Also, the street tacos I've had seem very simple but yet so full of flavor. and the meat - oh the meat just melts in your mouth. A noble quest no?

I found a few recipes and since I made another impulse buy of flank steak while on my market excursion, I decided to try a "carne asada" recipe I've been eyeing. It used orange juice, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, cumin, coriander, garlic (green garlic of course) and oregano for the marinade. Sounds good, no? I didn't grill it outside since we were having big storms so I just cooked it in a grill pan. That was probably a mistake. sigh

Now let me interject one thing - I don't cook meat very well. For some reason, meat (including chicken) doesn't work for me. I have one recipe for chicken that usually comes out well but other than that - eh. I guess I don't practice much cuz we don't eat it that often at home and I must not season it enough because the taste is never exceptional. So needless to say, this time was no exception to that rule. I was sorely disappointed in my result.

It doesn't look so bad - and the avocado salsa was delicious - but eh. It was boring. What can I do?? I like FLAVOR! I guess my quest is not over. If anyone has any ideas or recipes - send them my way!

More later...