Cinco de Mayo

After a vacation I typically have so much pent up culinary creativity from eating all of these amazing things but not making any myself. Often I can't help but come home and cook up a storm despite the piles of things that *really* need to be done.

Homemade tortillas, not so necessary, but fun, yes.

This is the chaos in my kitchen, not often pictured on this blog, yet often photographed. My ten year old commented tonight that she loved "this atmosphere." And yes, my darling, I do too. All six of us bouncing around in there making food, making family ... love. Well, you know what I mean.

Listening to one of our favorite Latin albums (open in a new tab for simultaneous music), we made homemade corn tortillas in honor of Cinco de Mayo. We have not a single drop of Mexican blood in us, but we had a blast. Dad, the mixologist, cranked out a few homemade margaritas for us parents, and the kids and I worked on the tortillas and fillings for fajitas.

These hand pressed tortillas were smaller than a traditional store bought number. Perfect for a two bite fajita.



Tortilla
two cups fine masa (yellow corn flour)
1 1/4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Adobo powder

Combine in mixer for two minutes. Split into 16 even balls.

Press in tortilla press (available at a local latin market, or Amazon). In an ungreased pan, fry them until dark patches appear. Flip.

Fillings

• grilled flank steak (marinated in lemon juice, olive oil, tequila, adobo powder
• sauteed peppers and onion with roasted cumin seeds
• queso fresco (or cheddar)
• scallions
• slivered serrano peppers
• diced roma tomatoes
  
• salsa and guacamole
• lime crema (one cup sour cream, one tablespoon lime juice, 1/2 teaspoon lime zest, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt)

Want a bite?