Tacos and Tequila ala Robert!

A few months ago I met someone on MySpace who had an awesome food blog there. Every time I would look at a post, I would DROOL. I went into his photos and found that he lived in Alaska and what beautiful scenery! I was so thoroughly impressed with his cooking that I asked him if he would like to do a guest blog on my blog so others would get to know him and his cooking - and he accepted! My guest today is Robert and he not only has a myspace page with a massive amount of food blogs, but he has started a blogspot titled An Alaskan Cook's Exploration of Food and Technique. I encourage you to start watching his blog because he has some awesome recipes. I am lucky enough to get to have him feature one of his postings that I really enjoyed and wish he could be here to fix it for me! When you visit Robert's blog, make sure you leave him a comment to let him know you have been there! I will now let Robert talk.....

Just a quick intro. I started food blogging on Myspace in 2006. Since then I have put up over 100 different recipes. Call me an addict. Here is a LINK to that page.

I was in the mood for tacos. First, I needed to get my mind right. Nothing like that magical blend of GOOD tequilla, Gran Marnier, and fresh lime juice.

So the chicken will take the longest. I started by preparing a dry rub. Mexican oregano, cumin, cayenne, kosher salt, and lots of fresh cracked pepper.

Next I broke down a whole organic chicken. Wings, breasts, and thigh/leg pieces were all heavily coated with the rub and tossed on the grill. I set the grill to indirect heat. Only the hickory chips were getting direct heat.

Now to get started on the salsa. The sweet salsa contains, some tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, red bell pepper, pasilla pepper, mango, 2 habeneros, and lime juice. Warning, it gets hot with 2 habeneros.

The next was a pico de gallo. Super easy and as good a condiment for this kind of food as you will ever eat. Tomato, red onion, green onion, jalapeno, garlic, cilantro, lime juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

And for the last of the condiments, guacamole. Mine is super easy. About a cup of the pico, 3 chopped avocados, 1/2 cup of sour cream, and some chilli powder. I use a potato masher to roughly smash it leaving lots of chunks.

After getting this far in the process, I realized that I didn't have any tortillas. They were on my mental list but you all know how that goes. So necessity being the mother of invention, I decided to make my own. Two cups MaSaCa corn flour, about 1 1/4 cup of water with a pinch of salt all mixed together. It should be sticky.

This is enough for about 13-15 tortillas. Divide into that many pieces. Roll those into balls and then flatten in your palm.

Lay this between two pieces of corn floured plastic. I used a ziploc bag that I cut open. Gently roll out as evenly as possible.

Gently peel away the top layer. Then put onto your hand and peel away the other piece. Now toss the tortilla onto a dry hot cast iron skillet. When it starts to puff ever so slightly, flip it over.

If you have a hot skillet the timing works out fairly well. Roll, flip, undo plastic, flip, remove, and start on the next one. One on the board and one in the pan at all times. To make crunchy tacos you just have to shallow fry the tortillas and then shape with your tongs.

Now for the big finish. Pour another margarita. Assemble some tacos with the picked smoked chicken, queso fresco, your choice of salsa, and some guacamole. Simple food but oh so good.

Hope you all enjoy. Thanks Honey B for the invite.