Get Cookin': Tex-Mex

You hear people say it all the time, but I think it’s the biggest myth in the kitchen. “Thing I love about Chinese cooking is it’s so fast. Throw a few things in a wok and dinner practically cooks itself.”

Thing about Chinese cooking is—taste. Fast? Well, sure. Once you’ve done the prep work! All that slicing and dicing, a marinade for step one, a sauce for the final flourish. I don’t mean to set you up for a good stir-fry when the subject today is Tex-Mex, but aspects of the two cuisines have something in common. Namely, getting the drudgery out of the way early. Then you can show off your prowess at the stove by whipping up tantalizing fajitas in a trice (and you know how fast that is) while your salivating guests gather at the table.

But what’s so special about turkey in a tortilla? Well, this standard model comes loaded with extras. Subtle spices, a zippy lime salsa called pico de gallo, and a creamy topping that harmonizes the whole. Paired with a fully torqued black bean salad, it only needs a truly festive dessert to complete the meal. And we have that for you, too. As for the stir-fry—that’s next time.

Menu

Black Bean Salad

Turkey Fajitas

Tropical Fruit Jubilee

Beans From Scratch

Soak the beans (1 cup raw equals approximately 3 cups cooked) in cold water to cover for several hours, overnight if possible. Rinse and cover with cold water about 2 inches above the beans. Add 1/2 onion, 2 cloves smashed garlic. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for an hour or until the beans are tender. Add water as necessary to keep the pot from drying out. Discard the onion and garlic before continuing.

Black Bean Salad
There is an easy and a truly fabulous way of making this salad. You can buy canned beans (never a mistake) and powdered spices in those identical little jars that look so, well, conformist and taste, well, so powdery. Feel no shame if you take the easy option when you need to get dinner on the table in a hurry. But when you have the time (and it doesn’t take much of it) try the fabulous way: Cooking the beans from scratch and toasting and grinding the spices from whole seeds. Just the aromas wafting through your kitchen will make you understand why some of us go bonkers over cooking. This salad improves with age. Make the day before if desired, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve. As with the fajitas, you can substitute goat or feta cheese for the queso fresca, but the fat count will be higher.

Peppery Sweetness

Try dicing the red pepper in a food processor and adding the liquid to the salad for a terrific hit of natural sweetness. Cut the peppers into quarters and mince coarsely on high speed but stop short of pureeing them.

1 3/4 cups cooked black beans
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup cooked corn kernels, fresh or frozen
3 tablespoons rice wine
1/2 cup red onion, diced
1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
4 tablespoons scallions, minced
2 tablespoons each minced fresh parsley and cilantro
1 tablespoon jalapeño (more if desired), minced, seeds removed
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, more if desired
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 ounces queso fresca
Salt and pepper to taste

Healthy Pantry

How do you know if your spices are still fresh? See if they pass the sniff test. If you can’t smell a spice or herb, or if you can’t recall when you purchased the jar, toss it out and buy a fresh batch. For a staggering assortment of spices and dried herbs available for purchase by mail.

Place the beans in a serving dish and add the remaining ingredients—except for the queso fresca—in the order listed, blending thoroughly after each addition. You can make the salad ahead at this point, cover, and refrigerate.

Before serving sprinkle with the queso fresca, toss well, and serve.

(Serves 4)

A Word About Cooking With Spices

Why go to the trouble of toasting and grinding seeds? Well, if you like the way carefully applied heat pumps up the flavor in coffee beans, garlic cloves, and your morning slice of whole wheat (toast), wait until you see, smell, and taste that same process at work on the complex flavors of spice seeds. The direct heat releases essential oils that impart an intoxicating aroma and flavor to a dish. Grinding is a snap. Purchase a small spice grinder or a second, small coffee grinder and reserve it just for this purpose. Better still, go primitive and use a mortar and pestle. For the Black Bean Salad, put 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, 4 whole allspice berries, and a scant 1/2 teaspoon whole peppercorns (mix of black and white or other special blend if possible) into a dry skillet, preferably cast iron. Stir over high heat for several minutes just until they begin to release an intense aroma. Grind immediately, mashing them against the skillet with the back of a heavy spoon if necessary. Stir into undrained beans, let stand for 10 minutes, drain the beans, and use as directed. If you like, you can make the spice mix in slightly larger batches and store in a tightly covered container for future use. However, I find toasting such a simple step that often I prefer to grind spices specifically for each dish.

Turkey Fajitas
A hybrid to start with, you could easily call this dish queso-fajitas or fajita-dillas for they are a take on the high-fat, Mexican-style grilled cheese sandwich, quesadillas—but with a little more zip. These delicious wraps, brimming with grilled turkey, onions, and peppers, get a flavor boost from queso fresca, the slightly salty, lean, dry fresh cheese from Mexico.

If you can’t locate queso fresca, substitute goat cheese or feta, but realize that the fat count of the finished dish will be higher. The chili selection in this recipe is on the mild side. Please feel free to increase the amount of jalapeño or substitute a pequin, Scotch Bonnet, or truly electrifying habañero. You can also prepare the fajitas with chicken breast or thin slices of top round, with the same caveat regarding a higher fat count. Note that you capitalize on the flavorings in the pan by heating the tortillas in the same skillet. However, even if you use another skillet to make sure everyone is served at once, the tortillas must be heated on a dry, not oiled, surface. If you wish, you can grill the turkey, onions, and pepper.

Hot Site

Hey all you hotheads out there, here’s a site to bookmark: www.Firegirl.com. If you live for the feel of burning coals in your mouth, then Firegirl is your one-stop shopping site for heat-and-eat treats. It explores horseradish and mustard, in addition to chili peppers in all their scorching glory. Firegirl will set you up with recipes, leads on truly hot sauces, chili facts, chat rooms, and gardening tips for those who like to grow their own.

Marinade for turkey:

Juice of 2 limes
1 tablespoon cold water
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne
8 ounces turkey breast (no skin), sliced in 1/2-inch strips

Pico de gallo:

1/4 cup each fresh cilantro and parsley
1 large tomato, diced
1/3 cup scallions, diced
Juice of 1 fresh lime
1/2 fresh pepper Jalapeño or serrano pepper (or to taste), finely diced, seeds removed
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, or to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
1 yellow onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large red bell pepper, sliced
1 teaspoon grated lime zest
Salt and pepper to taste
4 (12 inch) flour tortillas
2 ounces queso fresca
1 cup fat-free sour cream or nonfat yogurt

In a shallow bowl or baking dish large enough to hold the turkey in one layer, blend the lime juice, water, cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne. NOTE: Be sure to blend spices with the liquids to guarantee the turkey will have an even distribution of flavor. Add the turkey strips. Turn several times to coat thoroughly. Set aside to marinate while you prepare the remaining ingredients. Though you can marinate the turkey, if necessary, for several hours (cover and refrigerate), 20 minutes is sufficient to infuse the turkey with flavor.

In a blender or food processor, mince the cilantro and parsley and place in a small mixing bowl. Add the tomato, scallions, lime juice, jalapeño, and cumin. Toss until well blended, season to taste with salt and pepper, and set aside. You can make this several hours ahead, cover, and refrigerate.

Coat a large skillet or griddle (cast iron if possible) with a film of vegetable spray. Add the turkey with as much marinade as clings to it, discarding the rest. Toss until cooked through and the juices run clear, 3–4 minutes. Remove from the skillet and set aside.

Give the skillet another coating of vegetable spray, immediately add the onion, garlic, and red bell pepper and toss over high heat until softened but still crisp, 4–5 minutes. Add the cooked turkey and lime zest and toss until heated through. Set this mixture aside, keep warm.

Without adding any more vegetable spray or oil, place the tortillas one at a time in the skillet allowing them to absorb the cooking flavors. Heat each side for 15–30 seconds or until thoroughly warmed. Fill with the turkey mixture, the pico de gallo, the cheese, and sour cream. Fold the tortilla in half and serve immediately. To speed up serving, you can heat the tortillas in a separate, dry skillet as the turkey mixture finishes cooking.

(Serves 4)

Mondo Melon

Whenever possible, do add a diminutive Charentais melon to your jubilee. Flavorwise, it resembles cantaloupe on steroids. Look for jaws dropping at the first bite of this intensely sweet beauty.

Tropical Fruit Jubilee
Various cultures call for a celebration every 50 years or so, a period of jubilation and praise that allows for the forgiveness of debts and a cessation of tensions between foes. I like to imagine those jubilees also gave thanks for tropical treats such as mango, melon, and pineapple, whose cooling sweetness whispers a contented amen to a meal fraught with fiery chilis.

For those of us who can’t hack a pineapple off our backyard tree, or pick a melon from our very own patch, I say hightail it to the salad bar at your favorite supermarket and pick up peeled, pitted, cored, sliced, and otherwise table-ready fruit. Whip together the cream cheese topping and you have dessert in a flash, which in itself deserves a “hallelujah.” You can use your favorite assortment of fruit or follow the suggestions here.

Health Note

If you are one of those dedicated cream cheese lovers who won’t give the fat-free version a chance, consider this tradeoff. Not only do you get a really good facsimile of everyone’s favorite bagel topping, but in addition to having no fat, (once again for the balcony—NO FAT), you get bona fide fiber from the added vegetable products, which a lot folks don’t get enough of anyway, and which Mother Nature left out of the original.

1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled
1/2 small pineapple, peeled, cored, and sliced
1 mango, peeled, seeded, and sliced
1 small melon, peeled, seeded, and sliced
4 small, ripe bananas, peeled and sliced, preferably baby bananas
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon sugar
Pinch of cinnamon
1 tablespoon orange liqueur, optional
Sprigs of fresh mint for garnish
1 cup nonfat plain yogurt
1/2 cup fat-free cream cheese
2 tablespoons sugar or honey
1 teaspoon vanilla

Arrange the fruit in a decorative pattern on a platter. Blend the orange juice, sugar, and cinnamon (and liqueur, if you are using it), and pour over the fruit. Toss well, garnish with mint sprigs, and chill thoroughly.

Blend the yogurt, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Pass separately with the fruit.

(Serves 4)