Good Afternoon, CS followers! Welcome to another fabulous Mexican inspired meal - naturally inspired by the fabulous Cinco de Mayo holiday! Let's get started...
Cocktail - Mango Margarita
Freshly juiced mango, tequila, triple sec. That's it. That easy! (And a fantastic sugar/salt/zest rim!) If you're curious - 2 parts tequila, 2 parts mango juice, 1 part triple sec was our strategy.
Appetizer - Mexican Ceviche
Super stuff right here. We followed the recipe, and used calamari and shrimp. Great flavor, great depth! A home run appetizer!
Appetizer Wine - 2012 Chateau Belingard Rose
The go-to Rose of the summer! This was fantastic! Great lush flavors of raspberry and cherry with a great velvety texture. Not too sweet like a rose, but almost seems to have a nice oakiness like a chardonnay. A great rose for everyday drinking!
Entree - Tequila and Lime Baby Back Ribs with Guava-Ginger Glaze
Pick up your pen. Find your shopping list for this coming weekend. Write down every ingredient you see on this recipe. Now make it! I thought that I had mastered making baby back ribs - I really did. But this blew our minds! The rub was insane, and the glaze was out of this world. Sweet but with some heat from the ginger! So now the question remains - are baby back ribs really Cinco de Mayo food, though? Who cares! There's tequila and lime... group vote - it's worthy!
Side Dish - Skillet Corn Bread with Tequila Crema
It's so easy! And delicious! Who doesn't like cornbread? We unfortunately don't have a cast iron skillet so therefore we used a regular stainless steel one, and it worked beautifully. (Although, as written, this recipe makes a TON!) And the crema was great for dipping! What's crema? Basically, we took some sour cream, whisked in a little half and half, a few splashes of tequila, and a pinch of cumin. Make to your own liking - taste as you go!
Side Dish - Roasted Vegetable Stuffed Peppers
Yum, yum, yum. The crunch panko with the gooey cheese and the crisp vegetables! Divine! (And yes, we swapped cheddar for the parm.... it's what was in the fridge.) Using the Essence is critical... it gives a great flavor! You will love these peppers!
Entree Wine - Tequila Sangria
Yup. Tequila in sangria. Basically, we took a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and added tequila, triple sec, and a ton of fruit. Let it sit all day and marinate and voila - an awesome sangria that we definitely had a little too much of. :-)
Final Plate
Dessert - Tres Leches Cake
Okay, so I nothing about tres leches cake. Never had it before, and definitely have never cooked it. This thing was awesome! Moist and light with a great flavor! And then I brought leftovers to my teller line today and they all exclaimed it was fantastic! (Yay!) Anyways... just follow the recipe and you can't go wrong! Pierce the heck out of the thing with a fork before pouring the milks over. And yes, the milk is going to overflow at first.... trust me.. it will soak in! So good!
So there you have it. A fabulous Cinco de Mayo themed meal that was delicious, easy, and oh-so-satisfying! See you next week!
Next Week - TBD
Funny, Jeff and I also had mango margaritas, but with fresh mango and grand marnier and no sugar or salt rim on the glasses.
ReplyDeleteAt a Kentucky Derby party on Saturday, I just heard of adding sour cream to cornbread. I'll have to try that.