OUT WEST: Food & Lifestyle

Mexican

Tacos al Pastor

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Cantina style Tacos al Pastor are marinated, grilled on the rotisserie and shaved off into your corn tortilla with bits of charred pineapple.


This at home version of Tacos al Pastor re-creates the traditional style spit grilled pork. Thin cut, marinated pieces of pork are threaded on a skewer, capped off with pineapple and grilled vertically over open fire. The juices from the pineapple drip down into the pork while it cooks and creates the best flavor. Use a sharpened knife to shave off bits into your warmed corn tortilla.

Toppings like charred bits of pineapple, chopped radish, cilantro and Cotija or Queso Fresco cheese complete the taco. I like to serve my homemade salsa verde on the side. It’s super easy to make and has lots of flavor from roasting the tomatillos with peppers and onions.

It’s easy to make a spit fire grill at home using your wood or briquette BBQ and a cast iron pan. I used a heavy duty metal skewer and set it in a cast iron pan. Place the pan either directly in the coals or on a low rack. The flames will come up the sides and char little pieces of the pork – and that’s o.k.

The flavor comes over time as the cooked pineapple releases juices and they slowly drip into the marinated pork pieces. The juices, combined with the flavorful marinade and charred edges create an extraordinary flavor. After grilling, remove the pineapple ends and cut the cooked pineapple into bite size pieces to serve with the pork in the tacos.

Ingredients in Tacos al Pastor

  • Pork Shoulder – This recipe needs this fattier cut of meat. Don’t try and substitute a leaner cut of pork, it will end up really dry. Grab the pork shoulder roast, cut into 1/4 inch thick slices.
  • Pineapple – A whole fresh pineapple as you will use the top and bottom.
  • Achiote Powder – Ground annatto seeds I use the El Guapo packets found in the Mexican aisle of the grocery.
  • Coriander – Ground coriander, tan colored spice with muted cilantro flavor.
  • Cumin – Ground cumin, a warm, earthy flavored spice.
  • Garlic Powder – Ground garlic without the salt.
  • Mexican Oregano – Found in Mexican aisle of grocery, El Guapo spice packets.
  • Chipotle in Adobe – Spicy peppers in adobo sauce, found in a can in the Mexican aisle.
  • Pineapple Juice – I like to keep small cans of pineapple juice on hand for sauces.
  • Corn tortillas – Small street taco size corn tortillas.
  • Toppings – Chopped radish, cilantro and Cotija or Queso Fresco cheese for toppings. Plus lots of lime for serving.

Related Recipes

Mix up your taco game with these Out West Food & Lifestyle favorites. Crispy Pork Tacos: Tender pork gets crisped up and served in a charred flour tortilla along side fresh corn and onion sauté with roasted tomatillo salsa. Grilled Pacific Rock Fish Tacos: Skip the typical dredging and go straight for the grill. Topped with fresh mango salsa and served in a warm flour tortilla with chipotle slaw. Shrimp Adobo Tacos : Warm, earthy adobo sauce tossed with shrimp and served in a blistered corn tortilla with cilantro, onion and cotija cheese

Tender pork gets crisped and served in a charred flour tortilla with corn relish and tomatillo salsa
Crispy Pork Tacos
Nearly guilt free, these Grilled Pacific Rock Fish Tacos skip the typical dredging and go straight for the grill. Topped with fresh mango salsa and served in a warm flour tortilla with chipotle slaw.
Grilled Pacific Rock Fish Tacos
Earthy spice coated Shrimp Adobo Tacos
Shrimp Adobo Tacos
Cantina style Tacos al Pastor are marinated, grilled on the rotisserie and shaved off into your corn tortilla with bits of charred pineapple.
Print

Tacos al Pastor

Cantina style Tacos al Pastor are marinated, grilled on the rotisserie and shaved off into your corn tortilla with bits of charred pineapple.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Mexican
Keyword Cinco de Mayo, Grilled Pork Tacos, Rotisserie Pork Roast
Prep Time 4 hours
Cook Time 3 hours
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 8

Ingredients

  • 1.5 lb pork shoulder roast, thin sliced about 1/4 inch thick
  • 1/2 pineapple top 1/3 and bottom 1/3 cut off (remove spikey top)

Marinade

  • 1 tbsp achiote powder
  • 1 tbsp coriander
  • 1 tbsp cumin
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tbsp Mexican oregano
  • 2 tbsp chipotle in adobo sauce
  • 6 oz can of pineapple juice
  • salt and pepper

Other

  • 12 small corn tortillas warmed
  • 3-4 radish, diced for garnish
  • 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped for garnish
  • 1/4 cup cotija cheese for garnish
  • 1 lime, sliced for garnish

Instructions

  • Combine marinade ingredients in a large dish.  Massage into pork rounds, cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. 
  • Using a rotisserie spear, place the bottom 1/3 of pineapple, skin side facing down, on the spear pushing down to the end of spear. layer marinated pork slices onto spear, finish with the top 1/3 of pineapple, skin side facing up.
  • Grill with indirect heat, cooking slowly and rotating until charred and cooked through.  If you don't have a vertical rotisserie, place in a cast iron pan, upright, and manually rotate every so often while it cooks. I like to remove the grill of my BBQ and place cast iron directly in the bottom with the coals to one side.
  • When fully cooked through, about 2 1/2 to 3 hours later, remove from grill. Remove pineapple bottoms/tops and cut cooked pineapple to serve with meat. Standing upright, shave off pieces of meat for tacos.
  • Top with radish, cilantro, Cotija cheese, serve with lime wedges. If you want to reheat for later, just place chopped pineapple and shaved meat in a cast iron pan with a little lard over high heat until warm.

Dungeness Crab Enchiladas

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Rich, buttery and totally indulgent Dungeness Crab Enchiladas with creamy Monterrey Jack cheese and tangy salsa verde.

Rich, creamy Dungeness Crab Enchiladas

Dungeness crab is my favorite Pacific Northwest food. It’s rich, buttery and a little bit sweet. I grew up crabbing and fishing in the Puget Sound off the coast of Western Washington. It was a way of life for my dad who would take us out for week long boating adventures. Many are the days that I spent cracking crab.

This recipe comes together quickly and highlights fresh Dungeness crab. I like making individual servings, but you can make a large batch in a casserole dish. It’s as easy as filling a tortilla with crab meat and cheese, rolling it up and placing in the cooking dish with sauce.

Homemade or Store Bought

When there’s no time for homemade, I reach for store bought green enchilada sauce to prepare my enchiladas. But…if you do have time, you will love how easy my green enchilada sauce is. Just roast a few tomatillos, onion, jalapeno and garlic on a sheet pan, blend with cream and a pinch of sugar, then thin with chicken broth or water. That’s it. Freeze your leftovers in a Ziplock for later. This sauce can double as a salsa, just don’t add chicken broth or water.

Ingredients in Dungeness Crab Enchiladas

  • Dungeness Crab – You want the real deal for these enchiladas. Costco has fresh cracked Dungeness crab.
  • Corn Tortillas – Medium size corn tortillas.
  • Monterey Jack Cheese -Monterey Jack cheese is a good choice or use Farm Style Mexican Blend shredded cheese.
  • Green Enchilada Sauce – Homemade, see recipe, or store bought is fine.
  • Cilantro – Fresh cilantro lightens up these rich enchiladas.
  • Lime – Fresh limes to squeeze on before eating.

Related Recipes

Creamy, cheesy Enchiladas Suiza uses a tomatillo base and is topped with thinly sliced red onion and cilantro
Enchiladas Suiza
Mexican Crab Cakes with Serrano Cream use rich, buttery, Dungeness crab and just enough Panko with a creamy serrano cilantro lime sauce.
Mexican Crab Cakes with Serrano Cream
Flavorful broth based Poblano Corn Tortilla Soup with cilantro, lime and Queso Oaxaca
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Rich, buttery and totally indulgent Dungeness Crab Enchiladas with creamy Monterrey Jack cheese and tangy salsa verde.

Dungeness Crab Enchiladas

Rich, buttery and totally indulgent Dungeness Crab Enchiladas with creamy jack cheese and salsa verde.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 30 mins
Total Time 40 mins
Course Main Course
Cuisine Mexican, Seafood
Servings 12 enchiladas

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups Dungeness crab shelled
  • 12 medium size fresh corn tortillas
  • 4 cups Monterey Jack cheese or Farm Style Mexican shredded cheese shredded, reserve about 1 cup for topping
  • 3 cups green enchilada sauce
  • cooking oil

Green Enchilada Sauce

  • 10 tomatillos skins removed
  • 1 jalapeno whole
  • 1 yellow onion peeled and quartered
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 tbsp cooking oil
  • ½ lime juiced
  • 1 tbsp heavy cream
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/2 – 1 cup chicken broth or water

Fresh Avocado Salad

  • 1 avocado peeled, pitted and cubed
  • 1/2 lime juiced
  • 1 handfull cherry tomatoes halved
  • 1 tbsp. fresh cilantro chopped

Instructions
 

  • Heat about 1 cup cooking oil in a large frying pan over medium low heat.
  • Warm green enchilada sauce in a small saucepan over medium low heat.
  • Coat the bottom of a cooking dish with a little sauce.
  • Place tortilla first in warm oil, then in enchilada sauce and move over to cooking dish. Fill with a heaping spoonful of crab and cheese. Roll up and place seam side down in prepared cooking dish. When you have filled your dish with rolled enchiladas, drizzle a little more sauce over the top and remaining cheese.
  • Bake at 375 degrees until cheese is just melted. Serve with fresh avocado salad.

Salsa Verde

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees
  • Place on a sheet pan: tomatillos, jalapeno, yellow onion and garlic
  • Drizzle with cooking oil
  • Sprinkle with salt and pepper
  • Roast on 375 degrees for about 30 minutes or until almost charred
  • Transfer ingredients to a blender and pulse blend, adding about 1/2 cup of chicken broth or water until thinned. Add more if necessary.
  • Transfer to a small saucepan on medium heat and add heavy cream and sugar
  • Stir to combine and keep warm until ready

Fresh Avocado Salad

  • Combine all ingredients together and serve over cooked enchiladas.
Keyword Dungeness crab, pnw tacos, taco tuesday, tacos

Chorizo-Corn Empanadas

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Chorizo-Corn Empanadas are savory hand pies made with a masa harina flour blend and filled with cheese, spicy ground chorizo and sweet corn.

The melty Monterrey Jack cheese pull makes these flavorful empanadas fun to eat. You get the earthy spice of the chorizo, the sweet burst of fresh corn and creamy cheese all packed into a fluffy corn crust. These festive hand held pies are the perfect size for dipping into a creamy cilantro lime sauce.

Let’s talk about chorizo. There are many different kinds of chorizo. This recipe calls for chorizo that has the appearance of the ground beef you would find in the meat department of your grocery store. It’s flavored with a variety of Mexican spices like chilies, oregano, cumin and garlic. My favorite is made by a local company called Hempler’s and can be found at most local grocery stores.

Before I knew much about chorizo, I tried using the kind that comes in a tube. It’s what I thought chorizo was, boy was I wrong. It’s very different from the fresh ground chorizo. After placing the tube contents in my sauté pan, there was not much substance left at all, just a lot of grease. This kind of chorizo will not work in this recipe.

Ingredients in Chorizo-Corn Empanadas

  • Chorizo – Hempler’s Chorizo is my favorite, please don’t buy the greasy chorizo in a tube.
  • Corn – Fresh corn cut off the cob.
  • Cheese – Creamy, Monterrey Jack cheese is perfect for that must have cheese pull.
  • Masa Harina – Masa Harina is similar to corn meal, but finer in texture, providing a fluffy corn crust.
  • Onion – Sweet, yellow onion, like Walla Walla or Vidalia.
  • Lard – I save my bacon grease and use that or you can buy lard at the grocery in the Mexican aisle.
  • Eggs – Always use farm fresh if you can.
  • Pantry Items – Flour, I prefer unbleached, sugar and salt.

Cilantro Lime Crema

These savory empanadas taste delicious when dipped in Cilantro Lime Crema. It’s an easy 3 ingredient sauce that pairs perfectly with the spicy chorizo filling. Mexican crema can be found in most grocery stores and is a little sweeter than sour cream. If you can’t find Mexican crema, just use sour cream.

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Chorizo-Corn Empanadas are savory hand pies made with a masa harina flour blend and filled with cheese, spicy ground chorizo and sweet corn.

Chorizo Corn Empanadas

Chorizo-Corn Empanadas are savory hand pies made with a masa harina flour blend and filled with cheese, spicy ground chorizo and sweet corn.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 30 mins
Cook Time 10 mins
Course Appetizer, Main Course
Cuisine Mexican
Servings 10 large

Ingredients
  

Empanada Dough

  • 4 cups flour unbleached
  • 1 1/2 cup masa corn flour – masa harina
  • 4 tsp. sugar
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 4 large eggs
  • 6 tbsp. lard or leftover bacon grease

Empanada Filling

  • 1/2 yellow onion diced
  • 16 oz. chorizo ground
  • 4 ears corn cut off the cob
  • 8 oz. Monterrey Jack cheese grated

Cilantro Lime Crema

  • 1 cup Mexican crema or sour cream
  • 1 lime juiced and zested
  • 1/4 cup cilantro minced

Other

  • avocado oil for frying

Instructions
 

Empanada Dough

  • Combine flour, masa harina, sugar and salt in your stand mixing bowl, add eggs and lard, mix on medium until soft dough forms.
  • Remove dough to a floured surface and form into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate while you make the filling.

Empanada Filling

  • Sauté onion in a pan over medium high heat until just softened. Push onion out to side of pan and add ground chorizo. Cook chorizo until browned.
  • Add corn to chorizo mixture and cook an additional 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Forming the Empanadas

  • Remove empanada dough from the refrigerator. Roll out on a floured surface, about 1/4 inch thickness. Using a small bowl or plate that's about 5 inches in diameter, press down on dough to create small circles. You should get about 10 circles. It's a soft, sticky dough, make sure you have flour on hand.
  • Place a small mound of filling, about a heaping tbsp. plus more if needed and about one tbsp. of cheese in the middle of one half of the circle, leaving room around the edges.
  • Fold dough circle in half, pressing around the edges to seal. Use fork tines on edges to crimp it sealed. Repeat with remaining ingredients. You may have some filling mixture left over, which you can use to serve along side or save for another use.
  • Fill a deep, wide edged frying pan with avocado oil or other high heat oil about 2 to 2 1/2 inches deep and heat at medium high. Test oil temperature by dropping a small piece of leftover dough in and seeing if it sizzles. Fry empanadas, two at a time, flipping once until golden brown on each side. Remove to a wire rack and season with salt.
  • Empanadas can be eaten right away or let cool and place in freezer bags for re-heating later. They re-heat very well in an air fryer.

Cilantro Lime Crema

  • Combine all ingredients together. Serve along side empanadas.
Keyword hand pies, Savory Hand Pies

Mexican Crab Cakes with Serrano Cream

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Mexican Crab Cakes with Serrano Cream use rich, buttery, Dungeness crab and just enough Panko with a creamy serrano cilantro lime sauce.

Crab cakes are so versatile. Pairing crab with end of summer vegetables like corn and zucchini makes for a seasonal favorite. I tend to pick up on the Mexican inspired flavor with almost every dish I make. I like the bright, colorful ingredients and love the spice.

This recipe calls for Dungeness crab, local to the Pacific Northwest. It’s a rich, buttery, dense meat. I have been known to eat an entire bowl of shelled Dungeness crab all to myself. It’s memories for me. We would spend the weekends crabbing and fishing in the San Juan Islands. Bringing home our catch, there were crab to shell and fish to fillet. My love for seafood started young and continues into my passion for cooking and sharing recipes with you.

Ingredients in Mexican Crab Cakes with Serrano Cream

  • Dungeness Crab – Rich, buttery crab shelled and all juices gently squeezed out.
  • Corn on the Cob – Yellow for color, cut off the cob.
  • Zucchini – Small fresh zucchini.
  • Panko Bread Crumbs – Plain Panko bread crumbs are light and crispy.
  • Red Bell Pepper – Adds that little bit of texture and color.
  • Celery – Fine diced celery adds a fresh flavor.
  • Green Onion – a.k.a. scallions
  • Garlic – I keep a bottle of minced garlic in my refrigerator.
  • Serrano Pepper – Serrano has a similar heat to jalapeno, but more flavor.
  • Sour Cream – Either sour cream or Mexican Crema would work.
  • Cilantro – Fresh cilantro.
  • Lime – Fresh squeezable lime.
  • Avocado – Just ripe and ready to slice.
  • Spices – Chipotle powder, salt and pepper
  • Pantry Items – Agave nectar, mayonnaise, avocado oil
Mexican Crab Cakes with Serrano Cream use rich, buttery, Dungeness crab and just enough Panko with a creamy serrano cilantro lime sauce.

Related Recipes

Mexican Crab Cakes with Serrano Cream use rich, buttery, Dungeness crab and just enough Panko with a creamy serrano cilantro lime sauce.

Mexican Crab Cakes with Serrano Cream

Mexican Crab Cakes with Serrano Cream use rich, buttery, Dungeness crab and just enough Panko with a creamy serrano cilantro lime sauce.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 10 mins
Resting time 1 hr
Course Appetizer, Main Course
Cuisine Mexican, PNW
Servings 4 crab cakes

Ingredients
  

  • 1/2 lb. Dungeness lump crab meat
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
  • 1 tsp green onion minced
  • 1/4 cup red bell pepper diced
  • 1/8 cup celery minced
  • 1/4 tsp minced garlic
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 1/2 tbsp. butter
  • 1 tbsp. avocado oil

Serrano Cream

  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 serrano pepper diced
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
  • 1 tsp. minced garlic
  • 1 lime juiced and zested
  • 1 tsp. agave nectar

Garnish

  • 1 ear yellow corn cut off the cob
  • 1 cup zucchini diced
  • 1 pinch chipotle or cayenne powder
  • 1/2 tbsp. avocado oil
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 tbsp. fresh cilantro chopped
  • 1/2 avocado sliced

Instructions
 

Crab Cakes

  • Gather lump crab meat in a paper towel and squeeze out excess moisture. Place lump crab meat in a mixing bowl with mayonnaise, Panko bread crumbs and green onion.
  • Sauté red bell pepper, celery and garlic in 1/2 tbsp. butter over medium high heat for about 1 minute, until just softened. Remove from heat and let cool, then add to lump crab mixture. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Gently combine ingredients, making sure not to over mix. You want the lump crab to remain in lump form. When combined, form into 4 even patties. Place on a plate, cover with saran wrap and refrigerate at least an hour, preferably overnight.
  • When ready to cook, pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Remove crab cakes from refrigerator and let rest while you heat your sauté pan to medium high. Add avocado oil to pan and let warm. Place crab cakes in pan and brown for about 2 1/2 minutes on each side, adding remaining 1 tbsp. butter to pan after flipping to second side. Remove from sauté pan, place on sheet pan and bake in oven for about 5 minutes while you make serrano cream and garnish.

Serrano Cream

  • Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth and creamy.

Garnish

  • Sauté zucchini and corn in avocado oil a small pan over medium high heat for about 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat, season with salt, pepper and chipotle powder. Toss in cilantro.
  • Plate crab cakes over a spoonful of Serrano Cream with garnish of zucchini and corn on top. Place sliced avocado on top of that.
Keyword Crispy Crab Cakes, Dungeness crab, Easy Crab Cakes

Roasted Salsa Verde

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Roasted Salsa Verde takes charred tomatillos to create a smoky green sauce that’s the base to many Mexican dishes.

This versatile salsa can be eaten as is with your favorite tortilla chips or transformed into many other dishes. It’s the base for my favorite type of enchiladas, Enchiladas Suizas. Where it’s combined with cream to make a creamy delicious sauce perfect for coating stuffed corn tortillas. Adding chicken broth and a splash of cream, makes the base for my Pan Seared Cod in Tomatillo Broth. The possibilities are endless. All you need is a sheet pan, a few tomatillos, jalapenos, serranos, onion, cilantro and lime, all roasted, blended up and finished in the sauce pan.

Ingredients in Roasted Salsa Verde

  • Tomatillos – Mexican husk tomato, remove outer husk before roasting.
  • Onion – Sweet yellow onion, best you can find, like Walla Walla or Vidalia.
  • Jalapeno Pepper – Remove the seeds if you like it mild.
  • Serrano Pepper – Added for the depth of flavor, also remove seeds if you like mild.
  • Cilantro – Fresh cilantro.
  • Garlic – Either pre-minced or whole garlic smashed or rough chopped.
  • Lime Juice – If canning, use bottled lime juice otherwise fresh is best.
  • Pantry Items – Salt, pepper and mild cooking oil.

Canning Instructions

You can save this salsa and enjoy it all year long. This recipe is perfect for canning and only needs one small adjustment. If you plan on making a large batch of this Roasted Salsa Verde, just follow these easy steps:

  1. Make recipe according to direction EXCEPT you want to OMIT the lime from the blender process.
  2. Instead, place exactly 1 tablespoon of bottled lime juice in each 1 pint jar. This is the correct, safe ratio per pint to ensure canning safety. There must be the right amount of acid in each jar.
  3. Once you have roasted, blended and finished in the sauce pan, pour into pint jars. Add the lime juice as described above, to each pint jar and stir well. Seal and tighten each lid. Note: you always want to use new seals/lids each time you can to ensure the correct seal.
  4. Now it’s time to place in your water bath. I use a big metal canning pot with a rack at the bottom. Fill to about 3/4 way to the top with water and bring to a low boil, high simmer. When ready, place jars, using canning tongs, into water and simmer for 12 minutes. Water must completely cover the jars.
  5. After they have simmered for 12 minutes, remove from canning pot and set on counter until you hear the ‘pop’ of the seal, meaning it worked!
  6. Store in a dark pantry for up to a year.

Related Recipes

Roasted Salsa Verde takes charred tomatillos to create a smoky green sauce that's the base to many Mexican dishes.
Print

Roasted Salsa Verde

Roasted Salsa Verde takes charred tomatillos to create a smoky green sauce that's the base to many Mexican dishes.
Course Appetizer
Cuisine Mexican
Keyword green salsa, mexican salsa, salsa, tomatillos
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

Base Recipe

  • 8-10 tomatillos, husks removed
  • 1 large yellow onion quartered
  • 1 jalapeno pepper remove seeds for a mild version
  • 1 serrano pepper remove seeds for a mild version
  • 1/4 cup cilantro
  • 1 clove garlic chopped
  • 1 tbsp. lime juice
  • 1/4 cup water to thin, may use less or more.
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tbsp. mild cooking oil

Instructions

Base Recipe

  • Place tomatillos, onion, jalapeno pepper and serrano pepper on sheet pan. Broil on middle rack until charred, flip and repeat on other side.
  • Transfer to blender.  Add cilantro, garlic and lime juice.  Blend until smooth. Stream in water until desired consistency.  Taste and season with salt and pepper.
  • Heat cooking oil in a sauce pan over high heat. Pour salsa in hot oil and cook for about 15 minutes.
  • Store in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to a week.
    Canning Directions:
    Omit lime juice from steps above. Instead, add exactly 1 tbsp. lime juice to 1 pint jar before pouring salsa in jar. This is an important step to making canned salsa safely. Seal with canning lids. Place in a simmering water bath, completely covering each jar with water, for 12 minutes. Remove from water bath and let sit on counter until you hear the 'pop' of the seal. Store in a dark pantry for up to a year.