Mmm . . . Queso Blanco!

The best part of eating out any Mexican restaurant is, of course, the queso.  And if you’re lucky, the restaurant has queso blanco.  But if you want to recreate the cheesy, spicy deliciousness at home, give this recipe for queso blanco a try!

  
*Note: Ok, it’s a bit of a stretch to put this on a grilling blog.  Mea culpa.  BUT it is made with grilled corn salsa, so technically it counts.  Also, it’s freakin’ awesome.  So quit nitpicking and just enjoy it.

Ingredients (serves 6):

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 ½ cups shredded pepper jack cheese
2 spoonfuls of grilled corn salsa
½ cup cream
¼ - ½ cup milk

Directions:

1.    In a double boiler (or just a glass bowl over a pot of water) over medium heat, combine oil, cheese, salsa and cream.
2.    Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until cheese is fully melted. 
3.    Add a little bit of milk, slowly, to reach desired consistency.   Enjoy!

Goes great with grilled chicken enchiladas and grilled avocados!

If you like this recipe, please be sure to click on the links below to share it! And don’t forget to follow @youcangrillthat on Twitter!

Challenge Conquered – Grilled Avocado!

Happy seis de Mayo!  I marked the day after cinco de Mayo with a Mexican feast of grilled chicken enchiladas, queso blanco with grilled corn salsa, and grilled avocados, a challenge I recently accepted and today conquered!  So if you didn’t get enough south-of-the-border goodness yesterday, try this recipe for grilled avocados!

Ingredients (serves 4):

2 avocados
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 teaspoon olive oil
Grilled corn salsa
Sour cream or Greek yogurt

Directions:

1.    Cut avocados in half and remove seeds.
2.    Stir lime juice and olive oil together, and brush on flesh of avocado.
3.    Place on grill over direct heat, flesh-side down.  Cover grill and cook for 5 minutes.

4.    Remove from grill.  Add a spoonful of salsa to center of avocados, then top with a dollop of cour cream or plain Greek yogurt.  Enjoy!

 

If you like this recipe, please be sure to click on the links below to share it! And don’t forget to follow @youcangrillthat on Twitter! 

Grilled Fish Tacos

Mmm . . . fresh, crispy, tasty grilled fish tacos.  Topped with grilled corn salsa and grilled lettuce, of course.

Ingredients (serves 2):

1 pound fresh white, flaky fish (like cod or tilapia)
4 flour soft taco tortillas

Marinade:

½ cup canola oil
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 serrano pepper, diced
¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions:

1.    Whisk marinade ingredients together. Place fish in pan, cover with marinade.
2.    Let fish marinate while your charcoal gets hot.
3.    Place fish on hot, greased grill over medium-high heat.  Cook four minutes on one side, turn, then cook another two minutes.  Remove from grill.
4.    Place tortillas on grill.  Cook for one minute and remove.

Serve grilled fish tacos topped with grilled lettuce, grilled corn salsa, chopped red onions, shredded cheese, and sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt, a tasty and healthy alternative to sour cream).

If you like this recipe, please be sure to click on the links below to share it! And don’t forget to follow @youcangrillthat on Twitter! 

Enchiladas? Yeah, You Can Grill That!

Tonight, I accepted a challenge to grill enchiladas.  These are actually quadruple grilled – the chicken is grilled, the onions are grilled, the tortillas are warmed on the grill, and, finally, the enchiladas themselves are cooked over the grill.

Definitely a success.

Want to grill enchiladas at home?  Try this awesome recipe.

Ingredients (serves 4):

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 packet taco seasoning
1 medium-sized onion
2 cans enchilada sauce
2 to 3 cups of cheese
8 soft flour tortillas

Directions:

1.    Cut chicken breasts half.  Rub with taco seasoning (you really only need half the packet).
2.    Cut onion in half vertically, through the root and stem.  In each half, cut away the stem.  Then cut each half horizontally toward the root, but do not cut through the root.  Now make a few lengthwise cuts, without cutting through the root.

The result should be a “blooming” onion that looks like this:

3.    Brush onion with olive oil on both sides.
4.    Grill the chicken until it is no longer pink, about 6-8 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness of the chicken. 

5.    Grill onion while chicken is cooking.  Start with flat-side down.  Turn over when you turn the chicken, and remove onions and chicken at the same time.

6.    Cook tortillas quickly over grill, three at a time, for just about 15-20 seconds on each side.

7.    Cut away stems from both halves of onion.  Quickly chop.
8.    Using a knife and fork, shred chicken.  Stir chopped onions and chicken together.

9.    Coat bottom of cast-iron pan with enchilada sauce.
10.    Now it’s time to put your enchiladas together.  For each enchilada, spoon the chicken/onion mixture into a tortilla, top with cheese, drizzle with enchilada sauce, and fold.  Place in cast iron pan.

11.    Once you’ve put together all the enchiladas, top with remaining enchilada sauce and then cover with cheese.

12.    Place pan on grill and cook for 15-20 minutes, until cheese is fully melted and bubbly.  Remove and enjoy!

If you like this recipe, please be sure to click on the links below to share it! And don’t forget to follow @youcangrillthat on Twitter!