Mexican rice
It’s always been a tradition in our family that on birthdays the celebrator gets to choose what he/she wants to eat. When my daughter Dana was young, before birthday parties became the huge mega-big-deal they are these days, she got to choose her dinner. Often it was my spaghetti and meatballs. Or homemade pizza. And she also got to choose what kind of birthday cake or dessert she wanted. Sometimes we’d go out, and as all of our kids have grown, moved out on their own and married, those traditions have changed somewhat. But for Dana’s big 4-oh, she wanted a Mexican food feast. She’s been a huge Mexican food fan from a very early age. And fortunately for her, her husband and his family have some Mexican blood, so they all crave Hispanic food with great regularity. For special occasions Todd’s mother Ann makes a variety of traditional Mexican dinners for all of her children, and this time she made crispy chicken tacos, Mexican rice and refried beans. Then she also made a huge platter of taco additions (tomatoes, sliced radishes, shredded cheese, lettuce and home made salsa and guacamole). My, oh my, was it ever good. Dana fried up a couple of gallons or more of fresh tortilla chips, and we all nibbled on chips and Ann’s home made tomato salsa while we waited for dinner.

THE CHICKEN TACOS: For the tacos the family all prefers chicken. Ann roasts a chicken (or cooks up a bunch of chicken breasts), and cuts or shreds all the meat. Ann made sure the chicken was very moist – no dried-up chicken allowed here! Standing around watching her she finally let me  prep each corn tortilla. And I found out something interesting. Did you know there is a “right” side and a “wrong” side of a tortilla? It was news to me! There’s a rough side and a smooth side. You want the smooth side out, because it crisps-up better in the hot fat than the rough side. Now who woulda known, I ask you? The packages of tortillas were all stacked up one direction, so I didn’t have to check each and every tortilla. The ones I checked had kind of rough stripes, almost, on the so-called rough side. The other side was much smoother and no stripe. So, I laid out each tortilla and gently scooped about a heaping ¼ cup of chicken meat onto the tortilla. I didn’t take any pictures of Ann frying the tacos – I should have. She has a technique . . . you lay the whole flat tortilla (with the chicken kind of in a strip across the middle) in the large sauté pan with about ½ cup of hot corn or canola oil and you let it sizzle just for about 10 seconds, then using tongs you gently fold half of the tortilla over and hold it in place for another few seconds until the taco will maintain the fold. Continue frying for about another minute or two, turning the taco over so it just barely gets golden, then drain on paper towels, and keep hot (oven or chafing dish) while you continue frying.

Meanwhile, you need a large platter with all the trimmings (list in first paragraph) and set them out. There were fourteen of us, and Ann must have made about 60 tacos – we kept making them until the chicken ran out. Everyone likes a different combination of trimmings, so you make your own. Ann has a lovely big chafing dish that keeps the tacos hot, then you build them yourself.
THE MEXICAN RICE: Having never made Mexican rice myself, I was interested to see what Ann did to hers. I’d never had anything except exceedingly bland rice at some Mexican restaurants, and always thought it was pretty awful. So I hoped Ann’s would be different. Oh yes, indeed. I loved it. Knowing her technique, it’s really more like a pilaf than a steamed rice. She described what she did, so I don’t have proportions. She sautés some green onions (including the top part) in some corn oil, then adds some red bell pepper and garlic. Maybe she added a little tomato too. I can’t remember. Then she adds the rice and allows it to almost burn in the oil – in other words she continues to sauté the mixture for awhile until the rice has turned a dark golden brown. She adds LOTS of salt. She thinks salt is the most important ingredient in her rice. Usually she makes the rice to accompany chicken tacos, so she has some good juices and fat from the chicken. That’s an important component of the rice – using all those drippings and a little bit of chicken meat too. She adds broth (and the liquid from poaching the chicken if she’s used breasts only) and water for the proportion of rice (look at the rice cooking instructions for quantity). Cover and steam until the rice is almost done, but not quite. Remove lid and continue to let the rice cook over very low heat, stirring frequently, until all the liquid is gone and the rice has “dried out,” she said. That took about another 10-15 minutes. It might depend on how large a batch you made, however. Taste for seasoning and serve! I could have made a meal of that all by itself.