12.27.10: dinner (train troubles and tacos)

Rajas and Cheese Tacos

Christmas had come and gone, and in it’s wake our precious New York was buried in two feet of snow and we were limping our way north despite the wintry conditions. As we sat on our train, stuck behind a broken switch, we started leafing through one of our newest acquisitions, a lovely little cookbook on tacos. With lots of time on our hands, we decided on two, if we ever made it back home.

Well, drama aside, we obviously made it back after some difficulty finding our way from 34th and 8th back uptown laden with cargo from our stay. We opted for two pleasing offerings, the first was “Rajas and Cheese” and the second a simple achiote chicken. All these had to be made with ingredients we could grab at Westside Market at 110th St, as Fresh Direct wasn’t delivering for days and there was eight tons of snow between us and the Fairway.

Still, Westside did us proud and leftovers did the rest. The first taco, E’s selection, was essentially a grilled cheese with “rajas”, or strips/slices of  roasted red and poblano peppers. I added avocados because, well, I like them. It was perfect to end a cold day spent trudging through the snow. The second was my choice and I have to say I made a mistake in selecting it.

Achiote-Rubbed Chicken Tacos

The chicken I had was breast only (to be specific, tenderloin), which was not the right choice for the tacos; even with my achiote paste rubbed on and pickled onions and avocado added for moral support, the meat was just too one-dimensional. We use chicken thighs for nearly every other application and here should have been no different. Oh well, live and learn.

After a long sojourn through the white wilderness that separates Pennsylvania and Manhattan during the winter, being home, whipping up some delicious comfort food was the perfect way to relax and feel at home once again. So, bundle up friends and until next time, cook on!