I was looking for those blocks of achiote because that tasted amazing with the vegetarian pibil I recently made. For some reason I couldn’t find the achiote at the store and picked up a box of Sazon seasoning instead. So I made Spanish Style Stewed Turkey leg quarters with it and man did this come out FORKING Great! I also used local award wining James Beard Nominated chef Silvano Salcido Esparza’s BBMEXQ seasoning salt. I don’t mean to brag but I am very good at stewing chicken and turkey so I knew exactly how to come up with this. This recipe made 6 – 4oz portions of turkey for me. You might have to thin it a little with some water or stock. The next day the potatoes and vegetables will absorb even more liquid…Your idea of serving size may differ.

Ingredients for 6 servings

2 whole turkey leg quarters (preferably brined or dry brined)

4 carrots – peeled, chopped

2 parsnips – peeled, chopped

4 celery – chopped

2 small onions – diced

1 head garlic – fine chop

2 – 14oz cans chopped tomatoes (preferably Italian so they taste better)

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons chilli powder

1 cup water

4 small bay leaves

2 teaspoons sugar

2 (heaping) Tablespoons reduced sodium better than bouillon vegetable base. (I use this as a substitute for salt sometimes…It adds more flavor and has less sodium in it)

1 lemon – quarter

24 olives

2 potatoes – quarter

1/2 oz fresh thyme sprigs

4 packs Sazon (4 unopened packs weigh 24g)

2 teaspoons BBMEXQ Saladito seasoning salt made by chef Silvano Salcido Esparza

Directions

Set the oven to 350 degrees F and have a middle rack ready for your two pans. Do not use the oven for cooking other things or your cooking time will be increased.

Use either two large baking dishes or two buffet half pans.

Fill the pans equally with the carrots, parsnips, celery, onions, garlic, chopped tomato, black pepper, cumin, chili powder, water, bay leaves, sugar, vegetable bouillon, lemon, olives, potatoes, fresh thyme.

It should look something like this.

Get your 4 packs of Sazon.

Rub one packet on the front of each leg quarter and one pack on the back of each leg quarter.

Then place one leg quarter in each pan.

Sprinkle the BBMEX Saladito seasoning salt evenly over the tops of everything.

Cover tight with foil. Place on middle racks in the oven.

This stays in the oven till fully cooked and you can pull the leg apart. Ovens do differ so timing may differ. Mine took 3 1/2 hours. The house smells insanely delicious just before this gets done.

I don’t use thermometers for meat anymore because every thermometer that I have reads a different degree and they differ by a lot.

You want the turkey to be fully cooked with no blood and you want the leg to fall apart between the leg and thigh and you know it is done.

Pull the turkey quarters out of the pan to cool and in about an hour you can pull the skin off and pull the turkey meat from the bones.

In the stew part you want to remove the lemon wedges, the bay leaves and the thyme sprigs. This needs to cool to room temperature and then you can refrigerate it or freeze what you don’t need.

You might want to add some cilantro and pickled onions to serve.

DELICIOUS! ENJOY!

I was reading a recipe on how to make creamy Jalapeño salsa. I was shocked at how much oil was used in their recipe. I only used a quarter of the oil, added way more jalapeños and added a small avocado that I had hanging around. My jalapeños that I used were on the mild side. Serving size is difficult to judge. This makes 8 or more servings.

Ingredients for around 8 servings

1 lb jalapeños – cut in half long ways, remove cores and stems

12 garlic cloves

2 cups water

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 lime – just the fresh squeezed juice

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 avocado – seed removed, flesh scooped out and rough cut

1/4 cup cilantro or epazote or a combination

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Directions

The water goes in a sauce pot on high heat. Add the jalapeños and the garlic. Reduce to simmer and let them simmer 10 minutes. After 10 minutes of simmering drain the jalapeños and garlic. They get blended with the salt, lime juice, olive oil, avocado, pepper and herbs. Make any adjustments to the seasoning.

Enjoy!

I made this chipotle lime sauce for a squash and then I got the idea to flavor beef in a similar way so I did. This recipe makes 14-15 five ounce mini meatloafs. I think they might be gluten free too because I used masa flour for that flavor and leftover white rice in them instead of breadcrumbs to bind. You don’t have to stuff peppers like I did and just cook off meatloafs if you prefer. I like the pepper cooked so I pre roasted the peppers cut in half for 15 minutes at 450 f. If you want your pepper crisper and more raw don’t precook the peppers.

Ingredients for around 14 servings

3 pounds ground beef (we grind our own brisket and remove most of the fat)

7 peppers – cut in half longways, seeds & seed membranes removed (I used Anaheim peppers)

1 onion – fine chop or grated

6 garlic cloves – ground to paste

2 Tablespoons chipotle powder (you can remove seeds from a dried chipotle pepper and grind it up or buy chipotle powder I buy it from Asiana Market and have bought it from Sprouts too)

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

1 Tablespoon dried oregano

1 Tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 cup fresh cilantro (leaves and only the very tender stems) – chopped

6 eggs – lightly beaten

1 Tablespoon (heaping) reduced sodium Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base (I use this instead of salt because it gives more flavor and has less sodium than salt

1 cup corn masa flour

2 cups cooked rice

1 lime the zest and fresh squeezed juice

1 Tablespoon honey

2 avocados

1/2 cup water ( a little less if your avocados are small)

1/2 cup hot pepper brine (preferable from home made pickled hot peppers) If you don’t have just substitute some vinegar or use more water

1 lime (just the fresh squeezed juice)

1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

Directions

Set oven to 450 degrees F.

Roast off the half peppers cut side down around 15 minutes or until cooked.

When the peppers are out of the oven turn the oven down to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl combine the beef, onion, garlic, chipotle powder, black pepper, oregano, Old Bay Seasoning, cumin, cumin seeds cilantro, eggs, corn masa flour, and rice and mix well.

In a small mixing bowl mix together the lime juice and zest with the honey and add that to the meat mixture and mix well.

Measure out 5 ounces of meat mixture and fill peppers.

Put the peppers on the middle and lower racks of the oven and let them cook till done. (about 20 minutes)

While the stuffed peppers are cooking whip up the avocado cream. Blend together the avocado, water, brine, lime juice, and olive oil.

Serve.

ENJOY!