Pasta Ranchera

My boyfriend wiped his bowl clean with a tortilla and commented that this was ‘Mexican Fusion’. Laughing, I informed him that it was really just made out of whatever I had lying around the house. Sometimes those become my very best recipes. Lemme tell ya, this turned out so great, I took an after-the-fact photo and I’m posting the recipe even without the other pictures.

So without further ado, here’s how to whip this one up:

Pasta Ranchera

• 2-4 cloves of garlic, sliced and chopped
• 3-4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb skirt steak, flat meat, carne asada meat or other very thinly sliced steak – don’t buy it chopped up
• 5-6 mushrooms chopped into small pieces
• 1/2 red onion chopped
• 1/2 bell pepper chopped
• 1 jalapeño chopped
• 3 tomatoes chopped
• 2-3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 lime juiced
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 4 tbsp sour cream
• 1 lb pasta of your choice
• salt
• pepper
• cotija cheese grated

Heat the olive oil and toss in the chopped garlic. Salt & pepper both sides of the meat and sear it on all sides quickly. Remove from the heat immediately and set aside. Turn heat off. Chop all your veggies and toss them into the skillet (heat off) except for the tomatoes. Slice the meat into long 1″ strips going with the grain. Then slice it against the grain at 1/2″-1″ apart. Put the meat in with the veggies and the Worcestershire sauce. Cover and simmer over low heat. Now you can slice your tomatoes.

When meat is almost cooked, add the tomatoes and simmer for another couple minutes. Then add the chili powder, lime juice and cumin. Stir the sour cream into the sauce and simmer for another minute or so.

Scoop over the pasta into bowls and then grate a little cotija cheese over the top. Let set for a minute or two while you finish setting the table so the sauce can thicken. Dig in!

I recommend margaritas to go with it!

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Tip: The Differences Between Spanish & Mexican Chorizos

If you have a paella recipe that you’re just dying to try out, and it calls for chorizo, don’t make the mistake of buying the chorizo that’s commonly found in most California grocery stores. These sausages are not the same thing. While both are very tasty meats similarities stop with the spelling. They’re even pronouced differently. Mexicans pronounce their z like an English letter ’s’. Spaniards pronounce it like a soft ‘th’ , as in bath.

Mexican chorizo is quite spicy and generally made of pork, but can also contain beef, goat or havalina. It’s cooked outside the casing and has a very similar consistency to ground beef. I like to get it at my favorite Mexican grocery stores although it’s available in the meat section of most super markets. You can also make it yourself. It’s delicious cooked into beans or eggs.

Spanish chorizo is similar to linguica. This salt-cured sausage made of pork, is seasoned with paprika, garlic and other spices. It can be eaten as is or cooked into paellas and many other Spanish recipes. Spanish chorizo comes in a variety of styles and levels of spiciness. I usually buy several packages and keep it in my freezer. It will keep in the freezer almost indefinitely

There are als other varieties of chorizos that come from Argentina, Uruguay and the Phillipines (longaniza), each quite distinct from eachother.

Keep watching this blog and I’ll be sure to post recipes containing both.

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