Beef Fideo Delicioso, A Staple

As with last nights recipe, there are some recipes prized for their simplicity. Fideo Delicioso is one of those examples. When I was a child, it was referred to a poor mans dinner but every family I knew served it regularly. We were either all poor or the stigma was ignorant. Looking back at the perspective today, I am thinking the later as the local lunch dive always sold out before noon on Fideo day. Be what it is, Fideo Delicioso is a warm, earthy meal that can be made a simple as the instructions say (my favorite) or added to with tomatoes, peppers, corn, beans, etc.. creating a house specialty. Fideo Delicioso is from the T&T list of meals.

Modifications Made:
Until standing in the grocer today reading the box for the ingredients needed, I don't think I ever have seen pork or chicken included as an option for the ground meat. In the past venison, has been substituted for beef. Since venison is lean, the dinner was disastrous as the fat from the beef is critical to the recipe. With that, beef was used tonight as all other boxes cooked have been served before.

None as the yellow box instructions are as golden as the box they are printed on.

Scaled for Likability: Great
The key instruction to a successful Fideo Delicioso is to brown, brown, brown the noodles. Brown until you think they are done and then brown them some more. If the edges start to darken to black then you are getting close. To achieve this high level of browning without burning is to cook over a low heat and stir constantly. Once the fideo does start to brown, if they are not stirred consistently they will burn to a chard in a snap of the fingers. Insufficient browning of the fideo results in a soggy mixture turning delicioso into grosso.

Fideo Delicioso can be topped with yellow cheese, queso fresco, sour cream, creme, cilantro, onion, pico de gallo, salsa, or nothing at all. It can be served with skillet fried corn, charro beans, chips, tortillas, corn bread, a simple salad, or nothing at all on the side.

There is one downside to Fideo. Sadly, it does not reheat well.

Papas a La Mexicana (Ranchera)

It is a crying shame that there are six hens and not a egg in sight. What am I supposed to do with homemade ranchero sauce? Thankfully with a few quick searches of the internet a recipe from my hometown newspaper was discovered: Papas Ranchera . Not once in the thirty years I lived in my hometown did I ever eat at a local food joint serving papas rancheras. No time like the present to remedy this cultural dish. Because this recipe is hidden behind a paywall (grrr...) I have included it here for you: Servings: 4-6 Ingredients: 1 pound potatoes, diced 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/2 large onion 1 1/2 medium tomatoes 3 jalapenos 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup juice from canned tomatoes Instructions: Fry potatoes in vegetable oil until lightly browned (about 4-6 minutes). Saute onions, tomatoes, jalapenos until soft. Add garlic powder and salt. Add tomato juice until vegetables are covered (may need to add water). Bring to a boil and then add po...

Better Than Campbell's Old Fashion Vegetable Soup

Went to the store with the hopes of gathering fresh produce for soup. With more than 45 people in line for two packages of any meat product and the produce section containing only avocado, orange, and most randomly, strawberries, I settled upon canned soup. Well not canned soup since that section was still void of food, too. Instead soup made from canned goods as the canned vegetable section had been mostly restocked. Soups like this 15 Minute Vegetable Soup are ideal in dire food situations such as current times. Modifications Made: Plain petite diced tomatoes omitted, frozen carrots instead of canned, green beans and corn undrained, peas omitted (gross, nasty little pods), one cup celery, three cups diced potatoes, one can tomato sauce, two beef and two pollo de tomate bouillon cubes, six cups water. Once onions were softened, carrots/celery/potatoes/juice of green beans and corn, sauce, bouillon cubes, water were added and allowed to simmer until carrots almos...

Sour Cream & Chive Scalloped Potatoes

Can't believe the Month of the Potato is over. There are so many more potato recipes saved. Guess I will have to work them into another month. Last week's scalloped potatoes were one of the best new recipes during the month of potatoes. With today being the last day in the Month of Potatoes, I decided to go out with a bang by cooking another batch of scalloped potatoes but this time sour cream and chive. The Best Scalloped Potatoes , or so they said. Modifications Made: Recipe was reduced by half. Mayo was omitted and one entire package of chives were chopped and added to sauce before pouring onto layers. Scaled for Likability: Good Betty Crocker Sour Cream and Chive Box Scalloped Potatoes were the standard for this recipe. These were a family favorite for years but have long since been discounted. Bummer. Trying to replicate this seemed easy enough. Alas, it was not. These had a nice texture but were too oily from the cheese ...

Eating Waffles

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