Recipe: Viva Las Vegas Queso Fundido

My best friend since 5th grade is a gal named Lori. She’s great. You’ve not met someone who is as creative, as artistic, as funny as this girl.  So my pal Lori is in promotional products. She can put your logo on just about anything and she can tell you where that pen your dentist gave you came from and what it cost them to produce it.  As it turns out, right after Las Vegas celebrates adult entertainment in January, they have a whole week devoted to promotional products.

And that ya’ll, is what took me to Las Vegas for the first time. Let me tell you, Vegas is a place I am happy I saw with Lori. She and I have a similar taste for the debauchery and it involves food.

As an aside, just so you understand just how nice my friend is, we took a cab to get an In ‘n Out burger because if you’ve been to Vegas you know In N Out is off the strip.  Lori bought the cabbie a burger. Isn’t that nice? She’s just like that. She’s nice to everyone. Creepy people too. That’s usually when her husband and I don’t find it so cute, but still, I think the burger for the cabbie was a nice gesture.

Anyway, one of the best places we ate while there was Bobby Flays’ Mesa Grill in Caesar’s. Since eating at his restaurant in Vegas, I’ve eaten at the one in New York and the one in Vegas is better. Not sure why, but it is. Maybe it’s because I had the queso in Vegas. It’s sooooo gooooood and sooooo vegassssllyyy sinful. If only I could keep what happened in Vegas in Vegas, but I have to share this queso. I know we are all used to velveeta and rotel, but please trust me…… this is so simple and so much better.  Ok so it’s not as simple as the rotel/velveeta  microwave version, but I promise you the extra steps are worth it and will be a hit at any party you attend.  It is queso fundido with a roasted poblano vinaigrette.  You can find the recipe there and print it off or keep reading so you can see my pictures. 🙂

Here’s what you need:

For the poblano vinaigrette:

2 poblanos, roasted, peeled, seeded, and chopped

3 Tbsp water

1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1 garlic clove, roughly chopped

drizzle of honey

1/4 cup canola oil

S&P

Throw it all in a blender and set aside.

For the QUESO FUNDIDO:

12 ounces of monterrey jack cheese, grated

1 cup whole milk

1 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 Tbsp flour

goat cheese

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

In a sauce pan over medium heat, melt the butter and add the flour.  Cook for 1 minute while whisking. Add the milk and allow to thicken slightly.  Add the grated cheese, S&P and stir until cheese is melted.  Pour into a cast iron skillet and top with goat cheese.  Heat under the broiler until the cheese is melty and the goat cheese is lightly brown.

Are you ready for this?

Como se dice sinfully delicious en espanol? QUESO FUNDIDO

Recipe: Mexican Cocktail

Lori and Hastings are two of my very best friends.  Lori and I have been friends since Mrs. Baker’s 5th grade class.  I’m sure it was the hours spent working on various school projects together that really cemented our friendship (or maybe it was Lori’s incredible ability to imitate our teachers’ eccentricities).  We were lucky enough to go the same middle school and then high school where she met the love of her life our senior year. At this point we went our separate ways, but  thankfully we are back in the same town now.  As it turns out, Hastings is one of the absolute best cooks around and they are kind enough to have me over for dinner on a regular basis.  And I gladly accept because it usually involves something like this:

beef-stuffed chili relleno w/ a poblano cream sauce

Recently, I went over to Lori and Hastings to watch a show I’m too embarrassed to admit to watching, but it involves vampires and Louisiana.  Don’t judge.  Our friend Erinn joined the fun because it was the season finale and boy did we have us a food fest.  She made these delicious little crescent roll pockets filled with cream cheese, bacon, and jalapeno (Is there anything better than a recipe that involves crescent rolls and cream cheese?).  Hastings made chili verde with rice and beans and I made Mexican cocktail because shrimp seemed like the right thing to bring to a party that involved a show set in Louisiana.  Of course, I had to bring the Mexican-inspired version.  This is a very popular dish that you can often find at seafood restaurants around Texas.

Mexican Cocktail

1 lb peeled, deveined, uncooked shrimp

1 small red onion

2 serrano peppers

2 cloves of garlic

1 cup tomato puree

2 teaspoons horseradish (more or less depending on how much you like it)

cilantro

2 limes

hot sauce

avocado

1 bag of Julio’s chips

Poaching the shrimp: In a medium skillet, fill it 2/3 with water and bring to a simmer.  Add 1/4 of the red onion, 1 of the serrano peppers, 1 clove of garlic, a handful of salt, and the zest and juice of 1 lime.  If you have time, allow the water to simmer for 10-15 minutes.  Remove the onions, pepper and garlic and add the shrimp.  Cook until the shrimp are pink and curl up, about 2-3 minutes.

The sauce: In a bowl, combine 1 cup of tomato puree, 1/2 cup finely diced red onion, 1 serrano pepper finely diced, 2 teaspoons horseradish, juice of 1 lime, a few dashes of hot sauce, a handful of chopped cilantro, and salt & pepper.  I added 1 Tbsp clam juice, but I think I will omit this in the future because after the shrimp cooked, I added a couple ladles of the cooking liquid which adds enough of the shrimp flavor.  Besides, what else are you going to do with clam juice?  Test the sauce at this point to see if you might want to add more hot sauce or horseradish.

Chop the shrimp up like this:

Add the sauce and allow the flavors to meld in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.  Because I never really plan ahead, I did not have 2 hours to let it marinate, but it was still good.  Remember to add a couple ladles of the cooking liquid because you want it kind of soupy.

When I got to their house, I added a diced avocado and garnished with thinly sliced serrano peppers and cilantro.  I also brought along a bag of Julio’s tortilla chips.  Have you tried Julio’s chips?  Do yourself a favor and find a retailer that sells them. Or don’t.  Because my friends and I have decided they are the crack of the tortilla chip world.

I kind of get really nervous cooking for Lori and Hastings because Hastings is such a good cook, but he gave it the best compliment.  He said he doesn’t particularly like shrimp, but he really liked this.  I don’t think it hurt that the shrimp was from Central Market and is usually very fresh.  Try it and let me know what you think.