Marinated Mushroom, Pepper and Corn Flautas with Smooth Roasted Tomatillo-Garlic Salsa

As anyone who reads my blog knows, I love Mexican food (and I also dig on their music, especially instrumental guitar). It truly borders on obsession, but that's fine by me (and Brett). :-) If you all could only see my flash drive and the literally dozens (perhaps bordering on 100) of Mexican sauce, entree and brunch recipes I've created (and yet to try), you'd either be scared or impressed. The only problem with my insane quantity of recipes is that I forget about some of them or don't know where to begin when I go to plan my meals out for the week. Well, I've come up with a new organizational method (separating recipes by type, such as 'burritos and burros', 'enchiladas', 'flautas', 'empanadas', 'fajitas', etc) so now they are more readily accessible and I'm not faced with a HUGE folder full of recipes to choose from.

A couple of nights ago, I pulled out this flauta recipe that I was really excited about when I created it, but soon forgot about.

These did not fail to please at all. And, they only took about 20 minutes to prepare (I made the salsa over the weekend so that the meal would be quick), and then baked for about the same amount of time. A perfect meal after a long day at work!

Enough of my yammering, onto the pictures and the recipes!















Roasted tomatillos and garlic fresh from the oven. They look very appetizing, I know, but trust me, roasted tomatillos are amazing.















Roasted Tomatillo and Garlic Salsa

Makes about 3 cups.

Note: This is a very mild salsa.

1lb tomatillos, husked
1 head of garlic, 1/4 inch of the top sliced off
4 serrano peppers, seeded and minced
3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
1/4 red onion, minced
1 cup of cilantro, shredded
1/2 cup (or more) water
cumin
Mexican oregano
paprika
dash sugar
salt

Preheat the broiler.

Meanwhile, heat a few tablespoons of water in a small skillet. Add the peppers and onion and cook about 10 minutes.

Drizzle a little melted coconut oil and a pinch of salt over the tomatillos and garlic.

Roast for about 3-5 minutes, and turn. Roast another 3-5 minutes until tomatillos begin to blister.

The garlic should be removed as soon as it begins to brown and get fragrant.

Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing the skins from the garlic and transferring everything to a food processor.

Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until well blended.

Refrigerate for at least an hour to allow flavors to blend.

This sauce will keep for 1-2 weeks in the fridge and freezes well.

FOR: Tacos, Tostadas, Taco Salads, Burritos and Burros, Quesadillas, Enchiladas, Bowls, Tamales, Fajitas, Empanadas, Flautas, Taquitos

Marinated Mushrooms:
juice of one lime
1/3 cup water
1 tbsp canola oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp shoyu (or other soy sauce)
1 tbsp stone ground mustard
chili powder
cumin
ground coriander
cayenne pepper
salt

1 small pack of button mushrooms, diced

Combine all the marinade ingredients in a medium bowl. Add the mushrooms, stir, cover with plastic wrap and marinate for about 8 hours. (I made the marinade the night before and put the mushrooms in to marinate before I went to work in the morning.)

Marinated Mushroom, Pepper and Corn Flautas

1/2 cup long grain brown rice, cooked

1/2 cup corn, cooked

1/4 red onion, diced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 red bell pepper, sliced

4 serrano peppers, seeded and minced

1 habanero pepper, seeded and minced

1 jalapeno, seeded and minced

juice of half a lime

chipotle chili powder

ground coriander

cumin

Mexican oregano

paprika

salt

small flour tortillas

guacamole

Smooth Roasted Tomatillo and Garlic Salsa

Preheat oven to 400.

Heat a few tablespoons of water in a small skillet. Add the peppers, onion and garlic and cook for about 10 minutes or until veggies are soft. Drain any excess water and transfer to a bowl and combine with cooked rice, corn and spices.

Using the same skillet, add the marinated mushrooms and a bit of the marinade to the skillet. Cook for about 10-15 minutes or until mushrooms are soft. Drain any excess liquid and transfer to the bowl with the rest of the filling.

Layer filling in warmed tortillas and roll up, securing at each end with a tooth pick.

Bake, uncovered for about 15-20 minutes, or until tortillas are crisp. Remove the tooth picks and the flautas should stay together on their own.

Serve with guacamole and Roasted Tomatillo and Garlic Salsa.

Flautas have to be the ideal finger food. Both Brett and I thought these were awesome and I definitely see more flautas in our future, so long as I don't forget about the recipes, which my new organizational system should help with.

Anywho, that's all for now.

'Til next time!