Veg*n Cooking and Other Random Musings: Marinated Mushroom, Pepper and Corn Flautas with Smooth Roasted Tomatillo-Garlic Salsa

Friday, May 2, 2008

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
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!

15 comments:

jessy said...

this salsa looks perfect! i'm totally making this the next time we have mexican foods! and i love that it's mild - just perfect!

also - thanks for all the kind words, Jennifer! you rock so hard!

:)

ChickPea said...

Mmm marinated mushrooms sound delectable right about NOW. The flautas look so appealing next to that blob of guacamole!

Anonymous said...

You always inspire me to make Mexican food! These look fantastic. I've never had flautas. Mmm.

Anonymous said...

haha! I think it is impressive that you have so many recipes! those roasted Roasted Tomatillo and Garlic Salsa looks absolutely perfect! I forgot how do tomatillos tasted like? It's been so long since I ate out at a really good Mexican restaurant that served them.

btw, LOVE the roasted garlic. I could picture the yummy insides oozing out into my mouth! LOL J/K.

Well, hope you have a great Friday Jennifer!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

I too adore Mexican food - especially with LOTS of spice!!

Wow, that tomatillo-garlic salsa is calling my name, loud and clear, haha. Sounds fabulous!!

Bianca said...

So what's the difference between a flauta and a soft taco?

Anonymous said...

Those look beautiful. Yum-o!

Lindsay (Happy Herbivore) said...

i don't know where to begin... I'm drooling all over my tostado over here... mushrooms... LOVE

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

Flautas are the best!

Anonymous said...

you never run out of Mexican inspired food. I'm in awe! everything looks delicious

Anonymous said...

Those mushrooms sound SO good! Yum!

Courtney

Animal-Friendly said...

The flautas looks great! I'm sure they'd go great with the salsa!

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Jennifer/Mexican Queen--

Your comment to me in your last post was so sweet it almost made me cry!

I love your blog!!!

J said...

Jessy - Thanks! I really liked the color of it too. It's nice to have a more mild salsa from time to time, we do a lot of spice around here.

Back at 'ya! ;-)

Chickpea - They were really good, I think it helped a lot that I diced the mushrooms and marinated them for over 8 hours, the flavor really soaked in.

What can I say, I'm a sucker for guacamole, and avocados in general. Unless avocados start growing in Missouri, I may have to move somewhere that they can be grown.

Romina - Hahahaha! I guess that's my mission, eh? They are really good, and who needs to deep fry them? Greasy food? Ick.

Leng - Thanks, I just get ideas. I see well, very non-vegan things and I get ideas about the flavor combinations used. I guess my tastes are right for it.

I'm really bad at describing flavors, but to me it tastes like a cross between a green tomato and a lime, but without the bitterness. Does that even make sense?

Roasted garlic is WONDERFUL, the smell, the flavor, I could about eat it by itself.

You too Leng, have a great weekend!

Veggie Girl - Spicy Food + Jennifer = Happy Vegan! I really like tomatillos, and they are my go to ingredient when I want to make sauce and tomatoes aren't yet in season.

Bianca - A flauta (means flute) is more like a taquito than a soft taco. What I've heard is that a flauta is made with a flour tortilla and a taquito is made with a corn tortilla. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but anyways. They are small tortillas that are stuffed with filling, rolled up and generally deep fried, however I baked them. So in short, I guess you could say these are like rolled up baked tacos. :-)

Ve*ganchick - Thanks!

Happy Herbivore - Tostadas?!?!?! I CANNOT WAIT until lettuce and tomatoes are available locally.

Pleasantly - I agree!

Bean_Mix - Thanks!

Courtney - They were really good.

Animal Friendly - I thought a spicy flauta and mild salsa would compliment each other well.

Chocolate Covered Vegan (aka Katie) - I only speak the truth! :-) I love your blog too. (Especially when you post pictures of Henry.)

Vegan_Noodle said...

That salsa sounds delicious! Wish I would have read this before cinco de mayo!