Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Best Meal Ever

When we get a bit tired of going out and eating at the local restaurants and tacos will not satisfy our culinary needs, we turn to home cooking to keep us going. One of our favorite meals this winter has been a pasta meal created with green chorizo and pesto mixed with tomatoes and green olives.

This is a detailed post explaining how this delicious meal is created.

Pistachio nut chorizo sausage and chopped green olives.
When we decide to make this meal it usually starts on Tuesday when Linda lets me know that she will be purchasing the pesto at the tianguis the next day. At Wednesday's street market, she searches the vendors for the "French Man" that sells the pesto. This vendor usually is located kitty-corner from the Del Sol bodega and you have to get to him early to have any chance of purchasing his basil pesto.  He sells a tomato pesto and a spinach pesto, but the basil pesto is the best and it sells very fast. One container costs about 90 pesos and is enough for two meals. Linda brings it home from her early morning run and we then freeze it for later use.

The whole mixture, ready to serve.
The green chorizo is a specialty item that is made using pistachio nuts and thus the chorizo sausage is a unique green color. Jacquie and Grant introduced us to the pistachio chorizo and we fell in love with its mild flavor. It goes especially well with the "French Man's" basil pesto.

To acquire the green chorizo you must visit the little meat carniceria in the alleyways that connect the downtown Melaque area.  Everyone knows where the alleyways are located and most of the stores there are either meat, chicken or fish markets. The little meat carniceria with the green chorizo is located on the ocean side (places are either located towards the ocean or away from it) of the alley, one shop to the right of the entrance nearest the street where Chely's dad's store is located. It is affiliated with Melaque's "Happy Cow" carniceria but is not the "Happy Cow" across for Chely's dad's store.

Green chorizo is about 40 pesos for two links and we always buy about four links.

Finally, we walk to the "Bus Stop Store" and pick up some olive oil, green olives, and tomatoes. This is our favorite grocery store on this side of the town. Chely's Bodega was our favorite, but it is quite a long walk from our downtown location.

If we are not able to purchase the needed green olives or any other items at the "Bus Stop Store", we walk two blocks away from the ocean to a larger store called Parisany and they usually have what we need there.

Back at home, chop up the chorizo and place it in the frying pan with some olive oil. Cook until well done and a bit brown. Put one bag of elbow noodles in boiling water and cook them. Drain when finished and mix the cooked chorizo into the noodles. Pour half a container of pesto sauce into the noodles and stir. Add the chopped green olives and the chopped tomatoes. When the entire dish is combined fill your plate and top with parmesan cheese. Yum!

Sunday, January 01, 2012

¿Dónde le gustaría a comer esta noche?

Pedro's Tacos
Last night we had a wonderful dinner with some great friends. You know you are getting older when you hear the special of the night, but you miss the price. I did just that and wound up with an exquisite meal that cost us $32 dollars.  LOL Our entire tab for dinner last night came to just over $63, and when we were driving home all we could think about is that we could have eaten the same exact meal for just over $25 in Melaque at one of the gringo restaurants.

El Buen Gusto condiments.
In all actuality our normal dinner while on vacation came to about $11.  If we ate at Ayala a daily lunch special is 32.00 pesos and with drink we would probably spend about $4.50 including tip.  It is hard to compare the meals down in Melaque to the food that we buy in good old Idaho.  Prices are higher and we probably get a tad bit more served up on the plate up here, but we also get quite a bit more over indulgence in the area of extras.

Tacos el Pastor El Buen Gusto.
Melaque food is basic.  Very good, but it is not overly garnished.  If you order tacos, you get tacos. No cheese, no sour cream and no pile of re-fried beans. On occasion you will get a half cup of rice, and a small ladle full of re-fried beans, but most of the time it is the taco meat, wrapped in two tortillas with beans, salsa, and hot sauces served on the table.  You fix ‘em the way you like ‘em!

When I write about our meal experiences, I have found that everyone who reads the blog really likes the photos of the food.  To appease all you south of the border food fanatics, here is a photo extravaganza of the foods of the Costalegre!

Shrimp pozole @ Flor Morena.
Queso enchiladas El Buen Gusto.
Wet burrito San Miguel Hacienda.
Shrimp fajitas!
Pollo en moll verde @ Ayala 30.00!
Sopes @ San Miguel Hacienda.


Bisteck a la Mexicana @ Ayala 30.00!


Molcajeta from Alcatraz.
Linda's favorite food group!



Dinner at Larry & Maggie's.

Chicken enchilada El Buen Gusto
Sopes @ El Buen Gusto.
Huevos with bacon @ Ayala 30.00!