A Mexican BBQ

On Saturday, to say thank you to our friends for babysitting our Chihuahua while we were in Mexico, we threw a Mexican BBQ. We were also celebrating the fact that it got up to 82 degrees here on Saturday with not a cloud in the sky (too bad today it is in the 40s and raining. I hate this place). I made Ceviche and Cory grilled up some Carne Asada. We served the meat with corn tortillas, avocado slices, homemade Tomatillo salsa and some Cotija cheese. I am not including the recipe for the Carne here as I have no what he did to marinate it (something with lime and Tapatio and garlic I think) - however, I will include a picture - Cory is pretty proud of his mad grillin skillz. The Ceviche and Salsa are about as simple as it gets - I think Ceviche might be our new go-to party food. These are also great foods for the summer (this is me wishing it was summer) with stuff from the farmers market or garden (this is me wishing I had a vegetable garden).

Tomatillo Salsa (pictured above)
1 lb tomatillos - husked and diced
3 jalapenos, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 yellow onion, diced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
2 or 3 limes worth of juice
Salt (to taste)

Just add everything into a blender and blend until well combined/smooth. With the salt, jalapenos, and lime juice - I would add just a bit at a time, taste, and then add more. Limes and Jalepeno vary in their juiciness and spiciness, so sometimes adjustment is needed. I usually add a fair amount of salt (I use fresh ground sea salt). You can also stir in chunks of avocado (which I did) when you serve. Warning - this makes ALOT of salsa, but it keeps fairly well in the fridge for a week or so. (I also make a red salsa so I keep saying I'm going to try to bottle it, but I haven' t done that yet. If you are the canning type though, you should bottle this up cause store bought salsa blows.)


Ceviche
About 1/2 to 1 lb cooked shrimp, chopped into bite size chunks (traditionally you use raw, but we didn't have time to go to the good fish markets to get some good raw shrimp so we used cooked, which you can also do if you have a thing against eating raw shrimp...obviously).
1 cucumber, diced (you could also peel it, but you don't have to)
3 or 4 vine ripened tomatoes, diced
1 red onion, diced
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 avocado, diced
1 or 2 jalapenos, very finely diced (optional if you are lame and don't like spicy)(just kidding)
approx. 1/2 to 1 cup lime juice (just do it to taste and so there is enough liquid for it to all combine and get yummy)
salt and pepper to taste
Corn Tostadas and Saltine or Club Crackers (this is what they eat it with in Mexico - but, if you want to be gringo you can just eat it with tortilla chips. whatever.)

Combine all the ingredients in a big bowl and serve with the tostadas/crackers and some Tapatio Hot Sauce (if not Tapatio, use some other Mexican hot sauce, not Tobasco-the flavor is way different). This is good after it sits for a while too, the flavors just get stronger - so you can make ahead for a party. If you are seafood lover like me, you could also add any kind of seafood or combination thereof to this - scallops, mahi mahi, tuna, octopus, squid, clams etc.