Mexican Chef’s salad
A main dish meal for 6 to 8 that’s salad in name only
California avocados, Doritos tortilla chips and ground beef make it hearty and nourishing. You make it fast.
Chop 1 onion, 4 tomatoes, 1 head lettuce
Toss with 4 ounces grated cheddar cheese, 8 ounces Thousand Island or French dressing, hot sauce to taste
Crunch and add one 39-cent bag of Doritos tortilla chips — plain or taco flavor
Slice and add 1 large California avocado
Brown 1 pound ground beef, add 1 can (15 ounces) drained kidney beans, 1/4 teaspoon salt. Simmer for 10 minutes and mix into cold salad.
Decorate with Doritos tortilla chips, avocado and tomato slices. Serve pronto!
MORE: 10 easy avocado recipes from the ’70s & ’80s
Mexican cuisine: Salsa De Jitomate
One is either an avid fan of Mexican tamales, tacos or other highly spiced food, or one stays safely behind the bicarbonate of soda regime, never savoring the delicious flavors from the South of the Border cuisine.
Mexican cooking is a combination of age-old Aztec ingredients — hot or sweet pod peppers, corn. tomatoes, avocados, squash, chocolate, vanilla, pineapple and other foods native to the Western hemisphere. To this is added the Old World foods brought by the Spaniards — rice, wheat, peaches, apricots, cattle, oil and wine. The Spaniards also brought anise, bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, coriander, mint, marjoram, oregano, parsley, saffron and sesame seed.
From Mexico comes much of our anise, allspice and chili peppers. There are about 60 varieties of pod peppers in Mexico.
While Mexican food is colorful and spicy, it also lends itself to fiesta decor in decorations and serving dishes.
There is a treat waiting for those who have yet to cross the border and do first-hand research on Mexican food. One way to anticipate a trip is to prepare some of the Mexican dishes such as the Salsa De Jitomate, which has been adapted by the American Spice Trade Association using some of our convenience foods.
This is for a dip to use with corn chips, shrimp, avocado cubes and similar fare.
Salsa De Jitomate recipe
Ingredients
1/4 cup instant minced onion
1/4 teaspoon instant minced garlic
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon olive oil or salad oil
1 (1-pound) can tomatoes, broken up
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
Directions
Mix minced onion and garlic with one-fourth cup water. Let stand 10 minutes to rehydrate. Heat oil in small saucepan. Add onion and garlic; saute for 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Chill sauce well. Spoon into avocado shell or serving dish. Use as dip with corn chips, shrimp. and avocado cubes. Yield, approximately 1-1/4 cups. – The Indianapolis News (Indiana) – July 2, 1969
