Celebrate Cinco de Mayo at home
Texas is bracing for a different kind of Cinco de Mayo this year amid the coronavirus pandemic. Gone — at least for now — are the days of massive, 50-person blowouts with a live mariachi band, all-night dancing and all the handshakes, hugs and back-slapping that happens at any good party.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t create a festive event for a small, socially distant family gathering in the safety of your home.
This week we’ve whipped up a batch of flavorful Mexican-inspired dishes to make the good times happen at home. They’re all simple recipes that require less than 30 minutes of active time each and are made with ingredients easy to find in stores that may still have limited or restricted inventories.
For starters, it just isn’t Cinco de Mayo without tacos. We’ve given skirt steak a quick marinade in chipotle and lime juice for a zippy variation on classic street tacos topped with onion and cilantro.
If you’ve never tried making flautas, or “flutes,” at home, the process is easy and rewarding. Our version starts with 2 cups of cooked chicken — you can pick it off a grocery-store rotisserie bird or pollo asado takeout box, or just simmer a couple of breasts or thighs — that gets tossed with oodles of spice for a more flavorful punch than you’ll get from premade frozen flautas from the store or many restaurants.
Of course, queso has to happen. We top our scratch-made queso blan
co with a tangle of roasted poblano chile strips, or rajas, that brings a taste of Puebla to each bite. A similar combination of cheese and roasted chiles, along with browned chorizo, gets folded into a large flour tortilla for our calzonelike version of quesadillas that bakes up quickly in the oven.
Fresh sweet corn is the star of our take on esquites, or Mexican street corn. We stir in plenty of mayo, lime juice, Cotija cheese and pepper flakes for a tangy side dish with a touch of spice.