Want to make sure your 4th of July bash goes off without a hitch? Award-winning chef Michelle Bernstein, who knows a thing or two about cooking for a crowd, has four tips to make entertaining easier.
Michelle Bernstein’s Tips for Easy Entertaining:
- Make dishes that sit well. “I want to hang out, too,” she says. “Make things in a thoughtful way beforehand, and then prepare fully the day of.” For instance, if you’re putting together a Greek salad, chop all of the cucumbers, tomatoes and seasonings the night before.
- Let your kids join in on the fun. Give them prepared tasks like setting up the table so they feel like part of the action, too.
- Use the freshest ingredients possible, especially for the finishing touch. If you prepare the salad a day or two ahead, add a pop of flavor with fresh cilantro and citrus. “It will taste like you made it that day,” Michelle says.
- Taste everything before you serve it. Seriously, this one is a must. Get approval from yourself for each dish.
Michelle’s last tip? Mix up your menu.
“I like to change things up and play in the kitchen,” she says.
So skip the burgers this year and bring in some Latin flavors with Michelle’s recipe for chorizo tacos:
Michelle Bernstein’s Chorizo Tacos
Michelle’s Chorizo Tacos Recipe
You can, of course, buy chorizo at the supermarket, but Michelle suggests making your own at home with a stand-mixer and grinding attachment. Using fresh pork, cinnamon, cumin, garlic, salt and pepper, and then feed the meat through the grinder twice (you can also throw some ice cubes in to help the grind). Not a pork fan? Substitute the meat with chicken, scallops, shrimp or beef.
2 pounds pork butt, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons garlic, chopped fine
1/2 cup yellow onion, chopped fine
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 dried guajillo chilies
4 ancho chilies
4 tablespoons cider vinegar
In a large bowl, mix the pork butt with the garlic, onion, salt, chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, cinnamon and black pepper. Using your stand mixer with a grinder attachment, grind the pork with spices two times. In a skillet over high heat, toast the dried guajillo and ancho chilies on both sides for a few seconds. Cover the chilies in warm water and let soak for 1 hour. After an hour, remove the chilies from the water, remove the stems and seeds from the chilies. Chop the chilies and place them in a blender with the vinegar; puree until smooth. Combine the spiced pork with the puree. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook the pork for about 10-12 minutes or until cooked through. Set aside.
Pickled Onions:
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Place the onions in a bowl over a larger bowl of ice water. In a small pan, combine the vinegar, sugar, salt and 1/4 cup water and bring to a boil. Pour over the onions and allow to macerate until they cool. Drain and store in the refrigerator for a few days. Before serving add in cilantro.
Avocado Relish:
4 Haas avocados
1 Serrano pepper, chopped fine
Juice of 1 lime
Kosher salt
Mix all ingredients together.
Black Beans:
2 cups dried black beans
8 cups water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup yellow onions, brunoise
1 cup green bell pepper, brunoise
4 garlic cloves, mashed
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup dry Spanish sherry
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
Soak the beans in water overnight in the refrigerator. Drain, place in a large saucepan with fresh water to cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, cook about 1 hour or until tender. Sauté the onions, pepper, garlic in olive oil until soft, add the salt, pepper, oregano, cumin, bay leaves, sherry and sherry vinegar. Bring to a boil, add the beans to the mixture and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring gently. Pour half of the mixture into a blender and puree then pour back into the beans, taste for seasoning.
To build the tacos:
Top a corn tortilla with a spoonful of black beans. Top the black beans with two spoonfuls of the chorizo filling then top with the onion/cilantro mix and some avocado relish.
More Main Dish Recipes (that aren’t burgers) for the 4th of July
- Chuck’s Fried Chicken
- Lobster Rolls
- Babyback Ribs
- Old Bay Steamed Blue Crabs
- Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches
- Grilled Salmon with Citrus Salsa Verde
You should check this out…
I saw this really good post today….
Healing’s Dragon…
to locate troubles to improve my website!I suppose its ok to make use of a few of the ideas!!…
Souls in the Waves…
Excellent Morning, I just stopped in to visit your site and believed I would say I liked myself….
site…
I have learn a few excellent stuff here. Certainly value bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how much effort you place to make this type of excellent informative web site….
what i was thinking…
Wika linked to this site…
accastillage pour bateau…
[...]very couple of web-sites that come about to be in depth below, from our point of view are undoubtedly nicely worth checking out[...]…
Healing’s Dragon…
to locate matters to improve my web site!I suppose its okay to create utilization of several of the ideas!!…
how can i make money home…
[...]Every as soon as in a although we decide on blogs that we study. Listed beneath are the most recent internet sites that we decide on [...]…
The Ships’s Voyages…
I feel engineering just can make it even worse. Now there is a channel to hardly ever care, now there will not be considered a opportunity for them to find out….
Recommeneded websites…
[...]Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors[...]……
Surf Stickers…
[...]very handful of websites that transpire to be comprehensive beneath, from our point of view are undoubtedly properly worth checking out[...]…
paris disney shuttle…
[...]we came across a cool website that you just may possibly enjoy. Take a appear should you want[...]…
get more info…
[...]The information mentioned in the write-up are a few of the ideal accessible [...]…
Digg…
While checking out DIGG today I noticed this…
Funky Children’s Clothes…
[...]very few sites that transpire to become comprehensive below, from our point of view are undoubtedly nicely worth checking out[...]…
The Silent Shard…
This could almost certainly be very beneficial for a few of your respective job opportunities I want to you should not only with my website but…
reception hall mattoon il…
[...]check beneath, are some entirely unrelated internet websites to ours, nevertheless, they may be most trustworthy sources that we use[...]…
sullivan il wedding receptions…
[...]The info mentioned within the report are several of the most effective obtainable [...]…
see this…
[...]just beneath, are several absolutely not associated internet sites to ours, however, they’re certainly really worth going over[...]…
The Slave of the Husband…
Trying to find ahead to finding out further from you afterward!……
…Trackback: More Informations on that topic…
[...]you made running a blog glance[...]…
Learn how to get a girl to like you for FREE…
[...]always a large fan of linking to bloggers that I enjoy but do not get a great deal of link enjoy from[...]…
Thorn of Girl…
Superb information and facts may be found on this web weblog….
Third Flower…
My spouse and that i are actually now delighted that Albert could execute his studies because of the tips he had as a result of your website. It truly is on occasion perplexing to simply normally be gifting away steps which some individuals might have …
Ginny Simon…
Announcing the brand new clothing company Ginny Simon Fashion….
The Ships’s Voyages…
I believe technologies just can make it even worse. Now there’s a channel to hardly ever treatment, now there will not likely become a possibility for them to find….
Ginny Simon…
Just letting everyone know the brand new fashion company Ginny Simon Fashion….
The Birch of the Shadow…
I believe there may be considered a few duplicates, but an exceedingly useful list! I’ve tweeted this. Numerous thanks for sharing!…
crysis 3 download…
[...]Sites of interest we’ve a link to[...]…
email sender location…
[...]below you will find the link to some web-sites that we assume you need to visit[...]…
Google…
[...]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated data, nevertheless actually worth taking a search, whoa did one particular discover about Mid East has got much more problerms too [...]…
Google…
[...]that is the finish of this article. Right here you will obtain some websites that we believe you?ll appreciate, just click the links over[...]…
led flashlights…
[...]Here is a superb Weblog You might Locate Intriguing that we Encourage You[...]…
Email marketing…
…
outcall massage london…
[...]although sites we backlink to below are considerably not associated to ours, we feel they may be essentially really worth a go via, so possess a look[...]…
how to lose weight naturally and fast…
…
vestas v52…
[...]usually posts some pretty exciting stuff like this. If you are new to this site[...]…
custom built computer…
[...]we came across a cool web site that you could possibly enjoy. Take a appear for those who want[...]…
DJs in Essex…
Heya i am for the first time here. I came across this board and I find It truly useful & it helped me out much. I hope to give something back and help others like you helped me….
legitimate income online…
[...]check below, are some entirely unrelated internet sites to ours, however, they’re most trustworthy sources that we use[...]…
Blue Hawaiian Helicopters Oahu…
[...]one of our guests not long ago recommended the following website[...]…
thiet ke logo…
[...]Here are a number of the sites we advise for our visitors[...]…
pro ana…
[...]just beneath, are various totally not connected internet sites to ours, nevertheless, they are certainly really worth going over[...]…
Blue Hawaiian Helicopters hilo…
…
how to budget…
Hi are using WordPress for your blog platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and set up my own. Do you need any coding expertise to make your own blog? Any help would be really appreciated!…
Tom…
Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to more added agreeable from you! By the way, how can we communicate?|…
bail bondsman…
[...]Sites of interest we’ve a link to[...]…
Worldwide Site traffic Machine assessment…
be sure to pay a visit to the internet pages we stick to, such as this a single certain, because it signifies our picks from the internet…
sociable…
[...]Here is an excellent Blog You may Come across Intriguing that we Encourage You[...]…
Cheap Used HD Projectors…
[...]very few web-sites that happen to become detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly nicely really worth checking out[...]…