Friday, September 27, 2013

INTERNATIONAL TACO NIGHT!! Featuring the cast of RAISING HOPE and Fischer & Wieser's delicious sauces!


Entering its fourth season, RAISING HOPE, is the critically acclaimed comedy from Emmy award winner Greg Garcia ("My Name is Earl") that follows the continuing adventures of the Chance family as they raise an adorable toddler named Hope. In the episode above, a cow at the petting zoo has bitten Hope and the butcher who runs it has given the family a huge supply of meat to prevent any lawsuit.

At 23, JIMMY (Lucas Neff) unexpectedly became a single parent (by unknowingly impregnating a serial killer) and now his life's goal is to be the world's best dad. Jimmy's parents VIRGINIA (Martha Plimpton) and BURT (Garret Dillahunt) who had Jimmy at the tender age of 15, don't mind being back in the baby game. They made mistakes with Jimmy, but now with their granddaughter, they finally have the opportunity to get everything right. The Chances live with Jimmy's erratic great-grandmother, MAW MAW (Cloris Leachman) whose eccentricities now force everyone to stay on their toes.

In this episode that we recently worked on, the Chances decide to clean out the fridge and hold an International Taco Night, which in their world consists of "French" fries, "Greek" yogurt, Chinese noodles and a myriad of other foods that have, of course, nothing to do with tacos, but everything to do with cleaning out the fridge!




In reality however, we have come up with the most delicious tostada using Fischer & Wieser Specialty Foods, Inc.'s salsa along with their Mango Ginger Habanero Sauce for a marinade for the chicken. When we were first contacted by the marketing department of Fischer and Wieser based on how much they liked our blog, we were asked to use their products in a recipe and add them to our blog if we were interested. We were so excited and the sauces were so delicious we used them multiple times during our shoots.


























In our "Ironside" blog post we used the Mango Ginger Habanero Sauce and dribbled it over our fried chicken. It has just the right amount of mango and spice to give it the perfect kick.



























For this post, we decided to use both the Mango Ginger Habanero Sauce to marinate the chicken breasts - which is really delicious - and then we used the Salsa a la Charra to top our tostadas.












































So far, we have used Mom's Garlic & Basil Spaghetti Sauce on one of our shoots with pasta and it was very well received. We topped it with freshly grated parmigiano reggiano and fresh basil.

Raffle/Giveaway! 
We also loved The Original Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Sauce® and served it with warm brie and crusty baguette slices topped with cilantro. The Smokehouse Bacon & Chipotle Grilling Sauce is to die for and we basted some racks of baby back ribs and chicken with it for another shoot and a party as well! Fischer and Wieser has generously offered a few of their products to us to raffle off in a giveaway with our loyal blog fans! Please feel free to enter the raffle below using your email or Facebook and a winner will be chosen on October 2nd. To enter, leave us a comment about what you would make with the Mango Ginger Habanero Sauce we used for our chicken and earn a chance to get an amazing assortment of sauces delivered right to your door! To get more information about Fischer and Wieser and their fabulous sauces please visit their website here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway  
But wait... A post of ours just wouldn't be the same without some strange request in the food styling world. In this episode, MAW MAW needs to eat a napkin that she thinks is a taco. "Are these supposed to be hard or soft shell tacos?" To which Virginia replies, "That's a napkin Maw Maw." It was our task to come up with something to pick up that was edible and resembled a napkin but whose color needed to be either white or close in color to the yellow napkin. We experimented with real tortillas, cut them with scissors, and painted them with edible color. Next we experimented with edible paper (aka thin fondant sold in sheets). We mixed the color that matched the napkins and blotted it with a special cloth. After that, we let it dry and then turned it over to do the other side. We made 20 of each. Success! She ate the fondant yellow napkin. No complaints!





































Here are a few more edible creations we've made for "Raising Hope!"

Easter Island Sculptures made with cheddar cheese by Skylar Thomson




























Click read more to get our delicious recipes




Grilled chicken and veggie Tostada with 
Mango Ginger Habanero Sauce and Salsa a la Charra

Ingredients

6" flour tortillas
arugula
1 eggplant
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 onion
1 red pepper
olive oil
2 cloves fresh garlic
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 tablespoons Mexican crema
1 cup Fischer and Wieser Mango Ginger Habanero Sauce
3-4 tablespoons Fischer and Wieser Salsa a la Charra

Marinate chicken breasts in Fischer and Wieser Mango Ginger Habanero Sauce for at least one hour. Grill flour tortillas on a grill, grill pan, or simply over the flame of a gas burner. Wash and dry arugula and set aside. Slice and marinate the next 5 ingredients (veggies) in one tablespoon of good quality olive oil, crushed garlic, and season with salt and pepper. Grill the veggies until soft and set aside. Grill the chicken on both sides and put in a 400 degree oven until cooked through or approximately 20 minutes. Let cool slightly and slice on the diagonal.

Assembly

Place tortillas on individual plates and cover with arugula. Add another layer of warm veggies. Place the sliced chicken on top of the veggies. Dribble the crema over the tostada and top with Salsa a la Charra.

Optional Additions:
Hot sauce sich as Tapatio or Tabasco, sliced avocado or spicy guacamole.
ENJOY!!













For this week's restaurant choice we decided to go with some great authentic Mexican food-El Sauz in Glendale. If you live in Los Angeles, you know that there are taco stands all over the place, but El Sauz is one of the most authentic and delicious places I've ever been to. The meat's all cooked to perfection and all of the homemade fresh salsas are incredible. Of course the tacos and burritos are very popular, but the tortas are the best around. Unlike most Mexican restaurants and taco stands, El Sauz does not cook their pinto beans in lard which is a rarity, and trust me you can taste the difference. Not only do they have impeccable food, but the prices are unbeatable. You can easily have a great meal for 2 under $12!!

1 comment:

  1. We would use the Mango Ginger Habanero Sauce on just about anything that needs moisture...eggs, cream cheese, chicken, pork. I wouldn't be surprised if my son decides to use it on his toothbrush.

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