High Octane Mojo Sauce

Cars, trucks, motorcycles, live music, food, and fun... that was The High Octane Car Show on Saturday.  Thanks to everyone for making my tacos al carbon with mojo sauce a big success.  

Rikki Rockett, drummer of Poison.
Hangin' out at the booth & enjoying some tacos.

Mojo sauce is not really a hot sauce, but more of a sauce that imparts flavor.  The sauce originated from the Canary Islands.  From there it migrated to Cuba and Puerto Rico.  It is a versatile sauce that can be used with anything from potatoes to marinades.  The traditional Cuban mojo consists of citrus juice (such as: sour orange), olive oil, and garlic.  Whereas, the traditional Puerto Rican sauce is more herbal with chopped cilantro or parsley, olive oil, garlic, vinegar, citrus juice, onion, black pepper, or butter.  

Ellie Laks  - Founder of The Gentle Barn
Stopped by the booth with her kids for some tasty tacos.

High Octane Mojo Sauce for Tacos Al Carbon

I made a marinade that was thicker and chunkier, and a smoother sauce for drizzling on the tacos.  For a marinade, use a food processor to blend together the cilantro, garlic, citrus juice, and jalapenos until chunky.  Then add the vinegar and olive oil and blend until mixed together (a few seconds only).  Add salt and pepper to taste.  For the mojo sauce, use a blender and blend all ingredients until smooth.  Refrigerate and let the flavors marry. 

I juiced oranges, limes, and a little grapefruit, added a little vinegar, a good amount of olive oil, lots of cilantro, a few bulbs of garlic, oregano, salt & pepper, and jalapenos for my mojo.  I made mojo sauce for 100’s of tacos, so I didn’t measure the proportions.  Though, the ratio of oranges to limes is equal parts (look out for the grapefruit juice - don't put too much or it'll become bitter.).  I found a couple recipes that are pretty similar with exact measurements if you want to use them as a base.  Food Network chef, Tyler Florence's mojo sauce or Epicurious' mojo sauce.  I think Tyler's sauce is a pretty close match, but mine has more cilantro.  Play around with the recipes and make it your own. 

You can check my Vegan Tacos Al Carbon, Mas Famosa for the taco recipe.  The only change would be - once the jalapenos, onions, and vegan “chicken” (I used Beyond Meats’ southwest “chicken” strips with great success.  It shreds nicely and has a good consistency.) are cooked, pour some of the mojo marinade over the mix and cook for a couple of minutes.  Taste it and see if you can taste a little vinegar bite.  If you can it’s ready.  If not, add a little more mojo.  (Watch out.  If you keep adding more mojo, it may heat up a little… okay, if you like it spicy hot.).  I topped my tacos with cabbage, cilantro, vegan sour cream (I used Follow Your Heart’s vegan sour cream.), and mojo sauce.  Que le aproveche!  Enjoy your meal.

Thanks again to Brian Kincaid and Beyond Meat for your support!

Italian Mamma’s Cheatin’ Vegan Spaghetti

Buon Giorno.  I was thinking about my trip to Italy a few years back.  I stayed at my friend, Dennis’ family’s villa in the small, quaint village of Ruota.  Located in the Tuscan area hillsides with a population of 300.  While visiting, I found out a little secret... that many of the Italian mammas do a little cheatin’ with their spaghetti sauce.  They use jarred sauce and pizazz it up.  Stai scherzando!  Non e` possible!  (Translation:  You’ve got to be kidding!)  The women say it’s so much easier than making homemade when you don’t have the time.  Well, here’s my veganized version.  It’s not homemade, but it’s quick and easy.  Let me know what you think.

Italian Mamma’s Cheatin’ Vegan Spaghetti

1 lb pasta

1 jar vegan pasta sauce 

1 pkg vegan “ground beef”

(I use Trader Joe’s or Gimme Lean’s “ground beef”.  I’ve recently begun experimenting with the newest contender - Beyond Meat’s.)

2 tsp Slammin’ Trio – equal parts vegan Worcestershire sauce, shoyu (soy sauce), and liquid smoke (you can adjust to your liking.  If you can’t find vegan Worcestershire, skip it)

Vegetable oil

1 clove garlic – chopped (add more to taste)

½ onion – chopped

Fresh herbs (dried is okay if you don’t have fresh)

Olive oil

Boil the pasta and follow the directions on the package (since different varieties of pasta exist).  In an oiled skillet, add chopped onions and cook until translucent.  Add the garlic and vegan ground beef continue to cook (not too long or the garlic will burn. Yuck!)  

Vegan Worcestershire Sauce

Pour in the pasta sauce and add your choice of fresh or dried herbs (I like oregano and basil) and a little olive oil for flavor.  Cook for a few minutes or longer if you have patience and want the sauce to taste even better.  Perfetto!  (finished)  Serve over cooked pasta.  Abbondanza!  (as they said on the Ragu commercial)

Texas Jack's Lone Star BBQ Sauce

Hey all you buckaroos.  It’s time get busy in the kitchen and fix some good ole down-home barbecue sauce.  Bottled barbecue sauce is all right, but there can be unnatural ingredients lurking like:  high fructose corn syrup, artificial dyes, or MSG.  These nasties are found in many of America’s favorites (KC Masterpiece, Sweet Baby Ray’s, Open Pit, etc.).  Instead, why not try making your own?  It’s not that hard and you’ll have a sauce that’ll make your grandpappy proud.  Yee Ha!

Texas Jack’s Lone Star BBQ Sauce

¼ c  bourbon whiskey

1/4  onion - finely minced

2 cloves  finely minced garlic

salt and pepper to taste  (try about 1/4 tsp of salt and go from there)

3 Tbsps apple cider vinegar

2 Tbsps vegan worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp liquid smoke

1 c  ketchup (I use Trader Joe’s Organic Ketchup – won't break your bank at $1.99)

2 Tbsp  tomato paste

1/4 c  brown sugar

In a skillet, cook bourbon whiskey, onions, and garlic over medium heat until the onions are translucent.  Add salt and pepper, apple cider vinegar, vegan worcestershire, liquid smoke, ketchup, tomato paste, and brown sugar.  Cook until it comes to a boil and then reduce the heat to med-low for 20-30 minutes.  The sauce will be a little chunky (onion and garlic pieces).  I smooth it out with an immersion blender or if you don’t have one, you can use a strainer.  If you want to kick it up, try adding Tabasco sauce, chopped jalapenos, chipotles in adobo, cayenne pepper … Dag Nab It!  Whatever else you can imagine.