Nacho Deanos Tacos Of Love Recipes

DEANO'S DRAGON BREATH BOMBS

Steps:

• Grease a 9- by 11-inch baking pan with butter.
• Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the marshmallows, and stir until melted and smooth. Add the cereal and mix well. Working quickly, add the chocolate chips. (Depending on the temperature of the crispy mix, your chips may melt and you'll have chocolate crispy squares. If you add them as the mixture gets stiff and cool, they'll stay intact as chips. It's completely up to you.)
• Spread the mixture out evenly into the greased pan with an oiled spatula or waxed paper, pressing down gently to fit it into the pan. Dust the top with rainbow sprinkles and refrigerate. When cool, cut into 1-inch squares.
• Pour 2 to 3 inches of liquid nitrogen very slowly into a stainless steel bowl. Make sure to wear your goggles and gloves!
• Drop 8 to 10 crispy squares into the liquid nitrogen for 30 to 40 seconds. Scoop them out with a slotted spoon and place on a serving plate. Wait 10 seconds then eat the squares. You will have some 'dragon's breath' coming out of your mouth and nose. Thrills and chills will ensue!

FLANK STEAK WRAPPED PETIT FILET WITH SMASHED POTATOES WITH CREME FRAICHE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• With a paper towel, wipe all your mushrooms clean. (Don't soak them in water and then drain them. Mushrooms are like little sponges. They'll suck up water and get mushy.) Trim and discard the dried up part on the end of the mushroom stems.
• Spread the mushrooms on a large sheet pan and drizzle with some olive oil. Season with salt and toss to coat. Roast the mushrooms for 30 to 45 minutes.
• Using a paper towel, blot the filets and flank steak to remove excess moisture. Sprinkle both sides of the beef with salt and pepper. Rub the tops of the filets with 1 tablespoon of the chopped thyme. Let the filets sit out, covered, to bring them up to room temperature before cooking.
• Slice the flank steak lengthwise into 1-inch strips and wrap each filet around the edges with the flank steak strips. You may have leftover flank steak. Tie each filet with kitchen string, or insert a toothpick through to hold the flank steak to the filet.
• When the mushrooms are roasted and nice and golden brown, remove from the oven, let cool a bit and then roughly chop.
• Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
• In a large fry pan, heat 3 tablespoons of the butter on medium-high heat. As soon as the butter starts to bubble and get frothy, throw in the roasted mushrooms and any oil and drippings from the baking sheet. Saute the mushrooms for 8 to 10 minutes, and then deglaze the pan with the red wine. Cook until most of the red wine has reduced to almost nothing.
• Add the half-and-half to the pan while stirring the mushrooms. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then lower the heat to a simmer and reduce by half. Add the milk, and reduce that by one-third. You should have nice rich sauce that coats the back of a spoon and holds a line through it. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed. Keep the sauce warm until ready to serve. (Can place it in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water.)
• Wash the asparagus, and, with a vegetable peeler, remove the outer layer of asparagus. Cut the asparagus into 2-inch pieces.
• Heat a large fry pan with 1 teaspoon olive oil and add the bacon. Stir and cook the bacon until it begins to brown. Add the asparagus and cook until just softened. Add the white wine vinegar and cook for a few seconds, and then remove from the heat and keep warm. Heat a large ovenproof fry pan with 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. (If you have a really large frying pan you can put all 4 filets in the pan. If you don't, cook in batches using 1 tablespoon of oil per batch. You don't want the steaks to touch. We want to get a nice sear on the outside of the filets and to achieve this, your filets need room.)
• Add the filets to the hot pan and sear until your filet has relaxed to the point where it will let go of the pan, about 3 minutes on one side, and then flip. Add a generous clump of butter to the hot pan and, when it's melted, tip the fry pan towards you so the butter pools in one spot. Add the 3 full sprigs of thyme. Now, with a large spoon, start basting your filets with the melted thyme flavored butter. Flip the filets, baste each one again and transfer to the oven for a few minutes until just cooked through to medium.
• To serve: Plate the Smashed Potatoes with Creme Fraiche just off to one side of the center of the plate. Retrieve your filets from the oven and remove the string or toothpicks. Lean a filet up against the potatoes. Top with the mushroom gravy and place the asparagus in front of the filet. Dust with the chopped parsley.
• Wash the potatoes and place in a pot of salted water, enough to just cover the tops of the potatoes. Bring to a boil, and then turn down to a simmer and cook until fork tender. (When you stick a fork into the potato and it falls off with no resistance, they're done.)
• Drain the potatoes and place on a tea towel or paper towel. With the palm of your hand, lightly smash the potatoes so they just pop open a bit and split. Make sure they kind of keep their shape.
• In a large fry pan on medium heat, melt the butter and add the garlic, shallots, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon white pepper. When the garlic and shallots are translucent, add the smashed potatoes and toss so they all get kissed with the butter, shallots and garlic. Heat for 5 minutes, and then add the creme fraiche to the pan with half the amount of chopped chives. Toss so everything is nicely coated.
• Serve family style or on individual plates and top with the rest of the chives and a little lemon zest. The zest gives the spuds an extra little tang and zip.

SEARED SCALLOPS OVER MICRO GREENS WITH ORANGE TARRAGON VINAIGRETTE WITH BUTTER POACHED LOBSTER

Steps:

• For the vinaigrette: In a small pot, add the orange juice and tarragon sprig. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and reduce the juice by half. When reduced, remove the tarragon sprig, and chill the juice in the refrigerator. When cooled, add the white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, garlic and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Whisk together. Slowly drizzle the grapeseed oil while whisking until you get an equal balance of oil to juice. Taste, then adjust the seasoning if necessary. Put aside.
• For the gastrique: In a small pot, add the sugar, apple cider vinegar and some salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the mango, and simmer for 15 minutes. Use an immersion blender, blender or even a hand mixer to blend well. Then strain through a fine mesh sieve. (If you don't have a fine sieve, you can use a regular strainer lined with cheese cloth or a clean dish towel.) You want to remove any little bits of mango that the blender missed. Put in the refrigerator to cool.
• For the lobster: Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the white vinegar. Drop in the lobster tails and simmer them until they just begin to turn bright orange/red. Let cool and remove the lobster meat from the shell. Chop the meat into pieces, just smaller than bite size.
• Heat a medium skillet over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the garlic and shallots. Saute until translucent. Add the remaining butter and melt. Add a good pinch of salt. Add the lobster and stir to coat with the butter. Simmer for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and keep warm.
• For the crostini: Preheat the oven broiler. Cut a clove of garlic in half, and rub both sides of the bread with the cut sides of the garlic. Brush one side of the bread with olive oil, and sprinkle very lightly with herbes de Provence and salt. (If you don't have HDP, you can use a mixture of dried thyme, basil, rosemary, marjoram, sage, savory and fennel seeds, or any one of those herbs you happen to have.) Lay the bread on a cookie sheet and reserve.
• To assemble: Start with the scallops. Pat your scallops dry with paper towels. They MUST be dry in order to get a nice sear and crust on the outside. (If you don't, you'll have a scallop just steeping in its own liquid, getting mushy, with no color, sear or flavor.)
• With a paring knife, score the top of the scallops with a crisscross. You want to just score the outer layer, 1/16-inch deep. Sprinkle the scallops with salt and pepper. In a scorching hot pan with grapeseed oil, put your scallops in scored-side down. Grapeseed oil has a very high smoke point, which allows you to cook at higher temperatures for longer before it starts to smoke and burn.
• The scallops will tell you when it's ok to lift them and take a peek at your sear. When you're able to pick the scallops up with no resistance at all, you can then take a peek to see if you're ready to flip it. You want a nice rich golden brown color on your scallop. Once you've achieved the proper color, flip your scallops and remove the pan from the heat.
• Put your crostini in the oven to toast.
• Add the vinaigrette to your greens a little at a time. You want to just cover the greens with the vinaigrette, we don't want to drown it. Think light.
• Now on each serving plate, place a silver-dollar-size portion of the dressed micro greens in the center of the plate. Take a teaspoon of the mango gastrique, and put it on the plate in front of the greens. Then with the back side of the spoon, run it through the middle of the sauce. Take 3 or 4 pieces of the lobster, blot them on a paper towel, then place them in the center of your gastrique schmear. Place your scallop on top of your micro greens. Place 2 crostinis off to the side of the scallop. Then cross 2 whole chives over each plate and you're done.

CHICKEN NACHO TACOS

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and chili powder and cook until the onion is tender, stirring often.
• Stir the soup and chicken in the skillet and cook until the mixture is hot and bubbling. Spoon the chicken mixture into the taco shells. Top with the lettuce and tomato.

CHEESY NACHO TACOS

Steps:

• COOK beef in skillet until browned.
• Pour off fat.
• ADD 1/2 can soup, water and taco seasoning mix.
• Heat through.
• HEAT remaining soup in saucepan, stirring often.
• SPOON about 1/3 cup beef mixture into taco shells. Top each with remaining soup and lettuce.