Outdoor Cooking {Choriqueso}

Once upon a time, not too long ago, our entire family packed everything but the kitchen sink into our trucks and headed to El Rancho for a 3-day camping trip during Semana Santa. 

Semana Santa is the Holy Week, including Good Friday, leading up to Easter Sunday.  We would be camping Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Good Friday and Holy Saturday!  The two days of Semana Santa, when Catholics refrain from eating meat and poultry.  We had two large ice chests filled with fish for our Fish Fry, along with shrimp and pulpo (octopus)  for a delicious Sopa de Mariscos.

But Thursday was another story.  We could eat all of the meat we wanted on that day!  And we definitely planned on doing so.  The menu for that day was a traditional Carne Asada with all of the fixings.

Before heading to El Rancho, one of my brothers-in-law picked up the 3 kilos of bistec (thin-cut steaks) he had pre-ordered that morning..

After settling in and setting up camp, we worked up quite an appetite.  We fired up the grill and were ready to start grilling the meat. 

But there was one little problem.

The steaks were frozen solid!  The butcher popped them into his freezer to keep them cold until my brother-in-law arrived to pick them up.

UH-OH!!!

We all looked around to see what we had on hand and quickly decided to use the chorizo we were going to grill anyway and the cheese that we were going to use for the Roasted Stuffed Yellow Peppers to make Choriqueso.

We all enjoyed a delicious meal and camped happily ever after.

And we learned a valuable lesson...When life hands you frozen steaks, make Choriqueso! 


Choriqueso

Ingredients:

• 1 pound chorizo
• 16 oz. asadero or adobera cheese
• 8 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced

Directions:
Cut the chorizo links into 2 to 3 pieces (or more), depending on the size of the links.  If you're in the U.S., be sure to remove the plastic casing.  If you're in Mexico, you don't have to remove the casing, because most of the time it's made from intestines.  (Chorizo is the ONLY instance where I can handle eating something that exotic!) 

Heat an olla de barro (clay pot) over a medium flame on the grill.  Add the chorizo and let cook until it's cooked through; drain off any fat.

Add the sliced mushrooms.  This is where you can get real creative.  You can add chopped tomato, sliced onion, sliced jalapeños or serrano peppers.  Let cook for about 5 minutes until the mushrooms are slightly tender.

Layer the cheese on top of the chorizo.

Lots and lots of cheese!   Let simmer over a low flame until the cheese has completely melted. 

Serve with Totopos (tortilla chips) or warm corn tortillas.  Enjoy!!!