gluten free Chicago-Adobo grill mexican fiesta!

I have never given an entire gluten free dinner party until two weeks ago! It was easy and effortless (partly because it was catered) but mainly because a lot of Mexican food is naturally gluten free!  It was my son’s Bar Mitzvah weekend and this dinner was for family on the Friday night before his big day.

For the first time in our home the entire meal was gluten free–no separate bowl of chips and guacamole, no worries that cracker crumbs would infest  his salad-GLUTEN FREE baby, the whole meal!

Adobo Grill of Chicago sent over their head chef, Gabriel and two amazing servers.

The menu included Adobo Grills variety of house made salsas and fresh made guacamole (the BEST I have ever tasted) I am not sure what they did to that guacamole but it was seriously divine!

Cheese quesadillas made from fresh corn tortillas and mozzarella cheese (typically quesadillas are made with Chihuahua cheese) but we strayed off course a bit.

Chef Gaby also prepared shooters filled with his homemade Gazpacho soup.

For the main course served buffet style we had Mexican rice, chicken and steak fajitas and all the fixing’s, a taco bar with freshly fried taco shells and a jicama and mango salad.  My contribution to the fiesta was a romaine lettuce salad with shallot vinaigrette, grilled corn salad (recipe below), assorted grilled vegetables and I had to add a little Italian to the fiesta–Burrata cheese and fresh tomatoes-drizzled with balsamic glaze.

Chef Gabriel and Gema

gluten free mexican fiesta with a touch of added italian!

corn tortillas made gluten free in chicago

For dessert we enjoyed a gluten free sweet feast!  I made key lime pie (recipe below), chocolate cakes , decorated sugar cookies and strawberry shortcake.

gluten free desserts–all of them! grilled corn salad for 10pp    10 ears of corn- wash and set aside  1 onion into 1/2″ rounds 1 red and 1 orange pepper-cut into 1″strips 1 bunch of scallion-clean and leave whole, cut off the hairy tip! 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar and 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil–mixed together salt and pepper to taste avocado slices and fresh summer sweet tomatoes if desired   grill the corn until light brown–about 10 minutes, turning often to avoid burning grill the onion slices, peppers and scallions–allow to cool on a cutting board slice the onion, scallion and peppers into small uniform pieces–about 1/4″ to 1/2″ in size into a large mixing bowl cut the corn off the cob (i use a large bowl so the corn doesn’t get all over my kitchen) you can also use the hole in a bundt pan to cut the corn easily. after everything is cut–toss together. This can be made the day before and refrigerated.  Allow to sit at room temperature for at least two hours before proceeding with next step. in a small cup blend together balsamic vinegar and olive oil. drizzle the vinaigrette over corn salad and season with salt and pepper until  you achieve the taste desired. in summer when the super sweet tomatoes are in season I add a few plus some avocado slices. serve room temperature–enjoy!     gluten free key lime pie–adapted from Joe’s in Miami     In Chicago we have a few favorite restaurants–Hugo’s Frog Bar and Joe’s Stone Crabs–funny because I wouldn’t eat frog legs or stone crabs if you paid me BUT– they both have the most amazing key lime pie.  Problem is that the pies aren’t gluten free.  Since I am a do-it-yourself type of chick, I decided to investigate.  How difficult could it be?  It turns out that Joe’s Stone crabs lists the recipe right on their website–very nice of them! One modification and I mastered gluten free key lime pie–easy! (see Joe’s link for the exact recipe–gluten free crust below)     gluten free graham cracker crust for Joe’s key lime pie   1-1/2 boxes kinnikinnick graham crackers 1/2 bag Pamela’s ginger mini snapz 1/2 stick unsalted butter-melted and cooled 9″ pie shell   in a food processor pulverize the cookies into small crumbs–set aside melt butter and drizzle over cookie crumbs–mix to combine the mixture should hold its shape if you take a bunch in your hand and squeeze.  if it doesn’t add a little more melted butter. press the crumb mixture into the sides and bottom of the empty pie shell and freeze until filling mixture is ready.