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Mexican food.
Apr. 2nd, 2007 02:00 amToday I did something that I wanted to do for a long time, which is make a traditional Mexican mole sauce in a semi-traditional manner. So I made on today from scratch. It starts with a huge list of ingredients, including three types of dried chiles, tomatillos, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices, Mexican chocolate, LARD... Oh, and a chicken. And it was damn damn damn good. It took 3.5 hours, and while I wouldn't want to make it every week or even every month, I know that it's not the last one that I'll make. (The recipe I used is here.)
As with most (if not all) of the Mexican recipes I cook, the recipe was from a Rick Bayless cookbook (in this case, Authentic Mexican). Rick owns two restaurants in Chicago (Frontera Grill, which I've eaten at once, and the five-star Topolabampo which I will eat at this year) and is the host of the PBS show Mexico: One Plate at a Time, which is probably my favorite cooking show (especially the recent show he did with Jacques Pepin). He also sells his "Frontera" and "Salpica" brands of salsa and rubs and grilling sauces and chips and such at grocery stores nationwide. I recommend the classic salsas VERY highly (they're pretty much the only ones I buy), especially the tomatillo and jalepeno-tomato salsas. He also recently started marketing a line of frozen pizzas. I've only had the sausage and roasted pepper, and it was amazing for a frozen pizza.
Here are some of my favorite recipes that he has online:
Chiles Relleno: The souffle batter can be a hassle, but the last time I made this I just put then in a baking dish and covered it with the sauce and baked it. And it was amazing. The picadillo filling is simply divine.
Queso Fundido: This is not how I normally make it (I use chorizo sausage and onions and roasted poblanos), but this one is good, too.
Salsa-baked Goat Cheese: There's a few of you out there that can vouch for this one. YUM on crusty bread. Use the pre-made classic salsas that I mentioned above and this takes maybe 10-15 minutes of your time (not counting baking).
Tomatillo-braised pork roast with herby beans and bacon: One of my favorite recipes, and not terribly hard to make. Again, use the pre-made salsa and it's simple.
The next thing I want to make is Guajillo Chilaquiles, and I'm sure I can get some people to join me for those.
Please let me know if you try to make any of these. Of course, it will help if you have a good Mexican grocery around, but for some of them, your local grocery will have everything.
As with most (if not all) of the Mexican recipes I cook, the recipe was from a Rick Bayless cookbook (in this case, Authentic Mexican). Rick owns two restaurants in Chicago (Frontera Grill, which I've eaten at once, and the five-star Topolabampo which I will eat at this year) and is the host of the PBS show Mexico: One Plate at a Time, which is probably my favorite cooking show (especially the recent show he did with Jacques Pepin). He also sells his "Frontera" and "Salpica" brands of salsa and rubs and grilling sauces and chips and such at grocery stores nationwide. I recommend the classic salsas VERY highly (they're pretty much the only ones I buy), especially the tomatillo and jalepeno-tomato salsas. He also recently started marketing a line of frozen pizzas. I've only had the sausage and roasted pepper, and it was amazing for a frozen pizza.
Here are some of my favorite recipes that he has online:
Chiles Relleno: The souffle batter can be a hassle, but the last time I made this I just put then in a baking dish and covered it with the sauce and baked it. And it was amazing. The picadillo filling is simply divine.
Queso Fundido: This is not how I normally make it (I use chorizo sausage and onions and roasted poblanos), but this one is good, too.
Salsa-baked Goat Cheese: There's a few of you out there that can vouch for this one. YUM on crusty bread. Use the pre-made classic salsas that I mentioned above and this takes maybe 10-15 minutes of your time (not counting baking).
Tomatillo-braised pork roast with herby beans and bacon: One of my favorite recipes, and not terribly hard to make. Again, use the pre-made salsa and it's simple.
The next thing I want to make is Guajillo Chilaquiles, and I'm sure I can get some people to join me for those.
Please let me know if you try to make any of these. Of course, it will help if you have a good Mexican grocery around, but for some of them, your local grocery will have everything.
