Mexico Cooks!

A New Look at an Old Favorite: Restaurante La Tecla in Mexico City

Restaurante La Tecla at Calle Durango 186-A, Colonia Roma Norte, Mexico City.

Several months ago, Mexico Cooks! arrived by pure happenstance at the door of Restaurante La Tecla--not to dine, but to retrieve a package that a friend left for me with Eduardo Holcombe, the charming and professional restaurant manager.  After a brief chat, Sr. Holcombe graciously invited me to call him anytime to go back to the restaurant for a meal.  "You really should give La Tecla a try.  We've been right here since 1995."

As life will, life intervened, Mexico Cooks!' tour business took over, and I neglected Sr. Holcombe's kind invitation to dine.  Weeks passed, until one day a gentle reminder email from him appeared in my inbox.  "Will you be able to come to La Tecla sometime soon?"  Several more emails and a phone call later, we had set a date and time for me to meet him at the restaurant.


The delightful view from my upstairs table at La Tecla.  I might as well have been in Paris as in this pleasant part of Mexico City.  Barely out of view to the left of the window is lovely Plaza Villa Madrid and the Cibeles fountain, an icon of this section of Colonia Roma.

I was smart enough to ask Sr. Holcombe to order a meal for me, believing that he would surely choose the dishes most representative of the long trajectory of La Tecla. We sat and chatted cheerfully over our drinks until the courtesy-of-the-house 'amuse' came to the table.  This bite-size delight is a croqueta de tres chiles (little croquette made of three chiles), served with a bit of guacamole on a long thin plate.  The number of croquetas on the plate depends on the number of diners at table! 


This is La Tecla's version of one of Mexico Cooks!' favorite appetizers: perejil frito con doble crema (fried parsley with cream cheese).  Fried parsley is a deceptive dish, an old standby made new again with the use of a tostada base and a cream cheese accompaniment.  The parsley, fried until crisp, is entirely different from parsley fresh out of the refrigerator.  Its melt-in-your-mouth texture and sweetly toasty-green flavor wake up one's palate for the meal to come. 


Crema de elote (cream of fresh corn soup) with a square of pan de elote (sweet corn bread) and fresh corn kernels. This slightly sweet cream soup, served over an individual square of Mexican-style corn bread, perfectly complemented the fried parsley appetizer.  Behind the soup you have a glimpse of the house-baked breads that accompanied the soup.  Don't miss the crescent-shaped bread filled with house-made La Tecla mole--it's a standout!


Another of La Tecla's savory soups is this caldo de habas con nopales y chile pasilla (fresh fava bean and prickly pear cactus paddle soup, garnished with flavorful but gently spiced chile pasilla) and beautifully served in a traditional jícara.  I'd be hard-put to say which of these two soups was my favorite.  Each is very different from the other and each is a delicate treat.


Ensalada de higos y lechuga con nuez caramelizada y queso gorgonzola (lettuce and fig salad with caramelized nuts and gorgonzola cheese). You might think that this is a 'staged' salad, with more of each ingredient than usual.  Nope, what you see is what you get.  It's a huge portion, perfect for sharing with a companion, and absolutely marvelous.  The figs are sweetly ripe, the cheese is a savory foil, the nuts add an extra touch of texture and flavor, and the lettuces crunch wonderfully.  


Mexico Cooks!'s main course: pechuga de pollo rellena de flor de calabaza con torta de elote y salsa de poblano (chicken breast stuffed with squash flowers, with corn cake and a sauce of poblano chile).  The chicken breast was tender and juicy, the squash flowers and chile poblano combined to give the dish fresh-from-the-milpa flavors.  This modern dish is a deep reflection of Mexico's agricultural history.

La Tecla's goal when it opened its doors in 1995 was to present dishes with unique style and flavor in a contemporary Mexican style.  After 21 years in the same spot, that successful goal remains the same.  The restaurant is committed to caring for every detail, flavor, and quality of ingredients in each of its dishes.  The atmosphere at La Tecla is cozy and comfortable, giving the diner the sensation that he or she is a welcome guest at the table of someone who cares deeply about offering a pleasing experience.  Some of the dishes are homey favorites presented in a modern fashion; others are up-to-the-minute Mexican haute cuisine that bring freshness, flavor, and beauty to the table. 

After my first visit to La Tecla, I started asking Mexico City food-world friends if they had ever eaten there.  To a person, each answered, "Of course, La Tecla!  With so many new restaurants on the scene, we haven't been there for years."  My response: "It's time to go back.  Surprise yourself with what's on the menu!"

A huge thank you to the gracious Dr. Carmen Oceja, to Eduardo Holcombe, and to the entire team at La Tecla for this introduction to its wonderful menu.  

Whether you are visiting Mexico City or are a long-time resident, you'll be excited to find that La Tecla, at 21, has definitely come of age. 

Restaurante La Tecla
Durango 186-A
Colonia Roma Norte
Del. Cuauhtémoc
Tel: 5525-4920  Do make a reservation.

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Calabaza en Tacha: Winter Squash Cooked in Piloncillo (Brown Sugar) Syrup

Calabaza de Castilla, the squash Mari brought me, seen here with a charming artisan-made cloth figure of a Purépecha woman with her miniature pottery.  The squash was about 8" high and weighed about three pounds.

Mari, the woman who at one time spoiled Mexico Cooks! by doing all of my housework, gave me a squash.  She brought two home from her rancho (the family farm) out in the country, one for her and one for me.  The squash wasn't very big, as winter squash go, but it was plenty for us.  Mari's first question, after I had happily accepted her gift, was whether or not I knew how to cook it.  "Con piloncillo y canela, sí?" (With cones of brown sugar and cinnamon, right?) 

Even though I knew how to spice the squash and knew how to cut it apart, knowing and doing these things turned out to be worlds apart.  Faced with the project, I waffled and hesitated, intimidated by a large vegetable.  The squash sat on the counter for several days, daring me to cook it before it molded.  Then one of the cats toppled it over and rolled it around the counter, so I moved the squash outside onto the terrace table and gathered my nerve. 

On Sunday, I finally decided it was Cook the Squash day.  Mari was due to arrive early on Monday morning and it had to be done before she scolded me for letting it sit for so long.  I chose pots, knives, and gathered the rest of the simple ingredients for a mise en place.

The squash with the first section cut out.

Cutting the squash in sections was the only difficult part of preparing it.  The shell of the squash is hard.  Hard.  HARD.  I was careful to keep the knife pointed toward the wall, not toward my body.  With the force I needed to cut the squash open, one slip of the knife could have meant instant and deep penetration of my innards.  Later that night, our friend Araceli told us that her mother usually breaks a squash apart by throwing it onto the concrete patio!  The next morning, Mari told us that her husband had cut their squash apart with a machete.  I felt really tough, knowing that I'd been able to cut it open with just a big knife and a few pointed words.

The squash, cut into sections and ready for the pot.  On the counter behind the squash is a 1930's Mexican covered cazuela (casserole), the top in the form of a turkey.

Once I had the (few pointed words) squash cut open, I scooped out the seeds and goop and cut it into sections more or less 4" long by 3" wide.  I did not remove the hard shell, nor should you.

Meantime, I had prepared the ingredients for the almíbar (thick syrup) that the squash would cook in.  Mexican stick cinnamon, granulated sugar, and piloncillo (cones of brown sugar) went into a pot of water.  I added a big pinch of salt, tied anise seed and cloves into a square of cheesecloth and tossed the little bundle into the water.  The pot needed to simmer for at least three hours, until the syrup was thick and well-flavored.

Clockwise from left: Mexican stick cinnamon, anise seed, piloncillo, and cloves.

Several hours later (after the syrup thickened well), I added the pieces of squash to the pot.  Cooking time for this very hard squash was approximately an hour and a half over a low-medium flame. 

As the squash cooks in the syrup, it softens and takes on a very appetizing dark brown color.  Calabaza en tacha is one of the most typically homey Mexican dishes for desayuno (breakfast) or cena (supper).  Well heated and served in a bowl with hot milk and a little of its own syrup, the squash is both nutritious and filling.

Squash for breakfast!  On Monday morning, Mexico Cooks! served up a bowl of squash with hot milk, along with a slice of pan relleno con chilacayote (bread filled with sweetened chilacayote squash paste).  Mari thought it was almost--almost--as good as hers.

Calabaza en Tacha estilo Mexico Cooks!

Ingredients
One medium-size hard shell winter squash (about 8" high)
6 cups water
14 cones of dark piloncillo (coarse brown sugar)
2 cups granulated sugar
4 Mexican cinnamon sticks about 2.5" long
1 Tbsp anise seed
1 tsp cloves

Preparation
Heat the water in a large pot.  Add the piloncillo, the granulated sugar, and the cinnamon sticks.  Tie the anise seed and the cloves into a cheesecloth square and add it to the pot.  Cook over a slow flame until the liquid is thick and syrupy, approximately three hours.

While the syrup is cooking, prepare the squash.  Cut it into serving-size pieces as described above.  If the squash shell is very hard, take adequate precautions so that you do not hurt yourself as you cut it in sections.  You can always throw it from your second-floor window onto the patio!

Add the squash pieces to the thickened syrup and simmer until the squash is soft and takes on a deep brown color.  Cool for 15 minutes or so before serving.  Re-heat for desayuno (breakfast) or cena (supper).  Serve with hot milk poured over it.

Makes about 16 servings.

¡Provecho!

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Adobo de Cerdo Huasteco, from Verde Blanco y Rojo by Ricardo Muñoz Zurita

Originally published in October 2011, this illustrated recipe for Adobo de Cerdo Huasteco is a perfect meal for February's chilly weather.  Mexico Cooks! celebrates its ninth anniversary of publishing with this delicious meal to warm body and soul.  Enjoy!

Roma tomatoes and onion quarters toasting on a comal (in this case, a cast iron griddle).  That little tomato on the right looks downright happy to be toasting.

Several months ago, Mexico Cooks! was thrilled to receive a copy of Chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita's newest recetario (cookbook), titled Verde, Blanco, y Rojo en la Cocina Mexicana.  Due to the pressures of moving and settling into a new and somewhat more frenetic life in Mexico City, the very attractive book sat patiently in the kitchen bookshelf with its 150 or so brother and sister cookbooks, waiting to be chosen.  'Choose me, choose me!' it whispered each time I passed by the shelf.  And finally I listened.

Serving-size pieces of maciza de cerdo (lean, fresh pork leg) simmering with onion and garlic.

My friends and I are very fond of traditional Mexican cuisine.  Like most people, we have our favorite dishes.  And like most people, I have a hard time breaking habits and wading into a new cookbook: it means learning a new format, a new organization of ingredients, and a new dish that I had never prepared. 

The first task was reading the recipe all the way through to the end to make sure that I had all of the ingredients and utensils on hand prior to starting to cook and that I understood the order of cooking.  It's really no fun at all to start the preparations and discover at the time of need that oops, there is no garlic and ouch, that one bowl I really wanted to use is full of last night's stew.  You'll want to organize yourself and prepare your mise en place (all ingredients in place, ready to cook) well before you turn on the stove.


Differentiating between dried chiles ancho and chiles mulato can be confusing.  If you open a chile ancho and hold it up to the light, it looks from the inside like red stained glass.  The mulato, on the other hand, looks brown when held to the light.  It's immediately apparent which this is.  Always try to buy chiles that are leathery and flexible, not brittle.

Ingredients
2 kg (approximately 4.5 pounds) lean pork meat, cut into serving-size pieces
1 white onion, cut into quarters
1 head of garlic, split in half
4 liters water
6 tsp salt
8 chiles guajillo
5 large chiles ancho
3 large tomatos, roasted
1/2 white onion, quartered and roasted
5 garlic cloves
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dry Mexican oregano, crumbled
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
4 cloves
3 Tbsp pork lard (you can substitute oil if you can't get real, freshly rendered lard)
1/2 cup white vinegar

Utensils 
Comal or griddle
Mesh strainer
Several small or medium-size mixing bowls
Mixing spoons
Heavy-bottom pot with lid
Blender

Toasting the chiles ancho on the comal.

 
Toasting the chiles guajillo on the comal.

Procedure
Put the pork, onion, and head of garlic in a large pot.  Cover with water, add 4 tsp salt and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat until the water is down to a simmer and cook until the pork is tender, about an hour.  Remove the pork from the water, drain the liquid into a bowl, and reserve both the meat and the cooking liquid for later use.

Remove the stems, seeds, and veins from all of the chiles and discard them.  Lightly toast the chiles on the comal, being careful not to burn them.  If they turn black, they will be bitter.  Soak the toasted chiles in four cups of the reserved cooking liquid from the pork.

Both types of toasted chiles are then soaked for a few minutes in some of the freshly cooked hot pork broth.

Blend the soaked chiles with enough of the cooking liquid to make a smooth, somewhat liquid paste. 

Roast the tomatoes, onions, and garlic on the comal, then blend them until they make a very smooth sauce.  If necessary for blending, add just a little of the reserved meat cooking liquid.  Using the wire mesh strainer, strain into a bowl and reserve. 


The mix of various seasonings (foreground), the blended and strained chiles (left rear) and the blended tomato/onion/garlic mixture (right rear).  

Grind the cumin, the oregano, the pepper, and the cloves together until they are powdered.  Set aside for later use.

Over a high flame, heat the lard or oil in a heavy-bottomed pot until it smokes slightly.  Add the ground chiles (splatter alert!) and fry for about 15 minutes or until the mixture is reduced by about one-fourth.  Add the blended tomato mixture, the spices, and two tablespoons of salt.  When the mixture comes to a boil, lower the fire and allow to simmer until the sauce has reduced a little.


The pork now needs to simmer in the adobo for an hour or more, either in the oven or over a very low fire.  The fragrance will drive you crazy, it is so tantalizing.  Mexico Cooks! prepared this recipe on top of the stove using the cast iron comal as a heat diffuser.

Add the meat, the vinegar, and three cups of the reserved meat cooking liquid.  Correct the seasonings and cook with the lid ajar over low heat (or bake covered in a 350° oven) for about an hour.  The finished sauce should be thick enough to cover the meat without sliding off the pieces.  

Adobo de cerdo huasteco, ready to eat!  Serve the dish with steamed white rice and plenty of hot-off-the-comal corn tortillas.

The finished recipe also freezes very well.  Mexico Cooks! served half the recipe as comida for six and froze the rest for a later meal. 

Serves 12. 

The wonderful Spanish-language Verde, Blanco, Rojo en La Cocina Mexicana, written by my friend Chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita of Restaurante Azul/Condesa.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours. 

Restaurante La Teca--Cuisine from Oaxaca's Isthmus of Tehuantepec: Cocina Istmeña Oaxaqueña

A delicious Oaxaca specialty: sopa de guía, a clear soup made with chicken broth, tendrils of squash plant, and squash flowers.

While in Oaxaca with a writers' group, I took a little time away from that group to visit another group: several culinary-world friends who live and work in this southern Mexico city.   I played hooky to eat on Friday with Pilar Cabrera at her wonderful restaurant La Olla, and on Saturday with chef Rodolfo Castellanos and his family at La Teca, a restaurant specializing in cooking from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

The Isthmus of Tehuantepec is the skinniest part of mainland Mexico, lying between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.  Prior to the opening of the Panama Canal, it was the most important route for goods working their slow way across the relatively flat lands between the two bodies of water.  Partly in Oaxaca, partly in Chiapas, partly in Tabasco and partly in Veracruz, the territory has its own legends, its own history, and its own cuisines. 

You may not be aware that you are already familiar with the native dress of the Tehuanas, as the women of the isthmus are known.  Above, a Frida Kahlo 1948 self portrait, dressed as a Tehuana. Image courtesy of: http://www.earlywomenmasters.net

Just off the beaten tourist track in Oaxaca, Restaurant La Teca serves outstanding food from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.  The welcoming owner and cook, Señora Deyanira Aquino, will make sure that you eat your fill of her marvelous regional cuisine.

The cooking of the Isthmus is traditionally corn-based and idiosyncratic.  Most ingredients are indigenous to its hot lowlands (for example, armadillo and iguana) and its proximity to the sea: fresh and dried shrimp, fresh fish, and other creatures from the ocean depths.

At La Teca we shared a platter of garnachas, a traditional entrada or botana (appetizer or snack) based on a fried disk of corn dough and topped with a mixture of meat, vegetables, and salsa.

Tamalitos de cambray from Tehuantepec, savory-sweet tamales made of chicken, raisins, olives, almonds, and capers.


These are molotes de plátano macho (small, sweetly ripe plantain croquettes) topped with crema de mesa (table cream) and queso fresco (fresh cheese).  The three of us shared an order of four molotes.  We kept dividing the last one into smaller and smaller pieces so that one of us did not hog the whole thing--although each of us would have!


Next course at La Teca: a taco filled with a small chile pasilla oaxaqueño relleno (a regional dried chile, reconstituted, stuffed, and fried).  It doesn't look like anything special, does it?  If you could just enjoy the fragrance, I assure you that you would want to lick your monitor.

Tamales de elote (fresh corn tamales) followed, served with crema de mesa.  These reminded me very much of Michoacán uchepos, another kind of fresh corn tamales.

Another traditional dish from the Isthmus, estofado de bodas (wedding stew).  It's a delicious long-cooked combination of beef, fruits, chiles, and other spices, typically served at weddings.

Purée de papa, estilo Istmeño (potatoes, coarsely mashed and then baked, Isthmus style). 

Asado de puerco con mole (pork roasted with mole, from Tehuantepec).

The owner and chief cook at La Teca is Sra. Deyanira Aquino, born and raised in the Isthmus.  Women of the region are called 'tecas'--from Tehuantepec--hence the name of the restaurant.

You are probably well aware of the mythical seven moles of Oaxaca, and although the state is best known for those, there are many other less-well-known but equally wonderful dishes available to visitors.  By all means go see Sra. Aquino at La Teca; you will be as thrilled by everything you eat as we were.  This is not fancy, high-end designer-plated food.  Your palate will be delighted by traditional Tehuantepec home-style cooking.  And oh my god, you might exclaim, did the three of you really eat all that?  We most assuredly did, every bite, and so will you.

Restaurant La Teca
Calle Violetas #200-A
Colonia Reforma
Oaxaca, Oaxaca
01.951.515.0563 (from within Mexico)

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