Mexico Cooks!

Mid-October in Michoacán :: Wildflowers and Fresh Produce at Pátzcuaro's Municipal Market

The area around Lake Pátzcuaro, in the state of Michoacán, bursts into wildflower bloom in late September, just as the rainy season is ending here.  The flowers are naturalized wild cosmos, known here as mirasoles ("look-at-the-sun").  Entire fields fill with swaths of these delicate flowers, turning our green countryside into a temporary sea of pink.  Behind the mirasoles is a milpa, a field of native Michoacán corn, beans, and squash.

These beautiful blossoms, selling now at the municipal market in Pátzcuaro, are called estrellas del campo (stars of the field).  From the tops of the flowers to the bottom of their thin, tender stems, they measure about two and a half feet long.  Each multi-petaled bloom measure about 1.5" in diameter.  I've lived in Michoacán for a long time, but this is the first year I've seen these for sale.  We took three large bunches as a gift to a friend--at 15 pesos the bunch.  The total for a big armful of beauty was the Mexican peso equivalent of about $2.25 USD.


Available throughout the year, the native Mexican nanche fruit is in full-blown season right now, piled high on stands around the perimeter of the Pátzcuaro municipal market and on numerous street corners all over the town.  Sold in clear plastic cups (as seen in the photo, courtesy of Healthline) or by the plastic bagful, the vendor will slather these 3/4" inch diameter fruits with jugo de limón (fresh-squeezed Key lime juice), a big sprinkle of salt, and as much highly spicy bottled salsa as your mouth can handle.  The biological name of the nanche is Byrsonima crassifolia.  The fruit is slightly sweet and mildly musty-flavored, a combination that most people love and that I regret to say is not a taste I enjoy at all.  Nanches are packed with nourishment, though--a half-cup of them will give you nearly 60% of your daily Vitamin C requirement, 41 calories, and only 9.5 grams of carbohydrates!  


These are jocotes (native Mexican plums), also in season now in central Mexico.  The fruit measures about two to three inches long; the flesh is either bright orange or deep red, and the flavor is marvelous.  Unfortunately the stone of this plum is almost as big as the entire fruit, and although you could eat it out of hand, the delicious jocote is most often made into an agua fresca (fresh fruit water) that is only available during the fruit's short season.  This little plum is replete with Vitamins A and C, phosphorous, iron, and calcium, and is said to work wonders with gum problems.


A bucket of freshly made agua fresca de jocote, with whole peeled plums floating on top.  It's my favorite agua fresca, and only available when these plums are in season: right now!


Who wants to take a guess at what each of the green herbs (and the vegetable) is?  The elotes (tender fresh Pátzcuaro red corn) at the bottom of the photo were part of a small daily harvest brought to sell on the outdoor periphery of Pátzcuaro's market.  Just to the left of the corn, at the bottom of the photo, are some mint branches that the same vendor brought for sale.  But above the mint?  Click on the photo to enlarge it and you'll be able to tell that these are home-grown spiny chayotes.  You are probably familiar with the paler green smooth-skinned chayotes (mirliton in Louisiana, pear squash in other English-speaking locations).  The chayote has an interesting growing habit: unlike most squash, which grows as a vine along the ground, the chayote is airborne--its vines grow on overhead trellises and remind me of grapevines; the small squash hangs down from the vines.  It's an extremely versatile vegetable, taking on the flavors of what you cook it with.  Be sure to eat the soft, tender, flat, white seed--it's considered to be the prize part and is as delicious as the chayote itself. 

To the right of the chayotes is a big bunch of wild anise, known in Pátzcuaro as anisillo.  Used to make the Pátzcuaro regional specialty atole de grano, this herb is tremendously flavorful.  In case you find some anisillo where you are, here's a recipe for atole de grano.  

Atole de Grano
(Fresh Anise-Flavored Corn Kernel Soup)

Ingredients
2 fresh ears of tender young corn
2 cups fresh corn, cut from the cob
1 bunch wild anisillo 
3 liters water
2 whole chiles perón (or substitute chiles poblano)
1/2 pound recently ground corn masa (dough)--ask at the tortillería near you
Salt to taste

Garnishes
1/2 medium white onion, minced
Chile serrano or chile perón, minced
Fresh Key limes, cut in half
Sea salt

Preparation
1.  Clean the ears of corn, remove the silk and cut off the ends.  Cut each ear into three pieces.

2.  Boil the corn on the cob AND the corn kernels in enough water, for an hour and a half or until the corn is tender.

3.  Cut the stem away from the chiles, take out the seeds and veins.  Cut the chiles into smallish pieces, ready to be whizzed in the blender.

4.  In the blender, liquify the chiles, the anisillo, and the masa with two cups of water.  Strain and add to the pot where the corn on the cob is cooking.

5.  Allow to boil gently for about 10 to 15 minutes, until the liquid is slightly thickened.

To serve
1.  Place sections of the cooked corn ears into bowls.

2.  Ladle soup and corn kernels into the bowls.

3.  Serve with the minced onion, minced chile to taste, sea salt, and Key lime halves to squeeze into the soup.  

Serves 2 people as a main dish, 3 as a first course.  This soup is both vegetarian and vegan, and gluten-free.


Atole de grano, made in a cazo (large copper kettle).


The vendor at this small booth at the Pátzcuaro market had an interesting variety of things for sale.  Bottom right are fresh guavas, just now coming into season.  To the left of the guavas are chiles perón (aka chiles manzano), arguably the most-used chile in this part of Michoacán.  Above the chiles perón are fresh, green chiles de árbol.  To the right are wild mushrooms known as patita de pájaro (little bird foot).  These mushrooms, growing wild in Michoacán's woods and foraged during the rainy season, make a wonderful mushroom soup.


These are home-grown loquats, known in Mexico as nísperos (NEE-speh-rohs).  Nísperos are local and are plentiful in markets right now.


Gelatin--this large cupful is called "mosaíco"--mosaic, because of its many colored cubes.  More gelatin is eaten in Mexico than in any other country of the world!  A cupful this size is usually an eat-while-you-walk snack food.  This one was made and sold from a tiny cart with no name, just to one side of the Pátzcuaro market.  The young woman selling the gelatins said her name was Yesi--I said her cart was now dubbed Gelatinas Yesi, and she laughed.


Just at the corner of the market, we bumped into don Rafael, who was selling--you guessed it--cotton candy.  Cotton candy HAS no season, it's always available here.  Get the blue, it will turn your lips and tongue blue as a blueberry, but just for a while.  

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Thalía Barrios García and La Cocina de Humo, Oaxaca :: A Do-Not-Miss in Oaxaca's Capital

Thalía Barrios García, chef and cocinera tradicional (traditional cook) and head of the kitchens at both of her restaurants: Levadura de Olla and La Cocina de Humo, both located in the Centro Historico of Oaxaca, Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico.  Thalía was born and raised in San Mateo Yucutindoó, a town of approximately 2500 inhabitants in the Sierra Sur of the state of Oaxaca.  The town is approximately 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the capital city of Oaxaca.  Photo courtesy UTVCO

Two months ago, I spent a week visiting many friends in the city of Oaxaca.  I was thrilled; I hadn't travelled anywhere since early 2019.  Pre-COVID, I was accustomed to travel to Oaxaca as many as six times a year, taking tour groups, attending culinary events, and generally taking my Michoacán-based, Oaxaca-related life for granted.  In March 2020, boom!  COVID's impact on Mexico--and everywhere else in the world--shut down tours, culinary events, and travel. This June, I was way beyond eager to see old friends, enjoy long comidas (comida is the afternoon main meal of the day in Mexico) with them, and have the time to visit Thalía Barrios García, the young Oaxaca culinary phenomenon, in one of her two restaurants.  She asked me to have desayuno (breakfast) with her at Cocina de Humo (the smoke kitchen) and I jumped at the chance.


La Cocina de Humo is an offshoot of her larger restaurant, Levadura de Olla (literally 'yeast for a clay pot'; in Thalía's native San Mateo Yucutindoó, bread is baked in clay pots).  At La Cocina de Humo, I was privileged to sit in the kitchen for breakfast, next to the comal (in this case, a flat handmade clay griddle seated above a wood fire).  The tiny restaurant space is specifically designed to be a copy of the home kitchens of Yucutindoó.  The photo above is the view from my seat; the comal is just to the left of the vegetables.  All photos by Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.

Thalía left her hometown when she was 18 years old, to attend culinary school.  Her parents were 100% behind her decision.  Thalía says, "My parents were always behind us kids, they wanted only the best for each of us and dreamed that we would be able to leave our town to achieve something in the wider world.  My parents said, "The only condition is that you do something chingona."  Loosely translated, that means 'badass', and in my opinion, Thalía's middle name should be chingona. 


My first course included café de olla (coffee with cinnamon and other spices, middle left), atole de plátano (a thick corn-based drink, in this case including banana, right), and pastel de elote (a delicious semi-sweet cake made with fresh, early-season corn).  At the back of the photo, the cup is made to resemble the pochote tree trunk--pochote, endemic to Oaxaca and Puebla, is known in English as kapok.


The trunk of a pochote tree.  I took the photo in the Biósfera Tehuacán-Cuicatlán, in the state of Puebla (just north of the Oaxaca state border).  You can easily see the resemblance the trunk, with its soft protuberances (they look like sharp thorns, but they're not), has to the cups used at La Cocina de Humo.  Every aspect of the pochote tree is sacred to the Maya--including to the contemporary Maya.  From its curative bark to its medicinal roots, from its profound shade to its life-giving energy, it is easy to understand why the handmade clay cups at La Cocina de Humo have the shape that they do.  


Caldo de ejote de milpa (broth with green beans from the milpa).  The wooden serving spoons for each of these dishes were large, and the handmade bowls themselves were small, thank goodness.  I'm pretty sure that Thalía sent me everything on the menu to taste!    


Calabacitas criollas (diced little squash, similar to zucchini) with jitomate riñón (kidney-shaped tomatoes particular to Oaxaca), seasoned with delicious spices.  All of the dishware at La Cocina de Humo is handmade clay, designed by Thalía and some women potters in San Mateo Yucutindoó.


Barbacoa de olla (pot-style barbacoa) made of pork, chicken, the leaf of avocado criollo, chile guajillo and chile ancho.

After finishing the equivalent to a bachelor's degree at the culinary school that is part of Oaxaca's Universidad Tecnológica de los Valles Centrales, Thalía worked in various restaurants until she realized that her strongest point was the traditional kitchen, and not just any traditional kitchen, but the dishes she originally learned from her grandmother, her mother, and her aunts. I first met Thalía several years ago, when she was cooking under the baton of my beloved friend Celia Florián, the cocinera tradicional who is head of the kitchen at Oaxaca's internationally renowned Restaurante Las 15 Letras.  In 2019, Thalía opened her first restaurant, Levadura de Olla. By 2021, she was considered to be the most outstanding participant in the awards of the 50 Best Restaurants of Latin America, given that year in the city of Oaxaca.  And since then, the reviews have been pure praise, pure delight, for her cooking, her restaurants' style, and her own chingona self since the beginning.


A newly made taco filled with house-style mole negro (black mole) and deliciously fried sweet plátano macho--super-ripe plantain.  This was course number three or four--nothing was large, nothing was overpowering, and every single taste of every single thing was marvelous.


Stove-side still life with jitomate riñón, at La Cocina de Humo.


On reflection, I think this was my favorite of the many separate platillos (prepared dishes) that I ate (at least some of) for breakfast.  This is simplicity itself: a freshly-made salsa de molcajete (a table salsa in which all the comal-roasted ingredients are ground together in a volcanic stone mortar, with a volcanic stone pestle).  While the salsa is hot from the roasting, raw eggs are scrambled into it.  The ingredients were that old cliché: much more than the sum of their parts. I'd have it again tomorrow, and the next day.  And oh joy, I've been invited back to Oaxaca this coming October.  Can you guess where I'll be having breakfast?


Don't miss the store (Tienda Piedra de Río) in the front of the building where La Cocina de Humo is located.  The pottery is the same as that used in the restaurant, those wonderful pochote cups are available there, and lots of other beautiful Oaxaca kitchen and household things are there as well.  

I recently read a quote that I love, dedicated to La Cocina de Humo.  I hope you'll love it too, and I hope you'll go to eat there as soon as you possibly can. 

"Si dios (el qué sea de su confianza) bajara al mundo de los mortales, sería para comer aquí."
"If god (whichever god you might trust) were to come from Heaven to this mortal world, it would be to eat here."
________________________________________

La Cocina de Humo
Calle Murguía 304
Near the corner of Calle Juárez
Centro Histórico
Oaxaca 68000
Oaxaca de Juárez
Tel: +52 951 169 8076
Hours: Monday through Saturday 9:00AM - 9:00PM
           Closed Sundays
           Reservation necessary

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Chiles en Nogada, Symbol of Mexico's Independence from Spain and in Season RIGHT NOW

 

It's that time of year again: time for chiles en nogada!  I was thrilled to eat the chile above at Restaurante La Conspiración de 1809 in Morelia, Michoacán--it was without question the best chile en nogada I've eaten, in my long history of eating as many as possible every season!

This year's freshly harvested and peeled nuez de castilla (walnuts), an essential for seasonal chiles en nogada.  The nut meats must be perfectly white, with no pieces of the papery brown peel left at all.  This step is the fiddley-est part of the recipe.  You can do it, it just takes patience.  If you have school-age children, get them to help you.

Mexico celebrates its independence the entire month of September with parades, parties, and traditional food and drink, served in restaurants and at home.  The traditional festive dish during the weeks just before and after the Independence Day holiday is chiles en nogada, a magnificent tribute to the seasonal availability of a certain kind of peach, a particular kind of pear (the pera lechera), the locally grown panochera apple, newly in-season granadas (pomegranates) and nuez de castilla (freshly harvested walnuts). From mid-July until early October, seasonal local fruits, fresh pomegranates, and newly harvested walnuts make chiles en nogada possible.  Mildly spicy chiles poblano, stuffed with a special kind of picadillo and topped with richly creamy walnut sauce and pomegranate seeds, flaunt the brilliant green, white and red of the Mexican flag. 


The panochera apple, grown in the Mexican state of Puebla, and pera lechera (milky pear), also grown in the area, are two must-have ingredients for making chiles en nogada in Mexico.  If you live outside central Mexico, a small crisp apple and a very crisp pear (Bosc or d'Anjou) would substitute.

This festive dish is traditionally served beginning in late July, right on through September 15 or 16 in honor of Mexico's Independence Day, and then as long as the seasonal ingredients hold out--usually ending in October. During August and September in the highlands of Mexico, particularly in Mexico City and Puebla, vendors wander through tianguis (street markets) and other markets, selling the clean, white meats of nuez de castilla (walnuts, grown in Mexico). It is important to use the freshest walnuts possible, as they produce such a creamy, rich sauce that it is worth the effort to buy them peeled or peel them oneself.  Yes, the recipe is time-consuming (not difficult, just takes time)...but you and your guests will jump up and shout "VIVA MÉXICO!" when they've licked the platters clean. 

Ingredients

For the meat:  

• 2 pounds beef brisket or other stew meat or 1 pound beef and 1 pound pork butt*
• 1 small white onion, quartered 
• 2 large cloves garlic 
• about 1 Tbsp sea salt
  *You can, if you are in a pinch for time, use equal quantities of coarsely ground beef and pork.  Brown them before adding other ingredients.

 For the picadillo (filling):  

• 4 Tbsp safflower or canola oil
• the shredded meat (or the ground meat)
• 1/3 cup chopped white onion
• 3 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• pinch pimienta gorda (allspice)
• 1 or 2 chiles serrano, finely minced
• 4 Tbsp chopped fresh walnuts 
• 4 Tbsp slivered blanched almonds
• 2 Tbsp finely diced crystalized pineapple (in place of acitrón, candied biznaga cactus).  See note below.
• 1 fresh pear, peeled and chopped.  I like to use very ripe, soft Bosc pears.
• 1 apple, peeled and chopped.  I prefer to use a sweet apple rather than a tart apple.
• 4 very ripe yellow peaches, peeled and diced
• 3 Tbsp Mexican pink pine nuts.  You can substitute white if you aren't able to find pink, but white pine nuts aren't sweet.
• 3 ripe Roma tomatoes, roasted, peeled and chopped
• sea salt to taste

Fully mature chiles poblano, picked fresh and sold on the street in Tehuacán, Puebla, very close to where the chiles are grown. 


Deep green chiles poblano are normally used for chiles en nogada.  These measure as much as seven inches long. If you click on the photo to make it larger, you can see that these chiles have deep, long grooves running down their sides. When I'm buying them, I choose chiles poblano that are as smooth and flat as possible on their broad flat sides.  The flat smoothness makes them easier to roast easily.  

For the chiles:

--6 fresh chiles poblanos, roasted, peeled, slit open, and seeds removed, leaving the stem intact   

 For the nogada (walnut sauce):  

• 1 cup freshly harvested nuez de castilla (walnuts), peeled of all brown membrane** 
• 6 ounces queso de cabra (goat cheese), queso doble crema or standard cream cheese (not fat free), at room temperature 
• 1-1/2 cups crema mexicana or 1-1/4 cups sour cream thinned with milk 
• about 1/2 tsp sea salt or to taste
• 1 Tbsp sugar   
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon 
• 1/4 cup dry sherry (optional)

**Please note that this recipe is correctly made with walnuts, not almonds and not pecans.  Using pecans will give your sauce a non-traditional flavor and a beige color, rather than pure white.

Remove the arils (seeds) from a pomegranate.  


We who live in Mexico are fortunate to find pomegranate seeds ready to use, sold in plastic cups.  Can you see them at the top of the photo, with the pink plastic spoons stuck into the cups?

For the garnish: 

--1 Tbsp coarse-chopped flat-leaf parsley
--1/2 cup fresh pomegranate seeds 

Preparation:

Cut the meat into large chunks, removing any excess fat. Place the meat into a large Dutch oven with the onion, garlic, and salt. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Skim off any foam that collects on the surface. Lower the heat and allow the water to simmer about 45 minutes, until the meat is just tender. Take the pot off the stove and let the meat cool in the broth. Remove the pieces of meat and finely shred them.  If you're using ground beef/pork, simply brown the ground meats in a big-enough pot, in a small amount of oil (see below).  


Candied biznaga (aka acitrón) cactus.  Because the biznaga cactus is on the endangered species list, it's recommended that we either leave this out of the chile en nogada filling entirely or that we substitute finely diced crystallized pineapple.  


Mexican pink pine nuts.  Their taste is sweeter than the standard white ones, and they leave no bitter aftertaste in your dish.  If you can't find these pink pine nuts, you can substitute the white ones.

Warm the oil in a large, heavy skillet and sauté the onion and garlic over medium heat until they turn a pale gold. Stir in the shredded or ground meats and cook, stirring, for five minutes. Add the cinnamon, pepper, and cloves, then, stir in the two tablespoons of chopped walnuts. Add the chopped pear, apple, pine nuts, and finely diced biznaga cactus, and mix well. Add the tomatoes and salt to taste, and continue cooking over medium-high heat until most of the moisture has evaporated. Stir often so that the mixture doesn't stick. Let cool, cover, and set aside. The picadillo may be made and refrigerated a day or two in advance of final preparations.

Roasted chiles poblano, ready to peel, seed, and stuff.  Photo courtesy Delicious Mexican Recipes.

Roast and peel the chiles and make a slit down the side of each chile, just long enough to remove the seeds and veins. Keep the stem end intact. Drain the chiles, cut side down, on paper towels until completely dry. Cover and set aside. The chiles may be prepared a day in advance. 

At least three hours in advance, put the walnuts in a small pan of water.  Bring the pot to a boil over high heat. Remove from the heat and let the nuts sit for five minutes. Drain the nuts and, when cool, rub off as much of the dark skin as possible.  Your goal is pure white nutmeats without peel.  Chop the nuts into small pieces. Place the nuts, cream cheese, crema, and salt in a blender and purée thoroughly. Stir in the sugar, cinnamon, and sherry until thoroughly combined. The sauce should be velvety smooth.  Chill for several hours. 

Preheat the oven to 250ºF. When ready to serve, reheat the meat filling and stuff the chiles until they are plump and just barely closed. Put the filled chiles, covered, to warm slightly in the oven.  When they are just barely warm, place the chiles (cut side down) on a serving platter or on individual plates, cover with the room temperature or chilled walnut sauce, and sprinkle with the chopped parsley and pomegranate seeds. 


Chile en nogada as served at Restaurante Azul Histórico, Mexico City.  It's the Mexican flag on your plate!  


Chile en nogada as served at Restaurante Las Quince Letras, Centro Histórico, Oaxaca.

This dish may be served at room temperature, or it may be served slightly chilled. It is rarely if ever served hot. 

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Dando la Vuelta en la Ciudad de México :: Roaming Around in Mexico City, Part Four

Roof at Casa Luis Barragán, Calle General Francisco Ramírez 12 and 14, Col. Daniel Garza, Distrito Federal.  If you are at all interested in modern Mexican architecture, this museum is a must-see.  Arquitecto Luis Barragán changed the face of Mexican building, pioneering in the use of forms and space as joining both utility and beauty.


Baby bok choy at the Mercado San Juan.  Each of these little bok choys is about six inches long, perfect for steaming.  Most of the most-used fresh Asian vegetables (long beans, bitter melon, snow peas, bok choy of two or three kinds, and more) are regularly available at this downtown Mexico City market. 


One of my favorite market stall signs: Bacon Shop "La Guadalupana", a Mercado de Jamaica pork butcher puesto (booth) that sells far more than bacon.  And the happy little pigs are mariachis.


Just around the corner from Mexico Cooks!' former Mexico City headquarters, this tree wears a multi-colored and textured knit jacket.


A wheelbarrow full of mamey (pouteria sapota), perfectly ripe, beautifully cut, creamy sweetness.  The mamey looks like a small fuzzy football and tastes like a baked sweet potato.  Sunday market, Tlacolula, Oaxaca.

Metates (the rectangular grinding stone) and their metlapiles (the rolling pin), used for grinding everything from chocolate to chiles, beans to edible bugs.  One doesn't use the same metate for everything; separate metates keep the flavors of each of your ingredients pure.  

Pink graffiti on a window.  The little sign reads, "Fresh paint".  Click on any image to make it bigger, for a better view.


Tomatoes for salsa, roasting directly on the red-hot embers.  Private home, Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca.  "Sí, siempre los asamos así.  Agarran más sabor." ('Yes, we always roast them this way.  They take on more flavor.')

Tortillas freshly toasted on the comal (griddle).  These tortillas, prepared in Puebla by traditional cooks from Querétaro, bear a "Q" stamp indicating their place of origin.  In long-ago years, tortillas were often stamped with similar carved wooden stamps.  The stamps were carved with pictures or letters that identified the owners.  The dye, based on the wild plant called muictle, is steeped in water to bring out the color used to stamp tortillas.


Fresh morel mushrooms, Mercado de San Juan, Mexico City.  Morels are available at this market fresh during the rainy season, and dried all year long.


A pre-Hispanic waterspout in the shape of a monkey's head.  Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City.

Jícaras (hand-carved or painted drinking cups from the tecomate tree), Mercado Benito Juárez, Oaxaca.


Misitu, the Purépecha word for cat.  Mural detail, Santa Fe de la Laguna, Michoacán.

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Dando la Vuelta en la Ciudad de México :: Roaming around in Mexico City, Part One

Mexico's summer always gives us an abundance of flor de calabaza (squash flowers) to be used in the kitchen. Prepared as sopa de guias (squash vine soup), quesadillas, or stuffed with cheese, these flowers are delicious and are readily available in many Mexican markets.  Did you know that only the male flowers are harvested?  The female flowers are left to develop squash.  

You might like to try this Mexico Cooks! recipe in your own kitchen.

Flor de Calabaza Estilo Cristina 
Squash Flowers, Cristina's Style

Ingredients

2 large bunches flor de calabaza, washed and patted dry
1 medium white onion
4 chiles poblano
1 chile serrano
2 large russet or other large white potatoes
Flour
Sea salt to taste
Vegetable oil, freshly rendered pork lard, or half vegetable oil, half bacon grease for frying.

Procedure

Peel and dice potatoes into 1/2" cubes.  Boil until just fork-tender.  Drain, allow to dry, and reserve.

Roast chiles according to your preferred method until the skin is blistered and they are well-blackened.  Sweat for 10 minutes in a closed plastic bag.  Remove skin.  Slice each chile lengthwise to remove seeds.  Dice peppers in 1/2” squares. 

Rough-chop flor de calabaza into 1 1/2" pieces.

Dice onion into 1/2" squares.

Mince chile serrano.

In a large sauté pan, heat the vegetable oil until it shimmers.  While the oil is heating, shake the reserved potatoes in flour and salt in a plastic bag. 

Sauté onions and chile serrano in oil or oil/bacon grease mixture.  Add the floured potatoes and sauté until crisp and pale golden, adding more fat if needed.  Add the diced chiles poblano and continue to sauté for about 1 minute.

Add the flor de calabaza and sauté just until tender. 

Add sea salt to taste.

Serves 2-3 as a side dish.


Late in the spring, we were invited to attend the opening of El Rebozo: Made in Mexico at Mexico City's extraordinary Museo Franz Mayer. The exhibition, which was originally mounted in London, featured both old and new rebozos (long rectangular shawls) as well as some other typical Mexican garments. One of the many rebozos in the exhibit was an exquisitely embroidered shawl from Oaxaca. This is a detail of that Oaxacan rebozo.


This photograph of Evita Perón, wife of Argentina's Juan Domingo Perón during his first term as president of that country, was part of an exhibit at Mexico City's Museum of Modern Art (MAM) during the spring and summer.  The photograph formed part of an exhibition of the works of Giselle Freund, a self-taught photographer who worked in Argentina and Mexico in the 1940s and 1950s.


This tiny ironwood mortar and pestle (the mortar is only about 2" high) comes from the state of Sonora, in northern Mexico.  It is made specifically for use at the table, for an individual diner to grind one or two chiles chiltepín, which are highly spicy and famously used to season certain dishes from the cuisine of that state.  The grinder is passed from person to person at the table, along with a dish of whole chile chiltepín.


Chile chiltepín from Sonora.  Each chile is tiny but extremely picante. Photo courtesy Hunter Angler Gardener Cook.

Beautiful ceremonial tortillas from the state of Guanajuato.  The tortillas are made in the usual way and are then stamped prior to baking with a wooden stamp dipped in vegetable dye.  Mexico Cooks! was privileged to see these twice in one summer, first at an event at the Escuela de Gastronomía Mexicana in Mexico City and again at the Primer Encuentro Nacional de Cocineras Tradicionales (First National Meeting of Traditional Cooks) in Morelia, Michoacán.


This is the tamarillo or tomate del árbol (tree tomato), a native of the South American Andes.  Each fruit is approximately 2.5" long.  The flesh is fairly firm and deeply flavorful, both sweet and earthy.  You never know what you'll see when you take a Mexico Cooks! tour--our group found these delicious fruits at a downtown Mexico City market.

Come back next week for more summertime wanderings with Mexico Cooks!. Our summer was far too interesting for just one article!

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Strawberry Season in Central Mexico :: When? All Year!

Piled high in every town's market, locally grown strawberries sell all year 'round in parts of Michoacán, Guanajuato, and Jalisco.  Mexico Cooks! photographed these at a daily outdoor market in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán.

Right about now, fresh produce bounty from South of the Border is available on your supermarket shelves. Fresh red strawberries, grown from Zamora, Michoacán to Irapuato, Guanajuato, will give you the sweet taste of Mexico's sun and warmth. Fresh raspberries grow near the shores of Lake Chapala, while big-as-the-end-of-your-thumb, sweet, delicious blackberries grow locally in Mexico Cooks!' region of Michoacán.  Big beautiful and delicious blueberries are also grown prolifically in both Jalisco and Michoacán.

When you go to your local super market, take a closer look at those clear plastic containers (known in the trade as clamshells) full of red raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries. In the small print on the Driscoll label it says "Product of Mexico". When I still lived in the States, I read that label and imagined a gleaming white-tile packing factory. In my mind's eye, I saw employees in starched laboratory jackets, nurse-like white caps and latex gloves, packing strawberries as the jewel-red fruit came flying down an assembly line. It was a fantasy worthy of Lucy and Ethel at the chocolate factory, in that famous episode of I Love Lucy.

The first time I visited a nearby raspberry "packing factory", I had to laugh at my own earlier ideas. This packing operation was perfectly simple. Several clean-cut young men with bandannas wrapped around their heads roamed up and down the rows between lush raspberry canes. They hand-picked only the reddest, ripest raspberries and gently placed them into small plastic buckets, the kind five-year-olds use at the beach.

Two young women dressed in blue jeans and caps stood at a long folding table (the kind you'd find at a swap meet) and packed those perfectly ripe raspberries into flat after flat of Driscoll clamshells. They packed the plastic boxes into case after case for shipping and then rapidly started packing more.

Within 24 hours of picking, those berries are in the United States, either in Miami or Los Angeles. A day later, they are shipped out to stores across the United States. In addition, red raspberries from the shores of Lake Chapala are shipped not only to the United States but also to Canada, to England, to all parts of Europe, and to Japan.

The half pint boxes sell for about $4.99 the box in grocery stores north of the Mexican border.  Here in Mexico, you don't want to know what I pay.  Just remember that I live where all of these berries are grown and we can buy them without a middleman or transportation costs.

Remember that raspberries are the most delicate fruits in the vast berry family. Treat them with the softest touch, just like handling like a newborn baby. Rinse them gently (never allowing them to soak) just before you serve them.

In case any of you might have health concerns about Mexican-grown produce, here's what the Driscoll people themselves say about the safety of their raspberries and strawberries:

"Driscoll's farmers have been leaders in the practice of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) which relies on a balanced method of natural and inorganic means to reduce disease and control pests in the field. To insure that Driscoll's fruit is the safest possible, Driscoll's employs a company which conducts third-party independent residue testing of fruit in every Driscoll cooler and facility every week."

These fields in the state of Jalisco are Mexican owned and leased to Driscoll solely for growing raspberries and strawberries. The raspberry crop is rotated annually and the packing operation is moved each year to the fields most convenient to the highway.  The plastic protects the raspberries from too much sun, too much rain, and too much wind.

Far-flung fields of Driscoll's other delicious crop—strawberries--are grown from Zamora and Morelia, Michoacán, and as far east as Maravatio, Michoacán--several other towns in Michoacán.  Two out of every three strawberries grown in Mexico come from Michoacán, and that's a LOT--about 340 thousand tons per year!  Red jewels lie close to the ground, nestled in dark green leaves. The strawberries are ripe and luscious this time of year, ready to be hand picked, packed, chilled, and shipped to all parts of the world. You'll find them, packaged in clear plastic one-pound boxes so you can see exactly what you're choosing, in the produce section of your favorite hometown supermarket. North of the border, the boxes sell for about $2.50 US in season.  Here in Mexico, we're paying closer to the peso equivalent of $2.00 US per kilo (2.2 pounds).

Strawberry stands dot the roads leading into and out of Irapuato, Guanajuato.  The stands offer tall wicker baskets filled with sweet, delicious fresh berries as well as frozen strawberries with cream, just ready to dig in.

These are not those huge strawberries grown more for looks than for flavor. Is there anything more disappointing than biting into a beautiful berry and finding it white in the middle, dry, hard and tasteless? These berries are mid-size and grown for their sweet taste—the best possible flavor—as well as beauty. Ripened more fully prior to picking than those grown elsewhere, these local strawberries are simply perfect.


Wow, a tower of locally grown strawberries!  These are from the area around Irapuato.

Always refrigerate berries immediately—move them from your shopping bag directly to the refrigerator.  Refrigerator temperatures between 34 and 38 degrees F are best, but be sure not to freeze them! Fresh berries are very sensitive to freeze damage. Do remember this general rule: for every hour your berries are away from refrigeration, you'll lose a whole day's shelf life.

If you want to freeze red raspberries, spread them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet with sides and place the uncovered cookie sheet in the freezer. After the raspberries are well frozen, shake them gently into a zip-lock bag and immediately put them back in the freezer. Your raspberries, whole and beautiful, will be ready for immediate use when you need them.

Do not wash your berries until you are ready to prepare and eat them. Moisture will hasten decay of these fragile berries, so keep them dry as well as cold until the last moment.

Shelf life varies between berries; however, under ideal conditions, strawberries should keep for about two to five days in your refrigerator and raspberries should keep for between one and three days. For best results, consume your berries as soon after purchase as possible.

If you buy either raspberries or strawberries in plastic clamshells, use the berries and save a clamshell or two for times when you want to store the berries in your refrigerator. farm to protect the berries on the trip home. 

Here is an interesting statistic about strawberries: Canada imports all of its fresh strawberries from either the United States or from Mexico. The United States is the major importer of Mexican fresh strawberries. Under NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement), duty is no longer charged on strawberry exports to either the USA or Canada.

Are you drooling yet? Let's look at two more wonderful recipes for raspberry and strawberry treats.

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake
For the ultimate in red raspberry decadence, try this cheesecake.

18 vanilla wafer cookies
1 cup macadamia nuts, toasted
4 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted
4 ounces white chocolate, chopped
16 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 large eggs
3/4 cup fresh raspberries
8 ounces sour cream
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Crust:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Finely grind cookies and macadamias in food processor. Add butter and blend until mixture forms very moist crumbs. Press crumbs firmly onto bottom and part of sides of an eight inch spring-form pan. Bake until golden (10 minutes).

Filling:
Melt white chocolate in microwave, (about 1 1/2 minutes), stopping every 30 seconds to stir and to make sure it doesn't burn. Set aside. In a large bowl, use your electric mixer to beat cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon juice until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition, just until combined. Beat in white chocolate.

Spoon half the batter into the crust. Top with berries. Top with remaining batter. Bake for about 45 minutes or until cake is set around the edges, but center jiggles slightly.

Let cool for about 20 minutes before adding the topping.

Topping:
In a medium bowl, whisk sour cream, sugar, and vanilla. Spoon over cake, spreading the topping to the edge of the pan. Bake five minutes. Allow cake to cool and then refrigerate overnight. Serve plain or garnish with more berries.

Try the following recipe when you want to serve an unusual fruit treat for a Sunday brunch with friends. You and your guests will love the refreshing berries in a very unusual dressing.  Let me know how you like it!

Ginger Strawberries Estilo Mexico Cooks!
This recipe is served cold, and with its hint of spicy ginger it always makes a hit.

2 pounds fresh ripe strawberries
1 orange
2 tablespoons pickled ginger, drained
1 cup unflavored yoghurt
2 tablespoons orange marmalade
2 tablespoons sugar or 2 packets artificial sweetener
1/4 teaspoon salt

Remove green caps from strawberries and wash gently. Pat dry in a large terry cloth towel. Cut the strawberries in half and place in a large mixing bowl.

With a vegetable peeler or zester, cut thin strips of orange peel (orange part only). Cut the orange peel strips into tiny matchstick-size strips, no longer than 1" and no wider than 1/16".

Cut the pickled ginger to the same size as the orange strips. Mix the ginger and the orange strips together.

Add the ginger and orange strips mixture, orange marmalade, sugar (or artificial sweetener) and salt to the yogurt. Stir until well-mixed.

Pour yoghurt mixture over strawberries and stir gently to coat all the strawberries.

Refrigerate until well chilled. Serves 6 - 8 as a side dish.

Remember the taste of a strawberry this red--red all the way through?  I was in a produce market and had already taken a bite of this one when I thought, take its picture!  The world wants to see a real strawberry, right now in 2022!

Buen provecho!    

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Purépecha Food Fair in Uruapan, Michoacán :: Una Muestra de Gastronomía Purépecha en Uruapan, Michoacán

The Purépecha woman in the foreground pats out tortillas while her companion sorts through a plate of golden, freshly cut flor de calabaza (squash blossoms).

The first two mornings of the huge annual Tianguis de Artesanías de Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday artisans' crafts fair) in Michoacán begin with a food fair: la Muestra de Gastronomía.   Fifteen or so outdoor kitchens, set up around a charming plaza just a block from the crafts booths, offer cooking demonstrations and inexpensive meals of representative Purépecha dishes.  The food, strictly traditional home cooking and rarely seen outside a Purépecha home kitchen, is, in a word, heavenly.  The Mexico Cooks! group that I introduced to this 2-day food festival trooped into the food fair just in time for Saturday breakfast.  The crowd could have known who we were by the way our mouths were watering with anticipation.  This event starts TODAY, April 9, 2022, in Uruapan.

Corn is the basis for the indigenous Mexican kitchen, and the tortilla is the basis of its meals.  On the table in front of this woman, you can see the metate (three-legged rectangular volcanic stone grinding stone) and the metlapil (similar to a rolling pin) resting on it, along with the prepared masa from which tortillas are made.  Both the metate and the metlapil are hand-carved from volcanic rock.

To the left of the table is the clay comal (a kind of griddle) that in this instance rests loosely on top of a metal drum inside which the wood cook fire is built.  Prior to use, the comal is cured by rubbing it with cal (builders' lime).  The cal serves two purposes: it gives the comal a non-stick surface and it adds nutrients to the masa as it toasts.

In the past, all of Mexico's women prepared dried corn for masa by soaking and simmering it in a solution of water and cal.  The name of the prepared corn is nixtamal.  Once it's processed, it's ready to be ground into masa for tortillas, tamales, and other corn-dough preparations.  Some rural women still grind nixtamal-ized corn by hand using the metate and metlapil.  Some take the prepared corn to their neighborhood tortillería (tortilla vendor's shop) for grinding, and some prepare their masa using commercial dried corn flour.  In urban areas, the majority of Mexican families buy tortillas hot off the tortilla baker at the tortillería and carry them home, wrapped in a special towel, just in time for a meal.

This woman prepares her stove, made of part of a metal drum with an opening cut away for firewood.  She's spreading a paste made of wood ash and cal on and around the top of the the drum to hold the comal in place.  The white streaks on the red clay comal are cal.  The volcanic rock metate and metlapil are on the bench in the background.  Her well-used clay cooking pots are visible to your left in the photo.

This joyous woman is patting out blue corn tortillas.  The masa and metlapil are on the metate in front of her.  She's toasting the tortillas and roasting tomatoes and chiles on her clay comal.  The comal is set into a clay stove fired by wood.  The haze that you see is woodsmoke.

The Purépecha kitchen repertoire includes numerous atápakuas (literally, a type of thick, soup-like salsa served plentifully over prepared food).  The Purépecha word atápakua has meaning deeper than its simple definition.  Its connotation is food that is picante (spicy), nutritious, and life-sustaining in a spiritual sense.  Mexican culinary historians agree that the preparation of atápakuas dates from as long as 400 years before the Spanish Conquest, around 1100 AD, when the Purépecha were strong rulers in the area of Mexico that is now Michoacán. 

An atápakua is made from the ingredients that are easily found in the region.  The specialty of one tiny village of the meseta purépecha is atápakua del talpanal (wasp larvae).  Another town's specialty is xururi atápakua, the principal ingredient of which is cotton seeds.  More commonly, indigenous cooks prepare their atápakuas of seasonal and readily available vegetables along with a bit of meat, poultry, or fish.

We of Mexico Cooks! didn't eat wasp larvae or cotton seeds.  We inhaled bowls of atápakua de flor de calabaza (thick, soupy salsa served over squash flowers, fresh corn kernels, and chunks of corundas de ceniza (unfilled tamales made with freshly ground masa and wood ash).

In the closeup of the atápakua you can clearly see the corn kernels (closest to the bowl of the spoon), small pieces of calabacita (similar to zucchini), orange squash flowers, and a piece of corunda made of white corn masa.   For flavor and color, chiles serrano and cilantro are blended into the cooking liquid.  The thin, soupy salsa is then thickened by blending a small ball of masa into the hot liquid.  This atápakua is deliciously spicy and tastes as fresh as the garden.  I finished my portion and wanted another bowl.

 
Photo by Steve Sando, www.ranchogordo.com

Churipo, shown above, is one of my favorite Purépecha specialties.  Churipo is a hearty soup, the delicious broth flavored by long cooking with beef, cabbage, calabacitas, xoconostle (the sour fruit of a specific nopal cactus), onion, chile, and other ingredients.  Served with a squeeze of limón (Mexican lime), a sprinkle of coarse sea salt, tortillas hot off the comal and corundas de ceniza broken up in the bowl, it's a wonderful meal in one dish.  If your palate will take the heat, eat some raw chiles serrano along with your bowl of churipo.  Remember that the tip of any chile is less picante than the stem end, where most of the seeds are.

Late in the afternoon, after we'd investigated as many of the crafts booths as we could, we were all in need of something very light and fresh for our comida (middday meal).  We ordered a fruit plate and a plate of guacamole with totopos (triangular fried tortilla chips) at a local restaurant.

For dessert we found a traditional dulce: limones, with the pulp scraped away, candied and stuffed with cocada (coconut candy).  They're so sweet that half of one of these is plenty!

This was such a sweet finish to a fascinating day in Michoacán.  If you'd like to travel to this event in 2022, be sure to email Mexico Cooks! in time to save your place on a fabulous food tour.

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Fresh Blackberries Grown in Michoacán :: Rica Zarzamora Producto de Michoacán

Here's another wonderful dessert for a Lenten Friday: American-style blackberry cobbler, made with super-delicious blackberries grown in Michoacán, Mexico.  When you're shopping, look at a 'clamshell' of blackberries.  Most blackberries that you buy today in the USA and Canada are exported from fields almost in Mexico Cooks!' back yard!

Blackberries are one of the staples of the Mexico Cooks! kitchen.  In season nearly year-round, Mexico's blackberries are primarily grown in the state of Michoacán.  This bowlful of delicious blackberries is being crushed with Splenda® and a pinch of salt to add to breakfast yoghurt. 

In 1994, the commercially cultivated blackberry first arrived in the area around Los Reyes, Michoacán.  High in the mountains, Los Reyes offered a perfect climate for the Brazos variety of erect blackberries.  The original commercial growers planted only three hectáreas (about 6 acres) of berries.  

Developed at Texas A&M University and introduced in 1959, 'Brazos' has been the Texas standard for years and is still a great variety. The berries are large and the plants produce heavily.  In Michoacán, this variety starts ripening early in May.  The berries are a little acid and are better for cooking and canning than fresh eating. This variety has more thorny plants and larger seeded fruit than many of the improved varieties.  In fact, the blackberries offered in Mexico's markets are huge, about an inch long by half an inch in diameter--as big as the ball of my thumb.


Brazos blackberries 'on the hoof'.

Since those 1994 beginnings, local growers have learned a tremendous amount about the cultivation of blackberries.  Today, the fruit fields cover more than 4,500 hectáreas in the area of Los Reyes, Tocumbo, and Peribán--almost all in the west-central highlands of Michoacán.  The 2009 production reached a weight of 30,000 tons of blackberries--tons!  Ninety percent of those were exported to the United States, the primary foreign market.  The rest went to Europe and Japan.  This quantity of blackberries represents 95% of those grown in Michoacán and 90% of those grown anywhere in Mexico.  This rinconcito (tiny corner) of Mexico produces more blackberries than anywhere else in the world.


Shortly before Christmas, Mexico Cooks! was unable to find unsweetened, unflavored yoghurt in our neighborhood shops--and there was a liter of blackberries in the refrigerator that needed to be eaten immediately.  They had been destined for breakfast, but one morning se me prendió el foco (the light bulb went on in my brain) and I thought: COBBLER!  In the bowl is the entire liter of berries, mixed with sugar, the juice and some grated zest of a limón (key lime), and a bit of cornstarch.

Blackberry cobbler, as you might have guessed, is not in the Mexican food repertoire.  However, when all of the ingredients are grown or made in Mexico, maybe it should be.  In the photo are salt, baking powder, an egg, two limones, standard-grade sugar, milk, and freshly rendered pork lard.  During Lent, I make the topping with butter.

Pre-heat the oven to 425ºF and butter a glass baking dish.

Scoop the blackberry mixture into the pan and gently even it out.

Measure the shortening (you can use solid vegetable shortening or butter if you prefer not to use lard).  I always use the displacement method to measure solid shortening: for this 1/4 cup of lard, I started with 1 3/4 cups of cold water in this clear measuring cup.  I added lard until the water rose to the two-cup level, then emptied out the water.  Bingo, 1/4 cup of lard and no mess.

The flour mixture that will become the dough for topping the cobbler.  You see the lard on top of the flour mixture, ready to be worked into it.

The flour mixture should look like this when you finish working the lard into it.

Break an egg into the milk and beat with a fork till blended.

The cobbler, topped with raw dough and ready for the oven.  Sprinkle the raw dough with sugar to give it a finished look after baking.  The cornstarch that I mixed with the raw blackberries and sugar thickens the juices as the cobbler bakes.

Bake the cobbler for about half an hour, or until the dough is light golden brown.  Your house will smell heavenly!

Here's the entire recipe:

Blackberry Cobbler
Ingredients
4-6 cups fresh blackberries
3/4 cup sugar, divided use
1 Tbsp lemon juice
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 Tbsp cornstarch

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 cup shortening--I usually use lard, but for Lent I use butter
4 Tbsp butter
1 whole egg
1/2 cup milk

Preparation
Preheat your oven to 425ºF.

Butter the glass baking dish.  Mix blackberries, 1/2 cup sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a large mixing bowl.  Reserve.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking powder, and 1 or 2 Tbsp sugar.  Add the shortening and butter and work them into the flour with your fingers, until the mixture looks like coarse corn meal. 

Measure 1/2 cup milk into a large measuring cup; break the egg into the milk.  Beat with a fork until well blended.  Pour the milk/egg mixture into the flour/shortening mixture and stir until smooth.  The dough should not be sticky; if you need to add more flour, start with just an additional tablespoon.  When the dough is smooth but still quite damp, it's ready.

Pour the blackberry mixture into the glass baking dish and gently even out the berries with your fingers.  Put large spoonfuls of dough all over the berries, leaving some small spaces on top for the juice to bubble through.  Flatten the dough a little--use your fingers, and don't worry about how it looks.  Sprinkle the top of the dough with a tablespoon or two of sugar.

Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes.  A serving of your cobbler, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, will look like this--truly a thing of beauty.

The finished product: blackberry cobbler, hot out of the oven and topped with rich real-cream vanilla ice cream.  The red in the background is a countertop trastero (dish shelf), meant to be used for storing small kitchen items.  Mine is filled with miniature kitchen-related local artesanías (crafts).

What could be better on a chilly winter evening--a taste of Mexican blackberries, from a recipe straight out of your grandmother's kitchen! 

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Chile Poblano Strips with Onion, Corn Kernels, and Cream, A Classic of the Mexican Kitchen :: Rajas de Chile Poblano

Delicious and eaten at any time of the year, rajas de chile poblano con crema, cebolla, y elote (strips of poblano chile with cream, onion, and young tender corn) is the perfect dish for a Lenten Friday!

The mild-to-not-so-mild chile poblano is one of the most commonly used fresh chiles in Mexico's kitchen.  A very large, fleshy chile, it can measure as much as seven or eight inches long.  The stem end is much wider than the point, and the color ranges from dark green to almost black-green. Shopping tip: if you buy chiles poblano that are flat on all sides, they will roast more quickly than if they are deeply creased in spots.  The flat sides will evenly touch the roasting surface.

The chile poblano is commonly used for preparing main dishes such as chiles rellenos, including the seasonal and festive chiles en nogada.  It is also used for making rajas de chile poblano con crema (strips of chile poblano with cream), a marvelously flavorful vegetable side dish.  All photos by Mexico Cooks! unless otherwise noted.


Chiles poblano roasted with skin removed, showing the interior of the opened chile (left) and the exterior (right).  These are two of the four chiles I used to prepare this dish. To prepare chiles poblanos for use in any recipe, wash and roast them.  Don't try to use them with the peel on; the peels will be as tough as trying to chew through plastic.  Mexico Cooks! uses a cast iron comal (griddle) placed over a high flame to roast as many as four to six chiles at a time.  Other cooks prefer to roast these chiles one or two at a time over an open flame, or on a broiler pan in a slightly open oven. No matter which roasting method you use, the roasted chiles should look like the ones in the above photo.

Once the chiles are roasted, put them in a plastic bag, twist it shut, and allow the chiles to 'sweat' for 10 to 15 minutes.  You'll easily be able to remove the blackened peels.  It's best not to rinse them--or rinse them only a little--as rinsing removes a good bit of the delicious chile poblano flavor.  


The slit-open chiles with the seeds still inside.  At the foreground of the photo, you can see that I removed the stem with the bulk of the seeds.  Simply cut around the stem and pull it and the seeds out of the chile.


Two of the chiles still on the cutting board, with one of my 60+-year-old Sabatier carbon steel knives.  


All four chiles, seeded and cut into rajas (strips about 3" long and less than 1/2" wide).


Half of a large white onion, thinly sliced and ready to sauté. The ingredients include half a white onion, sliced very thin, and about half a cup of fresh (or canned) white or yellow corn kernels.


Sauté the onions in oil first, until they are soft and translucent.  Then add the rajas and continue to sauté until they are soft, but still have a bit of crispness.


Add the corn and continue to sauté briefly.


Add Mexican crema de mesa (table cream, not sour cream) if you can find it.  Crema Aguascalientes is the one I prefer to use.  If Mexican table cream isn't available, use sour cream instead. 


Salt to taste and let the cream and vegetables simmer briefly. The cream will become a thick sauce for the vegetables.  The chile poblano is generally quite mild and flavorful, but once in a while you will come across one that is surprisingly spicy.  There's no way to tell by looking at them whether they are mild or hot, and either way they're delicious and not overly 'hot'.

The recipe as you see it written here, using four large chiles, will serve 3 to 4 people as a side dish.  It's excellent served hot or at room temperature.  I've never met anyone who doesn't love rajas de chile poblano served this way!

Provecho! (Good eating!)

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More Marvelous Meatless Meals for Lent!

Atole de grano, a Michoacán specialty made of tender young corn and wild, licorice-scented anisillo, is a perfect cena (supper) for Lenten Fridays.


Tortitas de papa (potato croquettes, left) and frijoles negros (black beans, right) from the state of Chiapas in far-southern Mexico are ideal for a Lenten meal.

Roman Catholic Mexicans observe la Cuaresma (Lent), the 40-day (excluding Sundays) penitential season that precedes Easter, with special prayers, vigils, and with extraordinary meatless meals cooked only on Ash Wednesday and during all Lenten Fridays.  Many Mexican dishes--seafood, vegetable, and egg--are normally prepared without meat, but some other meatless dishes are particular to Lent. Known as comida cuaresmeña, many of these delicious Lenten foods are little-known outside Mexico and some other parts of Latin America.

Many observant Catholics believe that the personal reflection and meditation demanded by Lenten practices are more fruitful if the individual refrains from heavy food indulgence and makes a promise to abstain from other common habits such as eating candy, smoking cigarettes, and drinking alcohol.  

Lent began this year on February 18, Ash Wednesday.  Shortly before, certain food specialties began to appear in local markets. Vendors are currently offering very large dried shrimp for caldos (broths) and tortitas (croquettes), perfect heads of cauliflower for tortitas de coliflor (cauliflower croquettes), seasonal romeritos, and thick, dried slices of bolillo (small loaves of white bread) for capirotada (a kind of bread pudding). 

This common Lenten preparation is romeritos en mole.  Romeritos, a slightly acidic green vegetable, is in season at this time of year.  Although it looks a little like rosemary, it has the texture of a succulent and its taste is relatively sour, more like verdolagas (purslane).


Beautiful fresh romeritos at a market in Morelia, Michoacán.

You'll usually see tortitas de camarón (dried shrimp croquettes) paired for a Friday comida (midday meal) with romeritos en mole, although they are sometimes bathed in a caldillo de jitomate (tomato broth) and served with grilled and sliced nopalitos (cactus paddles).


During Lent, the price of fish and seafood in Mexico goes through the roof due to the huge seasonal demand for meatless meals.  These beautiful huachinango (red snapper) come from Mexico's Pacific coast.


Caldo de habas secas (dry fava bean soup), delicious and thick even though meatless, warms you up from the inside as if your days are still frigid at the beginning of Lent.  Easter Sunday marks the end of Lent; this year, Easter falls on Sunday, April 17.


Uchepos (fresh corn tamales) and other ingredients used to make chiles rellenos de uchepos, a meat-free dish typically from Michoacán.  Split open roasted, seeded, and peeled chiles poblanos.  Then remove the green (not dried) corn husks from the uchepos and break them into medium-size pieces to stuff the chiles.


The completed chiles poblanos rellenos de uchepos.  These are often bathed in a creamy white sauce just prior to serving.  

Chef Martín Rafael Mendizabal of La Trucha Alegre in Zitacuaro, Michoacán, prepared trucha deshuesada con agridulce de guayaba (boned trout with guava sweet and sour sauce) for the V Encuentro de Cocina Tradicional de Michoacán held in Morelia in December 2008.  The dish would be ideal for an elegant Lenten dinner.


Caldo de fideos--angel hair pasta cooked in a thin tomato broth.  This delicious soup is a wonderful first course to a Lenten comida.


Classic chiles rellenos can be stuffed with shrimp, cheese, tuna fish, mashed potatoes, or anything meatless that sounds good to you.  Served with black beans and a thin caldillo (tomato broth), these are simple to prepare and truly delicious.

Last week's Mexico Cooks! was all about capirotada--a classic dessert here in Mexico during Lent.  Look back at Mexico Cooks! for March 12, 2022 and prepare this dessert for your family and friends.  Everyone will be delighted.

Try very hard not to eat the entire cazuela of capirotada at one sitting!

A positive thought for this Lenten season--and God knows we need a positive thought right now: give up discouragement, be an optimist.

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