97 recipes down, 58 to go aka Susie’s MK Project travels to Texas!

This was one of my most favorite project experiences!!  John and I used to live in Austin when I was in graduate school (French Linguistics) and neither of us had been back since I defended my dissertation seven years ago.  It was in Texas that I first learned to like spice, being exposed to both great Tex-Mex food and also authentic Mexican food.  It was after enjoying the great food at Fonda San Miguel (if in Austin, I highly recommend their Sunday brunch) that I decided to purchase Mexican Kitchen for John for his birthday back in 1997.  One of the other great things about living in Austin for us was a group of wonderful friends (who were also all really good cooks) with whom we had formed a supper club.  There were four couples and we would meet once a month and each contribute a dish for a themed menu.  We did all sorts of things: French, Italian, Scandinavian, Mexican, Alsatian, Indian to name a few.

So for a great variety of reasons I was really looking forward to our vacation in Texas, but at the top of the list was cooking a Rick Bayless meal with my supper club friends (minus Linda and Noel who, sadly for us, couldn’t make it in from the Netherlands).

For the menu we decided on a casual Mexican brunch which would include two kinds of seviche and huevos Motuleños.  We were staying at the house of our friends, Stephanie and Greg, and together with John and myself, we did the bulk of the Mexican cooking.  Our friends Melissa and Joe came with beans for the huevos as well a fabulous (though not Mexican) dessert of mango fool with blackberries.

First up was Classic Seviche Tostadas (SOS4).  Now seviche is something that I’ve never made at home but I can assure you that I will be making it in the future.  The classic rendition was so easy and so very tasty!  It calls for very fresh fish (in our case tuna) to be diced and marinated in fresh-squeezed lime juice.  This is then drained and mixed with Essential Chopped Tomato-Serrano Salsa as well as a little olive oil, salt and sugar, and of course, a diced avocado, and served atop tortilla chips.  All agreed that it was fabulous!   Like many Bayless dishes it was light and fresh tasting with nice spice and texture.

Melissa about to enjoy her Classic Seviche Tostadas!

We also made Shrimp Seviche with Roasted Cactus (SOS6).  This recipe would mark my second experience with nopales or cactus paddles.  First, let me say, we were in Texas, so my friends, who did the shopping in advance of our arrival didn’t have to worry about whether or not their grocery store carried nopales, they simply snipped some off of a cactus plant in their neighbors back yard!  Secondly, if you will recall, when I used nopales the last time, in Guajillo-Sauced Shrimp with Quick-Fried Cactus, back in August (wow, has it really been that long ago!), I was turned off by the slimy consistency.  But Rick promised that if roasted, the excess ooze would cook off, and true to his word, it did.  What was left was a very pleasant tangy flavor, without the slime.  They were combined with shrimp, poached in water and lime juice, and then diced.  Also in the mix was diced fresh serrano, tomato, avocado, and cilantro.  This was all soaked in a dressing of lime juice, cider vinegar, thyme and oregano.  Again, this version of seviche was a big hit that everyone liked.  When pressed to choose, the majority gave a slight edge to the classic variety, but the margin was slim.

Greg, after enjoying his Seviche

Finally, we made Huevos Motuleños or Motul-Style Eggs with Roasted Tomato, Black Beans and Plantains (VBRED24).  I’ll borrow Rick’s description because it succinctly describes a somewhat complex dish: “They’re made from crispy tostadas topped with black beans and eggs sunny-side up, doused with robust roasted tomato sauce flamed with habanero chiles, then strewn with ham, peas, crumbled fresh cheese and slices of sweet fried plantain” (270).  For this recipe I give full credit to Greg for making a delicious iteration of Essential Simmered Tomato-Habanero Sauce, and also for frying the eggs!  Once all the ingredients were combined, the flavors and textures really did work wonderfully together making this a great dish.  I will say that to whip this up from scratch on a Sunday morning (as Rick suggests he enjoys doing) is no small task.  If I wanted to impress with a great brunch for guests, I would be sure to make the sauce, the beans, and the plantains ahead.  But it really was very good and I would like to make it again some day.

Table full of Huevos Motuleños

Stephanie enjoying her eggs!

Me enjoying my eggs!

So to wrap up, I have to send out a huge thank you to Stephanie, Greg, Melissa and Joe for helping me with my project and for making it so much fun!  Plus, vacation in this case, didn’t grind my project to a halt.  More of Month 10 to come soon.

66 recipes down, 89 to go

What better way to celebrate the NFC and AFC Championship games (especially with an impressive Colts win!) than with a Mexican meal?  Well, for John the answer was wings, of course.  So he had those in the late afternoon setting him up to be ready for a light meal of Black Bean Chilaquiles with Smoky Chipotle (TEOCE27) after the kids were in bed.

You may be wondering what exactly chilaquiles are.  Well, John summed up the meal in this way : “So soggy bean chips is what we have for dinner?”  The chilaquiles are made by cooking black beans with some chipotle en adobo and onion in broth or water (I used a combo) until “thoroughly tender”.  From there you purée the mixture, add more liquid into which you then boil tortilla chips until they softened but not soggy.  The chilaquiles are to be dressed with avocado, cheese and Thick Cream (this was omitted because I had intended to make it myself but didn’t have the more than 12 hours needed, oh well).

The last line of the recipe is really the key to the dish.  Rick writes: “Serve without hesitation”.  But, tragically, hesitate I did.  I was to be finishing the dish while John got the kids in bed.  When the dish was done (the chips retaining their chewiness), I went up to see what the hold-up was.  John was playing with Scarlett instead of really focusing on bedtime (it was really very sweet, but unfortunately the downfall of the dish).  I went in to do prayers and songs with Jack and then told John I was going to eat without him.  But the roughly 5-10 minutes that went by were enough for the chips to have lost their chewiness and to have sunk despairingly into sogginess.  Fortunately, though, the flavor of the beans with chipotle was good enough to make it good to eat, even if the texture of the chips was post peak.  It has a wonderful earthy, spicy, smoky flavor and seemed like perfect Mexican comfort food, really the ideal accompaniment to a football game.  I would make this again and leave my hesitation chained in another room so that I could enjoy the chilaquiles as they were meant to be.

Month 4

So what can I tell you about Month 4 in Susie’s Mexican Cooking Project? Well, apparently preparing for Christmas (including a cross-country driving trip) has about that same effect on my ability to cook as a month’s worth of illness (see Month 3). It is, in fact, apparently worse. I managed only 6 new recipes. However, like the recipes from Month 3, these were all good. Plus, let’s not forget that I got to enjoy a wonderful meal at Topolobampo where I realized that a lot of what I cook is as good as what I can get at Rick’s restaurants – a triumph in and of itself. As for the best meal of the month? This was hard and honestly a toss up. I will probably make all of these recipes again. But being pressed to choose, I choose:
Oval Masa Cakes with Black Bean Filling
Smoky Shredded Pork Tacos
Green Poblano Rice
And in case you haven’t looked at the calendar, Month 5 is already underway. Not only did I cook for my family over Christmas (a meal to be detailed soon), I have convinced John that Braised Turkey with Red Mole is a good idea for New Year’s Day. As always, stay tuned!

52 recipes down, 103 to go

While everyone else across the country was ordering pizza on the day before Thanksgiving because they were up to their eyeballs in turkey, stuffing, and pie-making, John and I were enjoying a lovely meal of Smoky Shredded Pork Tacos (TEOCE3) made with Essential Quick-Cooked Tomato-Chipotle Sauce (EF6). It’s been awhile since I’ve not cooked for Thanksgiving (I’ll probably do a traditional turkey for New Year’s since I haven’t been able to sell John on Bayless’ Braised Turkey in Red Mole as a substitute) and so we enjoyed our day watching Jack and Scarlett recreate the first Thanksgiving in their school program and then doing a little Mexican cooking.
The recipe was John’s choice and I was concerned because the last go-round with the Quick-Cooked Tomato-Chipotle Sauce turned out so spicy. So this time I seeded the chipotles but was still prepared for some serious heat. To our surprise, though, the sauce turned out quite mild. I guess I still haven’t mastered the art of regulating spice. This is really starting to bug me a bit.
Anyway, to the sauce you add cinnamon, black pepper, cloves, raisins and toasted slivered almonds. This is then combined with shredded pork shoulder (which is made by poaching the cubed meat and then shredding) and served in steamed corn tortillas. The result was delicious! The cinnamon, cloves, and raisins gave a nice sweet balance to the smoke and spice of the chipotles. I also really liked the crunchy texture of the almonds. This recipe is a keeper for sure.

Then, last night I broke out the tortilla press to make Oval Masa Cakes with Black Bean Filling or Tlacoyos (TEOCE21). I used masa harina mixed with water as I didn’t have time to head to Pilsen for fresh masa. This was mixed with lard to make a dough which was first divided into balls, and then flattened in the tortilla press. The disks were then wrapped around some mashed black beans to make a little cake (mine were more rectangular than oval). The cakes were first cooked on a dry griddle and then fried in oil. Then you topped them with a tomatillo-serrano salsa (since I’ve made this one several times already I figured it would be ok to purchase the salsa for a quicker weeknight meal), crumbled queso fresco, chorizo, chopped onion, radish slices and cilantro.

These were really good!! The masa and bean base had a nice earthiness to it and the toppings gave the dish a lot of complementing flavors: the tang and spice from both the salsa and the chorizo, the fresh crunch of the onion and radishes, and the creaminess of the queso fresco. This would be a good dish to make if you have leftover beans (I used the ones I had leftover from making the black bean rice). And one of the best parts of the meal was that John did all of the dishes
I’m not sure what I’ll be cooking next, but hopefully I’ll pick something for late in the week or over the weekend. It’s also been awhile since I’ve done a dessert; it might be time for that. In the meantime I’m enjoying the fact that no one in my family is sick for the moment and so I’m back to having my three mornings a week to get things done (like update my blog)!

Month 3

So what can I tell you about month 3 that you probably can’t already guess? That is was relatively pathetic in terms of output: only 7 recipes completed; that I was either sick or caring for sick people for practically the whole month; that I can testify that you don’t want your kids to get h1n1. That said, there were still a couple of gems that would make up my modest meal of the month:
Ripe Plantain Turnovers (Empanadas) with Fresh Cheese Filling
Oaxacan Black Bean Soup
And really, there was nothing that I wouldn’t make again. So in that sense, it was a good month. I’m ready for month 4 to be a success despite the hustle and bustle of the holidays. We’ll see how it works out. Stay tuned . . .

45 recipes down, 110 to go

We had our neighbors and their children over for dinner last Sunday and made a great Mexican meal! It was really nice to share this experience with others who are excited about the project. My friend Kristi even made Creamy Lime Pie (D10) from the book to complement the meal, but also to not make anything that I haven’t made yet (since I would probably be tempted to count it without actually cooking it). I made Oaxacan Black Bean Soup (LHS7) and Red Chile-Braised Chicken with Potatoes and Greens (MD1). I also made poached chicken for the kids who didn’t want Mexican food and Kristi brought pasta with parmesan and carrots. In all there were 5 kids, aged 3, 5, 6, 8, and 11. Only the 11 year old wanted to try the “adult” food but I’m happy to report that she liked everything. The other kids were happy with their selections and all enjoyed the pie
Let’s start with the soup. This recipe was both easy and fabulous!! It’s a definite keeper. Just simmer black beans with water, fennel (since I couldn’t find avocado leaves), chorizo (only 4 oz. for 6 servings so I would count this as a healthy dish too), and onion. Once the beans are fully cooked you purée the soup with an immersion blender (truly one of the best ever invented kitchen tools!) and season with salt adding more water to get the consistency that you want. The soup is served with fried tortilla strips and crumbled queso fresco. The soup had a great smooth texture with the wonderful earthy flavor of the black beans. I was also really surprised at how much flavor a relatively small amount of chorizo added. It added a nice meaty spice to the dish that was subtle but a wonderful contribution. The queso fresco and the crunchy fried tortilla strips provided a nice flavor and texture contrast.

You can also add optional shrimp which would be cooked in the soup at the end. I had, in fact, intended to do this but I shopped for the meal early in the week and thought I would go out the day of and get the shrimp. Of course when the day came I didn’t think about it until I didn’t really have time to run out again. But really, unless you’re doing the soup as a main course, I don’t think you need them. I do sense that I’ll be making this soup again so at some point I’ll have to go the shrimp route to see what that adds.
Next was the Red Chile-Braised Chicken. I have to say that I really like dishes that are prepared all in one pot. This is probably because complete meal planning has never been my forte. For most of my adult life I’ve thought that if I’ve remembered to take fish or chicken out of the freezer for dinner that I would be done. It’s only after that fish or chicken is ready to eat that usually John will say “So, what are we having with this?” So one-pot meals have always appealed to me in that the meat and the veggies are all taken care of in one dish. In my defense, I am starting to get better at meal planning. I made a pretty big leap in this area over lent when I gave up meat. I knew I had to plan more than one thing for each meal and that has carried over. That and we’re trying to eat less meat in general (reading Michael Pollen’s books have convinced me that for the most part the veggies should be the center with meat as a side complement) so I’m trying to make sure that we have good sides.
What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Red Chile-Braised Chicken. I had John quarter the whole chicken for me (he really is better at poultry deconstruction than I am) and the pieces were browned in oil and set aside. Then you make the flavor base which in this recipe was EF10 Essential Sweet-and-Spicy Ancho Seasoning Paste. I have made this once before with the simple red mole enchiladas. The paste is combined with broth to make a sauce and the chicken, potatoes, and greens (in our case, collards) are cooked in the sauce. This is then all served together. This, too, was excellent. The chicken was moist and the sauce had a very nice spicy, earthy, tangy flavor. I am also a fan of greens; I feel so healthy when I’m eating them. And when they’re smothered in a yummy sauce, so much the better My only complaint was that the potatoes were just slightly under cooked. Instead of halving them I would try quartering them the next time.

I’ll just make a couple of notes about the Creamy Lime Pie, made by Kristi. She made all of the substitutions of the more authentic ingredients: shortening instead of lard in the crust, all-purpose flour instead of masa harina and creme fraîche instead of Mexican crema. Here’s how I would rate the result. I think the crust made with lard was a little more flaky. The filling, however, tasted just as I had remembered mine tasting. That said, her pie didn’t firm up in the oven and after exceeding the cooking time waiting for it to firm up, we took it out (also, the crust was starting to get a little too brown). But by the time we cut it into pieces, though, it had firmed up and so was fine. There was also a little bit of a lag between preparing the filling and getting it into the oven, so maybe that had an effect. She made the filling at home and we cooked it chez moi so that it would be warm for serving (as recommended by Rick).