65 recipes down, 90 to go

On Thursday evening, at the tail end of Month 5, I made Spicy Plantain Pie (D12).  Frankly, I was a disappointed with the result.  It’s made with ripe plantains, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and with cream and eggs to make it custardy.  I was actually quite surprised at how sweet it was — too sweet for my taste.  The flavor of the plantain, its tanginess, did come through, but for me it was sort of like a not-quite-ripe banana flavor with too much sugar.  The addition of the sweetened whipped cream, however, was good (mine was flavored with Mexican vanilla and sugar as I was out of Brandy).  John and the kids all liked it and ate it but I doubt I will make this one again.

On a positive note, though, the crust turned out perfectly.  I am now a firm believer in crust made with lard.  The lard lends a flakiness to the crust that butter or shortening by themselves cannot produce.  Especially now that I know where to get lard.  I suggest you all go out and find yourselves a lard source.  You won’t be sorry.  Lard is good.

59 recipes down, 96 to go

I wasn’t going to let being at my mom’s for Christmas stop me from making progress on my project so I used our trip to CT as an opportunity to do some of the seafood selections from the book. It was also a second chance for me to cook something for my mom that she would like (she hadn’t really been wild about the Chicken with Pueblan Green Pumpkin Seed Sauce) and a first opportunity for me to cook for my brother and sister-in-law.
So here was the menu: Tomatillo-Greeen Guacamole (SOS2), Spicy Chile-Baked Oysters (SOS7), Tangy Tomatillo-Sauced Fish Enchiladas (TEOCE14), and Frontera Grill’s Chocolate Pecan Pie (D8). I had already made the Guacamole but my sister-in-law is a big avocado fan and it used the same base as the fish dish (or so I thought, more on that later) so I figured it was worth repeating.
The first order of business was to go grocery shopping. The only really Mexican ingredients that I needed were tomatillos, serranos and dried anchos. I didn’t think that it would be a problem. Well, let’s just say that I’m glad that I’m not doing this project in CT. Apparently serrano peppers are a summer only item. I went both to the large Stop and Shop (the one actually in Hartford) and to Whole Foods. I was shocked to not only not find serranos, but to not find dried anchos either! I was sure to tell the staff at the West Hartford Whole Foods that those items were always available in the Chicago area Whole Foods. Not that they probably cared. So I decided to substitute a combination of poblanos and jalapeños. Then I went to Penzey’s for the dried anchos. Last I went to a local fish market (Tinker’s) for the oysters and the fish (sea bass) for the enchiladas. I paid an extra 25 cents per oyster to have them shucked for me. I’m sure it was money well spent as I have a very vivid and not positive memory of trying to shuck clams one year while on vacation in Rhode Island so I was happy to not have to tackle that.
Then it was home to make the pie crust and the sauce for the enchiladas. The pie crust, much like the one I made for Creamy Lime Pie (although this time I didn’t have lard), did not roll out and had to be pieced together in the pie dish. I did this first as it needed to be chilled, rolled out, chilled, and baked all before the filling. Not hard, just a little time consuming.
Now when I first read the recipes for the guacamole and the enchiladas I thought they called for the same base. It wasn’t until I was mid-way through making it that I realized that the base for the enchiladas, Essential Simmered Tomatillo-Serrano Sauce (EF7) was actually not the same as the base for the guacamole, Essential Roasted Tomatillo-Serrano Salsa (EF8). Oops! So I ended up improvising. For the Sauce the puréed roasted tomatillos are then cooked with onions and garlic. For the salsa the roasted garlic gets puréed with the tomatillos. So the long and the short of it is that my salsa for the guacamole lacked roasted garlic. I wish I could say that it didn’t suffer, but honestly, it did. Also, the poblano-jalapeño mixture had a subtle spice but most in our group would have preferred the guacamole to be a little more zesty. We ended up adding some cayenne which helped. It was still really good; just not as good as the first time I had made it (properly).
Now here’s where things got a little bit interesting. Around 4:30 as I was ready to bake the pie and get the oysters going Scarlett became sick with a rather unpleasant stomach bug. I won’t go into unneeded detail, but between the cleaning, laundry and bathing that became necessary, and someone sitting with her at all times with a bowl, our schedule got a little bit off. It was decided that we would have the guacamole, oysters and pie that evening and we would save the enchiladas for the following day for lunch. We also ended up with a pizza from Harry’s (our favorite in West Hartford).
So on to the oysters. The sauce for these was Essential Sweet-and-Spicy Ancho Seasoning Paste (EF10). This along with onions and 2 canned chipotle chiles en adobo (which provided a considerable amount of kick), were fried and then made into a sauce with broth and lime juice. This sauce was then combined with the juices from the oysters and drizzled over the oysters in their open shells and baked. They were served with lime wedges. All agreed that these were fantastic! Poor John had to eat his by himself at Scarlett’s bedside. The sauce was very spicy but went well with the oysters which themselves were quite good. And I was glad that I didn’t have to try to find fresh oysters in Chicago. That all said, this is probably not something I would make again. I’m a believer that some foods are just better left to restaurants and oysters are one of those for me. It was a lot of work for just a small appetizer.

Next was the pie. Unfortunately the amount of filling was a little bit too much for the pie pan. I could very easily have rectified this problem by just not using all of it. But no, for some reason, I felt the need to put as much filling as possible in the pie dish. This led to a couple of problems. One, it overflowed in the oven creating a not insignificant amount of smoke whenever the oven door was opened. Then the upper outside of the pie got a little too done. What can I say? I just hated to waste what I guessed would be yummy pie goodness but I ended up lessening the quality of the whole dish. The pie, however, was good. It was very rich making me realize all the more that a little less filling would have been just fine. It was served with whipped cream spiked with kahlúa. And this provided what was surely the funniest moment of the day. So my mom had a bottle of kahlúa and I didn’t bother to look at it until it was time to use it. The price tag was from the liquor store 21st Amendment, an Indianapolis chain. My mom hasn’t lived in Indianapolis since 1996 and this bottle was almost assuredly considerably older than that. So this revelation led us to question whether or not the kahlúa was good or not. I will only say that we did use it and that the information provided at the following link: http://www.drunkbastard.net/wetbar.htm had us all in hysterics.

The next day I made the enchiladas, which were easy to put together since the sauce was already made. To make the filling for the enchiladas you poach the fish in salted water and once it’s done you cook diced potatoes in the poaching liquid. The fish and potatoes are combined with a little bit of the sauce. This is the filling for the tortillas and then more sauce is spooned on top. These were a big hit. Everyone loved them, including my mom! I stand by my statement that the tomatillo-serrano (or even my improvisational tomatillo-poblano-jalapeño) combination is a winner. It went really well with the fish and potatoes. This was a nice, light, healthy entrée and a wonderful ending to a visit with family.

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).

22 recipes down, 133 to go

How many recipes I actually made: 7. How many new recipes I made: 5. When we were planning to eat this meal: Friday night. What we ended up eating Friday night: leftover Mexican rice supper. What got added to the menu because of the delay: a reprise of Frontera’s Gold Margaritas. When we did get to eat the meal: last night. Verdict on whether it was worth the wait: definitely!
Ok, so seriously, here is what we made (I had a lot of help from John this time; especially on the mole and the margaritas): VBRED9 Classic Mexican “Pot” Beans, VBRED10 Classic Mexican Fried Beans with Onion and Garlic, TEOCE17 Poached Chicken (here’s repeat number 1), EF10 Essential Sweet-and-Spicy Ancho Seasoning Paste, TEOCE16 Simple Red Mole Enchiladas with Shredded Chicken, D10 Creamy Lime Pie, and WAM1 Frontera’s Gold Margaritas. I guess it was sort of silly to think that we could make the mole and eat it in one evening. Unlike Julie Powell, I’m not a big fan of dinner at 11pm.
The beans were both easier than they seem (VBRED9 was the base of VBRED10) and delicious. I used pintos, per Rick’s suggestion of what would go well with the mole. Most of the time is spent letting the beans simmer in water, onion, and here’s the key, bacon fat (which I had saved from making last weekend’s BLT sandwiches). Then you fry up more onion, garlic and then add and mash the beans to make the final product which as I said were wonderful. They were almost sweet and the perfect palate cleanser for the spice of the mole.
When Rick titles this mole Simple, it is perhaps a tad misleading. Ok, let’s not sugarcoat it. This recipe is not simple. There are 20 ingredients including two other recipes (EF10, which involves the usual toasting and rehydrating of dried chiles among other things, and poached chicken, which involves, well, poaching a chicken), as well as bread, raisins, Mexican chocolate, onion, tomato, etc. There is also a considerable amount of simmering, which was really the downfall of our Friday night meal. All that said, it really is not difficult to make, just a little time-consuming. If you’ve mastered reading and following instructions, I’m sure you can make it too, and you should, because it’s really good. And when I say good, I actually mean fantastic, and spicy, sweet, rich, and complex. The moles are really the best recipes and the primary reason I bought Mexican Kitchen in the first place.

The pie was also pretty easy to make although the crust was a bit of a challenge. Although, it’s possible that the problem lies elsewhere. Let’s just say that pie crust and I aren’t fast friends. Don’t get me wrong, I can make pie. In fact, I love baking in all its forms, I just can’t seem to make pretty pies. Rarely, do my crusts not crumble into pieces, having to be re-formed like a puzzle into the pan. When a recipe calls for a lattice-crust, I just mentally plan for a solid top crust. I’ve come to understand my limitations and accept them. I really should take a pie class some time. So when Rick describes transferring the rolled dough as follows: “I find it easiest to roll the dough onto the rolling pin, then unroll it onto the pie pan”, I was skeptical. As I should have been. No lightly floured surface was going to prevent this crust from sticking. Also, the amount of dough was not exactly generous. Certainly there was not enough for the purported 12-inch circle, which, according to the recipe, I should have been able to decoratively crimp. Oh well, in the end, it was fine. Actually, it was more than fine, the crust was delicious! And so I accept that it was not beautiful. As for the filling, living up to its name, it was creamy at first taste, and then tart. One more thing about the pie. I was supposed to dribble Crimson Prickly Pear Sauce (aka D11) around the slices of pie. However, the amount of prickly pears that I would have needed for the recipe would have been about $16 at Whole Foods, so I decided to save making the sauce until I return to La Casa del Pueblo.

One more note for this week’s houseguests, in case you’re reading, I’m planning Menu 21 (Rustic Jícama Appetizer with Red Chile and Lime and Achiote-Roasted Pork Tacos with Pickled Red Onions) for Thursday evening with the addition of D9 Crunchy Amaranth Tart, if my amaranth arrives in time. So for those of you following, that means that I have been unable to find puffed amaranth in the store and so had to pay a ridiculous $8.72 to have it shipped the less than 10 miles to my house.