Tag Archives: Mexican

Pickles, Salsas, and Miscellaneous

Salsa Cruda de Tomatillo

Uncooked Green Sauce

  • 8 green tomatillos
  • 2 serrano chiles, seeded
  • 1/4 small onion
  • 1 small clove garlic
  • 2 large sprigs fresh coriander
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • pinch sugar
  • 1/3 cup water

TomatillosPlunge peeled tomatillos in boiling water for about 30 seconds. Remove and run under cold water. Grind the chiles, onion, garlic, coriander and salt together in blender. Add the tomatillos, a pinch of sugar and the water and blend well.

For Salsa Verde Cocida (Cooked Green Sauce), substitute vegetable or chicken broth for the water in the above recipe and simmer sauce for 1/2 hour until slightly thickened.

Meatless Main Dishes

Zucchini and Eggs

Calabacitas con huevo

  • 4 tbsp butter
  • 2 cups chopped zucchini or summer squash
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 1 cup fresh grated Parmesan, Gruyere or Manchego cheese

Heat butter, add zucchini, cover and cook 10 minutes. Drain. Season with salt and pepper. Place in a skillet. Beat eggs with water and combine with cheese. Pour over the zucchini, mix gently, and cook until eggs are set. This can also be done in the oven.

Eggs and Cheese

Queso Fundido con Rajas (Cheese and Chiles)

Queso Fundido means melted cheese, and Rajas is a term applied to chiles cut into long strips. They can be roasted or fried or sometimes pickled or preserved in vinegar. The term can apply to different types of chiles, such as Rajas de Chile Jalapeño, which can be very spicy. This recipe, applies to Poblano chiles, a mild, somewhat elongated, dark green chile from the Puebla area of Mexico. Poblanos are used for making Chiles Rellenos or Mexican Stuffed Chiles.

Ingredients for Queso Fundido con Rajas

  • 1/2 cup minced onion
  • 1/4 cup oil
  • 2 Poblano chiles, roasted, peeled, and cut into strips
  • 1 lb. Manchego or Mozzarella cheese, cubed
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream, optional
  • Salt to taste

Saute onions in the oil. Add the chiles and fry well. Add the cheese and salt and allow cheese to melt thoroughly.

The chiles and cheese cubes may also be combined and placed in the oven until melted. Top with cream before serving, if desired.


Meatless Main Dishes

Chiles Rellenos de Queso o Frijoles

Chiles Rellenos are Mexican stuffed peppers. They are made with mild Poblano peppers and can be stuffed with ground meat mixtures, cheese, potatoes, and a variety of of other ingredients. You can often find seafood-stuffed peppers in coastal regions. The stuffed peppers are usually dipped in egg, fried in hot oil until browned, then smothered in tomato sauce.

This version uses Manchego cheese (or mozzarella) and refried beans to fill the peppers.

Chiles Rellenos de Queso o Frijoles

 Ingredients for Cheese or Bean-stuffed Chile Peppers

  • 6 chiles Poblano (dark green, slightly hot fresh chiles)
  • 3 cups refried beans or 6 large sliced of Manchego  or mozzarella cheese
  • 2 eggs, separated
  • Flour
  • Oil for frying
  • 1/2 cup thick, seasoned tomato sauce
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream

Hold chiles on a fork over heat (this is usually a gas flame in Mexico) until skin blisters and darkens. Wrap in a damp cloth or a paper bag for half an hour. Peel.

Slit the chiles down one side and remove the seeds. Stuff each pepper with either beans or cheese or a combination of the two. Seal with a toothpick.

Beat egg yolks until thick; beat whites until stiff and shiny. Fold yolks into whites. Dust chiles with flour and dip into eggs.

Fry chiles in hot oil until brown. Place on a serving plate and cover with preheated tomato sauce and a dollop of cream.

NOTE: If all the above sounds too hard, cut open the chiles and layer them with the cheese and beans in a casserole. Mix the eggs and flour together with the cream and pour over the layers. Bake at 350º F. for about 30 minutes or until set. Pour tomato sauce over the top (use only enough to moisten without drowning the layered chiles), and top with 1/4 cup grated cheese, if desired. Bake an additional 10 minutes. Allow to stand 15 minutes or so before serving. Serve with additional warm tomato sauce.

Eggs and Cheese

Huevos Motuleños

  • 3 corn tortillas, heated
  • 3 T cooked black beans
  • 2 eggs
  • Mexican cooked red sauce
  • 1/4 cup green peas, cooked
  • 1 T grated cheese

Spread 2 tortillas with beans. Heat sauce. Fry eggs. Place 1 beany tortilla on a plate, top with a fried egg, and repeat. Top with last tortilla. Pour hot sauce over top of the stack and sprinkle peas and grated cheese on top.

Serve immediately

Fish and Seafood

Octopus in its own ink

PULPOS EN SU TINTA

(Recipe from Gabriela Barraza)

Wash octopus with lime juice and rinse well. Cut up and cook. (Emilia, the maid, cooks them for 10 minutes in a pressure cooker without water, and then chops them.)

Finely chop garlic, onion, tomato and parsley. Sauté the onion and garlic lightly, then add tomato and parsley. Allow to cook. Add octopus pieces, a bay leaf and the octopus ink. A bit of red wine may be added.

Personal comment:

I’ve heard that there’s a way to cook octopus very slightly, just to the right point so that it’s tender and juicy–a matter of a few minutes. I’ve never been able to do it. My method of cooking octopus tender is to throw it in a large pot, cover with water, cover the pot and put on the stove for a minimum of two hours. You don’t have to worry about anything except keeping the level of water high enough to cover the carcass. Once a fork glides smoothly into the thickest part of the body, drain and cool. Once it’s cool, remove the fatty parts and the suckers on the tentacles, if you wish (all that can be slid off with your fingers), and chop the now buttery-tender tentacles and body (discarding the hard eyes), and use as desired. By the way, the ink must be removed before boiling!

Fish and Seafood

Huachinango a la Veracruzana

Huachinango is the name for red snapper in Spanish. Veracruz-style fillets of red snapper are a Mexican favorite.

It is a savory fish dish seasoned with a medley of spices and the tang of green olives and chile peppers. Veracruz style red snapper is often made with whole red snappers instead of the fillets. This is only one of many variations.

Ingredients for Huachinango a la Veracruzana (Red Snapper Fish Veracruz Style)

  • 6 fillets of red snapper
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 chopped onion
  • 1 clove garlic, chopped
  • 2 cups tomato puree
  • 1/8 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp cloves
  • 3 jalapeños, chopped
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • 12 small new potatoes, pared and boiled
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 5 slices bread, cubed
  • 15 green olives
  • Salt and pepper

Fry bread cubes in butter until crisp and golden. Set aside. Dust fillets with flour. Heat oil and sauté the fish fillets. Set aside.

To same pan, add onion and garlic, adding more oil if necessary. Sauté until soft. Add tomato puree, cinnamon and cloves. Cook 5 minutes. Add chiles, lemon juice, and sugar, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat.

Add potatoes and fish and heat thoroughly. Serve fish on a platter with the sauce, garnished with croutons and olives. Servings: 6

Fish by Carol

Fish and Seafood

Dad’s Pescado Veracruzana

This recipe for Veracruz-style fish was developed by Dad over the years. He always used cazon,  or baby shark, which is a very firm fish. The recipe instructions as presented are just as he wrote them out. I have added the ingredients list separately above to make it easier to prepare at a glance.

  • 3/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2-3 chiles largos, canned
  • 1-1/2 cups pitted olives
  • 1/4 cup capers
  • 1 T Knorr chicken bouillon granules
  • juice of 2 limes
  • 1 carrot, finely chopped
  • 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
  • 1-2 small tomatoes, chopped
  • Cazon fillets for four (baby shark)
  • water as necessary

Fish by Carol

Veracruzana.

(portion for four)

In three quarter cup of olive oil fry one medium chopped onion, add two or three chiles largos ( strong long yellow pepper preserves preferred)  To tame hotness seeds can be removed. Add one to one and half cups  pitted olives and half cup of capers.  A table spoonful of Knorr’s chicken powder, juice of two limes, one finely chopped carrot. One stalk of finely chopped celery, one or two small tomatoes.

Bring mixture to a boil and then let simmer for an hour or two before adding fish. The longer it simmers the better the taste.

Quantity of fish depends on appetite and size of fillets.  Baby shark (cazon) is my favorite but any white fish fillet can be used I believe. Fish should be filleted bone free and sliced thinly.  I believe that tuna can be substituted but I am not sure.  Not being too familiar with the fish available in Canada this may take some experimentation.

The fish can be placed into boiling sauce for stove top cooking in covered pot for ten minutes (Time is for cazon other varieties may require more time.)   Best is to place fish into baking dish and bake for about fifteen minutes at high heat.

You may wish to alter the consistency of the sauce by adding water.

Good luck and enjoy it.

 

Meat and Poultry

Chicken in Green Sauce

Pollo en salsa verde

  • 1 large onion
  • 1 handful of fresh coriander
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 6 tomatillos (Mexican green tomatoes)
  • 1 serrano chile
  • 1/4 cup water or chicken broth
  • 1/2 tsp salt, or 1 bouillon cube
  • 1 chicken, cut up
  • oil

In blender, combine onion, coriander, garlic, tomatillos, chile, water, and salt. Brown chicken in oil in a large pot. Add blended sauce and simmer until chicken is tender and sauce has thickened. Add more water or broth as needed. Serve with rice and tortillas.

Meatless Main Dishes

Chilaquiles a la Angel

  • Oil
  • 12 corn tortillas, 1 day old or more (stale but not dry)
  • 3 ripe tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 chicken bouillon cube
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 serrano chiles, seeded and chopped finely
  • 1/4 cup water
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 cup grated Manchego or Mozzarella cheese

Cut tortillas into strips or in triangles. Heat 1/2″ oil in wide frying pan. Brown and crisp tortillas in batches. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

Sauté onion in a little oil till soft. Add tomatoes, bouillon cube, garlic, chiles and water. Cook until tomatoes are mushy and liquid is slightly reduced. Throw in coriander and adjust salt. Cook 5 minutes. Throw about two thirds of fried tortillas into sauce and toss to coat. Add 1/2 of the grated cheese and toss again.

Let simmer for 2 minutes to soften tortillas slightly and melt cheese. Add the remaining tortillas and toss quickly. Top with remaining cheese and allow to sit for a minute until cheese has melted. Serve immediately.