My downfall, with a recipe
by Dan Fromm
Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (Mexico). La Cocina familiar en el estado de Puebla. México : CONACULTA : Océano, 2000 [TX716 .M4 P84 2000].
One lovely Sunday I took my wife to the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, in Morris County, NJ. On the way home we stopped for lunch in Garibaldi, a Mexican/Peruvian restaurant in Bound Brook, NJ. Bound Brook was flooded in September, 1999 by Hurricane Floyd; Garibaldi was inundated then but had come back. While reading the menu, I was reminded I’d eaten Chiliajo de Puerco in pre-Floyd Garibaldi and had liked it.
I didn’t eat Chiliajo de Puerco that Sunday, but the idea of it gnawed on me. Unable to make it go away, I went looking for a recipe on the ‘net. Google didn’t find any. Searching for Chiliajo alone found the table of contents of a cookbook, La Cocina Familiar en el Estado de Puebla (Home Cooking in Puebla), on a Finnish bookstore’s site. It had a recipe for Chiliajo de Pollo. Reasoning that a preparation that worked for chicken would work for pork too, I looked for less expensive copies of the book. Eventually I bought one from a domestic seller.
When my copy came I was entranced by it. It contained wonderful recipes that I thought I might be able to prepare. Most were new to me and many were like nothing I’d ever encountered. I made and liked the Puebla book’s Chiliajo de Pollo, as well as other recipes from it. My wife’s response was formal retirement from cooking. I bought the rest of the set and have been cooking from it ever since.
The Cocina Familiar set contains more than 2,700 recipes, including some duplicates. Banco Nacional de Credito Rural S.N.C. (Banrural) sent teams out in the early- to mid-1980s to collect recipes in each of the 31 states of México and in México City. All the recipes were collected in México from Mexicans by Mexicans and the set was published in México for Mexicans by Mexicans. Banrural published the set in 1988 as Comida Familiar en el Estado de … (Eating at home in the state of …). The set was republished in 2000-1 by El Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (Conaculta) and Editorial Océano de México as Cocina Familiar … (Home Cooking …). Volumes from the Conaculta version are easier to find and less expensive than those from the Banrural
Many of the recipes don’t conform to the concept of Mexican food presented in books written in English on Mexican cooking, e.g., those of Diana Kennedy and Rick Bayless. For example, the Coahuila volume has a recipe for pecan pie that is very Betty Crocker. I’ve encountered very few recipes in the Cocina Familiar set on menus of Mexican restaurants in the US; few of the recipes on those menus are in the Cocina Familiar set. What we in the US know as Mexican food isn’t at all what some, perhaps many, Mexicans ate in the early- to mid-1980s. If there’s one lesson to learn from the Home Cooking set, it is that Mexican cooking is as syncretic as can be. Mexican cooks have borrowed ingredients and ideas from every other cuisine. And, like all home cooking, unlike restaurant cooking, it is variable.
I returned to cooking uncontaminated by Mexican cookbooks written for gringos. My wife had some that I hadn’t even glanced at. I found Diana Kennedy’s books most useful for answering questions about procedures, ingredients, and substitutions. For those who many not have encountered her yet, Diana Kennedy is to Mexican cooking in the US as Julia Child is to French cooking in the US.
All of our ‘Mexican Cooking For Gringos’ books together come up considerably short in comparison to the Home Cooking set; with more than 2,700 recipes it is probably the largest of all. In order to meet readers’ expectations of illustrations, explanations of techniques, white space, as well as to make space to discuss ideas, history and ingredients,; contemporary American cookbooksoften contain only a small sample of recipes. Furthermore, the sample each presents reflects its author’s concept of Mexican cooking. The people who collected recipes for Cocina Familiar were more open-minded than authors of most ‘Mexican’ cookbooks for gringos. On the other hand, the Home Cooking set can’t be used by a cook who needs explanations of technique or guides to ingredients and substitutions, and it is inaccessible to those who can’t read/won’t learn kitchen Spanish.
Bound Brook was flooded in April, 2007; Garibaldi drowned again. It reopened, I’ve been there and had Chiliajo de Puerco. All it has in common with Chiliajo de Pollo from Puebla is the word Chiliajo. Different peppers, different preparation, different everything.
Chiliajo is a rarely used variant spelling of Chileajo. The Chiliajo/chileajo recipes on the ‘net cover several radically different concepts. That’s home cooking.
Chiliajo de pollo (La Cocina Familiar en el Estadode Puebla. p. 41)
1 pollo partido en piezas — chicken in serving pieces
½ cucharada de orégano — tbsp of oregano
10 pimientas — peppercorns
7 chiles anchos — ancho chiles
6 chiles guajillo — guajillo chiles
2 dientes de ajo — cloves of garlic
1 clavo — clove
1 pan blanco rebanado — sliced hard roll [I used half a baguette]
1 rajita de canela — cinnamon stick
1 trozo de cebolla — piece of onion
manteca — lard
orégano — oregano [mentioned in text, not in the book's list]
sal, al gusto — salt, to taste
Cocer el pollo en agua, con ajo, cebolla y sal — cook the chicken in water with garlic, onion, and salt
Desvenar los chiles y remojarlos en agua caliente — devein the chiles and rehydrate them in hot water
Freír las rebanadas de pan; moler chiles, pan, pimientas, clavo, orégano, canela, y ajos — fry the slices of bread; grind the chiles, bread, peppercorns, clove, oregano, cinnamon, and garlic [As ground up the pepper etc. mash was very, very thick. I thinned it with some of the water in which the chiles had been steeped, after I started frying I added chicken broth.]
Freír toto esto en manteca hasta que la preparación quede bien espesa — fry all this in lard until the preparation becomes quite thick
Agregar el pollo con un poco del caldo en que se cocío (debe quedar la consistencia del mole); dejarlo en el fuego hasta que suelte el hervor — add the chicken with a little of the broth in which it was cooked (the sauce must have a mole’s consistency); leave it on the burner until it comes to a boil
Servir caliente — serve hot
Very mild dish. Pleasant.
Merengues Helados / Ice Cream Meringues, circa 1960
Magia con Maizena. México, D.F. : Productos de Maiz, [196-?]. P. 80-81. [TX716.M4 M359 1960z]
For the past two weeks, we’ve posted recipes Maizena promotional cookbooks. However, in addition to Maizena brand corn starch, these cookbooks also promote a number of related products, including Karo corn syrup, Mazola corn oil and Kre-Mel drink mix. Today’s recipe from Magia con Maizena combines three out of four of these products.
Merengues Helados
Claras de huevo…4
Azúcar granulada…225 gramos
Maizena…1 cucharada
Almendra mandada y molida…100 gramos
Las claras se baten hasta que estén duras, se agrega la almendra y la Maizena cernida con el azúcar; se bate constantemente para que no se baje el merengue. En las latas de horno cubiertas con papel blanco, se van colocando con una cuchara, dejando una pequeña distancia entre uno y otro. Se cuecen en horno muy suave.
Después se ahuecan con cuidado y se rellenan con el helado.
Helado Kre-mel de Vainilla
Kre-Mel de Vainilla…1 paquete
Leche…1 litro
Yemas de huevo…4
KARO (etiqueta roja)…1/2 taza
Azúcar granulada…200 gramos
MAIZENA…1 cucharada
Mantequilla…50 gramos
Vainilla…1 ejote
El Kre-mel se disuelve en media taza de leche fría, hasta que quede la mezcla muy tersa. El resto de la leche se pone a hervir con el azúcar, la vainilla y la Maizena. Las yemas se baten con el Karo y se añaden a la leche con el Kre-mel. Se deja hervir otro poco agregando la mantequilla fundida. Después se hiela.
Una vez rellenos los merengues se unen uno con otro.
Ice Cream meringues
Egg whites …4
Granulated sugar …1 heaping cup
Cornstarch …1 tablespoon
Peeled and ground almonds…1/2 cup
Beat the whites until stiff, add almonds and sifted cornstarch with the sugar. Beat constantly to attain a meringue. Cover baking tins with parchment paper and place scoops of meringue a little distance away from each other. Cook in a mild oven.
After baking, carefully hollow out the meringues and fill with ice cream.
Vanilla Kre-mel Ice Cream
Vanilla Kre-Mel…1 package
Milk…1 liter
Eggs…4
KARO (red label) corn syrup … 1 / 2 cup
Granulated Sugar…1 cup
Cornstarch…1 tablespoon
Butter…1/4 cup
Vanilla bean … 1
Dissolve the Kre-mel in half a cup of cold milk, mixing until very smooth. Boil the rest of the milk with the sugar, vanilla bean, and cornstarch. Beat the yolks with the Karo corn syrup and add to the milk with the Kre-mel. Bring to a boil and add a little melted butter. Then, freeze.
Use the ice cream to fill the meringues and then put two together to make a meringue and ice-cream sandwich.
Jaletina de Naranja / Orange Gelatin, circa 1960
Magia con Maizena. México, D.F. : Productos de Maiz, [196-?]. P. 52. [TX716.M4 M359 1960z]
Last week we posted a recipe for Crema de Elote from Recetario Maizena (ca. 1960). This week, our recipe comes from another 1960s Maizena promotional booklet, entitled Magia con Maizena or Magic with Maizena.
Certainly, the introduction’s enthusiastic promises that the easy-to-digest foods prepared with Maizena corn starch will lead to strong and healthy children make it seem that corn starch must be magical. And in a way not dissimilar from today’s ever-present google ads, slogans printed along the bottom of each page reinforce the company’s positive messages about both Maizena cornstarch and karo corn syrup:
La palabra MAIZENA es la garantía de un alimento sano
The word Maizena is a guarantee of healthy food.
MAIZENA insuperable para sopas
Maizena is unbeatable for making soup
Los doctores recomiendan Karo
Doctors recommend Karo.
MAIZENA deliciosa para postres
Maizena is delicious for desserts.
El Jarabe Karo es indispensable en todos los hogares
Karo syrup is indispensable in all homes.
MAIZENA símbolo de pureza absoluta
Maizena is a symbol of absolute purity
Por el delicioso Karo lloran los niños
The children cry for delicous karo syrup
Now, I’m not sure that the following recipe can be guaranteed to be healthy, with or without Maizena corn starch, but regardless of whether it would still be doctor-recommended, it does look quite delicious and well worth preparing.
Jaletina de Naranja (Sr. Francisca Solchaga)
- Leche…1 litro
- Azúcar…300 gramos
- Yemas…4
- Grenetina en polvo…20 gramos
- Agua caliente…2 cucharadas
- MAIZENA…1 ½ cucharadas
- Naranjas sin semilla…2
Las yemas batidas con el azúcar se ponen a fuego lento batiéndolas sin cesar con un batidor de globo; luego se agregan ¾ de la leche hervida y tibia, sin dejar de mover. Al soltar el hervor se agrega la MAIZENA, perfectamente desleída en el ¼ de la leche restante.
Se retira del fuego y se sigue moviendo hasta dejarla tibia, para agregar la grenetina que se habrá disuelto en el agua caliente y la raspadura de una de las naranjas. Se cuela y se conserva tibia.
Las naranjas se pelan y con cuidado se separa la pulpa de la membrane sin romper las gajos. Se colocan hacienda figura en el fondo de un molde de jaletina. Se pone una poca de la jaletina para fijarlos y cuando ya cuajó se vierte el resto mezclado con lo que queda de pulpa de naranja. Se pone a cuajar en el refrigerador o en un lugar muy fresco.
Jaletina de Naranja
Jaletina de NaranjaOrange Gelatin (Sr. Francisca Solchaga)
- milk…4 cups
- sugar…1 1/3 cups
- egg yolks…4
- powdered gelatin…just under 3 tablespoons (most gelatin is sold in 1 tbsp. packets).
- hot water…2 tablespoons
- cornstarch (Maizena)…1 ½ tablespoons
- seedless oranges…2
Put the egg yolks and sugar over low heat, beating constantly with a whisk. Then, add ¾ of the boiled milk, stirring constantly. with the sugar over low heat put batiéndolas constantly with a whisk balloon, then add ¾ of warm boiled milk, stirring constantly. When the mixture comes to a boil, add the cornstarch, after dissolving it in ¼ of the remaining milk
Remove the mixture from the heat and continue stirring until it cools a bit. While still warm, add the gelatin (after dissolving it in the hot water). Also, add the zest of one orange. Strain and keep warm.
Peel the oranges and carefully separate the pulp from the membrane without breaking the segments.
Arrange some orange segments at the bottom of the gelatin mold. Put a little of the pudding mixture on top to fix them in place, and when the mixture has gelled a little bit, pour in the rest of the pudding, mixed with the orange pulp. Leave to congeal in the refrigerator or another cool place.
Crema de Elote / Corn Cream, 1960
Cerrillo, Clementina. Recetario Maizena. México : Foto-Offset Mayab, [1960?]. [TX716.M4 C477 1960z].
A portion of UTSA’s Mexican Cookbook Collection consists of recipe booklets published by food manufacturers and trade associations to promote their products. Previously, we posted a recipe for Huevos al Estilo Español from a 1908 cookbook by San Antonio’s own Gebhardt Chili Company and a recipe for Pastel de Café from the 1954 Almanaque Dulce, which was an annual publication issued by the Union Nacional de Productores de Azucar. Over the next few weeks, we’d like to share a few recipes from two 1960s promotional cookbooks from the Mexican food manufacturer Maizena. We begin today with a recipe for Crema de Elote from Recetario Maizena.
Crema de Elote
2 elotes no muy tiernos
2 cucharadas MAIZENA Duryea
50 gramos mantequilla de Buena calidad
100 gramos de queso fresco de vaca
3 cucharadas cebolla picada
½ litro de leche
1/8 litro de crema de leche
Sal y pimiento blanca
Los elotes se limpian y se rebanan los granos, moliéndolos después. Se ponen al fuego en una budinera juntamente con la MAIZENA, la cebolla y la mantequilla. Cuando han transformado su color los elotes, se añade un litro de agua y se déjà hervir hasta que forme un atole un poco espeso. Entonces se le agrega la leche hervida y caliente, se sazona con sal y pimiento y se déjà que tome la consistencia de una crema ligera. Al llevarse a la mesa se le agrega la crema, de leche, se cuela y se sirve con una guarnición de pequeños trocitos de queso fresco.
Corn Cream
2 not overly-ripe corn
2 tablespoons cornstarch
50 grams of good quality butter
100 grams of queso fresco (fresh cow cheese)
3 tablespoons chopped onion
½ liter of milk
1 / 8 liter cream
Salt and white pepper
Clean the ears and slice the grains, then grind them. Heat the ground corn in a pudding basin, along with the cornstarch, onion and butter. When the corn changes color, add a liter of water and leave to boil until it forms a porridge that is just a bit thick. Then, add the boiled milk and heat, season with salt and pepper and leave until it has the consistency of light cream. When the dish is brought to the table, add the cream and more milk, strain and serve garnished with small pieces of queso fresco.
Nochevieja con María Orsini / New Year’s Eve with María Orsini
Lula Bertrán. “Cocina Ejecutiva.” María Orsini : el arte del buen comer. Dec. 1994/Jan. 1995: 35-37. [TX631 .M28].
A few months ago, we introduced María Orsini: el Arte del Buen comer, a Gourmet-style culinary magazine that ran from 1986 to 1995 and played a key role in developing interest in Mexican cookery as fine cuisine during that period. The final December 1994/January 1995 issue includes a gala menu from Lula Bertrán, which would be perfect for a gourmet New Year’s Eve.
Romeritos, Nopales y Camarón (4 porciones)
- 500 g. de romeritos limpios
- 400 g. de camarón crudo sin piel
- ¼ de taza de cebolla picada
- ½ diente de ajo
- ½ barrita de mantequilla
- 1 pan de caja sin costra humedecido con leche
- 1 huevo
- 1/3 de taza de crema natural espesa
- Pimienta blanca
- Sal
Salsa:
- 3 chiles: pasilla, mulato y ancho
- ¼ de taza de almendras
- 4 cucharadas de ajonjolí
- 1 raja de canela
- 4 cucharadas de pan molido
- 1 diento de ajo
- ¼ de pieza de cebolla chica
- 2 cucharadas de aceite
- 2 tazas de caldo de pollo
- 4 nopales limpios, cocidos al vapor y rebanados
- 4 papas cocidas al vapor y rebanadas
Limpiar muy bien los romeritos y retirar los tallos gruesos dejando únicamente las hojas tiernas. Forrar las paredes del interior de los moldes individuals con romeritos tapizando bien. Salpimentar.
Saltear rápidamente el camarón, cebolla y ajo en la mantequilla. Licuar todo hasta obtener una pasta tersa. Agregar el huevo y el pan. Vaciar en un recipient y envolver la pasta suavemente con la crema. Debe quedar una pasta tersa y suave.
Rellenar con esta preparación cada uno de los moldes forrados de romeritos y colocarlos en un traste a baño María. Cubrir todo con aluminio y cocer a fuego medio durante 30 minutos.
Para la salsa:
En un sartén amplia asar los chiles con las almendras, ajonjolí, ajo, cebolla, canela y pan molido, moviendo constantamente para evitar que se quemen. Retirar los chiles y hervirlos 5 minutos con un chorrito de vinagre. Licuar los ingredients asados con los chiles y el caldo o agua necessaries para facilitar el licuado. Freír la pasta en el aceite. Agregar el resto del caldo para obenter una salsa semiespesa. Condimentar con sal y pimiento.
Para server: Desmoldar los timbales de romeritos y colocar uno sobre cada plato. Repartir en porciones los nopalitos y las papas, bañar con una porción de la salsa y espolvorear con ajonjolí.
Rosemary, Nopales, and Shrimp (4 servings)
- 500 g. of clean rosemary
- 400 g. peeled raw shrimp
- ¼ cup chopped onion
- ½ clove of garlic
- ½ stick of butter
- 1 slice of crustless bread moistened with milk
- 1 egg
- 1 / 3 cup heavy cream
- white pepper
- salt
- 3 chiles: pasilla, mulato and ancho
- ¼ cup almonds
- 4 tablespoons sesame seeds
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4 tablespoons bread crumbs
- 1 clove of garlic
- ¼ small onion
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 4 nopales cleaned, steamed and sliced
- 4 potatoes steamed and sliced
Thoroughly clean and remove the rosemary stems, leaving thick tender leaves. Line the interior walls of the individual molds well with rosemary. Add salt and pepper.
Quickly saute shrimp, onion and garlic in butter. Blend to a smooth paste. Add the egg and bread. Pour into a container and mix the dough gently with the cream. It should be a smooth and soft paste.
Fill each of the molds lined with rosemary with this preparation and place in the top of a double boiler. Cover all with foil and cook over medium heat for 30 minutes.
For the salsa:
In a large skillet, roast the chiles with almonds, sesame seeds, garlic, onion, cinnamon and bread crumbs, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Remove the chiles and boil the other ingredients for 5 minuteswith a splash of vinegar. Blend cooked ingredients with the roasted chiles and broth or water, as necessary to facilitate blending. Fry the resulting mixture in oil. Add remaining broth to attain a semi-spicy salsa. Season with salt and pepper.
To serve: Unmold the rosemary-lined containers and place one on each plate. Divide the nopales and potatoes into individual servings next to each mold, bathe with salsa and top with sesame seeds.
Ensalada de Nochebuena
- 2 betabeles cocidos, pelados y cortados en Juliana fina
- 2 cañas
- 3 limas
- 3 cucharadas de vinagre de vino blanco
- ¼ de taza de aceite de olive
- ¼ de taza de cacahuates tostados
Colocar el betabel cocido y cortado en una ensaladera y mantenerlo en refrigeración. Mezclar los jugos de la caña y las limas, el vinagre y el aceite. Sazonar con sal y pimiento y batir fuertemente.
Para server: Mezclar el betabel con la vinagreta hasta que quede bien empapado. Colocar las porciones en los platos individuals y repartir por encima los cacahuates.
Christmas Salad (4 servings)
- 2 cooked beets, peeled and julienned
- 2 lengths of sugar cane
- 3 limes
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup toasted peanuts
Place cooked and julienned beets into a bowl and keep refrigerated. Mix the juice of the sugarcane and limes, vinegar and oil. Season with salt and pepper and beat thoroughly.
To serve: Mix the beets with the vinaigrette until well soaked. Place servings on individual plates and top with peanuts.
Bacalao a la Mexicana (4 porciones)
- 400 g. de bacalao seco
- 4 cucharadas de aceite de olive
- 1 cabeza de ajo
- 1 chile de agua o gűero
- ½ taza de aceitunas
- 2 tazas de salsa Mexicana picada de jitomate
Remojar el bacalao durante 12 horas en agua fría, cambiando el agua varias veces. Retirar el pescado del agua y quitarle las espinas. Sofreír la cabeza de ajo cortada por mitad en el aceite. Agregar el bacalao en 4 trozos o desmenuzado y freír hasta que esté ligeramente dorado. Agregar el chile, las aceitunas y la salsa Mexicana. Cocern unos minutes más y server inmediatamente.
Mexican Cod (4 servings)
- 400 g. dried cod
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 head of garlic
- 1 guero chile (yellow wax)
- ½ cup olives
- 2 cups tomato salsa
Soak the cod for 12 hours in cold water, changing the water several times. Remove the fish from the water and remove the bones. Saute garlic head cut in half in the oil. Add the cod in 4 pieces or crumbled and fry until lightly browned. Add the chile, olives and salsa Mexicana. Cook for a few minutes and serve immediately.
Buñuelitos con Tejocotes
- ½ taza de harina
- ½ cucharadita de Royal
- 1 huevo
- 1 cucharada de aceite vegetal
- 1 taza de piloncillo rallado
- 1 raja de canela
- 12 tejocotes
En procesador, mezclar la harina, el Royal, el huevo y el aceite. Formar una bola con la masa agregando más harina o aceite según sea necesario para obtener una textura suave y tersa.
Pasar la pasta por la máquina de pasta o extender con rodillo hasta obtener una capa sumamente delgada. Cortar en tiras de 20 x 5 cm. cada una. Enredar en la mano cada tira de pasta y luego freír en aceite abundante hasta que dore. Retirar los buñuelitos del aceite y colocar sobre papel absorbent.
Derretir el piloncillo con el agua hasta obtener una miel. Agregar los tejocotes lavados y cocer hasta que dore. Retirar los buñuelitos del aceite y colocar sobre papel absorbent.
Derretir el piloncillo con el agua hasta obtener una miel. Agregar los tejocotes lavados y cocer hasta que estén suaves y bien caramelizados.
Para servir: Colocar en los platos una porción de buñuelitos, repartir los tejocotes en los platos y bañar con abundante miel muy caliente.
Buñuelitos with Tejocotes
- ½ cup flour
- ½ teaspoon of baking powder
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 cup grated piloncillo (brown cone sugar)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 12 tejocotes
In a food processor, mix flour, baking powder, egg, and oil. Form a ball with the dough, adding more flour or oil as needed to obtain a soft and smooth texture.
Pass the dough through a pasta machine or roll out very thin with a rolling pin. Cut into strips of 20 x 5 cm. each. Hand twist each strip an then fry in plenty of oil until golden. Remove from oil once golden and drain on paper towels.
Melt the piloncillo with water to make syrup. Add the washed tejocotes and cook until soft and carmelized.
To serve: On each plate, place a serving of buñuelitos, spreading the tejocotes on to in the dishes and bathe with plenty of hot syrup.
Enchilada de Legumbres y Chiles / Vegetable and Chile Enchilada, 1985
Metcalfe de Plata, Edith. Cocina mexicana vegetariana : típicas y sabrosas recetas a base de ingredientes integrales. México : Edaf Mexicana, 1985. Pp. 63, 71, 77. [TX837 .M53518 1985].
If you enjoyed last week’s salsa picante, mix up a fresh batch to use for these vegetarian enchiladas. As the recipe below explains, any combination of vegetables can be used for the filling.
The amounts given in the recipe are for one enchilada, so I multiplied them by the number of enchiladas needed to fill two 1.5 qt. casserole dishes. Exact proportions are not essential, and any leftovers can be combined to make a delicious side salad with extra salsa picante.
Enchilada de Legumbres y Chiles
- Aproximadamente 3 cucharadas de verduras cocida (véase abajo)
- 1 cucharada de queso parmesano rallado
- 3 ó 4 tiras de chile ancho
- 1 cucharada de cebolla y otra de cilantro picado
- 1 cucharadita de salsa picante (pág. 63) (optativo) (véase la semana pasada)
- Extienda los ingredientes sobre media tortilla preparada.
- Enróllela y colóquela en una fuente de server previamente calentada. (Manténgala caliente y prepare tantas enchiladas como necesite.)
- Cubra la tortilla con salsa de nata agria (pág. 71) y espolvoree por encima una generosa dosis de queso rallado y cualquier otro acompañamiento de enchilada.
Sugerencias de verduras herviadas a utilizar en este plato:
- Espárragos
- Brécol
- Repollo
- Zanahoria (rallada)
- Coliflor
- Berenjena
- Champiñones
- Cebolla
- Patata
- Espinacas
- Tomates
Vegetable and Chile Enchilada
- Approximately 3 tablespoons of cooked vegetables (see below).
Any type of cooked vegetables may be used, even leftovers. I sauteed mushrooms and carrots for my version.
- 1 tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese
- 3 or 4 strips of ancho chile
Soak the ancho chiles in hot (boiled) water for 10-15 minutes, seed, devein, and cut into strips.
- 1 tablespoon of onion and another of cilantro, chopped
- 2 teaspoon of salsa picante (p. 63) (optional) (see last week’s post)
Cooked Vegetables, Salsa Picante, White Onion, Cilantro, and Ancho Chile Strips
- Spread the ingredients over half of a prepared tortilla.
If tortillas are stiff, soften by frying briefly in a hot, oiled skillet before filling.
- Roll it up and place in a preheated serving dish. Keep warm while preparing as many enchiladas as needed.
Roll up each enchilada and fit it snugly into the warm serving dish.
- Cover the tortillas with sour cream salsa (p. 71 and below) and top with a generous amount of grated cheese and whatever else you wish to accompany the enchiladas with.
I could not use the second salsa the recipe calls for because I can't eat sour cream, so instead I topped off the enchiladas with extra salsa picante. This was very tasty, but I think the cream salsa would make it even better.
Suggestions for cooked vegetables to use in this dish:
- Asparagus
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Carrots
- Cauliflower
- Eggplant
- Mushrooms
- Onion
- Potatoes
- Spinach
- Tomatoes
Salsa de Crema Agria (p. 71)
- ½ litro de nata agria
- 25 gr. De aceitunas negras picadas
- 1 cucharada de pimiento morron picado
- 2 a 3 gotitas de salsa picante (por ejemplo Tabasco)
Mezcle todos los ingredients y extienda la mezcla sobre la enchilada. Antes de servirla, espolvoréela con semillas de sesame tostado.
Cómo tostar semillas de sesame:
Extienda algunas semillas de sesame en la parte inferior de una sartén. Ponga el fuego a intensidad media y remueva las semillas con una cuchara de Madera, agite la sartén de vez en cuando para evitar que las seemillas se peguen.
Salsa de Crema Agria (p. 71)
- ½ litro de nata agria
- 25 gr. De aceitunas negras picadas
- 1 cucharada de pimiento morron picado
- 2 a 3 gotitas de salsa picante (por ejemplo Tabasco)
Mix all the ingredients and spread the mix over the enchilada. Before serving, top with toasted sesame seeds.
How to toast sesame seeds:
Spread some seeds on the bottom of a skillet. Turn heat to medium. Stir with a wooden spoon and shake the skillet occasionally to keep the seeds from sticking to the bottom.
