Entries Tagged as 'Mexican'

Wild Mushrooms, Hutilacoche, and IFBC

5

09.9.12

“Wait, where are the mushrooms?” I glanced down at the bag of cherries in my hand as the double doors smashed together and the train pulled away. Dread. Disappointment. That crackly paper bag of luminous lobster mushrooms and farmstead goat cheese was now destined for an all-day ride around Portland. I left them behind while dreaming of the hutilacoche, wild mushroom, and truffle oil huarache I recently ate at La Condesa. But it was more the distracting thoughts about this year’s IFBC. As Morrissey would say, “Typical me.” Crankier than ever, I headed back to the conference to face the “blogging as industry” onslaught.

I had felt  triumphant when I saw that mushroom stand. Others might call it smug. Thirty minutes earlier, I had been sitting in a drab conference room listening to presentations about pushing magic buttons to get 25,000 or 100,000 unique views per month. Meanwhile, there was a whole world of tastes, smells, and blogging inspiration to discover in the city buzzing around us.  A twinge in my gut cried out “run away!” (this happens often), so I fled to the bustling Portland Farmers’ Market full of berries, oysters, cheese makers, and foragers. Earlier I had indulged in a sublime pâté at Olympic Provisions– that sweet pork butter melted on my tongue upon contact, swirling with barnyard and mustard. At Pok Pok Noi, I reveled in the juxtaposition of cool papaya salad against a fiery sauce of bird’s eye chilis, palm sugar, and pungent fish sauce. The spiciness of the salty black land crab topping exceeded that of the actual salad. I had no choice but to extinguish the fire with a cold pint of local lager. And the coffee at Coava Roastery? Don’t even get me started. It was the most emotional coffee experience ever– brewed in a glass beaker-esque French press, releasing aromas of raspberry and chocolate. Isn’t that the kind of stuff that really inspires bloggers? Or is it really SEO, brands, and PR stuff?

So I’m naïve. I didn’t know people created blogs just to make money. Can they really eat their sidebar ads alone?  And I wasn’t ready for the brand shilling. The Pork Board presentation made me feel particularly dirty, but I still lugged home one of their cute pig cutting boards, so what does that say about me? I’m not against working with brands per se, but I haven’t fully digested my feelings. On another note, I had no idea so many bloggers want a cooking show. I thought everyone who started a blog was like me– content to hide behind a computer screen.

Conferences are tough for an introvert like me. People make small talk, size you up quickly, determine if you’re worth their time. It’s not personal or aimed at anyone in particular– I’m sure I’m guilty of it as well. It’s just an observation about how conferences (and the world, for that matter) work, and I wish it weren’t that way. Yet I can’t wait to go through my pile of business cards and say “Hi” to all the lovely people I met.

So what happened after I returned to the conference mushroomless? The Saturday afternoon sessions were much more my speed. Diane Morgan’s presentation demystified the cookbook writing process, empowering me to pursue that goal maybe ten years down the road or so. I also enjoyed Kathleen Flinn’s writing pep talk, inspiring me to shake things up on this often formulaic blog. I was in high spirits by the end of the night and probably should have stopped partying and gone to bed earlier. But that’s just me being me.

These words came in a rush. Rarely does that happen. Clearly IFBC inspired me to keep blogging, but for now I’ll use it more for writing practice and taking Tastespotting-worthy photos. Other than that, let the chips fall where they may. And I felt better after realizing that at least I didn’t lose the truffle oil. Besides, I could buy wild mushrooms  in Austin shipped in from Oregon. Isn’t that what our giant Whole Foods is for anyways?

Huitlacoche Huaraches with Wild Mushrooms and Truffle Oil

  • 1 cup powdered masa harina for tortillas (such as Maseca brand)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1/4 pound mixed wild mushrooms, chopped (like chanterelles, hen of the woods, or lobster mushrooms)
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup huitlacoche
  • 1/4 cup Cotija cheese
  • 1/4 cup Mexican crema
  • 2 tablespoons fresh epazote, coarsely chopped
  • truffle oil for drizzling

1.   In a medium bowl, mix together masa harina and 1/2 teaspoon salt and 3/4 cup hot water. Mix together with your hands until a uniform dough forms. Set aside.

2. Melt the butter in a skillet set over medium heat and add the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper and cook until well browned, about 10 minutes. Remove the cooked mushrooms from the skillet and set aside.

3. Wipe the skillet with a paper towel. Pour in the vegetable oil and heat over medium high heat. Separate the huarache dough into three balls. Form each ball into an oblong oval about 1/2 inch thick and immediately place in the hot pan. Cook for about 5 minutes on each side, or until dark brown spots appear. Remove the huaraches to a plate.

4. Spread each huarache with a tablespoon or so of huitlacoche and then top with the mushrooms. Drizzle with a little truffle oil, and then add the Cotija cheese and crema. Garnish with the chopped epazote and serve.

5 comments categories: Cheese, Mexican, Ramblings, Travel, Vegetables

Huitlacoche Quesadillas with Pickled Habaneros

3

08.8.12

Peeps often ask me where I lived in New York. Brooklyn? Queens? “No,” I answer definitively, “Manhattan.” “Oooooh,” they say knowingly, with visions of doormen, elevators, and skyline views filling their heads. Sometimes I let them think it was that glamorous. And I guess it was, if you consider Mexican grocery stores, dead bodies stuffed into suitcases, and creepy dudes demanding money from you glamorous.

Ok, so I’m being dramatic (although it’s all true), but East Harlem is still a little rough around the edges. The shining beacon of a bright spot in my neighborhood was Taco Mix, a hole-in-the-wall taqueria open 24/7. The guys who work there turn out authentic tacos, quesadillas, and tortas at all hours of the night. They are absolute pros– I don’t know what the hell they do to make the food taste so good.

Besides tacos al Pastor, one of my favorite menu items was their quesadillas. But this wasn’t just some flour tortilla and Colby Jack abomination. The Taco Mix guys enclosed Oaxaca and Cotija cheeses in a pillow of fresh masa, cooked it on the griddle, and finished it off with crema. The resulting tortilla was somewhat thicker than usual, crispy around the edges and soft in the middle. Thankfully, chicken was not a filling choice as squash blossoms, mushrooms and huitlacoche were the only options.

Huitlacoche, the ink-black corn fungus, was my favorite. It’s essentially a mushroom that grows on corn. Hutilacoche’s savory earthiness and viscous consistency really beefs up a quesadilla, and that’s why it’s such a great combination.

I don’t know if habanero peppers are traditionally served on the side, but that’s how I liked it. The beautiful collage of green orange and purple looks so inviting until you put them in your mouth. Sometimes at 4 in the morning, beyond my better judgement, I would put heaps of these pickled habaneros on my quesadilla and light my mouth on FIRE. Only follow my example if you want a bad case of the hiccups.

Huitlacoche Quesadillas with Pickled Habaneros

For tortillas:

  • 1 tablespoons lard
  • 1 cup maseca mixed with 3/4 cup to 1 cup water

For filling:

  • 4 ounces queso de Oaxaca
  • 4 ounces cotija cheese
  • 1/2 cup huitlacoche

Place the maseca in a medium bowl and add the water. Using your hands, mix them together until a ball of dough pulls together. It should be moist but not too sticky to handle. Divide the dough into 4 balls and set aside.

Heat a cast iron skillet or comal over medium high heat. Rip off a piece of wax paper and place it on the kitchen counter. place one of the dough balls on it, and then place  another piece of waxed paper over the dough so that it is sandwiched between the wax paper. Using a cast iron skillet or something heavy, press the dough as flat as you can.

Carefully peel the flattened dough from the wax paper and place it on the heated skillet. Working quickly, layer queso de Oaxaca, cotija cheese, and huitlacoche on one side of the tortilla. Using a spatula, carefully fold the other side of the tortilla over the filling, and cook the other side. The quesadilla is ready when the outside is speckled with dark spots and the cheese on the inside is melted. Repeat with the other three.

Carefully unfold the quesadillas a bit and drizzle some crema on the filling. Serve with pickled habaneros and red onions if desired.

 

3 comments categories: Cheese, Mexican, Vegetables

Cashew Horchata

6

28.3.12

There’s some bad horchata out there, so I’ve always wanted to make my own. But I knew so little about it! I thought it contained dairy, but this horchata is milky from the rice and nuts. I was also under the impression that it was hard to make, but the only tedious part is straining it. I made my horchata with cashews, which isn’t authentic, but the results were rich and toasty.

Cashew Horchata

  • 1/3 cup white rice
  • 1 cup cashews, toasted
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 inch piece of lemon peel
  • half a vanilla bean
  • 1 cup sugar

1. Place the rice in a spice grinder and grind it until pulverized.

2. Place ground rice, cinnamon, cashews, lemon peel, and vanilla bean in a container.

3. Cover with 2 cups water and soak overnight.

4. Remove the container from the fridge the next day. Using an immersion blender, purée the mixture until it is as smooth as possible.

5. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve.

6. Pour the strained liquid into a pitcher. Add the sugar and 2 more cups of water. Stir until the sugar dissolves, and serve the horchata in a glass over ice.

6 comments categories: Mexican, Sweets

Austin City Guide 2012: Best Interior Mexican Food

11

01.3.12

This is a divergence from my regular posts to participate in the Austin Food Bloggers Alliance City Guide 2012. My extremely knowledgeable friend Hector Finis, an expert on Mexican food, kindly contributed these recommendations below:

When looking for Mexican food in Austin, you could go terribly wrong- hitting Taco Bell to try their latest Tex-Mex item (which is as Mexican as poutine), or try one of the many strip mall restaurants where you can find the classic, yet tired, tamal, enchilada, and rice & beans combo.

Rosita’s Al Pastor
1911 E Riverside Dr, Austin, TX 78798
There is a King of Tacos and that is the Taco Al Pastor (yes, capitalized). It all starts with pork steaks deliciously marinated in achiote and bitter oranges, then masterfully arranged in a shawarma (aka Meat Tornado) and roasted vertically to perfection. The taquero shaves some of that meaty goodness and tops it with onions, cilantro and pineapple. Add your favorite salsa and a few drops of lemon juice and you’re in for a treat.

Mariscos Los Jarochos
9200 N Lamar Blvd # 100, Austin, TX 78753
If your idea of Mexican seafood is fish tacos and a Corona, allow me to blow your mind. Mariscos Los Jarochos serves a great assortment of traditional seafood dishes. Camarones a la Diabla (deviled shrimp) pack enough heat to make you sweat, but it is so good that you’ll keep eating. The seafood empanadas are crunchy, yet the contents are tender and tasty. Explore their menu and have a Michelada or two.

El Naranjo Food Truck
85 Rainey St, Austin, TX 78701
Few places in Mexico evoke as great a culinary heritage as Oaxaca, and El Naranjo is a rightful ambassador of those traditions. If you visit this place, no matter what, try the mole, a concoction made with chile peppers, peanuts, spices and chocolate. It is sweet, yet spicy. The shredded chicken rests in this delightful preparation, delivering an explosion of flavor at every bite.

El Pollo Rico
1928 East Riverside Dr, Austin, TX 78741
If you’re looking for something you can eat in your car, try El Pollo Rico, aka Life Changing Chicken. This charcoal grilled chicken is as close as you’ll get to the franchise portrayed in Breaking Bad (sans the meth cartel behind it). The chicken is flavorful and tender, the beans are tasty, and their rice is fresh. You might relocate to Austin after trying it.

11 comments categories: Mexican

Confronting the Meat Grinder

0

15.5.11

This month’s Charcutepalooza challenge was one of the easiest yet, but I put it off until the last-minute. The large, old-timey meat grinder that I had borrowed intimidated me, but the grinding process was so much easier and more rewarding than I imagined. You toss in the cubes of meat, turn the crank, and within minutes you have fresh, homemade sausage. I kept the meat very cold, but I didn’t bother with the whole metal bowl and ice thing. I don’t even have a metal bowl. And I didn’t die after eating my sausage, so I think everything is fine.


I chose to make Mexican chorizo for this challenge. The only appropriate cut Richardson Farms had available was “pork stew meat.” It seemed a little too lean to me, so I lobbed off a piece of pork belly that I had stashed away for bacon or pancetta making purposes. I tossed all of the chunks of meat with chili powder, cayenne pepper, hot smoked paprika, fresh garlic, cumin, cinnamon, a little ginger, black pepper, and fresh marjoram and serrano peppers from the garden.

Chorizo always makes an excellent taco filling. I love preparing it using the traditional Mexican method of adding shredded potato and a little onion to the sausage to make it go further. Then I brown everything up nicely in the skillet. My favorite accompaniment is a salad of grilled nopales cactus with poblano peppers, white onion, cilantro and lime.
Cactus Salad (Nopaliches)

Serves 4

Ingredients:
4 nopales paddles, stripped of thorns and sliced into strips
2 poblano peppers, roasted and sliced into strips
1 white onion, sliced into thin rings
½ cup cilantro, minced
juice of 3 limes

Bring a pot of salted water to boil, and toss in the onion. After 5 minutes, add the nopales and cook 5 minutes longer. Turn off the heat, and drain the water from the vegetables. Place the blanched onion and nopales in a bowl and add the roasted poblano pepper strips along with the cilantro. Add the lime juice, salt to taste, and toss the vegetables to coat them evenly. Serve the nopaliches wrapped in warmed corn tortillas. Mexican cream, queso fresco, hot sauce, and chorizo also make a nice addition.

0 comments categories: Charcutepalooza, Charcuterie, Meat, Mexican, Pork, Sausage

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