chayotes

Sep

09

Shopping for Latino Ingredients

stories  Posted by / 7 comments

SDC10919 300x225 Shopping for Latino Ingredients

My roommate David is a foodie and a pretty darned good cook who is always up for some experimentation in the kitchen but his experience has been with Italian, Indian and American ingredients.  He doesn’t really understand Mexican food, but he loves it and I like teaching him how to make things.  Occasionally, he will suggest something that will turn my hair white like adding barley to my caldo de res, but I do my best not to beat him with the wooden spoons and gently explain that barley has no business in it.   Caldo de res is NOT beef and barley soup.

Every once in a while he’ll ask me if I need anything from the store and I’ll rattle off a list of Latino ingredients.  Sometimes he gets it and other times he can’t find it or remembers the words wrong.  It’s kinda hilarious.  The other day I sent him for piloncillo and he roamed the market looking for panocha (shorter, not conical) and was too embarrassed to ask a clerk for it because my son had gone and told him the slang for the same word (don’t ask – this is a family blog) so he came home with nada.  There went my capirotada idea.

Today we went into the market together.  Superior Market has a huge selection of the foods I love and as we shopped, I began to get an idea of just how alien it was to him.  Our quick shopping trip turned into a lengthier, leisurely class on Latino ingredients. The things I take so for granted were magic and wonder for David.

We started in the produce aisle.  I showed him the different between zucchini squash and the lighter (usually cheaper) Mexican version and explained the myriad virtues of the all powerful chayote.  Next up, how to pick a tuna (cactus or prickly pear).  The variety Superior had were the green ones, so delicious with lemon, salt and chile.

I showed him and had the carnicero give him tastes of different versions queso fresco so that he knew the difference in textures.  The real fun was showing him fun things like cachetas, pig feet, lengua and cabeza.  To his credit, he only flinched at the huge cow tongue wrapped in cellophane.  I promised to make him something delicious which got a dubious stare and an almost impercetable shudder.  I spared him the vision of hog’s heads and goat’s heads.  I’ll save that for when we go to a real carneceria, not the local market.  LOL.  I didn’t tell him the story of my Great-grandmother Teresita who, according to stories loved to eat fried pig eyes in a taco.  I think that would have freaked him out.

David has learned about Salsa Maggi, Knorr Suiza, Chamoy, the difference between cremas and chorizos and now knows some of the fundamentals of dried chiles and why we want cascabeles over California’s sometimes. I’ve walked him through panaderias and got him addicted to those delicious little gingerbread pig cookies we dip in coffee.  I’ve seen him blown away by the piping hot bollios we buy from the bakery counter.

In our shared kitchen, he’s starting to learn the different smells, tastes, purposes of what lies within the essential Latino pantry and getting to know what herbs and plants we will have in the garden. His excitement, wonder and fascination with our fabulous cultural patrimony of food  got me thinking that maybe Doña Lupe’s needs a pantry.  A post every so often focused on one Latino ingredient and it’s purpose.  What we use it for, why we love it, how versatile it is.  Que dicen? Shall I open the pantry?

Mar

26

Chayotes con crema y uvas (Chayotes with Cream and Green Grapes)

desserts / stories  Posted by / 0 comments

chayote Chayotes con crema y uvas (Chayotes with Cream and Green Grapes)

You see them in the markets sometimes individually wrapped in plastic. Green, bumpy looking things that are oddly shaped. Chayotes. What is it? A squash? What the heck do I do with it?
Chayotes were a big part of my growing up. We didn’t find them in the market, they grew on fences in great abundance and we were always excited when it was time to pick them. Chayotes are springtime in a squash. Light green skin, translucent green insides and in a word delicious. You can make them in any number of ways but my two favorites are very simple and show the versatility of the squash.

The first thing we did with chayotes was slice them in half, toss them in boiling salted water and wait till they softened. We’d fish them out of the hot water with a slotted spoon, place them on a plate, sprinkle with salt and fresh squeezed lemon and just dig in. They tasted like nothing else. Fresh, springy and piquant they just screamed out healthy and good. We loved them and would eat one after another. I still make chayotes that way and still love them. I also slice them into soups, use chopped, cooked chayotes in salads or meat dishes. They are even used in desserts like my favorite below.

Chayotes con crema y uvas (Chayotes with Cream and Green Grapes)

3-4 chayotes, peeled, cored, diced into chunks
1/2 pound green, seedless grapes
Crema Mexicana or heavy cream, whipped
1 tsp. Vanilla
Sugar to taste
Dash nutmeg

Boil the chayotes in unsalted water till softened, about 10 minutes. You want them firm but cooked through. Strain out and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking. Set aside to drain.
Wash and hull the grapes and place in a large bowl, add in the drained chayote.

Whip the cream to stiff peaks, slowly adding sugar to taste (you want just a hint of sweetness), the vanilla and the nutmeg. Scrape it out into the bowl with the grapes and chayotes and gently fold in.

Serve in parfait cups or on top of pound cake. Refrigerate if not serving immediately.

Sep

17

Fiestas Patrias Dinner Downsized

family recipes / main dishes / salsa  Posted by / 1 comments

p9160037 Fiestas Patrias Dinner Downsized

Fiestas Patrias is a big deal for me.  I usually go all out and have a big party, invite tons of people, make mountains of red, white and green food, have papel picado and paper flowers decorating the house, my Aztec dancer group dances, the big Mexican flag is out, there’s music (sometimes mariachis) and we all go out the door at midnight and scream at the top of our lungs, “Viva Mexico!  Viva Zapata! Viva la Patria!”

Yeah, we’re those crazy, noisy, party-loving Mexicans down on your block.

Last year, I didn’t host the party.  I was ill and battling something for months that made me incredibly tired, a slacker blogger and have serious lack of stamina to stand in a kitchen for hours cooking.  This year, I had thought I could do it.  I’m feeling great actually so I was geared up to throw a huge one and make up for  last year.  Then I got the call from my daughter telling me she was HIV+.  I suppose this has no place on a cooking blog, but it’s my blog and my life so there you go.  Welcome to my world.  She’s my only daughter.  I’ve three sons and one daughter.  After finding out, I went to bed for a little over a month and barely left it.  Not like me at all.  I’m usually the optimist and the “let’s fix it” person.  Not this time.  This knocked me down hard and it took a long time getting back up.  I’m up.  I’m fighting because that’s me.  I’m learning all I can and I’m being strong for my girl.

As far as Fiestas Patrias goes, I decided not to do it at all.  Not in a party mood, although I did go to Olvera Street for a little while to get my fill of it on Sunday afternoon.  Check out my photos of the event there, si quieren. 

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