It’s been cold here in Los Angeles and I’ve been gravitating to soups and stews for their comforting warmth.  Today, I wanted lentils or lentejas as we call them.  I wanted something different though, not the Mexican style lentils I usually make.  I wanted soup, but something rich and rib sticking that would pair well with crusty, warm bread.

I set my lentils to boil with a clove of garlic and a quartered small onion.  While that boiled, I rummaged round the fridge to see what I had on hand.  The Ziplock bags of sliced Honeybaked ham almost danced into my hands.  Mmmmm.  I was already imagining that smokey, pork flavor mixed with the lentils.  I found tomatoes and some long green California chiles as well and pulled those out to dice them.  Once my lentils were cooked, I fired up a heavy skillet, coated it liberally with some bacon fat and fried up my chiles and tomatoes.  I also diced up one small Serrano pepper for some heat and fried that with the other chiles and tomatoes.  Once the chiles and tomatoes were well caramelized, I added the diced ham and fried that till nicely browned.  Then I scooped in the lentils and let them simmer into the mixture.  I let it simmer covered for about a half hour and the result was a spicy, thick and delicious soup.

Gina’s Spicy Lentil Soup

2 cups of dried lentils

2 cloves of garlic

water

one small onion, quartered

one tomato, diced

two California chiles, chopped

one Serrano chile, diced finely

one cup ham, roughly chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

In a heavy saucepan, bring the water to boil and add the lentils.  I usually add two cups of water for every cup of lentils.  Add the garlic cloves and the quartered onion.  Simmer, covered for about 45 minutes or until the lentils are soft.  You may have to add more water to prevent them from drying out. Lentils absorb an awful lot of water.

Chop your chiles, seed and de-vein them.  Diced the tomatoes and set aside.

In a heavy greased skillet (I used bacon fat but you can substitute olive oil or anything you want), fry the chiles and tomatoes until carmelized.  Add the chopped ham and fry till browned nicely.

Add the lentils to the chile and ham mixture and lower the heat.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer, covered another 20 minutes so that the flavors blend well.

Serve with warm, toasty bread.

Albert - He likes his salsa HOT.

This post may kill you…just kidding.

My boys love salsa.  Red, green, black, corn salsa, mango salsa, you name it they love it but when it comes to their favorite all three of them will tell you the same thing: “My mom’s Tupperware-eating salsa”.  They mean my salsa negra, an intoxicatingly good and rich salsa made with chile pequins and chile del arbol and yes, it once melted Tupperware.

My grandmother would occasionally make this salsa, opening all the windows in the house so that the smoke of the roasting dried chilis wouldn’t make everyone start coughing, gasping and running for the door.  Whenever she made it, it was put in a glass bowl, but I never knew why.

I made it often as my children were growing up.  It’s one of those salsas that are perfect for barbeques and long summer days.  A small scoop topping your carne asada taco, slowly dripping off that slice of avocado gives just the right piquant bite.  Salsa Negra is HOT, meant for small tastes but it is full of flavor and my boys go absolutely nuts for it.  Especially since the Tupperware incident…

One summer I couldn’t find my Pyrex bowl and I was in the midst of making Salsa Negra.  My boy Albert handed me a Tupperware bowl and not really, paying attention I took it.  I opened all the windows, put a bandana over my nose and mouth (yes I looked like the cooking bandida todo ala Joaquin Murrieta) roasted the dried chiles del arbol and pequin in big handfuls until they were blackened nicely.  Coughing, I roasted onion and cloves of garlic till they were dark and limp then got out my old molcajete.  I added sea salt to the basalt bowl, then started crushing first the garlic, then onion, and chiles while I roasted fat, juicy tomatoes on the samel comal I had previously roasted my chiles on.  When the tomatoes were done, I quickly peeled them and one by one, they went into the molcajete too.  I scraped out the contents of the bowl into the plastic bowl my son had handed me and got to carefully stripping cilantro leafs off their stems.  A ladleful of chicken broth went into the bowl and a handful of the plucked cilantro.  Then I started to stir it with my wooden spoon.  As I stirred, I started noticing what appeared to be little white threads.  WTH?  I stirred some more.  More white threads.  I picked one out.  Felt it.  It felt like plastic.  WTH?  Then I noticed the sides of the bowl had what appeared to be little scratches.  It was EATING the plastic!!

I showed my boys who marveled at it.  Needless to say, I sadly poured the salsa down the disposal and started over, this time grabbing a glass bowl.  I wondered aloud what it was doing to our stomachs, but my son Albert said, “Who cares?  That’s your best salsa and damn it eats tupperware!”

My Salsa Negra never again was called that.  Twenty years later it’s still Tupperware-eating Salsa, a thing to brag about to their Navy buddies, guys stationed with them in the Middle East, wives, etc.  Whenever they come home and I ask what they want to eat, the famous Tupperware-eating salsa is always the first thing that comes out of their mouths.

Next time I make it, I’ll post pictures.

Papa's Papas

My grandfather (Papa Chava) was one of my favorite people and biggest influences in my young life. To me he was the strongest man in the world and the kindest. He was a sobador (traditional massage healer) and never took a dime for the help he gave people in the parish. He’d always say, “no cobramos por ayuda” we don’t charge to help. He and my grandmother were old school Latino – they gave to their community, the genuinely cared about everyone and thought it was their duty and their privilege to be able to do for the people in the family and neighborhood.

My grandfather was strong. Like superman strong from a lifetime of hard physical labor. This is a man who a month after 7 major surgeries was out breaking concrete with a sledgehammer no matter what we said to try to stop him. In the end, he was frail, so frail with skin like tissue paper and no appetite. I’d parade food on days I was there, trying to tempt his appetite and rarely succeeded. He’d nibble just to make me happy, but with my grandmother gone and the cancer that was now in his bones, he was drifting away. During that time, we’d talk about food. He loved cooking too, but a different style than my grandmother. He liked big, peasant style meals – odd things like store bought chicharrones soaked in chile verde so bad for you; but oh so good. If he talked about a recipe or told me a story about food, I’d rush to recreate it in the hopes that the strength of memory would urge him to take a bite or two.

Papa

He told me about Mexico and living there as a child and young boy. He’d left as a teenager during the Revolution and his life there had been a hard one. He told me stories about working out in the milpas with his father when he was only three years old. He would proudly tell me how he earned a few centavos, bought his mother an olla and gave her the other two centavos. His work ethic was ingrained from the beginning and he passed it on to me, the one who can’t stop even when I’m falling asleep.

Papa would talk about the mineros (miners) that worked in the silver mines. I don’t know if he worked in the mines or family did. I just know that he knew about them. He’d talk about big, manly style one-pot food that often got made by his mother. Pots were expensive, a poor family didn’t have too many. Maybe one or two so often things were made all in one pot. That’s why that olla he bought his mother was so important and made him so proud. They were dirt poor and it was a really hard time in Mexico in Guanajuato, the seat of much unrest. The city of Celaya in particular has some pretty bloody history.

He never talked about hard times much. If I asked, he’d just say that he didn’t like to talk about it, that bad times were better left in the past. It was enough to have me not speak of it again and enough to ignite curiosity and a passion for Mexican history, especially the history of the Revolution and the time just before it. I could see why the family didn’t want to talk to children about those times and why he preferred to talk about Cantinflas, La India Maria, Chucho el Roto and food.

He did talk about food a lot. Papas (potatoes) in chile verde, big pots of potatoes, onions, eggs and chiles all mixed together, the tortillas his dear mother made, enchiladas mineras (a specialty in Guanajuato) and of maguey worms and nopales. One day I tried to recreate one of his miner /peasant one-pot recipes and he loved it so much, I made it several times. I lost my grandfather not too long after but my boys loved the recipe so much that I made it often. Every time I make it, I get a little weepy but I smile too, remembering that most gentle and strong man who taught me some of the best life lessons that have sustained me all my life. We call the recipe Papa’s Papas, a name my youngest son Bobby came up with when he was just about four years old.

Que rico!

Papa’s Papas/Papa’s Potatoes

10 potatoes, chopped into bite-sized chunks with peel on
2 onions, halved and sliced into half rings
6 eggs
Salt and pepper to taste
Jalapenos en escabeche, sliced
1 lb of bacon, each sliced cut into four equal pieces

In a large dutch oven or skillet fry the bacon until crispy then add the potatoes right into the pan with the bacon and grease.

Add salt and pepper to taste and the onions. Fry on medium heat until the potatoes are nicely browned and the onions well caramelized.

Lower heat and cook until the potatoes are fork tender.

Crack the eggs right on top of the potatoes when they are done, in a circular pattern around the pot, sprinkle them with salt and pepper, add in about a cup of sliced jalapenos en escabeche (Herdez or La Costena brand is what I use) right in the center. Cover and turn off the heat. Let sit for about five minutes, letting the steam poach the eggs. The vinegary escabeche of the jalapenos will mix with the steam and infuse the whole dish.

Sabroso

Serve with crema Mexicana, refried beans and warm corn tortillas. It makes a super hearty breakfast.
Make sure each person gets a section with a whole egg in it. If you’re serving more than six people, add in another egg per person. The recipe is very flexible.

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?

It was a hot summer night and I didn’t feel like making a full dinner.  We just weren’t that hungry but something snacky sounded good.  I mentally started going through the recipe list that lives in my head for something cool, spicy, semi-healthy and fun.  Running through the list I wasn’t finding anything I was in the mood for then I remembered the big bag of chiles gueritos I had just bought at the market earlier in the day.  It got me remembering a trip to Mexico with my friend Elodia, her husband Frank, and the rest of her family.

We had been at her parent’s home in the Imperial Valley visiting and since it was so close to the border, we just headed in to a little seafood restaurant they knew and loved.  One of the things that was served as an appetizer were these amazing little stuffed chile gueritos.   The chiles were fried in butter, stuffed with breaded and very fresh shrimp and served with a little side dish of soy sauce.  They were delectable and stayed in my memory for a very long time.  The memory of good friends, good food, cold beer and Mexico is one of my favorites and I’ve since fiddled with and made those same stuffed chiles as well as many permutations of them.  They always turn out amazing and everyone is a fan so I started thinking about what I had in the house to stuff the chiles with.

Stepping into my still almost an obstacle  course kitchen in the fixer upper house we just bought, I started scanning my shelves.  First thing I saw was the 36 cans of albacore tuna that my roommate David brought home proudly on one of his bargain shopping trips.  Laughing, I grabbed a can and started assembling the rest of my ingredients:  butter, chiles, a yellow onion, two stalks of celery, a few key limes, two tomatoes, salt, pepper, soy sauce and a squeeze bottle of mayo and got to work. About 20 minutes later, I had a relatively healthy and satisfying snack that was beautiful and delicious.  I served my chiles on a bed of caramelized onions and tomatoes to give a little sweetness to the dish.  It’s the perfect thing for a hot summer night.  Just add cold beer or some icy Prosecco and you’re good to go.

Chiles Rellenos de Atun

10 chile gueritos

tablespoon butter

1 can albacore tuna, drained well

2 stalks of celery, minced

1/2 a medium tomato, finely minced

salt and pepper to taste

squeeze of lime or lemon

caramelized onions and tomatoes

Wash the chiles and pat dry.  In a cast iron skillet, melt the butter on a low flame and then add the whole chiles stems and all.  Let brown and blister, then turn making sure each chile gets well browned and blistered all the way around.  Remove from heat and cover with a damp cloth.  Let cool.

In a mixing bowl, add the drained albacore tuna, the tomatoes, celery, lime juice,salt and pepper.  Mix well, breaking the tuna up into very small flakes.  Let rest for five minutes covered.

Peel the cooled chiles, leaving the stems on.  Slit them down the middle lengthwise stopping just before the end.  You want a small pocket.  Carefully remove the seeds if you want to.  My family happens to like them in because the chiles are spicier with.  Up to you.  I tend to leave them in if my boys are visiting but for guests, I remove all the seeds.

Using a spoon stuff each chile just enough to let a small about of the tuna mixture pop out.  Garnish with a dab of mayonnaise and a slice of lime. Serve them on a bed of caramelized onions and tomato slices and a dipping bowl of soy sauce on the side.  The sweetness of the caramelized veggies will cool the heat just enough.

]]> http://donalupeskitchen.com/2010/07/chiles-rellenos-de-atun-tuna-stuffed-chiles/feed/ 0 http://donalupeskitchen.com/2010/03/rajas-con-queso-y-crema/ http://donalupeskitchen.com/2010/03/rajas-con-queso-y-crema/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:17:16 +0000 Gina Ruiz http://donalupeskitchen.com/?p=420

I’ve always worked in offices before I started freelancing in social media marketing, and in offices there are often potlucks.   There is always a baby shower, birthday, holiday, wedding or something to celebrate with that second family we spend so much of our daily lives with.  Our co-workers and team members matter to us, we bond, we can be dysfunctional or work together smoothly but since we spend so much time with each other, we tend to find reasons to celebrate together as well.  If you’re anything at all like me, you tend to agonize over what to take.  Potluck food should be good enough to impress all the participants, simple enough that you can make on a rushed weeknight, portable so it doesn’t spill all over your car and if it’s too be hot, something easily re-heatable that holds together well.  Not so easy is it?

Years ago I hit upon my sure-fire potluck hit and I’ve stayed with it and perfected it over the years.  Ok, it’s not perfect if you have vegans or lactose intolerant visitors there which is why I make two things for any potluck I go to, but for the rest this dish is luscious, rich, creamy and not in the least bit good for silly things like waistlines.  Drum roll please…rajas con queso y crema.  Strips of chile with cheese and cream.  Sounds good, que no?  Well it is.

Rajas con queso y crema are an old favorite in my house and one that gets asked for a lot.  Roasted poblano peppers, butter, queso fresco, onions caramelized in butter and sour cream all combine to make a delectable, creamy vegetarian dish that is substantial, portable, easy to make and sure to make you the hit of the potluck event.  People will be talking about your rajas for weeks afterwards.  I use a slow cooker to transport them in because I can plug it in when I get to work, set it to low and the rajas will be hot and perfect by lunchtime without curdling the cream.  On the way to work, stop at the market and grab a baguette or a loaf of French bread (sliced if you can get it) and you’re good to go.  There are a lot of different way to make these and each Mexican cook has her own preference – this is just mine.  I prefer the sour cream texture over the more traditional Mexican crema and somewhere some nice Mexican cook is screaming that this recipe isn’t the right one.  Pero sabes que? It’s my recipe and I like it, so there.

This recipe makes a whole slow cooker full but no worries, you won’t be taking any back home.

Gina’s Rajas con Queso y Crema

About 8-10 fresh poblano peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded and de-veined then cut into 1/4 inch wide strips.  (If you can’t find poblanos, pasillas will do.  If you reall can’t find fresh chiles or don’t want to be bothered you can use Ortega green chiles but I really don’t recommend it AT ALL, proceed at your own risk)
About 1 tbsp of Knorr Pollo – Knorr Chicken Flavored seasoning powder
2 golden onions, sliced into thin rings
1 round of queso fresco (1 pound)
1 quart of sour cream
1 stick of butter (yes 1 stick – I told ya this wasn’t good for your waistline.  You people who are already revising my recipe with something healthy, it’s just not gonna be the same or as deliciously creamy)

Roast the peppers on a comal or in the oven until the skins are blackened.  I wrap them in a clean, damp dishcloth to let the skins steam off and while they are steaming, I prepare the onions.

Melt the stick of butter in a deep saute pan, a deep stir fry pan works great for this and add in the onion rings.  Sautee until the onions are caramelized and a deep golden brown.  Add the Knorr Pollo to taste and stir.

Peel, seed and de-vein the chiles then cut them into thin bite sized strips, set aside.

Crumble the queso and add to the onion mixture a bit at a time, stirring constantly until it melts.  As you add more queso it will be come thicker and hard to stir.  Keep going.  When the queso is all melted in one big goopy mess and probably wrapped around your spoon, it’s ready.

Scoop that mixture into the slow cooker and add the chile strips and all of the sour cream and stir it till it all blends together into a creamy, buttery sauce.  Refrigerate overnight in the removable pot part of your slow cooker covered if you are taking it to the office.  If not, serve immediately.

Plug in the slow cooker about four hours before serving and set to low.  Serve with slices of French bread or baquette.  Alternatively, you can serve over white rice.

Buen provecho!

I am longing for sunshine and springtime which has got me thinking about verdolagas.  Verdolagas (purslane, pigweed, hogweed) are to me all about spring.  They grow wild on roadsides, all through Griffith Park and used to be, near the road where they put the Metro in Highland Park.  i know the hills in Lincoln Heights used to get covered with them in the Spring but I’m not sure now.  I’ve not been out looking for wild greens in a while.  In L.A. they are now more easily found in the markets like Superior that cater to a Mexican/Latino clientele.

When I was a kid, verdolagas grew rampant right on the grass at my grandparents house and in cracks on the sidewalk.  My job was to yank them up, but we didn’t throw away our weeds.  No que no, I brought them in in a little basket to my grandmother who carefully cleaned them and cooked them in a variety of ways.  I loved to much on the cleaned raw greens for the tangy flavor.

Chanfles has a pictorial on how to clean and cook verdolagas here, but the way Grandma Lupe used them in food was different.  There are tons of recipes for verdolagas and everyone has their favorite.  My personal favorite was verdolagas con carne de puerco y chile.
The pork is cubed, fried till it’s crispy then cooked in a sauce made of cooked verdolagas, caramelized tomatoes and onions, chopped serrano chiles and cilantro.  Served with rice, beans and tortillas its an amazing start to Spring.

Verdolagas con carne de puerco y chile

1 bunch of well cleaned verdolagas, ends trimmed then chopped into about 1-inch sections
1 pound boneless pork chops, cubed (get pork with the fat NOT trimmed off)
1 small onion, sliced into rings
1 clover of garlic, minced
2 large tomatoes, diced
3-4 fresh serrano chiles, seeded, de-veined and sliced into thin strips
salt and pepper to taste
chopped cilantro, about 1/4 cup

Boil the verdolagas for about ten minutes.  Drain and set aside.

Fry the pork until very crispy and browned.  Scoop out and set aside.

In the frying pan, you fried the pork in add the onion and fry until caramelized.  Add the tomatoes, chiles and garlic and cook down until you have a soupy sauce.  Add salt and pepper to taste and chopped cilantro, then add the pork.

Simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve with rice, beans and warm tortillas.

It’s morning and I’ve finally woken at a decent time, though I still can’t sleep at night for the silence.  I miss that L.A. lullaby of police sirens, music, traffic, voices, dogs barking and the Santa Anas ratting my window panes on a windy night.  I’m sitting on my bed still a little sleepy, wondering what to wear and thinking of those cold mornings in Atwater Village where the creaking of ancient hardwood floors would wake me and the smells of breakfast drifting from the kitchen would lure me out of my cocoon of blankets.

One of my favorite things my grandmother would cook was huevos con chile, scrambled eggs with salsa.  She’d wake up early, about 5am and throw open all the windows and doors to let the fresh air in.  She’d then go outside and water all her flowers and plants while my grandfather irrigated his garden.  From my bed, I would hear the water, feel the dewy morning chill and snuggle in to sleep a little more.  Safe, comforting sounds.  I’d wake again to the creaking of the floorboards, the rattling of pots and then the smells.

Sometimes I’d jump out of bed and run to help in the kitchen.  I’d see the comal going with tomatoes and chiles on it and know she was making salsa.  My grandfather would be there in the kitchen with his rolling pin dusted in flour, rolling out those massive flour tortillas he loved to make.  He worked powerfully and fast.  A quick three turns of the pin and he would have this huge tortilla that barely fit the comal.  I never failed to be amazed by how giant they were and he never tired of showing off for me.

My grandmother would put the molcajete in front of me and the peeled chiles, tomatoes and a few other things like roasted garlic cloves, translucent quarters of onion.  She’d start grinding the chile mixture while i stripped cilantro stems of their leaves and flowers.  She then would take about half of the freshly made salsa over to the stove where she’d scramble eggs and then pour in the salsa which sent off this luscious, spicy steam that made my mouth water.  Before I knew it, there’d be a plate in front of me with eggs colored red and green from the salsa, a scoop of beans with cheese, maybe fresh slices of avocado,  cantaloupe or papaya with lime and one of my Papa’s mega tortillas.

The first bite always tickled my tongue and put a smile on my face.  The eggs were always perfect, the tortillas fluffy and warm, and the best part was my grandmother finally sat down and I could jabber at her, my Aunt Jessie and my Papa while we ate.  What did we talk about?  Why food of course, recipes we wanted to try, how the chiles were growing in the garden and how many rows of cilantro there were.

What are your favorite memories of breakfasts?

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. 

I was sitting here at my desk working when I looked at the little Mexican flag in my pencil cup and thought to myself, “I should at least do a tiny Fiestas Patrias for Jasmine & Aiden.  They need to experience their culture”.  Bueno.  I got up, ran to the store and picked up a few things.  This is what I made:

Ground Beef Hard-Shelled Tacos (my daughter’s favorite)

What my grandmother would call salsa patria – a mixture of chopped tomatoes, cilantro and onion sprinkled with salt.  We use it to serve over tacos or as a side dish.

A chile salsa I only make de vez y cuando (once in a while).  It doesn’t have a name and I can’t remember which aunt taught me to make it, but it’s very delicious.  Made with chiles gueritos, cilantro, onion, garlic, salt, white pepper, tomatoes and vinegar.  Recipe below.

White rice

Boiled chayotes served with lemon, salt and chile powder.

Tunas (prickly pears) ice cold and sliced.

Fried chiles

That’s it!  Very simple, very homey but still with the red, white and green theme.  Still traditional and very much enjoyed by all.

Recipe for the tacos:

Extra lean ground beef
1/4 of an onion, chopped fine
dash cumin
dash white pepper
dash ground bay leaf
salt to taste
oil
corn tortillas

Cook the ground beef with the onion and spices on medium heat, making sure it’s finely crumbled.  Set aside when completely browned and the onions carmelized.

Heat the oil in a deep frying pan on medium heat.  I like to pour the oil about half way to the top.  Use any oil you like, this time I used extra virgin first cold-pressed olive oil.  Whatever works for you is fine.

When the oil is hot, slide in a tortilla and quickly flip it to the other side, then fold carefully.  Tongs will help.  I use two forks – I don’t know why, it’s just easy for me to hold the taco shell open with one and hold down the other end of it with the other one.  If you let the taco shell close, it will harden shut and you won’t be able to fill it.  Keeping it open while frying is key.  Fry till golden brown and crackly hard.  If you don’t fry it long enough, it will be chewy and get soggy from the filling quickly.

Set each taco shell aside on either brown paper or paper towels on a plate or pan so that the oil gets absorbed.  Bad enough we’re frying them, so make sure to get all the excess oil off.

Stuff the tacos with the beef and any other fillings you like.  For these, I just stuffed them with the meat, the salsa patria and chile salsa.  You can add lettuce, tomatoes, rice, beans, cheese, whatever.  It’s completely up to you and tacos are very flexible.  I make some from mashed potatoes that are to die for.  I’ll put that recipe in another time.

Salsa de chiles gueritos con vinagre (Chili salsa with vinegar)

Yellow chiles – chiles gueritos (how many depends on how hot you want it, for this one I used three in the sauce, but fried more to serve on the plate)
Cilantro, chopped or torn
1 tomato, diced
¼ of an onion, sliced and fried with the chiles
3 cloves of garlic, whole and fried with the chiles
salt to taste
white pepper, a dash
½ c. vinegar (any kind you like – this time I used white balsamic)

Wash the chiles and pat them dry, them fry them in a little oil.  Since I had just finished cooking the ground beef for the tacos, I fried them in that with a little more oil.  The meat drippings add flavor to the salsa.

Add the sliced onions to the chiles and fry those as well as the cloves of garlic.

Chop or tear your cilantro (about a handful) and set aside
Chop tomatoes and set aside

When the chiles are well-browned, take them out of the pan and wrap them in a clean, damp cloth and let them sit a few minutes.  This steams the skins off.

After the chiles are cool enough to handle, peel them and remove the stems.  Leave in the seeds if you want it hot or take them out for mild.  I didn’t bother de-seeding or de-veining in this instance.  Add the prepared chiles to a food processor.

Add the onions, vinegar and garlic to the food processor with the chiles with a dash of salt.  Puree, but not too smooth.  You want a little texture.

Add the chile puree to a bowl with the fresh chopped tomatoes and cilantro.

Add salt and white pepper to taste and stir.

That’s it.  You’ll find this salsa spicy, tangy and delicious on tacos or other dishes.

Buen provecho y feliz fiestas patrias.