Mexican Food Heroes

Diana Kennedy and Rick Bayless are my Mexican food heroes.

Chiles Stuffed with Picadillo

Made these chiles poblanos (the dark one), anaheims (long green one), and jalapenos (small one) stuffed with picadillo yesterday, and I would have to say I am pretty proud of how they turned out.  I served them over a tomato-chile sauce, with mexican rice, and a really good, simple salad that Kathy made -- romano, avacado, and parmesan cheese  with a simple vinaigrette.


Roasting and peeling the chiles takes a little time but is really simple.  Just put them under the broiler turning occasionally until the skin blackens, then put into a plastic bag for a while.  The skin can then be rubbed off with a paper towel.

The picadillo filling is a flavorful mix of beef, tomatoes, herbs and spices, raisins, olives, and capers that can also be used as a filling for empanadas or enchiladas.  The recipe comes from Diana Kennedy, one of the leading experts on Mexican food --  I think of her as the Julia Child of Mexican cooking.


The tomato-chile sauce recipe comes from Rick Bayless, who owns Frontera Grill and Topolobampo in Chicago, my favorite Mexican restaurants anywhere in the USA. 

I chose not to batter and fry the chiles because I was thinking healthy, and wanted to avoid the mess, and mainly because I was just too lazy.  Instead, I just baked them at 375° until they were piping hot.

I love the battered and fried chiles, but these turned out so good that I think I will leave the frying to restaurants in the future.  

Recipes follow. Great way to spend a Saturday afternoon when you are just hanging around the house!

Picadillo

Apart from chiles, this stuffing can be used for enchiladas and tamales. Some cooks prefer to use a variety of meats or one or the other of pork, beef, or chicken. Any leftover stuffing can be frozen.

Yield: About 4 1/2 cups.

Ingredients 3 Tbs melted lard or vegetable oil 1 medium white onion, finely chopped 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped 1 ¼ lb tomatoes, finely chopped 3 black peppercorns, crushed 3 cloves, crushed ½ tsp dried thyme or 1 t. fresh leaves ½ tsp dried marjoram or 1 t. fresh leaves 1 Tbs dried Oaxacan oregano leaves or ½ T. Mexican oregano 2 Mexican bay leaves or 1 bay laurel, finely crumbled ½ cup raisins, roughly chopped 20 almonds, skinned and roughly chopped 1 Tbs large capers, roughly chopped 10 green pitted olives, roughly chopped 3 cup meat (pork, beef, chicken or mixture), cooked, shredded and chopped Approximately ½ c. reserved meat broth 1 Tbs pineapple or other fruity vinegar (optional) Salt to taste 2 Tbs sugar, or to taste

How to Make 1  Heat the lard in a wide pan or deep skillet and fry the onion and garlic until translucent. Add the tomatoes and fry over fairly high heat until reduced and thickened. 2  Stir in the herbs, spices, raisins, almonds, capers, and olives and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes. The mixture should be fairly dry. Add the meat and the rest of the ingredients and continue cooking until all the ingredients are well combined. The mixture should be moist, not juicy, and shiny.

Author: Diana Kennedy Source: Oaxaca al Gusto, published by University of Texas Press

Quick-Cooked Tomato-Chile Sauce

Quick and easy, and very good. Great with Chiles Rellenos.

Yield: about 2 cups

Ingredients 1 1/2 lbs ripe tomatoes, boiled or roasted, peeled and cored OR 1 28 ounce can good quality tomatoes, drained Fresh hot green chiles to taste (roughly 3 to 5 chiles serranos or 2 to 3 chiles jalapenos) stemmed 1/2 small onion, chopped 1 large garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped 1 tbs lard or vegetable oil salt, about 1/2 teaspoon

How to Make 1  The tomatoes: For a more refined sauce, seed the tomatoes. Roughly chop the tomatoes and place in a blender or food processor. 2  The puree: If you want a milder sauce, first seed the chiles. Then chop them into small bits and add to the blender or processor, along with the onion and garlic. If using a blender, stir to distribute the ingredients evenly, then process the mixture until pureed ( but still retaining a little texture). 3  Frying the sauce: Heat the lard or oil in a medium-large skillet over medium-high. When it is hot enough to make a drop of the puree really sizzle, add it all at once and stir constantly for about 5 minutes, as the puree sears and cooks into a thicker, more orange-colored sauce. Season with salt and remove from the fire.

Author: Rick Bayless Source: Authentic Mexican - Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico

Curry Pickles

I have been making these curry pickles for nearly 30 years.  But although I really like them, I have been lazy in the recent past and it has been a number of years since I made any.

This weekend I got a wild hair and decided to try them using a shortcut.  Rather than trying to find pickling cucumbers (probably a tall order this time of year), I bought a couple of big bottles of dill gherkins from Costco and repurposed them.

The recipe calls for aging them for three months to reach full flavor, but I'm sure that I will open one jar up in about a week to see if the conversion process is going to work.  If not, I guess I will look for some pickling cucumbers a little later this year.


Curry Pickles
For best flavor, age pickles for three months before opening. Excellent with cold pork, chicken or roast lamb.
Yield: about 7 pints

Ingredients
8  lbs slender, small cucumbers, well scrubbed

2 1/2 quarts  cider vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup coarse salt
1/3 cup dry mustard
1/3 cup curry powder
1/3 cup pickling spice
1/4 cup mustard seed
1 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground red pepper

How to Make

1. Bring large amount of water to boil in stockpot over high heat. Meanwhile, trim all stems and blossoms from cucumbers, discarding any cucumbers that are soft.

2. Add cucumbers to boiling water and blanch 30 seconds. Drain well; pat dry. Pack tightly into clean, hot jars to 1/2 inch from top.

3. Combine remaining ingredients in stockpot and bring to rapid boil. Ladle enough hot brine into 1 jar just to cover cucumbers. Run plastic knife or spatula between cucumbers and jar to release any air bubbles. Clean rim and threads of the jar with a damp cloth. Seal jar with new, scalded, very hot lid. repeat with remaining jars.

4. Transfer jars to gently simmering (180°F to 190°F) water bath and process for 10 minutes. Let jars cool on rack. Test for seal. Store pickles in cool dry place.

Loni Kuhn

 A Complete Guide to the Pleasures of Preserving, Bon Appetit / September 1982 p.80