Mexico is for eatin' and sleepin'

Mexican cuisine is not very complex, but they are very good at matching flavors and as a result, just about everything is delicious. I've even come to enjoy fried pork skins, something I hated in the United States. Chipotle peppers are becoming trendy in the US, but I hadn't tasted one chipotle sauce there that I liked. Here, chipotles are sold canned in a spicy-yet-sweet adobo sauce. The smokiness of the chipotles gives the sauce a flavor similar to barbecue sauce. They are good to chop up and put in anything, from burritos to eggs to tuna salad. A lot of the fruits and vegetables are unique to this area. It's worth visiting just to taste everything fresh. Mangos, guavas, papayas, pineapple, watermelon, and sugar cane are chopped up and served with a dash of salt and chili powder and the juice of a lime squeezed over it. Flor de calabaza (squash blossom) is like eating a pumpkin-flavored flower. Chayote (vegetable pear) is what you'd get if you crossed a potato with a pear. Not sweet, not starchy. Nopal (cactus paddle) is like a slightly slimy green pepper and it also has yellow or red fruit called tuna (prickly pear). Huitlacoche (corn smut) is an edible black fungus that grows on corn. Tamarind is a sour, musky brown fruit that makes good beverages and candies. Zapote is a type of green persimmon that turns dark brown and mushy when it ripens and has a flavor like chocolate. In Chiapas we found delicious, juicy rambutan and also revolting pickled plums. Arguably better than any of the fruits and vegetables is chocolate de tablilla, cacao ground with cinnamon, clove, unmelted sugar, and other flavors.

The first meal that we ate in Mexico was steak fajitas substituting nopales for bell peppers. For Christmas we made pozole, a hominy stew that comes in two flavors: red with pork and red chilis, and green with poblano and jalapeño peppers, tomatillos, and chicken. The best part of eating pozole is stirring in fresh chopped vegetables and crushed tostadas. Guanajuato is known for enchiladas mineras, corn tortillas dipped in red chili sauce, stuffed with crumbly queso ranchero and fried, served together with diced carrots, potatoes, and a roasted chicken leg. Ceviche is raw whitefish marinated in lime juice, garlic, onion and cilantro, chopped up and served on a tostada with fresh tomatoes and avocado on top. Chiles en nogada consists of poblano chiles filled with picadillo, a mixture of ground beef or pork, onion, garlic, and spices, topped with a walnut cream sauce and pomegranate seeds. Mole is the generic name to describe several different regional sauces that are usually sold in a paste and reconstituted with chicken stock. Oaxaca claims to be the home of eight different moles. Mole poblano, from the state of Puebla, is prepared with dried chile peppers (ancho, pasilla, mulato and chipotle), nuts, chocolate, salt and other spices. Moles can be any color of the rainbow, some contain ground almonds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, or tomatillos. To get an idea of how hard it is to make these sauces, check out this recipe for black mole at the Food Network.

Like most Mexican dishes, tequila shares the color theme of the Mexican flag. Tequila is drunk in a shot glass neat, followed by a shot of sangrita, a mixture of tomato juice, chili sauce, salt, sugar, soy sauce, and sometimes even red or white wine. The sangrita is followed by a shot of lime juice and then you repeat the process until your wallet or your stomach is empty. A michelada is a beer mixed with tomato juice or Clamato, lime juice, soy sauce or Worchestershire sauce, served in a salt rimmed mug. The Mexican beer is indeed good enough to be drunk by itself or with just a slice of lime, but micheladas are found in almost every restaurant and bar. Pulque is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting the juice of the maguey and mixed with various other ingredients. In Xochimilco we tried both guava and oat pulques. It's similar to a sweet, foamy beer but not as starchy. Ponche is a Christmas brandy punch made with guavas, hibiscus flowers, cinnamon, clove, tamarind, sugar cane, mandarin oranges, raisins, and other fruits. Cafe de olla is a rich spiced coffee that unfortunately is hard to find here in Guanajuato. Atole is a thick, warm drink made by mixing boiling milk, corn meal, corn starch, cinnamon, brown sugar, vanilla, or chocolate. Ponche, cafe de olla and atole were all delicious during winter, but not quite appropriate during the rest of the year when the temperature soars.


Cafe de Olla (for two people)

2 1/2 cups of water
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
3 whole cloves
dash of nutmeg
2 sticks of cinnamon
6 spoonfuls of freshly ground coffee

Put water, sugar, clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a pot and bring to a boil. Keep at a rolling boil for 2 or 3 minutes. Add the coffee and turn off the heat. Let sit for about 5 minutes, strain, and serve.
Some people also add an orange peel, some add toasted avocado leaves for a touch of anise flavor. You can also add a tablespoon of dark chocolate.


Pozole Verde

2 large cans of hominy
1 pounds of chicken breasts
1 pounds of chicken legs
1 tablespoons of oregano
1/2 bunch of celery
2 poblano peppers
2 large tomatillos
4 jalapeños
1/2 bunch of green onions
1 bottle of beer (cook may require more beer than the stew)
1/2 head of garlic
salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, add one gallon of water to the chicken, beer, salt, pepper, and oregano and boil until the chicken is cooked completely. Mix half of the celery, poblano peppers, tomatillos, jalapeños, green onions and garlic in a blender. Add the liquified vegetables and the hominy to the broth and let boil for 20 minutes. Let sit 15 minutes before serving with tostadas, sliced radishes, chopped cabbage or lettuce, fresh cilantro, limes, and red chili flakes.


Mexican Pesto (an original invention)

1 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1/2 cup Olive oil
3 tablespoons pine nuts
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
salt and pepper to taste

We mashed up all these ingredients together in a bowl and put it on spaghetti, crumbling queso fresco over it in place of parmesan cheese. It was delicious. A more adventurous version is to put these ingredients in a blender with a couple serrano or jalapeño peppers.