"I don't like Mexican food," a friend said the other day. What she meant is the sort of food you get in the United States--cheesy dishes, nachos, refried beans, enchiladas loaded with red sauce, ground beef tacos in fried shells, guacamole from a store container and so on.
If she were only able to travel to Mexico, she would see wonderful food, fresh, interesting and flavored with centuries of tradition.
Take pollo a la ramos. I had never heard of this chicken dish until I went to Allende in the state of Nuevo León, where it was served at a lunch.
There's nothing identifiably Mexican about it, at least to an American--no hot peppers, red chile sauce, cheese, cilantro, tortillas or beans. Instead, it tastes a lot like chicken cacciatore.
The name Ramos refers to a river in Nuevo León, not a person.
You can cook the chicken in a skillet on top of the stove or bake it, María Luisa Barrón Guerra told me as she wrote the recipe in my notebook (right), complete with a diagram. María Luisa is from Monterrey, where pollo a la ramos is also popular, she said.
The oven version includes potatoes but the stove top does not, probably because the potatoes wouldn't cook as well in an open skillet.
A variation made with beef is called cortadillo norteño. But this is only cooked on top of the stove, never in an oven.
María Luisa insisted that I not turn the chicken pieces over as they bake, but I did this anyway in order to mix the sauce ingredients more evenly. The dish may look dry as you place it in the oven, but it will form delicious juices as it cooks.
POLLO A LA RAMOS
Ramos Style Chicken, Baked Version
1 1/2 pounds chicken thighs
2 russet potatoes, about 3/4 pound
1 green bell pepper, sliced, white membrane removed
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
Salt, pepper
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Skin the chicken, if desired, and remove excess fat.
Peel the potatoes. Cut in thirds lengthwise, cut each third in half lengthwise, then cut crosswise into chunks.
Place the chicken in a 12x8-inch glass baking dish. Arrange the potatoes, green pepper and onion around it.
Top with the tomato sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Cover the dish with foil and bake 1 hour. After 40 minutes, turn the pieces over to blend the sauce. Recover and continue to cook until done.
Serve with rice and a salad or vegetable.
Makes 4 servings.
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November 2011
November 23, 2011
November 19, 2011
Five Fun Places to Eat in Mexico: (3) El Cuchupetas
The seafood at El Cuchupetas is so fresh it might have been swept in the door by a wave from the Pacific.
This super casual restaurant is in Villa Unión, about 20 minutes from the center of Mazatlán. The odd title is the nickname of the owner, Manuel Sanchez Villalpando. Briefly, there was another Cuchupetas in Tijuana, but this is now the only one.
Here you'll eat aguachile (above)--raw seafood seasoned with lime and chile--that is as fresh and light as a burst of sea air. Huge platters of mixed seafood contain octopus, scallops, shrimp and crab.
You can have the famous pescado zarandeado (above)--butterflied fish seasoned and grilled. To see how that's done, walk into the patio behind the restaurant where a huge grill fills the air with smoke. Perhaps they'll also be grilling pescadillas--a fish-filled variation on quesadillas.
Have a campechana (mixed seafood cocktail), a marlin taco, fish al mojo de ajo (in garlic sauce), caldo de camarón (shrimp soup), crab salad, deviled shrimp or a mixed seafood brochette. Or a whole fish, fried until golden and crisp (below).
You eat with your fingers, and it's messy. But nobody cares. Swallow a little more Pacifico beer, and you'll feel mellow enough not to notice.
Plates begin to look the same--they're all garnished with cucumber slices and often tomato and onion as well. But that dish is aguachile, and this one is shrimp ceviche. And--well, don't try to keep track. Just keep it coming. It's all wonderful. Even the flour tortillas with which to wipe up the juices are exceptional.
El Cuchupetas, Jesús Carranza y Reforma 301, Villa Unión, Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico. Tel: (01-669) 967-0460.
November 15, 2011
A Speedy, Spicy Huarache
As you walk into El Huarache Veloz (the speedy huarache) in downtown Los Angeles, you see a long, bare corridor with the order counter far in the distance.
It's like walking through an airport hall or down a church aisle to get to the food. By the time you get to the end, you're safely isolated from the street noise outside.
Lucky that the chain came here, because two longtime Mexican restaurants in the neighborhood, El Rancho and Maracas, have been forced out by building renovation. Its other locations are in Pacoima, Van Nuys and Sylmar.
El Huarache Veloz serves everything from breakfast to shrimp cocktails. But you should have its specialty, the huarache, which is a cake of corn masa shaped like the sole of a shoe, stuffed with beans and topped with meat.
The huaraches are "estilo D.F.," which means Mexico City style. I can't attest to that, but the one I had was very good, no matter the style.
On top was ground beef cooked in a spicy chipotle mixture that had an almost bacony taste (at top). Underneath were chopped onions and green salsa. The oval corn cake was filled with refried beans, some of them left whole, and sprinkled with crumbly white cheese. It was spicy, delicious and reasonably speedy--only a 10-minute wait.
Other huarache toppings include carne asada, carnitas, ham and milanesas (breaded thin-cut meat). Or you can have eggs or cheese.
As you walk down the long aisle, you think the place is empty. That's because customers cluster in the booths at the far end, where TV screens show the latest telenovelas.
But Broadway is a popular Latino shopping street, and perhaps the crowds come on weekends, when they can brace up with menudo as well as huaraches.
El Huarache Veloz, 510 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90013. (213) 617-7058.
November 10, 2011
Eggplant, from Soup to Dessert
What do you eat at the headquarters of the world's largest producer of eggplant?
You snack on dried eggplant strips seasoned with chile or sugar, then move on to eggplant soup (at top), eggplant hamburger on a sesame bun (below) and even ice cream with eggplant marmalade, which sounds hopelessly weird but is delicious--you'd never guess what the marmalade was made of.
The place is the Agrícola San Isidro de Culiacán, a huge growing operation in the state of Sinaloa. It's so important that even the state governor flew in via helicopter for a lunch arranged for the Aromas y Sabores tour group of chefs and media people.
Set outdoors in a shady area, the buffet seemed endless. There were grilled bell peppers and red bell pepper soup, representing another of the host's key crops.
Sinaloa style seafood included oysters on the half shell and succulent scallops, accompanied by the typical sauce of the region, a mixture of soy sauce, tomato, onion and serrano chile.
Other stations offered estofado de aleta, a tuna fin stew, and smoked marlin quesadillas. At the far end, thin slices of a beef cut called cabrería, were cooking over a smoky, hot grill, seasoned with nothing more than Sinaloa sea salt.
The dessert section included the ice cream with eggplant marmalade (above), tres leches cake and pale round pastries called coyotas that were filled with cajeta.
But why the attention to eggplant? It makes sense when you learn that the company was founded (in 1953) by Don Juan B. Stamatopulos Chaprales.
Catch the Greek name there? Perhaps that explains the pine nut garnish on the soups too. And the logo of a purple eggplant in a purple circle on products that the company markets under the brand Leyson.
The soup was so creamy and unexpectedly good that I wanted the recipe. And I was lucky enough to get it, from Teresa de Jesus Serafín, one of the students from the Escuela de Gastronomía ISIMA who did the cooking and serving.
CREMA DE BERENJENA
Creamy Eggplant Soup
1 eggplant, 1 to 1 1/4 pounds
5 cups water
1/2 white onion, cut up
2 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup Mexican crema or very heavy cream
1 tablespoon chicken stock base
Salt, if needed
White pepper, optional
Toasted pine nuts for garnish
Fresh basil for garnish
Peel the eggplant and cut it into small chunks. Place the eggplant in a Dutch oven and add the water, onion and garlic cloves. Bring to a boil, lower heat, cover and boil gently until the eggplant is very tender, about 30 minutes.
Using an immersion blender, blend the eggplant mixture in the pan until smooth, or let cool slightly and puree in batches in a blender. Remove the eggplant puree, if in the pan, to a bowl.
Melt the butter in the Dutch oven. Stir in the flour until smooth and cook gently about 1 minute. Very gradually, stir in a little of the eggplant mixture until smooth. Continue adding the eggplant mixture in small amounts, stirring until smooth each time. After you have added about 2 cups, slowly stir in the rest.
Add the crema and stock base, bring just to a boil and simmer gently about 5 minutes. Taste and add salt if needed and the optional white pepper. Turn into heated bowls and serve garnished with pine nuts and basil leaves.
Makes about 6 cups, or 6 to 8 servings.
November 07, 2011
Five Fun Places to Eat in Mexico: (2) San Miguelito
Lonely? Looking for love?
You're guaranteed to find it, as long as you are willing to go to Morelia, in the state of Michoacán.
Your pilgrimage site is the restaurant San Miguelito. Even if you're not lonely, you should go there, and not just to eat. This big, sprawling place is an art gallery, a museum, a shop and folk art center that will dazzle your eyes.
Oh yes, there's a bar, which looks almost like an altar (above). Ask for a taste of the local liquor, charanda. And there is interesting food--try the tacos of arrachera (steak) with five chiles. And the divine cinnamon ice cream.
But these are only distractions from your mission. Wander through the maze of rooms to the farthest corner. This little enclave belongs to San Antonio, the saint who is going to help you.
Packed into the small space are more than 700 San Antonio images, which really amps up the power. It may be disconcerting to notice that they are upside down. The idea is that when your request is granted, you turn the saint right side up. But you'll have to get your own image to do that.
Now follow the ritual, which is to light a votive candle, walk three times around the figure of the saint in the center of the room, then write your request in a thick book, where entries range from one word to three pages.
Apparently it works. Proof of that is the photos of happy couples in wedding attire that have been posted on the wall.
But this isn't a chapel. It's a place where you can eat and drink as well as commune with the saint.
Owner Cynthia Martínez might drop by your table, wearing an upside down San Antonio around her neck. I tried to find a similar one in a jewelry shop in Mexico City, but the attendant went to the back and never returned. Did he decide this was a hopeless case?
San Miguelito Restaurant, Bar, Gallery and Museum, Avenida Camelinas, Fraccionamiento La Loma, near the convention center. Tel: (443) 324-2300.
November 05, 2011
November 03, 2011
TJ's Terrific Carwash Torta
If Bill Esparza of StreetGourmetLA.com says a particular torta (sandwich) is the best in Tijuana, perhaps the best in Mexico and even in the world, I would believe him.
Because Bill explores every back, side and main street on both sides of the border to ferret out the very best Mexican street food.
When I had a chance to taste that torta, I found he was right. It was the best I have tasted anywhere.
It comes from Wash Mobile Tortas, which was located by a Tijuana carwash when it started out in 1964. This gave it the name. Now you'll find it between a string of taco stands and a sports bar, where Bill (above) and his friends took their tortas to eat. All I could see of this famous torta stand was a window in a wall, with a lot of people clustered around.
There is only one torta. The filling is diced carne asada, pickled onions, tomato, guacamole and mayo. Salsa too, I guess, and some sort of marinade for the beef. This goes into a bun baked just for it instead of the customary telera, which is a soft bun with a couple of indentations along the top. You can get those in any Mexican bakery.
The Wash Mobile roll is more like ciabbata. The surface is floury, and the texture holds up. I didn't finish mine until three days later, and it was still delicious, and not soggy. The meat has good texture too. The taste is savory, spicy and a little sweet.
There's no formal address. As Bill says, it's just south of Blvd. Agua Caliente and past the Pemex station as you are heading away from town. (Agua Caliente is the extension of Avenida Revolución, which runs through the heart of Tijuana.)
On a corner opposite is a restaurant that advertises "birria fina" (birria is a meat stew) as well as codorniz (quail) and conejo (rabbit). Immediately across the street is the Sanatorio San Francisco. If you see La Fonda Roberto's as you drive along Agua Caliente, you'll know you're in the neighborhood.
Then ask around, and you're sure to find the place. The Wash Mobile torta is "the most well known street food in Tijuana," Bill says.
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