Rich, Red & Satisfying To match the beans in the previous post, you need to learn the tricks for perfect ‘red rice’, aka arroz rojo. This took me a surprising amount of tinkering to get exactly the way I remembered from countless ‘family style’ Mexican restaurants of my past. These days I’d love to have one near me to … Read More →
A Little Extra Cheese Never Hurts You should all know my obsession with beans by now so I’ll not to bore you yet again. Soak from dry, five times cheaper, etc. etc. Here’s how I make a batch of particularly creamy pinto beans suitable for parking next to Mexican red rice. If you’ve ever been to a family-style Mexican restaurant, you’ll … Read More →
Grind Only As Needed You’re going to need this blend of typically Mexican spices for the next few posts. After utterly failing to convince people to mix by volume and ‘feel’, I’m bowing to pressure to provide exact weights of how I make MY version… or at least how I made it today. It will certainly change over time, … Read More →
Best not to count how many you eat in one sitting Prime grilling season has arrived again and around my kitchen that means “street” tacos cooked over charcoal. The fire is the easy part particularly once you have all the ‘extras’ sorted out. In my case those include a vat of garden-fresh salsa, some well seasoned beans, a little lime and coriander enhanced crema, and a … Read More →
Steamed & Dressed For A Tamalada With most fresh masa half a continent away these are not Mexican. They also aren’t truly the Mississippi ‘Delta Hot Tamale’ style developed for cotton field workers at the turn of the twentieth century by a curious mix of Italian and Mexican immigrants who had only ordinary corn meal available. Both styles are indeed delicious … Read More →
Deliciously Charred In All The Right Places ‘Chicken & rice’ is a natural pairing. From hauling out old retro recipes that call for cream of mushroom soup to treading the path to Indian biriyani, there is universal appeal. Arroz con pollo is arguably on the top five list of permutations and that’s where I started this iteration. The ongoing origin debate between … Read More →
Flat is Corn Delicious Never heard of arepas? You must not hang out in Venezuela or Colombia very often. Simply put it’s a griddle-fried corn cake made from a special sort of cornmeal, aptly named masa de arepas. If you’re as obsessed with tamales as I am but hate the time investment they take, you owe it to yourself … Read More →
Perfectly Round Not Necessary For Great Tacos (video below) When the thought of making my own flour tortillas at home cropped up after watching Rick Bayless tackle them during a quesadilla video, even I had to question the wisdom and logic of the idea. Admittedly I’ve become a budget-obsessed cook of late but it’s an investment of hours of labour, right? Who … Read More →
About to be salsa My salsa catalogue has numerous entries. Some accommodate the seasons, some entertain strange ingredient lists, and others still are made for quick convenience. After weeks of my annual garden-inspired pico de gallo indulgences, I took a few extra minutes today for a quick bit of roasting to make another favourite when tomatoes are plentiful. Before … Read More →
What Well Dressed Tacos Are Wearing This Season When you hail from a hot climate, you’re going to end up with sour dairy. That’s how nature works. Thankfully sour doesn’t mean spoiled in many cases and clever food cultures have learned to embrace ambient heat and bacteria to give us all sorts of fabulous tastes from kefir to yogurt. The kitchens of Mexico … Read More →
At Last Small victories are the way to go I say. Sure you can wage wars or attempt huge sweeping political change but I’m perfectly happy with the tiny triumphs in my life. It seems that my grocery lobbying efforts have finally paid off. Here in the French and Scottish influenced corners of Canada, you all know … Read More →
What to do when it's coming out of your ears The first batch of sweet summer corn landed from points south this week with bulging sacks of the stuff for a quarter an ear at the Megamarket. After such a long journey from distant foreign fields it’s nowhere near as sweet as the ears we’ll pluck locally in just a few short weeks but I … Read More →
Simple. Healthy. Fiesta. I’ve whinged on about the lack of Mexican food this far north plenty before. It simply doesn’t exist in the restaurant ecosystem of eastern Canada. One burrito shack and a tamale stall at the farmer’s market for a whole province, both of which have to dull down the cuisine for the tender Maritime palate, simply … Read More →
Green Perfection I actually heard the phrase “What do you do with those things?” from the teenage girl minding the till of my Megamarket on a recent supply run between blizzards. I was handing her a bag of avocados at the time and have to admit I was once again shocked at the sheltered food life the … Read More →
Corn Husks, Masa, & Meat All Optional Update: Want to go totally wrapper free? Check out my later post on “stacked” tamales. You’ve heard me bemoan the lack of Mexican food here in my corner of Canada before so I’ll spare you that misery again and just say that when you have a craving for tamales and can’t find either corn husks … Read More →
