2 posts tagged “mexican food”
A while ago, I attended another Mexican cooking demonstration at La Margarita. This time, the theme was Mexican breakfast dishes. It was well attended; I think the class was supposed to be capped at twelve but I seem to have snuck in as number thirteen. We started with Mexican hot chocolate this time; no margaritas.
Next, Pedro and his assistant Javier prepared Huevos Rancheros for us, including a from-scratch sauce made of roasted chiles and other delights:
Side dishes were really good authentic frijoles, and Green Chilaquiles. The beans were just simmered with some chopped onion; my beans are never this good! His were meltingly tender and soft. I think I have been buying old beans. Chilaquiles are just stale tortillas, cut in strips, fried, and tossed in a sauce. I think of them as a sort of Mexican pasta dish. Pedro made his sauce of tomatillos and mild green chiles; the dish was topped with sour cream, rings of mild raw onion, and Mexican cheese (in this case, queso anejo "old cheese", much like a Parmesan).
Again, it was all delicious. I didn't save any to take home to Mike but ate it all myself. Now if I could come up with just the right occasion for a Mexican brunch, and the right adventurous people to eat it!
For years, the chef/owner of our favorite Mexican restaurant (La Margarita Company) has offered informal group cooking classes several times a month. These are basically just demonstrations of the techniques, in a small-group setting, followed by the consumption of the food (yum). About a week and a half ago, I finally found time to attend one, and had a great time.
Pedro hosts these classes in the banquet room of the restaurant. His cooking setup is minimal, almost primitive: portable propane burners, old pots and pans, a blender, cutting board, and good knives. He says that he does this very much on purpose, so that the techniques will not be made intimidating by a fancy professional kitchen.
And here's a shot of his cutting board work area. Looks a lot like something we would all have at home. Not at all like a celebrity chef TV show.
As we students (five of us, all women) took our seats, the waitress brought us our choice of strawberry lemonade or Pedro's special margarita of the day. Since I was on foot, I opted for the 'rita. It turned out to be a Margarita Chilanga, made with premium tequila and fresh lime juice, served straight up with a roasted chile. Not something I ordinarily would have ordered, but the flavor was most intriguing.
Before cooking the main dish, Pedro prepared a salsa for us, using roasted tomatoes and roasted chilies. It was delicious but not very photogenic, so I didn't take a picture. Next, he picked up some ripe avocados and announced that he was going to make his mother's version of guacamole, that he grew up eating in Mexico City.
Now, I am most emphatically NOT a guacamole fan. Not usually, anyway. I've made it for other people, but have never wanted to eat it. There is something about the texture and color that I find deeply disturbing. But I still watched intently as Pedro mixed up his version, using the giant stone mortar known as a molcajete.
He scooped out the avocado flesh in large chunks, added chopped onion, diced tomato, fresh cilantro, and plenty of salt, and mashed it into a rough mixture. He then served it up to us... before I knew it, I had a little plate in front of me, heaped with the stuff. I knew I had to eat it, somehow...
...and you know what? It was really, really good. I ate it all, with the accompanying fresh tortilla chips, and wished for more. I think it was the chunky texture, with bits of firm-textured avocado, and the liberal amount of salt. Great, another high-fat food that I now like.
The final dish was called Pollo de la Plaze Morelia. According to Pedro, this is a chicken dish sold from the market stalls in the plaza in Morelia (well, duh). So it's street food, festival food, market day food. Mexico excels at this sort of thing, it seems.
The dish started with chicken thighs, already simmered until tender with garlic and onions; and potatoes and carrots simmered until tender. Pedro made a sauce in the blender, using roasted chiles that had been soaked in water, along with vinegar, garlic, onions, and some other seasonings. He poured this into a large pot (containing a rather alarming amount of sizzling-hot vegetable oil) and cooked the sauce. Then he put the chicken into the sauce to simmer further. He dunked corn tortillas into the hot sauce, alongside the chicken, and started assembling the dish.
The final dish consisted of the chicken (two thighs per person, no less) on the sauced tortillas, on a bed of romaine lettuce, with the tender simmered potatoes and carrots on the side. There were also little picked peppers and a generous helping of Mexican fresh cheese was scattered on top.
I ate about half and then took the rest home for my husband to have for lunch. We both pronounced it all very yummy. This coming Saturday is a class on traditional Mexican breakfast dishes, and I am planning on attending.
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