El Regreso de Saturno

The Pozole Party!

2008-01-15T10:44:00.000-08:00

We, meaning my handsome assistant and I, consider ourselves now to be truly culinary geniuses after pulling off this amazing, seemingly authentic stew the other night. This locally worshipped soup is super (Hah!) nutritious and great for warding of the sharp chill of these colder January nights. I recently was reading about how much more vitamin C a chile poblano has versus an orange. The article stated that only chiles de habañero and strawberries have more per serving.

Anyway, my faithful assistant and I were determined to master this culinary staple of Michoacán, which is shared by neighboring states of Guerrero and Jalisco among others. What is fun about this dish is that it's regimented as an evening meal. The later the better. Pozole is ladled piping hot out of street vender's carts and mother's kitchens alike to warm people up as they celebrate outside for festivals throughout the fall and winter, like Noche de Muertos, Nochebuena, and the Posadas, nativity plays, held in all the neighborhoods before Christmas.

Our recipe and experience making this widely reknowned dish is worth noting, mostly because I like the flavor we coerced from our raw ingredients more than other pozoles I have sampled lately. You need to stick to a basic outline for your creation to qualify as a pozole whether you are making pozole rojo, pozole verde(popular in the Southwest of the United States), or pozole blanco. I would recommend making sure you have the hominy corn, called pozolero, pork or chicken, and a decided theme with your chiles of choice. Often local pozoles rojos in Morelia feature the guajillo chile paired with chile ancho, dried poblanos. I value this combination of chiles, but the pozole has somewhat of a bite with these two, and since we were choosing to use chicken instead of pork, I feel that fresh chiles are a delicious choice for variation.

Al Principio:
Chiles Poblanos (3)
Cebolla (1)
Pollito Entero
Zanahorías (2)
Cilantro
Limónes
Rábanos

After organizing the raw ingredients above, the focus is on the chicken. You need a stock for pozole, and that makes buying a whole chicken attractive because you can take a short cut and boil the bones and extra appendages after you have, as in my case, hacked away at your carcass trying to salvage most of the meat for the soup. Remind me to take a butchering course when I get home. So, anyway, we were at the horror movie stage of this cooking story, savagely abusing the dignity of the fine animal who was to be our dinner by not having the proper tools or anatomical knowledge of the beast. My faithful assistant attempted to research via internet while I was simultaneously losing the battle with the hapless bird, but I just muscled through happy to say, and we continue our story.

Remove
skin from
the chicken.
Probably not like this!
I blame my years as a
vegetarian!

We took a large, beautiful dutch oven to be our soup pot, and put all the chicken meat in first. The bones and skin were simmering away with a little salt, getting ready to be our quick stock, so it was definitely time to move on with the vegetables. Earlier I mentioned pozolero, the specific white hominy corn used in pozole. I learned from my personal guru Diana Kennedy in her excellent cooking resource My Mexico, that the pozolero I bought in the mercado, though in bulk, had been pre-treated with lime and then dissected, removing the pedicels, or seed heads of the kernels. Who is doing that? What a mind-blowingly tedious job! Well, very luxurious for us, as unbeknownst to you, reader, we had been cooking the pozolero for two hours before even starting to prepare everything else! The texture of the kernels is very tough, compared to sweet corn which you might be used to. Finally, we had the pozolero and the other vegetables prepped and ready to go in the pot.

Notice the garlic.
We diced up
six cloves and put it
in the pot too.

Also, our pozolero
was left without
water to long, but the
burned kernels
just enhanced the flavor.
The assistant was
punished accordingly.

We combined the stock and veggies with the chicken in our gorgeous dutch oven, credited to one Rose Calderone. The stock was very rich in fat and supreme in flavor. Here we added our secret ingredient to the chagrin of slow-foodies everywhere; a small can of La Morena Chipotle en Adobo! We simply liquified it in a blender and added it to the mix. I will stop here and credit Lisa Mower Sheppard of Another Day In Paradise for that brilliant idea. Otherwise, I changed so much of the recipe from her's that we won't bother mentioning it. For instance, I eliminated celery, which I would have used had I remembered to buy some! She, like many others in Michoacán, chooses to use the MSG laden Caldo en Pollo made by Knorr, which I can't stand! With chicken this cheap, you can't afford not to make your own stock!
After adding the chipotles we also seasoned with salt and pepper and added three bay leaves.

What a beautiful pot!
Thanks Rose!

The pozole needed to cook for an hour, simmering after it quickly came to a boil. I carefully washed the raw ingredients needed for garnish, some chopped white cabbage, sliced radishes, cilantro and quarted limes. You might notice the Habanero chiles in the picture; we thought we might try them with the pozole but the stew is so spicy we knew couldn't handle any more! My delightful assistant and I would definitely recommend enjoying this stew with tostadas or tortilla chips, and make sure to remember to squeeze you limes! It really makes the soup.

The attractive
assitant samples
the hearty stew!

El Agua de Jamaica (or "Nectar of the Gods!)

2008-01-15T10:20:00.000-08:00

I had my first chilled glass of this wonderful, simple beverage last year at a friend's house in Camelinas, a Morelian suburb. I have rarely seen the "jamaica" flower, which we Estado Unidenses call "hibiscus," much less consider it a food source. The hibiscus tree dots most gardens in Michoacán, being hidden from the street behind high stone walls and wrought iron doors. Not to be misleading; people here don't normally harvest their own flowers. If they make the drink at home, they use dried whole flowers, usually sold out of heaped baskets in the mercados here for about ten or fifteen pesos for one hundred grams. (Again, I'm having fun with the metric system here.) Anyway, this drink was praised for it's natural role as a diuretic, and if you make it without the sugar that we so much enjoy, it does have a pleasant taste, very much like cranberry extract, and so believing in the health properties is not difficult. To make at home, simply boil the flowers I bring you having snuck them through customs and enjoy!

El Agua de Jamaica

Boil one cup dried hibiscus flowers in a quart saucepan full of water for 5 minutes.
After water is a deep red, add sugar to taste, usually 1 1/2 cups. This isn't Kool-Aid!
After 5 minutes the sugar is dissolved.
Use a strainer you aren't overly attached to, as this juice can stain, over a large mixing bowl or wide mouthed pitcher and pour the liquid straining out the flower petals.
Transfer the "juice" into a pitcher and wait to refrigerate until the liquid has cooled.
Later add some ice and a lime wedge to your glass and enjoy!

P.S. Not bad with vodka, for you Cape Cod fans out there!

Mexican Wedding Cakes

2007-12-27T15:20:00.000-08:00

I thought I would publish this recipe of a delectable Christmas cookie. I always heard of this nut pastry puff as a "Russian Tea Cakes," and though they are good with tea, apparently they can change nationalities as well. I will also make a note that vegans could have great success with this cookie, substituting one of the safer non-hydrongenated butter imposters cramming the natural food store shelves. A way to have more fun baking these with friends is to use a Mexican oven with no thermostat! That way, while you are talking and laughing, you can also be checking the oven temperature in a panic every five minutes! Warning! These are mildly addictive...

MEXICAN WEDDING CAKES

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup softened unsalted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cup FINELY chopped or ground pecans
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup powdered sugar for rolling dough

Pre-heat oven at 325° F. I am working on my centigrade conversions! In a large bowl combine 1/2 cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla. Cream together. Stir in flour, nuts, and salt until dough holds together. Shape into 1-inch balls. Place each ball an inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Remember to check your thermostat, and bake for 15-20 minutes untiil set but not brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet, carefully as cookies are soft. Cool slightly and roll in powdered sugar. Serve when cool.

I think this yields about 25-30 cookies

¡La Navidad!

2007-12-24T22:33:00.002-08:00

It is the first half hour of Christmas Day, and I smell something on fire. I have spent much of the evening cuddled up with a plate of Christmas cookies and a bottle of red wine, but the explosive revelry surrounds me and I am forced to leave the house. The neighbors at the end of the courtyard are close to blowing a fuse with the subwoofers they have dragged in; children and their fathers are lighting fireworks on the highest roof, and Mercedes has lit a candle in every window of her houseful of guests. I still can't figure out where the bonfire is, but it is close. Tonight is rather warm, and there is a cheerful energy out on the streets. Unlike other latin cities, Morelia seems to be keeping it's celebrations somewhat private, behind closed doors at least. Family, friends, and neighbors in every little alley way are in on this jubilant and joyous tuba solo sing-a-long that seems to be never-ending. Ever. ¡Viva!

¡Guacam...olé!

2007-12-16T17:11:00.000-08:00

No doubt that this composition of avocado, salt, lime, onion and personal touch is a mainstay of most Michacanos daily fare. I love it for the simplicity, how I can cheerfully consume in a day as many as are ripe in my neighborhood. The September issue of Saveur magazine had a great, informative article on avocado varieties available in the U.S. The names for these varieties, even Haas, aren't recognized here, and as Michoacán is famous for avocados, I intend to decipher these varieties in the local vernacular. Call me, La Cazadora Aguacate, or The Avocado Huntress! I also pledge to follow in the spirit of Diana Kennedy, and include some exotic fruits, like blackberry or mango, into the molcajete mix!

Nochebuena

2007-12-16T14:03:00.000-08:00

I have discovered Ponche, after being invited over to enjoy this delicious drink with friends family and neighbors. With a steaming mug of this blood warming drink, one is sure to forget one's awkward inhibitions, grammatical missteps, and homesickness during the holidays.

Ponche is nothing more than fruits and sugarcane slow-cooked in a cinnamon spiced tea of flor de jamaica. You can add red wine, charanda (a sugar cane liqueur), or brandy if you'd like more of a festive drink.

Ingredients:
Cañas
Tejocotes
Guayaba
Flor de Jamaíca, Seco
Tamarindo
Pasas
Canela Entera
Azúcar
Manzana
Agua

La Gastronómica Michoacana

2007-12-15T16:32:00.000-08:00

I have had the beautiful good fortune to create two seasonal specialties of the region this December. My neighbor Mercedes is a retired primary school teacher with a penchant for tasty, fresh food. Here in our small intimate courtyard, nestled blocks away from the Catedral and Plaza de las Armas, we enjoy the spicey aromas wafting through the air almost as much as the taste! This is our Mole Verde, slowly simmering to have the perfect flavor.

La Receta de Mole Verde:

2 Pechugas de Pollo
Acelgas
Espinacas
Hojas de Rábanos
4 Chiles Serranos
1/2 Kilo Tomates
Una Cebolla
100 gramas Pepitas Molidas
Un Chile Poblano
Sal al gusto
Clavitos Molidos
Pimienta Negra Molida
Copa de Arroz Blanco
Chícharos para El Arroz

1.Cocina el pollo con cebolla y agua en una olla.

2.Lava las verduras completemente.

3.Pon las verduras crudas en la licuadora y las licuee.

4. Cocina la mezcla en una olla por una media hora, con especias molidas.

5. Mientras el mole está cocinando, cuece el arroz con chícharos.

6. Sirve el plato con arroz y una pechuga de pollo, y distribuye el mole encima de todo.

7. Disfrute!