Licuados - The Mexican Milk Shake

I have to say that I am ridiculously excited about sharing this recipe.  Liquados are easy, cheap, versatile and amazing delicious - which explains why they are available on every street corner in Mexico City.  You really have no reason not to made one!

I personally like to refer to them as "Mexican Milk-shakes" because they are rich, creamy and their main ingredient is typically milk (although juice or horchata are sometimes used instead).  It as if a milk-shake became literal, rather than being the "ice-cream shake" that it is.

Licuados are principally made of your choice of fruit, milk, and sugar to taste.  Almost any type of fruit will work: mango, guava, banana, papaya, cantaloupe, strawberry, etc, but banana is my current favorite.  I think that is because it goes so well with the two secret ingredients: vanilla and cinnamon.  These will take your drink from ho-hum to addictive.

First you, of course, need to gather your ingredients along with a trusty blender.

For 1 pint you will need:
- About 1 cup (not packed) of your choice of fresh fruit (mango, peach, apricot, banana, strawberry, mango, papaya, etc.)
- Milk (about 1.5 cups)
- Sugar (1-3 TB to taste)
- A few drops of vanila (no more than 1/4 tsp)
- A good shake of cinnamon

From watching people make licuados, I have noticed they fill the fruit to about half the total volume of licuado that they want.  For instance, if they want a 0.5 liter of licuado, they fill fruit (including some air pockets) to the 0.25 liter point on their blender.

Add milk to the total volume desired (0.5 liter), 1-3 TB of sugar, a healthy shake of cinnamon, and a splash of vanilla.  Blend 45 to 60 seconds until you have a nice, frothy mixture.  The froth is really important!  Taste and add more sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla as desired - until the flavor is amazing.  (You can also blend in a few ice cubes, if you like.)

Pour into a chilled glass and enjoy!
Kim

Mexican Quesadillas

I adore the quesadillas here in Mexico.

For me, quesadillas are about the most indulgent Saturday morning breakfast that I can have while living here.  I am sure I liked them in the US, but to be honest, I don't remember them being very exciting - a partly soggy flour tortilla, oozing with cheese, some sort of un-identifiable meat hidden inside, accompanied by a bland tomato-based salsa on the side.  All the ingredients are things I like, but the whole combination did not have the zest that it does here.

Actually, in Mexico I have never seen a quesadilla like those that are served in the US.  The two styles that are available are a deep-fried version that starts off with raw masa and one based on a corn tortilla that is cooked on the comal.

Of course, the ones I go crazy about are the deep-fried version, though I am quite happy to eat the comal version any time Ismael wants to buy me one.

One of the great things about Ismael growing up in Mexico City is that he knows where the best quesadillas are.  In the neighborhood where he grew up, we can find quesadillas with a crispy outside, a generous amount of filling, and bursting with flavor for just $1.25 USD each.  Of course there are some issues, such as this place is a little bit out of the way for us and the lack of seating.  You also have to take into account that this place is popular - there is always a line and they close when they run out of ingredients, so getting here early is a good idea.

A husband and wife team run the business and actually cook the quesadillas while employees prep all the fillings.  The filling choices include picadillo (ground beef with carrots, potatoes, and peas), mashed potatoes with peppers, mushroom, squash flower, shredded chicken, tinga (shredded chicken in salsa), beef, huitlacoche (a mushroom that grows on corn), brain, tuna, and chicharron (fried pork skin in salsa).  You can, of course, choose to have cheese with any other filling for about 8 cents more.

The wife takes the orders (it is best to write out a list to give to her) and makes the quesadillas, while her husband takes the quesadillas through two different fryers, drains them, packs them, and deals with the money.

The wife is amazing to watch as she makes each quesadilla in about 15 seconds.

After the quesdallas are made, they go first into this deep-frier, in batches to help keep the orders together.  Then he moves them to one of the two friers just to the right.  Big pots of hot oil over a gas-flame, like how the other friers are, always make my heart beat a little faster.

Once they are done, the husband drains them, checks their fillings to give each customer the right order, and packs them along with a nice bag of spicy salsa.

Delicious breakfast...

The Amazing Comida Corrida

I adore comida corrida.

For the past few months, while I have been studying Spanish near my husband's workplace, whenever he asked me what I wanted to eat for comida* (lunch), I would always tell him I wanted to go to my favorite comida corrida restaurant.

Before I get too carried away with the awesome deliciousness of this style of eating, I should explain a few things.  First, comida corrida, literally meaning lunch run, refers to a meal where the courses are brought out successively.  It is more or less the same idea as a fixed price menu (prix fixe), but much cheaper and very, very popular here.

Almost on every street you can find comida corrida places.  Usually they have a sign out advertising their specials or their very inexpensive price ($3 to $8 USD).

Here are a few shoots from my favorite Comida Corrida Restaurant.

This restaurant specializes in coffee, more on that later, and have very strong feelings about fair trade coffee.  So, on the left you can see their "coffee bar."

Agua of the Day: Lime Watermelon

A comida corrida meal typically comes with the fruit water of the day (Aqua Fresca), tortillas or bread, a soup, a rice or pasta, and one main dish, followed by tea, coffee, or dessert.

Here, everyday they serve Chicken Consume and a different soup.  For any broth-based soup in Mexico, I highly recommend adding lime and salsa to taste.  But for a pureed soup, like the one below, we just added some salsa.

Fun fact, in Mexico a creamed soup means pureed, not that a milk product was added to it.

Cream of Bean Soup

 For the rice or pasta dish, I would also recommend adding a little salsa.  It makes it extra delicious.

Rice

For the main courses, there are normally several options, divided among different price points.  This restaurant always has a vegetarian option, as well as, several chicken, meat, and fish options.

Ismael's trusty standby is Carne Asada, while I tend to try something different each time.  This day I had Chicken Thigh in Grape Sauce - an non-traditional but surprisingly delicious take on sweet and salty cooking.

Carne Asada - Grilled Beef

Chicken Thigh in Grape Sauce

Now, we finally, finally made it to the very best part of my meal.   Remember how I said this place was known for coffee?  Well, at the end of the meal you have the choice of dessert, tea, or Cafe de Olla.  Trust me, it is not a hard decision to choose Cafe de Olla everytime (especially since I can persuade Ismael to get the dessert, if it looks good.)

Cafe de Olla is a slight addiction of mine - I am always on the look out for places that are selling it.  It is a traditional type of coffee that is cooked in a pot (olla) with cinnamon sticks and a dark brown sugar called piloncillo. If you like sweet coffee, it is hard to beat a good Cafe de Olla.

Cafe de Olla

Enjoy!
Kim

* I find the word "comida" a bit confusing as it can mean food or lunch.

For those that have to know what the menu said in Spanish...

Menu 2-2-12

Consume (Chicken Soup) or Cream of Bean Soup

Hawaiian Rice or Pasta with Beets

Carne Asada (Grilled Beef)
Muslo en Salsa de Uvas (Chicken Thigh in Grape Sauce)
Cochinita Pibil (Pork)
Tortitas de Ejote (Green Beans and Egg Crustless Quiche)
Milanesa de Pollo o Res (Thin, breaded & fried Chicken or beef)
Pechuga de Pollo Asada (Grilled Chicken Breast)
Strudel de Espinacas (Spinach filled Bread)
Chile Hojaldrano: Queso o Carne (Pepper with Cheese or Beef)
Arrachera (Grilled Beef)
Pescado Asado, Empanizado o a la Menta (Fish Grilled, Breaded or with mint)
Muslo Asado (Grilled Chicken Thigh)

Menu Includes:
- Bread or Tortilla
- Aqua de Sandia-Limon
- Coffee, Tea, or Dessert

Dia de la Candelaria ~ 2 de Febrero

Welcome to the day I am calling Christmas for Tamale sellers - the 2nd of February.

As you may remember from my post on Dia de Los Reyes Magos, on January 6th everyone buys and eats a large, slightly sweet bread called Rosca de Reyes (pictured below) that contain little, plastic dolls.

If you happen to find one of these dolls in your piece of bread (or even uncover one that is still technically within the Rosca), you then are obligated to buy everyone Tamales on February 2nd, which is today.  As I uncovered two dolls and my husband one, a few days ago we went a Feria de Tamales in Coyoacan (a part of Mexico City) to scope out what they had to offer.

Before we get too far into this, I wanted to go over the two general categories of tamales: those wrapped in corn husks and those that instead use banana leaves.

Corn Husk wrapped Tamale

Banana Leaf wrapped Tamale

 A tamale is prepared by smearing a corn mixture called masa on a leaf wrapped, filling it with a combination of salsa, meat, peppers, or cheese, and steaming it until cooked.  In the US, I was only familiar with the tamales in corn husks, which tend to be thick, fluffy, and contain lots of little air holes.  However, since living here, I have tried and fallen in love with tamales cooked in a banana leaf, frequently called Oaxcan Style Tamales.  These Oaxcan Tamales are thinner and denser with more of a chewy consistency.  I really, really like them.

As long as we are going over basic tamale information, you should also know the three most common flavors of tamales are Verde con Pollo (Green Salsa with Chicken), Mole con Pollo (Mole sauce with Chicken), and Rajas con Queso (Poblano Pepper and Cheese).  Of course there are many, many others (as you are about to see) along with a wide variety of sweet tamales.  Yes, you read that right, sweet tamales.    

Shrimp Tamale with Nopales in Green Salsa

Tamale with Zucchini Flower, Mushrooms, Corn, Cheese in Green Salsa

Tamale of Morita Chile with Slow-Roasted Pork

Tamale of Purslane in Green Salsa with Chicken

Tamale of Blackberries with Cheese

Tamale of Anis with Mole and Chicken

Sweet tamales are still fairly new to me.  Sadly, my first experience with them a few months ago was regrettable and since I have not been very interested in trying them.  In was only at this fair that I even realized that sweet tamales have many different flavors, like the Blackberries with Cheese shown above.  A friend who went with us bought and shared with us a chocolate tamale - it was dense with a uniform chocolate flavor that reminded me of a brownie.  I thought it was pretty good.  So I am excited about carefully trying out a few of this style of tamales, making sure not to repeat the one I had the first time.

I must tell you that traditionally tamales are sold with something that I even like slightly more than tamales (and trust me, I am crazy about Oaxacan Tamales), it is called atole.  For me good atole is an amazing culinary experience.  And trust me, this only applies to good atole.  Bad atole is really, really scary.  Atole is a drink thickened with maize that comes in a wide variety of flavors including Chocolate, Guava, Milk with Rice, Sweetened Goat's Milk, Strawberry and more, with Guava being my current favorite. 

This typical set-up of large pots are for keeping hot the tamales and the atole

So, if you have a chance, today is a great day to try some tamales!  And if none are being sold around where you live, it is always a good time to visit Mexico.

Happy Tamale Eating!

~ Kim

Turkey Tortas (Tortas de Pavo)

One of my favorite things to do on Saturday is to go downtown in Mexico City.  With the cheap shops selling everything from light bulbs to fresh chicken and my favorite market to buy fruits and vegetables, it is one of the best parts of my week.  

On my first trip there, my husband said that we needed to stop at a torta place he really enjoyed for lunch.  Tortas are a specific style of sandwich that you can buy everywhere in Mexico City, with this particular stand specializing in turkey tortas.  The first time I had that warm toasted sandwich containing turkey, avocado and chipotle, I knew what I would be doing with this year's leftover Thanksgiving turkey.

The first thing is to assemble your ingredients...

- Sliced turkey

- Vegetable Oil

- Rolls (as many as you like)

- Can of refried beans

- Can or bottle of chipotle in adobo sauce 

- 1 to 2 ripe avocados

- Butter or sour cream

For the bread, I went to our neighborhood bakery, but feel free to just go to the grocery store.  I think this type of bread is fairly easy to find - just keep in mind, this is not a french-bread type roll, it is a much lighter and less dense than that.

Heat about 1 Tb of oil in a skillet.  When hot, add the turkey and cook until you see some light browning.

Meanwhile, slice the rolls in half and remove some of the fluffy bread from both halves.

Smear a thin layer of canned refried beans on one half of the roll.  You want to be a little generous and cover the entire inside of the roll.

On the other half, you spread a very thin layer of sour cream (more traditional) or butter.

 Place both halves face side down on a heated comal or skillet and lightly toast.

Flip them over and either remove from heat (preferred) or turn off the heat.

 Place the heated turkey on one side followed by slices of avocado.  On the other side, put some chipotle in adobo.  I would recommend tasting the chipotle before deciding how much to add, as it can be very spicy (especially the canned variety.)

Close your delicious sandwich and lightly toast on both sides before serving.

Serve with extra chipotle in adobo sauce or jalapenos (you can substitute jalopenos for chipotle in the sandwich as well, if you like.)

Happy Turkey Eating!

~ Kim

How My Favorite Food Critics Disappointed Me...

I was really excited when looking on The Splendid Table's website, that several restaurants and food-related places were listed for Mexico City.  And even better was that Jane and Michael Stern, the authors of the amazing 500 Places to Eat Before It's Too Late, compiled the list.  So, I started with high hopes that I would find some new places to visit in Mexico City.

As I began to ask Ismael about the list, the conversation went something like this...

Kim: "Have we been to Cafe Azul y Oro?  That name sounds familiar..."
Ismael: "Of course, that is the restaurant I took you to in the University."
Kim: "Oh, how about La Pasteleria Ideal?"
Ismael: "That is where we bought our wedding cake."
Kim: "Oh, well then... El Tizoncito?"
Ismael: "Do you remember the first place I took you to eat tacos in Mexico?  The place in Coyoacan?"
Kim: "The place right across from the artisan market?  I remember that.  Ok, have we been to Jamaica Market?"
Ismael: "Yes, once, that is where we went with my friend to buy flowers."
Kim: "Oh, well the only one left is Pujol, do you know about that place?"
Ismael: "Yes, it is a restaurant, but I heard there is a better one... I just can't remember the name of it right now..."

Needless to say, I was a bit saddened by the demolition of my hopes for discovering new places to go.  On the bright side, this means Ismael is taking excellent care of me, and that if Jane and Michael Stern ever want a local guide to the city, they are welcome to contact me.  Ismael and I would be happy to share where the best tacos in Mexico City can be found.

The Beginning of the Adventure

Welcome to my long-awaiting for cooking blog!

Well, I think at least a few of you have been hoping that I would do this... maybe four of you?

To bring everyone up to date, in July of this year, I married my amazing husband Ismael and moved to his hometown of Mexico City.  Since then, I have been taking 4 hours of Spanish class every weekday, setting up a new house, exploring the city, and, of course, learning how to cook Mexican food.

I am hoping this blog will be a combination of some great Mexican recipes, some old favorites from the US, and some insight into the Mexican culture and lifestyle.

So far, I have really enjoyed my time living here and I am hoping to share some of the things I love with you.

~ Kim