The Dining Diva

Restaurante Asao en Tecate

Tecate sprawls out over the starkly beautiful, rocky hills about 25 miles East of Tijuana, or 45 miles East of downtown San Diego and is readily accessible from either. With only about 320,000 inhabitants life flows along at a slower more relaxed pace, making it an attractive escape to those of us in the neighboring metropolitan areas.

So yesterday I did a day trip to Tecate along with 4 friends, Barbara, David, Jim and Suzanne. The date, 11-11-11, was supposed to be a lucky day, and whether that is true or not it's hard to say; I can say we did have a magical day that was capped off and highlighted by an unforgettable meal at Asao. There is nothing quite as satisfying as sharing a meal with good friends where the conversation is relaxed and easy, the food fantastic and everything seems right with the world...whether it is or not.

Restaurante Asao is part of the El Santuario Diegueño conference and event center.  The name of the center pays homage to the Digueño, or Kumeyaay, indians who inhabited - and still do - both sides of the border in this area. The grounds themselves have been beautifully landscaped with local, regional and indigenous plants and the contemporary buildings built to blend into the environment. It all creates a lovely and elegant ambiance that seamlessly connects the outside to the inside.

 The word Asao in Kumeyaay means to eat, and boy did we. Since we'd been traveling around town on foot, and the last 2 blocks to Asao are mostly uphill we were ready for some cool drinks. David went with a Michelada, but the rest of us opted for Sangria Preparada...

...which is essentially limonada on the bottom with a red wine float on the top. Not only was this version attractive it tasted really good when blended together with neither the limeade or the red wine overpowering the other. Along with the drinks we were served an amuse bouche (single bite hors d'oeurve) of a crisp baguette disk topped with a creamy cheese mixture, drizzled with balsamic syrup and delicate sprouts. The perfect little bite to whet the appetite while we reviewed the menu.

All of us seemed to breeze by the Entradas (appetizers) and Sopa (soup) and homed in on the Ensalada menu. David, Barbara and Suzanne all decided to go with the mixed lettuce salad...

...that came with a lightly crumbed and sauteed knob of goat cheese and half a small pear that had been poached and glazed. The salad was dressed with a tamarind based vinaigrette.

I happen to like plantains quite a bit, so resisting the spinach salad was pointless. In addition to little bits of plantain, the salad also held crushed nuts, a couple of cherry tomatoes and some strips of candied fruit (biznaga?)...

...dress it with an agave nectar based vinaigrette and finish it off with an amaranth crisp and I had a salad that pleased me right down to the last bite.

Jim went simple and old school with the Caesar salad but ended up with probably the most interesting presentation...

...a Caesar salad stacked like a napolean and showered with shredded parmesan. More of those super crisp baguette thins stood in for the traditional crouton.

As anyone can see, the plate presentation on all 3 salads was beautiful, but the best part was, each salad actually tasted as good as it looked. Then we moved on to the entrees.

David doesn't eat a lot of red meat so decided to treat himself to one of the beef filets...

...which came still pink inside and napped in a spicy salsa verde. David doesn't like super spicy chile dishes so much and thought the sauce just bordered on being too hot for him. I, on the other hand, who does like spicy, thought the salsa verde had a nice kick that really complimented the beef very well, but wasn't too hot. David didn't really have too much difficulty polishing off his tender steak, and he was delighted with the grilled chunk of corn still on the cob that came with the plate.

Suzanne thought the Chile Relleno filled with Smoked Marlin sounded just like her ticket...

...and turned out to be a dried chile that had, indeed, been stuffed with a very rich and savory smoked marlin. As she ate it she tried difference combinations of the accompaniments and finally decided that if she put a bite of relleno, a dab of guacamole, a little cabbage and some of the cheese crisp all on the fork together, it was darn near the perfect bite for her (and for us as well)

Barbara and I each chose one of the duck preparations. Both duck dishes started with a very generous portion of confit duck...

I chose the duck with the salsa de tamarindo (tamarind sauce) and I can only say it was delicious. It did get a bit too sweet towards the end of the dish, but at no time did it ever enter into cloyingly sweet territory. And part of that may have been my own fault. My spinach salad had some nice sweet notes to it. Perhaps if I had chosen a different starter or salad, I may not have noticed the sweetness at all. But it makes no difference, duck was very good.

I did think that Barbara had the better of the two duck dishese though...

...with her choice of duck in pipían verde.  Pipíanes are nut and seed based rustic sauces. There was nothing particularly rustic about this one as it was elegant and well balanced. In fact, as Barbara got to the end of her duck she was wishing she had more of the pipían, it was that good.

Having dined with Jim in the past, I knew he had a knack for unearthing menu items that maybe didn't sound so interesting on the menu but turn out to be some of the best things on it. He didn't disappoint me...

...in his selection of the luminous seared tuna. Wow, probably one of the best dishes of the day. It's resting on a bed of sea beans and that little blob of light green is wasabi sorbet. The buttery, sashimi grade tuna was a very light and refreshing dish.

Portions at Asao are not stingy and the well stocked bread basket dangerous, so after salads and mains we were all feeling pretty full. But whether I actually order dessert or not, I've not really ever been known to refuse a dessert menu. It had most of the usual dessert suspects, but the first one caught both Suzanne and my eye. Espuma de Atole con Dulce Frijol y Buñuelos?  Atole (corn) foam with sweet beans?  That seemed like such an unlikely combination. We debated back and forth about whether to order it or not. David solved the dilemma by ordering 1 dessert and 5 spoons...

...Suzanne and I took the first bites and almost simultaneously had that Oh...My...God moment. This has got to be the single best dessert I've had so far in 2011. It was impossibly light, but at the same time wonderfully rich, not to sweet, utterly delicious. The corn from the atole was subtle and nuanced and the sweet bean puree, silky smooth. The buñuelos?  Well, those were probably the only thing that wasn't just about perfect in the entire meal, but they were such a minute part of it, who cares, certainly we didn't.

Good friends and good food...what a day. 

The check for 1 Michelada, 4 Sangria Preparadas, 5 salads, 5 entrees and 1 dessert (with 5 spoons), tax and a generous tip was $40 each making this an incredible deal for the quality of the meal. And it should be mentioned that the service was stellar. The staff is efficient and well trained and service is professional and anything but stuffy.

Restaurante Asao is located at Estaban Cantu 214 and is walkable from the Tecate border crossing.

If coming from San Diego on highway 94, it is probably advisable to dine at Asao for midday comida as the stretch of 94 from Tecate to the border patrol check point is fairly curvy with a couple of steep descents that might be a touch hairy in the dark after a tequila or 3.  If driving across the border to Asao, it's super easy to find. Once you cross, go down to the stop light at Ave. Juárez, turn left and follow it until you see the sign, turn left, go up the hill and park. Or just follow this map

I'm not sure if 11-11-11 was a perfect day, but it was certainly magical

 

Slow Food Yucatán

My friend Cristina once asked me why I was involved with Slow Food Urban San Diego . And, as a board member, I darn well better be able to answer the question. So...why am I involved?  Ah, let me count the ways :-)

1)  I prefer to eat food that hasn't traveled thousands of miles, and half way around the world, to get to me. My local growing area provides great products and big agri-business will survive just fine without me                                       

2) I think preserving heritage and traditional seeds, breeds and food, as well as food and cultural traditions about food are important.  Heritage and tradition help define cultural identity and often provide a personal one.

3) I find artisanal products tasty, intriguing and I am always impressed by the creativity displayed by the chefs and home cooks who choose to work with  local, sustainable and/or artisanal products.

Why Slow Food Urban San Diego?  In a word...diversity. SFUSD participates in and sponsors a variety of projects that cross many communities and economic strata. From porchetta dinners with Italian butchers and sustainable seafood week, to gardens designed to teach young mothers how to grow and prepare good food for their kids, and a partnership with San Diego City Schools to bring farmers and fresh food to the classroom, to the classes in home brewing, cheese making or understanding coffee, SFUSD connects San Diegans to the incredible food opportunities and communities in our local urban area.

Now I'm not going to get all high falutin' and philosophical and go on about how wonderful Slow Food is. Like any organization it's got it's pros and cons. What I am going to do is tell you about a small Slow Food organization promoting good, clean and fair food, one product and one person at a time.

Slow Food Mexico has been around for a while in the central part of the country, but I was truly surprised to discover that Slow Food represented in Merída by Slow Food Yucatán and that they sponsor a weekly market every Saturday

 

So with 3 friends in tow, and armed only with an address and a taxi driver who assured us he knew where we were going, we set off in search of the Mercado Fresco de Slow Food Yucatán.

The market isn't big but it does have a good breadth of products and interesting items, like the fresh eggs - chicken or quail - local honey, locally grown cashews and even earth that comes complete with earthworms.  Then there were these guys and their lettuces.

 

Making use of old water bottles the lettuce starts are grown on the roof of their home. I'd eat that, wouldn't you? Recycle old water bottle and feed the community, love the idea, the concept and the execution.

Good Asian food is not always the easiest thing to find in Mexico, but if you've got a hankering for kim chee or some other Korean specialties, you'll find it at this table (see below)...

 

 

Okay, Korean not your thing?  How about freshly grown herbs, greens or some handmade cheese

 

 

 

Merída has a large and fairly active ex-pat community. The English Library recently sponsored a chili cook off and the winning chili is available at the Slow Food market. Also on display was the medal the winner received. Look closely,  it certainly appears that the English Library could use a refresher course in English.

 

Slow Food Yucatan was launched by David Sterling, owner of  Los Dos Cooking School . The market is held at a bakery that is owned an operated by SFY board member Monique Duval who is, without doubt, a force of nature...baker, fee spirit, visionary and probably a lot more. She is a whirlwind of activity and so is the bakery 

While I didn't get great photos inside the bakery, and her selection had been whittled down by the time we got there it was clear to see it's a delicious labor of love and dedication

 

 

Calzones, wraps, pizzas, pastries and lovely loaves of bread made with whole grain and natural ingredients were flying out the door and customers were lined up 2 and 3 deep waiting their turn. Also offered are grains that have been freshly ground to flour.

 

Some fresh juice, great grains, granola and something called Huevos Brie (Brie Eggs..don't ask, I don't know and I forgot to ask) wait to go home with some lucky cook. 

The Slow Food Yucatán mercado brilliantly that size doesn't matter. From the guys selling lettuce in recycled water bottles to the guy at the other end of the market selling coconut pies made from coconuts grown in his backyard, everything came from within a 30 mile radius of Merída. Wide ranging products, creative ones and a sense of place and community, the mercado had it all.  We bought some coffee and we bought some chocolate, and then it was time to say adios and head back to the hotel.

This map will help you get to the Slow Food mercado, it's not exactly on the well trod Merída tourist routes.  You'll know you've arrived when you see the sentinel standing guard...an old red mixer on the roof. Yeah, I forgot to mention, Monique has a sense of humor too.

 

Slow Food Yucatan Mercado

Calle 31 No. 70 por Calle 12

Colonia Chuburná de Hidaldo

(Your taxi driver will understand the address even if you don't)

 

 

Ek Balam

 

Ek Balam - Black Jaguar.

Like those big black cats there is something rather slinky and seductive about Ek Balam.  It could be the light. It could be the lush, deeply green jungle foliage. Or it could simply be the lack of tourists.  Whatever the reasons, it is a hauntingly beautiful site and well worth spending a morning (before it gets too hot) exploring the nooks and crannies.

According to oral histories that have been passed down, Ek Balam was the leader of the group of Maya that originally settled and developed the location. It thrived for about 1,000 years reaching it's peak between 700-900 A.D. and was a contemporary settlement to Cobá  In fact, on a clear day, from the top of the main pyramid, it is possible to see the pyramids of Cobá 30 miles away!

Ek Balam, like most Maya cities, lay on one of the well traveled sacbe, the Route 66 of the Maya world.

 

The first thing a visitor traveling the sacbe would have encountered was a 4-sided, arched entry into the town, each arch facing one of the 4 directions (North, East, West and South). During Maya times, travelers would have made offerings for having arrived safely, or offerings to ensure a safe trip. Modern day travelers simply take photos.

 

Walls around a Maya city were not all that  unusual.  They functioned to fortify the city and provide an extra measure of defense during periods of warfare. The system of double walls discovered at Ek Balam is unique to that location. Archaeologists have found no clear indicators that would explain the purpose of the 2 walls.

There are still numerous oval Maya homes dotting the landscape all over the Yucatan. They usually consist of adobe/mud walls with tall thatched roofs that rise to a peak over the center of the house. Even though the homes were oval, an oval structure atop a pyramid was uncommon. Other than Ek Balam, very few have been documented

 

Another  unique feature of Ek Balam, that most likely speaks to the importance or significance it commanded, is the sheer size of some of the structures. The Acropolis is an enormous building, over 500 feet long, 200 feet wide and 6 stories tall. It was home to the government palace and most of the city's business functions, and functionaries.

 

 

(The thatch pictured above was added by archaeologists excavating the site to protect from the elements some of the well preserved relics, artifacts and bas-relief carvings they found while working on this pyramid)

True to Maya construction principals, every 52 years a new shell was wrapped around the outside of the original structure. Any new levels would have been added at this juncture as well. 52 years  - about the average life span at the time Ek Balam was active - is a frequently used time frame in the Maya system of counting and marking time. Using the day, month and year system of astronomy/astrology to name babies usually meant that a name was not repeated for 52 years. So unless there were multiple babies born on the same day, it pretty much ensured that everyone had a unique name as their personal identification.  But, back to the pyramid...

As excavation began on The Acropolis, a number of key discoveries were made. Chief among them was a fierce facade about half way up the pyramid. It is a gaping mouth lined with fangs, presided over by a ruler and flanked by warrior guards.

 

 

 
 

The Maya actually believed in 5 Directions - the 4 cardinal directions North, South, East and East - with the 5th Direction being a portal into the underworld.  The mouth/doorway is believed to be such a portal and Ek Balam himself is thought to be buried within the pyramid. The jaguar was, in multiple guises, a primary player in the Maya pantheon of deities, and is represented by the fangs (the inverted hook-like pieces that protrude from the walls) around the portal. Evidence of blood has been found within the fang-lined platform in front of the monstrous gaping mouth. Most of it is believed to be the result of ritual blood-letting by sacerdotes (priests); it is unknown how much of the blood residue may be the result of human sacrifice.

The fanged portal is guarded on either side by large warrior statues. Statuary as we know it was not common in the Maya world and statues with what appear to be angel wings is virtually unknown. Most Maya stone work is in flat bas-relief. These status are 3-D with well chiseled features.

 

The climb up the pyramid to the platform where the fanged portal and warrior guardians are located is, surprisingly, much easier than it looks.  The stairs not nearly as steep or as narrow as at other sites.  Continue on up the pyramid to the top where the view is grand, if not flat.

 

 

Bring a hat, bring a bottle with water and about $4 USD for the entry fee. Ek Balam is a gorgeous and well maintained site . It has features that are unique and unusual, but best of all you may have the entire place to yourself. It that's the case, climb up to the top of The Acropolis, settle in and try and imagine what it must have been like 1,000 years ago. You might discover your imagination doesn't have to wander far...

ex-Convento San Bernardino de Siena

Picture it, the year is 1552, you're young Spaniards fresh off the conquest and you've just been asked to construct your order's first church in a foreign, and often strange, new world. Your objective is to create a space conducive to converting, ministering and protecting the indians, meeting the needs of the religious and secular communities as well as being a safe haven from potential attack. This was the position in which ex-Conquistador turned architect, builder and Friar, Juan de Mérida and Fathers Hernando de Guevara and Francisco de la Torres found themselves.  

They chose to build their church in a small community called Sisal just outside Valladolid and away from the primary Spanish settlement. Not only would the location allow them to protect their indigenous charges from abuse by local landowners that was already becoming evident, it would also allow them to create a wholly self-sustaining community. Naturally, this didn't sit too well with local landowners who perceived the friars as unfairly meddling with their indian labor. Numerous hostile conflicts occured before and during construction of the church as a result of the choice to situate the church in Sisal. The monastery was built over a large cenote call "Sis-Ha" (cool or cold waters in Mayan) that connected to a quick flowing underground river. From the directional orientation of the church to the many cave-ins during construction, each architectural problem was dealt with as it arose. By 1560, however, after the conflicts, cave-ins and assorted other delays and set-backs, the church was finally completed and consecrated. 

The finished church had a rather squat, fortress-like appearance and certainly lacked the ornate flourishes of churches found in other parts of Mexico and also lacked the typical East/West orientation. The austere construction continued into the interior of the church as well which was, and still is, a plain affair that is devoid of the usual adornment found in many Mexican churches.

One of the things that makes the ex-Convento San Bernardino de Siena an interesting and worthwhile visit is that it looks very much like it did when it was completed. There has not been much modification or addition to the original structure so it's pretty easy to get a good idea and feel for what the church must have been like in 1560.

 

Though walled up now, an open chapel was built on the south side (to the right in the photo above) of the building for the indigenous parishioners.

400+ years of wear and tear have been kind to the ex-Convento. The severe lines have soften considerably, and, in the light afternoon sunlight, the stones and mortar settle into an attractive and mellow ocher glow.

 

 

Fans and students of religious iconography will find a number of statues and retablos inside the church worth checking out. Just to left of the church entrance is a small museum in the old cloisters area that reflects the daily life in the monastery, some treasures that were recently dredged up from the cenote as well as a few nice pieces of colonial religious art.

If the Franciscans were successful in building a stable and functional monastery, they were wildly successful in making it a totally self-sufficient one as well. Once the church was completed, extensive gardens and orchards were planted ensuring a steady source of food for both nourishment and trade. Remnants of the old orchards still stand and on certain parts of the grounds the gentle scent of orange blossoms hauntingly drifts through the air.

 

 

 Since the church was build over a large cenote and underground river, they also had a steady source of clean water. There are 4 access points to the cenote, one of which was turned into the "noria" or well-house. Much of the original stone well-house still exists and it's an easy climb up to take a peek into the depths of the cenote though there really isn't much to see these days except a big grate covering a big hole.

 

 

 In the early 2000s the depths of the cenote were plumbed and yielded a surprising cache of weapons. 167 guns and rifles were recovered from the deep water, along with part of a cannon. Many of the firearms are now on display in the monastery museum along with period photographs and information (in Spanish) about the local skrimishes in which they could have been used.

If walls could talk, as the saying goes, those of the ex-Convento San Bernardino de Siena could surly tell a tale to rival any present day telenovela. As it is, we are left with the purity of the architectural design and graceful old stone facade keeping silent testament to 450+ years of history.

 

 

 

 

Valladolid

The first thing about Valladolid is figuring out how to pronounce it. It doesn't exactly roll right off an English speaker's tongue. Phonetically, it'spronounced Va-ya-doe-leed. Say it fast 3 times and your tongue will not trip over it, and you will remember how to say it.

Founded in 1543, Valladolid was build on atop a Maya town called Zaci (or Saki in Mayan) and laid out grid fashion that is still evident today

 

The grid is traditionally anchored by a cathedral on one corner, municipal buildings and the zocalo. The cathedral in Valladolid was built by the Dominican Order . Not especially thrilled with most of the religious orders,  the Conquistador Hernan Cortes felt the Dominicans would do a better job at converting the Mayas because of their emphasis on learning and charity, and so invited them into the conquered territories to convert, preach and minister to the indigenous.

 

The other traditional city center is the zocalo or main plaza, and the one in Valladolid, while small, is quite charming. In a nod to modernization, free Wi-Fi is offered and there is a steady parade of young and not so young ready to take advantage of it.

 

 

 

Today Valladolid is an extraordinarily clean little town painted in pastel and sorbet colors, where the natives are friendly and there are an abundance of taxis to get you where you need to go.

Valladolid is famous for 3 things, being the site of a major battle during the Caste War of Yucatan , Longaniza de Valladolid and Xtabentún. The Caste war happened a long time ago and you can read about it at the link above if you'd like. Longanzia and Xtabentún are hold overs from long ago that have survived in tact for us to enjoy today.

Longaniza is a highly seasoned pork sausage using achiote seeds, allspice, peppercorns and cloves, then formed into skinny links and smoked over wood, preferably green wood. The achiote seeds contribute to the bright red color of the sausage. If you feel like you want to try making Longaniza, check out page 269-270 in Diana Kennedy's book The Art of Mexican Cooking for complete ingredients and directions

 

Xtabentún is infinitely easier to say than it looks.  Phonetically, this is as close as I can get you - Schtah-ben-TUNE. It's an utterly delicious liquor made from fermented honey, anise and the Xtabentún flower, which is a variety of morning glory. It also comes with a legend that puts is squarely into the realm of aphrodisiacs. 

It seems that the Xtabentún flowers began growing from the grave of a Mayan woman by the name of Xkeban (Schka <long a>-ban). While she liked her neighbors they were not exactly enamored of her because she lived a life of love. Essentially she was the neighborhood hooker with a heart of gold. When she died she transformed into the tiny Xtabentún flower, the nectar of which was said to be as intoxicating as her love. While a little sweet, after only one taste it's very easy to understand why Xtabentún is reputed to have aphrodisiac properties. In the U.S. Xtabentún can be purchased at BevMo for about $36

What to do with Xtabentún?

1 shot good tequila + 1 shot Xtabentún + a good squeeze of lime = Mayan Margarita

1 shot of Xtabentún + a cup of coffee = Mayan Coffee

2 oz light rum + 1/2 to 3/4 oz Xtabentún + the juice of 1/2 a lime and 1/2 a grapefruit in a cocktail shaker with ice = the Xtabentún Daiquiri

Susanne Landa and Jim Rodrick test drove the Daiquiri recipe for me and reported that it's really delicious and helps to cut the sweetness of the Xtabentún 

Valladolid surprised at how quaint and cosmopolitan it managed to be at the same time. If visiting the Mayan ruins it makes a fine home base.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Itza & Popo

The housing bubble has burst, lay-offs are rampant and we’ve discovered our financial institutions have behaved badly. Apparently, however, love still sells. Harlequin Books- yes the publisher of those trashy romance novels - announced this week sales and profits were up. Escapism in the face of hard times sells. From the tragic love story of Orpheus and Eurydice in Greek mythology, Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet, the rags-to-riches fairy tale of Cinderella, and movies like Sleepless in Seattle or You’ve Got Mail, we’ve been enthralled for eons with love and love stories.

The Aztecs were no different. And for a tribe well known for their warrior demeanor, one of the greatest Aztec love stories is surprisingly tender and poignant. Like most stories related from the oral tradition, there are multiple versions but they all start with an Aztec princess named Ixtaccihuatl, which in Nahuatl means White Lady. When it came time for her to marry, she deemed none of the princes chosen for her to be acceptable. By chance, one day on the street Itza spied Popocatepetl and fell madly in love with him. Unfortunately, he was the prince of another tribe, mostly likely the Chichimecas. When Popo eventually asked for Itza's hand in marriage her father was outraged and would not allow it. But Itza, being an only child and knowing how to manipulate her father, finally convinced her father to let marry Popo. He agreed but with one condition.  Popo and his tribe must help the Aztecs in a war against their enemy - and the Aztecs had many - in order for the marriage to occur. And, of course, the wily old emperor had other plans and intended for Popo to die in battle.

So along with the Aztecs, off to war went Popo and his tribe of Chichimecas. During the height of battle the Aztec abandoned Popo and his fellow warriors almost ensuring a certain death. Proving that love is stronger than treachery, the Chichimecs prevailed and won the battle. Fuming about being out maneuvered, the emperor told Itza that Popo had died in battle and then wrote Popo a letter saying that Itza had died of sadness while he was gone. Itza was heartbroken. But Popo, having been deceived once, didn't believe the letter. He snuck into Itza's palace and the two eloped and got married. The old emperor was furious that his plan had failed, and at this daughter. He disowned her and said as far as he was concerned she no longer existed.

Itza and Popo lived happily for a number of years until the day Itza became ill and died in spite of Popo's best efforts to save her. Popo was, understandably inconsolable. As often happens in the Valle de Mexico, there was an enormous earthquake shortly after Itza died that rearranged the landscape. Popo felt compelled to take Itza's body to the top of one of the new hills that had been formed by the earthquake. Once at the top, he found a beautiful bed of fragrant flower upon which to lay her body. Popo then laid down next to Itza and waited to die. As time passed, snow and mother nature gradually covered the two bodies and the 2 mountains now known as Popocatepetl and Itzaccihuatl emerged with Popo to this day still watching and tending his beloved Itza.

It was through the Paso de Cortes between the 2 mountains that Cortes traversed on his way from Veracruz to Tenochtitlan. And it was across the same rutted dirt path a couple months ago that I had the chance to experience the majestic grace and elegance of Popo and Itza first hand. The stunning beauty of the 2 mountains speaks perhaps to their enduirng love rather than the rather brutal date with destiny the Aztecs were about to encounter

Today Popo & Itza are located in the Parque Nacional Iztaccihuatl-Popocatepetl

Cortes approached from the southeast, and minus the town and houses it's not hard to imagine that he saw a vista much like this

Popo's solitary cone rising above the plain keeping watch.

It took Cortes 2 1/2 months to transit the mountains. It took me 2 1/2 hous; the closer one gets to Popo and Itza the more impressive they become

 

One version of the love story has Popo carrying a torch to light the way as he carried Itza body up the hill. Known as the Montana Humeante (or smoking mountain) it is still considered an active volcano. To many, though, the ever present stream of smoke is considered to be a reminder that Popo is still constant in his vigil to Itza.

 

 

 

 

Mexicans will tell you that Itza resembles the shape of a woman. See for yourself in the 2 photos above. I'm not so sure I see it, but often times with myths and love, nothing more than a good imagination and a leap of faith are all that's required.

I always think it's terribly sad when both the lovers like Itza and Popo die at the end of the story. They loved fiercely and passionately and were rewarded with immortality in the form of 2 mountains. As a symbol of strength and enduring devotion, perhaps the ending to this tale isn't so sad after all.

 

(The majority of these photos were taken from a moving vehicle)

Pebre de Pollo

I haven't posted much about Mexico or Mexican cooking lately. Okay, I haven't blogged about much of anything lately. Not for lack of interest, but for lack of time.  But last night I made a really great chicken dish and felt compelled to share.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to make for dinner so I got a bunch of my cookbooks out and decided that I'd make the recipe I like best on whatever page fell open. The first few attempts didn't yield anything that turned my crank...until I reached for Zarela's Veracruzby Zarela Martinez. That cookbook fell open to page 215, Pebre de Pollo (Chicken in Sweet-Tart Sauce). The photo looked appealing, and better yet, I had almost all the ingredients on hand and it was only a quick trip to the store for tomatoes and olives. And, voila, dinner

What made this dish so good?  Balance. The flavor was so well balanced. Each bite just kind of teased and delighted the palate...all the way to the very last bite.

No single flavor predominated. All of them blended together to make a sauce that was the perfect aamalgamation of it's parts. That harmony is exactly what sets Mexican sauces apart fromthe more traditional ones the world is used to. It is that harmony of many ingredients morphing into a distinct and unique taste. Each dependent on the other, but none the the star. I was a little concerned that the dish would end up being too sweet. Luckily, that fear proved unfounded. The acid from the olives, capers and probably even the tomatoes was enough to offset the sweetness of the raisins and apples.

The other thing that really appealed to me was that it so clearly showed the Spanish and Moorish influences through the incorporation of raisins, capers and olives. These are items the early Spanish explorers and settlers brought with them from Spain; a Spain that had just recently freed itself from 700 years of Moorish domination. But, no matter the origin or the influence, this is one seriously good dish.

If you own the cookbook, give the recipe a try. If you don't own the cookbook, get yourself to the nearest library or book seller and copy it you'll be glad you did.

Buen Provecho!

 

Cambalache, A Steak House in Mexico City

After 6 days of power eating our way through Toluca and Michoacan, tasting everything from huitlacoche to mamey to green chorizo, the taste buds had hit overload with traditional Mexican food.  Impossible as that may seem, all we really wanted was a break from the sensory assault on the palate............something nice.............something simple.  Which is how we ended up at Restaurante Cambalache.  Located in the Colonia Polanco section of Mexico City, it is arguably the best steakhouse in D.F. A 2-story affair, it is decorated with a lot of rough hewn woods in various states of finish.  The first thing you notice, however, upon entering is the very large and very hot open flame grill spitting flames.  As we were led up the steep and narrow staircase to our table on the 2nd level I couldn't help but notice they stylishly dressed, polished, sophisticated and mostly male clientele; this is not a jeans and T-shirt kind of place.

Portion are large, no, make that enormous, so our table of 4 elected to forego the starters and begin with salads, something we hadn't eaten in nearly a week.  My dining companion and I split a terrific watercress salad.  The leaves had been stripped form the tougher stems, lightly dressed in a lime based vinaigrette and then topped with a few too many marinated white onions that, thankfully, retained none of their bite and all of their crunch.  It was light and refreshing.  Our table mates each ordered a Caesar salad which was prepared with great skill and flourish at the table.  Whole, perfect inner romaine leaves were tossed into the salad bowl along with large croutons and many handfuls of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.  Thought somewhat overdressed, the end result was a beautiful, traditional version of a classic Caesar.  Two other salads on the menu captured our imagination but not our order. The ensalada Cambalache is the house salad composed of 7 or 8 different types of vegetables and a good quantity of hearts of palm.  The other was the blue cheese salad, also made at the table, with what appeared to at least a half pound of imported blue cheese.

Though there are several other meat choices on the menu - such as rabbit, lamb, pork and chicken - Cambalache is an Argentinean steakhouse, so beef is the focus.  Beautiful, robustly flavorful and buttery tender beef.  A massive display case full of the raw options will gladly be rolled table-side to allow guests to choose a particular cut of beef if desired, and these cuts are not wimpy.  A beef order for 1 person weighs in at a heft 14 oz.  Cuts for 2 people tip the scales at 28 oz. making these entrees a low-carb, Atkins dieter's delight. We ordered 2 skirt steaks medium rare and that is exactly how they arrived, medium rare.  A knife was barely needed to cut them they were that tender.  The steaks were served with two sauces, one a rather nondescript tomato based salsa and the other a garlicky chimichurri which complemented the richness of the beef well.  Good or better choices than the skirt steak would be the rib-eyes or filet mignon.  Kebobs with huge chunks of tender meat and equally huge chunks of vegetables are perfectly grilled and delicious as well.

Entrees are strictly a la carte but there are a wealth of side dishes from which to choose.  The side to order, however, is listed simply as Souffled Potatoes. Don't expect anything remotely resembling a souffle, though. What arrives is one of the most delicious and creative versions of French fries.  An enormous and deep basket fashioned out of long shreds of potato is deep-fried and then nestled into a bed of more deep-fried shreds.  The basket is filled with thinly sliced potatoes that "poof" when they hit the hot oil creating a chip with a crisp exterior and airlily wispy interior. Every part of this study in potato is virtually grease-free and eating just one virtually impossible. On order of the souffled potatoes was easily enough for our table of four.

The dessert menu is extensive and includes the usual suspects such as crepes Suzette and NY-style cheesecake. My table mates opted for the sponge cake that had been filled and rolled and topped with a rich caramel sauce.  I choose 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream over which a 2 shots of whiskey had been poured and a few fistfuls of nuts thrown in for good measure.  Kind of like a root beer float for adults. As the ice cream melted it rounded out any edge to the whiskey and the nuts enhanced a lot of the woody notes in the alcohol.

Also on the dessert menu and really not to be missed are the array of flaming after-dinner coffee drinks, many of which are house specialties.  A specially designed rolling cart decked out with a gleaming chafing dish and a multitude of liquor bottles is delivered table-side and the theatrical display begins.  The waiters are not afraid to pour on the liquor and coax the resultant flames into dramatic displays of near arson.  Not only is the performance entertaining, the drinks are actually quite good.

And speaking of drinks, the wine list features an interesting selection of Argentinean, Chilean, Spanish and French wines with a few Californians thrown in for good measure.  We drank a Spanish Rioja Reserva and a Malbec from Argentina.  Both were excellent and moderately priced compared to wine prices in American restaurants.

Service is quick, efficient and professional and there was what seemed like a whole fleet of service staff on the floor ready to make sure every guest's needs were met. If helps to know some Spanish as the waiters don't speak much English. They're good sports about most things and it's not terribly difficult to make yourself understood. If all else fails, menus are available in English.

2 salads, 2 skirt steaks, 1 order of souffled potatoes, 2 desserts and 2 good bottles of wine plus tip came to $2500 pesos, which is approximately $235 USD. Half the cost of the meal was the wine.  It is possible to have a very satisfying meal for far less than what we spent, particularly if you remember that portions are huge and can easily be shared.

Restaruante Cambalache is located at Arquimides 80 in Colonia Polanco.  The phone number in D.F. is 5280-2080.  Reservations are probably advisable.

Mexican Baked Goods

They go by many names, postres, pan dulces and galletas among others.  They are not my favorites.  Mexican baked goods. Walk in to any panaderia and the aromas will slyly seduce you into buying way more than you can possible eat.  Their appearance holds untold allure.  The problem for me has always been the betrayal in anticipation and flavor once I actually eat them.  More often than not they are a lot like eating unsweetened sandpaper.

Recently I took a road trip not to Mexico, but to Escondido in San Diego's north county.  The primary objective was Fiesta Oaxaqueño at the Escondido swap meet, which may be the only Oaxacan restaurant in San Diego at the moment........or at least until March 3rd.  A frequent poster on Chowhound.com had found this little gem and recommended interested folks meet up.  I'm glad we did.  The food at Fiesta Oaxaqueño was well done and delicious and included many Oaxacan specialties, Tlayudas and Chapulines (grasshoppers) among them. While these were good and definitely worth a visit, it was the  trip to Panaderia Ortiz after the swap meet meal that captured my attention.

We arrived on a Sunday in the early afternoon well after most people would have made their purchases.  There was still an ample selection from which to choose.  Instead of the usual round metal pizza tray and tongs one finds in Mexico, Panaderia Ortiz supplies plastic cafeteria trays and tongs for making selections.  A dangerous practice if ever there was one since a cafeteria tray is larger than a pizza tray and easier to over fill.  After picking choosing and deselecting because I knew I could never eat that much, here's what I ended up with --

They look like huaraches, but don't taste like 'em!  These crispy treats were more like sugar sprinkled flaky pie crust.  They weren't quite as flaky as good pie crust, but they certainly had that melt in you mouth quality.

Two out of 3 of these were real winners.  The square in the back was simply puff pastry baked with some shredded coconut and heavily dusted with powdered sugar.  There was nothing inherently wrong with it, It was just bland, boring and disappointing.

The twist was the biggest surprise on the plate.  Imagine what it might happen if a rich, light and flaky (no NOT Paris Hilton) croissant married a raised donut. That's what the twist was like.  There was just enough lightness and tenderness in the dough.  The sugar added the crowning touch.  Originally, I figured at best this would be a too dry donut.  I figured wrong, 2 days after I purchased it, it was still sweet and fresh.  This twist would be perfect with coffee.

The winner on the plate above was definitely the 3 round pastries that looked suspiciously like misshapen cream puffs.  Not even close.  Believe it or not, those balls were made out of 2 cookies sandwiched together with something vaguely resembling traditional pastry cream, but a bit stiffer and perhaps a bit sweeter.  Both cookies and cream had been flavored with a mystery flavor that evoked lemon.......and something else I've yet to put my finger on.  Could have been cheap imitation lemon flavoring, or it could have been something else.  This calls for more field trials in order to determine just exactly what.

I scored a solid success with 3 out of 4 of these items. The looser was the cookie down front.  I'm a sucker for coconut, so I had to try it.  The usual problem, dry and bland.  Even the coconut couldn't save this cookie. Luckily, the large cookie was very good.  Since it was big I was only going to eat half of it, but I found myself wandering back to the kitchen for the other half a few minutes after I finished the first half. 

The empanada on the other hand was wonderful.  The pastry crust was not flaky - nor is it supposed to be - but it was tender and surprisingly flavorful.  It was filled with a rather gelatinous pastry cream which could have been a commercial product or homemade, I couldn't tell.  I also couldn't readily identify the flavor of the pastry cream.  It wasn't quite vanilla, it wasn't quite cream cheese, but it was quite good and worked perfectly with the empanada dough.  Drizzle it with some warm cajeta, add a scoop of chocolate or cinnamon ice cream and a few berries and it would be a great dessert.

More puff pastry was filled with berry filling and this was much better than the square coconut puff pastry.  The berry twist is also a good match for coffee, or a good idea for a light cena along with some fruit and cheese.

Panaderia Ortiz can be found on Juniper St. in Escondido in the block immediately south of Grand Ave. They also sell little bags of Mole Rojo paste that is can be easily reconstituted.  There were tamales de mole wrapped in banana leaves in an insulated cooler in the center of the store and an old soup pot doing double duty dispensing champurrado. According to the flyer we picked up there on Sunday, they are opening a second location in Vista no March 3rd, this one complete with restaurant serving Oaxacan specialties.

Oaxacan cooking is delightfully different and until now it's been available mainly in Los Angeles.  It is well worth seeking out because the flavors are big, bold and unexpected.  Tamal de Iguana anyone?  It's nice to see Oaxacan food options popping up in San Diego.  Fiesta Oaxaqueño and Panaderia Ortiz don't even begin to scratch the surface of the Oaxacan kitchen, but they will provide an approachable and tasty introduction.

And if ever you needed a reason to visit a swap meet this just about sums things up

 

Pollo en Pipián Rojo

I remember walking into my first cooking class with Diana Kennedy and being surprised at how small she was.  I wasn't surprised at all, however, at the first words out of her mouth once the class started. 

"Mexican food is laborious" she intoned in that very British accent, with heavy emphasis on the word laborious.  In fact, she drew out each syllable and rolled the "r". 

I'd been cooking from her cookbooks for years by the time I took the class, I already knew that to do it right and have the final dish taste reasonably close to what it did in Mexico took a lot of time, patience and some attention to detail.  Time and patience I'm pretty good at, attention to detail has never been my strong suit. 

At first glance Mexican recipes tend to be a little intimidating given the length of the list of ingredients and the various preparation methods.  The reality, though, is that with only a few exceptions, they really aren't that difficult.  Time consuming yes, but difficult?  No.

One of the more fascinating culinary experiences I've had in Mexico was to watch Abigail Mendoza prepare Mole Negro from scratch in Teotitlan del Valle in Oaxaca.  Mole Negro isn't difficult, but the process is long and it is involved, but the resultant sauce is complex, elegant and layered with haunting fragrance and nuance.  Because of the time and energy that goes into making Mole Negro it is usually served for fiestas and special occasions.  With Día de Muertos coming up it will, no doubt, appear on alters as an enticement and offering to the returning souls.  Not being nearly that ambitious I went in search of a much less laborious project and came up with Pollo en Pipián Rojo from Cuisines of Mexico, Ms. Kennedy's first cookbook, now out of print.

True to form, the recipe covered 2 full pages and had what looked like 25 ingredients. Luckily, I've made this recipe before and knew that it wasn't all that hard.

In the recipe, the first step is to prepare the chicken.  She takes a whole chicken (3 1/2-4 lb) and simmers it with aromatics to create a rich chicken stock.  I had some insipid boneless, skinless chicken breasts I wanted to move out of the freezer so I used those instead.  I could have just thawed them and tossed them into the sauce at the end to cook, but decided I'd give them the whole bird treatment so that I could get the flavorful stock.  So into the pot with the chicken went half a white onion, a couple of peeled cloves of garlic, some parsley, a bay leaf and some thyme. 

Then I turned my attention to the chiles.  I've got quite a stash of dried chiles that need to be used up soon. This particular recipe required ancho chiles, which are dried poblano chiles. I also had some smoked pasillas from Oaxaca that add subtle flavor to any dish in which it is used.  Pipián is not nearly as complex in flavor as a mole, and I though the smoked pasillas might provide some interesting flavor variations.

 

The 3 smoked pasillas are on the left and the 6 anchos on the right.  The first step is to lightly toast the chiles and make them pliable enough so that they can be easily stemmed, seeded and deveined.  Over toasted and they tend to get brittle making them harder to work with.

I think the pan is a 9" omelet pan from Calphalon that I've had for eons.  What I like about it is that it conducts heat very well and very evenly which makes it the perfect pan for toasting chiles. Once toasted I slit the chiles down one side, removed and reserved the seeds and then into a bowl for the soak.

The chiles need to be totally submersed in the hot water in order to soften.  If they want to float, just weigh them down with something.  I here I used a plate.  We used to process a lot of guajillo chiles at work, up to 15 or more pounds each week. Toasting wasn't so hard, we used our commercial woks, but training employees in how to know when the soaking was done on such a large volume was a little challenging at first.  Cooking relies on the senses and with chiles the sense of touch is vital.  What I used to tell my employees was that once toasted chiles feel a lot like a piece of vinyl, kind of tough and leathery, but once soaked they become supple and velvety.  And so it was with the anchos and smoked pasillas I soaked.  After about 20 minutes under water they had that plush velvet feel to them.  Drained, they went into the blender along with a big old clove of peeled garlic and enough chicken stock to release the blender blades.  The secret here is to make the puree as smooth as is absolutely possible.  A gritty puree will result in a gritty finished sauce.

With the chicken poaching and the chiles pureed the next step was to tackle the seeds and spices that give pipián it's accent flavors and body.  The reserved chile seeds, 1 generous tablespoon in all, I tossed back into the pan and gently heated them through until they were a rich brown color.  Because the seeds do contain volatile oils that can cause a lot of nasal and throat irritations when released I made sure to turn on the hood over the range to help exhaust the noxious fumes.  But I did manage to get good color on the chile seeds

To them I added about an inch of canela, 3 or 4 whole cloves and 4 or 5 whole black peppercorns

Into the grinder they went.  For years I used a standard Braun coffee grinder for Mexican cooking.  It worked well, but sometimes I had to do things in batches and it was sometimes a pain to clean because it couldn't be immersed in water.  A couple of years ago I found this unit on sale and love it.  the grinding bowl detaches for each clean-up  and it holds almost a cup of raw product prior to grinding.

It made quick work of the seeds and spices to produce this finely ground mixture

Many pipiáns use pumpkin seeds, this particular recipe uses 3/4 of a cup of sesame seeds. not an uncommon ingredient in Mexico.  Those were toasted off until they also became a deep rich golden brown.

Then they, too, had their turn in the grinder

With both the chile seeds and the sesame seeds it is important to get the seeds ground as finely as possible as the grind will help determine the smoothness of the final sauce.  The finer the seeds are ground the smoother the sauce.

With the mis en place completed I drained the chicken reserving the broth, set it aside and heated 3 tablespoons of corn oil in a large skillet.  In first went the ground seeds and spices to be cooked and constantly stirred over low heat for about 3 minutes

 

Then the pureed chiles were added

 

And cooked over a fairly high heat for 5 minutes stirring constantly until any excess liquid had been cooked out and a paste remained.

The stirring is critical. The seeds contain so much oil and the high heat over which it is cooked makes it easy to burn the mixture.  To this paste 3 cups of the reserved chicken broth were added.  The mixture readily dissolves into the broth and starts out about the consistency of Half & Half.

 

The sauce will thicken slightly to about the consistency of heavy whipping cream that will coat the back of the spoon but still leave a clear line when a finger is drawn across the back of the spoon.  Kind of like this -

Yeah, the spoon's a little bleary but I am holding the spoon upright and the sauce is staying in place and not running down the back of the spoon.  That's "coating the back of a spoon".

Now is the time to add salt.  Dried chiles love salt and I used a little over 2 teaspoons of salt in the sauce, which was about right.  In Mexico a large avocado leaf would be toasted, finely ground and added to the sauce at this point.  I didn't have an avocado leaf so I left it out.  I did slide the 3 chicken breasts into the sauce to heat through and then plated them.

With moles, pipiáns and other saucy dishes in Mexico, it's all about the sauce, not the protein food that's served with it.  Most Mexicans would have served this with twice as much sauce as I did.  Rice to help soak up the sauce and calabacitas with zahnorrias (carrots) added sweetness to the plate, the pipián was the star no matter how much sauce was or was not used.  Here is the chicken up close and personal.

I actually did a few steps here and a few steps there throughout the afternoon, doing other things in between.  Had I made entire recipe from start to finish at one time, I think it would have taken at least 90 minutes and probably more realistically, 2 hours.  Cooking is a stress release activity for me so I tend to go at a rather leisurely pace and take my time reading the recipe and going step by step.  I loved the deep brick red color of the final sauce and the velvety smoothness of it.  I do think it was a wee bit unbalanced with a few bitter undertones.  I suspect they were from the chiles, possibly the smoked pasillas.  A little sugar would have probably rounded off the bitterness. But no one's complaining and the pipián disappeared in much quicker time than it took to prepare it.