Cooking Tips for October 2023.
Simple ingredients and special techniques helped our ancestors create delicious and nutritious meals that are also inexpensive.
Growing up we had the heaviest meal at 2 pm and supper was the light meal around 7 pm. One of the light meals I liked the best were “Chiles Rellenos” and other vegetables cooked in the same egg batter.
Many years later on a wine tour near Madrid in Spain, we had a similar lunch, except instead of tomato sauce, they served it with a splash of wine vinegar. I mention this, because it shows how food particularly is influenced by cultures from all over the world.
Eggs are so full of nutrients, I know once you try these you can have a nutritious meal any time. So, I’ll give you two techniques, they taste different, try them both and decide which is your favorite.
Eggs-traordinary Delightful!
Make the sauce first, because it needs to simmer. 4 tomatoes, 1/4 onion, 1 garlic clove in the blender, add 1/2 ts. salt, 2 tsp. chicken bouillon [I use Knorr Swiss powder], and 1/2 C water. Blend until smooth. Then pour it In a deep caserole with 1 TB oil,on medium heat, when it bubbles simmer for 10 minutes. Add some water or broth if it is too thick.
Tortitas de Coliflor con queso. [Souffle of Cauliflower with Cheese]
Ingredients: 4 tomatoes, 1/4 onions, 1 garlic, 2 eggs, 1 cauliflower head, 2 zucchini, 1/2 farm cheese.1/2 C flour, 1/2 C oil.
Steam the cauliflower florets until soft, about 7 minutes. mash them inside a bowl with a fork, add 1/2 C flour, diced cheese, salt/pepper, Mix well. Set aside. Separate 2 eggs, beat the egg whites until soft peaks, add the yolks, mix, add 1 TB flour, mix, salt/pepper, This batter is the souffle. Add the cauliflower mixture to the batter, fold everything well. Add 1/4 C of the mixture to the medium hot oil, and using two forks turn them over until golden all over. Serve with the sauce, Enjoy! I have added a video from “Jauja Cocina Mexicana” so you can follow the steps there. NOTE: You can change the subtitle language on settings.
Calabacitas Rebozadas [Zucchini with an egg cover]
Rebozada o Rebozado means dipped in egg and then fried.
Ingredients: Zucchini, flour, eggs, sal/pepper, oil to shallow fry. NO bread.
Slice zucchini lengthwise about 1/4 inch thick, dip in 1/2 C flour. Set aside. Beat the eggs very well, add salt/pepper, remove excess flour, dip in the eggs, and into the medium hot oil, and using two forks turn them over until golden all over. Serve with a splash of wine vinegar, and the cheese on the side. Enjoy!
Maize-terfully Delicious!
Making fresh tortillas is one of the most fun and nutritious things to involve family and friends, it is rewarding, and they will create a memory that will last a lifetime!
Maize, a.k.a. Corn, by itself is not very nutritious, yet millions of people in Mose-America, Mexico in particular have survived for over 5000 years with Maize as their main diet.
About 5000 years ago, the people in Mexico developed a process to treat corn that would make it nutritious and digestible. In the beginning they used wood ashes, and later on, and to the present, they use lime to cooked and grind corn into masa. This process is called Nixtamalization.
In South America and the rest of the world they don’t use this process.
Enchiladas 101
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- Never use
flour tortillas– Always use corn tortillas. - Corn tortillas need to be slightly shallow fried to make them hold their shape when dipped in the sauce.
- Dip in sauce, fill, fold, cover with fresh cheese, lettuce, and a ribbon of cream, salt and pepper.
This is the same process for all enchiladas, change the sauce and filling and that is it.
Enchiladas Potosinas:
Ingredients: Red enchilada sauce [from can] , corn tortillas, fresh cheese, cooked and sauteed carrots, and potatoes, thin sliced lettuce, Mexican cream.
Warm up the Sauce, slightly fried tortillas, dip in sauce, fill with fresh cheese and fold, top with cooked and sauteed diced carrots and cooked diced potatoes, thin sliced lettuce, and a ribbon of cream. Enjoy!
- Never use
