Thursday, February 28, 2013

Mex Head Yucatan Chow for Gringos

This is my version of these Yucatecan classics. Some of the techniques vary, but the flavor will be largely similar to what you would get on the street. Felicidades putas, join me in border hopping. Feel free to tweak these too, view these recipes as a guide not rule, as most of them are from memory/translated from Spanish.

 SOPA DE LIMA

 3 pounds boneless chicken breast (about 6 or 7)
1 large white or red onion
5-6 garlic cloves
2 bell peppers
 2 large tomatoes
Bunch of cilantro
3t dried oregano
A habanero or jalapeño
4-5 limes, thinly sliced.
Lime juice (or Naranja Agria if you have it!)
Salt
Pepper
4-5 quarts chicken stock
Corn tortillas
Vegetable oil

 Dice onion, tomato, bell pepper, sauté til caramelized, add garlic and cook until toasted. Deglaze the pan with a small amount of the chicken stock and lime juice then add remainder.

Add the chicken, cut into smaller pieces to cook more quickly, to the stock, simmer 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked. When chicken is cooked, remove from pan to a cutting board and shred, set aside or return to pot depending on how you want to plate your soup.

While chicken is cooking, cut the tortilla into thin strips and fry until crispy.

Season out your soup with salt and pepper.

To assemble, place a portion of chicken if you've chosen to leave it out of the broth. You could also pan fry the shredded chicken to crisp it up and then add it. If you've left the chicken in the stock, pour a portion into a bowl, garnish with tortilla strips, lime slices, and sliced hot chili if you've decided you like the heat.

GUACAMOLE

6-8 avocados
 Lime juice
 Minced onion
Minced garlic
Minced jalapeño
Cilantro
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Slice avocados in half longways, twist the halves to separate, remove pit and scoop out with a spoon into a large bowl.
Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and lots of lime juice. Mash with a fork or potato masher until desired smoothness. Fold in desired amounts of onion, garlic, jalapeño, and cilantro, finish with olive oil. This is a traditional guacamole that can be the base for limitless varieties, such as...

GRILLED SHRIMP GUAC
Guacamole base
1/2 pound or more shrimp (the bigger the better, those tiny salad shrimp are crap)
Or delicious things like...
Seared pineapple
Jicama
Apple
Cucumber
Grilled corn
Roasted tomato
Bacon
Goat cheese, queso fresco

Let the guac be your oyster.

PANUCHOS

Salt
Olive oil
Bibb lettuce
1/2 red onion
Salt and sugar
Lime juice
Rice vinegar
Limes
Avocado
Tomato
Dozen hard boiled eggs
Braised chicken, turkey, or pork.
Achiote seasoning or achiote seeds
Corn tortillas
Canola or vegetable oil

Drain black beans in a colander, rinse, put in a skillet and fill halfway with water. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer til beans are mashable. Add olive oil, mash, turn off heat, season with salt and pepper.   Julienne red onion, massage with sugar and salt in a bowl, add lime juice and rice vinegar, allow to sit at room temperature until fuchsia. Slice avocado and tomato into wedges. Mix achiote seasoning with lime juice and olive oil.
Fill a skillet with about 1/4" of vegetable or canola oil. Spread a layer of retried black beans onto a corn tortilla and fry briefly. Remove from oil and allow to drain and cool a little, layer in this order-
Tortilla
Black beans
Lettuce leaf
Sliced egg or meat
Tomato wedge
Pickled onion
Jalapeño
Avocado wedge
Salsa de achiote

EAT IT AND LET IT RUN ALL OVER YOUR HANDS, CHIN, AND ON YOUR SHIRT. That's how real Mexicans do. You don't really care when you paid only about 70 cents US$ for one of these puppies and have five more on your plate to go. If you're not a fan of black beans, nix 'em and you have the panuchos's dirty cousin the Salbute, which is also delicious, but not beany.

MEXICAN HOT CHOCOLATE BROWNIE
2 sticks unsalted butter melted, plus more for greasing
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs (local, pasture-fed eggs for me!)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup good-quality unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (mine was heaping)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat to 350 degrees, grease up a 9 x 13 baking dish, glass preferably. Cream butter and sugar together, mix in eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients, add mixed wet ingredients to the bowl of dry things, and lastly add the chocolate chips. You add them last so they don't melt and get lost in the batter which isn't a total fail but is if you like the texture of the chips. Also don't over mix, it's okay to have a few lumps. If you let it rest for a minute they will absorb into the batter, and you will have a softer brownie.

Pour into baking dish and bake 25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan and then cut and garnish with whipped cream, powdered sugar, cinnamon, or dulce de leche.