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Fresh Mexico_ 100 Simple Recipes for True Mexican Flavor - Marcela Valladolid [12]

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apple cider vinegar

¼ cup canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce

One 10-ounce package frozen raspberries, thawed and drained

½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

One 6-ounce container fresh raspberries

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 sheet frozen puff pastry (half of a 17.3-ounce package), thawed (see Tip)

All-purpose flour, for rolling

1 large egg, lightly beaten

One 5.5-ounce log soft fresh goat cheese, at room temperature


If you don’t want to go through the trouble of baking the puff-pastry tart, just serve this wonderful chutney alongside the goat cheese for your guests to spread on crackers. I always have the chutney on hand to stir into hummus or to slather onto a piece of grilled chicken. The creamy goat cheese is the perfect counterpoint to the smoky-sweet chutney.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, or until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 3 more minutes. Add the chicken broth, bell pepper, honey, ginger, vinegar, and chipotle chiles and sauce, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 2½ hours, or until the sauce thickens.

Add the thawed frozen raspberries and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let the chutney cool slightly. Then stir in the cilantro and the fresh raspberries. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. (The chutney can be prepared 3 days ahead. Cool, then cover and refrigerate.)

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface to form a 12 x 15-inch rectangle. Cut one 12 x 5-inch rectangle, two 11 x ½-inch strips, and two 5 x ½-inch strips from the pastry.

Place the rectangle on the prepared baking sheet. Pierce it all over with a fork. Using a pastry brush, brush all of the strips with the beaten egg. Place the short strips, egg side down, on the short ends of the pastry rectangle to form a raised edge. Place the long strips, egg side down, along the long sides of the pastry.

Bake the tart shell until golden, about 15 minutes. Keep the oven on.

Spread the goat cheese evenly over the bottom of the hot tart shell, and return it to the oven. Bake for 5 minutes, or until the cheese begins to melt. Cut the tart into 1-inch-wide slices, top each one with a generous dollop of the chipotle-raspberry chutney, and serve.


TIP ALWAYS USE AN ALL-BUTTER PUFF PASTRY FOR THE BEST FLAVOR AND RESULTS.

THE DUCK BURRITO

SERVES 6 TO 8


1 tablespoon salt

4 garlic cloves, smashed

2 shallots, sliced

6 fresh thyme sprigs

2 small fresh rosemary sprigs

One 5-pound whole duck, split into 6 pieces (2 legs, 2 thighs, and 2 breasts)

Freshly ground black pepper

4 cups duck fat (or 2 cups lard plus 2 cups duck fat)

Six to eight 10-inch flour tortillas, warmed

3 scallions (white and pale green parts only), cut into matchstick-size strips

Roasted Tomatillo-Cilantro Salsa


This is the best burrito you will ever taste in your entire life, and that’s no exaggeration. To “confit” is to preserve the duck meat by first curing it in salt, then cooking and storing it in its own fat. This is one of those things that I eat only on occasion, for obvious reasons, but look forward to tremendously. Take into consideration that the duck must be prepared a day ahead—but believe me, it’s worth the extra effort. (You could also buy duck confit already made to cut the prep time way down.) I must confess to you that, on occasion, I’ve used lard from a local butcher when I don’t have enough duck fat (which I buy at Whole Foods), with the response from my uninformed family usually being, “Marcela, the duck tastes different today. It tastes … better.”

Sprinkle ½ tablespoon of the salt over the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch glass baking dish (or any container large enough to hold the duck pieces snugly in a single layer). Scatter half of the garlic, shallots, thyme, and rosemary in the dish. Arrange the duck pieces, skin side up, on top of the salt mixture. Then sprinkle the duck with the remaining

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