Fresh Mexico_ 100 Simple Recipes for True Mexican Flavor - Marcela Valladolid [44]
Combine the egg yolks, lemon juice, chipotle chile, adobo sauce, and Dijon mustard in a food processor, and pulse two or three times to combine. With the machine running, add the oil in a very slow, steady stream until all of the oil has been incorporated (this should take about 5 minutes). Add the salt and pepper and pulse to combine. Store, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
CREAMED RAJAS
MAKES 2 CUPS
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium white onion, thinly sliced
2 cups fresh corn kernels (from 2 ears)
6 poblano chiles, charred, peeled, stemmed, seeded, and cut into strips
¼ cup heavy cream
¼ cup Mexican crema (page 70) or crème fraîche
½ cup shredded Oaxaca cheese or mozzarella cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A great filling for tacos or topping for any grilled meat, these creamy poblano strips (rajas) showed up on the table a few times a week while I was growing up. You can cream virtually any chile, but mild poblanos add the perfect amount of spice to any dish. My favorite pairing is with sweet Torta de Elote.
Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes, or until translucent. Add the corn kernels and cook for an additional 3 minutes.
Add the chile strips to the corn mixture and cook for 5 minutes, or until the corn is tender. Add the heavy cream and crema and cook for 8 minutes, or until bubbling. Add the cheese and stir until melted and smooth. Season the rajas to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot. (The rajas can be made 1 day ahead. Cool, cover, and refrigerate. Stir over medium heat until hot before serving.)
Buñuelos
Polvorones: Ground Walnut Cookies
Mango Pockets with Cinnamon Cream
Amaranth Macaroons
Mom’s Strawberry Tartlets
Date and Vanilla Crème Brûlée
Pastel de Tres Leches
Cocada: Easy Coconut Bark
Messy Cajeta Whipped Cream Napoleon
Arroz con Leche: Mexican Rice Pudding
Fresh Guava Layer Cake
Mexican Chocolate Soufflé
Apricot Tequila Ice Cream
Pomegranate Pine Nut Brittle
Calabaza with Brown Sugar
Chocoflan
Tamarind Martinis
Michelada Preparada
On more than one occasion as a young girl, I walked into the kitchen to find my older sister, Carina, pouring cajeta, a caramel spread made with goat’s milk, straight into her mouth. “How can you do that?” I would protest with absolute horror. “It’s all sugar!” I wasn’t concerned about her health—I just couldn’t fathom eating a container of sticky caramel without stopping for air.
I soon understood that Carina is a very strange creature who can go for days on sugar alone. She’s known to stash chocolate underneath her bed, and when she feels it’s gotten out of hand, she’ll ask someone to hide it from her for a couple of days. Hide, not throw away, mind you. I used to have this peculiar job. Now I think it’s been relegated to her poor husband, Raymundo, who has lectured my sister many, many times on the questionable example she’s setting for their three young girls, Isabella, Daniella, and Gabriella.
Raymundo is the rare type of guy who likes to whisk his wife off to San Francisco or Las Vegas, just to eat at the fanciest restaurants and order the chef’s special menu paired with the restaurant’s finest wines. I always imagine Carina on one of those culinary adventures, pretending to love her pork chop while secretly waiting for the dessert to arrive. She calls me every morning after these dinners and tries, to the best of her ability, to recount each course. She usually forgets half of them but is always able to give me incredible details on the taste, texture, presentation, and aroma of the dessert and each of its components!
It wasn’t until I spent the summer in Paris and studied classic French pastry at the Ritz-Escoffier cooking school that I began to understand my sister’s obsession. I wasn’t much interested in sweets when I was growing up, preferring the more salty-sour candy varieties from local candy stores.