Ches-Mex Recipes

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Ches-Mex Recipes

Julia’s Mole (like a Puebla Mole)
Courtesy: Julia Jorgensen

Ingredients

Three types of chiles:
10-15   Ancho chiles
2 to 3   Chile Pasilla (hot) (New Mexico hot)
2 to 3   Chile Mulatos (negro) for color

1/2 white onion (cebolla)
4 to 5 garlic cloves
1/2 cinnamon stick (canela)
1 disk of Ibarra chocolate
1 handful of peanuts
1 ripe plantain
Bread (rolls or 1/2 baguette)

2 tortillas, ripped into small pieces
1 (very small) box of raisins
1 clove
10 black peppercorns
sugar, salt
olive oil
For chicken stock (caldo de pollo)
2 chickens

water
onion
garlic
salt

Directions

1. Poach whole chickens in water, onion and garlic, for one hour. Remove and reserve liquid for stock.
2. Clean peppers, fry in a little oil, soak in hot water for 1/2 hour, remove.
3. Fry other ingredients in large pan.
4. Put ingredients in heavy duty blender, little by little, add stock to make a medium thin paste.
5. Simmer the paste for 1/2 hour, stirring/scraping very often. When bubbling, add chocolate, melt.
6. Add stock slowly. Julia says she adds almost 2 liters to the ingredients above. Add sugar and salt to taste.
7. Cut up chicken into eighths and add to mole; heat through and serve with white rice. Some people garnish with sesame seeds.

NOTE: Kevin McKinney of Brooks Tavern makes a different style mole, but uses the same three types of chiles. He also uses far less chocolate, prefers a sauce where the chocolate can't be identified as a flavor. Kevin also roasts and shreds his turkey, mixing it into the mole sauce. It's all very personal, and it's all good.

Rockfish a la Veracruzana
Veracruzana recipe courtesy of Julia Jorgensen – ¡Gracias por todos!

Ingredients:

One rockfish filet
2 tomatoes, sliced
One medium white onion, sliced
1-2 garlic cloves, minced fine
10 – 12 green Spanish olives. Half sliced, half kept whole
Olive oil for frying
2 bay leaves
Salt to taste
1 Tb. capers (optional)
1 Tb. pickled jalapenos, sliced (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Sauté first four ingredients in two to three Tbs. of oil on a low heat until soft and blended (about twenty minutes).
3. Lay fish in baking dish and pour sauce over fish. Bake thirty minutes. Serve with white rice or potatoes.

NOTE: Traditional Pescado a la Veracruzana recipes call for marinating the fish in lime juice (one lime per pound fish). This is generally used for thick-fleshed fish like red snapper. If you want to add lime to your rockfish dish, try adding it to your sauce upon completion, before baking.

Roasted Oysters with Salsa Verde

Roasted Oysters

     12 Oysters in Shell (Choptank Sweets are farmed and available year-round. Check to make sure all oysters are tightly closed before cooking.)
     To roast oysters, bring grill to a medium uniform heat. Wash oysters to remove dirt and bits of shell. Place oysters bowl-side down and cover grill. Check after 7-10 minutes, oysters should be slightly opened. Carefully pry back and remove top shell to leave liquid with oyster. Oyster should be slightly cooked with curled edges.

Salsa Verde
1 to 1-1/2 lbs. tomatillos
2 good-sized jalapeño peppers
1/2 chopped white onion
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
Juice of one lime
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Salt to taste

     Husk the tomatillos and roast on a medium-hot grill until slightly charred and soft. Roast the jalapenos as well until skin is blackened. Place jalapenos in paper bag to steam.
     Finely chop onion, tomatillos. Wash cilantro and remove leaves from stem, chop fine. Peel skin from jalapenos, remove stem and seeds, chop flesh fine.
Mix all ingredients in medium bowl. (You can also use food processor if you like a smoother salsa; I prefer a little chunky.) Season to taste with salt. Some also add a drizzle of olive oil. Chill an hour to let flavors blend before serving.

Arrange oysters on a platter and serve with salsa verde.