1/ Tajin rules! Tajin is a wonderful spice mix made out of chilli peppers, lime and salt. The sour piquant taste is perfect to flavor bland vegetables. For example, Jicama! grate away the tough outside layer of the Jicama and slice it the same way you would slice carrot sticks. Sprinkle Tajin liberally on Jicama and I promise you, you won't stop eating Jicama! You can purchase Tajin at most supermarkets.
2/ Chipotle is not just the name of a food chain, it is a wonderful smoky hot sauce. For those that like it spicy, Chipotles is a smokey chilli sauce that would make a great accompaniment for your dishes.
3/ We discovered different vegetables and they were beautiful. We prepared Tomatillos for our enchilada sauce. Go out, bring a new vegetable home, and try them out.
4) Ceviche is easy to make and makes a good starter! It originated in Peru but it is popular in Mexico. We prepared Ceviche de pescado (fish ceviche) Use a firm white fleshed fish (never use an oily fish). We blanched ling cod in water with bay leaves, peppers, cloves, garlic, onions and salt. Remember not to cook too long as the fish flesh needs to be firm. We marinated the ceviche with lime juice, olive oil, diced onions in the fridge for 20 min to an hour and added vegetables at the end (avocado, tomato, cilantro and green olives or capers)
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| We sprinkled tajin on our pescado |
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| Serve in small glass cups for a nice touch |
5/ Use orange juice to flavor your shrimp cocktail (Coctel de camaron)
Costco sells fresh ready-cooked shrimps to shorten your cooking process. Our shrimp cocktail was flavored with 1 cup fresh orange juice and 1/2 cup tomato ketchup (600g shrimp). Yes it does sound strange, but it was delicious! Mix with chopped tomatoes, avocados, cilantro, drizzle with olive oil and squeeze lime juice to taste.
6/ A good dose of Tequilla makes the cooking experience fun. Jose Cuervo Tequilla makes a great gift and beautiful pop artwork as well.
7/ It's easy and a fun activity to make empanadas at home with friends. Note: Not all empanada makers are equal. It's not so easy to shape the damn empanadas! Our empanadas were filled with chicken mole (shredded chicken cooked in mole sauce)
Empanada filling:
- Get ready-made mole sauce at Mexican supermarket (see bottom)
- Cook chicken breast in water, shred chicken meat
- Reserve chicken stock and combine with ready-made mole paste. Add shredded chicken
Tip: Don't be greedy, put a smaller amount of filling for each pastry. But don't worry, they come out looking fine in the end.
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| Trader Joe's makes great puff pastry that you can roll out and use for the empanadas. |
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| Brush with egg batter, sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake empanadas in an oven @420F |
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| The empanadas were filled with chicken cooked in mole sauce. Mole sauce can be bought pre-prepared in Mexican supermarkets. Make sure your mole sauce is not watery. It should be nice and thick. |
8/ And when life gives you Trump, you make ceviche and coctel de cameron.
God Bless America!
You can get your Mexican products at Mi Pueblo Food center (Mexican Supermarket): 40 S Rengstorff Ave, Mountain View, CA 94040
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