Monthly Archives: April 2010
For all of you who were wondering, the pizza from yesterday turned out stunning. We ate about a third of it and the leftovers are in the refrigerator for tomorrows breakfast, that is if the Boyz don’t beg for it for their supper tonight. It is difficult to resist their pleas. Here is a photo of the results…
Homemade Pizza - Normita's half on the left and mine on the right!
As you can see Normita’s half has an hybrid half vegetarian and half salami slice in the middle as I was sure she would want to steal from my side. I was right!
Lucito
We had not been out food shopping for a few weeks as we were very busy working here at the office. This morning we really needed to go as we were running out of everything and even the Boyz were out of doggy treats. After doing our morning chores we went out and we returned with a truck full of stuff and we finally had breakfast around 1:30pm. We were both starving and exhausted and the weather down the hill where we live was very hot with a sun beating on our heads. Luckily up here on the hill it is fresher and more comfortable. Normita is currently taking a nap, and in a few hours I will prepare something simple as I am not in the mood to cook anything complicated.
Luckily I had some frozen balls of pizza dough in the freezer that I made a month or two ago and they are thawing now and later I will prepare some nice homemade pizza. Normita’s half will be vegetarian with a bed of fresh spinach as a base with some red sweet peppers, mushrooms, onions, basil from our potted reserve and whatever other veggies I will find. My half will be simpler with some salami, mushrooms, and sweet pepper.
The next time I prepare some dough I will publish the full pictorial recipe, as it is very simple and yield enough to make 4 medium-sized pizzas. I freeze what I do not use the day I make the dough and it is very useful when you want to prepare something quick and simple. Besides pizza I have also done some “calzones” with it, roll it with some olive oil, garlic, fresh basil and cheese to make a stunning bread, and even made some “empanadas” with my homemade spaghetti sauce and another time with some sauteed fresh “chorizo de Toluca” that Normita bought while visiting Toluca with her parents. It is very versatile and a staple in our kitchen. More on that when I prepare the next batch, which should be in a week or two…
We found some great pork on a great sale this morning and have enough for 6-7 meals. So tomorrow I will prepare something “Porky”, but I have yet to decide what. Stay tuned…
Lucito
As mentioned yesterday in the “Daily Express”, Normita prepared some of her great pozole rojo with a quick recipe that is a little bit less traditional in preparation, but that yields exceptional results. It is less heavy than the traditional recipe we make on special occasions as it is only made with chicken instead of chicken and pork. The traditional recipe is available here and has been the all-time favorite recipe on this site for many years.
Here is the illustrated version of Normita’s quick recipe…
Here are the basic ingredients used for this quick pozole recipe
You can seen the bag of pre-cooked corn, the chiles, the chicken before removing the skin and fat, and the dry ingredients. Even though the corn is said to be pre-cooked, what it really means is that the though skin has been removed with lie and it has been blanched. It still requires many hours of cooking to be tender.
Putting the corn in the pot
Washing the corn
The corn requires washing very well as it still has some lie that was used to remove the tough skin. It is washed in the pot with at least 3 changes of water until the water comes out clean. This also has the advantage of removing all the little particles and bits of stuff left from the processing. You then add the condiments.
Adding the dried oregano
Adding the dessicated onions
Adding the dessicated garlic
Once the condiments are added, you then add your water.
Adding the water
The corn is now ready to cook and you let it simmer gently on a low setting for at least 2 hours.
Cooking the corn
After about an hour that the corn is cooking, it is time to prepare the chicken. In another pot put the chicken, the condiments, and cover it with water. simmer on a low setting for about an hour. The corn and chicken should normally be ready about the same time.
Placing the chicken breast in another pot
Adding the powdered chicken broth to the chicken
Adding the dessicated onions to the chicken
Adding the dessicated garlic to the chicken
Covering the chicken with water
Cooking the corn and the chicken
When the chicken and corn is about done it is time to prepare the chiles. First you need to devein and seed them. You then wash them very well under running water. Then are then placed in a blender covered in water and reserve them until you are ready to use them.
Seeding and deveining the chiles
Washing the chiles
The chiles in the blender
By now the chicken and corn should be ready. Remove the chicken from the cooking stock and place in a large bowl to cool down.
Removing the chicken
You then pour the stock from the cooked chicken into the pot with the cooked corn.
Pouring the chicken cooking stock into the corn
It is now time to finish preparing the chiles. Put the chiles with water in the microwave and cook at high for about a minute and a half until the liquid is boiling. Blend the chiles until you have a smooth liquid and pour that liquid in the pot with the corn through a fine sieve. Mix well and your pozole is ready.
Cooking the chiles in the microwave
Blending the chiles
Pouring the blended chiles in the corn
The leftover skins
The pozole is now ready and you need to prepare the traditional garnishes. These include finely diced onions and radishes, chopped avocado, shredded lettuce, oregano, fresh limes cut in half, and hot sauce (in this case Normita’s favorite “Valentina”). The garnishes are put in bowls that are placed on the table and the people add to their bowl of pozole what they want. The chicken has now cooled down enough to shred with your fingers in small pieces, so it is time to do so.
The shredded chicken
Chopped onions
The Larch... Ergh... The radishes
Shredding the lettuce
Some lemon-lime hybrids from the small tree near my office's window
A small avocado
All the garnishes together before we put them on the table
Finally we are ready eat! To serve you place some of the shredded chicken at the bottom of a large soup bowl. You then ladle a generous amount of corn over it and then cover with some of the broth.
Putting some of the shredded chicken in the bowls
Ladling corn and broth
Now the fun begins at the table and you now place all the garnishes you wish in your pozole and then top with a generous helping of shredded lettuce. You then mix well and enjoy an heavenly bit of Mexican traditional food. If you wan to be even more traditionial you can prepare yourself a few tostadas topped with some heavy clotted cream and a sprinkling of salt to go with it.
The final presentation of the pozole loaded with all the garnishes
Now it is topped with lettuce and ready to eat!
Let's not forget a cream tostada with a sprinkling of salt
After preparing this post on pozole I am now starving. Luckily it is now near our lunchtime and we have some leftover pozole from yesterday that should be even better than freshly cooked. I am really looking forward to it.
Here is the recipe again step by step…
The pozole
Ingredients
1. Complete chicken breast with skin and fat removed
2. 1 Kg bag of pre-cooked pozole corn
3. 1 chile ancho
4. 1 chile pasilla
5. 1 chile guajillo
6. 1 1/2 tbs dessicated garlic
7. 1 tbs dried oregano
8. 3 tbs dessicated onions
9. 2 tbs powdered chicken broth
10. 8 or more cups of water
11. Water to cover the chicken
Instructions
1. Place the pre-cooked corn in a large cooking pot
2. Wash it well changing the water at least 3 times until the water is clean
3. Add the oregano, 1 tbs garlic, and 2 tbs of onions
4. Add the 8 cups of water and simmer for at least 2 hours on a low setting you might need to add some water as it evaporates and gets absorbed by the corn
5. After about an hour than the corn is simmering place the chicken breast in another pot
6. Put the remaining onions and garlic and the powdered chicken broth
7. Cover with water and simmer on a low setting for about an hour until the chicken is well cooked. Add water if the level goes down too much.
8. Around the time that the chicken and corn are ready, seed, devein, and wash the chiles well
9. Place the cleaned chiles in a blender and cover them in water and reserve them until ready
10. Remove the chicken from the cooking stock and place in a large bowl to cool
11. Pour the stock from the cooked chicken into the pot with the cooked corn
12. Microwave the chiles and water for about a minute and a half on high to bring the water to a boil
13. Blend the chiles until you have a smooth paste
14. Pour the chiles in the pot with the corn through a fine sieve
15. Mix well the finished pozole in the pot
Garnishes and How to Serve
Ingredients
1. Shredded cooked chicken breast
2. Finely diced onions
3. Finely dices radishes
4. Oregano
5. Shredded iceberg lettuce
6. Chopped avocado
7. Fresh limes
8. Hot sauce
9. Tostadas
10. Heavy clotted cream
11. Salt
12. Pozole
Preparation
1. Once cooled shred the cooked chicken breast with your fingers into small pieces
2. Prepare the various garnishes and place in individual bowls
3. Place some of the shredded chicken in the bottom of large bowls and cover with cooked corn and broth
4. At the table add the garnishes of your choice to the pozole, mix well and enjoy with some tostadas with a buttering of heavy cream and a dash of salt
Lucito
Today Normita prepared a “Quick” version of he great “Pozole Rojo de Jalisco”. We will have enough food with this for today and tomorrow and the boyz, our huge Bouvier de Flanders dogs Uriel (Normita’s boy, ~80Kg) and Bacchus (my boy, ~70 Kg), should have enough leftover broth to enjoy some with their dry food tomorrow night.
Since our regular pozole recipe is our all time favorite recipe based on the number of visits here on the site, we documented this quick version that we normally enjoy at least once or twice a month. It is simplified version made with only chicken and it easy to prepare and stunningly tasty. It is one of Normita’s best recipes. We will post the full pictorial and recipe of this version in the coming days, so lookout pozole fans.
Lucito
We are now offering promotional services here in Mexico to companies in the food/beverage industry (food products, ingredients, wines, liquors, kitchen utensils and appliances and other related luxury products) for your products via our website, clients, and our various courses.
For example if you want to promote a new brand of wine in this market we can arrange to use your wine and promote it during the tasting part of our various wine courses that would be related to your wine.
Before accepting a product for promotion in our courses, be aware that it has to be approved by our evaluation board.
For those types of promotional services and other industry-related services please contact me directly at jlpaquin@igourmand.com.
Lucito
In this first entry of the “Daily Express” I prepared something very quick. For the past few days we have been frenetically working to give a new look for both this blog and the main site. We were supposed to go food shopping yesterday as we normally do, but with both of us concentrating on finishing this work (Normita on the main site which should be uploading as I write this, and me on the blog) we decided to finish the work instead and leave the shopping for later in the week.
I had a look at what we had in the refrigerator early this morning and found out I had a bit of frozen medium-sized cooked shrimps, and found that we still had half a pot of Mexican-style rice Normita prepared yesterday. She had made it with a bit of frozen veggies (peas, carrots, corn) and used some sushi rice as we had an old bag of it we recently found hidden in the back of the larder, and we want to use it before using fresher stuff. Due to the type of rice it is a bit stickier than normal, but it is very tasty indeed.
Quick and easy stir fry
About an hour before lunch I threw the frozen shrimps in a bowl of water to thaw them and about 10 minutes before we wanted to eat I went to the kitchen. I took out my trusty wok and stir fried the leftover rice in a bit of soy oil. I then added some May Ploy oriental sweet chili sauce, some soy sauce, a big handful of crushed nuts and tossed in the shrimps.
It turned out to be so tasty that we ended up finishing even the portion we were planning to give to the dogs tonight… It’s their lost!
Lucito
As of today we will be launching a new feature. It is called the “Daily Express”. It is not really a post about specific recipes, but more of a log of what we cook here at home on a daily basis. We tend to recycle a lot and do lots of things with leftovers. There are many reasons for this, but it is mainly because I hate throwing anything away, and ever more throwing away food.
In this way we can both record what we do in the kitchen on a daily basis, and also help stimulate and inspire people to create something with what they have at home instead of eating junk food or buying prepared food all the time. During the week I normally spend less that 10-15 minutes to prepare our main meal of the day, which we normally eat at 4pm more or less the customary time (2pm to 4pm) for the main meal here. Besides that meal we normally have breakfast around 10am and have a snack in the evening if we get hungry. On weekends, if times permits, we normally try to prepare something a bit more elaborate. We rarely eat out as we work at home unless we go to town on business and come back too late or too tired to cook.
Enjoy these daily tips and give us some feedback if you have any suggestions.
Lucito
Después de más de 5 años en lÃnea decidà que ya era tiempo de desplegar un nuevo diseño para el blog y para el sitio principal. Esto fue aún más importante para nosotros ya que ahora estamos más y más involucrados en nuestro negocio de vino y comida. Empezamos con nuestros cursos de vinos, los cuales son un gran éxito, y en el año venidero ofreceremos clases de cocina y también planeamos abrir un restaurante basado en el concepto de “Cocina Privada” que es muy popular en Hong Kong, pero con una variación…
Visite este espacio para anuncios futuros en los meses próximos, y la página Web principal también deberá ser actualizada, ya sea hoy o mañana a más tardar, asà que visÃtenos ahà también.
Lucito
After more than 5 years online I decided that it was about time that we displayed a new look for the blog and also for the main site. This was even more important for us as we are now more and more involved with our food and wine business. We started with the wine courses which are a great success, and in the coming year we will offer cooking classes and also plan the opening of a restaurant based on the “Private Kitchen” concept that is popular in Honk Kong, but with a twist…
Watch this space for further announcements in the coming months, and the main website should be also updated either tonight or tomorrow, so give us a visit there too.
Lucito