Cantaloupe Salsa: Salsa de Melon
This salsa was an invention that we came up with while visiting friends in southern Mexico. We served it with the meal, and ate leftovers later with tortilla chips. The best way to determine the ripene...
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Mexican Style Watercress and Spinach Salad: Ensalada de Berros con Espinacas
In this recipe, two of central Mexico's favorite greens are combined with corn, radishes and green onions and dressed with a chile vinaigrette. This makes a good accompaniment to almost any barbequed m...
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Cheese-filled Sweet Potato Patties: Tortitas de Camote
In most of Mexico, these fried patties are made with white potatoes, whereas in Veracruz they are made with sweet potatoes or yucca. This cheese-filled version is more versatile than most, because it c...
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Fava Bean Soup: Caldo de Habas
This soup was, and still is, prepared by the comadre and other Cholula cooks during the meatless Semana Santa, Holy Week. The use of hierbabuena (mint) to flavor soup is typical of Central Me...
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Pickled Fresh Chiles with Vegetables: Chiles en Escabeche
This is one of the most versatile and colorful ways of using fresh green chiles. At large regional fairs and smaller ferias throughout the country, glass jars of chiles en escabeche are offered for sal...
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Blessed Beet Salad: Ensalada de Betabel Bendito
In her introduction to this recipe, Susana explains that it got its name from that fact that she got the beets from a religious festival float that was decorated with a tower of the village's largest f...
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Sweet And Sour Tomatillo Conserve: Tomates Verdes Encurtidos
Visually, these remind me of the pickled green tomatoes that are nearly always on the table in New York's kosher delis. But the sweet-and-sour vinaigrette, with the addition of green chiles, makes them...
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Green Rice: Arroz Verde
Visually intriguing, tasty and and a bit different from the usual Mexican red rice, this side dish is perfect with chicken or pork. It is guaranteed to jazz up even the simplest grilled meat or vegetab...
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Nopal Salad: Ensalada de Nopalitos
The market ladies in Puebla sell this salad ready-made, ladling it into plastic bags to "take-out." The basic recipe consists of nopales, green onions and cilantro; other ingredients, such as tomatoes,...
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Chile Strips with Cheese: Rajas con Queso
This dish uses the famous quesillo - Oaxaca cheese that melts easily. However, for this recipe, it should be grated rather than pulled apart into strings. It is delicious served alone with flour...
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Fresh Chile Strips in Cream Sauce: Rajas con Crema
This Mexican classic can be served as an accompaniment to roasted, grilled or broiled meat or chicken, served over eggs at brunch, used as an addition to taco fillings, or as a sauce for cheese or spin...
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Sopa de Aguacate con Tequila: Avocado Soup with Tequila
This cream of avocado soup uses tequila in place of the traditional sherry. It is a refreshing first course or, served with a salad, a light spring or summer lunch. The ingredients should be well-chill...
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Jalisco Style Enchiladas: Enchiladas Tapatias
Popular at fairs and fiestas, these enchiladas are flavored with a creamy poblano chile and tomato sauce. They contain no meat in the filling, and this recipe uses vegetable oil instead of lard, making...
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Frijoles Negros a la Veracruzana: Veracruz-Style Black Beans
The small, distinctively-flavored black beans of Veracruz which so charmed the tastebuds of the early Spanish settlers are still famous throughout Mexico for their high-quality, tenderness and taste. T...
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The Avocado: On Beyond Guacamole
The rich, yellow-green pulp of the avocado, nowadays most frequently associated with the ubiquitous Mexican dish known as
guacamole, was once an appetizing mouthful for the mastodons that roamed...
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Pasta salad with jalapeno vinaigrette: Coditos con salsa
This is a great side dish to serve with grilled meat, chicken or fish. It's quick and easy to put together at the last minute, or it can be made up to one day ahead and refrigerated. If making it ahead...
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Cheese Soup: Crema de Queso
There are many versions of this soup, a specialty of the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. Gouda cheese also works well in this recipe, which should be prepared immediately before serving.
Ingredie...
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Nopales in Chipotle Sauce: Nopales en Chipotle Adobado
The mild flavor of nopales makes them ideal for combining with more strongly-flavored ingredients, such as chipotles in adobo. This recipe, from San Luis Potosí, is a quick, easy and flavorful vegetar...
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White Rice with Vegetables: Arroz Blanco con Verduras
I like to vary the colors and textures of a comida, and for this meal I would choose a white rice dish such as this one, rather than repeating the red tomato base of the soup course above. This ...
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Grapefruit Salad: Ensalada de Toronja
This is a very refreshing salad. In Southern Mexico, it would most likely be made with fruit vinegar, especially pineapple vinegar, but apple cider vinegar is a good substitute. Only a small amount of ...
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Marinated Mixed Vegetable Salad: Chileajo
When we lived in Oaxaca, I liked to go the food stands that were right outside the university faculties downtown, especially the school of architecture, which was right next to a small park, with plent...
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Mushrooms in Vinaigrette: Hongos en Escabeche
Wild mushrooms are found in abundance in the states of Puebla, Tlaxcala and Estado de Mexico during and after the rainy season, and used in soups, quesadillas and vegetable dishes. Although the comadre...
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Mango and Avocado Salad: Ensalada de Mango y Aguacate
The combination of mangos and avocados gets a colorful and tasty lift from the addition of red bell peppers. Fresh bell pepper ( pimiento morrón) once meant green bell pepper, and red ones were avai...
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Grilled Nopales Salad: Ensalada de Nopales Asados
In a previous column, I gave a recipe for the standard nopales salad that the market ladies all over the country seem to sell, but when my husband overdid it on the grilled nopales (his favorite ...
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Spinach and Watercress Salad: Ensalada de Espinacas y Berros
Two of the most common greens in central Mexico are combined here with corn, radishes and scallions for a very Mexican take on a tossed green salad. Ingredients may be prepared in advance, stored separ...
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