Honey flan: Flan de miel
Honey lovers get a double dose of honey flavor in this flan, because it uses honey instead of caramelized sugar in the glaze, as well as honey in the custard.
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Honey spice bundt cake: Rosca de miel y especias
This recipe contains ground flax seed, an ingredient once found only in health food stores here in Mexico, but now sold in supermarkets, called semilla de linaza.
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Squash Casserole: Torta de Calabaza
This is a hearty side dish or a good light lunch or supper entrée. It is also great on a buffet table, since it can be successfully served at room temperature. It is adapted from my first book, Take T...
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Chicken in almond mole: Pollo en mole almendrado
This recipe uses more almonds than most and eliminates the chocolate. It is a Oaxaca style, rather than a Puebla style, almendrado.
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Pork in Green Pipian: Puerco en Pipián Verde
After poultry, pork is the most popular meat to serve in pipián sauces, and goes particularly well with green pipián, where the fresh green chiles and herbs counterbalance the richness of pork.
Ma...
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Poblano Corn Chowder: Crema Poblana
This is probably the most famous soup from the Puebla region. This version is thicker and more textured than most, more of a chowder than the creamy pureed version often found on poblano menus.
Ingr...
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Savory Pea Pudding: Budín de Chícharo
This is a Mexican classic, which can also be made by substituting corn or carrots for the peas. The recipe is adapted from The Essential Cuisines of Mexico by Diana Kennedy. Although it calls for sugar...
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Peanut and Chile Salsa: Salsa Macha
After tasting this table salsa in a restaurant in Orizaba, my husband and I went to the market to look for the area's famous comapeño chiles. We decided to split up and go searching in different direc...
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Mushroom and Pumpkin Empanadas: Empanadas de Champinones y Calabazas
Empanadas are variously filled with meat, cheese, vegetables or fruit, and served as hors d'ouevres, main courses or desserts. These vegetable empanadas are filled with a combination of mushrooms and W...
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Beef short ribs with pumpkin: Costilla de res con calabaza
The combination of meat and squash is typically West African, combined here with tomatoes, an indigenous Mexican ingredient, and spices introduced by the Spaniards.
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Puebla style sandwiches: Cemitas:
A few years ago, I had a call from Rachel Wharton, a writer for the New York Daily News food section. She was writing an article on cemitas, the latest sandwich craze to hit New York at the time, thank...
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Fried cutlet torta: Torta de milanesa
While a torta can be filled with any kind of savory sandwich filling, the beans, avocado and tomato are always present. Leave out the onion if you are not a fan, or substitute mayonnaise for the crema; some torterías use melted butter instead of crema.
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Mashed plantains with pork rinds: Machuca de platano con chicharrones
This variation on traditional machuca uses crispy chicharrones (pork cracklings), which give a good texture to the dish and impart the taste of pork without having to use the traditional lard.
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Plantain empanadas with picadillo: Empanadas de platano
This recipe is adapted from Alquímias y Atmósferas del Sabor, by Doña Carmen Titita Ramírez, proprietress of Mexico City's famed El Bajío restaurant. The plantains should be cooked a day in advanc...
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Chiles stuffed with vegetables: Chiles rellenos de verduras
This is a very versatile recipe, since any number of vegetables, such as chayote, potato, carrots and mushrooms can be substituted for the zucchini and corn. A cooked red salsa is a good accompaniment.
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Winter Fruit Mole with Hazelnuts: Manchamanteles con Avellanas
This seasonal adaptation of a traditional manchamanteles -- "tablecloth stainer" -- uses the fall season's apples and pears instead of the usual pineapple; sweet potatoes instead of plantains; prunes i...
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Chicken and Almond Soup: Sopa de Pollo y Almendras
This soup can't be beat for a combination of ease and elegance, especially if you make the chicken stock ahead of time. Making stock is easy, since it cooks while you do other things, and it imparts a ...
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Stuffing for Christmas Turkey: Relleno para Totol de Nochebuena
Nochebuena is Christmas Eve, and that is when Mexican families sit down to a feast that usually lasts for several hours. This recipe is adapted from Alquímias y Atmósferas del Sabor, by Doña Carmen ...
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Tart, Tasty Tamarind: From Candy to Cocktails
One of my younger daughter's most vivid food memories of Mexico was her first taste of tamarind candy. As a newly-arrived fourth grader, fascinated by the huge assortment of candies available nea...
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Tamarind Margaritas: Margaritas de Tamarindo
This is the quintessential summer drink, perfect before a Mexican-style parillada, or grilled meal. For a delicious change of pace try using Tajin Fruit Seasoning instead of salt to rim the glass. This...
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Grilled Tamarind Shrimp: Camarones al Tamarindo a la Parilla
Fish and seafood get a wonderful flavor boost from tamarind. The addition of chipotle chiles and honey make this a good marinade for chicken and pork, too. When using wooden skewers to grill food, reme...
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Pork Chops with Tamarind Orange Glaze: Chuletas de Puerco con Tamarindo y Naranja
This recipe is reminiscent of the classic Mexican pork loin roasted with orange juice. Here, the tamarind and brown sugar give the pork a sweet-and-sour taste, and the meat is grilled and glazed rather...
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Tamarind Chicken: Pollo al Tamarindo
Tamarind chicken has become a Mexican restaurant standard in the past few years. This can also be made with duck breasts.
Ingredients
4 chicken breast halves
salt and pepper to taste
2 tables...
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Tamarind Candy: Dulce de Tamarindo
This homemade candy is the kind sold at regional fairs in Mexico. Although in some places it is sold in miniature clay cazuelas, it is better cut up and individually wrapped in cellophane, since it is ...
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Tamarind Atole: Atole de Tamarindo
The hot corn beverage called atole is usually served in the morning, but in Michoacan this tamarind version is served at night, usually after the late evening meal, in small cups. Dark brown sugar may ...
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