Photo gallery: Chipilo, Puebla: an Italian town with the best Italian food in Mexico © Joseph Sorrentino, 2023

Chipilo, Puebla is different from other Mexican pueblos. Very different. That’s because it is an Italian pueblo, settled in 1882 by Italians from Veneto, in northern Italy.

In the late 1880s, the Mexican government wanted to modernize its agricultural sector and recruited Europeans. Seventy-nine families arrived in Chipilo, worked hard and eventually succeeded in establishing farms and dairies. Chipileños—as residents are called—have retained their dialect, also called Veneto, a couple of traditions, and, happily, their cuisine.

Unlike most Mexican pueblos, Chipilo only has two big fiestas, and both take place in January.

Early morning on January 1^st, Chipilo’s streets fill with families going door-to-door in a daytime version of Halloween without costumes. It’s a celebration called Cappo d’Anno. Stopping in front of homes, parents and kids belt out a song asking for treats, like candy or peanuts.

On January 5^th, it’s the burning of La Befana (see photo gallery). Men in Grupo La Befana spend about three months building a 15-feet-tall paper and cardboard figure of La Befana, a good witch. She’s placed in front of the church on the morning of January 5^th and then driven to the sports arena that evening, where a couple of thousand people gather to watch her burn. “It is to burn the bad things from the old year,” said Hector Mazzocco Sevenello, the group’s leader.

Chipilo may not have the fiestas that other pueblos have—no big Day of the Dead celebrations, no processions during Holy Week, no fiestas for a patron saint or virgin—but what the town does have are queserías (cheese stores) and restaurants that boast some of the best cheeses and Italian food in the country.

La Parroquia de Chipilo sells around 50 kinds of cheese, 35 to 40 of them made in house. “Everything we use is local,” said Manuel Zago, the second generation to run the store. “The milk here is different. We use milk from two different dairies; they have a different quality and flavor.” Their most popular cheese is queso panela, a fresh, very mild cheese. “We make it four times a week,” said Zago. To make it, rennet and calcium are added to five hundred liters of milk. The milk rests for forty minutes and the resulting semi-solid mass is sliced with a lira, strained and poured into molds. “All of our cheeses are rustic, not industrial,” Zago said. “They are artisanal.” A small restaurant is attached to the store.

A block away is Don Giovanni’s, named after the founder, not the opera. “My father’s name is José Juan but his grandmother always called him Giovanni,” said Aldo Zerón Solari. The name stuck. Solari said they sell about 80 types of cheeses. “We make 25, more or less,” he said. “The rest, some are from the region, some are imported. Mozzarella and quesillo are the most popular.” Their restaurant, also attached, was greatly expanded in March 2023.

There are lots of quesarías in Chipilo selling cheeses made from family recipes, giving each cheese a unique flavor. It’s best to sample cheeses at different queserías before settling on a favorite. You might buy your manchego in one place, quesillo in another.

If choosing a favorite quesería is difficult, choosing a favorite restaurant is damn near impossible.

Breakfast

Most of the restaurants don’t mix Italian and Mexican cuisines much.La Cocina del Nonno, La Terraza de la Nonna, Buon Giorno and Bigosh all offer typical Mexican breakfasts: molletes, enchiladas and enfrijoladas and all are excellent. Buon Giorno also serves something different: nopal topped with queso panela and a red salsa. Definitely worth trying. Two sisters, Celia and Maricruz Stefanoni Montagner, decided to combine Mexican and Italian flavors in their restaurants, Cuore and Merende, to great success. “Our Enchiladas Chipileñas have a cream sauce with pesto added,” said Celia. “Huevos Poblanos are a little different, with mole that is sweet, and this sweet touch makes it different from all the others.” For lunch and dinner, they offer 27 different sauces for their pastas—have fun deciding!

Lunch and Dinner

Giuseppe Merlo, owner and chef at Trattoria Tutto Merlo, uses old family recipes but tweaks them a little. “For bolognese sauce, I add a couple of touches of mint,” he said. During the walnut harvest (June through late September) he serves pasta and portabello mushrooms with nogada—a walnut cream sauce usually only used for chile en nogada. I often stop in for a light lunch of Cremini Aglio—cremini mushrooms sauteed with garlic—and a salad. I recently learned that Pepe will add some tomato sauce, taking that dish to another level. It’s not on the menu but if you ask him, he’ll make it for you.

La Cocina del Nonno is one of the oldest restaurants in the pueblo.“My mother-in-law started it 35 years ago,” said Francisco Javier Galeazzi Berra, the current owner and chef. She only served typical Mexican food. When Berra took over ten years ago, he changed the name to honor his grandfather and, although he serves traditional Mexican breakfasts, “After 1:00, it’s Italian,” he said. “No chiles.” His risotto is something special with five types of mushrooms. Not to be missed.

Juan Pablo Urbano Garcia, the manager at Veneto, one of the larger restaurants in Chipilo, said their most popular pasta is spaghetti with shrimp in a cream sauce. “We have Italian and Mexican dishes, but not many mixed except for Pizza Mexicano,” he said. That pizza has beans, chorizo (a Mexican sausage) and jalapeños.

All of the restaurants have pizza and most are straightforward Italian. Terraza de la Nonna’s pizzas are the ones that take me back to New York and Philadelphia: thin with lots of sauce and cheese. “We are adding more dishes,” said Carolina Quezada Dossetti, who, along with her husband, owns the restaurant.“We will be known as a restaurant and not just a pizzeria.” They now offer breakfast on Saturdays and Sundays.

If you’re not too full after a meal, tiramisu is a good option. Otherwise, have an expresso at Il Caffe Italian, and then maybe something light like a gelato.

Four restaurants have opened in Chipilo in the past year, making the decision about where to eat even more difficult. But, as José Manuel Zago Precoma said, somewhat modestly, “Any restaurant owned by a Chipileño is going to be good.” OK, maybe he didn’t say it modestly. And he is right.

Chipilo’s restaurants are always busy on the weekends but since the end of the pandemic, they’ve been even busier. “Things were slow with the pandemic, said Solari. “In Puebla [city], the government was very strict. In Chipilo, not so much. There, it was only 30% capacity in stores. People lost their jobs, started coming to Chipilo to buy cheeses and other products, and then went door to door in Puebla selling them. They started to know the restaurants here and learned that they are cheaper, better and not so far away. Chipilo is only about 20-25 minutes from Puebla. People drive here and now business is growing.” People also drive from as far away as Cuernavaca, Tlaxcala, and even Mexico City, 2.5 hours away.

There are, a little surprisingly, two sushi restaurants in Chipilo. There are also fondas and taquerias, selling typical Mexican food. They all do a healthy business, supported by local folks. People from afuera—as non-Chipileños are called—don’t come to Chipilo for sushi or tacos. They come for the best Italian food in Mexico!

On a personal note

Chipilo has a reputation of being closed to outsiders. When I tell Mexicans I live in Chipilo, they often tell me how unfriendly it is. I disagree. I’ve lived here for almost three years and have never felt excluded. I’ve been welcomed when I work on articles about the pueblo. Maybe its reputation for being closed or unfriendly was true many years ago, but it is certainly not true today.

Editor’s note: An exhibition of the author’s superb photographs of Chipilo: “Chipilo: Un pueblo italiano de México” opens in the city of Oaxaca on 2 June 2023 at Casa KIT (Hidalgo 309 A).

Related article, with recipes, on MexConnect

• Immigrant Cooking In Mexico – Part Two: The Italians of Chipilo (Karen Hursh Graber)

Joseph Sorrentino is a journalist, photographer and playwright. His website is www.sorrentinophotography.com. His book  Stinky Island Tales: Some Stories From An Italian-American Childhood (Amazon) is a collection of four stories in English and Spanish with 26 drawings. It’s available as both a paperback and Kindle version.

Published or Updated on: February 1, 2023 by Joseph Sorrentino © 2023

The post Chipilo, Puebla: an Italian town with the best Italian food in Mexico appeared first on MexConnect.

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 can be served as an hors d’oeuvre as well as a side dish.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds sweet potatoes
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• salt to taste
• 1 pound queso fresco, farmer cheese or ricotta (not ricotta salata)
• Corn oil or vegetable oil for frying

Preparation:

Scrub the sweet potatoes, boil in their jackets until tender, cool and peel. Alternatively, prick them with a fork in several places, cook until tender in the microwave, cool and peel.

In a mixing bowl, mash the sweet potatoes, adding salt to taste, with a potato masher or fork to a smooth consistency. Add the flour and combine well. The dough should have a uniform consistency.

Using moist hands, shape into 8 large balls (for side dish servings) or 12 smaller ones (for appetizers or hors d’oeuvres.) Poke a hole into each and stuff it with about 2 teaspoons cheese for the smaller size or 1 tablespoon for the larger. Re-form the dough around the cheese to cover, and gently flatten each ball into a patty.

Fry the patties in about 1 ½” – 2″ hot oil, turning once, until golden brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels. Makes 12 as an appetizer, hors d’oeuvre or buffet item.

Link to Source Article

The post Cheese-filled Sweet Potato Patties: Tortitas de Camote appeared first on MexConnect.

Mexican seven seas fish is a specialty of La Cenaduría, a lovely old adobe restaurant in San Jose del Cabo. It combines fresh red snapper filets, a mild salsa roja, and just enough manchego cheese to melt over the top. The description of the preparation that I was given mentioned only “red sauce;” since this is a broad category, I have included a recipe for a cooked red salsa which complements the flavor of the fish without overwhelming it.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs. skinned red snapper, grouper or trigger fish filets
• 1 1/3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 egg yolks, beaten
• 1/2 cup beer
• 2 cups shredded manchego cheese
• vegetable oil for frying

Pat the filets dry with paper towels; set aside.

Place the flour, salt, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, and the egg yolks in a deep bowl and mix well.

Add the beer, a little at a time, stirring the batter after each addition.

Heat about one inch of vegetable oil in a large skillet.

Preheat the broiler.

Dip the filets in the batter to coat, and place them in the skillet, being careful not to crowd them.

Lift the filets gently with a spatula to check for color, and when they are golden, carefully turn and cook them on the other side.

Place the filets on a baking sheet, ladle red sauce (see Note, below) on each, and top with shredded cheese.

Broil only until the cheese melts and turns bubbly. Serve at once.

Serves 4.

Note:

For the red sauce, you may use your favorite mild enchilada sauce, or make a sauce by liquifying until smooth: 8 lightly toasted, seeded and soaked cascabel chiles, 1/4 cup chopped onion, 4 garlic cloves, 2 roasted roma tomatoes, a pinch of cumin, salt to taste, and enough of the chile-soaking water to achieve the consistency of an enchilada sauce. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a medium saucepan, add the liquified mixture, and cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes. This may be prepared in advance, refrigerated and reheated before topping the fish.

The post Mexican seven seas fish: Pescado siete mares appeared first on MexConnect.

Requesón is a soft, white cheese, similar to ricotta in consistency, though not as sweet. If ricotta is used in place of requesón, blending it with cottage cheese until smooth will produce a taste similar to true requesón.

This recipe is quick, easy, and can be prepared a few hours ahead if necessary, making it handy for parties.

Ingredients

• 1 lb requesón, or a blend of ricotta and cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup milk (eliminate if using the ricotta-cottage cheese blend)
• 1 cup seeded, diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup finely chopped green onions or scallions
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 3-4 jalapeño chiles, seeded or not, according to taste
• 1/4 cup oil
• salt to taste

Using a fork, blend the requesón and milk, until a smooth consistency is achieved; alternatively, blend the ricotta and cottage cheese until smooth.

Add remaining ingredients, mix well, and serve with totopos – tortillas cut into triangles and fried in vegetable oil until crisp – or tortilla chips.

Serves 8-12.

The post Requeson cheese with fried tortilla triangles: Resqueson botanero con totopos appeared first on MexConnect.

Ingredients:

• 1 large round of garlic bread (shepherds bread may be substituted)
• 1 tsp. butter
• 150 grs. (2/3 C.) crumbled roquefort cheese
• 190 grs. (7 oz.) cream cheese, cubed
• 150 grs. (5 oz.) Manchego cheese, shredded (Monterrey Jack may be substituted)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp. sour cream
• 1 jigger tequila
• 1/2 tsp. pureed chipotle chile (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 medium sized baguette
• 2 sticks of butter (approximately) for toasting the bread

Garnish

• 1 sprig of curly leaf parsley
• 1 red pepper, finely chopped

Preparation:

Cut a large hole in the top of the garlic bread and scoop out the insides without breaking the crust.

Melt 1 tsp. of butter in a saucepan, add the garlic and cook until soft (about 1 minute). Add the roquefort cheese, cream cheese and Manchego cheese stirring to combine. Add the sour cream, tequila and, if desired, the chile chipotle and continue stirring until the mixture is well blended together.

Add salt and pepper to taste and pour the cheese mixture into the hollowed out bread round.

Cut the baguette into 1″ cubes and brown in remaining butter a few at a time.

Garnish the fondue with the parsley and red pepper and serve with the bread cubes.

The post Cheese Fondue with Tequila: Fondeu de Queso al Tequila appeared first on MexConnect.

Guest Recipe By Vicky Cowal

I bought shrimp last week at the Central de Abasto. After looking, smelling, touching, checking prices I finally bought tender and flavorful medium- size shrimp for 75 pesos a kilo – versus 185 pesos at the supermarket. Since I was not going to be cooking them right away, I froze them according to the advice of the merchant. This was to freeze them in water in their shells in a plastic container. Then I made the following recipe which has long been a family favorite.

Ingredients:

• 1 poblano chili
• 5 tomatillos, husked and quartered
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• salt and pepper, to taste

  Filling:

  • 1 ear corn
  • ½ cup chicken stock
  • 1 large zucchini, diced
  • 1 small white onion, chopped fine
  • 1 tomato, chopped fine
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
  • ¾ pound raw medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and coarsely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
  • ½ cup grated Manchego cheese (or Monterey Jack)
  • 12 flour tortillas

  Preparation:

  For the sauce: char the chili over a gas flame until blackened on all sides. Place in a plastic bag and let stand for 10 minutes to sweat. Under running water, peel off the blackened skin, remove the seeds and core. Dice the chili and combine with the tomatillos, stock and cilantro in a medium-size saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Puree in a blender and season with salt and pepper.

  Preheat oven to 175 C (350 F).

  For the filling: strip the corn from the ear and put in a skillet with the stock, zucchini and onion. Simmer over a low heat until the vegetables are tender, about 8 minutes. Mix in the tomato and garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the shrimp, cilantro and basil and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and season with salt and pepper.

  Place a spoonful of filling down the middle of each tortilla and roll the tortillas. Place them, seamside down, in a lightly greased baking dish. Pour the sauce over all and cover the dish with foil. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil. Sprinkle with the grated cheese and bake for 10 more minutes, or until the top is lightly browned.

  6 servings.

  Link to Source Article

The post Shrimp Enchiladas: Enchiladas Cameron appeared first on MexConnect.

Use the best quality goat cheese you can find, and a tart, green apple. “Manzana granny smith” is popular and easy to find. Most of the Mexican apples sold in markets are grown in Chihuahua, but here in Puebla we get some locally grown ones at roadside stands and the outdoor markets.

Ingredients

• 1 quart good quality chicken stock, thoroughly defatted
• ½ pound goat cheese, cut or broken into small pieces
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tart, green apple, washed, with peel left on
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• ½ bunch of chives (cebollín) chopped

Bring 1 cup of the chicken stock to a simmer in a saucepan. Add the cheese, stirring constantly until melted. Add the remaining stock, remove from the heat and continue stirring with a whisk to make sure there are no lumps of cheese. This is where an immersion blender comes in handy.

Taste the mixture for salt and pepper, seasoning to taste. Pour the soup into a container and cover with plastic wrap, pressing lightly so that it adheres directly to the surface of the soup.

Chill the soup for at least 2 hours. Core and thinly slice the apple, tossing it with the lemon juice.

Ladle the chilled soup into bowls or consommé cups, divide the apple slices evenly on the soup, and garnish with chopped chives. Makes 6 appetizer servings.

The post Cold goat cheese soup: Sopa fria de queso de cabra appeared first on MexConnect.

We first saw this in a restaurant in Chipilo. If you like lasagna with white sauces, this one is a delicious change from the usual. The filling is the very Pueblan rajas con crema, poblano chile strips in cream, in this case thickened to form a béchamel sauce. If you use the no-boil lasagna noodles, a good tip is to soak them for a few minutes in warm water before proceeding with the recipe.

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup butter
• 2 medium white onions, peeled and cut into thin crescents
• 2 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 6 poblano chiles, roasted, seeded and peeled, torn into strips (rajas)
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 ½ cups milk
• 1 ½ cups heavy cream (or use half and half)
• salt to taste
• lasagne noodles, prepared according to package directions
• 2 cups grated mozzarella or other melting cheese, such as gouda, jack or Chihuahua
• ½ cup grated parmesan cheese

Preparation:

In a saucepan, melt the butter, add the onions and sauté until the onions are transparent. Add the garlic and cook 2 more minutes. Add the poblano strips and cook another minute. Add the flour and cook, stirring, until it has become incorporated into the butter. Add the milk, ½ cup at a time, whisking to prevent lumps from forming. Add the cream in a slow, steady stream and continue to cook, whisking, until the sauce has thickened. Add salt to taste. Strain out 3/4 cup of the sauce and reserve.

Spread ¼ cup of the reserved sauce over the bottom of an 8″ x 8″ baking dish. Place a layer of lasagne noodles over the sauce, then a layer of the rajas in cream sauce, then a layer of grated mozzarella. Repeat with another layer of noodles, another of rajas and another of cheese. Repeat until you have 3 layers. Add a fourth layer of noodles, top with remaining reserved sauce and parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350º for 20-25 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting. Makes 4-6 servings.

Link to Source Article

Published or Updated on: March 31, 2007 by Karen Hursh Graber © 2008

The post Lasagna with Poblano Chiles In Cream: Lasagna con Rajas de Chile Poblano appeared first on MexConnect.

Chiles rellenos — poblano peppers stuffed with cheese, covered with beaten egg whites and fried — are a perennial Mexican favorite. They are served in a savory tomato broth.

Ingredients

• 2 cups oil
• 8 poblano peppers
• 3 cups grated Manchego, Chihuahua, Gouda or farmer’s cheese
• 5 eggs, separated
• 4 small tomatoes or 2 large tomatoes
• salt to taste
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoons marjoram

Char the peppers over a gas flame, under the broiler or on a griddle, turning to insure all sides are charred completely. Allow them to cool. Once cooled, peel, slit the chili lengtwise and remove the seeds and veins, leaving the top and core intact. Set aside.

Simmer the tomatoes in 1 1/2 C. water until very soft, then transfer tomatoes to a blender and blend until smooth adding salt to taste. Set aside.

Stuff peppers with cheese, sprinkle them with salt, seal the slit with a wooden toothpick (plastic ones will melt during frying) and dredge them in flour.

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then add the salt and the egg yolks and beat for two minutes more. Heat the oil in a frying pan.

Dip the peppers in the batter making sure they are covered well, and fry them in the oil until golden, then drain them on paper towels.

Serve them drenched in the tomato sauce with refried beans on the side. Serves 4

The post Stuffed poblano peppers: Chiles rellenos appeared first on MexConnect.

This recipe is a house specialty at Chialingo’s restaurant in Cholula. It makes a good appetizer for a Mexican dinner, or could be served with a salad as a light lunch or supper. Epazote goes particularly well with cheese dishes and mushroom dishes, and is indispensible in Oaxacan mole verde.

It has become easy to find in US cities, and with all the mail-order and Internet sources for plants and seeds, there is no reason for any interested cook not to use this important Mexican culinary herb.

Ingredients

For the sauce:

• 4 cups water
• 1 lb tomatillos
• 1/2 medium white onion, peeled and chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 4 serrano or jalapeño chiles, seeded or not, according to taste
• 4 sprigs epazote, leaves removed from stems (about 1/4 cup leaves)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• salt to taste

Place the water, tomatillos, onion, garlic and chiles in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil, and cook until the tomatillos are soft, about 10 minutes.

Remove the boiled ingredients from the saucepan, and put them in the blender with the epazote leaves and just enough of the cooking water to permit easy movement of the blender blades.

Puree till smooth.

Heat the oil in another saucepan, add the blended ingredients, and cook for 10 minutes.

Gradually add the remaining cooking water until the sauce reaches desired consistency; it should be medium-thick.

Taste for salt.

For the cheese:

• 8 slices Chihuahua cheese, 1/4″ thick
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1 cup dry bread crumbs
• vegetable oil for frying

Dip each slice of cheese in the beaten egg, then in the breadcrumbs.

Place the cheese slices on a rack for 15-20 minutes; this will make the crumbs adhere better.

Do not refrigerate during this time, since cold food soaks up more oil when being fried.

Heat the oil in a large skillet, until just moving but not smoking.

Fry the cheese slices, turning once, until golden brown on both sides.

Serve immediately with the epazote and tomatillo sauce spooned over.

Serves 8 as an appetizer.

The post Fried Mexican cheese with epazote and tomatillo sauce: Queso frito con salsa de epazote y tomate verde appeared first on MexConnect.