Mexican lentil vegetable soup with chia: Sopa de lentejas y verduras con chia

This soup is comforting, delicious, and incredibly healthy. What more could you ask for? Oh yes, you can ask for it not to be watery, and this one isn’t, thanks to the inclusion of chia seeds. Ingredients ½ pound lentils 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 cups chopped onions 2 cloves garlic, minced 3 stalks celery, […]

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Spicy Braised Pork: Puerco Estilo Apatzingan

The area around Apatzingan is famous for its pork. The flavor of this dish is somewhat reminiscent of the carnitas for which Michoacán is famous. Unlike carnitas, the pork is baked in the oven instead of fried in lard, and the seasoning ingredients make serving a salsa unnecessary. Ingredients: 2 pound piece pork shoulder (do not substitute with […]

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Cauliflower with Mexican poblano cream sauce: Coliflor poblano

Cauliflower with poblano cream sauce was easy to cook, making thick slices of cauliflower work like chicken breast halves in a poblano chile and chicken dish. I used my own tried and true chicken recipe, with the only change being the substitution of the roasted cauliflower. As in the original version with chicken, there is […]

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Guava is an important crop in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Because of its high pectin content, the golden fruit is a favorite for making jams, jellies and marmalades. © Diodora Bucur, 2009

Mexican guava vinaigrette: Vinagreta de guayaba

The slight sweetness of this Mexican guava vinaigrette dressing works well with peppery and bitter greens such as arugula, endive and frisee. The Vinagreta de guayaba recipe is adapted from Larousse de la Cocina Mexicana by Alicia Gironella and Giorgio De’Angeli. Ingredients 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 2 ounces guava pulp ¾ cup of olive oil ¾ […]

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Elote © Daniel Wheeler, 2009

Fresh corn pozole from southern Puebla: Elopozole de Tierra Caliente

In the northern and central parts of the state, southern Puebla is called ” tierra caliente” — hot land — although it can get chilly in winter, especially in the mountains. Most pozole is made with hominy-like corn kernels that have been dried then soaked, but this one is made with fresh corn, called elote, thus giving rise […]

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Pork and hominy Soup: Pozole

The days of soaking hominy kernels – cacahuazintle – in calcified water and peeling each one individually are fading fast, thanks to the pre-cleaned hominy that comes in packages in the refrigerated food section of even small neighborhood supermarkets. If you don’t live near a market that sells Mexican maiz para pozole, you can substitute canned hominy. There […]

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Mushroom and spinach enchiladas: Enchiladas de champiñones y queso

In the Nahuatl language of the indigenous people of Central Mexico, the word for mushroom is the same as the word for meat, a testament to the mushroom’s protein content and meaty texture. Use a variety of wild mushrooms if possible, but if not, cultivated criminis are nearly always available in Mexican supermarkets. Epazote goes wonderfully with […]

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