traditional mexican cooking, one recipe at a time. served with a pizca of culture and travel.

Celebrating Día de Los Reyes with friends and family

¡Feliz Día de Los Reyes a todos!

We took a long vacation with family for the holidays and part of our trip included a day in Ensenada, located on the West coast of Mexico in the state of Baja California (the northern part of the peninsula, a little more than 70 miles south of Tijuana).

Since we wouldn’t be together on Día de Los Reyes, we found a little rosca to celebrate a few days before. And guess who got el niño Jesus… again. I swear it’s a conspiracy because I get the baby in my piece of cake every single year. The rosca was so small that I didn’t even think there would be a baby inside, but there he was when I broke my piece off. Guess I’ll just have to make tamales for Día de La Candelaria on February 2!

Read more about how we celebrate Día de Los Reyes here on The Other Side of The Tortilla and check out the links below to see how some of our friends celebrate as well. If you haven’t celebrated yet, it’s not too late. Even if you can’t buy a rosca, you can certainly try making one on your own! You can also serve Mexican hot chocolate or champurrado alongside your cake. Read more »

Nochebuenas for Nochebuena

Check out these beautiful pink and white nochebuenas I spotted in the grocery store last week. They’re a variation of the traditional all-red poinsettias but just as lovely.

¡Feliz Navidad!

Queso fundido

During the winter, I love to eat warm, hearty treats. There’s something about the winter weather that makes you want to eat things that’ll stick to your ribs, right?

This past weekend, I made a very simple queso fundido that really hit the spot. Given that I just shared a recipe for homemade chorizo earlier this week, I thought it would be nice to give you another way to use that during the holidays for a quick and easy party treat.

Whether you’re hosting at home or need to bring a dish to a posada or any other type of party, this is a super simple recipe that’s sure to wow guests. To take it to go, just prepare in the crock or a casserole dish and wait until you arrive at the party to pop it under the broiler for a few minutes. Don’t forget to bring some tortillas!

We like to make tacos out of this recipe, but you can absolutely also serve it dip-style with chips if you like.

RECETA

QUESO FUNDIDO | CHORIZO AND CHEESE MELT

INGREDIENTS

• 4 to 5 ounces cooked chorizo
• 14 ounces shredded Chihuahua cheese
• Non-stick cooking spray

DIRECTIONS

Cook your chorizo first and set aside to drain the grease over paper towels.

Then, in a microwave-proof dish, grate the Chihuahua cheese and microwave at intervals of 30 seconds until mostly melted. Stir if necessary to heat evenly.

Spray a little non-stick cooking spray in a small oven-proof crock (an individual-size soup crock will hold half this recipe and is what I typically use and make a second serving). Pour the melted cheese into the crock. Add half the chorizo and fold in gently.

Set your oven broiler on low and place the crock at least 6-8 inches from the flame. Heat for about 5-6 minutes or until the cheese bubbles and gets brown spots. Be sure to use a pot holder or oven mitt to remove the crock from underneath the broiler.

Place the crock on a trivet and serve with warm tortillas to make tacos (yields about 10 tacos) or hearty tortilla chips if you want to serve it more as a dip.

Note: the cooking spray is completely optional; I like to use it because it helps a lot with cleanup and getting all the cheese out of the dish before it makes it to my sink.

• What do you like in your queso fundido?

Wordless Wednesday: Choco Zucaritas invade my mercado

Finally! The Choco Zucaritas cereal I love so much has, at last, appeared in my local market. I’m sure my friend Tracy will be thankful I can buy them in Chicago so she won’t have to send me another box from the Washington, D.C. area! If you’re in the Chicago area, I was shopping at Strack & Van Til on Elston when I spotted them this past weekend.

• Have you seen them in your store yet? Have you tried them?

Chorizo casero

I always used to buy chorizo prepackaged or from the butcher because I thought it would be too hard to make at home. After months of wondering, I finally decided to delve in and give it a shot. The results were fantastic! Now that I know how incredibly easy it is to do on my own, I’ll think twice next time I reach for a package of chorizo in the grocery store.

A lot of people think of Spanish chorizo when they read chorizo in an ingredient list, and though Mexican chorizo is different, it’s equally delicious. Spanish chorizo is a hard sausage-like cured meat (think similar to a cured hard salami), and Mexican chorizo is a soft sausage-like meat, almost like a breakfast sausage patty if you broke it up into little bite-size pieces.

I love to use chorizo in a variety of ways: anything from breakfast dishes such as huevo con chorizo, to snacks such as queso fundido, to spicing up vegetables in dishes such as calabacitas rellenas. It’s also great as a topper to tostadas or sopes.

I used a blend of three chiles to make my chorizo slightly spicy and also some chopped onion and garlic to give it the right texture. The vinegar helps with giving the meat the signature crumble of Mexican chorizo. Read more »

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