Mexican Christmas Traditions

3 July 12, 2017 Recipe

Roasted tomatillo and chile morita salsa

This easy roasted, smoky salsa made with tomatillos and chile morita is great on everything from tacos to scrambled eggs.

I’m all for simple salsas to dress up any meal of the day. Our dear friend Victor taught me how to make a version of this salsa when I was a newlywed and it’s one that I’ve continued making frequently ever since. You should use tomatillos milperos for this recipe. They’re a smaller variety of tomatillo, no bigger than about 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter. Anything much bigger than that is a larger variety of tomatillo. Tomatillos milperos have a more concentrated flavor, but are less acidic than the larger tomatillos, and have a slightly sweet, mellow taste when roasted. They’re called “milpero” because they’re often grown in the milpas in Mexico—the rows between corn planted in the cornfields.
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5 July 2, 2017 Aguas frescas

How to make agua fresca de melón with a juicer

Agua fresca de melón is a very popular fresh fruit drink in Mexico. Learn how to make it in a flash with a juicer to cut down on time and mess!

Why use a juicer instead of a blender? While the blender does the job OK, the process of filtering the pulp through a mesh sieve can be a lot messier, and also take more time. The end result is that your juice has some pulp that you really don’t want in an agua fresca. …

10 July 1, 2017 Recipe

How to prepare chicharrones de harina

Chicharrones de harina are a puffed, salty, crunchy snack that are very popular in Mexico, and easy to find among street food vendors.

I’ve written before about how to fry your own chicharrones with the kind you buy at the store that you have to cook so they’re edible. But if you can’t get those at your local Mexican market, you’ll at least be likely to find them already fried and packaged to buy—usually alongside the chips, Takis, and that kind of stuff. All you have to know is how to prepare them!

I get a lot of questions from my non-Mexican friends and readers about this snack because they’ve never seen it before, or didn’t know how to prepare it properly. It’s actually really simple, and these things are super addictive….

6 June 25, 2017 Restaurants

What to order at Gracias Madre

Gracias Madre is my favorite restaurant in West Hollywood and one of my top 3 favorites in Los Angeles. And I’m betting if nobody told you in advance that it was a vegan restaurant, you might not even notice because the menu is that good.

Vegan and Mexican are two words that most people wouldn’t necessarily associate with each other, however, there are actually quite a few vegetarian and vegan-friendly dishes that are part of the cuisine. Everything on the menu at Gracias Madre is organic and vegan, but don’t let that distract you; you’re in for a truly excellent Mexican meal.

If you’re visiting Los Angeles, Gracias Madre definitely deserves to be on your list of restaurants to check out, and if you’re local to LA, early lunch or happy hour is the best time to go if you want your choice of tables (you might even see me there).

Paparazzi tend to lurk nearby, as this restaurant and several others in the neighborhood are celebrity favorites. Request to be seated on the patio if it’s not too hot outside—you’ll have the best chance to see famous faces or at least catch a glimpse while they’re leaving.

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16 June 20, 2017 Meat

Tacos de chicharrón guisado in the slow-cooker

Chicharrón guisado is an easy, flavorful dish made from crunchy, fried pork skin stewed in salsa, and it makes incredible tacos.

The best part about this dish is that it’s incredibly easy to make, packs a ton of flavor, and using a slow-cooker means it’s mostly a hands-off recipe.

There’s a taquería in Los Angeles I really love called Guisados, and lucky for me, they have a location right near where I work. They make a taco de chicharrón guisado that’s very similar to this recipe, and they serve it on a corn tortilla over refried black beans, and topped with a little dollop of avocado salsa verde, which is how I served them here as well, but you can serve it without beans (or different beans) and whatever kind of salsa you like on top.

There are lots of recipes out there for chicharrón guisado—mostly in Spanish—and there’s one key departure in my version aside from using a slow-cooker: I use chile morita, which is a small, dried and smoked chile. I also like to serve these on smaller tortillas (about 4.5 inches round instead of the standard 6 inches) because it makes you feel more like you’re in a taquería….

10 June 12, 2017 Recipe

The best guacamole recipe ever

If you want to make the best guacamole, there are a few things you need to know. I swear by this recipe, but also by these tips that help make it the best it can be.

Not all guacamole is created equal, and it’s much easier to screw up than one might think. And since avocados are sometimes a splurge in your grocery budget, you really don’t want to waste them with bad guacamole. There are some common mistakes people make that cause their guac to suck: mashing the avocado so much that it’s totally smooth, adding too much of one ingredient so it throws off the flavor balance, not enough flavor so the whole thing is totally bland, or the opposite – too salty.

I’m not bragging (OK, I am totally bragging) but everyone I know who has ever eaten my guacamole has said that I make the best guacamole ever….

1 May 27, 2017 Dessert

Avocado Chocolate Pudding

Avocados blended with raw cacao powder and honey make for a perfectly silky, decadent, and dairy-free chocolate pudding.

Most chocolate pudding recipes use milk, along with cornstarch and sometimes egg yolks to thicken it. This avocado chocolate pudding recipe relies on the creamy texture and stability of avocado and gelatin to create that perfect pudding texture.

If you’ve got avocados that are slightly past their prime and a little too soft for anything else, this recipe is a great way to use them up so they don’t go to waste.…

1 May 26, 2017 Breakfast and Brunch

Mexican Eggs Benedict

Eggs Benedict is one of the most popular breakfast dishes served in the United States, so I gave it a Mexican makeover with chorizo, ancho chile hollandaise, and Herdez Guacamole Salsa.

This post is part of a compensated campaign in collaboration with HERDEZ® and #WeAllGrow Latina Network. All opinions and the recipe here are my own.

I would eat breakfast food for three meals a day if nobody prevented me from doing it. I LOVE poached eggs, and I’m no stranger to spreading chorizo on avocado toast, so I already knew Herdez Guacamole Salsa would pair perfectly with this dish.

The creamy texture of real avocado and the spicy kick of salsa verde is what makes the salsa so unique. You can use it for topping, dipping and cooking—there’s no wrong way to do it!…

2 May 20, 2017 Mexico City

What to eat at El Charco de las Ranas in Mexico City

El Charco de las Ranas has been the gold standard for “nice” tacos in Mexico City for more than 30 years. And I mean “nice” in the most Mexican of ways.

This often-imitated small chain does many things and does them right, every single time. From humble beginnings on Av. Río Mixcoac where they mainly doled out the classic tacos al pastor and bistec, they now have a 150-item-plus menu that ranges from breakfast classics such as huevos divorciados for breakfast to a very solid pozole for the overnight crowd. Our family always goes to the original location so I can’t speak to the one in Pedregal.

But their tacos al pastor deserve special attention. Neither lovers nor haters will ever call them “bad,” or anything worse. They’re huge though, so order fewer, as one of their “traditional” tacos usually make up three or four of any other taco they serve. …

6 May 4, 2017 Holidays

20 Authentic Mexican Recipes for Cinco de Mayo

Are you celebrating Cinco de Mayo and looking for authentic Mexican recipes for your menu? You’ve come to the right place!

But first, a quick history lesson about what Cinco de Mayo is—and isn’t.

Cinco de Mayo IS a holiday that commemorates the Battle of Puebla, which took place May 5, 1862 and was a Mexican army victory over the occupying French soldiers. Cinco de Mayo is NOT Mexican Independence Day (that’s in September).

While many people in the U.S. might “celebrate” this day, it’s more of a bank holiday kind of day in Mexico. Only some areas observe it as an actual holiday. And while I’m all for celebrating Mexican culture and cuisine, celebrating Cinco de Mayo is more of an opportunity for me to share authentic Mexican recipes that can actually teach you more about the diverse cuisine rather than just give you an excuse to eat chips and salsa and drink margaritas.

I’m sharing with you 20 of my favorite recipes that you can make with little time on your hands to prepare for Cinco de Mayo, or any day of the year.

And my No. 1 tip that you’ll want to keep bookmarked to share with everyone you know: How to keep your guacamole fresh and green

(Because friends don’t let friends put water, milk or anything else weird in their guacamole.)

DRINKS

Agua de jamaica – hibiscus flower agua fresca
Agua de piña – pineapple agua fresca
Paloma – a grapefruit margarita

APPETIZERS

Queso fundido with chorizo
Esquites – Mexican street corn in a cup
Chicharron de queso – a classic taquería appetizer that’s a big, crispy piece of griddled cheese

PAN DULCE

Orejas – also known as palmiers
Garibaldi – the famous mini cakes from El Globo, bathed in apricot jam and covered in nonpareils

SIDE DISHES

Chiles toreados – a classic taquería side dish of blistered chiles and onion, soy sauce and lime
Cebollitas cambray – grilled spring onions with a special salsa Maggi and lime sauce
Sopa de fideo – the quintessential Mexican comfort dish, a tomato broth soup with noodles
Frijoles charros – a hearty bean stew that’s often served in taquerías

MAIN MENU

Tinga de pollo – shredded chicken stewed with tomatoes, tomatillos, chipotle chile, chorizo and spices
Baked taquitos de pollo – a healthy take on the fried dish of shredded chicken rolled in a tortilla and served with salsa on top
Chilaquiles verdes – shredded chicken over tortilla chips, with salsa verde, crema mexicana and cotija cheese
Albóndigas en salsa chipotle – Mexican meatballs served in a spicy chipotle tomato sauce, served over black beans and rice
Pozole rojo – a hearty pork stew with hominy, spices, and garnished with radish, onion, Mexican oregano, lettuce and lime juice

DESSERTS

Mangonadas – a mango and orange juice frozen treat, similar to a smoothie, mixed with chamoy and Tajín
Paletas de fresas con crema – an ice pop spin on the classic strawberries and cream
Raspados de piña – pineapple ice sorbet topped with chamoy and Tajín

You might also like: Easy Mexican snacks for Super Bowl Sunday and other party gatherings