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!
Mexican Christmas Traditions
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!
RELATED RECIPE: Vegetarian queso fundido with mushrooms and poblano chiles
We like to make tacos out of this recipe, but you can absolutely also serve it dip-style with chips if you like.
Queso fundido
Queso fundido is a classic Mexican appetizer that can be eaten with warm tortillas or tortilla chips. You choose the mix-ins!
Ingredients
- 4 to 5 ounces cooked chorizo
- 14 ounces shredded Chihuahua or Quesadilla cheese
- Non-stick cooking spray
Instructions
- Cook your chorizo first and set aside to drain the grease over paper towels.
- In a microwave-proof dish, grate the Chihuahua or Quesadilla 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 or oven-proof dish from underneath the broiler.
- Place the crock or dish on a trivet and serve with warm tortillas to make tacos or hearty tortilla chips if you want to serve it more as a dip.
Notes
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.
©2009-2024 theothersideofthetortilla.com
- 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?
Homemade chorizo
Homemade chorizo is a lot easier to make than you think!
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.
RELATED RECIPE: Queso fundido with chorizo
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, 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, and can be used to make fun little party appetizers like these chorizo and avocado cups with chipotle crema.
RELATED RECIPE: Huevo con chorizo breakfast tacos
I used a blend of three chiles to make my homemade 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.
This chorizo needs to be cured in the refrigerator for 4-6 days to allow the chiles and garlic to mellow, and for the vinegar to do its work on the texture.
Chorizo Casero | Homemade Chorizo
My chorizo recipe was recommended by the New York Times Diner's Journal in December 2011.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground pork
- 2 cups of water (for soaking the chiles)
- 4 chile guajillo
- 3 chile de arbol
- 1 chile ancho
- ½ teaspoon Mexican oregano
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 quarter-inch thick slice of white onion (one slice will go in food processor; other will be finely chopped)
- 7 large garlic cloves (reserve 2 for later)
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons Nakano rice vinegar
Instructions
- Bring two cups of water to a boil and remove from heat. Tear off the chile stems and soak the chiles for at least an hour or until completely soft. When the chiles are soft, remove them from the water, drain, and discard all the water. Do not remove the seeds from the chiles.
- Place the chiles, oregano, salt, pepper, one quarter-inch thick slice of onion and five cloves of garlic into the food processor or blender. Run for 5-10 seconds. Add the apple cider vinegar and rice vinegar. Reseal top of food processor or blender and pulse until the mixture is a smooth paste.
- In a glass mixing bowl, add the ground pork and make a well in the middle of the meat. Add half of the chile mixture and gently work it into the meat. Add the second half and repeat.
- In the food processor add the two remaining garlic cloves and pulse a few times so that it's roughly chopped. Add to the meat and chile mixture.
- Finely chop the second quarter-inch thick slice of onion. Add to meat and mix well to incorporate.
- Transfer the chorizo to an airtight container or a plastic zippered bag and store in the refrigerator for four to six days. It needs that time to cure and for the seasoning to mellow out. If you eat it before curing it, it may taste too spicy or too salty, the garlic will be very potent and the vinegar will be strong. If you can bear to leave it alone for six days to cure, it's worth the wait.
- After a few days, some liquid will run off the meat, which is completely normal. You can dump it out when you notice it or you can leave it up until you're ready to cook the chorizo. Be sure to discard the liquid either way.
- When it's ready to be eaten, just heat a frying man over medium heat, add the chorizo and fry it up until it's crumbly and well-done. Drain over paper towels and use in your favorite dish.
Notes
You can refrigerate cooked or uncooked leftovers for a few days or freeze raw meat in an airtight container or plastic zippered bag for a few weeks.
©2009-2024 theothersideofthetortilla.com
RELATED RECIPE: Trenza de huevo con chorizo
This post is part of a sponsored series to promote Mizkan cooking wines, vinegars and marinades. We also received samples of Mizkan’s Holland House, Nakano and World Harbor brand products and promotional material from Mizkan to assist in preparing the posts. All opinions and recipes in this series are our own.
What Las Posadas mean to me
December 16th begins Las Posadas, the nine days of celebration leading up to Christmas Eve, also known as Nochebuena.
It's customary for families to gather together, eat, sing and have a piñata at the party. Sometimes people celebrate posadas by going from home to home, singing the traditional song to ask for lodging the way Mary and Joseph did. But whether you travel around to different homes or stay in one place, there are certain elements of your family's posadas that you inevitably love more than anything else, and will always try to recreate as you grow older, and especially as you have children so you can teach them your family's traditions.
For me, the most beloved posadas tradition is making ponche Navideño. Every year, even if I don't have access to fresh ingredients, I do my best to find canned, jarred or frozen ingredients for the things I can't easily find in the U.S. Even though I know I'll have it when I get to Mexico, I feel it's really important to perfect the recipe at home with available ingredients.
I want our future children to know that it's a Mexican Christmas staple and always have memories of the smell and taste. I want them to think of love and family and La Navidad when they think of ponche, just the way that I do. I always look forward to spending time with family in Mexico City during the holidays, and I know there will always be an abundance of ponche Navideño. It's present at almost every family gathering but the most special thing about it for me is that it's become a family tradition to make it together with my suegros, whom I adore con todo corazón.
We stand around the kitchen, my suegro chopping the caña (sugar cane), while my suegra takes care with the liquid measurements. I slice the guayabas and juice the oranges, add the canela and core the tejocotes. And before a few years ago when I finally put it on paper, our family recipe wasn't officially written down anywhere with any information other than what should go in it. Learning how to make this family recipe with my suegros meant a lot to me in being able to eventually pass down this tradition.
So, last week when I was grocery shopping in a store I don't usually frequent and I found a box of fresh tejocotes, I had tears in my eyes as I stood in disbelief in the middle of the produce aisle. This was the very first time I'd ever seen fresh tejocotes in a market near Chicago (also grown in the U.S., according to the box). Tejocotes have long been prohibited from being imported fresh from Mexico as a precaution due to the possibility of harboring exotic pests. Only in recent years have there been growers in the U.S. (mostly in California) who've begun cultivating crops of tejocotes, also known in English as Mexican hawthorn. I was surprised and overjoyed to see them in a local store. Though I was tempted to buy the whole box, I painstakingly picked through it to find the most perfect ones to add up to half a pound, just enough for one large pot of ponche.
This year, our family is still headed off on a vacation together as usual, but not within Mexico. As excited as I am to go somewhere new and experience new things, I can't help but feel a little sad that I won't be attending Tía Annette's big posada Navideña in Mexico City.
I'll miss sipping ponche and café con rompope and eating galletas with my other tías while catching up on all the gossip I've missed since my last visit. I'll miss our tío dangling the piñata over the garden for the kids from the second story window, laughing and smiling as he tugs it just out of their reach. I'll miss seeing how much some of the younger cousins have grown up this past year. I'll miss Tía Nene and her famous pastel de dátil (something I still need to learn how to make). I'll miss the nochebuenas, which are much more beautiful and exotic-looking in their native Mexico. I'll miss posing for a huge family holiday photo, comprised of four generations of our beautiful family.
As I write this, my kitchen is perfumed by the scent of ripe guayabas, waiting to be made into ponche this weekend. There are oranges, tejocotes, canela and ciruelas pasas. I still need to find some fresh sugar cane; I have a good idea of where to get it locally, but I've still got some in a jar as a backup. And though there will be no cousins, tíos, piñatas, pidiendo posadas or certain favorite holiday foods this year, the memories will swirl steadfastly in my heart and my kitchen as I stew a big pot of ponche before I jet off to my holiday destination.
›› GET THE RECIPE FOR PONCHE NAVIDEÑO
- What makes you think most of las posadas? This post is part of a blog hop about posadas. I encourage you to check out some of the other related posts about how others celebrate the holidays in Mexico. If you've written about posadas, please feel free to add a link to your post!...