Chicken in Mexican amaranth sauce: Pollo en amaranto

This dish, and other similiar chicken and amaranth combinations, is also called mole de amaranto and tinga de pollo con amaranto, depending on the part of the country where it is found. Despite its different regional names, the dish always contains chipotle chiles. Ingredients 4 boneless chicken breast halves, salted to taste 2 tablespoons corn oil 2 large […]

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Scrambled eggs with sautéed chaya: Huevos revueltos con chaya / Chay-he

This is another Yucatecan favorite that makes use of leftovers from the day before. Chayas fritas from the afternoon meal are repurposed for breakfast the next day in this quick yet nourishing dish. Scramble the quantity of eggs desired, adding chayas fritas just as the eggs are beginning to set. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper […]

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Mexican chicken and allspice stew: Chilpozontle

A specialty of the Puebla mountain town of Zacapoaxtla, this Mexican dish uses allspice leaves as well as berries in a savory chicken stew. If you can’t get allspice leaves, fresh bay leaves work well. In fact, allspice leaves are sometimes called “Jamaican bay leaves.” Ingredients 1 chicken, cut into serving pieces 1medium onion, cut […]

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Chorizo stuffed chayote: Chayote relleno con chorizo

The mild taste of chayote is a perfect foil for the robust, spicy flavor of chorizo. Be sure to use fresh Mexican chorizo, and not Spanish chorizo, which is usually cured. Ingredients 1 ½ pounds (about 3 medium) chayotes 1 medium white onion, finely chopped ¾ pound chorizo, casings removed 2 cloves garlic, peeled and […]

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Mexican chicken salad with chipotle vinaigrette known as salpicon de pollo © Karen Hursh Graber, 2014

Mexican chicken salad with chipotle vinaigrette: Salpicon de pollo

Flavored with smoky chipotles, this recipe for salpicon de pollo is adapted from one by Vicki Cowal, who had adapted it herself, from Margaret Poore’s 1,000 Mexican Recipes. Here in Cholula, the regional specialty called chipocludos — sweet and tart pickled chipotles — is sold in the market and frequently prepared at home. I have given a recipe for […]

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Harvest cornpatch soup: Sopa de milpa

Milpa means “cornfield,” and this soup incorporates not only corn, but a medley of other Tlaxcalan produce abundant at this time of year. Although fresh nopales are preferable, they are available canned in north-of-the-border supermarkets. This can be served as a first course at dinner, or makes an ideal autumn lunch or light supper, accompanied by a salad […]

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Veracruz-style stuffed chiles: Cuaresmeños jarochos

Some of our favorite ways to eat seafood in Veracruz are the cold salads and cocktails featuring shrimp, crab and other local seafood. This recipe for cuaresmeños – large jalapeños – stuffed with crab meat can be made a day ahead and kept in the refrigerator, then served either cold or at room temperature as hors d’ouevres, appetizers or […]

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Chicken in sesame seed, pumpkin seed and chile sauce: Tlatonile de pollo

This sauce originated in Huatusco, in north central Veracruz. Comapeños are very small, dried red chiles abundant in this region. You can substitute chiles de arbol for the comapeños, but I recommend using less, since I find the arbol chiles to be hotter. If you do any traveling around Mexico, look for comapeño chiles in the markets of Orizaba and Cordoba, Veracruz. This recipe is […]

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This colorful alabrije rabbit by Jacobo Angeles races across the Mexican mountain meadows. © Alvin Starkman, 2008

Mexican-style rabbit in red pipian with wild mushrooms: Pipian rojo con conejo y hongos silvestres

I taught this in a cooking class I gave last summer in Cuetzalan, Puebla, where I tried to incorporate two of the area’s signature ingredients, allspice and wild mushrooms, with rabbit, commonly eaten in Central Mexico since pre-Hispanic times. This Mexican-style dish combines the meat with wild mushrooms and a red pipian sauce based on […]

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