Dear Brad:

Unless I'm using a high-speed blender like VitaMix, I ALWAYS strain red chile sauces to remove all the tough little bits of unblended skin.  Personally, I don't enjoy the texture of unstrained red chile sauces. It doesn't take a fancy strainer to do the job, however.  Medium-mesh strainers, like the ones sold in grocery stores, are perfect for the job (and easy to use).

RB

 

Dear Paul:

Dried pastas, especially in soups and occasionally in a pasta dish, are very common in Mexico.  So common, in fact, that every single person I know who was raised in Mexico pines for his mother's or grandmother's

sopa de fideos (vermicelli soup).  

 

Dear Stefan:

Glad you like the show and glasses.  They're ic! Berlin.

RB

Dear Truc Mai:

I wrote Authentic Mexican after living in Mexico for several years, and it is really a snapshot of people and places.  That book sketches Mexico's regional cuisines and sets them in both cultural and historical context.  The recipes are classic and, I have to admit, ones that I still turn to regularly after 22 years.  I wrote Mexican Kitchen after nearly a decade behind the stoves at my side-by-side restaurants Frontera Grill and Topolobampo.  I treated that book as if it were my master class in Mexican Kitchen, revealing how I thought about Mexican building blocks (salsas, sauces and condiments), how I developed dishes (both traditional and contemporary) for my restaurants menus and what I'd learned about each ingredient after so many years in the kitchen.  For everyday Mexican cooking, my book "Mexican Everyday" is your best bet.

RB

 

Dear Heidi:

Okay, I'm going to let you in on some of my strategies when going into a place I don't know well.  Truth is, I haven't been to Puerto Escondido in so long that I'd hesitate to give you any recommendations.  Ask any locals you come across (servers in restaurants, clerks in stores) where they'd like to go for their birthday or where they'd take their mom for a special occasion or who makes the best local tamales or shrimp in mojo de ajo.  If you just ask for a good restaurant, you'll likely get a recommendation for a touristy one.  So my trick is to find out where the locals like--especially by asking about a restaurant for a special occasion or a restaurant that is famous for a local specialty.

RB

Dear Jeremy:

I've decided that most of the world is made up of closet (or not so

closeted) bacon freaks.  You can't imagine all the e-mails I've gotten about that shirt!  You can get yours at CafePress.com, along with hundreds of other bacon-related shirts.  Just type "bacon" into the search box and you'll never look back.

Dear David:

Both dry- and oil-toasting are good, but for different reasons.  Oil-toasting gives you a more thorough toast and a more velvety end result.  That's why I use it mostly when making mole.  Dry-toasting yields a leaner and less mellow end result. 

 

Dear Shirle'

Depending on your climate and soil, the fully grown tomatillos from the (heirloom) purple tomatillo plants will be between 1 1/2 and 2 inches in diameter.  They should completely fill out the papery husk, eventually splitting it to let the sun "kiss" the exposed part of the berry and turn it purple. Most people like to pick them at the mature green stage, to emphasize their tangy flavor.  But you can let some mature to the yellow stage and try those:  they're much sweeter, less acid.  In any case, the tomatillos you grow will likely be much more flavorful than the commercially available ones.  

 

Dear Joyce:

Everything changes when you're cooking paella for a small group.  I wrote a book with my daughter, Lanie, with a great small recipe for paella--with more Spanish flavors than Mexican ones.  You can easily vary that, though.  Check out Rick and Lanie's Excellent Kitchen Adventures.  Here's a peek at the book:

Serves 6

3 ¼ cups chicken broth (use 2 ¾ cups is using the short-grain “paella” rice from Spain)
¼ teaspoon saffron (L: if you don’t have this, dish is still good)
Salt
¼ cup olive oil or vegetable oil
6 chicken thighs
1 large red pepper
2 cloves garlic
A 15-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
A big handful of green beans
OR 1 ½ cups frozen peas
2 cups rice (R: look for fat-grain Spanish paella rice or medium-grain rice in groceries and Mexican stores; any rice will work, though)
½ pound medium-size shrimp
¼ pound ham
1 lemon

DO THIS FIRST
Red pepper. Cut pepper in half down through stem.  Pull out white seed pod in middle and pull off stem.  Throw away. Cut pepper into small pieces (about ½ inch).
Garlic.  Peel.
Tomato.   Pour canned tomatoes and the juice into blender or food processor, secure lid and blend smooth.
Green beans.  Break off stem end and pointy end.  Cut into small pieces (about ½-inch).
Shrimp.  Peel shell off each shrimp: Hold shrimp in one hand and pull off tiny legs with other; next, peel off shell a few sections at a time.
Ham.  Cut into small pieces (about ½ inch).
Lemon.  Cut into 8 wedges.
Oven:  Adjust shelf to middle of oven.  Turn on to 325º

1.    Heat broth.  Pour broth into medium 4- to 6-quart saucepan. If using saffron, mash the little threads into a ¼ teaspoon measure, then add.  Add salt (2 teaspoons for unsalted broth, 1 ½ teaspoons for low-salt broth, 1 teaspoon for salted broth).  Cover pan with lid and set over medium heat.

2.    Brown chicken.  Measure olive oil into 12-inch skillet or heavy pot (preferably Dutch oven) 12 inches in diameter that can go in oven. Set over medium-high heat.  Dry chicken with paper towels.  When oil is hot, carefully lay chicken in oil. When well browned underneath (4 to 5 minutes), turn over with tongs. Brown other side.  Use tongs to transfer chicken to a plate.

3.    Cook the flavorings.  Reduce heat to medium. Add pepper to pan and cook—stir occasionally—until beginning to brown (about 4 minutes).  Crush through garlic press (or chop finely) and add to browned peppers. Stir well, then add blended tomato and chopped green beans.  If using frozen peas, add after you take paella out of oven.  Cook and stir until thick and pasty (about 4 minutes). 

4.    Cook rice.  With pan still over heat, add rice.  Stir 3 or 4 times, then cook 1 minute.  Pour hot broth into rice.  Scrape all rice kernels down into liquid.  Stir once.  When liquid boils, set timer for 10 minutes.  Don’t stir (stirring makes the rice gummy).

5.    Finish paella.  When the timer goes off, lay shrimp, chicken and ham in a single layer on rice and gently press in. Set skillet in oven and bake 13 minutes.  Take out of oven. “Fluff” rice with fork. If using frozen peas, add them.  Cover with lid or piece of aluminum foil.  Let stand 10 minutes to finish cooking rice.  Either serve the paella straight from the skillet at table or spoon onto individual plates.  Serve with lemon wedges for each person to squeeze on paella.

 

 

Dear cjhessick:

You can use the blossoms off of any squash plant.  I like growing romanesco zucchini (a bush variety) because I like the flavor of the vegetable and the size of the leaves.  I also have several butternut squash plants growing along the fence at the back of my yard.  Those blossoms are quite large and delicious, as is the squash itself. 

Dear Barbara:

The little ice cream maker (with the frozen bowl canister) is made by Cuisinart.  There is a similar model made by Krups.  If you have a KitchenAid mixer, you can buy a frozen bowl attachment that goes in the mixing bowl, and it works quite well.  Keep cooking.

Dear Tina:

I love my garden ... but, alas, it is coming to an end for this season.  During the winter, we grow some microgreens (2-inch lettuces and such) that we use for small salads, and, of course, I bring all the citrus trees and tender herbs inside.  And I wait ... and wait ... and wait until next spring.  Under row covers, we plant spinach and garlic (for the tender green shoots called green garlic) in the fall so that they'll be ready for our first harvest in April.  We have lots of perennial herbs and edible flowers.  And we have a tiny green house where we can hold the most tender plants and get things started for spring.

 

Wow, you're taking our readers into the graduate school of Mexican cooking!  Yes, in many places in Mexico, they call the small purple tomatillos 'tomates milperos' or 'tomates de milpa' because they come up "volunteer" in the corn fields (milpas).  They have the best flavor.  (By the way, in Oaxca they call them 'miltomates.')  To find seeds for this kind of tomatillo, go to johnnyseeds.com

Sincerely,
Rick

We just launched the Frontera Scholarship, our new program in conjunction with Kendall College, to send a Mexican-American student to culinary school. Part of the program is an internship here at our restaurants - and the chance to accompany the Frontera team on our annual trip to Mexico in July. This is the first year of the program and we are all excited!

To qualify, you must be a recent graduate or current senior in the Chicago Public Schools. Recipients must also be of first or second generation Mexican origin. All the qualifications and requirements are spelled out in the application.

Sincerely,
Rick

Hey, Green City Market starts on May 14!  And our big 10th Anniversary Festival (even Mayor Daley is coming!) is on Saturday, May 17.  The big program (including the all-local birthday cake for everyone--and cochinita pibil tacos from our crew!) starts at 9 am.  

About that pan:  yes, in fact, you need it to make the chocoflan.  A regular 10-inch cake pan isn't deep enough to hold everything.  We used the one from Wilton that you've already found. 

Sincerely,
Rick