Season
8 of Mexico: One Plate at a Time premieres on your local PBS station
the week of September 17th. Check your local listings for the exact time
and date.
Rooftop Salsa is just days away.
This year's crops include arbols, early
jalapenos, serranos and habaneros, along with 9 different varieties of
tomatoes: Golden Girl, Valley Girl, Supersonic, JTO 99197, Shady Lady,
Bella Rosa, Orange Blossom, Jetsetter and Lemon Boy. Our chefs create a
different salsa every day based on what they pick. Stop by and share the
bounty of our rooftop garden.
Pastel de Tres Leches con Cerezas y Cerveza
Tres Leches cake with nutty mesquite meal
cake infused with Founder's Porter-laced three milks, Seedling Farm
sweet cherries, malty porter ice cream,
beer caramel and pickled tart cherries. This fabulous dessert is on the
Topolo menu until August 20th.
Gadget Adventures
With summer entertaining in high gear,
I've been waiting to share this gadget that I saw at the Housewares Show
since it wasn't available up until now. This plate clip make by
Trudeau, securely attaches to a plate and the flexible glass holder
accommodates any size stemware. It comes in 4 colors: grey, white, red
and purple. They're sold online through
Cappo Jim's and
The Kitchen Clique. Additionally, they are available at select Bed Bath & Beyond and Ace Hardware locations. They retail for $2.99 each.
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AUGUST 2011 | FROM THE FRONTERA TEST KITCHEN
This year's staff trip to Mexico was structured differently than in
past years. Normally we go to one state and immerse ourselves in
the cuisine, culture and history. This year, we visited 3 regions,
Mexico City, Puebla and Oaxaca in an effort to compare and contrast the
cuisines with special emphasis on moles.
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One of the best parts of our trip is visiting local markets.
Here's a Oaxaca market display of chiles, many of which are indigenous
to the area.
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At Susana Trilling's Season of the Heart Cooking School in
Oaxaca, we broke into four groups with each group working on a
different mole. The critical part of each of the moles was at the end
when it came time to balance all the flavors. We kept tasting as Susana
explained and made the adjustments. Once all the moles were done, we
tasted them as finished dishes along with an amazing dessert that her
staff prepared using her handmade Mexican chocolate. I'll be featuring
Susana in next month's newsletter along with information about her
school and how to buy her chocolate.
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Meet Our Team: Carlos Alferez
Managing Partner - Part Two
What's your earliest childhood food memory?
Growing up in my home in Mexico, I remember being surrounded by the women in my family all cooking together.
Was there one dish from your childhood that holds special memories for you?
My aunt who raised me when I came to the states at the age of 10
used to make vermicelli soup. To this day, my memories of that
soup are so strong that I can still remember how it smelled and
tasted.
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What ingredients are always in your pantry?
Beer (for inspiration) sardines, prosciutto, grain mustard and hot sauce.
Favorite foods?
Steak, foie gras, cured ham or sausage.
What do you cook at home?
Everything but Mexican. Usually Italian or French.
You have quite a large cookbook collection, what are some of your favorite cookbooks / cookbook authors?
Visual Food Encycopedia, Weber Grilling Cookbook, Patricia Wells, Mark Bittman and Jacques Pepin.
Favorite gadgets?
My measuring cup that measures both wet and dry and also ounces and
milliliters and my cutting board with a silicone handle that keeps the
board from slipping.
Favorite junk food?
Communion wafers that they sell in Mexican grocery stores. I can go
through a bag in 10 minutes. They remind me of my childhood in Mexico
when we used to go and buy the wafer scraps from the convent. I can't
stop until the bag is empty.
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Recipes from Deb's Test Kitchen
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I was also inspired by all the fresh berries that are available
and wanted a one bite dessert that was easy to prepare, but looked like
it came from a bakery. Try my
Fresh Berry Tarts with Lime Curd.
Finally, I've been working on a recipe using duck breasts and created this
Pasilla Glazed Duck Breast Salad.
I used mixed greens, corn, mango, avocado, French breakfast radishes
and grilled purple scallions and drizzled on a dressing that I made
using part of the pasilla glaze to tie the whole dish together.
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Deb Silberstein
Test Kitchen Director/Web Site Culinary Director
newsletter@fronteragrill.net
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