The dessert for my cooking class featuring a ‘Menu from Central Mexico‘ was Tamales de Dulce (sweet tamales). According to our instructor, Chef Rossana, these treats come from the indigenous word ‘tamalli‘ meaning wrapped. In this class we used corn husks, but the wrappings can also be banana or avocado leaves, or ‘hoja santa‘ (holy leaf). Sweet tamales are usually only made up for festive occasions such Candlemas, February 2, the midpoint of winter, (also known as Groundhog Day).
We started the class by prepping the dough for tamales de dulce (sweet tamales), as they had the longest cooking time. Although I knew about savory tamales, the sweet versions were a delightful surprise. A gooey mixture of masa (corn dough), butter, sugar, pink food colouring known as ‘rosa mexicana‘, cinnamon-infused water, baking powder and raisins were steamed inside corn husks, resulting in a delicately sweet dessert.
1. Soak corn husks for an hour – our instructor Chef Rossana had done this ahead of time.
2. Make cinnamon-infused water by boiling a few broken cinnamon sticks in 250ml water. The longer it stays in the water, the more cinnamon flavour, so this was also done ahead of time…
3. Make masa dough.
Chef Rosanna demonstrates how to prepare the masa
4. Mix creamed butter, sugar and baking powder.
5. Gradually add in masa dough, cinnamon-infused water, and a toothpick of the pink food colouring known as ‘rosa mexicana‘ until you have a smooth paste.
the tamale dough with rosa mexicana added
6. Put the pink paste along with a few raisins in the corn husk and wrap.
add raisins to the sweet tamale dough
7. Layer a large pot with corn husks and add an inch or two of water. Bring it to a boil, take off the stove and pack the wrapped tamales into the pot. Put it back on the stove to steam for at least an hour.
pack the wrapped tamales into the pot
8. A sweet tamal waiting to be unwrapped.
9. An unwrapped sweet tamale, ¡delicioso!
Chef Rossana teaches Mexican Cooking at UBC Continuing Studies and is on Twitter at: Rossana Ascencio@MiMetate
Veracruz, situated on the Gulf of Mexico, is one of my favourite Mexican cities. The zocalo is ringed with restaurants, closed off to cars and has a large stage. Something is happening there almost every night. And a short bus ride away is Mocambo beach.
Mapa de Veracruz
We started our comida veracruzana with thirst-quenching agua de tamarindo (tamarind water) and picaditas del puerto. The picaditas are rumoured to be an excellent cure for a hangover, but even if you don’t have a hangover you will still want to try these bocadillas (nibbles).
two types of picaditas, one with salsa verde and one with salsa roja
The picaditas are hand-made ‘pinched’ tortillas of masa (corn dough), topped with either a salsa verde (green salsa) or salsa roja (red salsa), then shredded chicken, crema fresca (crème fraiche) and queso fresco (fresh cheese, mild cow’s milk feta makes an okay substitute). Like the salbutes (https://blogs.ubc.ca/albatz/2011/02/09/salbutes-little-bocadillas-to-tempt-the-mouth/) we made in an earlier class, they were a quick way to experience Mexico without the hassle of flying, and I’m pretty sure it has to do with the flavour of those homemade tortillas.
Agua de Tamarindo
The tamarind water was both sweet and sour, an excellent accompaniment to the spicy picadas.
For the entrée we had Huatape Veracruzana con Camarones. Special large sweet prawns are traditionally used in this dish, and Chef Rossana felt that the BC spot prawns would be a perfect substitute. They were cooked in a light ‘mole’, which means there were only 10 chiles in the sauce, as opposed to 50! Served with a Mexican-style white rice (fried before adding the seasoned chicken broth), topped with fried plantain chips, this was a satisfying main course.
Veracruz-style Prawns in a Light Mole
Desert was a treat, a frozen mango concoction.
Mango Postre
To drink, Torito de Cacahuate, which translates as ‘little bull made of peanuts’. It was a unusual creamy drink made of chunky peanut butter and aguardiente (we substituted white rum). I love tasting entirely new things, especially if they’re good, and this rum drink was certainly a great way to finish off a great meal!
Our 2nd Mexican Cooking class from UBC Continuing Studies featured three dishes from the Oaxaca/Guerrero region on the southern Pacific coast of Mexico.
1. Coctel de camarones ‘Acapulco’
The coctel de camarones (shrimp cocktail) was my fave dish from this class. I could just imagine eating this, lounging under a palapa on Caleta beach in Acapulco while knocking back una cerveza bien fría. (Recipe)
Shrimp Cocktail
totopes, home-made corn chips, accompanied the shrimp cocktail, and instead of beer we had it with a breath-taking tequila blanca!
2. Pozole
Pozole isa pork & hominy soup, served with all the extras: radishes, ‘chiffoned’ lettuce, onion and cincharones, better known as ‘piggy puffs’ north of the Mexican border….
Pozole
Rossana could only find ‘hominy’, one of the primary ingredients in pozole, in a can . However, dealing with fresh hominy sounds rather labour intensive, so the canned version is certainly easier…
hominy for the pozole
pequin chile powder is 7-8 times hotter than jalapeños… add a dash to the pozole if you dare!
Pequin chile powder for the Pozole
3. Mole Coloradito with Chochoyotes
the Mole Coloradito withChochoyotes (dumplings) wasa complex layered sauce made of spices and chocolate, and incredibly rich. (Recipe)
Although the Alsace is a province of France, it is right on the border with Germany, and the food and wine has been heavily influenced by the Bavarians. One blog described it as ‘Germany with a French accent,’ and that was certainly true when I was in there many years ago (1978).
The place that I was staying at had a fixed prix meal that included sauerkraut & sausage. Not being at all fond of cabbage, I was dreading it. But the French version of sauerkraut was a delicate ‘choucroute‘, sauteed in butter with celery seeds sprinkled throughout. And the French sausages were vastly superior to any German sausages I had eaten, not at all greasy and heavy. It was one of those extraordinary dishes that stay in your memories forever.
I guess one has to put up with cabbage if one is going to go ‘Alsatian’. So here goes with the main dish of the evening: Chicken & Cabbage & Prunes in Reisling. Described as French comfort food by one student, another added “I could eat that every day.”
To make the peeling of the pearl onions easier they were soaked in hot water for a few minutes beforehand.
The peeled pearl onions, carrots and celery were lightly sautéed in olive oil.
A whole chicken was cut up into eight pieces (or in our case, Chef Eric demonstrated how to properly cut up the first half of the chicken, and I managed to massacre the second half.)
The carcass was thrown into a pot of water with leftover herbs in order to make the stock
The chicken pieces were browned and then added to the bed of vegetables along with all the other ingredients including prunes, herbs, wine and cabbage.
In the meantime the potatoes were cooked, mashed and drizzled with a chive and parsley oil.
Chive & Parsley Oil for the mashed potatoes
The wine Chef Eric selected to go with the entree was an Alsace ‘Grand Cru’, an extraordinary Reisling. Unlike German Reislings, this is not a sweet wine, and rates a ‘0’ on the sweetness scale.
Dessert was another experience overload. First we had a Kirsch Soufflé…
…served with a Muscat. My wine tasting notes from 1978 say: ‘Muscat *** -dry but grapey, with a fruity taste that made it almost sweet.’ My new tasting notes as of 2012 say: ‘one of the very few ‘dry’ muscats; distinctly grapey taste that remind me of Liz’s grapes from her garden, bearing no resemblance whatsoever to the grapes you buy in the supermarket.’ Chef Eric added that 2010 was a very good year and the wine typically can be aged 2-5 years.
Then came the Kronenburg 1664 Beer Sorbet with Läckerli Cookies. The Beer Sorbet is simply beer and sugar, put into an ice cream maker. The Läckerli Cookies are not so simple, with tons of ingredients. The green bits are candied angelica.
With this dessert, a Kronenburg 1664 Flavoured Wheat Beer, with ‘peachy’ overtones, was the drink of choice.
Alsatian Cooking Class 2, Part 1 featuring Sauerkraut Soup with Smoked Sausage, tarte flambée or ‘Flammekueche’ , a meaty stew called ‘Baeckenofe‘ served with Sweet and Sour Cabbage and of course, lots more Alsatian wines!
November is spring in Argentina, and we were there November, 2008. The northwest of Argentina is the most amazing region. This blog focuses on Cafayate, one small town in that area with its four wineries that offered free tastings.
vinyard our first evening in Cafayate
(from my journal) Nov 4. Bodega Nanni is a producer of ‘organic’ wines. We did the tour, and afterwards got to taste their wines.
Cafayate, Nanni Winery
Cafayate, wine barrels at Nanni
I had to write frantically to keep up with both the wines and the torrent of Spanish – here goes:
Torrontés – a white, típico del región, ananas, durazno and rosas (pineapple, peach and rose), good with fish;
Rosado de Cabernet Sauvignon – only aged 48 hours, drank as an aperitivo;
Malbec – sauve y frutado (soft and fruity) – red fruits;
Cabernet Sauvignon – más intenso – goes well with comida criolla;
Tannant – muy intenso, muy astringente, té y chocolate – good with greasy food such as cerdo (pork)
As soon as I finished writing this, a woman came up and gave me a printed card with almost everything I’d already written on it. All of Nanni’s wine were fabulous, but unfortunately only available in the US and ‘Holandes‘, at least as of 2008.
After the tour we went out for a matambre y ensalada at a nearby restaurant.
Refreshed, we managed to locate another ‘casa de vino’. This was El Transito, a ‘nuevo’ winery. I didn’t take a single photo of the building as it was modern with none of the atmosphere of the other wineries. BUT I have to say that they certainly made up for it with the quality of their wines! They had an impressive Malbec (2005) and the best Cabernet Sauvignon (2004) we had tasted. The Cab had been aged for 6 months in oak and then for four years in the botella. It seemed a bit odd at first but rapidly grew on me. Al initially thought it too dry but, by the end of our generous tasting glasses, we were both raving about it .
There was another group of people tasting and they had somehow managed to get extra generous glasses, filled to the brim of the truly magnificent El Transito Malbec. We were soooo jealous, “How come you rate such big glasses?” It turned out that they had liked the wine so much they had bought an entire bottle, and then had a connivial gathering at the winery, rather than trying to carry it away on their already overloaded scooters.
Nov 5
Off to Domingo Hermanos. This winery only had two wines on offer, a 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon, very full, soft, and a 2005 Malbec, but both rated 5 mmmmms on our wine scale!
Bodega Domingo Hermanos
on the bottling line
even the cheap jugs of wine are fantastic, with exquisite dark cherry flavours to die for
Vasija Secreta: this was the oldest winery we toured, but I’m afraid we didn’t find their wine that impressive after the others.
Vasija Secreta winery
FOOD TO GO WITH THE WINE
the merienda is the traditional late afternoon ‘tea’ of Argentina, something to fill in those long, hungry hours before the evening meal is served at nine or ten. Some typical meriendas are:
a ‘picada’, this usually consists of cold cuts, olives, cheese and hard-boiled eggs, or some variation thereof.
picada en Salta
a ‘parillada’. This is the traditional barbeque of meat, meat and meat, slow-cooked and seasoned with lime and salt. In this region ‘cabrito’ (kid goat) is a speciality.
parrillada con cabrito en Tafi
‘empanadas’, pastries stuffed with cheese, meat or whatever.
empanadas
‘matambre’ and salad. The matambre is usually some form of meat ‘enrollado‘, usually beef rolled with vegetables or eggs, and served in colourful slices. The word matambre is a combination of two words: ‘mata‘ (kill) + hambre (hunger).
matambre, beef ‘enrollado‘, rolled with vegetables or eggs
AND MORE
For a tiny town Cafayate has lots to offer. There are tours of Quilmes, nearby ancient pre-Colombian ruins.
ruinas at Quilmes
There are also guided hikes through the Quebrada de Cafayate. The Quebrada contains multi-coloured sandstone formations that continue north into Salta and the region of Humahuaca.
sketch of Quebrada de Cafayate
For more images of this amazing region, plus a Humahuacan song to drink wine by:
Our instructor, Lynn Coulthard, started our wine tour of South America with a sparkling Torrontés, a cool region wine from Patagonia in the south of Argentina. The sweet sparkling wine, akin to Asti Spumanti, was priced at $26 and good value.
The next white we tasted came from Chile, a ‘T.H’ Sauvignon Blanc. This was very aromatic to the nose, but I found the flavour a bit ‘viny’, like chewing on the stem of the grapes. Our instructor Lynn described it as crisp and clean, and suggested it would go well with delicate foods such as poached sole.
We also tasted two Argentinean whites, a non-sparkling Torrontés from the high altitude wineries in Salta, and a Chardonnay from the famous wine region of Mendoza.
The non-sparkling ‘Colmes’ Torrontés came from Salta in the northwest of Argentina, and as the label said, was a ‘vino blanco de gran altura‘ (high-altitude white wine). It was supposed to have ‘rose petal’ aroma, but I’m afraid the ‘nose’ reminded me of rose-petal dish soap. The best part of this wine is that it was from Salta, such a beautiful area that everyone should see it, and there’s lots of wine-tasting in nearby towns as well.
The Luca Chardonnay was from the famous wine region of Mendoza in Argentina. This was a lovely wine, well balanced with overtones of butterscotch and a lingering flavour. At $44, a bit pricy for me, but damn good!
From Uruguay came a Tannant, that country’s signature grape. It’s a rough red wine with lots of tannin, and needs aging and some good food pairing to really be appreciated. This is NOT a sipping wine.
For fun we did two sets of blind tastings. While our instructor Lynn read us the descriptions of each wine, we sniffed and tasted and tried to guess which was which. The first pair were both Chilean, a Syrah and a Carmenère, the signature grape of Chile. For many years the Carmenére grape was mistakenly identified as a Merlot until genetic testing determined otherwise.
The Matetic ‘EQ’ Syrah, 2005 from Chile had a very pronounced nose, ‘stinky’ was the first word that came to mind. But it tasted much better than it smelled, earthy and of black fruits.
Apparently some Carmenères are really green pepper in your face, but in this Terra Noble 2008, the green pepper notes were more subdued and there was a nice peppery finish.
The next pair we compared were a Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon and a Malbec from Argentina.
The Malbec, the signature grape of Argentina, was velvety, smooth, dark berry, and full of flavour. Never leave me alone with a bottle of Malbec – I love the stuff! To my mind it was the best wine of the evening, at least up until that point.
Lynn described Cabernet Sauvignon as the ‘doughnut’ wine: round at the edges and empty in the middle. This may sound obscure but was quite apparent while tasting. That emptiness is one of the reasons that it is often blended. She also described it as having ‘structure’, another thing that is obvious when you taste it.
Lynn then introduced an interesting experiment in blending. We were to come up with a blend of the Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon. I chose to add a small amount of the Cab to my Malbec, about 1 part Cab to 3 parts Malbec, and to my surprise I liked it even better than the plain Malbec, which had been my favourite wine of the evening.
She then brought out the killer wine of the evening – a blend to end all blends: Andeluna ‘Grand Reserve’ Pasionado 2005 from Mendoza, Argentina. Yes, it managed to even top my impressive blend! At $66 a bottle, this is a wine worthy of a major celebration. Great class!
WOW! Andeluna ‘Grand Reserve’ Pasionado 2005 from Mendoza, Argentina, a Bordeaux blend; 36% Merlot, 34% Malbec, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc. Easily the best wine of the evening, but pricey, at $66 a bottle.
the back label from the Bordeaux blend – note the 2nd paragraph for their tasting notes – I couldn’t have said it better!
Starting our Alsatian food extravaganza was an ‘Asparagus, Orange and Crab Salad’ with ‘Dill Dressing’. The salad began with a ‘five-petalled’ flower of spinach, topped with a loose bundle of arugula. And it carried on from there, an amazing mix of lightly steamed asparagus, crab meat, orange segments, cherry tomatoes, apple slices and fat raisins.
more ingredients waiting to be added to the Crab Salad
A dill dressing was drizzled on top, and then the salad was plated with each plate receiving a Puff Pastry Twist on the side.
These Puff Pastry Twists (super delicious) started with a sheet of puff pastry, that was brushed with an egg wash and spread with a herb/parmesan cheese mix.
making the puff pastry twists
Cut lengthwise into strips, twisted and brushed with more egg wash and sesame seeds, this dish was ‘easy’ according to its maker, and definitely worth trotting out at a dinner party.
the Crab & Asparagus Salad is served with a Puff Pastry Twist and Brut Rosé wine
The wine chosen to go with the salad was a Crémant d’Alsace, a sparkling ‘Brut Rosé’. Its ‘clean’ taste, citrus notes and fine bubbles that exploded in the mouth making it perfect for the salad.
Lucien Albrecht ‘Crémant d’Alsace’ Brut Rosé
Chef Eric noted that it also went well with anything that had a smoky flavour such as bacon. Hence this sparkling rosé also went with the Alsatian Onion & Bacon Tart, a tasty quiche-like tart, that, together with the salad, would have been a meal in itself.
Here Chef Eric demonstrates how to remove the tart from the tart pan – excuse the blur, it all happened very fast!
holding the tart pan with a hot cloth, place a plate on top and invert…
another plate is placed on top of the upside-down tart…
the plate is inverted once again… Et voilá!
the wonderful quiche-like Onion & Bacon Tart, along with the salad and wine could easily have been a meal in itself!
Perfect for a fall or winter menu. Serves 4-8 depending on whether the soup is the main course, or merely precedes the main course. In all of the recipes, the squash, pumpkin or carrots are interchangeable, as are additions of yams, sweet potato and chestnuts…
For all recipes the general procedure is to cut up your ‘squash’, onion and various other ingredients, and saute lightly in a large heavy pot. Add liquid (broth, juice) and cook for 30 minutes, then purée. Now add the creamy bit (coconut, cream, yogurt) plus the herbs and/or spices. Toss on a garnish and the dish is now ready to serve…
French: Potage de ‘Squash’
1 small acorn or butternut squash (or pumpkin or carrots)
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
a splash (or more) of cognac (optional)
3 cups of chicken broth & 1/2 cup of orange juice
8 tbsp. cream (heavy cream for authentic French, light or half ‘n half for a lighter version). Note that if you decide to freeze a portion, then omit and add just before serving or reheating
1 tbsp. fresh tarragon (or thyme)
garnish with a drizzle of cream and a sprig of tarragon
This soup contains many ingredients that were a gift from Mexico to the world: tomatos, chiles, avocado and corn in the form of tortillas. The recipe comes from a Mexican cookbook that I purchased eons ago.
I. PREP THE TORTILLAS
• 4-8 leftover corn tortillas (NOTE: you can also use the dregs of nacho chips, those broken ones left in the bottom of a package, but add less salt if you use these.)
The original recipe called for frying the cut-up strips of tortillas in 1/4 cup of oil, but I brushed them lightly with corn oil, sliced them into strips and then toasted them in the oven until crispy.
brushed lightly with corn oil
sliced into strips
baked in a 350° oven until crispy
II. THE SOUP
• 1 medium onion, chopped and fried lightly in 1 tbsp. corn oil in a deep pan
• 2 garlic cloves mashed
• 4 or 5 ripe Roma or Plum tomatoes, blanched, skinned and ground (OR a tin of stewed tomatoes)
• 6 cups chicken broth (OR add 3 tbsp. of Chicken-in-a-Mug to 6 cups water)
• 2 sprigs of epazote (I couldn’t find epazote anywhere so I left it out).
• salt to taste
plum tomatoes
blanch tomatoes
soup base
III. THE GARNISHES
In México, sometimes these are mixed into the soup and other times they are served on the side. The soup wouldn’t be tortilla soup without the tortilla strips, avocado, pasilla chiles and queso fresco; all other garnishes are optional.
• toasted tortilla strips from Step I above
• 1-2 avocados, the flesh cut into squares
cut the avocado into squares while still in its skin, then scoop out with a spoon
• 1 or 2 dried pasilla chiles – broken into pieces and soaked
pasilla chiles are a ‘secret’ ingredient for tortilla soup
soak the chiles and serve on the side
• Queso Fresco, cut into cubes (OR Monterey Jack cheese, which is melty and results in a ‘California-style’ tortilla soup)
