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Orange & Mezcal Ice Pops...
Monday, 20 July 2015
I don't know about you, but I have A LOT of cookbooks and food related books. I seem to be completely unable to resist them. Naturally, I have a soft spot for Mexican inspired ones. Sadly, good, authentic Mexican cooking books in English are hard to find. A lot of Tex-Mex inspired ones, but very little to excite me. So when I came across this little book called Paletas by Fany Gerson, about three or four years ago, I got very excited. At the time, I was a bit obssesed with ice-cream making, so naturaly, ice-pops came into my radar too. Mexicans eat a lot of icy treats, which is understandable when temperatures soar to 45 Celsius during the summer months. We like cold things, in fact, we love them!
So when my lovely postman arrived with Paletas, I was a very happy Mexican. Ever since, I've used this book many, many times. It's full of delicious summer treats, which are perfect to use some of the fruit and berries I grow in my back garden. The book has recipes for paletas (ice-pops), raspados ( shaved ice) and aguas frescas (fruit juice and iced tea drinks). The recipes are easy to follow and quite simply delicious. It is the perfect summer read.
In my many experimentations throughout the years, I've had pretty bad luck with ice-pop molds, I always end up with broken ice-pops or lose sticks! Last week, I treated myself to a set of Zoku Fish Pop Molds and it so happens that a friend gifted me some more traditional molds too, so it was the perfect time to try the book's recipe for Paletas de Donaji, which is an orange and mezcal ice-pop inspired by a cocktail from Oaxaca made with orange juice and mezcal. I only tweaked the recipe a tiny bit, as I wanted to try and use chilli and lime powder rather than salt and chilli powder as it is suggested in the book.
To make sure I didn't end up with broken pops, I froze them overnight; sadly, my Zoku fish pop molds only partially delivered. Two pops broke while taking them out, yet the ones that did come out clean looked quite cute. Funny enough, I had better luck with the traditional molds, which yielded pretty looking pops. Flavourwise, the results were pretty spectacular, this tangy, vibrant orange pop has a lovely kick from the mezcal and the addition of chili and lime powder worked a treat! Totally recommend them. The book is so worth having and you'll get tons out of it. Great buy.
Tres Leches Cake
Monday, 15 June 2015
When I think about Traditional Mexican desserts, I normally think of toffee/milk based sweets or fruit pastes. I personally think that, traditionally, Mexicans are more of a savoury kind of people. A lot of our sweets are either sickly sugary or spicy. We don't tend to make cakes for dessert; cakes are more for birthday parties, christenings, weddings, more 'big' occasions rather than everyday.
We have a wonderful tradition of sweet bread making, with tons of eggs, butter and yeast. The whole Merienda meal (similar to the afternoon tea tradition but without the formality) is set around sweet breads and coffee or hot chocolate.
In my hometown of Monterrey, when average temperatures during non-winter months can reach as high as 45 Celsius, we favour cake-based celebratory desserts that are cold. King among them all, is the Tres Leches Cake (Three Milks Cake) which origins are as murky as a politician's pocket (as my dad would say). Some place it in the 19th Century in Central Mexico as a fusion dish between a trifle and a local cake. Others send it to Nicaragua where similar fusion food happened. I tend to think that Nestle had a lot to do with this recipe, but in truth, nobody really knows. The cake, however, has become the poster boy for Latin-American cuisine in the USA, where you can find it nearly everywhere.
There are literally thousands of recipes available on line, this one here, is my mother's, with my own little twists. I'm super fond of 'spiking' food, so my Tres Leches syrup is spiked with Mezcal for that 'grown up' feel. This cake is best made the day before you're going to eat it, to give it a chance to soak up all the flavours and become cold and moist. To add a bit of a tropical feel to it, I've added Mango (one of my favourite fruits) and toasted some coconut too for an extra bit of love. I really, really liked it, so hope you like it too!
Pork in Guajillo Adobo..
Sunday, 7 June 2015
I often think what would my life be without pork?... it's a question that distresses me a little. I'm a pork lover... and technically, pork isn't a Mexican thing. Mexicans had no pork until the Spaniards brought them into the country in the 16th century. It's so hard to believe, isn't it?! But then, can you fathom Italian cuisine without tomatoes? No? same here, but tomatoes did not arrive into Europe until they were shipped back from Mexico in one of the many boats full of culinary treasures back to Spain. Turkey, Tomatoes, Chilies, Vanilla, Chocolate, Squashes, Avocados... all native of Mexico and not known to the world until the Spanish conquistadores brought them into Europe. I know, I know, I'm such a sad food geek!
We spent Easter (which feels like a million years ago) with our friends Margaret and Alfie from Old Farm. We source our pork and fabulous pork lard from their farm in county Tipperary and you can read about their life and happenings at Margaret's stunning blog, A Year in Redwood. Margaret and Alfie (who's a little grumpy and loves to stirr it, but has a heart as big as a polar bear) have become very dear friends of ours. Their passion for good, clean and honest food is second to none and their produce has become the inspiration for many of my recipes, like my sausage pasta, or my cochinita Pibil. We stock up on their meat on the way back home and I was delighted to find a couple of pork neck pieces in my bounty. The meat is very tender and lean, plus they are a good size for a meal for four people (I love leftovers).
When I got home I made this fruity Mexican adobo, which was perfect for marinading one of those neck pieces. I am so pleased with the results, I hope you like them too! The adobo keeps well in the freezer (if you have any leftovers) and I envision it gracing the flesh of a meaty fish very soon.
Is it a Year Already?!
Sunday, 7 June 2015
When I look at the last four years of my life, I feel amazed at all the stuff I have managed to cram into 1,460 days: a full time job, a blog I'm super proud of, plenty of cooking demonstrations and classes, family visits, an online business, a market stall, a bricks and mortar shop, a couple of TV segments and very slowly but surely the writing of my first cookery book... how did I manage all that? I'm not entirely sure. We live a day at a time and we try our best to live it well.... some days give us a great sense of accomplishment, others we're just happy to get through... it's all about moving, advancing, keeping momentum and learning in the process.
As I reflect today on the year just gone, I cannot believe that Picado Mexican is going to be a year old next week! This time last year we were preocuppied with shop fit outs and today it's been all about the phasing out of My Mexican Shop and the cementing of Picado. We are so excited to have finaly merged our online home of 4 years (www.mymexicanshop.ie) together with our bricks and mortar shop, Picado Mexican!
These four years of hard work have helped us define who we are and where we want to go... they have given us confidence, and defined our identity. That identity has now been imprinted in our online presence too. Hop in and take a look. I hope you all like it as much as we do.
www.picadomexican.com
We couldn't have done any of this without the help and encouragment of our friends at Ovo, our digital design agency. We have worked with these guys for a number of years now and their professionalism and commitment has been key to the success of Picado Mexican. They are an absolute joy to work with and we feel proud to count them amongst friends now. Jonathan, Stephanie, Phillip and everybody at Ovo, thank you guys, we LOVE the new site!
To you, my readers and to all our customers, thank you. We couldn't do any of this without you.
Piloncillo & Mezcal Syrup...
Monday, 4 May 2015
If you ever stop by the shop and I'm there, you'll probably hear me talking about Piloncillo. It's one of my favourite Mexican ingredients and since it's so unknown in Ireland, I'm always going on about it. A lot of people look at it in its package and ask what that is and if they give me 5 minutes of their attention and are not afraid to taste a bit, they go home with a pack of it totally converted.
I spent a lot of time in a small town in the Northeastern state of Tamaulipas, which is famous for its sugarcane industry; the town had one of the biggest sugar refineries in Mexico and practically everybody in the surrounding villages was a sugarcane farmer. I grew up with the rythms and seasons of sugarcane: the planting, the burning, the harvesting, the sugar making and with that, a side industry of sugarcane juice and its many wonders.
Piloncillo is basically a type of raw sugar. It is made of pure sugarcane juice that has been gently heated until thickened and poured into conic moulds to cool down, which gives it its iconic shape. It is one of the most popular and widely used sugars in Mexico. It is ridiculously delicious, very complexed in flavour and hence, a little goes a long, long way. It's like molases only without the love-it-or-hate-it bit!
Its texture can trick you a little, it's quite hard in the exterior, but once you break through it and put a piece of it in your mouth, it melts like butter! And then, this amazing bitter sweetness hits your tastebuds, full of layers of intriguingly rich sweetness: nuts, caramel, molases... it's like a party in your mouth!
We love it shaved into coffee and it is sensational in this chipotle, peanut and tequila salsa. Most of the traditional Mexican sweets are made with Piloncillo and in many parts of Mexico, it is also used to soak very spicy dry chilies in it to soften the chili and minimise the heat factor a little.
Around Christmas and New Year time, a 'honey' or syrup is made with it to drizzle over buñuelos and other desserts. I also use this honey to drizzle over ice-cream and poached fruit. To make it a bit more interesting, I decided to spike it a little, so I added a shot of Mezcal to it. As it cools down, it thickens quite a bit and it acquires a honey-like consistency.
This syrup is amazing with vanilla ice-cream and if you stay tuned, I'll be posting a Piloncillo and Pecan home-made ice-cream recipe (I left you with only a picture here) that will seriously blow your mind and convert you altogether to the joys of this wonderful and humble Mexican ingredient.
