This afternoon I made a couple of recipes from Mexican cookbooks that we have. The idea was to cook some ground pork and make tacos using authentic corn tortillas sold at a Mexican grocery store in Waterloo. These tortillas are just not quite like what you get in most regular grocery stores...they are made with fresh ground masa harina (corn flour). The corn kernels for this special ancient tortilla are dried, boiled, and soaked overnight in a mineral lime solution to remove the outer shell. This soaking also imparts a distinctive flavor to the corn. The inner kernel is then ground on the metate stone to create a flour which is used for the dough. There is just no flavor like it...
You will want to make the salad dressing (recipe below) a day before you serve it to meld the flavors.
To go with these tacos, I made a Tomatillo Cilantro Sauce from a recipe out of Mexican Family Cooking by Aida Gabiolondo (ISBN: 0-449-90162-9) I made just half the recipe since there are just two of us to eat it.
Tomatillo Cilantro Sauce
1/2 lb. fresh tomatillos (those husk-wrapped green tomato-like fruits in the grocery store)
1/2 c. cold water
2 garlic cloves
1/2 of a jalapeno chile, seeds and all, with the stem cut off
1/4 of a medium-sized white onion
1 c. cilantro leaves, washed
2 T. salad oil (I used peanut oil)
1 t. salt
1/2 t. sugar
Remove the outer paperlike skins from the tomatillos and cook them in 2 cups of water for 20 minutes. Drain them and place them in your blender container with 1/2 c. cold water, the garlic, jalapeno, onion, and cilantro leaves. Puree the mixture until it is almost liquid.
Heat the salad oil in a deep saucepan and pour the sauce from the blender container directly into the hot oil. (If you want a thicker sauce, you can make a roux of 1 tablespoon of oil and and 1/2 tablespoon of flour and cook this mixture until it is thickened, and slightly browned.) Once you have added the tomatillo mixture, season the sauce with the salt and sugar. Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. If it is too sour to suit you, add a little smidgen more sugar.
This sauce is great on tacos and can also be used to flavor any stew with pork, chicken, or beef. It is a pretty bright green color.
Since our spinach is very productive right now, I made a salad with the spinach and some sliced jicama. Here's the recipe, also from the same cookbook:
Spinach Salad with Jicama
(I used half of the recipe, again because there are just two of us, and this salad is big!)
15 oz. of fresh spinach (a medium-sized bowl-full)
1/4 lb. (or more) fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/2 c. (or more) thin slices of jicama
Mexican-style Italian Dressing (recipe follows - also from this cookbook) to taste
1 T. sesame seeds
(The recipe calls for 'Maggi' which is something I am not familiar with...I'll have to ask at the Mexican grocery store, and try it some time!)
Wash spinach, discarding stems. Spin in a salad spinner, and pat dry with paper towels. Tear into chilled salad bowl. Add sliced mushrooms.
Peel jicama and cut in half from top to bottom, then cut into quarters (I just used two of the quarters). Slice as thin as possible and wash in ice water. Dry with paper towels. Layer on top of the mushrooms.
Pour about 1/4 c. of the dressing over the salad and mix it thoroughly, lifting the leaves from bottom to top. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve with extra dressing in a sauceboat.
Mexican-Style Italian Dressing
1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. vegetable oil (I used peanut oil)
3 T. wine vinegar
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. mashed garlic
1/2 t. dried or fresh rosemary
1/8 c. ice water
Combine ingredients in a jar; cover and shake. Allow to ripen in the refrigerator for 4 to 6 hours or overnight, thus allowing the rosemary to flavor the dressing. If you wish, you can strain it over the salad, but I like to leave the pieces of garlic and rosemary right in the dressing.
Enjoy with a glass of good, cold beer. I also served some chopped avocado, and you could add cheese or other toppings for your taco, if desired. The tomatillo sauce is excellent with these tacos, but some might like to offer regular tomato salsa as well.
Ole!
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