People wondered why I would spend almost three days cooking this huge regional Mexican menu for Mark Miller who is not really a close friend (I had not seen him in years) but whom I like and admire very much. For one, he gave my son Chef Aaron Sanchez an opportunity to learn from a master chef when he was very young but most importantly, for years Mark had my book, Food from my Heart, face out, on his bookcase and it was the background for many an interview and television appearance. He brought a panoply of unique aromatic white wines that sparkled with the food. Everyone else brought sensational red wines for the main dishes, champagne for dessert, and a lovely armagnac for the sobremesa. I was so happy that everyone stayed until 11PM!
There were others, mostly dear friends, whom to I wanted to introduce or reintroduce my home cooking, such as superwoman, Ruth Reichl. (Read her piece on the dinner here. One of her last jobs was at Gourmet Magazine and also here was Zanne Stewart, who edited the updated Gourmet cookbook. Chef John Mooney, Aaron’s good friend, who is like a son to me, helped put the very ambitious menu of my favorite dishes, on the table.
As promised, here is the menu and most of the recipes:
Bocaditos de papa con Salsa verde con aguacate (Potato Fritters served with Tomatillo-Avocado Sauce)
This is the dish that got the most raves!
Seafood Frittata with Veracruzana Sauce
The huitlacoche casserole was also a crowd pleasure. I am including the recipe but I must warn you that it is very labor intensive and , even now, huitlacoche is so hard to find.
I also served chicken in almond sauce
I shredded the pork and crisply-fried it instead of serving it as shown above in my recently posted pork with pumpkin sauce
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Two refreshing salads rounded out the meal.
And for dessert, Frozen Lemon Torte. Every time I make it, I swear that I will never do it again but everyone loves it and it is a deceptively light finish to a big meal.
