Stuffed Baby Eggplant
For maybe two or three years, I’d often think of some delicious baby eggplants stuffed with a mixture of pomegranate, lots of garlic, walnuts, and cilantro, then marinated in olive oil that one of my favorite aunts, tia Panchita used to make when I was a...
The “Seven” Moles of Oaxaca
I like to describe mole (pronounced mohleh not mohlay) as a main dish sauce because the sauce is the dish. In pre-Hispanic times moles were served with great ceremony. According to various accounts, the mole was presented in a bowl with no handles on one hand, while...
Moles: What exactly is a mole?
Photo Marissa Sanchez-Bastien Photo by Laurie Smith www.lauriesmithphoto.com Text from The Food and Life of Oaxaca The true stars of Mexican sauce cookery are main dish sauces like moles and pepianes and here it’s important to understand the philosophy of the...
Pork with Pumpkin Sauce (Puerco con calabaza)
This recipe is a marvel of layered flavors. The combination of cumin and coriander seed is unexpectedly vibrant. The pork is cooked in the pumpkin water. I have changed the method for cooking pork. I now cut it in big chunks, about 2 inches, and place in a...
The many lives of Zarela Martínez
Culinary legend Zarela Martínez introduced finely tuned, highly researched regional Mexican cuisine to a national stage, and has continued to blaze trails for more than three decades.