Soup-Stew with Vegetables and Herbs (Tesmole verde)
The state of Veracruz has a rich variety of soup-stews with vegetables and herbs with similar names such as tesmole, chilpachole, chileatole. What they have in common is that they are all thickened with ground fresh corn or corn masa or dumplings. Would you believe...
Beets Vinaigrette (Betabeles en vinaigreta)
Beets Vinaigrette (Betabeles en vinaigreta) This is one of the most flavorful and beautiful salads imaginable if you follow a few guidelines. First of all, it is important to oven-roast the beets for maximum sweetness. The will never be the same if boiled. The next...
Grilled Octopus (Pulpo a las brasas)
Grilled Octopus (Pulpo a las brasas) This was the octopus I made last night. It looked great but was not perfect.I must admit that my experiment of broiling the octopus instead of grilling as specified in the recipe was not a total success. The octopus was tender and...
Wilted Spinach (Espinacas)
Wilted Spinach (Espinacas) This dish always brings back memories of the wild greens that we gathered to cook on the ranch. We called them quelites, a name applied in Mexico to various sorts of leafy green plants. Our quelites always grew around water holes and were 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.