Mexico | hungry sofia

Aug 9

Ice Cold

Anyone who has ever chased an ice cream truck, begged for an Italian ice on the way home, or broken their new Snoopy snow cone machine on Christmas morning (still bothers me), will understand how excited I was when my friend sent me this article by pastry cook Gaby Camacho, A Chef Perfects the Paleta of Childhood, from the San Francisco Chronicle. Raised in Tijuana, she sets off in search of the paletas and raspados of her childhood. Remembering flavors like cucumber and lime, rose petals, and tequila, I could understand why she would be nostalgic. As an adult, I’ve stayed away from raspberry blue popsicles and radioactive snow cones, but I love the idea of making them with fresh ingredients from home. Trying the raspado de tamarindo first, I used all natural tamaring pulp from a nearby bodega to make the syrup. I’ll try it again when I find fresh tamarinds and some of the other combinations she suggests as longs as the heat lasts. It can’t be harder than chasing ice cream trucks.

Aug 3

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Chayote Monday

While I always feel a little sad to see the weekend slip away, I like the hard reset of Mondays. With new resolutions in place and wanting to have more vegetables, I tried chayotes for the first time. A cross between a squash, cucumber and melon that are available year round, I’d see them in the grocery store but never thought to try them. Consulting Diana Kennedy’s The Art of Mexican Cooking, I julienned and sauteed them with Serrano peppers in safflower oil and cooked them covered till they were al dente, then added a little cilantro and sea alt to taste. An easy preparation for a fresh start.

Jul 22

New Arrival

A few weeks ago, I went on a search for fresh masa through the Mexican owned grocery stores in Sunset Park. I was surprised that despite the growing Mexican population in New York, it wasn’t sold anywhere. Settling instead for masa de harina, the dried corn flour that can be reconstituted to make fresh tortillas at home, I actually thought of taking a closer look at corn grinders instead. If I couldn’t find fresh masa, how hard could it be to have my own corn nixtamalization set up at home? Was it a slippery slope? If I ground my own corn would end up churning my own butter? When I read this article in today’s New York Times about Tortillería Nixtamal which now offers fresh masa, I knew I had been rescued from a bad and expensive idea (for now).

Jun 30

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Zucchini-Blossom Quesadillas

If I seem preoccupied with eating flowers lately, it’s because the farmer’s markets are only just getting into their too beautiful weeks now. This Sunday I found the zucchini blossoms I’d been waiting for since April to try this recipe for Zucchini-Blossom Quesadillas again.

I’d made them for the first time last year with store bought tortillas. I loved the filling but wanted to make them with the uncooked dough called for in the recipe. I made this batch with masa harina, fresh masa that has been dried so that you only add water to form the tortillas. I used this tutorial by Chef Iliana de la Vega who explains Read more

Jun 23

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One Mean Pepper

I try to post regularly, but yesterday I had a solid excuse since I temporarily lost the use of my fingertips. I’d been visiting Mexican grocery stores for Brokelyn so I had stocked up on a variety of peppers. Last night, I decided to make a simple, fresh salsa – just chopped tomatoes, cilantro, red onion, lime, salt to taste, and the most evil little jalapeño you could ever hope to know. I thought I was being careful though I didn’t wear gloves which I’d been warned about by the shopkeeper. I disposed of the seeds and veins where the heat hides, avoided rubbing my eyes, and washed my hands frequently. Then as I was cleaning up, the pain started. There was no outward Read more

Jun 6

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Making a Watermelon Blossom

My friend Alexis who teaches beverage courses at the French Culinary Institute and writes A Thirsty Spirit can turn anything into a delicious cocktail. Click here to read what she did to the agua fresca recipe from the New York Times I’d written about in So Hot.

May 25

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So Hot

Now that the heat is not just outside but very much inside my apartment, I’ve started thinking about ways to cool off this summer. When I came across this New York Times recipe for agua fresca, I knew that I was going to be doing a lot of pureeing in the next few months. I made the cantaloupe agua fresca for the park today, following the directions closely, and loved the results. There are other versions where you don’t strain after blending or add more fruit at the end which I’ll definitely try next time. Mostly, I love having an excuse to buy any farmer’s market fruit too pretty to leave behind (not unlike the fat little bird sugar dispenser I found this weekend). Maybe the heat is getting to me after all?

May 23

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The Way They Do Their Corn

I don’t think they could have possibly been as happy to see me, as I was to see them. The women running the grilled corn stand at the Brooklyn Flea never, ever want for customers, but I really, really want their corn. This winter the market moved indoors to DUMBO but there was no place for the Red Hook Vendors among the jaded hipsters walking their architectural dogs. That made the open air return of the Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School location in Fort Greene that much sweeter. I’d heard about the fresh grilled corn slathered in Mexican crema and cotija cheese and topped with chile when some friends, who insisted it was Cuban, kept asking me where they could find it. It’s actually a Mexican preparation that I finally tried last year. I’ve been daydreaming about it since April, knowing that soon I’d be back on steps of the high school enjoying the first corn of the summer. I noticed today that this is also the best place to watch the vendors at work. Perfectly preparing each one with just the right amount of cheese and chili powder, calmly facing the long lines that never end.

May 8

Mariachi Stew

Photo by by buckaroo kid

Mariachis at a special family party are what Santa Claus is to kids on Christmas Eve, no less thrilling for being completely expected. When the appetizers have been passed, food served, and toasts made they seemingly fall from the sky. In a moment, everyone is joining in a loud, emotional chorus of Cielito Lindo or El Rey. Then just as quickly they move on to the next quince or wedding anniversary as the evening winds down. The highpoint of any gathering yet they never stay long, and never eat. So naturally I was fascinated by this Jonathan Kendall article from Saveur:

While their usual schedule is from dusk to midnight, they’re often called out of bed on short notice to sing amends beneath the balconies of peeved wives and girlfriends at dawn.

Like most mariachis, Barrón and Trujillo neither eat nor drink during work hours—but they agree that their favorite food is birria. No two versions of birria are alike—even the basic form may vary, from shredded meat to be eaten with a soupy sauce to a thick soupy stew with meat and sauce combined—and if a chef gains a reputation for his birria, his recipe will remain a closely guarded secret.

It makes sense that they would keep superhero hours, but it was the description of the off duty mariachis that I found riveting.

May 5

Is Cinco de Mayo the Mexican Chanukah?

I must admit that when my uncle told me that Cinco de Mayo was just an excuse for Corona to sell more beer, I thought he was kidding until I found this editorial in the New York Times. Apparently it’s a minor regional holiday hardly observed in Mexico outside of Puebla, which celebrates the defeat of the French army there in 1862. Still, it does offer an all too brief day of recognition for Mexicans remaking their lives north of the border. Besides, as the article points out, what holiday isn’t tainted by commerce? I’m sure even ancient pagans would have harsh words about what Nestle’s done to the Easter Bunny. Read more