Dinner in the Yellow House

Cinco de Mayo

2010-05-04T23:49:56-07:00

A Cinco De Mayo Celebration

Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican celebration. On May 5, 1862 the Mexican army defeated the French army which was twice its size in the Battle of Puebla. It is a day when Mexicans remember with pride those who bravely fought for freedom and liberty. Napoleon had sent Maximilian of Hapsburg to rule in Mexico for France. In later days the Mexican army with the help of the Americans were able to expel the French. The Americans had been happy to help because by defeating Napoleon in the Battle of Puebla, the Mexican army had hindered the French in helping the confederate rebels in the United States. The American army flourished and ended the Civil War.

For those who are interested in more information you can check out some of these links:

1. Wikipedia

2. MEXonline is an online guide to Mexico and has a brief

description on the history of the Cinco de Mayo .

3. A short description of the Cinco de Mayo is offered

by an organization called LULAC in San Marcos TX.

We feel eating a lot of good Mexican food at this time is a way of honouring the day. Last year friends of mine, the Bryant's, suggested we have a Cinco De Mayo dinner at their house. For me it was a treat because I love to cook, especially for people who love to eat tasty and interesting food, and my friends have a great cooking kitchen.

Menu

We came up with the following menu:

Tortilla chips with dips Red Salsa

White Sour Cream

Main Dishes

Green bean salad

Jicama with tomatoes/oranges

Salsa, papaya and pineapple

Tortillas

Fresh Corn tortillas

Dessert

Fruit in Carved Watermelon

Churros

Guacamole

2010-05-04T23:48:36-07:00

Green of the Flag Guacamole

My mother used to say that the table should have all the colours of the Mexican Flag so we used red, white and green dips and colourful tortilla chips .

My mom used to make a simple guacamole which has always been my favourite. She said you must dice your tomatoes and add a bit of very fine raw onion. These two should spend a couple of hours getting married (not marinated, but married) before you add other ingredients. Later you add a bit of hot chili for heat and plenty of fresh cilantro. To add to the volume I usually add some store bought salsa as well.

Just before serving she would mash the avocado and add a bit of lemon or lime juice.

Tortilla chips: a variety of colours

Present in the same order as the colours of the flag.

Red Medium Salsa (We just used a bought salsa)

White Sour Cream

Green Guacamole

Back to Menu

Spanish Rice

2010-05-04T23:46:22-07:00

We made a large recipe of Spanish Rice for eight people.

1 cup onion

2 cloves garlic

2 cup long grain rice

5 cups of liquid (canned crushed tomatoes, and chicken stock)

salt and pepper to taste

handful of green peas

Sauté a cup of finely cut onions of a few minutes. Remove them from the pan and add rice to pan. Cook the rice in the hot oil until it begins to brown. Be careful not to burn. Cook in a rice cooker or pot on the stove or in an oven dish in the oven. For each cup of rice I use two and a half cups of liquid. The liquid is made up of chicken stock, crushed tomatoes and water. My mother always threw in a handful of green peas for colour.

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Pork Mole

2010-05-04T23:44:51-07:00

one small pork roast

2 T cooking oil

1 onion (cut finely)

3 cloves garlic (crushed

1 chocolate disk (Ibarra Chocolate, see picture)

1/2 jar of mole (see picture)

2 c broth (chicken or beef)

1 c canned crushed tomatoes (28 oz)

salt and pepper to taste

corn starch or flour for thickening if necessary

Cut the roast into inch cubes. Cook in deep pot in a small bit of oil until well browned. Add finely cut onion and garlic. Add broth and crushed tomatoes and simmer. After 30 minutes add chocolate and mole paste using the following procedure. Dissolve the chocolate and mole in a saucepan in a small amount of hot broth before adding to the meat. With a fork work the mole and chocolate into a thick paste. Slowly add broth from the meat mixture until all the lumps dissolve and then add it to the meat mixture. Simmer another 30 minutes or so. If the broth is thin add thickener.

Sprinkle sesame seeds on top and serve

Mole Jar Ibarra Chocolate Mole

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Chiles Rellenos Poblanos

2010-05-04T23:42:18-07:00

It seemed logical to make Chiles Poblanos to celebrate the Battle of Puebla. My mother was born in Puebla so we make chiles poblanons in her honour on El Dia de los Muertos as well. For the recipe for the Chiles Poblanos see the entry dated March 21, 2008, Dia de los Muertos.

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Tamales de Pollo

2010-05-04T23:40:59-07:00

No Mexican celebration is complete without tamales. If you have never made them before spend some time reading through this and looking at the suggested sites. Each part of the process takes time.

You will need filling, dough and corn husks. And you will need to know how to fill the husks and the steam them.

Play some lively Mexican music while you make your tamales.

I used chicken mole only because we were already eating pork mole with the meal but any mole filling could be used. You can use other fillings in tamales including sweet fillings.

I make a good amount of chicken mole and use about 2 cups of it for the tamales. The rest I save to eat with tortillas or rice.

Filling: Chicken Mole (pronounced molay)

one chicken

enough water to cover meat

1 onion

1 carrot

2 stalks of celery and

1 bay leaf

2 cloves of garlic

Simmer for about an hour. This will make a nice stock.

Use some of the stock when making the mole and the rest in the tamale dough.

After the chicken is cooked and cooled shred it.

Mole Saucee

1/3 jar of mole paste

1 disk of chocolate

3 cups of broth

1 can crushed tomatoes

Dissolve about a third to a half of a jar of Mole paste in hot broth. It is best to do it in small amount in a small sauce pan. Use a fork to work out all lumps. I find the taste of the paste a bit strong and temper it by adding a disk of chocolate. Work out all lumps. Add a can of crushed tomatoes. Use cornstarch or flour to thicken. Add the shredded chicken.

Dough

2 cups masa

2 C luke warm broth

1 t baking powder

2/3 cup lard

½ t salt

water

hojas de elote (corn husks)

I used the recipe on the flour bag. Previously I had used regular masa flour that you also use for tortillas but this time I found a masa flour that said it was specifically for tamales. These were my best tamales so maybe it is really special.

These were the instructions on the bag:

Combine Maseca (masa flour), baking powder and salt in a bowl, work broth or water with your fingers to make a soft moist dough. In a small bowl, beat lard or shortening until fluffy, add masa and beat until dough has a spongy texture.

Now dough is ready to put into the husks.

Filling the Husks

Wash husks in hot water and rinse well. Don't use soap. They should be very pliable after a good bath.

Spread about 3 to 4 tablespoons of masa on a husk. In the center add a heaping tablespoon or two of filling and then carefully bring up the sides to fold over the filling. Fold the empty part of the husk and tuck it under to keep it from opening.

To see the traditional wa y of filling the husk look at this video.

Steaming the Tamales

I steam the tamales an hour to an hour and a half. Stack the tamales in a standing position in the steamer. Cover them with extra husks to create a tent over them and put the lid on the pot.

There are plenty of videos on line that show how to stack and steam . This one gives you a good idea of what they can look like.

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Salads and Salsa

2010-05-04T23:37:05-07:00

We made two cold fresh and crisp salads and a salsa with pineapple and papaya to aid the digestion of this rich meal.

They complement the heavier spicy dishes.

Green bean salad

Cut and steam green beans and add to the rest of the ingredients. Let them marinate for several hours or overnight.

1 lb green beans fresh

1/3 c olive oil

1 small can pinentos

2 T vinegar

2 T lemon juice

onion

parsley

sugar

salt

black pepper

Jicama, Cucumber and Orange Salad

Following are the ingredients we used and there is a very similar jicama recipe at this site.

2 c jicama (peeled and cubed)

1 cucumber (peeled and seeded sliced)

1 orange (peeled and cubed)

4 T lemon juice

1/2 t chili powder

1/4 t salt

Papaya and Pineapple Salsa

This festive papaya and pineapple salsa is a lovely palate surprise. It can be served as an appetizer and with the meal.

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Fruit Salad in Carved Watermelon

2010-05-04T23:35:51-07:00

I carved a couple of watermelons for my children when they were little. My favourite was a dragon wrapped around a watermelon for Chinese New Year's. I thought this would be a good opportunity to try something new. I have always liked the paintings of lilies by Diego Riverra. I decided to put some lilies on a very nicely shaped and very dark green watermelon.

I drew some lilies on tissue paper and with a pin outlined them on the watermelon. I made sure to leave a green line wherever there was a pencil drawing line.

With the tools from a wood carving set I gouged out the green part of the shell. The yellow center was highlighted with a yellow felt pen.

Once all the lilies were done I cut the top off be able to ball the watermelon and hollow it out.

We added mango, papaya and pineapple. The pineapple and papaya helped in digesting his heavy meal.

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Unappetized !

2010-03-31T11:24:11-07:00

I Don't Want to be Appetized !

Last Easter was a day of celebration at the Yellow House. Rebeca and her daughter were both baptized Easter morning at church. Our church baptizes by immersion so it is quite a dramatic event. The little guy did not like the "dunking" part. He didn't like his mommy being all wet. I explained it a bit for him and told him he could be baptized also when he was older. He shook his head and said,

"I don't ever want to be appetized."

"Appetized!" I think a lot of food vocabulary is spoken in this house.

After the "appetizing" the men of the church served a pancake breakfast. I won't include the recipes for those here as I believe they came from a mix. The fruit compote and several syrups made them quite tasty.

After church, we came home and witnessed the Easter Egg hunt.

When the last egg had been found we sat down to fruit salad and Easter buns. I used the left over dough from the Easter Paska to make buns the shape of doves. The Paska turned out well but the doves looked more like fat walruses with huge fins. Deetman tried to make his fly before he ate it.

Later in the afternoon Rebeca made Nigella's Blini on which we spread creme fraise and caviar or smoked salmon. We drank champagne with this delicacy. During Lent Rebeca had not had liquor or chocolate so she wanted to treat her palate . Tobias got her a good champagne. He uncorked it at the front door and the cork popped all the way to the street pavement. It must have been good. Rara joined the adults in this feast.

The little unappetized boy was supposed to be having his nap when we had the champagne and caviar. At one point he came slinking down the hall and we watched him poke his head around the corner. His father said if he didn't get back to bed he was going to have to eat some caviar. The caviar threat was enough to make him scoot back under the covers.

The last meal of the day was our Ukranian Easter meal. We had made a very similar meal some years back and it was time to try again. This year the cooking was my job. I spent some time hunting down ideas and was rewarded with a couple of great recipes.

This was the menu:

Perogies

Mushroom sauce

Holubtsi (cabbage rolls )

Ham

Peas

Red cabbage

Easter Paska

Dove bread

Chocolate Cake

The next couple of entries include some of the above recipes.

Perogies (Varenyki)

2010-03-31T11:23:25-07:00

The Recipes:

Perogies

Here is an excellent source for making Varenyky ( Perogies, Pyrohy, Pedehey, or as they refer to them on this site, heaven on a plate....) You will find a secret recipe there . I can not tell you what the secret is because having read it and used it I feel obliged to keep the secret. However, you can go and see the secret yourself at this site. The recipe is there and so are good instructions on how to make this heaven on a plate. The result was delicious.

Mushroom Sauce

To these perogies, I added a delicious mushroom sauce .