Lourdes Castro - Simply Mexican

Copyright 2009 by Lourdes Castro
Photography copyright 2009 by Lucy Schaeffer

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except brief excerpts for the purpose of review, without written permission of the publisher.

Ten Speed Press
PO Box 7123
Berkeley, California 94707
www.tenspeed.com

Distributed in Australia by Simon and Schuster Australia, in Canada by Ten Speed Press Canada, in New Zealand by Southern Publishers Group, in South Africa by Real Books, and in the United Kingdom and Europe by Publishers Group UK.

Cover design by Nancy Austin
Prop styling by Penelope Bouklas for Halley Resources

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Castro, Lourdes.
Simply Mexican / Lourdes Castro ; photography by Lucy Schaeffer.
p. cm.
Includes index.
Summary: A solid, accessible introduction to Mexican cooking featuring 60 easy and authentic recipes for quick-to-the-table meals; each recipe includes Cooking Notes that highlight equipment, ingredients, techniques, and instructions for advance preparationProvided by publisher.
eISBN: 978-1-60774-125-1
1. Cookery, Mexican. 2. Quick and easy cookery. I. Title.
TX716.M4C3978 2009
641.5972dc22
2008042072

v3.1

To my parents, Alina, Fausto, Georgina, and Alfredo, who always support me, even when they dont understand me.

When people ask me what I do for a living, my response is I teach people how to cook. Reactions vary but most people are intrigued because even if cooking isnt their thing, it is for someone close to them, say, a spouse or a parent. I hear comments like Oh, I love to cook, I can watch cooking shows all day long, and then there is always the I wish I could learn. Do you think you can teach me? My answer is always the same Of course I can. Its simple.

Although they may not say it, I know theyre thinking Yeah, right. Cooking is anything but easy. My own sister cant walk into a market without feeling a rise in her pulse ratenot because shes so excited, but because she starts to panic. Overwhelmed and intimidated, she never knows where to begin. But I maintain that cooking is simple. Its not always quick and it may require some understanding, but at its core it is simple.

I like to joke that I developed an interest in cooking because my mother was such a terrible cook. But my career began when I chose to pursue a degree in nutrition at NYU through a department that was then called Nutrition and Restaurant Management. My mother wanted to know what in the world I was going to do with that degree. That was in the early 90s and the food culture back then was not the dynamic, addictive, and thriving industry we know today. It didnt matter; I was hooked. I became a student of food. Eventually the student became the teacher, and I built a career around culinary education, teaching at universities and culinary schools. I even established my own recreational cooking school, which I eventually sold.

Throughout my years teaching, I noticed that there are certain cuisines and techniques that students always request. Next to knife skills (which is definitely the most popular), Mexican foodor rather, authentic Mexican foodis what I get asked for the most. Reasons vary. Some students have taken recent trips to Mexico that introduced them to the genuine flavors of the cuisine and sparked their interest in learning about it (I have taken many such trips). Others are second- or third-generation Mexican-Americans who want to recreate the authentic dishes of their heritage.

Simple is not a word most would use to describe Mexican food. Ive heard cheesy, heavy, and even saucy. But never simple. When I started writing this book, I would ask friends and family what came to mind when they thought about Mexican food. Their responses always included baskets of chips and salsa and plates overflowing with rice, refried beans, and sour cream. Definitely not simple. And definitely not Mexican.

Unlike its Tex-Mex cousin, Mexican food is simply built around a few fresh ingredientsprimarily tomatoes, chiles, cilantro, and cornand a small number of basic cooking techniquesmostly roasting, grilling, and stewing. The flavors are clean and vibrant, not masked and muddled.

What is not so simple is Mexicos rich culinary history that dates back hundreds of years. Traditions and flavors are deeply rooted, and there are many recipes that require multiple ingredients, several of which are often handled individually. I will not be addressing those recipes in this book. Instead Ive focused on the popular yet practical recipes that can be prepared as a simple weekday dinner for two or for a large weekend gathering for family and friends. After all, what is better than coming home to a warm bowl of homemade tortilla soup or spending a weekend afternoon with friends sipping margaritas and sharing platters of fish tacos, chile-smothered ribs, and charred corn?

Feel confident in knowing that these recipes have been developed with one eye on authenticity and the other on practicality. As a teacher, I want to encourage my students to cook and make the recipesnot discourage them by putting up roadblocks that make cooking unnecessarily complicated. To that end, each recipe includes a section entitled Cooking Notes, in which I write about ingredients and techniques, and give tips on preparing items in advance and storing them for future use. These are questions that always come up at my classes, and the notes are my way of coaching you while you are cooking.

Sourcing ingredients is one of the biggest recipe deal-breakers. I have found that home cooks will usually try to find ingredients at two markets before giving up on a recipe or finding a suitable substitute, which could mean just eliminating the ingredient from the recipe altogether. While that may be necessary at times, it also does not do the recipe justice. Achiote chicken roasted in aluminum foil is just not the same as when properly roasted in banana leaves. I have tried to offer suitable substitutes for those times when you dont have the real ingredient on hand, but I have also made sure to include those hard-to-find ingredients in several recipes so you have plenty of options for using them once youve found them. Nothing is more frustrating than buying a hard-to-find spice just to use teaspoon and never open the jar again! So you will see banana leaves, chipotles, dried ancho chiles, and queso fresco used often throughout the book.

One piece of advice: Read a recipe in its entirety before you start to cook! If I had a dollar for each student I have had who just dives into a recipe, well. Think of a recipe as a map. If you want to get from point A to point B, you need to understand what is required of you along the way. Otherwise, you will get lost. However, once youve successfully gotten to your destination, getting there a second and third time becomes easier and faster. The same is true with a recipe. The first time you make chicken tamales, the process will seem a bit awkward. But after that, its smooth sailing. To help you along, I have divided the recipe instructions into distinct steps, each with a highlighted brief summary at its start. Think of these steps as future shortcuts.