"mexican food" news and stories

Ever had a corn tortilla or a bowl of Mexican posole soup? Then you've eaten hominy.

Grilled corn-on-the-cob is Mexican street food the way street food should be. After it hits the grill, the roasted corn is slathered with a creamy blend of mayo, chile, and white, salty Cotija cheese and the juice of a fresh lime. Cotija is part goat's milk and part cow's milk, it crumbles easily and when aged (anjeo) tastes a bit like parmesan. (You can substitute a good parmesan or pecorino if you can't find Cotija.) If you're ready to barbecue like you're in Michoacán, Mexico, even if you're in Missoula, Montana, try this Kitchen Daily recipe for a version of this grilled corn.

And for roasting tips, and another corn-lime-and-chili recipe, see this Slashfood post.

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One of my favorite Mexican chefs, Roberto Santibañez (of Brooklyn restaurant Fonda), once told me that the nickname for Mexico City natives like himself is limones, because they love fresh lime with almost everything they eat. And rightfully so. Lime adds a crisp high note to simple dishes, from chunks of mango to a margarita, to meats like chicken and fish.

Marinated in lime juice, tomato salsa and Dijon mustard, chicken gets lively, as in this recipe. (If you don't want to grill the marinated meat, you can also pan sauté it.) And once you get the limones thing going, try this robust Mexican chicken-lime soup from Kitchen Daily contributor Caroline Bates.

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When you start exploring the world of Mexican salsas, you'll find they go way beyond the same old tomato-and-chiles mixture. The tomatillo, which is not a tomato but a relative of the Cape gooseberry and American ground cherry, is tiny, bright green and delicately husked, and makes a tart refreshing salsa verde. Blogger joshbousel, of the meatwave blog, shot the photo above, of the salsa he assembled from a recipe adapted from chef Rick Bayless. The tomatillos are husked and grilled first, for a more complex flavor, then combined with chile serrano, garlic, white onion, cilantro, and some sugar, which offsets the tartness.

If you love tomatillos, take them from salsa to guacamole with this recipe from chef Marcus Samuelsson, who serves his guac with beer-battered fish.

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Seafood plus citrus equals ceviche, but, depending on where you're eating that ceviche, the citrus may be grapefruit juice (as in Chile), bitter-orange juice (Peru) or lemon juice (Panama). And the seafood may be shrimp, halibut, scallops or sea bass. This quintessentially Latin American dish is claimed by many countries, and is given a unique flavor in each. At the recent Taste of Tribeca event, chef Aarón Sanchez, of New York restaurant Centrico (which specializes in regional Mexican cooking), offered up this seafood blend in a sweet citrus sauce, and crisped up some plaintain chips to serve it with. Blogger peekandeat declared it the dish of the day.

You may have to stop by Centrico to try this version, but here's a Sanchez recipe for a scallop ceviche that sounds like it comes straight from Veracruz, Mexico: It's made with lemongrass, coconut milk and shredded coconut (along with lime juice, tomatoes and ginger). Which makes sense, since Sanchez is the son of chef, television personality, and cookbook author Zarela Martínez, who has brought the soul of Veracruz (and many other regions of Mexico) to the American kitchen. (A note on preparing ceviche: While most restaurant versions are made with raw fish marinated in the citrus mixture, for the sake of safety in the home kitchen, cook the fish a bit before combining it with the other ingredients, as in this Kitchen Daily recipe.)

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