A Spanish-Mexican Fusion Menu

Last month, while enjoying a memorable meal at Mercat a la Planxa (638 South Michigan Ave., Chicago, Illinois, USA), a contemporary Spanish cuisine restaurant, I could not help but find many similarities with some Mexican dishes; this should not come as a surprise, considering that the Spanish Colonial era in Mexico lasted three hundred years. Back at home, inspired by this meal, I created a similar menu, but with elements from contemporary and traditional Mexican recipes:

The appetizer at the restaurant was Fried Calamari with Preserved Lemon Aioli; breaded squid rings and peppers are fried then tossed together, and served with lemon slices and the sauce on the side (photo below, left). The breading and fried peppers reminded me of Sonora style fried chicken, served with fried jalapeños, so I used a recipe for the chicken coating with squid rings instead, I fried some jalapeños, and used lime juice instead of preserved lemon in the sauce (photo below, right):

I chose their Libritos de Puerco Rellenos, a bone-in pork chop stuffed with serrano ham, manchego cheese, and served with piquillo pepper, and mojo negra sauce (photo below, left). I have shared a recipe for pork chops also stuffed with ham and cheese, but served on a bed of sautéed spinach and caramelized onions (click here for full recipe, photo below, right):

My husband picked the Cordero – lamb with mint salsa verde; there were also an unidentified redish sauce, and some drops of mashed vegetable, probably turnips (photo below, left). I decided to make a straightforward adaptation with some spearmint from my garden, and a Mexican tomatillo green sauce. As for the redish sauce, there is a Spanish sauce called mojo picón, based on dry hot peppers, so I made that using Mexican chile de árbol; the veggie drops on my plate are simply mashed potato (photo below, right):

One side was the classic Patatas Bravas, spicy potatoes (photo below, left). “Spicy potatoes” immediately made me think of papas zamoranas, a street food treat from the Mexican state of Michoacán, in which the potatoes are dressed with three different preparations, namely, salsa negra (blackened dry chile salt), salsa de aceite (chile oil) and salsa de pepino, a spicy cucumber sauce (photo below, right):

The second side was Zanahorias a la Cidra, heirloom roasted carrots, with apple cider reduction and cleverly using the carrot tops in a chimichurri sauce (photo below, left). My recipe is basically the same, except I could not find heirloom carrots, so I used regular organic carrots; since there were no carrot tops, I used parsley and oregano (from my garden) for a traditional chimichurri (photo below, right):