Discover and re-discover Mexico’s cuisine, culture and history through the recipes, backyard stories and other interesting findings of an expatriate in Canada
There is a very popular board game in Mexico called Lotería – Lottery, the literal translation to English, corresponds to its definition, since its outcome is governed by chance. One particular card - # 48 La Chalupa - was so popular, that many Mexican Americans in Texas grew up calling the game “Chalupa”... click on title for more
Although many Mexican recipes include garlic, I could not find any recipe at all (pipián or otherwise) calling for garlic scapes; the bright green colour they provide, though, made them an irresistible addition to this recipe … click on title for more
Papatzules are a traditional and very popular dish in the Mexican state of Yucatan. They are similar to a basic enchilada, but the ingredients make this preparation unique: the sauce is made from ground pumpkin seed and epazote, and hard-boiled eggs serve as stuffing. It was a natural progression to use the garlic scape with pumpkin seed paste from my previous post to prepare my own version of papatzules … click on title for more
After I collected my harvest of garlic scapes, I proceeded to wash and drain them. The next step was to trim and discard the tough tips, just above the bud; the stems and buds may be kept whole for grilling, or cut into manageable sections to cook in the kitchen, as in these two types of paste … click on title for more
I grow hardneck garlic in my backyard, noble varieties that give an extra crop at the end of spring: garlic scapes. These pointy buds are removed young, before they bloom, to encourage the bulbs underground to grow bigger … click on title for more
My Slice of Mexico 