Irene

Cueritos (with Vegan Option!)

October 22, 2021October 22, 2021by Irene5 Comments

In Mexican cuisine, cueritos are fresh pieces of pork skin, which have been separated from the meat and fat, and may be either fried with other parts of the pork (carnitas), or as in this recipe, boiled and pickled in vinegar, often mixed with pickled jalapeños and carrots (escabeche.) As a bonus, although it might seem impossible to conceive this dish without pork rind, the flavour of cooked fresh pork rinds is mild, and its texture, chewy, so it was not very hard to think of konjac as a vegan substitute with similar characteristics ... click on title for more

Desserts, Ingredients

Fresh Corn Squares

October 15, 2021October 19, 2021by Irene13 Comments

In Mexico, the word maíz refers to the grain, so a bread made with nixtamalized corn flour (masa harina) or cornmeal, would be called pan de maíz. On the other hand, elote is the name used for fresh corn, either on the cob, or the corn kernels (granos de elote); some dishes made with fresh corn that come to mind are: fresh corn cake (pastel de elote), fresh corn bread (pan de elote), and fresh corn tamale (tamal de elote), to name just a few. My favourite fresh corn bread is a sweet rendition, so moist and creamy from the fresh corn kernels, that tastes almost custardy; the original recipe has no flour, but because fresh corn in Canada generally has a lower starch content compared to Mexican corn, I added some corn starch to prevent crumbling, and, as a bonus, the recipe remains gluten-free ... click on title for more

Celebrations, Ingredients

An Herb for Canadian Thanksgiving – Maritime Summer Savoury

October 11, 2021October 11, 2021by Irene11 Comments

Since today is Canadian Thanksgiving Monday, I decided to report back on my experience cooking with Maritime summer savoury, an herb that I mentioned in a previous post, naturalized in the Canadian Atlantic provinces from European summer savoury ... click on title for more

Ingredients, Mexican Cuisine

Vegan Suadero-Style Tacos

October 9, 2021October 15, 2021by Irene15 Comments

To make good use of a nice crop of pápalo before the cold weather kills the plants, and inspired by National Taco Day and Fried "Chiles Toreados" with Onions in previous posts, I decided to re-visit my recipe for suadero tacos, one of the most iconic street offerings in Mexico City. They are usually made with a special cut of beef (suadero), and a piece of pork sausage (longaniza) but, since my vegetarian daughter was visiting, a meatless batch was in order ... click on title for more

Ingredients, Mexican Cuisine, Side Dish

Fried “Chiles Toreados” with Onions

October 7, 2021October 13, 2021by Irene17 Comments

The term "chiles toreados" refers to a technique that people use in Mexico to make hot peppers even spicier; then, they may be eaten raw, added to salsas and stews, or as they now appear in many Mexican or Tex-Mex restaurants, prepared as a side dish, lightly grilled or fried, and seasoned, sometimes with knob onions ... click on title for more