Guacamole Chinelo
(4 to 6)
Ingredients:
- 1 pound of avocados
- 1 tablespoon white onion finely chopped
- 2 Serrano chiles chopped or 1 Jalapeño deseeded and chopped
- Pinch of salt
- 1 or 2 guavas cubed into ¼ inch pieces ("Guayabas" as they are called in Spanish, is also a nickname
- for people from my state of Morelos)
- ¼ cup peach cubed into ¼ inch pieces
- ¼ cup pomegranate seeds
Cut the avocados in half, going around the pith. Using a spoon, scoop the avocado out of the half shells. Place the avocado into an IMUSA Molcajete. Mash the avocado with the molcajete stone. Leave the mashed avocado in the molcajete or place it in a bowl for serving. Mix in the onion, chile and salt. Sprinkle on top the guava, peach and pomegranate. Serve with totopos
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Potato and Parsley Golden Taquitos
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. peeled potatoes
- 1 cup white onion finely chopped
- ½ cup parsley finely chopped
- 5 Serrano chiles finely chopped (optional)
- Salt
- 2 lbs warm corn tortillas (reheat wrapped in a damp towel in the microwave if store bought)
- Toothpicks
- 1 quart of cooking oil
- 1 iceberg lettuce, shredded
- 1 cup of Mexican cream (crema)
- 1 cup of queso fresco or cotija cheese shredded
- Place the potatoes in an IMUSA stock pot and cover with water 2 inches over the potatoes. Add 1 tablespoon of salt to the water and bring to a boil. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until the potatoes are soft and you can easily insert a fork. Take the potatoes out of the water and place in a bowl. Mash the potatoes until smooth. Add the onion, parsley, Serrano chiles and salt to the mashed potatoes and mix.
- Place 2 tablespoons of the potato mixture inside the warm corn tortilla in a line from one side to the other. Then gently roll the tortilla into a tube. Place the rolled taco against the edge of something so it will stay together while you are making the second taquito. Then do a second taquito and place the seams touching facing one another and place a toothpick between the two taquitos. Finish all the tortillas.
- Place 1 quart of cooking oil in an IMUSA caldero and allow it to get as hot as possible. Add 4 or 6 of the taquitos at a time. Fry for 5 to 10 minutes or until golden. Place on cookie sheet that has been covered in paper towels to absorb oil.
- Serve 3 to 4 taquitos per person topped with the lettuce, cream and cheese. Each person may add any of the salsa they like best.
Green Raw Salsa
Salsa Verde
Ingredients:
- 3 tomatillos
- 2 to 6 Serrano chiles or 1 to 5 Jalapeño chiles (leave the seeds in)
- 1 bunch of cilantro, removing the thickest stems
- ½ garlic clove
- 1 cup of water
- Salt to taste
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until salsa is smooth. Add salt as needed
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Drunken Tomato and Jalapeño Salsa
Salsa Molcajeteada
Ingredients:
- 1 clove of garlic, roasted
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 slice of white onion
- 1 pinch of cumin
- 1 pinch of black pepper corns
- 1 to 4 Serrano chiles or 2 Jalapeños roasted and pealed
- 2 Roma or Saladet tomatoes, roasted and pealed
- ¼ cup of Modelo Especial or Negra Modelo beer
- 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
- After roasting the garlic, chilies, onions and tomatoes in a very hot pan crush the ingredients one by one in the IMUSA molcajete, starting with all of the spices and the garlic.
- Add the rest of the ingredients one-by-one and crush. For example, add 1 chile and crush until smooth, then add the next chile and crush. Keep adding one ingredient at a time and crush until you have added all of them
- Finally add the Modelo Especial or Negra Modelo beer and cider.
Totopos
(Homemade Tortilla Chips)
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds corn tortillas cut into 8 triangles
- 1 quart of cooking oil
- salt to taste
- Place the cut tortillas on a cookie sheet and leave on a counter over night or a couple of days if possible so they will dry out as much as possible.
- Place the cooking oil in an IMUSA caldero and allow it to get hot. The oil is hot enough if you see bubbles when you insert the back of a wooden spoon into the oil. Place the tortillas in the oil in small batches. Make sure not to place too many at a time or they will not cook evenly. Fry until the tortilla chips are golden. Take them out and place them in another IMUSA caldero that has been lined with paper towel. Salt every time you remove more totopos out or the oil.
Black Bean Chorizo Dip
(4 to 6)
Ingredients:
- 8oz Mexican chorizo de-cased and chopped
- 2 tablespoons white onion chopped
- 1 or 2 chipotle chiles, chopped
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 3 cups cooked black beans (Mexican)
- 1 cup Chihuahua cheese shredded
Using an IMUSA sauté pan on medium heat, add the oil and allow to get hot. Add the chorizo and cook for 7 to 10 minutes or until crispy. Add the onions and cook for another 5 minutes or until golden. Add the black beans and mash until smooth using a potato masher. Add the chipotle chiles. Cook until the beans and chorizo become thick. Serve on a platter and sprinkle with the shredded Chihuahua cheese. Serve with totopos.
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Michelada with Negra Modelo or Modelo Especial
Ingredients:
- 1 lime
- salt
- ice cubes
- 1 Negra Modelo Beer or Modelo Especial
- 1 glass
Salt around the rim of the glass. Squeeze the lime in the glass. Add the ice and pour in the Negra Modelo or Modelo Especial Beer.
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About Ana Garcia:
She is one of the most vivacious traditional Mexican chefs in Mexico today. Born in Monterrey, Mexico on December 19, 1972 and raised in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, Chef Ana traces her lineage well beyond the Mexican Revolution. Her great grandfather was a contemporary of the famous and revered revolutionary Emiliano Zapata and post-revolution Senator who participated in founding the first constitution for the State of Morelos. Ana's great grandmother was a well-know butcher with various stands in the large central mercado, revered for her incredible longaniza and chorizo. The inspiration for Chef Ana's recipes and hospitality grow out of this long, rich family history in central and northern Mexico. Her abilities as a chef are intricately linked to her close relationship with her mother, aunts, grandmothers and great grandmother, as each passed down their culinary wisdom. She has taken this extensive knowledge and incorporated it into a culinary repertoire that includes traditional central and nothern Mexican specialties as well as experimental nouvelle Mexican cuisine using traditional ingredients in new and gastronomiclly adventurous ways. Passionate about Mexican cuisine and its preparation since childhood, Ana had originallyembarked upon a career in business. She received a B.A. from the Instituto Tecnologico y deEstudios Superiores de Monterrey in 1998, and planned on attending The Wharton Schoolfollowing in the same path as her father. That changed when she met her future husband, RobbAnderson, who saw in her a unique gift that combined her vast knowledge of Mexican cuisinewith her talent for teaching and communicating.
Website: http://www.chefana.com
About La Villa Bonita Mexican Culinary Vacation:
In 2000, Ana and Robb founded La Villa Bonita Mexican Culinary Vacation
(www.lavillabonita.com) a cooking school and culinary vacation destination that combines Chef Ana's cooking skills and inviting hospitality in a breattaking setting beneath the Tepozteco Mountain range. Since opening its doors, La Villa Bonita has received several distinctions including being named "One of the Five Best Culinary Vacations Worldwide" by The Television Food Network as well as one of "The 100 Best Vacations to Enrich Your Life" by National Geographic Books and author Pam Grout. She has appeared on PBS and ABC as well as the focus of articles in Newsweek, Bon Appetit, Latina, Cooking Light and Intermezzo. She now is a regular guest on Los Angeles' most popular morning television show, KTLA's Morning News at 9, explaining major Mexican holidays and culinary traditions. In addition to her responsibilities as owner and head chef of La Villa Bonita, Chef Ana recently signed a development deal with television reality show giant Mark Wolper and The WolperOrganization of Burbak, California, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers, to develop and produce thefirst documentary/reality audio-visual cooking series featuring a Mexican-born chef. The multi-part installment series will be optioned to established major television networks, withproduction scheduled to begin in the summer of 2010/ The Emmy-Award winning producer Mark Wolper dubbed Garcia "the Mexican Rachel Ray," andbelieves that the $4.3 billion growing Mexican food market in the U.S. confirms that the timing isjust right for a new Mexican cooking show starring Garcia. The Mexican Tourism Board feels thesame way by deciding to directly sponsor the production of Garcia's series and integrate hrimage into their national publicity campaigns in the U.S. market in 2010.
Chef Ana has also served as a spokesperson for Modelo Beers, a division of Crown Imports, and Mexicana Airlines. She was the executive chef of Reposado Restaurant in Cuernavaca for 9 yearsand in 2007 founded Cafe Cinco, an ecological cafe constructed with recycled products which islocated in front of the Montessori Tepoztlan. A well-accomplished public speaker, Ana has given culinary demonstrations and lectures about Mexican Cuisine at the Orlando Culinary Institute, theArizona Culinary Institute, the Chicago Hospitality Institute of Chicago, Central Market CookingSchool, and the National Restaurant Association Convention. In 2009, she also became the newestspokesperson for IMUSA cookware, the largest hispanic cookware manufacturer in the U.S. and isnow giving classes resurrecting the traditional local cuisines in the touristic destinations at the Villa Group Resorts n Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas.
Together with her husband Robb, Ana finds time to raise their two small children, and to passdown her rich history and her passion for food.
La Villa Bonita Mexican Culinary Hotel
7 and 4 Night Packages in Mexico's Pueblo Magico
Website: http://www.lavillabonita.com
