Ingredients

3 ½ cups water or chicken broth2 pounds tomatillos, husked1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped2 pounds roma tomatoes4 chipotles in adobo, seeds removed for less heat if desired4 large cloves garlic, roughly chopped6 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus additional for frying tortillas2 pounds corn tortillas, cut into wedges4 cups cooked, shredded chicken breast2 cups Mexican crema or heavy cream2 cups sour cream2 cups shredded cheese, such as Oaxaca or fresh mozzarella

Boil the water, tomatillos and onion in a saucepan until the tomatillos are soft. Place the tomatillos and onion in a blender with the tomatoes, chipotles, garlic, and ½ cup of the tomatillo cooking water, and puree until smooth.

Heat 6 tablespoons of oil in a large pot, add the pureed sauce and cook over low heat for about 20 minutes. Set aside.

In a large skillet, heat enough vegetable oil to crisp-fry the tortilla wedges. This may have to be done in 2 0r 3 batches. Drain fried tortilla wedges on paper towels.

In a small bowl, combine both kinds of cream.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a deep, buttered casserole, place ½ of the tortilla wedges. Ladle ½ of the sauce over them, topped with ½ of the shredded chicken, ½ of the cream mixture and ½ of the grated cheese. Repeat layers, ending with cheese. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Serves 10.

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Mexican Christmas menu ideas: Posadas, Noche Buena, Navidad

Ingredients

2 750-mililiter bottles of champagne, chilled1 cup pomegranate juice, chilled¼ cup Triple Sec

Pour all ingredients into a pitcher. Serve in champagne flutes, garnish with pomegranate seeds if available. Makes 10 servings.

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Mexican Christmas menu ideas: Posadas, Noche Buena, Navidad

In Mexico, the Christmas season is a month-long fiesta, starting with the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe on December 12th, and continuing through the posadas, Noche Buena and Navidad, right up to the Three Kings Day on January 6th.

During this celebratory month, preparing seasonal dishes is an important part of the festivities, with each occasion having its own specialties. These can be easily adapted to holiday menus everywhere, and a Mexican culinary theme is fun, festive, and versatile. Feature a menu for a particular occasion, such as a posada, or combine elements from each of the menus presented here. In any case, a buffet is more relaxed and informal than a sit-down dinner, especially when entertaining a crowd. Whether you prefer to have guests at brunch or supper, try some of the following ideas and recipes.

Posadas — those reenactments of Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter in Bethlehem — are especially suited for children. Once the posada procession, with two children dressed as Mary and Joseph, finally arrives at the home that will give them “shelter,” the focal point is the piñata, filled with candy, fruit and nuts. (Posadas can be fun for adults, too, and my Mexican sister-in-law in Texas has posada parties filled with small gifts for all ages. Once in Oaxaca, a group of us had a piñata of George Bush custom made, and people had great fun whacking at it.)

Even in places where there are no religious processions, a posada theme is great for a children’s holiday party. The piñata can be set up outdoors or in a room in which the furniture has been pushed to the sides. Fill it with miniature candies, nuts, and small gifts, and after the piñata has been broken and the contents gathered up, kids can enjoy refreshments from a table on which sweet tamales, cookies, hot chocolate atole and punch have been set up. The following are some suggestions for a children’s posada party table.

Chocolate Atole: Champurrado
Holiday punch: Ponche navideño
Mexican Christmas cookies: Galletas de navidad
Candied walnuts: Nueces garapiñados
Sweet tamales: Tamales dulces

Holiday meals are usually eaten on the eve of the big day, and Christmas is no exception. Most Mexicans have their Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, or Noche Buena. The religious go to the misa del gallo, or Midnight Mass, with the big meal following. Others start the meal a bit earlier in the evening, but usually not before nine or ten, and continue the feast into the wee hours of the morning.

While the Noche Buena meal is typically a sit-down dinner, the elements of the meal can make a beautiful buffet presentation for any party during the holiday season. And if a large group of family and/or friends is expected, this is a great way to serve the food, especially if not everyone arrives at once. It is less formal than a sit-down dinner and just as enjoyable.

Bacalao, a Spanish style codfish dish which is de rigeur for Noche Buena, is perfect for a buffet, as is the Noche Buena salad. The recipe for stuffed, roasted turkey has been adapted for a buffet, but filled with a traditional Mexican Christmas stuffing. By all means serve the punch from the posada menu, spiked if desired for those who prefer a little Christmas cheer. Sidra, or bubbly apple cider, is also traditional, but any bubbly would probably be much appreciated by guests. Feel free to add any of the nut and cookie recipes from the posada menu. They go especially well with rompope, or “Mexican eggnog.”

Stuffed roasted turkey roulade: Rollo de pavo relleno
Codfish with tomatoes, olives and chiles: Bacalao a la vizcaina
Christmas Eve salad: Ensalada de Noche Buena
Puebla style eggnog: Rompope

After the late Christmas Eve supper comes to an end, it seems nobody is up very early on Christmas morning. A late brunch is a good option for a get together no matter where you live. Mexican almuerzo — or brunch — food is great for entertaining. The jicama and mandarin orange salad incorporates two of the most important seasonal contributions to the Mexican holiday menu, and can be made the night before and refrigerated until serving. This chilaquiles recipe, unlike most, is one that can be assembled ahead and baked, along with the rice dish, while waiting for guests to arrive. This makes for a hassle free menu, hearty enough to be called a true Mexican brunch, and easy enough so that the hosts can get everything done before enjoying a pomegranate champagne cocktail. A selection of sweet rolls from the bakery is good with the cinnamon coffee.

Pomegranate champagne cocktail: Coctel de champaña y granada
Jicama and mandarin orange salad: Ensalada xec
Baked chilaquiles: Chilaquiles al horno
Green rice casserole with poblanos and cheese: Arroz verde con queso y rajas
Sweet cinnamon coffee: Café de olla

Ingredients

1 ½ cups roughly chopped cilantro½ cup chopped, toasted macadamia nuts2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped3-4 tablespoons olive oil2-3 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese12 ounces linguini2 tablespoons olive oil1 ½ pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined½ cup dry white winesalt and pepper to taste

Place cilantro, nuts and garlic in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Gradually add the olive oil. (Or use a molcajete to make the pesto.) Add the parmesan cheese.

Cook and drain the linguini, saving some of the cooking water to loosen sauce if desired.

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan, add the shrimp and cook until just turning pink. Add the wine and cook until reduced in half. Toss in the linguini and pesto. Add some of the pasta cooking water if necessary. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients

1 ½ pounds chayote (about 3 medium) peeled and cut into large chunks1 large white onion, peeled and quartered7 cloves garlic, peeled¼ pound fresh spinach, washed and stemmed1-2 poblano chiles, roasted, seeded and peeled4 cups good quality chicken stock, preferably homemade3 ½ cups whole milk1 cup cream½ teaspoon ground nutmegsalt to tastecrumbled queso fresco or farmers cheese for garnish

Place the chayote, onion, garlic, spinach, poblano chiles and stock in a large pot and bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes or until the chayote is tender.

Puree the cooked soup in a blender. This will probably have to be done in batches, to achieve a smooth puree.

Return the puree to the pot, stir in milk, cream, nutmeg and salt. If serving cold, refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Makes 10 cups.

In the fall, my culinary thoughts inevitably turn to Thanksgiving. Although it is not celebrated as a legal holiday in Mexico, it is called El Día de Acción de Gracias, and some of my fondest holiday memories are of the Thanksgiving dinners put together by the American faculty members at the university where I worked in Puebla. We always invited friends and colleagues to share our holiday and bring their favorite festive foods.

Nothing was “assigned,” although we made the turkey, usually two big ones to accommodate the large crowd, plus gravy, traditional stuffing and cranberry sauce. (In those days, cranberries were nearly impossible to find in Mexico, and whoever was going to the U.S. would automatically tuck a can or two of cranberry sauce into the luggage; now fresh cranberries and cranberry juice are common supermarket items in Mexico.)

The side dishes and desserts were left to our guests, mostly Mexican, with a sprinkling of Europeans and South Americans. To me, with a burgeoning interest in the local food, it was always fun to see what our Mexican friends would bring. One of these dinners was my introduction to the wonderful dishes that could be prepared with one of the most common Mexican market vegetables, chayote.

The oblong baking dish brought by a neighbor who worked at the Casa de la Cultura was unveiled to reveal rows of chayote halves stuffed with different fillings, including chorizo, cheese, and a ground beef mixture reminiscent of picadillo. I had to share “tastes” with other people, including my husband, who had previously called chayote “bland,” in order to have room to sample each filling. I couldn’t decide which I liked best. The rich, spicy chorizo version? The comforting cheese gratin version? Or the beautifully seasoned Spanish style picadillo? One thing, however, was perfectly clear: this mild, delicate tasting vegetable was not bland, but only needed to be treated creatively and dressed up for company or used in everyday family meals.

Years later, when we lived in Oaxaca, I learned of a delicious, creamy chayote soup flavored with roasted poblano chiles, a specialty of Susana Trilling’s Seasons of My Heart cooking school. Later, down on Mexico’s southern Pacific coast, I discovered the chayote’s affinity for seafood, either in salads or stuffed with ceviche.

The chayote is a mild-tasting, pear shaped, light green vegetable, a member of the cucurbuta family that includes different types of squash, gourds and pumpkins. Like other squash, it grows on a vine and is a common home garden vegetable in Mexico. I remember seeing it in backyards in New Orleans, where it is called mirliton. In the U.S., it is grown in California, Florida and Louisiana and is widely available during the winter months. In Mexico, it is grown throughout the country and used in countless ways, both raw and cooked.

Cultivated in Mexico since pre-Hispanic times, and named by the Aztecs, chayote is rich in amino acids and used medicinally to dissolve kidney stones by preparing an infusion of the plant’s leaves. Infusions of the fruit are said to alleviate urine retention and thus reduce hypertension. Like any plant with medicinal as well as culinary value, chayote is much appreciated in Mexico, where gastronomic creativity has produced a remarkable range of dishes made from humble ingredients.

Besides being ideal to prepare as a stuffed vegetable, and in soups, chayote is eaten raw, grated into slaw-type salads, and used in fresh salsas with a variety of vegetables and fruit, including peaches, tomatoes, cucumbers and jicama. Breaded and fried, it can replace eggplant in baked dishes with tomato sauce and cheese, and is also used to make croquettes. Its refreshing flavor has been described as a combination of cucumber and apple, and chayote is found in sweet as well as savory dishes. It is served in the sugar syrup called almibar and in a sweet made with sugar, vanilla and cinnamon.

When buying chayotes, look for firm ones. Those with smooth skin are easiest to handle, although some varieties have knobby, hairy surfaces. I prefer the smooth ones, and avoid discolorations and sticky surfaces. The large ones, weighing about a half pound each, have tougher skin but are best for stuffing and do not need to be peeled for this purpose. Buy smaller, more tender ones if using them raw. Chayotes should be stored lightly wrapped in a paper towel, and keep for up to three weeks in the refrigerator.

If using chayotes raw, peel them before grating or cutting. Some people use gloves when handling raw chayotes, because of a liquid that seeps out and may irritate the skin, although I haven’t personally found this to be the case. Peeling them under running water is another alternative.Chayotes do not have to be peeled raw if being baked or steamed.

In Mexico, the large central pit of a steamed chayote is considered the cook’s treat. Once a chayote has been steamed whole, for example in preparation for stuffing, cut it in half and remove the pit. Let it cool and eat it as is, enjoying its mildly nutty flavor.

Use chayote in any mixed vegetable soup or Mexican style cream soup. Cube it or grate it for salads and fresh salsas. Chef Rick Bayless presents a simple chayote salad recipe in his book Mexican Everyday, in which cubed, cooked chayote is combined with tomato and green onion and dressed with a simple oil and balsamic vinaigrette.

Serve chayote cubed and steamed or microwaved and simply dressed with butter, salt and pepper as a vegetable side dish. Or steam a whole chayote, cut it in half and serve with butter, sour cream and bacon as you would a baked potato. Another preparation is to simply peel and cut chayote into slices and sauté with bell peppers and onions until the vegetables are tender. Chayotes make a good addition to winter casseroles, and are good in vegetable stir fries.

Following are some recipes for this remarkably versatile vegetable, which can be combined with a wide range of ingredients, dresses up or down, and always flatters its companions.

Peach and chayote salsa: Salsa de durazno y chayote
Chayote soup with poblano chile: Sopa de chayote con chile poblano
Cheese stuffed chayotes au gratin: Chayote relleno con queso gratinado
Chorizo stuffed chayote: Chayote relleno con chorizo

4 thick strips of bacon (about ¼ pound) chopped½ cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts2 tablespoon butter2 tablespoon olive oil4 skinless trout filets, seasoned with salt and pepper2 cloves garlic, finely chopped2 green onions, white and light green parts only, chopped¾ cup dry white wine½ cup finely ground macadamia nuts½ cup heavy cream or Mexican crema (do not substitute sour cream)1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Place the chopped bacon in a sauté pan and cook until it begins to crisp. Add the chopped macadamias and continue cooking until the bacon is crisp and the chopped nuts golden brown. Remove the bacon and nuts from the pan, drain well on paper towels and set aside.

Wipe out the pan, add half of the butter and half of the olive oil. Sauté the trout filets until golden brown on both sides and cooked through. Remove to a platter and keep warm.

Add the remaining butter and olive oil to the pan. Saute the garlic and onion until soft. Add the wine and cook until slightly reduced. Add the ground nuts, cream and parsley, and simmer for 2 minutes.

Place the fish on plates, spoon the sauce over the fish and garnish with the bacon and chopped nuts. Makes 4 servings.

A recent trip to the cloud covered village of Cuetzalan, high in the Sierra of Puebla, generated more of the questions that arise on each visit. How does the regional dress of pure white cotton, worn daily, stay so clean in a place where it rains nearly every day? How do any vehicles get to the center of town when most of the cobblestone streets are stairways rather than roads? And how is it that some of the most remote farms in Mexico are growing one of the world’s most expensive luxury foods?

The answer to the last question lies in the rolling fog that gives the town an appealingly mystical quality, while at the same time making it difficult to stay dry. For it turns out that macadamias — the priciest nuts in the world — thrive in the same mountain mist that is so good for growing coffee, another important crop in the Sierra.

In the world of nuts, macadamias are the gold standard, costing more than 30 dollars per kilo. These Australian natives, consumed by the aborigines before the arrival of Europeans, are generally associated with Hawaii and commonly sold as souvenirs and gifts from the islands. However, commercial cultivation of macadamias did not begin there until the 1930s, and started in California in the 1950s. The nuts are also grown in parts of Africa, Central and South America. In comparison, Mexico was a latecomer to the macadamia business.

In 1999, the state government of Puebla gave grant money to farmers in the Sierra Norte region for the planting and cultivation of macadamias, which are also grown, to a lesser extent, in Michoacan and Veracruz. The trees flourished, but the grant money ended. While some of the farmers were able to continue cultivation and distribution, others were not, and today sell mostly to neighbors. Even without cultivation, the hearty macadamia trees, which are highly resistant to root rot and insect damage, continue to produce nuts.

One of the Sierra’s growing number of non-profit organizations, El Vivero Macadamia, recently bought grafted seedlings from farmers who cannot afford the costs of cultivation, and planted an orchard of 150 trees, which will start to produce nuts in three more years. Meanwhile, the group is buying nuts from the poorer farmers and teaching local women, many of whose husbands have gone north, to make macadamia truffles, cookies, garapiñadas (candied nuts) roasted and salted nuts and, because this is Mexico, macadamias enchiladas (chile coated nuts.) The goal is to create self sustaining cooperatives to cultivate the nuts and produce these products.

Although the young trees will produce in three years, they will not begin to yield large commercial quantities for seven years, and usually bear fruit for 100 years or longer. Perhaps because these evergreens are so sturdy, the nuts have dauntingly hard shells that must be removed by crushing between steel rollers after the husks have been removed and the nuts left to dry in order to remove some of their moisture.

The two edible varieties of macadamia nuts, integrifolia and tetraphylla, both have significant nutritional value. Macadamias have the highest amount of beneficial monounsaturated fat of any nut, making macadamia oil as acceptable as olive oil in the diet. The nuts contain 9% protein and are a good source of iron, calcium, phosphorus and Vitamin B1.

Macadamias are sold in Mexican supermarkets and the sweets made from them, especially the cookies, are found in many health and gourmet stores. They can also be used in certain savory dishes, such as the trout in macadamia crust prepared at the trout farm restaurant at the edge of the National Park in Uruapan, and in the creamy macadamia sauce that has become part of Michoacan’s regional cuisine.

Macadamia oil is prized as an ingredient in skin care products and for use in gourmet kitchens. Chefs recommend it for salads and fish dishes. It can also be infused with chile, garlic or herbs.

Unshelled nuts are considerably cheaper, but not recommended unless you have a lot of patience or a pet macaw to crack the shells. For a special meal or dessert, macadamias are worth the splurge, and the following recipes present some ways of using them.

Shrimp with macadamia cilantro pesto: Camarones con pesto de macadamia y cilantro
Trout in macadamia sauce: Trucha en macadamia
Macadamia peach salsa: Salsa de macadamia y durazno
Macadamia truffles: Truffles de macadamia