Nancy in Pátzcuaro
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Posts posted by Nancy in Pátzcuaro
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13 hours ago, Annie_H said:
Wow, what a garden. ^
Nice harvest. Much earlier harvest than here. I blanch, stack, and freeze my grape leaves in food saver bags. I stuff them in the fall.
I did get a surprise early flush of zucchini flowers starting last week. I've never had flowers for the 4th of July. Though I did start some seed indoors early. Last year my first zucchini flower meal was end of July.
How do you prepare the squash blossoms? They're a staple here, and I'm always on the lookout for new preparations. Recently we had comida at a friend's house, and his housekeeper prepared them as a first course. Stuffed with not much cheese, which I think was Oaxacan, and gently heated, just enough to melt the cheese but not cause the flowers to totally collapse. Served with a righteous salsa. I knew better than to ask for the recipe. His housekeeper does not share her recipes, though she's good natured about saying no. Many people have tried to steal her from our friend because she's such a good cook. She's been with our friend for many years.
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Every year when we go north to visit friends and family in the US we are astonished/horrified/ultimately resigned about food prices. And restaurant prices? Forget it. When you pay over $40 for a decent breakfast it's almost insulting. Now, I understand that there are lots of other expenses in running a restaurant--food costs are only part of it. At the grocery store it's obvious that food costs more than it used to. We're heading to the US at the end of July and I'm almost afraid to see how much an avocado costs. For people with a finite income (that includes almost all of us) the price of food, which is a fundamental need, becomes a little problematic. Unfortunately I don't see this trend reversing anytime soon, if ever. Do prices ever go down? I don't think so.
Prices in Pátzcuaro have also gone up. As an example, a kilo of tortillas is now 21 pesos at the tortilleria on our block and I've seen prices as high as 24 pesos. Used to be 12 or 13 per kilo. Tortillas are a fundamental food for Mexicans, with some families buying 3-4 kilos a day. The government used to subsidize tortilla prices, but no longer, so perhaps this is the true cost.
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Can you freeze lemon grass? Or is there another way to preserve it? Of course with the plant(s) you have separated you probably won't need to preserve anything. Or give them away. I just dug up (or rather, our gardener did) a bed of agapanthus that had become too crowded and as a result had stopped blooming. Took out 4 dozen clumps, which I will give away. I think they were white, but I'm not sure.
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13 hours ago, Teronms said:
Oh, thank you for the replies. I just wanted to think about starting a garden and I saw that a lot of members have their owns. I heard that growing vegetables in the greenhouse is easier that just outside that's why I had my question. I understand that I need to learn more before starting a garden, appreciate your help
The only real problem with greenhouse growing is the insect issue. It's very hard to control white fly or other more destructive insects indoors than it usually is when plants are grown outdoors. Or at least that was the case when I lived in Colorado. The cold winters (or what used to be cold winters) helped keep down the populations, but in a greenhouse the climate is quite different. I am looking for a small greenhouse to use here in Pátzcuaro, not to protect plants from frost but to protect them from the torrential rain in the summer. Turns plants to black mush, which is very discouraging.
I would encourage you to start small--grow a tomato or 2, zucchini, green beans, etc. Nothing exotic or difficult. Start with improving your soil and go from there. If you live somewhere with an extension service (US Dept. of Agriculture offices), they can be very helpful. Check with your county or state government to find them. I don't know what resources are available in other countries, though.
Have fun with it! That's not the whole idea of it, but it sure helps. Any food you harvest is a bonus.
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I make yogurt on a weekly basis and I've found that some brands (looking at you Yoplait) do not produce enough "bugs" to make yogurt of any kind much less one with the characteristic sourness. I would not use Greek yogurt for this process. It's not necessary and might be part of the reason for your problem. If you want Greek yogurt consistency, drain it afterward and save the liquid for making bread (or give it to your dog, which is what we do).
Does it set up at all? Is it too runny? If so, whisk in 4 Tbs. of dry milk powder. I use 8 oz. of starter yogurt for a quart of whole milk. (Sorry--these are non-metric measurements.) And I use a plain ol' big pot to scald the milk instead of a dedicated yogurt maker. My sister uses an Instant Pot to make yogurt (among other things) but she goes through the same scald/chill cycles that I do, so I don't see it as a benefit. A decent thermometer is a necessity, but I'm sure you have that.
My process: scald milk to 90C, cool to 55C (not 40), temper the starter yogurt with 8 oz. of warm milk and then add to the pot, pour into jars, put into a small cooler with 50C water, wrap up with towels, leave for at least 5 hours. I typically make yogurt before bedtime to rest overnight, so that ends up being about 8 hours. They say that longer resting time makes more sour yogurt but I haven't noticed that. I haven't tasted the liquid so I don't know if it's more sour. I should ask the dog.
Hope this helps a little.
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Actually I can understand being freaked out by a house on a deserted beach, reached only via a lousy 9km road. Our friend, who often rent out the house, told us of a couple who took one look at the road and bailed. They told the taxi to take them back to Puerto Vallarta because the sight of the road, surrounded by mango groves and cattle pastures and heading off into a strange landscape, was too scary. They forfeited their prepaid rent but didn't care. Personally for us the remoteness of the place really accelerates relaxation. We pull in, unload the car, grab an adult beverage and head to the beach to watch the sun go down. Bliss. But YMMV.
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Close friends own a house in a small development on 9 miles of deserted beach (really!) along the coast of Nayarit in México. It's a 7-hour drive from our house but it's worth it. There is no restaurant where we can drop in for a meal, unless we want to swim across the estuary, climb up over a headland and down the other side, and walk to a small bay with a line of beach restaurants that all serve pretty much the same seafood. Shrimp in many variations, fish filets, oysters, octopus, guacamole, and perhaps a hamburger for kids of any age. Nothing very fancy, but the seafood is impeccably fresh. One specialty of this area of the coast that I haven't seen elsewhere is huachinango (red snapper) Sarandeado, which is butterflied whole fish spread with each restaurant's special seasonings and slowly grilled over a wood fire. Comes with beans, tortillas (of course) and salad, and copious beer (this beach is not a wine-crowd kinda place). Great for a group and absolutely delicious.
The house is at the end of 9km of road that's bad at the best of times but truly dreadful after the rainy season, and Puerto Vallarta and Costco, etc., are 2-1/2 hours away. We do a major shopping trip to stock the pantry, including wine, beer, tequila and other beverages that folks want, pack the cooler, load up the car and the dog and hit the road. We are big fans of audiobooks, though we turn it off when we drive through Guadalajara to avoid distractions.
As for cooking, there is a gas grill that gets heavy use and a fairly well-equipped kitchen. Decent pots and pans, very nice dishes (one of the owners is a production potter) and sufficient glassware for civilized drinking. Gas range. However, I always bring a chefs knife, paring knife and a heavy cutting board, plus whatever ingredients for what I want to cook. Fresh vegetables and fruit get a little thin after about a week, but the maids, who come in 6 mornings a week, can bring in simple things like tomatoes or eggs. If we're desperate we drive about 45 minutes to a small town with fairly well-stocked produce markets, fresh shrimp and fish, and booze.
We've done Thanksgiving twice at that house, and each time it has been a blast. The turkey is spathcocked on the grill, I bring the makings for dressing, and any other other side dishes are put together by others (we bring the ingredients).
For those of you who are cooking breakfast for a crowd, consider making pancakes in a sheet pan. Served with fruit and bacon, bloody marys optional. There are recipes out there on the internet--basically it's just a mix poured into a greased half-sheet pan and baked until puffed and golden. Sprinkle with fruit or chocolate chips if desired. Any leftovers reheat well. I wonder if something like that, only savory, could be figured out. Zucchini? Asparagus with smoked salmon? Hmm.
The only thing wrong with the house is that it's internet equipped, so it requires determination to keep it turned off. If you want to make a call, you have to take your phone out to the beach to get a signal, so that's something.
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That makes sense. Thanks--
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"Clavo" is also the word for nail, so clarifying that you want the spice rather than a nail makes sense (though who would think that a nail was part of a recipe?). When you think about it, though, it makes sense--cloves look like tiny nails.
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You're absolutely right. After I wrote that I looked at a few tequila review sites and discovered that Fortaleza is in fact available. It has a big brother (or sister) in Los Abuelos, with a higher alcohol percentage, which makes it taste more like mezcal, or at least my husband thinks so. I prefer the lower alcohol level of Fortaleza.
Many years ago there was a website from a dedicated tequila drinker that went into great detail about the virtues and/or disappointments of various tequilas, and endless discussion about distillation processes. I don't remember the name of it now, but surely there are others like it.
So I stand corrected. Thanks--we have friends in the US who will be glad to hear this.
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There are many small distilleries in México, most of which are totally unknown outside of their local neighborhoods. Of course the town of Tequila is central to all of it, even though tequila can be legitimately produced in a few other neighboring states. Our new fave is Fortaleza, which comes in 2 versions--Fortaleza, 40%, and Los Abuelos, 46%. Trust me--you will never find this in your local liquor store. We buy it at the distillery in Tequila. Comes with a pretty bottle, and the stopper looks like a piña, the heart of the agave plant. We're collecting the tops because we want to replace the knobs on our bathroom cabinets and drawers.
Espolón is widely available, at least in blanco and reposado. Olmeca Altos is also widely available, and I like how peppery the blanco is. I've seen both of these brands in the US. Don't know about Australia.
An interesting thing is that you can identify the distillery by their NOM, which identifies which distillery made the tequila you're drinking. This can be looked up via internet, and often reveals that your favorite is actually made by somebody you've never heard of.
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We prefer blanco tequilas, sometimes called Silver or Platinum, for its clean agave flavor. Here in México of course there is an abundance of tequila, from blanco to reposado (rested) and añejo. Reposado tequila is "rested" in oak casks left over from bourbon production for at least a month, and añejo ("aged") is left in casks for as long as a year or more. For cocktail purposes I would recommend a blanco or light reposado. Hornitos is a good choice for margaritas--not expensive and readily available. For "sipping" tequila many people like an añejo, but we stick with blanco. A new form of añejo is aged in glass, which leaves it perfectly clear and white but with the same complex flavor as a traditional añejo. Don Julio 70 is a good one; Herradura makes one but I can't remember the name. Pricey but worth the extra $$. I'm not sure how this process works compared to the traditional method, but it does and we like it.
I would not use an añejo in mixed drinks. By the time it goes through the aging process, there are too many flavors to blend well with the other ingredients in my opinion. But YMMV, and if it works for you, go for it.
By the way, the higher the alcohol content, over 40%, tequila begins to taste more like mezcal. Tequila is a form of mezcal but produced differently to eliminate the smokiness. In mezcal, the "piñas" (so named because they look like pineapples) are cooked in a reducing fire for several days before being fermented, while in tequila they are roasted in ovens. If you take a tour at a tequila distillery you can eat the roasted piña like candy. Delicious. That's the flavor that comes through in the blancos, which is why we like them.
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Well, my experiment was in general positive with a couple of caveats. First, I baked it at too high a temperature for too long, which resulted in a very dark thick crust. Second, I should have made the apricot pieces larger because the 1/4" bits got lost in the dough. On the whole, however, it turned out to be very tasty. I used 1-3/4 c. bread flour, 1/2 c. whole wheat, and 1/2 c. light rye. I also used chopped walnuts in place of the pumpkin seeds. The recipe I was working from had an egg and 3 Tbs. of honey, and the rest was a usual bread recipe. Next time I think I'll make the apricot pieces larger, and maybe use pumpkin seeds instead of walnuts.
Having just watched a video on King Arthur, I tried to make the kind of slits they demonstrated, but of course I don't have the proper tool. As a result one end of the loaf sort of blew out.
It always amuses me when a cook says, "I loved the recipe, but I decided to use X instead of Y, and I'm allergic to Z and my husband doesn't like K and my daughter won't eat B, so I left them out/substituted for them. But I loved the recipe." Seems to me I'm guilty of that myself.
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Thanks! Keep us posted about your experiments. I think I'll do a little trial-and-error myself in the meantime. When you say the bread was a "light whole wheat," do you think it was made with white whole wheat flour, or a mix of white and regular whole wheat? I would think that bread made with too much whole wheat flour might be too heavy and would overwhelm the fruit flavor. Let's see--I have dried apricots and pumpkin seeds, and a free day. Guess what I'm going to do today!
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I'd be interested in hearing about your experiments, Maison Rustique. The very idea of dried apricots and pumpkin seeds is a combination I'd never think of. The only time we eat the bread I make is breakfast, so this would fit right in. Sounds perfect for a schmear of cream cheese.
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Raccoons are very inventive when it comes to food. Those little fingers, you know. I think they could pick a lock if they had the tools to do it and there was food behind the door.
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I have dry-sauteed chanterelles after foraging trips in our little camper van (Pleasure-Way). When foraging we sometimes get overly enthusiastic ("mushroom greed") and return with a lot of mushrooms to process, which has to be done almost immediately to preserve their freshness and quality. I have fond memories of my husband sitting out at the picnic table in a national forest campground cleaning chanterelles, and me inside with 2 pans cooking them until they release their juices and then packing them in ziplock bags. As I recall we put about 15 bags in our little bitty freezer to bring home to Mexico in a cooler. Removed the ice cube tray and everything else to make room. We dehydrate the boletus, so any processing has to be done in a real kitchen with electricity.
They provided many delicious meals until they ran out. One of our faves was in a risotto--yummy! Subsequent years have been disappointing due to the ongoing drought and the loss of many trees that provide the proper environment and growing conditions. Productive locations we'd found over the years were completely barren the past few trips.
One thing we always do is carry a cheap paintbrush--1" size works best--in our foraging baskets to brush off most of the duff and soil before bringing them home. We have even gone so far as to strip out the spongy tubes of boletus edulis, both to reduce processing time as well as to return the spores to the ground. And we never ever take every last mushroom from a patch because the remaining mushrooms drop their spores as they age, prolonging the vigor of the patch. We specialize in chanterelles and boletus edulis, and sometimes we find a few Clavariadelphus truncatus, which is a sweet mushroom. But they're quite rare.
By the way, a couple of 5-pound onion bags are ideal for gathering large mushrooms. Over the course of an afternoon a lot of the dirt and pine needles drop off. We always carry a few in our backpacks, just in case, which came in handy one year. We'd hiked into the Wheeler Geologic Area near Creede (Colorado), and upon arriving at the entry we discovered that almost the entire forest floor was covered with perfect boletus edulis. We were on our hands and knees harvesting like mad, because it was starting to cloud up. It's a 7-mile hike each way, and we staggered back as quickly as we could to our car carrying several full bags, which when dried filled 2 full gallon jars. I think I still have some of those mushrooms, though I'm starting to run out. We're heading back north this summer, but I have no confidence we'll find much. Sad.
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Annie_H--
Where did you get seeds for your Spanish long-keepers? We first experienced them on Mallorca several years ago. I tried to save seed from one or two to take back to the US (illegally, probably) but couldn't get good results. Problem being the climate and short growing season. But I was fascinated by the idea that tomatoes would last for months and still taste good when you used them. By the way, that pile of tomatoes is beautiful!
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I'm going to try a new strategy for growing tomatoes next year. Start the seeds in December, transplant into larger pots at least once, ideally twice, and plant out in late January/early February to grow until the rain starts and the plants rot. I have tried for the past 4 years to grow tomatoes in large pots, with varying success, so I'm going to try to plant them in the ground to see if I get better results. I can get at least 3 or 4 months before I have to pull the plants in June or early July. I will have to protect the plants at the beginning with Wall-o-Waters so they get a good start.
As for varieties, I have been growing heirlooms for a while, with some tasting better than others. (David Davidson's was a favorite, though the name shows a lamentable lack of creativity.) Buying heirlooms at a farmer's market is iffy at best. If they're ripe enough to taste good, getting them home in one piece is tricky. My sister, who gardens north of Denver, grows magnificent heirlooms. Her favorites are Gold Medal, Cherokee Purple, and Green Zebra, and I can vouch for how delicious they are. But then she has the right climate conditions to do that--a long growing season, for one thing, which I never had when I gardened in Salida, Colorado at 7,000 feet and a supposed 110-day season. (I say "supposed," because even though it didn't actually freeze in late August, overnight temps ran in the low 40s or high 30s. So those late summer days weren't real "days" in the sense that it took half the next day to warm up enough to start growing again.)
And as for mangos, 'tis the season! Pickups loaded down with ripe fruit, 5 kilos for 30 pesos, which translates to "almost free." I'm going to be making a lot of mango jam and chutney in the coming weeks. My favorite fruit, my favorite time of year because of that.
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I recently made sheet pan pancakes for a crowd, and it worked beautifully. There were 6 of us, and some were what you might call big eaters. Take your usual pancake recipe, pour it into a well-greased sheet pan with 1" sides, sprinkle with fruit, chocolate chips, etc., and bake until puffed and browned. Serve with the usuals--maple syrup, butter, jam, yogurt, stewed fruits. Cut the big flat pancake into smaller servings. Beats standing at a hot stove making pancakes for your entire family, or stashing them in a warm oven until you run out of batter, at which point the first ones have dried out. In retrospect I think I thinned the pancake batter a little to make it easier to pour and spread in the sheet pan.
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I'm trying to figure out when you'd use this...
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1 hour ago, FauxPas said:
What about vinyl planks? I think they are usually glued in place and they can mimic the look of wood planks but are less prone to scuffs, etc.
You know, I think we looked at those last summer when we finally decided that we needed new floor covering in the little kitchen area. I think we'll need to look more closely when we get back to Colorado later this year. Thanks for that suggestion.
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We have two choices for the flooring: replace with glue-down tiles, or use the old vinyl as a pattern and stick it down in one piece. The size is so small that I'm sure a remnant from a bigger job would be too big. A third option is a "floating " floor, but I'm a little dubious. If anyone has experience with that kind of floor, let me know!
We have a nephew and his family in Minneapolis, so you may see us one of these days. I'll be sure to let you guys know. Got a spot for a Class B van? My husband jokes that the van looks bigger on the inside than it does on the outside. Kinda magical.
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Gardening: (2016– )
in Food Traditions & Culture
Posted
Thank you for those wonderful ideas. I've shredded them and put them in an omelet with a bit of cheese, but I really like the egg-panko treatment. And of course the corn pancake too.