Cooking with Rick Bayless's "More Mexican Everyday"

[Chris Hennes]

Red Chile Short Rib Soup (p. 272)

 

 

This soup did taste good, but honestly the best part was the smell: the whole house smelled like braising beef and chiles. At first glance this seemed like a conventional enough beef braise, but the effect of including chayote, xonocostles (prickly pear cactus fruits, a.k.a. "tuna verde"), and epazote resulted in a unique texture and flavor. I think I'd prefer the green beans cooked a bit more, but overall I liked the dish.

[lindag]

You certainly are an adventuresome cook, and your photos are simply amazing.

They make me want to move in next door.

[Chris Hennes]

Mexican Chocolate Sorbet (p. 350)

 

 

I was really surprised by the ice cream-like texture of this sorbet. It has no dairy in it, so I expected some iciness, but there really wasn't any. What you get is a really aggressive, pure chocolate taste. There's nothing else in there getting in the way, so the flavor release is exceptional. I used the Taza Puro 70% as the Mexican chocolate, and Valrhona as the cocoa powder. The only other ingredients were sugar, water, and vanilla extract (I went with a homemade Tahitian). The quality of the ingredients paid off, this sorbet is fantastic.

[Chris Hennes]

Silky Tortilla Soup (p. 285)

 

 

This soup is an ancho chile, beans, roasted tomatoes, and stock, pureed and then topped with tortilla chips, queso fresco, and toasted bits of ancho. I was a bit suspicious of the toasted crumbled ancho topping, since last time I tried it I was not so successful, but this time I took more care in the toasting and really got them crispy. The result was a much better texture with a great pop of dried chile flavor when you bit into them. 

[Chris Hennes]

Braised Artichokes with Tomatoes, Jalapenos, Olives and Capers (p. 218)

 

 

It was interesting to me to see this in a Mexican cookbook, since the flavor profile is not one that I typically associate with Mexico. Which I suppose goes to show how little of the country's food I am actually familiar with! I would have liked quite a bit more of the pickled jalapeno than the recipe calls for, but I'm a sucker for the things, and I have a huge jar left from last year. This year's jalapeno crop will be ready for canning soon, so I need to get cracking on them.

[Smithy]

Chris, does the book talk about the region in which a particular flavor profile might be found? I'm curious about the artichokes.

[Chris Hennes]

He describes the dish as "Veracruz style" in his discussion of the mutual influence of Mexican and Mediterranean cuisines.

[Chris Hennes]

Cornmeal Pancakes (p. 237)

 

 

I've posted about these before, but last time I used his Cinnamon Agave syrup as the topping. This time I took a page from the eGullet playbook and made a cooked/uncooked blueberry topping. From Bayless I get the idea that Greek yogurt should be a staple and a dollop makes many things better. I also used the smaller quantity of buttermilk in the recipe, and omitted the butter from the cooking pan entirely. Personally I found this iteration to be more successful, with the fresh blueberries and Greek yogurt providing a superior foil for the crunchy cornmeal texture.

[Chris Hennes]

Mexican Chocolate-Pumpkin Seed Cake (p. 338)

 

DSC_9864.jpg

 

This cake is mostly pumpkin seeds and sugar, with a tiny bit of flour and a few eggs added to hold it together. Which means the taste was excellent. I used raw pumpkin seeds that I toasted just beforehand, and added a bit of salt to the recipe to compensate for not using pre-salted seeds. I did include the optional tequila, and used the Taza 60% dark chocolate. Overall it was a really good rustic-style cake. One thing I'd change next time was the topping. He calls for simply adding whole seeds and granulated sugar to the pan before baking, but I wasn't thrilled with the texture or aesthetics of that solution. Much better would be to make some caramel-glazed pumpkin seeds and scatter them on top, maybe with a dusting of shredded chocolate as well. Probably too finicky for this book, but the effect would be better, in my opinion.

 

I had dinner at Topolobampo last night, and recognizing so many of the dish components from his cookbooks made it a particularly fun meal. It also reminded me of this post, since the final dessert course was this cake. But of course considering the caliber of the restaurant it wasn't plated quite like the cookbook suggests! They served it in small chunks with a chocolate sorbet (or maybe ice cream?), a dried-chile crema, and caramel-glazed pumpkin seeds. I thought the crema was too assertive, but of course was happy to see those glazed seeds.

[Tri2Cook]

Chris, your enthusiasm in this thread inspired me to try the recipe for the chipotle meatballs. I don't have the book so I had to hope it was one that was shared online somewhere and I found what claimed to be the recipe. I followed the recipe as posted on the site with the exception that I cooked the meatballs in meatball baskets on my grill. I thought the charred bits and grilled flavor would work well with the dish. I have no idea if it was the actual recipe from the book but it's a recipe I'll hang-on to regardless because I really enjoyed it. It may even be enough to get me to spring for the book. The fairly generous amount of mint in the meatballs, which struck me as a bit odd when I read it, was perfection in the finished dish.



They just went on in this pic but I did give them a good brown exterior with some charring before I took them off.

[Chris Hennes]

Did you use rice or breadcrumbs?

[Tri2Cook]

Did you use rice or breadcrumbs?

I used rice. Something I've never done as an alternative to breadcrumbs but I liked the texture it provided. It's something I'll adapt to other meatball recipes in the future. I kinda freestyled it a bit on that part too... I chopped the rice, garlic and mint together in my mini processor. Just pulsed it until everything was chopped, not pasty. Also, the "as written" above was a bit off, I actually doubled the entire recipe.

Edited August 13, 2015 by Tri2Cook (log)

[MelissaH]

Chris, your enthusiasm in this thread inspired me to try the recipe for the chipotle meatballs. I don't have the book so I had to hope it was one that was shared online somewhere and I found what claimed to be the recipe. I followed the recipe as posted on the site with the exception that I cooked the meatballs in meatball baskets on my grill. I thought the charred bits and grilled flavor would work well with the dish. I have no idea if it was the actual recipe from the book but it's a recipe I'll hang-on to regardless because I really enjoyed it. It may even be enough to get me to spring for the book. The fairly generous amount of mint in the meatballs, which struck me as a bit odd when I read it, was perfection in the finished dish.

They just went on in this pic but I did give them a good brown exterior with some charring before I took them off.

I've never seen meatball grill baskets like those, but I think I might need to look for some!

[Tri2Cook]

I've never seen meatball grill baskets like those, but I think I might need to look for some!

Those particular baskets are made by Cuisinart. They're normally ~$22 each (amazon Canada) but I tossed them in my cart and watched them for while. At one point they dropped to just over $15 each and I hit "buy". I'm happy with them so far.

 

[rotuts]

nice.  there seem to be quite a few of these 'shaped' grilling baskets 

 

new to me.

 

thanks for posting.

 

I like the Kabob ones 

[Chris Hennes]

Scrambled Eggs with Beans, Green Onions and Avocado (p. 286)

 

 

The ideas are good here, but I wasn't enamored of the execution. The recipe has you cook the eggs in a pan with the beans, which even with well-drained beans is going to color the eggs, as well as making them harder to manage and cook properly. Of course the flavors aren't affected, and the dish tasted good (thanks in no small part to a salsa from Lesley Téllez's Eat Mexico), but I think simply topping scrambled eggs with the beans and avocado would have resulted in a better dish.

 

This is pretty much it for me and this cookbook for the time being: there are several recipes that call for things that are out of season right now, and a few that call for various bits of seafood that my wife doesn't care for. Anyone out there with the book want to take a stab at any of those?

[Tri2Cook]

This is pretty much it for me and this cookbook for the time being: there are several recipes that call for things that are out of season right now, and a few that call for various bits of seafood that my wife doesn't care for. Anyone out there with the book want to take a stab at any of those?

I don't have the book yet but when I get it, I'll take a peek at them. Seafood beyond the most basic stuff is rarely available where I live so if it goes beyond shrimp, scallops or lobster, I'll be of no help.