Zosia's Reviews
19 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 19Sort by: Title 
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Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen: Capturing the Vibrant flavors of a World-Class Cuisine
By Rick Bayless
Scribner - 1996
Chilied Tortilla Soup with Shredded Chard : page 117
A chard and chili soup with great flavour that acts as a vehicle for all sorts of toppings.
The rich tasting broth owes its flavour to roasted garlic, tomatoes and some reconstituted dried chilies. (I used ancho instead of pasilla). I added some cooked black beans to make it more of a meal in a bowl, and with shredded cheese, fried ancho chilies and crispy shards of corn tortilla, it was just that. One drawback of the soup is that it must be served once the chard is added. With family members eating at different times, I was able to work around this by leaving a bowl of washed, sliced chard in the fridge next to the soup, to be added just before the soup is reheated, one bowl at a time.
Because of the work involved in roasting, toasting and frying some of the ingredients, I’ll make a double batch of the broth next time and freeze half. Would be delicious with spinach or kale as well.
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Classic Red Tomato Rice : page 250
This is the best red rice I’ve ever tasted.
Like the red rice I reviewed not too long ago from the book Seductions of Rice, this one also starts with charred vegetables: tomatoes, jalapeno and garlic (essential roasted tomato-jalapeno salsa). These are pureed and added to sautéed rice along with onions and cilantro. The pilaf is baked after the addition of water or stock.
Do watch the salt level, especially if using a salted stock - I found the salsa to be a little salty so I reduced the total amount of salt in the recipe from 1 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp and this worked well even though I used water. My baking time was a little shorter as I used a skillet (greater surface area) instead of the recommended saucepan/dutch oven. After 20 minutes, the rice was cooked and the grains were separate but a little moist. An additional 5 minutes of steaming outside of the oven and the rice was perfectly done.
There’s a little dissension within the family as to which recipe is best: I prefer this one as it’s smokier, spicier and more tomato-y and the oven cooking method seemed to require less babysitting than the stovetop method of the other.
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Essential Chopped Tomato-Serrano Salsa : page 25
Quick and easy basic salsa that’s bound to liven up any dish. I included the optional garlic for extra zing.
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Goat-Milk Caramel (Cajeta) : page 401
Sweet, creamy, caramel goodness with a hint of cinnamon.
I used full fat (3.25%) goat’s milk for this recipe and added vanilla bean seeds and the pod at the start along with the cinnamon stick as I had decided not to flavour it with alcohol. Make sure your pot is large enough to handle twice the volume of milk and then some because that’s how much it foamed when I added the baking soda.
For the first 25 minutes of cooking –it took 35 for mine– not much seemed to happen and only occasional stirring was required. But once it became a “pale gold syrup”, full attention was required. When the instructions say to stir the mixture very frequently, it means constantly, otherwise you’ll end up with a scorched mess. The finished consistency is as the author describes, like thin corn syrup.
I’ve made cajeta before using a different recipe and cow’s milk and though the other was less sweet, which is my preference, this one is far more complex and has the subtle but distinctive flavour of goat’s milk.
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Guacamole : page 78
Avocado mixed with essential chopped tomato-serrano salsa makes for a more interesting guacamole with the creamy avocado tempering the bite and heat of the salsa. I left most of the avocado in chunks as it was being used as a taco topping instead of a dip.
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Delicious Mexican-style vegetarian lasagna.
Like most lasagnas, there are several components to be prepared before final assembly and baking: essential quick-cooked tomato-chipotle sauce; steamed chard, zucchini and defrosted corn; fried corn tortillas; shredded Chihuahua cheese.
I halved all of the ingredients except the chard as I decided to include the stems as well as the leaves and assembled them in a deep dish 9” pie plate. The recipe calls for the tortillas to be flash fried so that they don’t dissolve into the sauce during baking. I wasn’t too happy about doing this as they absorbed a fair bit of the oil in the process and up to that point not much fat had been added to the dish – the cheese was going to be the main source.
The casserole looked a little dry after baking but wasn’t in reality as the tortillas ended up absorbing a lot of the liquid. The 2 layers closest to the bottom, also closest to the chard and zucchini, disintegrated; the top 2 layers retained their integrity. So the frying didn’t work that well….
Despite all of this, it was really very tasty. There was a wonderful balance of juicy greens, sweet corn, spicy sauce and gooey cheese with the flavour of the corn tortilla in every bite. It looked Italian but there was no mistaking those Mexican flavours. If I can find another way to prepare the tortillas, I’ll definitely make it again.
I found that a half recipe serves 5-6. (not 4)
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Mango-Lime Ice : page 393
Delicious and refreshing, tasting of sweet-tart mangoes with a hint of orange!
I started this the night before as recommended, intending to use the still-set method instead of the ice cream machine. None of my mango measurements agreed with the recipe’s: I had 3 medium (not 4 large) Ataulfo mangoes which weighed 2 1/4lbs and yielded 3 ½ cups (not 2 heaping cups) chopped fruit. I used it all. After blending the fruit with lime juice, water, sugar and orange rind – grated with a microplane, not chopped as per the recipe - I put the mixture through a strainer, though this last step wasn’t necessary at all.
I froze the mixture and then whipped with an immersion blender once the same evening, then again the following morning. My immersion blender died during the second session so I didn’t repeat the process a third time as instructed. The texture of the sorbet was fine and not at all icy.
Definitely a repeat though I’ll use my ice cream maker next time.
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Modern Mexican Chocolate Flan with Kahlua : page 390
Though not as rich and creamy as some, the texture was smooth and silky and the flan had a sweet chocolate flavour and a delicious topping of bittersweet caramel.
I don’t have much experience with baked custards so I followed the author’s instructions closely. Though he starts with the caramel, it made more sense to me to start with the custard as some of the ingredients needed to steep for 20 minutes. The directions were clear and all seemed to go well.
I don’t think I over-baked my flans as they still jiggled when I removed them after 25 minutes of baking and had not passed the clean knife test just a few minutes before that, but I think I may have incorporated too much air into the mixture as there were tiny air pockets on the surface. Also, some sort of separation of ingredients took place during baking…it looks like a layered dessert.
Appearance (and possible user error) aside, I was a little disappointed with the flavour: I found that the almond extract overwhelmed both the cinnamon and the Kahlua making this more of a chocolate-almond flan.
The author warns that Mexican chocolate is not like others so perhaps I was expecting too much.....I’d like to try the more classic vanilla version of this recipe.
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This soup is only as good as the ingredients used. It consists of 3 parts, each of which must be delicious enough to stand on its own as it isn't simmered with the others for very long: Essential Roasted Poblanos Rajas, pureed roasted tomatoes, stock.
The poblanos were meaty and had a very pleasant rich and slightly sweet flavour but had no heat though were delicious in combination with the sautéed onions and garlic in the rajas. I used canned San Marzano tomatoes as they had more flavour than the tomatoes currently in my grocery store and I reduced some homemade vegetable stock (so vegetarian daughter could eat this) to intensify the flavour.
Served with cubed queso fresco, the soup was very tasty….light and not too tomato-y. The author suggests that this be made when tomatoes are at their peak and I do plan to do that….with a different crop of poblanos, there may be a little more flavour to be had there as well.
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This salad offers a very refreshing combination of flavours and a nice variety of textures.
I omitted the optional pickled onions as not everyone is a fan and used just a pinch of ancho chili powder. I made the full recipe for 7 people and was a little concerned when I saw the huge mound it produced but it was so good, we had no problem finishing it off.
Excellent as a starter or a side salad…..I’d be happy to eat it for dessert!
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The beauty of Rick Bayless’s essential sauces and salsas is that if you make some to keep on hand, you can throw together a delicious dish like this at a moment’s notice.
When I made guacamole recently, I made extra of the essential roasted tomatillo-serrano salsa, one of the variations the author suggests for this dish, so that’s what I used. The dish consists of a sunny side-up egg (that’s a double-yolked egg in the photo) that’s drizzled with warm salsa, served on a lightly toasted corn tortilla and garnished with queso añejo (or feta) cheese and cilantro.
The flavour was a balanced combination of sweet corn tortilla, tangy and spicy tomatillo salsa, rich egg yolk and salty cheese. It was simple, effortless and very tasty and would make a great breakfast item, but we had it as a quick breakfast-for-dinner along with a salad.
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Rick Bayless describes this as a “brothy paella”, and this soup, with its richly flavoured broth, perfectly cooked seafood (even the squid was tender!) and al dente rice certainly does have some things in common with paella but with a very distinctly Mexican twist – a tomato-jalapeño salsa that adds bright flavour and heat.
Once the prep work of making the salsa and cooking the rice and the squid is done, all of which can be done in advance, the soup takes just a few minutes to finish. I added clam juice instead of the squid cooking water to the broth but otherwise made the recipe as written using shrimp, clams, cod and squid; I do think it would be fabulous with whatever fish and seafood is fresh that day.
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Quick, easy, fresh tasting and delicious – you can’t really ask much more of a recipe than that on a busy weeknight.
I used fish (halibut), one of the suggested substitutes for the shrimp and marinated in lime juice for 30 minutes as directed. In the meantime, I made the essential chopped tomato-serrano salsa, a simple mix of tomatoes, serranos, garlic and onion. I seeded the chiles and used 3 (up to 5 are recommended) and the heat level worked for us – it was noticeable but not fiery hot.
The fish/shrimp was seared quickly on one side, turned, then cooked with the salsa added to the pan until done. I omitted the optional diced avocado which gets warmed with the salsa at the end.
I served this over rice but it would be great as a taco filling. Next time, I don’t think I’ll bother to cube the fish, but cook the fillets whole, as I found I was rushing to remove the pieces one at a time from the pan, leaving the salsa behind, before they over-cooked.
I’d love to try this with shrimp – I think it will be just as delicious!
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Smoky Peanut Mole with Grilled Quail : page 286
The author calls this the easiest mole he knows and describes the flavour as “crowd pleasing”. I’m not certain about the former statement as it took me a long time to make, but I can definitely attest to the latter. Rich, smoky, slightly sweet and tart with a hint of bitterness……the flavour is really too complex to describe but it tastes fantastic.
The list of ingredients is long and includes toasted ancho chiles, chipotles en adobo, roasted tomatoes, peanuts, sauteed aromatics and spices. The recipe directions and descriptions are very clear and easy to follow. Once all of the ingredients are prepped, pureed and strained, cooking time is ~ 50 minutes.
I served this with grilled chicken to family and friends who have never had a real mole (including myself) and everyone loved it.
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A fantastic combination of tender shredded chicken and sautéed potatoes and onions in a smoky tomato-chipotle sauce. Basic ingredients, yet so much flavour, and relatively quick to prepare….once the sauce is done, and that can be done in advance, this is a 30-minute meal!
The dish starts with a quick cooked sauce of roasted tomatoes, garlic and dried chipotles. I used canned peppers en adobo, and only half the amount as it seemed spicy enough for my family. After a quick sear of the sauce, skinless chicken thighs are braised in it. Meanwhile, shredded potatoes are browned in a pan with onions. Once done, the chicken is shredded and everything is combined and topped with queso fresco and avocado.
I thought my family would have difficulty sitting down to a plate of shredded meat and potatoes with a side salad so we had it as taco filling in corn tortillas (with a side salad). For a less casual meal, I would leave the chicken thighs whole and serve them on the bed of sautéed potatoes.
Definitely worth repeating.
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Spicy Pasilla-Mushroom Tacos : page 156
Rick Bayless says it took him years to “settle in with pasillas”….I’m definitely not there yet after my first taste of them. Everything about them is bold: their pungent smell and flavour and even their colour (the paste is almost black).
The taco filling starts with essential bold pasilla seasoning paste, a pureed and sieved blend of toasted garlic, toasted and rehydrated pasillas, spices and a little of the chile soaking water. After tasting it, I decided to use only ~1/3. The paste is then seared and cooked with mushrooms and stock.
The resulting filling tastes strongly of the chile – if I’d used more, I think its distinctive flavour would have overpowered the mushrooms, and the dish would have been too hot for us.
Apart from vegetarian daughter who really liked it, family thought it was just okay.
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Tangy Tomatillo-Sauced Fish Enchiladas : page 174
I had high hopes for this dish when I tasted the Essential Simmered Tomatillo-Serrano Sauce, the first component that must be made – it was fabulous. Consisting of roasted tomatillos and serranos and caramelized onions and garlic, it was tangy, spicy, and a little sweet and smoky at the same time.
Unfortunately, the filling of boiled potatoes and poached fish in combination with the corn tortilla was beyond bland and texturally one note – soft. The tomatillo sauce that‘s used in the filling and served on top of the enchilada with some Thick Cream (or low-fat sour cream in my case) stirred in saved this dish. It was also helped by fresh coriander and crunchy radish garnishes but it needed a lot more of these to have much impact. I served this with a crunchy slaw with a tangy lime dressing and this helped.
Despite the serving not being large, I didn’t find this as light a meal as the author says; I think it would be much better without the potatoes.
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Tomatillo-Green Guacamole : page 81
This is a very different, but delicious, take on guacamole from what I’m used to – the tomatillos provide tanginess and the roasted garlic and serranos provide flavour and heat.
The guacamole is simple to make but does start with a batch of Essential Roasted Tomatillo Serrano Salsa, made by broiling tomatillos in the oven until blackened, toasting serranos and garlic in a skillet and pureeing these ingredients together. This is then added to mashed ripe avocados along with chopped onion and cilantro. I’m becoming more accustomed to the whole process of making these essential sauces so it’s not taking me nearly as long, and, fortunately, this mixture doesn’t need to be strained.
Vegetarian daughter was helping to make this as its final destination was a party she was attending so I only had a quick taste when it was done. I thought it was very good and my daughter loved it, in particular the mellowness and deep, almost sweet flavours of the roasted garlic and chile. Definitely something to repeat when I get my hands on more fresh tomatillos!
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Warm Cajeta Pudding with Fresh Berries : page 399
This has to be one of the most heavenly “bread” puddings I have ever had……airy sponge cake, soaked in a rich cajeta-flavoured custard, layered with juicy berries….
This can be as simple or as complicated to make as you like: the complicated version involves making the sponge cake and cajeta from scratch, the simple version has you using store-bought. My version was somewhere in-between. I used sponge cake leftover from this project that I had stored in the freezer but I did make a batch of this cajeta, using 25% less sugar than the recipe (much more to my liking this time).
I was a little concerned about the level of sweetness of the dessert as toasted cake is used instead of bread so I used a little less cajeta in the custard and made up the lost volume with 1% milk.
Served with a dollop of Greek yogurt and some additional berries, the dessert was a nice balance of sweet and tart and wasn’t too heavy or rich.
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