Ingredients
While we love the unabashedly decadent version of Mexican sweet corn (the one slathered with crema, cheese, chile and a jolt of lime), we also understand the need for a little restraint now and then. Consider this recipe an ascetic take, and a delicious one at that — corn grilled with just a small slather of butter until it’s slightly charred then dressed with lime juice and hot chile. Utterly addicting.
Serve these refreshing beer coolers over ice with lime and some salt -- then it's just a matter of adding as many dashes of hot sauce as you can take.
In the age of the 32-ounce (or larger) Big Gulps and the like, a small drink may not necessarily seem fashionable. But large quantity is not always related to good quality, as is attested by those mammoth margaritas, laced as they are with artificially flavored sweet-and-sour mix. This margarita is the real thing: purity and refreshing freshness that's strained into martini glasses after a vigorous rumble with ice cubes in a cocktail shaker. Just before your guests arrive, combine the tequila, orange liqueur, and lime juice in a pitcher, and you'll be poised for the shaking to begin.
Pescado Rodrigo is one of the most beloved dishes in Mexico City. I make it at least a couple of times a month. Fresh fish, seared until crispy then drizzled with a chunky citrus sauce, is the seafood to stuff into a corn tortilla for tacos. The recipe comes from the Bellinghausen, a classic old-school Mexico City restaurant, established in 1915 and cherished by many families, including ours. Its old hacienda style, complete with tiles and a working fountain, is so dignified and grandiose that my sisters and I used to dress to the nines to eat there on Sundays. The menu never changes, ever. And it doesn't need to.
You have got to make this salad. Everyone that has tried it at my table, leaves with a recipe for making it at home and then repeats it incessantly. That’s how good it is. It will completely change the way you think about salads. Green, red, ivory and yellow. Smooth, juicy, firm and crunchy. Chunky all over and each chunk with a different flavor and texture that makes you want to keep on eating eat although you may be so full.
A common sight in Mexico, chorizo sausage infuses potatoes with its salty, spicy flavor for a hearty taco filler.
The salsa can be prepared up to 12 hours ahead of time, covered and refrigerated. And it can be eaten with anything you want to try it with!
Sandwiches can be assembled up to 2 hours in advance, and kept covered at room temperature. Toast immediately before eating.
We had the good fortune to spend a week in Mexico City a few years back, and while we ate killer food like madwomen, we were both entirely won over by the fruit waters, or aguas frescas that Mexicans routinely drink. Made daily with puréed fresh, ripe fruit, water and sugar, they are utterly enchanting and perfect for summertime sipping. You won’t miss the alcohol, we promise.