Cooking The Books

Masa Quesadillas with Mushroom and Roasted Chili

I love quesadillas.  A few jalapenos, a bit of red onion, some coriander and a handful of cheese melted between a couple of tortillas is a near instantly gratifying meal.  Up until I read this I didn't realise people made them any other way but the thought of fresh masa with the same fillings sounded great.  I've also just recently stocked up on masa harina so it was obviously meant to be.  My tortilla press was like a pasta machine, bought with the best intentions the gadget got used once and then stuck in the back of cupboard, making for the most expensive pasta/corn tortillas in the history of the world.  Here was a perfect opportunity to get it out again though. 

I tend to use cheddar for quesadillas as it is always in the fridge but I turned to mozzarella for these as it is far closer to the stretchy oaxaca cheese they'd use in Mexico.  The last thing you want is a load of liquid in your quesadilla so this is a rare time I'd use the harder dry blocks of mozzarella over those stored in bags of liquid.  These quesadillas obviously take a lot longer to prepare than sticking some cheese in a wheat tortilla but I'll certainly do it again, even if the preparation time means they definitely won't replace my current versions.  The resultant quesadillas have a lovely flavour from the masa harina and the fresh dough aspect creates a softer, slightly breadier texture that feels altogether more homemade.

Masa Quesadillas with Mushroom and Roasted Chili Recipe

Makes 6 quesadillas

Masa

135gr masa harina

160gr hot water

1/2ts salt

Filling

125gr mozzarella

12 mushrooms

1 clove garlic

3 green chillies

A Salsa Fresca

2 ripe tomatoes

1 small red onion

1/2 small pack/12.5gr coriander

Juice of 1/2 a lime

Salt

Method

Masa

For the masa mix the salt and masa harina together then add the water.  Knead for a few minutes until smooth then wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest for an hour.

Salsa

For the salsa dice the onion and tomato and finely chop the coriander.  Mix together, squeeze on the lime juice and season to taste.

Filling

Roast the green chilies either under the grill or directly in the flame of your gas hob until black all over then put in a bowl and cover it with clingfilm, this will help loosen the skins.  After a few minutes you should be able to remove the skins easily.  Take off the stem, remove the seeds and shred.

Slice the mushrooms then fry in a little oil with the garlic until cooked.

The Quesadillas

Take a sixth of the dough and flatten, between two sheets of plastic (I split a ziplock bag), in the tortilla press.  Fill with a sixth of the cheese, mushrooms and roasted chili.  Fold over and dry fry for 2-4 minutes a side until cooked.  By using a small frying pan with the quesadilla pushed against one side you can create the nice rounded edge.

Serve with the salsa and other other condiments you like - I'm thinking the usual sour cream, chili sauce or guacamole.

Mexican Chorizo and a couple of uses for it

During the Spanish invasion of Mexico in 1519 Cortes and his conquistadors did a lot of taking, whether it was of gold or local lives.  It wasn't entirely one way traffic though as they gave them chorizo (and the rest of the words in the Spanish language for that matter too), but 500 years is a long time and now what constitutes chorizo in Spain and Mexico differs greatly.  Maybe the heat of Mexico doesn't bode well for the long cool periods required for curing as the Mexican version is a fresh sausages, spiced heavily with chili, paprika and garlic.  Whilst the Spanish slice their cured sausage thinly and eat it as is - or in a bocadilla or on tostada - the Mexican affair is more a flavouring.  Small amounts of the pungent minced meat are fried then added to scrambled eggs or quesadillas, transforming them with spice and heat - a little goes a long way.

My recipe is based on a recipe from Lourdes Nichols and it has served me well for near two decades.  Her 1980s Mexican cookbook doesn't look remotely dated today, and it's only a little paperback from Sainsbury.

Mexican Chorizo

300gr minced pork, fatty is better than lean

3 TB malt vinegar

1 ts salt

1/2 ts black pepper

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2 ts powdered de arbol chili, or other hot (assuming you like the heat) chili powder

1 TB paprika

1 ts coriander seeds, ground

1 ts oregano, preferably Mexican but normal will suffice

Pinch of grated nutmeg

2 cloves, ground

Method

Mix well, leave overnight in the fridge to mature, use.

I split into 6, approx. 50gr portions, wrap in clingfilm and freeze.  I find these portions are suitable for knocking up something for 2 people, whether it's scrambled eggs, quesadillas or fried cheese tacos.

Here's a couple of serving suggestions, they're more ideas than recipes as I knock them up on the fly.  Hopefully there's enough info to repeat them though.

Scrambled Eggs with Chorizo

This is one of my favourite breakfasts.  Fry the chorizo in a little oil till browned.  Remove from pan, add a little more oil and scramble the eggs in it, add the chorizo once set.  Warm a wheat tortilla till soft, spread with frijoles refritos (refried beans), top with the chorizo scrambled eggs, some fresh salsa (diced red onion, tomato, coriander and lime juice), a little grated cheese and hot sauce of your choosing, here I went for a green habanero based one.

Fried Cheese and Chorizo Tacos

These aren't tacos in the Old El Paso deep fried basket sense, just soft tortillas (wheat or corn) wrapped around a filling.  My nan always used to fry cheese as part of a fry up, I grew up thinking everyone did it but have literally never met anyone else that ate it.  Big handfuls of cheddar were dumped in a frying pan were they separated, bubbled and eventually rejoined into a crisp around the edges but chewy slice, kind of like a lump of cheese pulled from a pizza.  Judging by the amount of yellow fat left in the previously dry frying pan it must be one dish were frying reduces the calories.

Normally I do the same, just frying a lump and having it as part of a breakfast, but I recently read of a Mexican dish of fried cheese rolled around homemade chorizo so gave it a go.  The results are similar to quesadillas, obviously, but the frying concentrates the cheese flavour and gives it a decent bite in the middle of the tortilla.

To make simply heat a dry frying pan and dump in a big handful of grated cheese.  As it melts and spreads keep pushing it into a nice shape with a spatula and hopefully after a while it should come together enough that you can lift the slice out.  Place it in a small tortilla, sprinkle browned chorizo on top then add fresh salsa, roll up and enjoy.  As before some hot sauce is always a welcome addition.

Chorizo and Potato Quesadillas

I've blogged about these before so the recipe is here and just needs the chorizo above, remember to fry it till cooked before using though.

Carnitas

I first read about carnitas getting on 20 years ago.  I imagine back then few on these shores knew anything about the dish but I was transfixed by any recipe with half a kilo of lard in, something I only associated with my nan's famous pork chops (cold frying pan, knob of lard on top).  With the growing popularity of burritos at the minute the name is now familiar to many but in case you're not one of them carnitas are pork slowly cooked in fat until meltingly soft.  In the name of health people do mess around using nothing but water (in this recipe the water just gets it going) but you won't get the same result and it's not something you're going to eat every day. 

The cooking starts similarly to a confit of pork, slowly simmering in its own rendered fat but once tender we depart from the French and aim to get the pork brown, leaving golden chunks whose crisped exterior belies an interior so soft you can shred it with a fork.  Traditionally the meat is only delicately flavoured - Rick Bayless uses just salt - but again folk deviate and I've seen all kinds of spice heavy versions, these tend to be the ones that simmer in water too though so I stick to the mild version, letting the pork shine through and adding spices in the accompaniments.

On the topic of accompaniments once cooked the obvious serving suggestion is within a tortilla.  This time I went for a burrito, adding salsa, sour cream, cheese (a rare move to a mild cheddar, it tastes too English otherwise), jalapenos (pickled and roasted) and black beans - rice seems a bit superfluous unless you're bulking out a £5 lunch so I left it out the wrap.  A simple soft taco with the pork, some mild onion and coriander is also lovely, especially with some vinegar heavy chili sauce to cut through the richness.  I could imagine it taking the place of pulled pork in a sandwich too, altering the condiments a bit so it says Mexico rather than USA.

This method of simmering in lard till tender is used on all kinds of cuts in Mexico.  Stomach, ear and skin all get the treatment so if you're feeling adventurous don't feel limited to shoulder. The stomach carnitas is definitely calling me.

Carnitas, serves 4-6 

Ingredients

2kg pork shoulder

1 onion

2 clove garlic

2 ts salt

1 ts black pepper

4 TB malt vinegar

Juice of an orange

600ml water

500gr lard

Method

To make the marinade blend everything except the pork.  Take the skin off the pork then cut the into big chunks (3 per kg) and marinade, overnight preferably but you'll get some flavour within a couple of hours.

Put the pork and marinade an overnproof dish, add 600ml of water and the lard.  Cover and stick in a 170 deg oven for 2 hours, turning occasionally.

Turn up the heat to 200, take the lid off and give 30 more minutes, turning a couple of times till brown, it may help the colour if drain a load of the lard off first.

Remove and it's ready for whatever you want to shred it into. 

If you can get it from under the lard the sauce is a lovely combination of meat juice, salt and the marinade too.

Steak Fajitas

Fajitas were my first experience of Mexican food.  I remember back as a teenager they appeared on a few menus in Milton Keynes as Tex-Mex became popular.  What teenager could be failed to be seduced by the sizzling cast iron dish bought smoking to the table?  The little pots of cheese, sour cream, guacamole and salsa and the soft tortillas? The construction work required before you got down to eating?  Definitely not me.

I’ve been making these fajitas for years and use the marinade for both chicken and beef.  The idea originally came from a book by Lourdes Nichols but over the years it has morphed into my own.  You can add salsa and guacamole if you like but over the years I've moved towards less slop in my tortilla.  It may not be the only herb they use (oregano is also popular) but coriander works perfectly here, the stalks flavouring the marinade and the leaves providing a salad element.  With so many flavours in the marinade you don't want to put it to waste and so a few spoonfuls get added to the vegetables for flavour. 

Chorizo and Potato Quesadillas

I’ve blogged about quesadillas before and mentioned this flavour combination then.  It’s not something I’ve attempted to make ever, just eaten in Wahaca , but thought I’d give it a try and see how my efforts shaped up.

 

It didn’t taste exactly as I remembered it in when eating out (I used Spanish chorizo whereas they used Mexican so not that surprising) but it still made for a great quesadilla.  The potato gives a more substantial quesadilla than usual and the soft mash with oozing cheese was very comforting to eat.  I had some green chili sauce with them to heat it up a bit.