Tag: mexican

Braised Pork in Lazy Cherry Ancho Mole
I’m going to be completely honest here; I’m not the biggest fan of cherries.

It’s not that I have anything against them, they’re just not really my steeze. But this blog is supposed to be a challenge, and that means transforming whatever is in season, whether I like it or not, into something unique and delicious.

Doing research for cherry flavor profiles ended up giving us the key for what we would do with them. While cherries aren’t toward the top of my list, there are a multitude of flavors that I do love that have an affinity for them: chocolate, nuts, coffee, dried fruit or chiles, vanilla, and other spices like cinnamon to name a few. I had trouble picking a direction until I realized that I didn’t have to, after browsing through a Mark Miller cookbook. There’s already something out there that uses most of these things and that I was certain would welcome the presence of cherries: mole.

Sometimes containing upwards of 60 ingredients and often demanding an entire day to make, mole is definitely an undertaking. While all the work is certainly worth it, sometimes I’m just not up to it. Sometimes I just feel like being lazy while something braises in the oven for hours while I troll my way through an RPG or a good book. I’ve made so many damn lazy moles in my day, and while they aren’t as complex as they could be, I still find that they hit the spot; plus they’re really fun to make and easy to experiment with. Never under-estimate the amount of joy I can derive from dumping a bunch of shit in a food processor, blending it together, and seeing what happens. I certainly had a lot of fun fooling around with this recipe.

Lazy Cherry Ancho Mole:
- 1½ ounces ancho chiles, stems and seeds removed
- 1 pound of fresh dark cherries (we like Bings), pitted and halved
- ½ small onion, roughly chopped
- 1 cup of brewed strong coffee, hot
- 2 chipotles in adobo sauce
- ¼ cup whole almonds, toasted
- 1 ounce chocolate (over 60%, please, none of that milk chocolate nonsense), finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon of allspice
- A pinch of clove
- A few grates of fresh nutmeg
Rehydrate the chiles by submerging them in water and microwaving for 2–3 minutes. They should be soft and have changed in color, becoming more red. Remove from the water and set aside. Discard the water.

In a food processor, combine all of the ingredients for the mole except for the coffee and the vinegar. Pulse repeatedly, scraping the sides until the mixture is as smooth as you can get it. Combine the coffee and vinegar together and pour through the top of the food processor while the blade is running. The mole should loosen up and blend until completely smooth. The quick mole is ready to use, but can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week before using.

Braised Pork in Lazy Cherry Ancho Mole:
- 4 pounds lean pork shoulder, cut into 2-3 inch cubes
- 1 batch of Lazy Cherry Ancho Mole
Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a casserole dish (or dutch oven), pour in the mole and place the pieces of pork on top. If using a dutch oven, simply place all the pork inside and give it a quick stir. Cover in aluminum foil or lid and braise for about 3 hours or until the meat becomes tender and falls apart. After braising, remove the meat from the mole, allowing it to rest and be shredded later. Remove the excess fat and, if you like, use an immersion blender to make sure the mole has a really smooth texture.

Shred the meat with forks and serve after cooling with sauce on the side. Accompaniments can include corn tortillas, rice and beans, or just eat it out of the pan over the stove.
June 26, 2016
Chilaquiles
Everyone seems to have a default breakfast. You know the one. You’re mulling over what to eat in the morning, then you sigh and say “I’ll just make this. Again.” Very frequently, it’s a rag tag assembly of whatever you have on hand in your fridge on a regular basis. It’s a reflection of your cooking habits where your stock characters/ingredients all work together.
This particular meal (if you really think about it) was probably the result of drinking way too much the night before and not wanting to go to any large lengths to create a fancy meal the following morning. I can imagine the inventor’s thought process going something like this:

“Lets see. I’ll take some super stale tortillas that I was too drunk to put away last night (they’re still good, right?) and…fuck it, I’ll just fry ’em up with some eggs and salsa. Christ, my head hurts.”

Pretty sure that’s how it went down.

In a way, chilaquiles are the Mexican answer to fried rice: an excess of a starchy meal component that is used in an ingenious way to get rid of leftovers. Chilaquiles are a spicy, fresh, and satisfying breakfast situation that bring a huge variety of textures and flavors to one meal. If you haven’t made these before, you better get on it. You just might have a new favorite default breakfast.

This recipe is designed to give you freedom to do what this dish does best: get rid of leftovers. All you really need are the things listed in the chilaquiles section, but adding a garnish or three and a couple add-ins can transform a good bowl of chilaquiles into a great one. We certainly have our preferences, and we can make this breakfast in our sleep, which is a helpful skill if you’re waiting (in vain) for your coffee to brew.

Chilaquiles
- 10 corn tortillas, left out overnight to become stale, cut into eighths
- Oil for frying
- 2 eggs, beaten
- ½ + ¼ cup salsa, divided
  Note: Use any salsa you like: red or green. The idea is to use up whatever you have lying around. If we were to give you a recommendation, however, we would tell you to use our recipe for morita salsa. It turns out very 👌👌.
Garnish
- More salsa
- Cilantro, chopped
- Queso fresco, crumbled
- Crema
- Lime slices
- Fresh avocado, sliced
Optional add-ins
- 4 oz. chorizo, veggie sausage, protein of choice
- ¼ of a medium onion, chopped
- ½ of a small zucchini, sliced
- ½ cup roasted corn
In a deep skillet, heat a generous amount of oil on medium high and fry the chips in several batches until they are crispy and golden. Allow them to cool slightly drain excess oil on a plate with a paper towel. Set aside. Remove almost all leftover oil from the skillet if a lot remains.

Heat the same skillet on medium heat and cook your desired add-ins at this time. When they are done, add in the eggs and cook quickly, like scrambled eggs. When the eggs are almost done, add the ½ cup of salsa and stir until all of it is evenly incorporated. Add the chips and stir well. Add the remaining ¼ cup of salsa and stir well.

Serve immediately with a few garnishes, and tuck in.

Serves 2.
July 18, 2015
Morita Salsa
There are many different kinds of salsas out there, but more often than not, for one person who is educated in “salsa literacy” there is just The One. When someone finds The One, they usually end up putting it on everything. For some people this might be Tabasco. For others, Sriracha, Tapatio, Cholula. You get the picture. We have The One for us, too. But we don’t go out and buy ours. We make it at home. And this recipe tells you how to do it.
Finding out which salsa will be yours takes time. You need to experiment. It’s kinda like dating. You gotta spread yourself around a little bit and maybe go outside of your comfort zone from time to time. Finding your salsa will require you to be in touch with yourself and really understand what you like to eat. Do you like bold flavors, or subtle complex ones? Do you prefer a fresh flavor profile, or a smoky one? Tart or sweet? Do you like your spicy food to tickle or tackle you? Your salsa should represent what you wish every food had, so that when you use it, it does!

Our salsa is made with a special little chile called a morita. Moritas are smoked jalapeños, just like chipotles are, but they aren’t smoked for as long. They still have some of that dark, smoky, sexy-ness that chipotles have, but they have also retained some sweetness from their fresher form. We like that they are balanced. We blend a lot them with charred tomatoes, onions, garlic, and spices to make a light and smoky, slightly sweet and savory sauce. You best believe it’s in our fridge at all times.
- 5 ripe roma tomatoes, halved, divided
- ½ large onion, halved
- 4 large cloves of garlic, peeled
- 6 morita chiles, de-stemmed
- 1 tbs. ground cumin
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- salt to taste
Note: Moritas aren’t exactly easy to find. You won’t find them at any standard corporate grocery store. You need to go to a Mexican market for these babies. For this recipe, use ones on the bigger side as opposed to the little uns.

Rehydrate the moritas by placing them in a microwave safe dish with enough water to cover. Microwave for 90 seconds then set aside.

Coat a non-stick pan with vegetable oil and bring to medium high heat. When the oil shimmers, add four halved tomatoes flat face down, onion, and garlic to the pan. Sear until slightly charred. When the tomatoes are golden, flip them over to char the skin slightly. Stir onions and garlic occasionally. When the tomato skins wrinkle, transfer everything to a food processor. Remove the moritas from the water and add them to the food processor. Add the cumin and vinegar. Blend until completely smooth. Put the mixture back in your pan and cook on medium low heat to reduce the liquid, about 20–30 minutes, stirring frequently.

When your mixture is paste-like, place it back in the food processor and blend in the last tomato you set aside. Keep the food processor running and drizzle the oil through the top to emulsify. Add salt to taste. If the salsa is still too thick, add some water. The desired consistency should resemble heavy whipping cream. Use immediately. Refrigerate any unused salsa for around a month, perhaps longer (trust your nose).

Yields one pint, plus a little extra.
April 28, 2015