mexican flavor and another bride.

leslie — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:12:00 +0000

Hello! I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend and stayed warmer than I did. I think the cold has taken permanent residence in my bones – my toes actually went numb in the upper deck of Yankee Stadium on Friday night. I was sporting a sweatshirt over my winter coat – classic, I know. The experience was worth the near frostbite, of course.

Most of my weekend, however, was centered around another bride-to-be, my cousin. My mother threw a beautiful bridal shower with a tasteful Mexican theme. With my mom in charge of the food, everything was fresh, light, and packed with flavor.

We started with hors d’oeuvres – veg, chips, salsa verde, mango salsa, and guacamole:

Obviously, I dominated on vegetables + guac.

For entreés, we were offered two sides – a tangy corn salad:

And a delicious carrot salad, which began as a recipe my mom discovered in the math textbook for her fourth grade class. Healthy food in an elementary school – progress! The recipe is at the end of the post.

There were also mini corn muffins, made according to a classic recipe from my childhood. These are the first baked good I can ever remember assisting with.

And corn muffins would be useless at lunch without chili (which is always impossibly unphotogenic):

Vegetarian and beef chilis were both available, but I deemed the veggie option most worthy of photographing (and eating, obviously).

For dessert, we had platters beyond platters of cookies:

Including my mom’s famous bourbon balls, mini vegan cupcakes (yay!), linzer tortes, peanut butter-chocolate thumbprints, gingersnaps, and bite-size chocolate caramel cupcakes. Certainly no lack of variety!

It’s always wonderful to attend a party and to enjoy all the food on offer, to know it was all made from scratch, and to see fresh ingredients in every dish. Of course, I’d expect nothing less from a gathering of my mom’s doing.

And in her honor, the math-inspired carrot dish:

mom’s carrot salad (serves 12 as a side)

3 pounds carrots, peeled and grated
2 c jicama, peeled and diced
1/2 c cilantro, chopped
1/4 c roasted and salted sunflower seeds
juice of 1.5 oranges
juice of 1.5 lemons
1/2 c evoo
2 T honey
1 t whole grain Dijon mustard
1 t salt
1/2 t fresh ground black pepper

Toss together carrots and jicama. Whisk together orange juice through pepper; toss with vegetables. Stir in cilantro and sunflower seeds just before serving.

How did you spend your weekend?

salsa squared.

leslie — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:43:00 +0000

Mexican is one of my favorite cuisines. Obviously I love flavor, and with Mexican, I get flavor and heat. Even better.

I’ve been meaning to attempt my own salsa for a while now, and I finally collected the ingredients this week. Of course, I’ve been thinking about it for so long that I had too many ideas.

So, I made two.

black bean and corn salsa

1 15 oz can black beans
1 c corn kernels
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes with juice
1/2 c onion, chopped
1/2 c sweet peppers, chopped
1 green chili, deseeded and minced
1 T cumin

Sauté onion in olive oil until soft. Add peppers, sauté 2 minutes. Add cumin, toss to coat. Add black beans, corn, tomatoes and juice, and chili. Simmer about 10 minutes, until tomato juice has been absorbed.

mango and jicama salsa

1.5 c jicama, diced into 1/4″ cubes
1 mango, diced into 1/4″ cubes
1/3 c fresh cilantro, chopped

Combine all ingredients. That’s it! :)

On the plate with a side of avocado. I believe my sister’s exact words were, “This is so good; I don’t want to eat it.”

I’m going to have some avocado mousse for dessert, which means I’ll have eaten an entire avocado today. What? Fat? What’s that again?

What’s your favorite Mexican dish?

the whole plate. » jicama

mexican flavor and another bride.

salsa squared.