There are times when one simply has to try something unusual. Here, it's a whole frog that had been skewered on a stick, battered, deep fried and served with chiles toreados (chiles serrano, rolled in oil and grilled or sautéed until soft), cebolla blanca (white onion, in this case caramelized), and limón to squeeze all over it. Whole deep fried frogs are a specialty of Queréndaro, Michoacán. It's quite a graphic presentation, but you only eat the legs–unless you care to nibble on other parts. I had been determined to order it, but once it was in front of me–not so much interested in eating it.
Truly wonderful aporreadillo from Apatzingán, Michoacán's Tierra Caliente (hot lowlands), as prepared by doña Victoria González at La Tradición de Victoria, the family restaurant in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán. Aporreadillo is a preparation of dried beef, cooked in highly spiced tomato-y broth with scrambled egg. In this case, doña Vicky prepared a plate of aporreadillo for me with a base of morisqueta (steamed white rice) and frijoles de la olla (freshly cooked whole beans and their liquor). The small dish in the background is a bowl of doña Vicky's delicious salsa, made in a molcajete (volcanic stone mortar). Just looking at the picture makes my mouth water!
A Sunday afternoon on the trajineras (boats) in Xochimilco requires a refueling stop at a 'restaurant' on another trajinera. These boats with small kitchens pull up along side the trajinera that you're riding in to offer whatever's cooking. In this case, our midday meal was juicy carne asada (thin slices of grilled beef) and quesadillas cooked to order, guacamole and tortilla chips, rice, beans, and hot-off-the griddle tortillas. Delicious!
In the evenings in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, two women set up stands to sell atole de grano (a delicious soup made of fresh, tender corn kernels, a wild herb called anisillo, and water). Add your own salsa, a squeeze of jugo de limón (Key lime juice), and salt–it's marvelous, filling yet light for a mid-evening supper.
Home cooking: Mexico Cooks! prepared the hot, fennel-y Italian sausage and then created sausage, peppers, and onion sandwiches for a recent meal at home.
Another home-cooked meal: eggplant parmagiana. An Italian-American friend in New Jersey keeps me inspired to try his recipes. They're almost inevitably delicious.
Once every couple of months, Azul/Condesa or Azul/Histórico in Mexico City tempt me to have a meal there. It's difficult for me to resist the wonderful crema de flor de calabaza–squash flower soup, each bowl made with 18 squash blossoms plus strips of chile poblano, kernels of tender elotes (early corn), and tiny cubes of queso fresco (fresh white cheese).
Home-made sopa de albóndigas (Mexican meatball soup). I prepared this in February 2017 for dear friends in San Diego, California.
Perfectly grilled steak, prepared in February by chef Claudia Sandoval, for an amazing meal at the San Diego home of friend Kalisa Wells. It was an honor and a pleasure to share dinner with chef Claudia, who is the 2016 winner of MasterChef/Gordon Ramsey. Kalisa is always the hostess with the mostess, and the evening was made complete by friends Holli and Jim DeLauro.
To end on a sweet note: these buñuelos–foot-in-diameter deep-fried flour pastry, finished with a dash of granulated sugar and cinnamon, broken onto a plate or into a bowl and bathed with syrup made of piloncillo (Mexican raw brown sugar)–were on the menu at a fonda (small family food booth or restaurant) the last time I was in Morelia, Michoacán. Could you resist? I couldn't.
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