This dish has some yummy elements that I am sure if we look at the chemical composition of the flavour molecules of certain ingredients, they must look alike or lock well together; whatever it is, Mole Enchiladas do taste delicious, and I think that this is to do with the combination of ingredients.  Simple ingredients like corn tortillas, a well poached juicy chicken, mole, raw onions and sesame seeds and of course a little crumbled cheese.  These ingredients combine so well that a good dish of enchiladas de mole is memorable.

To start your very own memorable experience of making enchiladas de mole -like with ALL cooking you will need to have good ingredients, so I would suggest a good bird, yes an expensive one that has had a good life, one that has been able to see the sun, to walk about and that has been properly fed, a good organic chicken that is going to produce superb stock and most important juicy meat for the enchiladas.  Poach the chicken in plenty of water with half an onion, a couple of peeled cloves of garlic, some bay leaves and a little salt.  To poach a chicken perfectly, it is important that you never allow your liquid to come to the boil, otherwise horrible scum will form.  If you keep your bird in its water just below boiling point, the stock will be clear as water and keep its flavour.  Pass the stock through a colander or sieve and reserve to make the mole sauce later on.

I think the best parts of the chicken for enchiladas are the legs, just for the reason that they are more juicy.  Once the chicken is poached, cool down and then shred it with your fingers, reserve, always submerged in some of the chicken stock, this is so that the chicken does not dry.

Make your mole sauce… I am not suggesting here that you go and grind 40 ingredients on your knees on your metate as you would make a cup of coffee; the whole process is quite complicated.  These days you can get good brands of mole: Dona Maria and Xiqueno are good brands, the former being a commercial brand available in many parts of the world and the latter one, an obscure brand from Veracruz that is just delicious.  Make your mole sauce by sauteing the mole paste in a little sesame oil and then add a little chicken stock, whisking and stirring all the time to avoid lumps.  Add a little stock and stir constantly, add a little more and so on, until you have a good thick sauce, with a similar consistency to that of creme anglaise, custard, double cream or heavy cream.

Proceed with your tortillas.  You can make your own, or you can buy them… always corn ones -flour tortillas work for other things, but not for enchiladas de mole.  Sautee the tortillas in a little hot oil for a couple of seconds, literally pass them on hot oil and then dip them in the mole sauce, put on a plate and put some of the shredded chicken on one half, fold the tortilla in half; this is one enchilada.  Repeat the process so that you have three enchiladas on one plate.  Pour some mole sauce over the enchiladas, sprinkle some crumbled cheese like fetta, decorate with chopped onion or some onion rings and scatter plenty of sesame seeds on top.  Some people pour some soured cream on top as well.

Put a napkin on and never wear white -mole sauce stains clothes forever! and sit down and enjoy every mouthful of Enchiladas de Mole!!!

Thank you for the comments on my blog, thank you February for being here, promising more light and better weather and thank you customers and people that employ me, I shall not get so discouraged, work always comes to me and January lasts for 31 days and I will try to keep this blog more up to date more often!

From Tacos to Taqueria

Mexico’s favourite fast food, Tacos, have grown in popularity and sophistication. No longer just the reserve of the street food vendor, Tacos have also made it into specialist cafes known as Taquerias. Join Mexican native, Sofia Larrinua-Craxton for a Taco hands on masterclass and learn how to make your own Corn and Wheat Tortillas (Taco Wraps), Al Pastor (Pork marinated and chargrilled with Pineapple), Steak Tacos and Alambre (Grilled Meat with Peppers, Cheese, Bacon and Chorizo). You’ll also make a Tomatillo Salsa, Drunken Salsa, and the Mexican condiment Pico de Gallo.

Date Thursday 23 Feb

Time 18:30 – 21:30

At Divertimenti Cookery School Marylebone High St.

To book click here

Mexican Fiesta

With over 40 first cousins back home in Mexico, Sofia has plenty of experience catering for big family parties. Celebratory fiestas for birthdays, weddings, christenings and even football victories – you name it, Sophia has a festive menu of fresh dishes to complement the occasion. Join her for a party masterclass where you’ll learn how to prepare some classic Mexican dishes and get an introduction to using chillies and salsa making. Recipes include Fish Cooked in Escabeche (Fried or Poached), Slow Cooked Lamb in Adobo Marinade, Salads of Char-grilled Peppers & Corn with lots of Zesty Lime and Wild Mushroom Quesadillas.

Date Wednesday 21 Mar

Time 18:30 – 21:30

At Divertimenti Cookery School Brompton Rd.

To book click here

Tamales Masterclass

If you’ve been to Mexico, you’ve probably been lured in by steamy pots containing freshly made tamales. These delicous edible parcels are eaten widely throughout Mexico and Central America. Join Mexican chef Sofia as she takes you on a delicious journey, sharing all she knows on the subject of tamales. You’ll make traditional versions as well as explore local versions like Tabasco-style Duck Tamales in Achlote Sauce, Tamal de Cazuela (festival meat-filled tamal pie wrapped in banana leaves) and Yucatán Green Tamales with Spinach & Coriander. Start the class off with a traditional Mexican Hot Chocolate as you work your way through the dishes, then sit down to feast on the fruits of your labour.

Date Saturday 28 Apr

Time 11:00 – 14:30

At Divertimenti Cookery School, Brompton Rd.

To book click here 

Mexican Street Food

Learn how to make spicy and delicious Mexican street food with the wonderful Sofia Craxton. Sofia will show you how to make salsas and marinades, tamales, tortillas, quesadillas and sopes – fabulous foods that is sold on Mexican streets and in local markets. The day will include grilled fish in Yucatan style recado served with habanero relish; Morelia grilled chicken in guajillo adobo served with sauteed country potatoes; corn tortillas; tamales; quesadillas; steak and flame grilled pepper tacos with chargrilled salsa; Shepherd style tacos served with drunken salsa and a spicy prawn broth. You will be welcome with a Cookery School breakfast on arrival. Organic red and white wines will be served with the meal.

Date Saturday 18 Feb

Time 10 – 14.30

At Cookery School at Little Portland St.

To book a place click here

Tex-Mex Flavours

Join Mexican born Sofia Larrinua-Craxton, who will be showing you her secrets of making delicious Tex-Mex food. Tex-Mex differs from classic Mexican cooking and it has an established repertoire of old favourites that we are going to prepare. We are going to learn how to make tortillas and wraps from scratch. We will be making deicious wild mushroom quesadillas and you will learn how to make flame-grilled salsas and of course the best Chile con carne in the county. This class promises a lot of flavour, a lot of fun, so put on your boots and come along!

Date: Saturday 12^th May

At Denman College in Abingdon,  Oxfordshire To book click here

Eat a little less and excercise a bit more this January and always!

Happy New Year

Try this on a cold day, it will warm your soul up.

For really good quality Mexican ingredients click here

For the recipe click here

Enjoy and have a wonderful warm Christmas.

2011 sera la primera navidad en que mi papa lo va a pasar en el cielo y me pregunto como lo pasara? Que va a hacer?  Con quien lo celebrara? Imagino que lo pasara bien; espero no haga frio en el cielo y haria las cosas como cuando era joven.

Lejanos recuerdos tengo de las cosas que le gustaban en esta epoca, pero a pesar de ya estar empolvados por el tiempo que ha pasado, estos  siguen frescos como cuando sucedieron.

Dado que mi papa era una persona que disfrutaba muchisimo del buen comer, la navidad venia cargada de platillos que se comian solamente en esta temporada como era el ponche, el bacalao, el pavo, ademas de pequenas cosas que se compraban para estar ‘dandole gusto’ al paladar; turrones, orejones y ‘peladillas’ o almendras cubiertas de azucar.  Todos estos manjares de temporada empezaban a aparecer por ahi de noviembre.  Cuando el frio en la ciudad se empezaba a sentir y a mi me vestian con abrigo, era la temporada cuando sabia que ciertos sabores iban a empezar a aparecer.  Asi alguna vez acompane a mi papa al centro a comprar el bacalao.  En aquella epoca, era dificil encontrar buen bacalao, este venia de noruega y no lo habia abundantemente, asi que uno tenia que buscar alguna tienda de ultramarinos, generalmente administrada por un inmigrante espanol, que tenia en trastienda aquellos lomos salados en cajas de madera y que trataban como si fuesen antiguedades u obras de arte.  Ahi se hacia la transaccion, el bacalao era muy caro y mi papa compraba lo suficiente para que alcanzara para la cena de navidad y para dias y dias de tortas de bacalao.  Aprovechando la visita a la tienda de ultramarinos, mi papa tambien se abastecia de lo que le gustaba de temporada, entonces compraba bolsas de orejones, manzanas secas cuyo sabor hace mucho no pruebo, pero que me hace agua la boca al solo recordarlas.  Tambien compraba turron, de Gijona, suave y suculento y de Alicante que era muy duro y tenia una costra como de hostia.  No podian faltar las almendras endulzadas llamadas peladillas. Ahi tambien compraba un litro de aceite de oliva, para hacer el bacalao, ademas de los chilitos gueros para acompaniar.  De la tienda de ultramarinos finos, nos ibamos al mercado a comprar todos los ingredientes para el ponche y tambien comprabamos colacion, ademas de unos jitomates maravillosos, perejil, mucho ajo y cebolla.

La receta del bacalao a la Viscaina, viene de mi abuela materna quien era un genio en la cocina y su bacalao era legendario.  Mi papa aprendio la receta de mi mama; cuando yo era muy pequena era mi mama quien hacia el bacalao, pero poco a poco mi papa se empezo a interesar en el proceso de elaboracion de dicho platillo, asi recuerdo que ambos se juntaban a picar todos los ingredientes perfectamente para que el bacalao quedara de lo mejor.   La preparacion del dichoso bacalao era un proceso que duraba todo un dia, si no es que dos!  Mi papa se ponia sus lentes de leer y muy diligentemente –como todo lo que hacia-, se ponia a picar las cebollas, los dientes de ajo, el jitomate, el perejil, cada ingrediente se preparaba con el mismo cuidado que se le da a un bebe, con ternura, atencion y mucho amor.  Agustin era un hombre muy ordenado y todo lo que hacia, lo hacia de una manera muy metodica, asi, poco a poco los ingredientes se iban convirtiendo en pequenas montanas de cuadritos de diferentes colores y el departamento empezaba a oler a navidad, es decir a bacalao!

Despues de hacer la larga labor de preparacion, procedian a cocer el pescado y a freir todos los ingredientes; recuerdo como con la tipica ansia infantil que exige satisfaccion inmediata a los deseos, yo queria bacalao en el momento en que veia a mis padres empezar a preparar el platillo y desde medio dia, empezaba a molestarles preguntando si ya estaba listo… asi pasaban las horas y ya al final, cuando ya el sol se habia metido y estabamos en oscuridad invernal, y yo moria de tedio, ya mi mama le daba el visto bueno y el bacalao estaba listo.

Este se preparaba antes de nochebuena y generalmente lo llevabamos a casa de los tios, pero solo llevabamos una parte, lo demas se quedaba en casa y lo comiamos como tortas en bolillos, para desayuno, comida y cena, como un recalentado eternamente delicioso.  Recuerdo mucho ver a papa cortando el pan a la mitad, sacando un poco de migajon y rellenando de aceitoso bacalao el pan, lo veo con su sonrisa golosa, morder una torta y su cara de gozo al saborear tan rico platillo, le gustaba acompanar estas tortas con un tequilita.

Lo mismo con el ponche, este era su territorio y mi mama no tomaba parte, pero mi papa preparaba el ponche con piloncillo y todas las frutas que se ponen, guayabas, canias, tejocotes, orejones.  El caracteristico aroma del ponche se confundia con el del bacalao; esto para mi es sinonimo de navidad.  El ponche lo hacia en la tarde/noche y recuerdo tomarlo como a las 7.30 pm, de vez en cuando le ponian ‘piquete’, y siempre habia ponche para quien viniera de visita.

A pesar de que viviamos en un departamento muy pequeno, mi papa siempre gustó de comprar el arbol de navidad mas grande que encontraba y asi llegaba con un arbol de piso a techo que ocupaba una gran parte en un rincon de la salita… osea como una tercera parte del cuarto!  La tarea de poner el arbol era exclusiva de Agustin; con el mismo cuidado con el que hacia el bacalao, mi papa se daba a la ardua y para mi extremadamente aburrida tarea de checar cada foquito que iba en el arbol, esto tomaba horas y yo moria de angusta de querer poner el arbol en 10 minutos.  Es hasta hoy que me doy cuenta del valor de hacer las cosas lentamente y bien.  Recuerdo que mi papa sacaba un aparato negro con manecillas que conectaba y de algun modo magico, checaba cada uno de los focos y a los fundidos les ponia un repuesto y asi pasaba el tiempo con sus dichosas luces.  En este tiempo mi mama y yo sacabamos todas las decoraciones, pero yo no podia poner nada, primero habia que esperar que las luces estuvieran bien y luego el tenia que ponerlas.  Mi frustracion crecia cuando una vez que las luces estaban en su lugar, mi papa decidia que él era quien iba a poner esferas y diversos adornos y yo quedaba como vil espectador.  Cada anio se repetia el ritual de poner un Mickey Mouse que yo hice de una ‘costurita’… de un patron impreso, y este iba casi hasta arriba, luego las mismas esferas y las mismas decoraciones salian de sus cajas e iban a sus acostumbrados lugares en el arbol. …y yo mirando…

Al final era muy lindo sentarse en el sofa junto al iluminado arbol, me gustaba ver mi cara desfigurada en las redondas bolas de colores.

Mi mama ponia el nacimiento y ella si me dejaba ayudarla y me acuerdo que siempre poniamos un laguito de espejo, ahi depositabamos un pez enorme que era mas grande que los borreguitos que pastaban sobre heno fresco.  El San José no tenia cara y cargaba un como mazo y los reyes magos dia con dia, se acercaban mas al pesebre.

Cuando habian posadas, Agustin se aventaba a la pinata con los chiquillos y sacaba muchos dulces que siempre ponia en algun pedazo de pinata que recogia, siempre me llamo la atencion que de los grandes, solo mi papa hacia eso y disfrutaba mucho comer sus dulcecitos de pinata…

Las cenas de navidad eran en casa de mi prima Mimi, mas bien en casa de mis tios.  Ahi nos vestiamos todos con lo mejor que teniamos y nos ibamos como a las 9 pm, oiamos misa y luego ibamos a la casa de los tios en la colonia Condesa, ahi los grandes [totalmente Palacio] tomaban un trago y los chicos jugabamos con el Scalextric de mis primos o al turista; a las 11pm ibamos a la mesa y el festin empezaba con la sopa de ostiones que hacia mi tio Fernando, seguido de el bacalao de mi mis papas, seguido de pavo con salsa gravy, papas al horno, verduras, relleno y una jalea de estados unidos que era de algo rojo y suculento que mi tio Fernando compraba en alguna tienda de ultramarinos.  Mi papa y mi tio Fernando siempre se servian la pierna del pavo y al principio la comian con cubiertos, para terminar con la esquina de la servilleta metida en el cuello, tapando la corbata y comiendo sus piernas de pavo como si fueran hombres medievales.  No recuerdo el postre, pero imagino que comiamos turrones o castanias.   La platica era muy amena y siempre mi papa acababa acaparando la atencion, haciendo reir a todos mucho, hasta que nos dolia el estomago.  De ahi ya dormida y llena de ilusion por la visita del Nino Dios, nos ibamos a casa.

Last week, I heard somewhere that if trends carry on as they are, the corner shop will disappear in a few years… I remember now, I heard this on Radio 4.  There was a slightly sarcastic comment saying that it will be a ‘shame’ to loose those shops that sell overpriced and dusty tins of rice pudding…

…the corner shop contains features that makes us remember dusty, half empty shelves of expensive items that are near their sell by date, and maybe the owners  of these shops will need to review their stock in more ways than one in order to keep their shop and not to sell it to a developer that will transform it to a ‘charming flat with a shop front feature’.

However there are other kinds of corner shops, and these are the ones that I feel we should support.  I happen to live in an area that thankfully has not yet been invaded by hypermarkets, supermarkets or their ‘city/express’ equivalent.  My nearest supermarket -if it can be called that, is an organic one where we can find fabulous produce and all eco-friendly-organic goodies that cost a lot of money.  There are as well a myriad of small shops that sell produce aimed at the local Turkish community, and it is these type of shops that I think we should try to support.  In my part of London these are mainly Turkish, but depending on the area where we live, these shops can be Indian, Bangladeshi, Greek or Portuguese.

What I like of these shops is obviously the things they sell, in my case we can find large chunks of fetta cheese, wonderful yoghurt, freshly baked flat breads and the usual basket containing bunches of fresh dill, coriander, parsley, basil, mint and spinach.  These goodies sit happily next to neat rows of dried pulses, nuts and rice, Turkish tea and coffee as well as the usual -often dusty, packets of breakfast cereal and digestive biscuits.

The staff at these shops are usually friendly and welcoming, sometimes they give me free chillies, other times they let me pay later, once I was even able to use their fridge! These guys are always there, 365 days open from 9 to 9, many times they are glued to the blasting Turkish version of the Oprah show; other times they are just chatting to their mates and -especially in the summer, this seems an OK existence.  However what we don’t see is that in order to keep their shops running, they have to get up at 4 am and buy fruits, veg and herbs.  I have been to Spitalfields to buy fruit and veg at that time in the winter and I know that is not exactly fun.  Then they have to be there in the shops all year round.  For the place to look open, they need to have their doors fully open too and that means living in the cold fo r half the year.

Then, there is also the problem of prices, at markets like Spitalfields, the price of the produce varies everyday, so our friendly shopkeepers are constantly having to juggle with prices, often making very little money if any at all.  As an example, my local shop sells avocados at 70p each, he buys at 50p so his profit is hardly what we can call a profit.  The bullets that resemble an avocado in a supermarket -the ones that have obviously not been ‘ripened for flavour’ cost the same amount.  I wonder how much to they get these at? it is certainly not 50p, otherwise the profits would not be so healthy for these guys.

There is the question of choice, for some strange reason, we are led to believe that a large supermarket has a large range of items, well think again; next time you go into a supermarket look into the stock and ask yourself the question if there is really a large selection, or are you really being sold what they are telling you what you buy… I don’t want to portray large supermarket chains as evil guys that are planning your life, dictating what you should consume; however, it is extremely annoying to go to these places and then find that the only kind of cocoa powder they sell is their own brand, that you can only find ‘the most popular’ of meat cuts i.e. mince and two others, that their fish counter looks like a fishmonger but they cannot sell you the heads of the fish to make stock.  Instead they have oversized r ows where they sell oversized ‘family’ bags of all kinds of flavoured crisps… if we are not careful our families will be oversized in a very short time.

We complain and mock that the stock at local shops is nearly out of date and that they don’t often have what we want, and the reason for this is exactly because we don’t buy enough stuff from them. It is very difficult to always have the same selection of produce if half of it goes to waste, when there is really no need for that to be so.  If we bought more from these shops, then the stock rotates more often and we will find more choice and fresher stuff as well.  Regarding choice, well, my local shop does not sell 27 varieties of tortilla chips but they sell amongst other things medjool dates, white onions, shallots and large white eggs by the piece (10p each), and frankly I prefer this kind of choice, I like my ‘totopos’ (Mexican for tortilla chips) plain thank you.

What I am trying to say here is that I think there is enough room for both kinds of shops to survive, yes it is nice and comfy to take the car and buy a whole year load of dishwasher tablets and toilet paper, yes it is nice to buy two for the price of one items like chicken breasts… although we should ask if this is actually an ethical thing to do… and yes it is nice to be able to get cashback when we pay and to buy very cheap wine.  But it is also nice, very nice to be greeted by the local shopkeeper and to feel like a human being there.  It is nice to find weird and wonderful seasonal produce, pomegranates in September for instance, but it is nicer to feel that one is contributing directly to keep somebody in business.  Next time you think that your local shop is a weird place packed with dusty and expensive items, think again, yes things might cost a little more, but not much more and also think that this extra price keeps these guys in business and this includes the community feel that these shops bring.

Yes, there is the question of lifestyle, of living busy, of our life being made easier by doing all the shopping in one go, but have we actually stopped and thought how little we need to buy in a week? how much waste we create by buying lots of veg in one go and then spending all week eating out or eating take aways? Maybe, just maybe if we divide our shopping and spend 10 minutes at the local shop we will end up buying things that we did not know existed and we are prompted to use our imagination, we might find things that we have not seen in years -white eggs for instance.  Just doing a little bit of shopping at these places will help save them.  So why don’t we do it?

Last Saturday pm I had the misfortune to go to a large supermarket and just when I was feeling lost in the family size crisp department, amongst many upset people that looked more like lost robots than actual human beings; there was a cute Spanish girl having a fit, she said to her mother: ‘there is nothing I like about this shop and the only thing I like you won’t buy’.  Obviously she wanted to get some crisps, but what I thought interesting is that she did not like that place, and it seemed that most of us seemed unhappy there.  Then the question is, why do we carry on buying like if there is no tomorrow, when there is an option to buy stuff from our local shop? if we carry on like this, there won’t be a tomorrow for our little shops and we might come to regret that.

Where: Divertimenti Cookery School, Marylebone High Street

When: Saturday 19th November 2011

Time:  11 am – 14.30 pm

Price £105 for a cookery demo followed by a hands-on class.

To book click here

THIS IS A PAY EVENT £105 AND IT IS LIMITED TO 12 PEOPLE Please book in advance by clicking here

Mr ‘brown thumb’, don’t know who you are, but your blog is very useful!