PAN DE MUERTO

In Mexico we celebrate November 2nd, Dia de Los Muertos (day of the dead) with Pan de Muerto (bread of the dead). The custom is for people to setup altars to honor their loved ones. In these altars they make offerings including their favorite foods. One of these offerings is usually Pan de Muerto.



Although we had Pan de Muerto when we lived in Mexico City, it wasn't our family's tradition to setup altars or even bake it. We've decided to make it our family tradition to bake it.

I found an excellent recipe online at http://www.allrecipes.com/ that was posted by Lola. Thank you Lola! Your recipe is simple, easy to follow and delicious.

So after driving around Sandy's neighborhood thanks to a faulty GPS (grrrr....) I finally arrived at my destination. I started the dough at home since it needs to sit and rise for a while. And being that I'm more into cooking than photography, I naturally forgot to take photos of the initial steps. But trust me, it's easy! Here we go...


INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup margarine
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons anise seed
1/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons orange zest
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon orange zest
2 tablespoons white sugar




Heat the milk and the butter in a medium saucepan, until the butter melts. Remove from the heat and add the warm water. The mixture should be around 110 degrees F (43 degrees C).



In a large bowl combine 1 cup of the flour, yeast, salt, anise seed and 1/4 cup of the sugar. Beat in the warm milk mixture then add the eggs and orange zest and beat until well combined. Stir in 1/2 cup of flour and continue adding more flour until the dough is soft.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.


Place the dough into a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size. This will take about 1 to 2 hours.

* This is when I hit the road from my place to Sandy's with "THE dough * Thanks to the GPS, I drove around in circles around her house for waaaay to long.



And that's where the next step came in handy :) ...
Punch the dough down...careful not to miss the dough...you don't want to hit the counter instead...trust me...ouch!






Shape the dough into a large round loaf with a round knob on top, for a traditional look. Or, shape into the desired shape of your choice like skulls...get creative!
Place dough onto a baking sheet, loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until just about doubled in size.


Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for about 35 to 45 minutes. Remove from oven. Let cool slightly then brush with glaze.

To make glaze:

In a small saucepan combine 1/4 cup sugar, orange juice and orange zest. Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for 2 minutes.

Brush glaze over top of bread while still warm.

Sprinkle glazed bread with white sugar.

LISTO... BUEN PROVECHO!!!

The result was way better than I expected. We all enjoyed even, even mom and dad were raving. I hope you enjoy it as much. Hasta pronto.

Caldo de Pollo / Chicken Soup

Caldo de Pollo

Hey ya'll, it's me, Sandy.  Are you ready for some healthy, wholesome goodness? (Say yes). Sweet, then let me share this nostalgic Mexican chicken soup with you all.  I remember eating this soup since I was a little girl-back when I didn't even like squash!  Mom brought some of this to my house in August when I got sick and I suspect it has healing powers.  
Anyways, this would have been a perfect dish during those few days when we had rain recently.  But we are providing you with this delicious and healthy recipe now-on this hot Inland Empire day- as preparation for the cold (or at least chilly) days ahead.   The recipe is very simple....we got it right the first time without any boo-boo's (besides cutting up too many veggies)!  

Here are the ingredients:

-3.5 lbs of chicken (with skin)

-2 tomatoes

-3 potatoes

-2 onions

-3 Mexican squash

-3 to 4 carrots

-3 tablespoons of oil

-oregano, just a pinch or two

-salt to taste

Cook the chicken in a big pot with enough water to cover it.  Use medium high heat.

Chop the onions and the tomatoes, then set aside.
Add a few chunks of the onion to the cooking chicken at this time.

Chop up the potatoes, carrots, and squash.

Chop! Chop! Chop!  Good job, Sonia... looking good! ;)

When the chicken is fully cooked, remove from the pot of water and remove the skin.  It should pretty much slide off.  Sonia used a knife and fork to do this so she didn't even get her hands dirty, she's a pro.

Place the chicken back in the pot along with the potatoes, carrots, and squash. Cook at medium heat.  Add a pinch or two of oregano and salt.








After letting the denser veggies cook for about 5 minutes, grill the onions and tomatoes with a bit of oil over medium heat.  As soon as they cook and smell yummy, add them to the pot.

Cook until the potatoes and carrots and just tender. Make sure you taste it and salt to your liking.







Serve hot with corn tortillas and sliced avocado.  Que rrrrrrico!

Please leave comments and questions.  We love the feedback!  Let us know how your caldo de pollo turned out and let us know how much you loved it!  Until next time....

SALUD!

Sandy y Sonia

Chilaquiles

September was absolutely busy with dad's big birthday bash, family camping trip and campout with the scouts. Needless to say, Sandy and I did not get a chance to join forces and prep our next meal.

One very hungry morning, however, I decided to tackle chilaquiles for breakfast. These are the soft ones, not the crunchy ones. So here you go.





Ingredients for 4 servings:
10 corn tortillas (I figured 2 tortillas per person, plus a little extra)
oil for frying (vegetable or corn)
2 dried guajillo chiles
1 onion, chopped
cotija cheese, grated
refried beans




Place the chiles in about 4 cups of water and bring to a boil. Let it boil for about 5 minutes. Cut the stem off the top of the chile and discard. Place the chile in the blender and blend until smooth. Add a cup of the boiled water at a time until desired consistency is achieved.

Set aside.



Cut the tortillas into small squares or triangles. Heat oil in a pan until hot. Add tortillas and fry until crispy, stirring around as necessary. Let them get crispy, like chips.

Add the salsa and stir until well mixed in. You can then pour cheese over the chilaquiles and stick the pan in the oven until the cheese melts...but I chose not to do that this particular morning.

Serve the chilaquiles on a plate, sprinkle with onion and cheese (if you didn't melt cheese over it already), some tapatio or salsa verde,  cilantro, crema or sour cream, and serve up with a generous serving of refried beans. Listo!!! A comer! So easy and quick. Perfect for those lazy, hungry, Sunday mornings. Or mid week with a serving of shredded chicken mixed in the sauce. Or a sunny side up egg ;-)

BUEN PROVECHO!!!

TOSTADAS...JUST LIKE MOM'S!!

The heat is still soaring in Southern California, so we decided to make a heat-friendly meal. These easy and tasty tostadas are an easy fix, and you can make extra for lunch or dinner the next day. I'm all about saving myself a few steps.





Sandy joined me at my place, where my kids happily awaited to see their favorite auntie. Also joining us today, mom and dad.


As you pour yourself a glass of wine, as we did, take a look at this recipe's ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. pork tenderloin
2 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
salt
pepper
1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce
1 onion sliced, in lemon juice (1 lemon)
2 tomatoes, sliced
1 iceberg lettuce head, shredded
1/2 lb. cotija cheese, grated
refried beans (refer to January 2010 recipe)
12 tostada shells (like Guerrero or Mission), or you can make your own, instructions here.


To cook meat:
Boil about 4 quarts of water in a pot with 1 garlic clove, 1 bay leaf, salt and pepper. Once boiling, reduce to medium heat and add pork tenderloin. Cover. Cook for about an hour, or until meat is tender. Take meat out of the water and place aside to cool.
Keep the broth!!!

Once the meat has cooled, cut the meat and shred it apart. If you would like to cut it into slices instead, put it in the fridge so it firms up, and then slice.

You can use chicken or beef in place of pork if you would like.

To make the sauce:

Put tomato sauce in a pot with 3 cups of saved broth. Add 1 garlic clove, 1 bay leaf and salt. Bring to a light boil, then simmer for 3 minutes.







To assemble:

Get a tostada shell, smear beans, top with meat, cheese, tomato, onion and lettuce. Then pour some sauce over the entire tostada. Presto!





That's it!! Your're done preparing your meal. Now it's time to enjoy!!! We were told ours tasted just like mom's.

BUEN PROVECHO!!

Make sure to let us know if you try this recipe and how it all turned out.

CAMARONES A LA DIABLA: FINGER-LICKIN' GOODNESS! AND MICHELADAS TOO!

On this hot July, we have decided to crank up the heat EVEN MORE with some Camarones a la Diabla!  To help cool you down, we will also show you how to make one variety of a MICHELADA, a spicy beer drink.

This time, Sonia and I met at our parents' house.  This means, of course, that mom had to get her hands in the mix.  It is impossible for her to sit back and watch our mistakes!

We will begin our delicious journey with the camarones.  Here are the ingredients we used to make almost 7 servings (might as well make a big batch and invite some people over!) This recipe we took from an old recipe book from my dad's home town of Tonaya, Jalisco, Mexico.

-12 chiles huajillo (dried)

-5 chiles de arbol (dried)

-4 lbs. of uncooked shrimp

-2 oranges

-bottle of ketchup (aka salsa catsup)

-1 stick of butter

-1 or 2 garlic cloves, according to your liking

-salt

-teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce (aka salsa inglesa)

Step 1:

Heat up enough water to soak all the chiles in.  Let the chiles sit in the heated water for about 2 hours.  The chiles can be soaked a night ahead of time.  The point is to get the chiles soft and the water red.

Step 2:

When the chiles are soft, you should begin washing/rinsing the shrimp.  Leave the shells in tact!  We'll explain why in the last step.  After washing the shrimp, let them sit in fresh water while you move onto the next few steps...

Step 3:

We now open up the chiles and remove the seeds inside. My mom showed us how to do this part.  She basically used her nails to open them up and then removed the seeds using the pot of water to help wash them off.
We added the chiles, along with about 2 cups of the water in the chile pot, and squeezed orange juice from 2 oranges into a blender. It wasn't hot enough, so we added a few more chiles and mom decided to crush them in the molcajete rather than putting it all back in the blender.

Step 4:

Now that the sauce is blended, you will heat up a deep pan over medium heat.  Strain the sauce as you pour it in.  While stirring the sauce, add a teaspoon or so of salt, a teaspoon of the Worcestershire sauce, and the bottle's worth of ketchup. Yes the whole bottle.  This, along with the orange, will add an element of sweetness.  My mom actually likes to skip the ketchup and orange and just adds more chile sauce because she likes to make them HOT.  So, be aware that you can easily tailor this recipe.  

Step 5:

Heat up a separate pan over medium heat and melt the stick of butter.
Remove the shrimp from the bowl of water and add them to the heated, buttery pan.  

We used a garlic press to add some crushed garlic.  

Stir the shrimp around as they cook.  

We suggest you don't overcook the shrimp because they will taste dry.  

 When the shrimp is ready, pour them into the warm chile sauce. 

The Camarones a la Diabla are now done!  Now, for the MICHELADAS!  

MICHELADA INGREDIENTS:

-ice

-limes

-tomato clam juice (Clamato or generic)

-Maggi Seasoning

-Tapatio

-Worcestershire sauce

-beer (I suggest Dos Equis or Modelo)

-salt

I took pre-frozen mugs, added some ice and a squeezed lime to each.  

Then I added a bit of the tomato clam juice...about a shot glass or two worth's.

Next I added a few drops of Maggi seasoning and Worcestershire sauce, and a teaspoon of Tapatio.

Pour in the cold cerveza (beer, duh) and a dash of salt.  Mix and drink up! :)

Here are some pics of us enjoying the messy goodness.  I absolutely love this dish.  You may serve it with Mexican rice and refried beans.  We just kept it simple.  Camrones y cerveza.  Oh, so the reason we leave the shells on...we like to suck the sauce off the shells before we peel them off.  Makes the process extra messy so grab some napkins or paper towels.  Heck, grab some bibs.

I hope you enjoy the recipe.  Please leave some comments.  Share your results or varieties.  And let us know if you have questions!  Thank you for visiting!