Pollo Pulquero is a dish best served in the dark

Look at those beans!  They're sitting there because Pollo Pulquero is ugliest tasty dish you've ever seen.  Rick doesn't even put a picture of it in the book!  It's sort of symptomatic of being cooked in a slow cooker for six hours, so what can you do.

The prep on this one is silly easy.  You put things in a slow cooker, and then you come back.  So I'll be economical with my words.  Write a to do list, get some groceries and make the jump.

When life hands you limes, make Cochinita Pibil

I wouldn't have thought of this as being roasted suckling pig, as per the translation of cochinita pibil.  Rick says that this is only an approximation anyway.  We didn't roast anything, it was slow cooked; it wasn't a whole pig, just a shoulder; and it wasn't between 2 and 6 weeks old, I didn't check its birth certificate but I know that it spent 6 weeks at least in the freezer.

The complicated recipe is here while the easy recipe can be found in Mexican Everyday.  Break out your favourite citrus juicer and don't get any pulp in your eye.

Tamales

None of what you're about to see was performed by a stunt double.  After two weeks of enchiladas and one day of eating Mexican food that came out of a box, it was time to blow the roof off of this thing. FNM has achieved legendary status with one of my better half's coworkers and he was on the ticket for tonight's meal; we had to raise the bar again.

If I had to level a complaint at Fiesta at Rick's, it's that the pages keep falling out.  We've already taped several back in and Pork Picadillo Sweet Corn Tamales has now joined that list.  As an appetizer, we also cranked out Plantain-Stuffed Chipotle Chiles in Escabeche, although its page remains embedded in the book.  Read on!

Almost "Almost Oaxacan"

Look at all that fresh produce! It sure looks better in the shopping cart than a bunch of neon packaged whats-it that claims to be food.  I'll skip the self-righteous editorializing and recommend that you read Michael Pollan's In Defence of Food.  It's pretty much required reading for anyone who eats.

This week's recipe is another out of Fiesta at Rick's, "Almost Oaxacan" Grilled Tostadas with Chorizo, Tangy Guacamole, and Fresh Cheese.  In addition we also made Chunky Fresh Tomato Salsa (p. 144), Smoky Chipotle Salsa with Pan-Roasted Tomatillos (p. 149) and Pineapple (or Other Fruit) Skillet Upside-Down Cake (p. 301) from Mexican Everyday.

Flanking Maneuver

So thanks to this blog, the details of our weekly Mexican adventures have become legendary in our local circle of friends and family.  The statistics page on Blogspot tells me that we've also received visitors from Germany, the UK, and Singapore.  So welcome to all of our new readers! Make sure you subscribe, follow the RSS feed, leave a comment or at the very least, pass us along to a friend.

All of the attention means we can't stay stagnant; we've got to keep upping our game.  So we went back to Fiesta at Rick's for this week's Crispy Flank Steak Shreds with Golden Onions and Red Chile Salsa.