Chef Rick Bayless is a master at Mexican cuisine. As the New York Times has stated, "Bayless is a writer who makes 'true Mexican food user-friendly for Americans'”. I was able to experience this first hand last night. While we were in Chicago, we went to Frontera Grill (if you have not been, check out my photos and description on the food; it’s awesome) and my dad bought me Bayless’ book: Capturing the Vibrant Flavors of a World-Class cuisine (it won a Julia Child “Cookbook of the Year Award”). Since we have been back, we have craved that fresh, flavorful Mexican cuisine we were able to taste at Frontera. Therefore, I decided to roll up my sleeves and dive into this cookbook. I was intimidated; I thought, there is no way I will be able to re-create this Master’s recipe. I bought the ingredients, and jumped in. The recipe was extremely easy to follow and although I am sure it didn’t turn out exactly as Bayless intended, the flavors were still amazing. The spiciness of the peppers and chorizo were complemented by the sweetness of the corn. Jimmy said that this was his favorite dinner yet! Check out his website:
http://www.rickbayless.com/ Also if you are following Top Chef Masters follow his blog about his experience on the show at: http://www.root4rick.com/
Ingredients:
For 2 Cups Essential Chopped Tomato-Serrano Salsa
12 ounces (2 medium-small round or 4 to 6 plum) ripe tomatoes, chipped into 1/4inch dice [I used 1 ½ cups of Pomi chopped tomatoes]
Fresh Serrano chiles to taste (roughly 3-5), stemmed, seeded if you wish, and finely chopped [I couldn’t find Serrano chiles so I bought little green ones and used 1]
1 large garlic clove, peeled and very finely chopped
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro, plus a little extra for garnish [neither Jimmy nor I like cilantro so we omitted this ingredient]
1 small white onion, finely chopped [since Jimmy doesn’t like onion I used 1 teaspoon onion powder]
8 ounces chorizo sausage (about 1 cup), casing removed [I bought a hard chorizo, not soft]
1 cup rice, preferably medium grain [I used 2 packages whole wheat microwavable rice]
¾ cup chicken broth or beef broth, or even water
Salt, about ½ teaspoon for salted broth, 1 teaspoon for unsalted broth, or water
2 small zucchini, cut into 3/8-inch dice [I just diced them up into small pieces]
The kernels from 1 large ear corn [I used 1 cup canned sweet corn]
Preparation:
I will give both his and my version.
Rick Bayless:
1. Making 2 cups Essential Chopped Tomato-Serrano Salsa. Mix together the tomatoes, chiles, garlic and cilantro. Scoop the onion into a strainer, rinse under cold water, shake off excess and add to the mixture.
2. The rice. Break up the chorizo into medium heavy-bottom saucepan and set over medium heat. Stir regularly; breaking up any lumps in the sausage is thoroughly cooked, about 10 minutes. Remove it with a slotted soon, then pour off all but a tablespoon or so of the fat. Add the rice to the pan, return to the heat and stir regularly until the rice is lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Add the salsa, raise the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring every once in a while, until very thick and reduced about 7 minutes.
3. While the mixture cooks, combine the broth (or water) and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add to the rice mixture, stir once, scrape down any rice kernels clinging to the side of the pan, cover and cook over medium0low for 10 minutes. Add the cooked chorizo, zucchini and corn, re-cover and cook 5 minutes longer. Uncover and bite in a grain of rice. It should be nearly cooked through: It should be nearly cooked through. If the rice is just about ready, turn off the heat, re-cover and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes longer to complete the cooking .If the rice seems far from done, continue cooking for 5 minutes or so, retest, then turn off the heat and let stand a few more minutes.
4. Scoop into a warm bowl, sprinkle with the extra cilantro and serve.
My version [obviously nothing like Rick’s, but still came out tasty!]
1. Make 2 cups of the Essential Chopped Tomato-Serrano Salsa: mix together the tomatoes, chile, garlic, and onion powder.
2. Chop the chorizo into small pieces. Over medium high heat, brown the chorizo in the pan. After 3-5 minutes, once the meat is crisp, remove it from the pan. Add the zucchini and let them brown. Then add the 2 cups of salsa and the corn. Cook for a few minutes until the corn is tender.
3. Cook the rice in the microwave. Once it is finished, add it to the zucchini and corn mixture. Return the chorizo back to the pan and cover for a couple of minutes to let the flavors fuse together. Scoop into a bowl and enjoy the Mexican feast.
No comments:
Post a Comment