How much fun is it possible to have in one day? We tried to answer that question today at the home of our teacher, Alfonso (Poncho) Diaz. Alfonso is a chef in addition to a Spanish teacher, and what a chef he is! Today we spent the day at his home making traditional Oaxacan dishes: Molotes, salsa with chapalines, Pollo with amarillo mole, Mexican hot chocolate, and for dessert, Carlotta de Limon con salsa d Mango. OMG! In the photo above, Eric and Alphonso's father share a Tequila toast.
What a kitchen! Alfonso and his father turned the family garage into a beautiful teaching kitchen, complete with 4-burner propane range so we can see and do everything with him.
He's the man! Correcting our Spanish each step of the way, we started cooking Molotes, Oaxacan plantain fritters with Crema, Queso Fresco and chapalines (cricket) salsa made with tomatillos, garlic, and pepper infused dried crickets - Survivor never had crickets like these!
After all that effort we took a little break to eat our Molotes and enjoy a cup of Mexican hot chocolate made by us, of course, with Alfonso's own homemade chocolate. The Molotes were a flavor punch of sweet, cream, and salty dried cricket salsa...and the chocolate was astronomical! Do you want to hear more? Well...OK.
Our next dish was a complex authentic Oaxacan Amarillo chicken mole. We started sautéing tomatillos, added garlic, two types of dried pepper, and pureed it all with some stock from our cooking chicken AND added the spices: cumin, clove, black pepper, thyme, oregano, and a few perfect plum tomatoes. We blanched green beans, choyote, little red potatoes, then added them to the blended mole along with celantro and massive amounts of licorice flavored Herba Santa. With each addition, Alfonso dropped a few tastes into our spoons so we could experience each added layer of complexity.
While all this was in process, Daphne, one of our fellow students helped us whip up a dessert of layers of lime creme with vanilla cookies covered with a layer of mango cream, fresh mango and cinnamon. Alfonso's mom, Naomi, cheered us on and gave motherly advice to Alfonso.
Although the battery in our camera died at this point, luckily we survived to finish the meal and share three toasts of mezcal in little cups Alfonso's dad made out of bamboo and brightly colored thread. Gee. I wonder if we'll have any fun tomorrow. Oaxaca has been so boring...
awws :) , thanks for the compliments ! both of you are great people. thanks for coming to the cooking class! ¡Qué rico es Oaxaca! =D
ReplyDeleteEvery time you want to come back to Oaxaca you are welcome!
Still remember the mole Amarillo! Wonderful!
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