16 de Septiembre

The 16th of September is one of great celebration, not only for Mejicanos, but also for those of Mexican decent everywhere. It commemorates the day Father Hidalgo climbed to the balcony of the Parish of Nuestra Senora de Los Dolores (Our Lady of Sorrows) and exclaimed loudly, “Long live independence. Long live Las Americas. Death to bad government.”

This became known as the “Grito de Dolores” a call to independence from Spanish dominance. Soon after his “grito”, Father Hidalgo was captured and executed. Jose Maria Morelos, a small village priest, took up the call for independence and continued to motivate and incite the revolutionaries against the Spanish.

Independence was finally achieved in 1821 when Guadalupe Victoria, a liberal, became the first elected president of the Republic of Mexico.

Hispanics like myself celebrate this holiday as a tribute to the struggle that the revolutionary army made up of farmers, peasants, villagers and indios endured in honor of their success in achieving freedom from the Spanish crown.

You don’t have to be a terminator or super soldier to win your blessed freedom from tyranny. You just have to cherish your freedom enough to stand up for what’s right.

I would like to offer a few Mexico-inspired dishes to get your fiesta up and running. Enjoy life, celebrate your freedom and be grateful for family, friends and country.


Coctel Bandera Mejicana

1 pint Tequila
½ cup lime juice
½ cup sugar
Crushed ice
1 jicama
1 cup green seedless grapes
1 cup cherries

Mix the tequila with the lime juice and sugar. Add crushed ice and mix thoroughly. Serve in tall cocktail glasses. Skewer one green grape, one cube of jicama, and one cherry. To represent the colors of the Mexican Flag, garnish each cocktail with the skewered fruits. Makes 8 servings.

Tequila Mary

1 ½ ounces Tequila
1 cup tomato juice
1 tablespoon chopped green chile
5 - 6 ice cubes

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a large stemmed glass and serve with a rib of celery and a pickled jalapeño as garnish. Makes 1 serving.

Mexican-Flag Salad

2 heads of broccoli
1 large head of cauliflower
2 packages (12 ounces each) of cherry tomatoes
Pimentos
Jalapeño slivers
1 end-slice of bread

On a rectangle-shaped serving platter, arrange broccoli, cauliflower, and cherry tomatoes in equal portions starting on the left side of platter with the broccoli and ending on the right side with cherry tomatoes.
With a shape knife, cut the end-slice of bread into an eagle shape (or whatever shape you desire) and toast it in the toaster (or in the oven if you think the bread slice might break coming out of the toaster).
In the center portion, the one covered with the cauliflower, position the toasted, eagle-shaped end-slice of bread in the center. Beneath the eagle, form a ½ circle with jalapeño slivers. Decorate with pimento pieces. Position 1 jalapeño sliver by the eagle's beak to represent the snake. Chill in refrigerator till serving time.

Dip:
½ cup sour cream
½ cup mayonnaise
Mix these two ingredients and chill in fridge to allow flavors to mellow, 30 minutes. Add minced onion (or onion powder), chopped cilantro, chile powder, salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar, all ingredients to taste. Be conservative with the amounts. You can always add more, but you can't take them out!

Pastel de 3 Leches
3 Milk Cake

CAKE:
6 large eggs, separated
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 cup all purpose flour

Milk Mixture
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 ½ cups whole milk or cream
2 tablespoons vanilla extract or Amaretto

Whipped Cream:
2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
¼ cup Amaretto

Garnish (optional):Sliced fruit, such as strawberries, kiwi, start fruit, etc.

For the cake, preheat the oven to 350°. Beat 6 egg whites, baking soda, and salt on medium speed until soft peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. In a separate bowl, lightly whisk 6 egg yolks. With mixer on low speed. combine yolks with egg whites. Slowly add sugar and vanilla. With a rubber spatula, fold in cooled melted butter. Sift ¼ cup of flour into mixture and fold with spatula to combine. Continue sifting and folding the flour into the batter ¼ cup at a time until it is all mixed in. Pour batter into buttered and floured 9-inch cake pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the center. If it comes out clean, the cake is done. Cool 5 minutes on wire rack.

For the milk mixture, combine the 3 milks and vanilla about 5 minutes before the cake is donw baking. After the cake has cooled for 5 minutes, remove cake from pan and place on cake plate making sure plate has a rim so that the milk mixture does not runn off the edge. Pierce top of cake with a fork or toothpick. Pour milk mixture onto cake and allow 3 to 5 minutes for the milk to be absorbed. Once the cake has cooled completely, cover and refrigerate until serving time.

For the whipped cream, chill a bowl and beaters thoroughly. Beat the cream with a mixer until it begins to thicken. Slowly add sugar and Amaretto. Beat until stiff peaks form. When ready to serve, cut cake into serving portions and top with the shipped cream. Garnish with sliced fruit.

For the chocolate version of the 3 Leches Cake, go to my chocolate blog and enjoy a delectable style of this wonderful dessert. Aprovecho.
*******************************
Mexican word of the day: Defense
La migra chase me cause I jump defense!

Deliciosas Sopaipillas!

These delicious little puffs of dough drizzling with honey or sprinkled with cinnamon sugar are a must dessert at any Mexican food restaurant. I admit that they can be a pain to fry up, especially when you’re making a whole slew of them for a party or get-together, but the results are worth it. My son can probably eat a half dozen of them at one sitting, so can my daughter come to think of it. Bob, my hubby, and I are a little more reserved and will eat two (or three).

They aren’t difficult to make BUT you must make sure that the oil temperature is at the required 370 to 380 º F or they will not puff up. You have to get them to bulge in order to open them and drizzle the honey! Your mouth will jump for joy at the taste of warm honey flavored sopaipillas. Hope you get the chance to make these at your next fiesta. Everyone will applaud you.

Sopaipillas

4 cups flour
1 ¼ teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons shortening
Milk
Oil for frying

Sift flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar. Cut in shortening and add just enough milk (about a quarter cup) to make a soft dough, just firm enough to roll. Cover bowl and let dough rest 30 to 60 minutes. Roll ¼ inch thick on lightly floured board and cut in diamond-shaped pieces. Heat one-inch of oil in a deep frying pan to approximately 370 to 380 º F. Add a few pieces at a time. Turn once so they will puff evenly on both sides; then turn back to brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar, or serve with honey. Makes about 30 - 40 sopaipillas, depending on the size.


This is picture of the Mexican Chocolate Kahlua Cheesecake featured in my ebook -
Mi Chita's. I'm adding this picture because my daughter is actually the one who developed this recipe and was rather perturbed that I didn't included it in my previous post. So my Angel Lily, here you go!

To buy the
Mi Chita's Mexican Chocolate ebook go here.






*************************************
Mexican Word of the Day: Juarez
Mi vieja slapped me and I said Juarez your problem?!

The Heat is On/Off/ON

After numerous days of 100+ degree weather, we finally got some rain. Not much, but just enough for me to go into my backyard and dance around like a giddy schoolgirl. Some people get too much rain, like the folks out in the Midwest. Then there are those of us who live in a perpetual draught. All we had received was 1/3 inch of rain since the first of January. This week we gloriously got some much-needed water.



Anyway, to celebrate, I decided to make this wonderful pie – a Banana Split Pie. Oh boy is it good. I love it because it’s cool, full of fruit, and it doesn’t have any ice cream in it. (I’m lactose intolerant!) So I wanted to share it with you. You can make this for a dessert after a cookout, a light summer meal, or like with me, a midnight snack.


My husband and I love to sit outside in the evenings during the summer. It’s a nice way to stay cool and not run the cooling bill up too high. He has his usual glass of Corona and I have my glass of white Zinfandel. Last night I surprised him with a pitcher of Hibiscus Wine Coolers.
Te de Jamaica, Hibiscus Tea, was a special, cooling drink my family always had during the hot summer months of my youth. My mom didn’t buy very many sodas. But between the Jamaica and making Kool-Aid ice cubes, we always fended off the heat. Enjoy the summer, but Stay Cool Fool!

Banana Split Pie
1 cup crushed graham crackers
3 tablespoons melted butter
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
8 ounce tub of prepared whipped topping
3/4 cup crushed pineapple
6 strawberries, hulled and sliced
3 medium bananas, peeled and sliced

Combine cracker crumbs and melted butter. Pat the mixture into the bottom a 9 inch pie plate and set aside.In a large mixing bowl, mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla and milk until smooth. Fold in most of the whipped topping, leave some out to swirl on top of the pie right before serving.Spread 1/3 the cream cheese mixture over the crumb crust in pie plate. Layer half the crushed pineapple, sliced bananas, and strawberries over the that. Repeat layers and end with the last third of the cream cheese mixture.Chill pie in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours. Top with swirls of left over whipped topping and garnish (if you like) with additional sliced bananas and sliced strawberries. Enjoy.

Jamaica Winecoolers
Jamaica Tea has long been know as a favorite "Agua Fresca" in Mexico. Jamaica Tea is made from the petals of the Hibicus flower. It's a deep red/burgandy color, rich in it's distinctive flavor. Here I've combined a picher of Jamaica tea with a ½ bottle of white zinfandel and 3 cups of gingerale. The taste is rather unique. You must remember to sweeten the tea before mixing in the other ingredients. Top with a sprig of mint and some ice and you're ready to go.
********************************************
Mexican Word of the Day: JULY
You told me you were going to the store and JULY”
to me! Julyer!