TCC, Day 25: Mexican Food

I've been taking a Mexican cooking class on Master Class. It's taught by Gabriela Camera who owns restaurants in Mexico City and San Francisco. So far I've watched classes on making tortillas, two kinds of raw salsas, tacos al pastor, pescado a la Talla, refried beans, and huevos rancheros divorciado.

It's like Gabby - that's what I call her now - and I are BFF's.

Now, I should be spending every moment I'm not working learning about quantitative analysis, but that makes me feel dumb and my brain hurts, so instead I learn about cooking. Those three major assignments due this Sunday aren't going to do themselves, so I've stopped myself from all things fun and done one each day the last two days. Tomorrow I'll do the last one, and then I will block them from my mind forever because they are evil. I don't seem to have the capacity for this particular level of difficulty these days. The semester will be over soon enough.

Back to the fun stuff.

In my tortilla making class I learned how to grind my own masa out of heirloom corn, but I seem to be fresh out of heirloom corn. Instead I bought masa, and Keaton and I have been practicing our tortilla making skills. (FYI - They sell tortilla presses at HEB.) At first they stuck to the plastic. Gabby said not to use plastic wrap but to use a heavier plastic instead, but Saran Wrap was all we had. She was right. They stuck. She is so smart.

Keaton had the genius idea of cutting up a gallon ziploc bag to have heavier plastic, and the sticking problem improved dramatically.

Our tortillas are still a little too thick, but we'll keep working on them. If anyone has tips for us, we'll take them. Gabby was right when she said they are best if you eat them fresh with a sprinkle of salt.

We've also made salsa verde cruda. It's a raw salsa made by throwing various raw veggies and herbs into the blender (super complicated). It's delicious. Since all of the measurements are in grams, I estimated a little too heavily in some cases. I think I over estimated the tomatillos, and with fewer of them the sauce would be creamier. Also, I bought large tomatillos and later learned small ones are preferred. I will definitely make this again and it will be even more delicious.

Next on my list is tacos al pastor. I was able to find all of the chiles I need at HEB except one. I got ancho, guajillo, pasilla, and chili de arbol. Isn't HEB fantastic?  I couldn't find any cascabels, but I've ordered them from Amazon and they should be here Saturday. I am SO EXCITED to make this! Maybe my tortillas will be a little closer to perfect by then.

I'm super intrigued by the fish. I was thinking it's not something I would attempt until I watched the class, but now I might have to try it. It's a butterflied fish with green sauce on half and red sauce on half, and you serve it with tortillas and refried black beans. It looks beautiful. We shall see if I get brave enough to try it.

Lots of Gabby's recipes call for epazote. It's an herb. I wonder if I can grow it here. I don't remember ever seeing it in the store, but I've never actually looked for it.

It's a good thing Trey likes Mexican food.

The end.

PS - So many words in this don't spell check. Perhaps my friend April will point out anything I've spelled wrong.