Romeritos for Christmas dinner
This Christmas, in many Mexican households prepare various traditional dishes, among which are the rosemary, dish also known as the "mess" and also consumed during Lent.
Patricia Quintana, in his book The Taste of Mexico , locates in the northern Pacific coast. Whole fresh shrimp in the sauce, and shrimp cakes, made with dried shrimp powder made combined with various ingredients, give it a delicate touch to a dish ocean whose main ingredient is variety of pigweed.
worth mentioning that under the generic "pigweed" are classified green leaves, tender stems, buds or shoots of a plant and some flowers. So chard, spinach, cabbage, purslane, quintoniles and rosemary, among many other vegetables are quelites.
In Aztec times quelites vegetables were highly valued. Edelmira Robert Bye and Linares, researchers at the Botanical Garden of the Institute of Biology, UNAM, identified in the study "quelites edible plants from Mexico," that "of the 25 000 species of higher plants that exist in Mexico, about 500 quelites are considered in the broad sense. " In rural areas are much appreciated. At the onset of the rains at the beginning also of the agricultural cycle, the mean spontaneous outbreaks of herbs an important food resource.
is very interesting that the quelites served a ritual function in ancient Mexico. The researchers note that:
"In the sixteenth century described the huauquiltamalcuzliztli Sahagún, renewing ceremony to be held in January, which was celebrated with tamales quelites (quiltamalli). Although this ceremony not practiced more, possibly the synchrony between the Aztec and European rituals quelites shown in Lenten meals. "
quelites currently incorporating such as rosemary (Suaeda torreyana), food and Christmas Lent is not associated with the Indian tradition.
The recipe features Patricia Quintana, which aims to prepare the mole, it seems laborious, but certainly delicious.
Ingredients sauce 2 cups butter 1 ½ sliced \u200b\u200bwhite onions 6 garlic cloves whole 4 ancho chiles, washed, cored and seeded 2 jalapeno mulatto washed, cored and seeded 2 pasilla chiles, washed, cored and seeded ½ cup raisins 1 cup pitted prunes | ½ cup sesame seeds, lightly toasted almonds 24 roasted, without skin 30 unroasted peanuts without skins 4 cloves 6 black peppercorns 1 cinnamon stick 5 cm long 2 cups chicken broth ½ ripe plantain, sliced \u200b\u200band fried ½ cup toasted bread crumbs 2 slices white onion Salt to taste 20 sprigs cilantro |
Shrimp Cakes
2 ½ cups of dried shrimp, no head or tail, lightly roasted in the shell and finely ground
2 / 3 cup very fine bread crumbs
2 / 3 cup grated Parmesan or aged 10
egg whites 10 egg yolks slightly beaten 3
cups vegetable oil
Vegetables
1 kilo of minced fresh rosemary and cooked in salted water for 8 minutes, soaked in cold salted water for 2 minutes and well squeezed
cooked red potato
24 in salted water for 8 minutes and 2 cups peeled
cactus
boiled for 25 minutes in salted water with garlic, chopped and soaked in cold water for 2 minutes
Prepare the sauce: heat a little butter in a soup pot or casserole. Sauté garlic and onion. Remove and set aside. Add the peppers and lightly browned in butter. Remove and add more butter, fry raisins, prunes, sesame seeds, almonds and peanuts. Remove and drain. Add more butter and sauté the spices. Grind all ingredients in blender or food processor, adding ½ cup of broth. Add the plantain and bread crumbs. Return to grind.
In large saucepan, heat the remaining butter and fry the sliced \u200b\u200bonion. Slowly pour the sauce and season. Gentle simmer for an hour or until fat accumulates on the surface. Add remaining broth and cilantro, stir well. If the sauce gets too thick add more broth or water Cook over low heat for one hour.
Prepare the patties: grind in a blender or food processor bread crumbs and shrimp. Add cheese. In a bowl beat egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold the egg yolks and shrimp mixture.
Heat oil in a frying pan and fry potions a spoonful of the mixture, fry on both sides, about 8 minutes or until golden. Do not put too many cakes at once. Air dry on paper towels.
Add shrimp cakes mole. Also put the rosemary, potatoes and nopales. Cook for 25 minutes over a low fire.
The chef Patricia Quintana suggests serve this dish with white rice. If Christmas dinner will be offered several more dishes, you can do without it.
The rosemary is one of those dishes that are as overheated tastier. A loaf of rosemary is one of the delights of this most cherished holiday.