Sour cream by itself is pretty plain. For me it falls under the same category as mayonnaise, it's that white gooey stuff with no flavor. As I was putting together a class I knew that I couldn't serve just plain sour cream, I'd have to put a Sonoran spin on it. Here's...
Long consumed by natives of Mexico and Central America, avocado packs a powerful healthy fat content (the unsaturated kind). As well as a list of vitamins and minerals normally only found in supplement form. You can make avocado soup, avocado cream, put slices of it...
During a shopping spree a little over a week ago, I finally found fresh curry leaves, an important ingredient in the cookbook I’m working out of: Dakshin: Vegetarian Cuisine from South India. The recipes I chose to make were Beans Poriyal, Colocasia Roast (Small...
The late summer brings squash season. Yellow, green, crook necks, grey squash. Squash in all it's abundance. But what can you do with these soft and delicious vegetables? New Mexico solved the problem by inventing this...
I grew up calling Arroz "Spanish Rice." This followed me into adulthood, and up into my 30's. I found out not too long ago, that what I learned to call Spanish Rice isn't so Spanish. It really doesn't have anything to do with Spain, or how they cook rice in...
In ancient times, cumin was as common a spice as black pepper is on our tables today. Used as a condiment, baked in bread, and distributed widely, cumin seed generated several fascinating myths and origin stories as a list of incredible health benefits. In the Ancient...
In traditional Southwestern cooking, the pinto bean is king. Pintos are in everything. Traditionally, they are the bean that makes up Refried Beans. But pinto beans are starchy, they have a high fat content. And when you add something like lard (traditional way to...
Certain foods inspire strong reactions in people. For example, many people either love or hate cilantro. Its prevalence in salsas and Mexican sauces make it easily recognizable to most diners. On the other hand, coriander is more of a stealth ingredient,...
In case you haven't guessed, I love roasted vegetables. I'll stuff them, make salsas, chop them up in salads, put them on a dinner plate with portabello mushroom burgers... And now, here's one more use for roasted veggies: stuff them into corn tortillas, topped with...
Ginger: Ginger is a root, the rhizome of Zingiber Officinale, and grows in fertile, moist soil (definitely not where I come from). Unlike most spices when ginger is used fresh, not dried, it is still called a spice. Typically the root is dried, and ground to a powder,...
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