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♦ WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2006
From sea to shining sea
Tacos, tortillas and chile rellenos
By Olivia Wheatley
Stachorek
Journal Guest Writer
Growing up
in Southern
California, I
quickly learned
that the most
interesting people seemed
to live in their own neigh
borhoods. For instance,
Hispanic homes sprang up
along narrow lanes on either
side of Mt. Vernon Avenue,
their main street, lined with
Mexican cases and tortilla
factories.
Their yards were filled
with amazing varieties of
cacti and yucca, and often
sported rare blossom forms,
some of which were said to
bloom only once every hun
dred years. As a child, I
wondered how these people
knew that and who had seen
the last plant in bloom. It
seemed to me there was
always a century plant with
its 40-foot stalk topped with
creamy feathers tower
ing somewhere along their
paths.
As teens, my friends and I
developed a fondness for the
good food found on the west
side of town. There was
the La Comida, our friend
Martha’s family restaurant.
You had to work at spend
ing more than $2 for a great
meal. For instance, the tacos
at our favorite Friday night
destination, Durant’s Drive
in, cost 25 cents, and along
with our 10-cent cherry
cokes, provided the perfect
nightcap. Years later, with
our family in tow, I recall
feeding my wrestler son on
only $3.50 for a full-course
meal on the town.
And nutritionists tell us
the kind of colorful meals
we were served, loaded with
shredded lettuce and ripe
tomatoes, lots of cheese and
flavorful meats, wrapped in
corn or flour tortillas, pro
vided the most balanced of
American eating.
Mt. Vernon in San
Bernardino probably still
boasts fabulous restaurants
and delightful tortilla facto
ries. Every California house
wife knows where to get the
freshest, most flavorful tor
tillas. These “factories”are
usually manned by laughing
mamacitas patting out their
corn and flour products by
the dozens, their strong
hands working as rapidly as
their happy chatter.
When visiting my sis
ter’s family in Memphis,
Tennessee, in the ‘6os and
‘7os, I realized southern
supermarkets had yet to hear
about this marvelous bread
form we practically took
for granted in California.
Therefore, I felt obliged, to
tote the necessary ingredi
ents for a full-bore Mexican
banquet.
The praise mounted with
each visit, so I gladly paid
the price by lugging an
increasingly heavy suitcase
with each trip. Into it went
at least one 28-ounce can of
Las Palmas Red Chili Sauce,
and another 28 ounces of
Las Palmas Enchilada Sauce
Mild, a pound or two of
canned refried beans, and a
couple or so dozen tortillas.
Now, you might think 28
ounces of red chili sauce
excessive until you realize I
would never dream of stuff
ing a taco or tostada with
anything less than what my
husband calls “savory meat,”
an almost biblical term. My
version is shredded beef
steeped in Las Palmas Red
Chili Sauce until no juice is
left standing in the skillet
or pot, and that, only, is true
Cal-Mex meat. Ground beef
or shredded chicken breast
might do, if that’s your pref
erence, but the process of
cooking down in the red
sauce is imperative. Don’t
serve me any grey hamburg
er, please.
Red savory meat and the
\C\ \
Avocados.com
Guacamole made with California avocados is the natural cool side to go with any hot dish. To make this one take three ripe, large California Hass
avocados, peeled and seeded, and mash (leaving them a little lumpy). Add two vipe-Roma tomatoes diced small, a half cup of finely chopped onion,
juice from one large lime, some garlic salt and chopped cilantro.
freshness of the salsa are my
“white glove” test of every
so-called Mexican restau
rant. Therefore, I had to lug
on and off the airliner, along
with tortillas and sauces, at
least two seven-ounce cans of
Ortega Diced Green Chilies
for her salsa. As with all the
Mexican food I have ever
served, salsa is very simple
and adds so much to a true
Cal-Mex meal, you never
want to be without it.
So my simple salsa starts
with the Ortega Diced Green
Chilies, which are not hot
for those of us who don’t
care to have to reach for
the water after every bite.
Ortega brand green chilies,
actually the Anaheim chili,
the mildest of the many pep
per varieties, are also packed
whole. These are peeled by
scorching them with a torch.
(I’ve seen my son actually
do this! Ouch!) You can
burn the peel off over any
flame. But canned or fresh,
these peppers are the basic
ingredient of my favorite,
Chiles Rellenos. Bear in
mind, Anaheim peppers are
not hot, as are Jalapeno pep
pers. Be sure the can says
whole green peppers, not
Jalapenos.
Having lugged my suit
case through airports, up
and down escalators, hop
ing I didn’t forget something
wonderful, I would then look
for a Winn-Dixie, or Piggly-
Wiggly, or some other mar
ket not found in northern
California where my poor
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family was struggling to
keep fed without me.
First into the cart goes lots
of fresh lettuce, ripe toma
toes, fresh green scallions, as
well as sweet onions. If I can
find one, I’ll buy an avocado
for the meal. Also, I grab
canned ripe olives, whole
and sliced and two kinds of
cheese, one cheddar and two
pounds of Monterey Jack as
I head for the meat depart
ment. There I choose a few
pounds of good stew meat to
bake or boil long enough to
pull apart for shredded beef,
my choice for savory meat.
At this late stage, look
ing back over the decades,
I have to admit there was
once a day I could shop and
then head right out to the
kitchen and start the Cal-
Mexican Grande. But today,
I would prepare a lot of what
I’m going to tell you about
way ahead of time. A day
or so ahead, I might start
the Chilies Rellenos and set
aside however many I expect
to serve. (I embarrassed
myself with my own enthu
siasm, after finding the fol
lowing recipe, by stocking
the entire refrigerator with
breaded rellenos, leaving
little room for anything else
when my son and his family
arrived after a long journey.
We don’t talk about that
much anymore.)
Another easy dish to pre
pare ahead is a good cheese
enchilada. So having those
ready to pop in the oven
See SEA, page 4C
FOOD
Chile Rellenos according to Elena
Now the piece de resistance of a Mexican banquet should be the Chiles Rellenos.
My little family was transplanted to a charming northern California village when the
youngest ones were still in grammar school. Until then, I had never attempted to serve
this dish we enjoyed in southern California restaurants. One day I stumbled onto the
definitive recipe in a little book found in our local book shop. Elena Zelayeta had been a
famous San Francisco restaurateur for ten years when she was tragically blinded. Born
and raised in Mexico in a family-operated village inn, she was already an overcomer.
So after a brief period of bitterness, she bounced back to write a cookbook of Mexican
and Spanish recipes which was published in 1944, and went on to market her products
with her two sons.
For the Chiles Rellenos, according to Elena, you must prepare an egg batter allowing
one egg to each two whole peppers and one tablespoon of flour to each egg. Separate
eggs; beat whites until stiff, then lightly fold in beaten yolks and flour.
You will find four or so peeled mild Anaheim peppers in a seven-ounce can of Ortega
Whole Green Chilies. Cut Monterey Jack cheese in rectangular strips about an inch or
so thick and two to three inches long. Opening the wide end of one whole pepper place
inside a piece of cheese, or wrap the cheese with the pepper.
Drop the cheese-stuffed peppers into the mixture one at a time. Pick up with a
spoon and place in a frying pan with plenty of moderately hot oil, about one and a half
inches deep, and fry until golden brown on both sides. Drain on absorbent paper and
let stand.
Shortly before serving time, make a thin sauce as follows: Mince half an onion and
one clove garlic fine, and fry in a little oil. Puree two cups of solid pack tomatoes in a
blender and add to the garlic and onion mix with two cups of any kind of stock, prefer
ably chicken. When boding, season with salt, pepper and one teaspoon oregano rubbed
between the palms into the sauce.
When ready to serve, put the peppers into the boiling sauce just long enough to heat
them through - about five minutes. They pufT up deliciously when heated this way.
And they look and taste like a real Cal-Mex dish should!!
- Olivia Stachorek
CONUS
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