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2C ♦ 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 m Tp INTERIORS 478-987-4511 Attention ladies! Drop by and sign up for our gift registry! Husbands will kav>e youc selections to ckoose from! Husbands, call us or come by and make your Christmas Gift Selection from items your Wife will surely Want. WWW.carltoninteriors.com 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 MAJESTK^RAMES j■■■ ■ : "V Do you really want another tie I or pair of slippers for the holidays? I Come Register For The Gift You Really Want! Custom framing • Collegiate • Military UNIQUE GIFTS STORE HOURS: Mon- Fri 10-6 • Sat 10-4 2507 Moody Road Warner Robins, Georgia 929-8851 J §4llßl HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL