Making Méx. Minestrone

Sunday dinner for the family this week will feature my wife's lasagna.

lasagna: n.

1. Pasta in flat, very wide strips.
2. A dish made by baking such pasta with layers of sauce and fillings such as cheese or meat. [Italian, possibly from Vulgar Latin lasania, from Latin lasanum, chamber pot]

Since there is no Italian sausage down here in Aguascalientes, her version uses some ground beef and ground pork. No ricotta either so she's using something Mexican as well. About the only two things I recognize are mozzarella and Kraft Parmesan (Parmigiano-Reggiano is but a fond memory!). She also adds cream to her tomato sauce for some reason.

My contribution will be the soup. Now that fall is here, I decided to make minestrone. I started with notes and ingredients from Simply Recipes. But like most of my cooking, it was time to improvise. First, certain foods taste best when they are warmed up leftovers. Beef stew, baked bean, and any hearty soup come to mind. In fact, I prefer cold day-old pizza! [What's your item that "tastes even better the second night?"] Since it was Friday and dinner is Sunday, the soup will be made ahead of time and then reheated Sunday.

The recipe called for beef or chicken broth. Since I like beef in my vegetable soup, I went with some boney chunks of beef with fat and meat all around 'em; around a kilo (2.2lb). This I put in a pan with some extra virgin olive oil and sauted. I have learned to be patient and don't move the stuff around. That way the meat has a chance to get nicely browned and leave some danrk, crispy chunks on the pan; the basis for great taste. After 10-15 minutes on a medium fire, I tossed the meat into a pot with 10 cups of water. I was happy to see many of the bones sported marrow-filled holes. Yum! I splashed a bit of wine in the pan to deglaze, added some of the water, then transferred all the liquid crispy chunks to the pot. The stock pot then started heating up... cover off. Stock is like minestrone itself. Toss in whatever you've got and let it simmer. Since the recipe called for lots of veggies from carrots to cabbage, potato to zucchini; I decided to prep the veggies and use the peelings, ends, etc., for the stock. Naturally I washed everything well first. Onion: chop off the two ends and throw then ends in the pot. Cut the onion in half and peel off a couple layers. Throw the dried outer layer away but toss the inner peels in the pot. More tossing with tomato skins, celery ends (leaves are too bitter), parsley stalks, ends of zucchini, etc. I remembered that a couple of cloves and a bay leave get tossed into lots of stocks and sauces; so in they went. This all was Friday. After around 4 hours of slow cooking, the pot rested for the night. Next morning I removed the fat, fished out the meat and bones, reheated the stock, seasoned to taste, and then strained through cheesecloth and seive. It's a fine tasting base! The meat was then removed from the bones and set aside.

Saturday: The recipe calls for adding certain veggies in two steps since they cook at different times and some are first browned a little. So on Friday, when peeling, chopping, slicing and dicing, I segregated to different plastic bags. Although not in the original recipe, in addition to a diced potato, I had to add a cup of pasta shells. I mean, it is Minestrone! Saturday afternoon is cookin' and combining time. The large white beans are being stubborn but they will be tender! Once each ingredient is cooked properly they will cool and then be combined in the crock for an evening in the bottom of the 'fridge. Tomorrow they will come back to room temp and then be crock potted for an hour or two.

While I don't have decent Parmesan, I'll make do with the Kraft Khemical Kompound and some toasted garlic bread; minced garlic on buttered bolillos.

I gotta tell you, the butter down here is a lot better butter than up north. For one thing, they don't charge more for unsalted than for salted. How about that! Secondly, it doesn't get all sputtery when it's in the pan. Third, it's a lovely shade of yellow instead of pale blah. And finally, it tastes good. It tastes like butter used to taste. I find that lately I have been "cleaning off" the spoon or knife I use to spread butter. It must be higher in butterfat. I'm sure it's unhealthy; things that taste good usually are. e.g. Krispy Kremes, pot roast with gravy, pie dough made with lard* (manteca).

* Did you know lard is lower in saturated fat than butter? See: lard


Hasta el lunes.

Limes Yes - Lemons No

According to the signs in the stores, these are limones or lemons. Nope. They're little bitty limes. And they taste like limes. So what's a fella to do if he craves a cold glass of lemonade, a slice of lemon meringue pie, or just a squeeze on a big ol' slab of salmon? The answer, so far, is a glass of limeade, a slice of lime pie, or lime juice on the fish.

There are tons and tons of these small limes in the market for pennies. They are small, but they are soft (when ripe) and full of juice. I've measured and a small limone will yield well over a teaspoon of juice and they can be squeezed by hand. However, the do have some big seeds so the squeezing is best done over a strainer. The limones above are just about an inch in diameter. The 10 Peso coin (I don't have a quarter!!) is about an inch also.

The markets also sell a large lime (about the size of a small lemon) for triple the price per kilo. [Most everything is priced by the kilo here = 2.2 lbs.] They don't have triple the juice so the only reason to buy them would be for an easier time zesting. They do tend to be greener and less prone to blemishes.

I have been asking about and a cousin (one of my wife's >150 cousins) said she has seen a couple of lemon trees at the base of a great uncle's rancho out in the country. She said there are always lots of big yellow fruit on the trees. No wonder, no one uses them!

Oh, I did find a "kinda" substitute right in my own back yard. We have an old orange tree that is full of fruit. The bad news is that the tree is ornamental. The good news is the sour juice (what little there is -- mostly seeds and skin) tastes quite a bit like lemon juice! I hope it's safe for digest. I have already used it in a pie and over fish!

Of course the plentiful little green limones are great in guacamole and to hold the salt on the edge of a margarita glass!

The Famous Garbage Plate

Talk about legends!

This is the infamous Nick Tahou Garbage Plate. It is known far and wide as long as you're in Rochester, NY, near my hometown. The reason there are four plates in the photo is that there were four original Garbage Plates. The main entre was either 2 red hots, 2 white hots (also an exclusive favorite in W.N.Y), 2 hamburgers or 2 cheeseburgers. Nowadays you can also get fish or eggs I believe.

For all the yummy details, just type "garbage plate" in Google. I tol' you it's infamous! Google should shoot you over to the Garbage Plate entry in Wikipedia. Or click on hyperlink.

The original Tahou's was in an old train station at Broad & Main. It was about 4 blocks west of the courts, jail and the legal and banking area of Rochester as well as the newspapers. So there were lawyers, judges, cops, newpaper folks grabbing a late night plate. To the south and west were the black neighborhoods and to the north were the German and Italian areas of the old city. So it was/is always quite a mix of customers.

One night after drinking too much, my pals and I cruised in for Garbage on the way home. The place was full and noisy. Someone had been killed out front earlier. The chalk marks were still fresh. Some wise guy had grabbed a piece of coal and etched a hop-scotch pattern inside the chalk marks!

And finally, a word about the hot sauce that covers the Garbage Plate. Although mighty tasty, it can be addictive and harmful. One of my friends had an ulcer and was told to stay away from spicy foods. He ate at Nick's at least 3 times a week. One weekend his stomach was really giving him problems. He went to the hospital and under the knife; the ulcer had perforated. When the doc opened him up, he exclaimed, "Oh no! I told him to stay away from Tahou's!" The sauce is probably included in the local Poison Control Center database.

Mexican Tomato Paste

You'd think in a country like México there would be no problem in picking up a can of tomato paste. If anyone uses a lot of tomatoes, it's either Mexico or southern Italy. Well, bucko, I can't find any. And I need tomato paste to exist. They also don't have much in the way of canned spaghetti sauce down here. I could use Prego as a base but that's hard to find. What they do have in a can (Hunt's or Del Monte) isn't worth the can it comes in.

What is available in the markets (agropecuarios) are tons of plum tomatoes; Fresh and cheap. I am coming to the conclusion that I have been spoiled. Just like I assumed that Jello pudding was a scratch ingredient, I am adjusting to the fact that if I want tomato paste, I am going to have to make it ... from tomatoes! I wish I could find 3-4 ounce canning jars.

So who's got a good recipe or information on making tomato paste? I'm going to have to buy a non-reactive stock pot. Or will a ceramic crock pot do it? The "high" setting does eventually get things boiling.

Same deal down here for sun-dried tomatoes. Sun-dried tomatoes are as in these days as balsamic vinegar, buffalo mozzarella, and goat cheese. But I haven't found any sun-dried tomatoes for sale in México. I don't have the time or patience to dry tomatoes (or grapes) in the back yard. I think I'll surf Ebay for a realtively small dehydrator.

The bottom line on tomatoes down here; they sell tomatoes and they sell a thin tomato sauce called pure de tomate condementado. No whole tomatoes in a can, no stewed tomatoes, to thick tomato sauce, and no tomato paste. I think I'm going to have to plan ahead to make my own from those fresh red orbs.

Next time: A Limone is Not a Lemon