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Tasting NM / classics

Back to Basics The 10 essential ingredients of a true New Mexican kitchen— regardless of your zip code.

by PETER BG SHOEMAKER

I’M NOT A NATIVE New Mexican, but I eat like one. And I’m getting to the point where I’d like to cook like one as well. So it seemed a good idea to explore and share what real New Mexican cooks think are the most important ele- ments in a New Mexican kitchen. My first stop was a series of cookbooks produced in the 1960s by the women of the Española Hospital Auxiliary. The recipes in the hand-illustrated, photocopied, and hand-stapled booklets were divided among Indian, Hispanic, and Anglo dishes, and very useful for cluing me in on particular ingredients. I then spent some time with Janet Malcolm, chef and manager of the famed restaurant Rancho de Chimayó—which just received a James Beard America’s Classics Award—to find out what a lifelong New Mexican cook cooking for discerning New Mexicans con- Clockwise from above: Piñon siders important. Finally, I spoke with Kathleen Wall, a cel- nuts, press, dried posole, blue on ebrated Jemez ceramic artist who is a veteran chef behind husks, yellow squash, zucchini. years of public and private feasts at her . Together they offered an authoritative set of basics for eating and cooking New Mexican standards. photo by INGA HENDRICKSON

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1. CHILE Chile adds the spice to New Mexico’s life- blood. This is only barely a metaphor. Malcolm claims that it’s the most important feature of local , and she would know. Reputations are staked on its various incar- nations. It is grown all over the state, with the mother of all crops traditionally coming from Hatch. The classic uses include chiles rellenos, red chile sauce, , and the most perfect hamburger topping imaginable. New Mexico chiles are showing up all around the country, even in jars at a Costco in Brooklyn. Check labels and ask restaurant staff to con- firm that you’re getting . Our website offers recipes for red chile sauce (mynm.us/redchilesauce­ recipes)­ and green GLASS BOWL BY ADRIAN WALL chile sauce (mynm.us/greenchilerecipe). 2677 LOUISIANA BLVD NE, ALBUQUERQUE, NM 87110 | 505.266.0120 | 866.372.1042 2. BEANS The humble bean is celebrated here as

nowhere else: festivals, bean-picking parties, Photo: Anne Staveley bean-themed road races, and bean farmers (many from the Estancia Valley, where most of the best beans are grown) who will talk terroir like mad Frenchmen. Earthy pintos, along with smooth and rich bolitas and sweet Anasazis, show up in canvas sacks every fall, and New Mexicans prefer them cooked slowly with a few spices, maybe a hunk of salt pork, and an onion and in a micaceous pot. (See the Frijoles de Olla recipe on p. 76). Then they go into or are served as a side dish with a little cotija, to accompany classic meals such as . 3. Along with beans and squash, corn is consid- AN EXCEPTIONAL EDUCATION. ered one of the “Three Sisters”—the staple AN EXTRAORDINARY COMMUNITY. ingredients of New . But blue Strong Academics | Arts | Athletics | Community Service corn, which is 20 percent higher in protein than yellow and white corn and has a sweet- er, earthier taste, is the standout. This Native staple is found in , , chaquehue Prep means Prepared. Ready for Anything. (see recipe on p. 76), or, if you’re lucky, pan- cakes. Blue cornmeal is widely available in Learn more at sfprep.org or call New Mexican grocery stores, and you can to schedule a tour 505 795 7512 buy it online at newmexicanconnection.com Serving Grades 7-12 | Tuition Assistance Available photo by INGA HENDRICKSON and santafeschoolofcooking.com.

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4. PIÑON NUTS While the smoke of piñon wood is what marks winter for many, the fragrant, high- protein nut from its cone gives a distinctive flavor and texture to New Mexican food. They’re often sold from roadside trucks and local markets. Italian pignoli can be substi- tuted, and often are when native supplies run low. Blue corn piñon pancakes and piñon-studded meatloaf are two tasty itera- tions. Outside of New Mexico, piñon nuts Clockwise from left: Bowl of posole, blue are hard to find. Try pinonnuts.com or cornmeal, pinto beans, newmexicopinonnuts.com. red chile powder. Top right: Mica Clay cook- ware pot by Lorenzo 5. POSOLE Mendez, from Cafe Pasqual’s Gallery. Posole is both an ingredient (nixtamalized corn kernels) and a hearty stew, a mainstay of holiday tables and Native feast-day offerings. This stew can be made with the addition of water, pork, chile, an onion, and (see recipe, p. 73). If you can find frozen posole, buy it—it’ll speed up preparation. Outside of the Southwest, or areas with significant Mexican populations, posole can be hard to find. Check local Hispanic markets or visit santafeschoolofcooking.com or Amazon. 6. YELLOW SQUASH Midsummer, New Mexicans are inundated with yellow summer squash. Which means really only one thing: calabacitas—a simple dish that combines chile, squash, and corn (recipe on p. 75). Every family has its own recipe—and claims it is the best one. Though the amount of vegetables and spic- es varies, the result is always delicious. If you can’t find yellow squash, zucchini will work fine, as will any summer squash. 7. CORNHUSKS Dried cornhusks serve as the perfect vessel for steaming freshly made (recipe here: mynm.us/recipe_tamales). But they also play a role in another iconic state dish: Indian bread made in an horno (outdoor, beehive-shaped clay oven seen all over New Mexico). Kathleen Wall told me that they are all perfect thermometers. Just toss a cornhusk into the horno. If it slowly browns and crisps, the oven is ready to go. If it shriv- photo by INGA HENDRICKSON els or catches on fire, the oven is too hot.

68 NEW MEXICO // MAY 2016 Outside of New Mexico, check your local Hispanic market for cornhusks. 8. MICACEOUS POT Not every kitchen has a micaceous pot, but they probably should. Cooks and potters alike will tell you that the sparkly, highly conductive, mineral-rich clay makes water taste sweeter and food richer. Generally unadorned except for the mica and the fire blooms caused by wood-fired pit kilns, micaceous pots are usable art. They are safe for stovetops, microwaves, and ovens. You can buy them at the legendary Santa Fe res- taurant Cafe Pasqual’s, on-site or via the online store: mynm.us/pasquals_pots. 9. TORTILLA PRESS Making a tortilla isn’t hard. Making 100, or even 20, can create a lifelong aversion to rolling pins. You can fake it with parchment paper, a couple of plates, and some elbow grease. But for day, a press is a lifesaver. Essentially two pieces of metal with a compression handle, it takes a plum- size bit of dough and produces a six-inch —I like my Norpro brand press. For tortillas (see recipe, p. 71) a rolling pin is still best.

10. A LONG TABLE AND BENCHES New Mexican cooking, particularly if you’re going traditional, requires space. So you will need a long table—preferably wooden, and having once belonged to your great- grandmother—and benches. The benches can be moved to allow for rolling dough or cutting biscochitos. And when it comes time to eat, as Wall said, “with benches you can always fit one more person in.” If you haven’t inherited such kitchen furnish- ings, try Southwest Spanish Craftsmen (southwestspanishcraftsmen.com) or your local antique store. �

Peter BG Shoemaker is featured in “Storytell- ers,” p. 12. Please turn the page for classic recipes employing various of these ingredi- ents and implements.

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You can roll out tortillas with a pin, but when it comes to corn tortillas, a press makes mass production easier.

photo by JEN JUDGE

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WHEN IT COMES TO finding authentic New Mexican recipes, outside of asking your abuela, our go-to source is Bill and Cheryl Alters Jamison’s Tasting New Mexico: Recipes Celebrating One Hundred Years of Distinctive Home Cooking (Museum of New Mexico Press), an official project of the New Mexico 2012 centennial. With a combina- tion of ingredients, tools, and the directions that follow, you have all that you need to make your kitchen New Mexican. (The book is available online at mnmpress.org or by calling 800-249-7737.) FLOUR TORTILLAS Makes about 8 tortillas, approximately 7 to 8 inches in diameter In Southwest culinary circles, flour tortillas are most closely associated with the cooking of and the Mexican state of . New Mexican versions—thicker, smaller in diameter, and chewier than most others— actually probably predate these better- known cousins. Spanish settlers preferred to corn, so they used it to produce a flatbread similar to a Pueblo tortilla, a tradi- tion that has persisted in Hispano families for centuries now. Cheryl Alters Jamison’s Little Sister in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, Lenore Tapia-Baker, with other members of the Tapia family, taught her how to make these 30 years ago. Experienced practitioners can flap and slap and pull the dough out into perfect rounds, but for the rest of us it’s usually easier to roll them out with a pin or use a press. 2 cups low-gluten pastry or biscuit flour, He loves me or all-purpose flour necklace and earrings $200 1½ teaspoons baking powder (reduce sterling silver & turquoise by ¼ teaspoon at altitudes above necklace alone $170 5,000 feet) earrings alone $40 1 teaspoon salt Want to see more of Claire’s designs? 1 tablespoon lard, vegetable shortening, We have a great website. or vegetable oil www.claireworks.com ¾ cup lukewarm water 888.219.6060 • 575.776.5175 unsalted butter or your favorite salsa 1. Sift together into a large bowl the flour, visit CLAIREWORKS in Arroyo Seco, NM baking powder, and salt. Work in the lard on the way to Taos Ski Valley with your fingers. Add the water, working FREE PRIORITY SHIPPING photo by JEN JUDGE it quickly until a sticky dough forms.

nmmagazine.com // MAY 2016 71 Tasting NM / classic recipes

Posole, often served as a side dish, is hearty enough for the main course.

photo by JEN JUDGE

72 NEW MEXICO // MAY 2016 2. Knead the dough vigorously on a floured board for 1 minute. The mixture should no longer be sticky. This will sound a little odd, but if the dough is the same softness as your earlobe, it’s ready. If it remains more firm, knead a few more strokes until it’s earlobe soft. Cover the dough with a damp, clean dish towel and let it rest for about 15 minutes. 3. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and form into balls. Cover the balls again with Silver City the damp towel and let them rest for an- Custom home with remarkable features situated on 11.169 other 15 to 30 minutes. (The dough can be wooded acres—this is a unique property! refrigerated at this stage and kept for up $1,375,000 to 4 hours. Bring the dough back to room • Log Beam Ceilings • Wood Floors • Two Fireplaces • Cedar Lined Closets • Abundant Storage • Large Rooms • Spacious Kitchen • temperature before proceeding.) • Six-burner Viking Range • Double Oven • Subzero Refrigerator/freezer • Roll-out Shelving • Custom Cabinets • 4. On a floured surface, roll out each dough Additional building has 5000 square feet with offices, two ½ baths, heated and cooled—perfect for all your hobbies or a commercial venture. ball, from the center, into a disc no thicker than ¼ inch. Turn the dough a Debbie Rogers Pat Fell quarter turn after each roll, to help shape 575.538.1829 575.538.1460 the tortilla as you go. Trim off any ragged [email protected] [email protected] edges and discard them. 5. Line a basket or plate just larger than the RE/MAX Silver Advantage 575.538.3847 314 E. 14th St. PO Box 1477, Silver City, NM 88061 tortillas with a cloth napkin or several layers of paper napkins. Warm a dry griddle or large cast-iron skillet over high heat. Cook the tortillas 30 seconds on each side, until the dough looks dry, VENTURE OUT INTO slightly leathery, and speckled brown in a THE LAND OF ENCHANTMENT few spots. Place each tortilla immediately in the basket as it is cooked. Savor the tortillas warm, with butter or salsa, or reserve for another use. POSOLE Serves 8 or more As one of the trinity of special summer crops, corn is occasionally eaten in New Mexico in ways familiar to other Americans, such as roasted or grilled on the cob, or made into a summer pudding, or simply cooked as a side dish of buttered kernels. The characteristically local ways of prepar- ing corn, however, start with converting it to a preserved form. Turning it into posole is the most common method. The corn is nixtamalized (treated with slaked lime) to remove its outer skin, a technique devel- oped by Native Americans centuries ago. The corn puffs up and becomes somewhat slicker in texture, with a distinctive bite when cooked. The technique also makes Discover More New Mexico Treasures available the vitamins and an essential shop.nmmagazine.com 800-711-9525 photo by JEN JUDGE amino acid in the plant. A similar

nmmagazine.com // MAY 2016 73 Tasting NM / classic recipes

Calabacitas is a summertime staple.

photo by JEN JUDGE

74 NEW MEXICO // MAY 2016 process produces , but the lime compound is somewhat different and doesn’t result in the same earthiness found in posole. 6 dried New Mexican red chile pods, stemmed and seeded 1 to 1½ pounds pork shoulder or loin, trimmed of surface fat and cut into bite-size cubes, or 1 or 2 pigs’ feet 2 pounds frozen posole or 1 pound dried posole 2 medium onions, chopped 6 to 10 garlic cloves, minced 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste 1. If you will be using frozen posole, first combine the chile pods with the pork in a Dutch oven or large pot and simmer in 4 quarts of water for about 30 minutes. Then add the frozen posole and cook about 30 minutes more. If your posole is dried, add it with the chile, pork, and 6 quarts of water and simmer for about 1 hour. 2. Stir in the onions, garlic, and salt and continue to simmer over a low fire until the posole is soft. Expect the remaining cooking to take another 30 minutes for frozen posole and at least 1 hour if dried. Do not be surprised if it takes a bit longer. 3. Serve hot in bowls with some of the liquid, or drain it with a slotted spoon and serve it on the side with other plated foods.

CALABACITAS Serves 6 In high summer in New Mexico, people eat watch the stars come out in downtown this sauté by the bowlful. The preparation for calabacitas is fast, easy, and forgiving of addi- SILVER CITY tions and subtractions of ingredients. Just New Mexico don’t rush the cooking, because the squash should be quite tender when done. • Movies 2 tablespoons butter • Live Entertainment 2 tablespoons vegetable oil • Creative Chefs 2 pounds mixed summer squash • Innovative Artists (such as yellow crookneck or gold • Cozy Hotels bar squash, small zucchini,

or light-green-skinned silvercitymainstreet.com 575.534.1700 Funded by Silver City Lodger’s Tax photo by JEN JUDGE calabacita), sliced thin

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or in bite-size cubes cheddar or Monterey Jack, olive oil as 1 medium onion, chopped the cooking fat, and additions such as garlic, cinnamon, and fresh mint. 2 small tomatoes, preferably roma or Italian plum, FRIJOLES DE OLLA optional Serves 6 to 8 2 cups corn kernels, fresh Bolitos, Anasazis, favas—any of these or frozen beans can be simmered simply in salted ¼ to ¾ cup chopped, roasted water with tasty results. For pintos, which reign supreme, we suggest using the sea- mild New Mexican green soning combination favored by Noe Cano, chile, fresh or thawed frozen the longtime chef de cuisine at the Santa ½ teaspoon salt Fe School of Cooking. up to ¼ cup half-and-half, 2 cups dried pinto beans optional 8 cups water, or more as needed 4 ounces (1 cup) shredded 1 head of garlic, minced Monterey Jack or cheddar 2 dried chiles cheese, optional 2 teaspoons dried epazote or 1 tablespoon minced fresh 1. Warm the butter and oil in a large skil- epazote, optional let over medium heat. Add the squash, 1½ teaspoons salt, or more to taste onion, and optional tomatoes. Sauté for 10 to 15 minutes, until the squash is well 1. Pick through the beans and rinse them, softened. Stir in the corn, chiles, and discarding any gravel or grit. salt, and cook covered for another 10 2. Place the beans in a stockpot or large, minutes until all vegetables are tender. heavy saucepan. Cover them with Pour in the half-and-half if you wish, water and add the garlic, , and simmer briefly, until the liquid is and optional epazote. reduced by about half. 3. Bring the beans just to a boil over high 2. Serve hot. If using the cheese, scatter it heat, then reduce the heat to low and over the calabacitas just before serving. simmer the beans uncovered. Plan on Variations: In Philomena Romero’s New a total cooking time of 2 to 2¼ hours. Mexican Dishes (1970) she suggests the After 1 hour, stir the beans up from the bottom and check the water level. option of 1 sprig fresh cilantro. In a If there is not at least an inch more version from the Los Alamos Histori- water than beans, add enough hot cal Society cookbook Savoring the Past water to bring it up to that level. Check (2001), San Ildefonso cook and potter the beans after another 30 minutes, Dora Tse-Pe sautéed pork sausage with repeating the process. Add the salt the squash and then baked the mixture after the beans are well softened, and all together briefly before serving. The continue simmering. Check every owners of Dick’s Café in Las Cruces, the 15 minutes, keeping the level of the Perez family, make a very saucy version water just above the beans. There of calabacitas, rich with tomatoes, should be extra liquid at the comple- tomato sauce, and a heavier topping tion of the cooking time, but the of cheese. Antoinette Gonzales Knight, beans should not be watery. If you whose parents founded Mary & Tito’s in wish, remove ½ to 1 cup of the beans, Albuquerque in the 1960s, says her dad mash them, and return them to the liked to add ground sirloin. We’ve seen pot for a thicker liquid. embellishments of carrots and chicos, 4. Serve warm. The beans keep several substitutions of goat cheese for the days, and are even better reheated. � INGA HENDRICKSONINGA

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