Mexican
Packed with vitamins, calabacitas y elote is a healthy and colorful dish that would complement any meal.
Mexican rice belongs to an unusual category of Mexican dishes called sopas secas, or “dry soups.”To make a sopa seca, slowly cook a starchy food such as rice, noodles, or cut-up tortillas in a soup broth. Eventually all the broth is absorbed by the starch, leaving “dry” soup. Dry soups are served as a separate course before the meat course.
The word taco actually means “snack” in Spanish, but this word is used for one dish in particular. A taco is a sandwich like snack made with tortillas, a meat or bean filling, garnish, and spicy sauce. You may find taco shells, or folded and fried tortillas, in U.S. supermarkets, but you won’t find them in Mexico. Mexicans do sometimes fry tacos, filling and all, and then eat the snacks while still hot.
Huachinango is an Aztec name for “red snapper,” an ocean fish caught off the shores of tropical Veracruz, a Mexican state located on the Gulf of Mexico. If you visit the fish market in the busy seaport of Veracruz, you will see stands full of freshly caught snapper with shiny scales in all shades of red, pink, and yellow. This fish is also available fresh or frozen in many parts of the United States. If it is too expensive or unavailable at your grocery store, a different kind of white fish—such as haddock—may be substituted.
There are many popular Mexican recipes using red snapper, but one of the tastiest ways to fix this fish is simply to panfry it and then squeeze on fresh lime juice. Limes are more widely used in Mexican cooking than lemons. Their tangy juice gives a special flavor to fish and to fresh fruits such as papaya and mango.
Fideos is the Spanish name for vermicelli, thin noodles often used in Italian cooking.
