Sarah's Blog (19)




The torta is like an old friend. It's there after a bad breakup. It's there the morning after, when you just want to bury the memories of last night in a few layers of meat and avocado and mayonnaise and thick bread. It's there after a long afternoon of tedious work, multi-layered, dense, loving, comforting. It's a midday pat on the back, a lunch on the grass in the park.…

Below: Tomatilloes bubbling away.

Most moles are dense, rich concoctions which leave you swooning after one bite. Mole verde is not quite like that. It's savory and complex, but it's light where other moles are dark, spicy and bright where they are heavy, a pastiche of green where they are deep, uniform red-browns.…

Christmas in Mexico isn’t simply one day. Christmas dinner isn’t simply one dinner, either. Rather, it’s nine days of dinners, from December 16th to December 24th, each held at a different house and featuring a different array of dishes. These dinners, which fall somewhere between religious celebration, fiesta, and dinner party, are called posadas, and are meant to symbolize Joseph and Mary’s search for food…

There is something incomparably comforting about a bowl of soup. All the nutrients are tucked into a warm broth, the vegetables are soft and full of flavor, perfumed steam comes wafting up from the bowl. Soup, for me, is inseparable from the chill and the wind and the wood smoke smells of fall and winter. It is a universal comfort food.



Mexican soups tend to favor rich, limey herbs that set off the buttery flavors of…

Estofado is one of those dishes that lays bare the connections between the two countries. Estofado tastes like Spain in the interplay between tomatoes, olives, and chicken, which lends the dish a Mediterranean feel. But ultimately the Mexican flavors are the ones that linger; it’s the combination of aromatic, slow-roasted and ground spices that dominates and makes estofado. At some point during the cooking process I was…

My husband Jorge made me his mom's caldo de pollo for the first time when I was so sick I could barely stand up and I had no appetite for anything. I ate two enormous bowls and felt life coursing back into my veins for the first time in days. Since then, the soup has become a staple food for us, something we always associate with rejuvenation and recovery. There is no feeling comparable to the…

When the squat, fat, brown calabazas begin appearing in the market, you know it’s time for Day of the Dead. Here in Oaxaca, the calabazas - fatter, shorter, green-brown Mexican versions of pumpkins - started appearing about a week ago, alongside…

It doesn't get much more classic than huevos a la mexicana. Even the three principal ingredients in the dish - jalapeños, tomatoes, and onions - represent the colors of the Mexican flag. So really, if you're looking for a quintessential Mexican breakfast, you can't get much more authentic.



What makes huevos a la mexicana so addictive? It's the…

After three years in Mexico, I still run into foodie surprises. This is quite possibly why I've been able to live in this country longer than anywhere else in the past six years - there is always something new on my plate.



Last night it was an alambre, which as it turns out, is a Mexican shish kebab. Alambre actually means "wire" or…

"Para todo mal, mezcal; para todo bien, también." So goes the Oaxacan refrain (a rough and rhyme-less translation: "for all that's bad, mezcal - and for all that's well, as well"). It might as well be the state's mantra - head to an early morning festival, and you'll be handed mezcal with your coffee ("They say in Oaxaca ... they drink coffee with mezcal," sings Lila Downs); bump into an evening parade and someone…

It's hard to tell what gets you on that first bite into the fish taco. Is it the spiked acidity of the pickled jalapeños and red onions, the soft, warm beer-battered fish, the raw, spicy freshness of the radish, the creamy tartness of Baja tartar sauce, the perfumed cilantro?



I can't choose. I just know I love a good fish taco on a Sunday afternoon.…

Champandongo is ugly. It is one of those foods that is impossible to make look delectable and stunning, even with the aid of a professional photographer. From above, from below, from the side, it looks like a massive culinary failure.…

The word chilaquiles sends a tingle down my spine. It sounds like a shiver of excitement and tastes pretty much the same way. This pre-Hispanic dish, whose name actually comes from the Nahuatl word “chilaquilitl” meaning “herbs or greens in chile broth,” is a Mexican breakfast classic.



For Sunday morning breakfasts following Saturday nights out, there is…