A flavourful ode to Oaxaca cuisine
Scrambled eggs are combined with beans and chorizo in this Mexican recipe
Lusty, spicy Mexican cuisine’s popularity is on the rise. You can read all about it and make easy dishes with Oaxaca: Home Cooking From the Heart of Mexico (Abrams, $50), a beautiful cookbook by Bricia Lopez.
In 1994, Lopez’s father opened Guelaguetza, an award-winning Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles. Lopez would like more recognition for Mexican agricultural workers, whom she calls “the backbone of the food industry in America.” Canadians may not realize it, but Mexico also produces many of our winter vegetables.
The Oaxaca region in southeast Mexico bases its cuisine on corn, chilies, herbs and spices. Add tomatoes and tomatillos, onion and garlic, and Lopez’s book offers a feast of colour, with all the foods handsomely photographed.
Co-written by Javier Cabral, Home Cooking From the Heart of Mexico also offers plentiful culinary advice. For example, the authors recommend bringing dried chilies back to life by dry-roasting them in a cast-iron pan or a hot oven. The result brings out their natural, nutty flavour.
Recipes in the book demonstrate how simple foods are made exciting with seasonings. An example is this egg dish, ideal for a fast weekday dinner.
HUEVOS CON EJOTES Y CHORIZO (SCRAMBLED EGGS WITH BEANS AND CHORIZO)
Serves 4
Ingredients:
• Sea salt
• 3 cups (750 ml/500 g) fresh green beans, sliced in 1-inch (2.5 cm) pieces
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil
• 1 cup (8 ounces/250 g) chorizo (smoked pork sausage)
• 1 / 3 cup (75 ml) chopped white onion (1 small)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 11 /2 cups (375 ml) chopped Roma tomatoes (about 2)
• 6 large eggs, beaten
• Corn tortillas
Directions:
Cook beans in a pot of boiling, salted water just until softened, about 10 minutes. Drain.
In a large, heavy frying pan over medium heat, heat the oil and fry the chorizo until it is cooked through, about seven minutes.
Add onion and garlic and sauté about five minutes, until softened. Then add beans and tomatoes and cook just until the tomatoes soften.
Add eggs and cook, turning with a fork, until scrambled to preferred degree of doneness.
Serve at once with tortillas.