Since the 5th was Cinco de Mayo, I should have posted this then. Ah well. It’s really okay, because this salad could be made any day or month of the year in my book. This is the last recipe I’ll post from the Mexican cooking class Cherrie and I attended a couple of weeks ago. We agreed this salad was the stand-out of the dinner (Cherrie made it, I photographed it surreptitiously while our dinner guests were sitting in the dining room and we were plating up the dinner in the kitchen – this is a tricky thing I’m finding in foodie blogdom – how to photograph company meals while the guests are hanging around).

But, back to business – you need to love cilantro if you’re going to make this one. It could be a side salad, but ideally it would be best as a main dish salad. The instructor, Phillis Carey, suggested fresh shrimp or chicken as a protein add-in.

What’s different about this salad is that the dressing contains the cilantro, which is whizzed up in the blender, so you don’t know there’s cilantro there except that the dressing is nice bright greeny hue. But, because it’s pulverized in the blender, you need to use up the dressing within a day as cilantro begins to turn slimy within that time. So only make enough to use for the one salad. The salad itself could be your own combination of lettuces and fresh vegetables, but the instructor particularly talked about the corn, the jicama and the Feta cheese as important ingredients. The jicama gives the salad such a nice crunch. The corn is great for color, and the sheep’s milk Feta (not cow Feta, she said) gives a wonderful lightly salty taste. Cherrie added some crispy radishes to the mix also. Phillis indicated it’s the lime juice that makes this salad. Try it!
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Chapter 1 of the gelato story: After having made several trips to Italy in the last 10 years, I’ve come to be a real aficionado of gelato. And although I’ve had it here at home, it never seems to taste as good as it does there. Is it the air? Is it the fact that I’m on vacation? Is it just the romance of Italy? Or, more likely, I believe, milk in Italy is just different than ours, with a higher butterfat content, and the milk tastes different because of what the cows eat. I just picture all those Italian cows munching away on REAL grass and stuff, rather than the manufactured crap and exaggerated hormones American dairies feed their milkers in order to produce the highest possible amount of milk output. I’d love to be able to bring a half gallon of Italian milk home with me from some trip to Italy and see if there was a difference. Not likely with the TSA vigilant at the screening stations and us with 5-ounce limits of anything.

Chapter 2 of the gelato story: A few years ago when our friends Yvette & Joe were coming up to visit from San Diego, Yvette said she’d bring dessert. And, oh my goodness, was it wonderful. She frequents a little gelato store on India Street (Little Italy) near downtown San Diego. Called Caffe Vera, it’s run by a ubiquitous Italian man from the old country. His shop is small, his business brisk, and his gelato par excellence. Yvette brought her favorite, banana gelato, which we enjoyed after our wonderful dinner. We’ve been back several times to bring home a batch, although the banana flavor must be ordered in advance because he ripens the bananas for several days. I also made roasted banana ice cream a few days ago, but right now we’re talking about Lemon Velvet since it was my first, successful ice cream conquest.

One of the reasons gelato is different is that it’s made mostly with milk (whole milk), not cream as our traditional ice cream contains. So, theoretically, it’s a little healthier for us than ice cream. But any nutritionist would probably question my logic there. But anyway, I love making ice cream that doesn’t require making a custard (it’s traditional here in the U.S. – a sauce made with egg yolks and cream simmered until thickened, then cooled and chilled before freezing). So when this Lemon Velvet recipe appeared in the Los Angeles Times some years ago, I clipped it out in a flash because it contains more milk than anything else. The Velvet Turtle restaurant chain was widely known in Southern California for many years, and this recipe was a regular on their dessert menu. The original recipe is printed below. Normally I substitute the evaporated milk and the regular milk with Trader Joe’s fat-free half and half. And I usually add some heavy cream instead of the half and half called for.

So, now, we finally get the segue for what the photo is all about. Are you getting really bored wondering when I’m ever going to get to the recipe? Just a little more explanation. About 3 years ago when Dave asked me what I’d like for Christmas I said “a Cuisinart ICE-50BC Supreme Ice Cream Maker.” Now these dream machines aren’t cheap (photo from Amazon.com). At the time they were only available at Williams-Sonoma. So, with great anticipation I began making some different kinds of ice cream and gelato every few weeks. This is one of our favorites. Okay, now you get the recipe:
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Do you have go-to salad dressings like I do? My repertoire contains a list of about 8 dressings that I rely on, depending on my mood or a particular meal when I want a specific flavor addition to a meal. This is one of those, and it’s been a keeper since I first tasted it at the Mexican Village Restaurant, a 1960’s vintage restaurant in Coronado, California. I loved this dressing whenever I went to the restaurant, and was overjoyed when, in the 1970’s the San Diego Union Tribune printed a recipe, purportedly the original, but maybe it was somebody’s interpretation. Why it was called “Mock” Caesar, I really don’t know. It does have garlic, Parmesan, oil and anchovy paste in it (no lemon juice, though). It’s really just another style of garlic-Parmesan-blue cheese vinaigrette. But whatever it really is, it’s really tasty. I go-to to this often.

Note: I have received an email message from one of the daughters of the original Mexican Village family. She says my recipe isn’t anything like the one at the family’s old restaurant. Oh well. She said she and her family are trying to produce the dressing and other food items from the “old days” of the restaurant. I don’t live in San Diego, so don’t know if they’ve accomplished that goal or not. But the recipe – at the time I thought the newspaper recipe was similar. And, by the way, the Mexican Village has re-opened in its same Coronado location, but it is not owned by the previous family. The new owners just bought the name. And I’ve not heard any good comments about the food.

It keeps stored in the refrigerator for several weeks. It is at its best during the first few days, but it’s really just fine for a long time. Years ago I used to make this with the Kraft dry, crumbled Parmesan cheese in the paper can, because I sure didn’t know much about the real, Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. I use the latter now, but it’s certainly possible that the Mexican Village used the paper-can type themselves. It’s certainly cheaper!

SIDE NOTES ABOUT WHITE WINE VINEGAR: In the photo above, you’ll notice at the top right is a gray bottle. That’s my white-wine-vinegar jar/pot. I have this white (well, gray) one and a red one. Into those bottles go any dregs of wine that doesn’t get consumed. Initially I started with about 1/2 cup of white vinegar and 1/2 cup of wine in each bottle. I let it marinate (room temp is fine) for several days to allow it to develop, then you merely add more wine remnants. It can go months without additions. These bottles just reside on my pantry shelves. Don’t use sweet wines. And occasionally taste the mixture – if it’s not sour or tart enough, add 1/2 cup of vinegar to the bottle.
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The cooking instructor, Phillis Carey, explained that when she was a young child, her parents took a trip to Mexico, while she and her siblings stayed home. Upon their return, her mother worked on this recipe to recreate this dish until she was happy with the results. So, what is it, you ask? It’s a casserole containing a sauce, a filling of fresh mushrooms, chiles and onions, corn tortillas, drizzled with some Mexican crema, then topped with a delish relish of thinly sliced red onions that add a wonderful piquant flavor and a crunch as you eat it. In a way they’re just vegetarian enchiladas, but they’re not made in a traditional (rolled) method, but in layers, then baked. One of the unusual things about this is the sauce – it’s a can of black beans, drained and rinsed, blended with a can of enchilada sauce and jarred salsa. What could be easier than that? Blending it gives it a thicker consistency, and it melds well with the filling.

Phills Carey explained that if you didn’t like mushrooms, you can use a different filling. She suggested corn and zucchini. What came to mind for me is calabacitas, the flavorful side vegetable served in New Mexico (corn, zucchini, onion, Poblano chiles). I have worked on that recipe during the last year (it’s a favorite of mine) and I’ll post it one of these days. But you can create your own filling. For our dinner we made the other night, Cherrie made these, and I made the carnitas tacos.
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As mentioned in the previous recipe, my friend Cherrie and I attended a cooking class recently, which was a Cinco de Mayo celebration of recipes by Phillis Carey. This is different than any carnitas I’ve ever had, and it’s really tasty. It doesn’t take long to simmer the meat, and the steps to make this are relatively simple. With a green salad, this could be dinner if you put out condiments like the salsa and guacamole. Shredded lettuce would probably be a nice addition too. In this version, instead of serving shredded (cold) cheese as a condiment, Monterey jack cheese is melted and baked with the meat and you merely scoop some of this combination into a hot flour tortilla and serve.
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