Seconda cena messicana della scorsa settimana

I promised I would have written also about the second Mexican dinner that we were nicely invited to last week.. and in fact, it's really worth it, since it was a wonderful dinner.
The guests were coming from all over the world: Italy, Spain, Bosnia, Portugal, US. I think everyone enjoyed very much this Mexican dinner.
It started with a soup: Crema de Flor de Calabaza (Zucchini squash flower soup)
It was very delicate and nice.
The entree was Chiles en Nogada (Peppers in a Nut sauce).
This was one of the most wonderful foods I ever ate in my life. Luisa made two types of peppers, one sweet and one spicy. The one in the picture is a spicy one. She roasted the peppers, and filled them with a mixture of pork and dried caramelized fruits, all ground together with spices such as cinnamon. Then she covered the stuffed peppers with a sauce made with walnuts and heavy cream, and she garnished it with pomegranade seeds. It was absolutely delicious.
I asked her for the recipe.. she gave me a Spanish version of it, which I will translate it English and add some comments on it when I actually try it. But if you understand Spanish, here it is:
Chiles en Nogada
Se recomienda empezar una noche antes para remojar la nueces toda la noche!
Picadillo:
1 kilo de Carne de puerco sin hueso*
½ cebolla picada
2 dientes de ajo finamente picados
1 cucharadita de sal (al gusto)
*(Yo he usado combinacion de lomo y espaldilla, pero pierna o una parte no sea tan reseco seria lo mejor! No uses carne molida, el sabor es muy distinto!)
Cortar la carne en cuadros grandes. Ponerlos una olla junto con el ajo, cebolla y sal. Cubrir con agua y dejar hervir hasta que la carne quede suave )unos 40’45 min.
Deje la carne enfriar en el caldo.
Despues drene la carne y cortela en trozos pequeños (o bien machacarla)
Conserve el caldo y la manteca del caldo!.

Picadillo-2:
6 cucharadas de manteca de cerdo (o bien la grasa del caldo)
½ cebolla picada
3 dientes de ajo (pelados y finamente picados)
4 clavos de olor
½ varita de canela
3 cucharadas de pasitas
2 cucharadas de almendras
3 cucharadas de Acitron (o fruta cristalizada) finamente picado
2 cucharaditas de sal (o al gusto)
¾ de jitomate
1 pera, pelada y sin semilla y en trozos finos
1 durazno, pelado, sin semilla y en trozos finos
En una sartén, añadir la manteca y fundir a fuego lento. Fria la cebolla y el ajo picados, hasta que esteén suaves, pero sin dorarlos mucho.
Adicione la carne y déjela cocinar hasta que empiece a dorarse.
En liquadora o molcajete, muela las especias y adicione junto con el resto de los ingredientes (yo muelo los tomates o incluso uso pure o pasta de tomate)
Cocine la mezcla por unos minutos.

Los Chiles:
Ponga 8 chiles poblanos a flama directa para pelar…eso ya lo sabes!
Pele, elimine las semillas y las venas. Enjuague!
Rellene los chiles con el picadillo. Pongalos aparte, que no se escurran.

La nogada:
20-25 nueces frescas (son mejores las blancas, communes en navidad!)
Una vez peladas, remojelas en leche toda la noche.
Despues del remojo quitar la pelicula o casacarilla que las recubre
*(yo no hago esto, es una lata, se supone que quedra mas cremosa sin la cascarilla)

el dia de servir: en la licuadora añada:
Las nueces remojadas
1/4 de queso fresco (yo aqui uso queso crema)
1 ½ tazas de crema fresca (espesa)
1 ½ cucharas de azucar
una pizca grandecita de canela molida
Mezclar todo en licuadora hasta que que quede una mezcla suave (si no queda muy espesa le puedes poner pan blanco, licuar y listo)

Para SERVIR:
Coloque los chiles en los platos, cubralos con la nogada y rocielos con granitos de Granada.

Qudan riquisimos!!!
She said it takes a bit to make them, but the result is really worth it... :)

For dessert, we had Tamales de pina (Pineapple tamales)
This was also very good.. in fact, I decided I would make an exception to my promise that I wouldn't eat sweets for Lent in order to try it :) (I tried to convince myself that it wasn't really sweet, which in fact was true.. :) )
Inside the corn leaf that you see in the picture, there was something soft and delicious made with cornflour and with little pieces of pineapple. I liked it so much that I decided that I would take advantage of the exception and take a second piece of it. :)

In summary, it was a wonderful evening. We ended up watching a lot of pictures from Luisa and Jorge's wedding, which were very nice, enjoying each other company in their "Home sweet home" (or "Hogar dulce hogar", as was stated in a nice sign hung on the kitchen wall :) )