Don’t eat anything your great-great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food. There are a great many food-like items in the supermarket your ancestors wouldn’t recognize as food, stay away from these. ~ Michael Pollan
Brrrrrrr
When you visualize New Mexico and Arizona, you probably imagine hot dry high-plains and desert. And you'd be correct...in the summer. Right now it's an icy 20* and windy and cold. A very dry cold.
So, it's good that Southwestern cuisine specializes in heat.
Checking out a Grocery Store for Local Ingredients
We walked through Lowe's 94 Grocery Store in Tucumcari, New Mexico finding local dried chilies, different grinds of masa harina and a variety of pinto bean grown above the elevation of 7,000 feet.
How I learned to make
Chili Powder When I realized that grocery stores no longer carried a spice mix I’ve used in cooking all my life, I Googled Grandma’s Chili Powder to see where it could be purchased, and discovered that it’s no longer being manufactured.
Grandma’s Chili Powder was enjoyed by at least three generations of our family, and it’s just weird to think that a flavoring enjoyed all my life is no longer available. I found this image online, and discovered it was manufactured in Berkeley, California. I was born and raised in Berkeley, and I had no idea this was manufactured locally.
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| This image comes from the Kooky Kitsch website. |
Here's a link to Law Mama.blogspot.com: Solving Mystery of Grandmas Chili Powder. Williams Foods refers inquiries for this product to a Texas Cooking website, where a similar recipe for Grandma's Chili Powder is printed. Isn't it great that we can get quick answers to this type if question by doing an e-search?
Ever wonder about those packages of dried chilies?
I didn't know how to use dried chilies for cooking and I'd certainly never imagined making my own chili powder. But this recipe tells how to do it. Now you can adjust your own chili powder for heat and flavor.
Recipe Notes: Chilies in the recipe are listed by what they contribute - mild heat, hot heat and flavor. To make sure you select the correct varieties of chilies, take a copy of this recipe with you when you shop because you won't believe the varieties!
Grandma’s Chili Powder
Yield 1 cup
Yield 1 cup
Oven 300°
Mild 4 ancho chiles (dried poblanos)
3 dried New Mexico chiles
Hot 3-5 dried Chiles de Arbol or Cayenne
Flavor 2 Tbsps cumin seeds, toasted
2 Tbsps garlic powder
2 tsps oregano, ground (Mexican oregano is best)
Remove stems and seeds from chiles, cut in half with scissors and flatten. Put in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake 4-5 minutes. Remove the pan and check the chiles. The smaller chiles will toast faster, so remove them, and set aside. Return the pan to the oven and toast 3-4 minutes and check again.
When all the chiles are toasted and crispy, place in a high-powered blender. Pulse till a powder forms. Keep in blender and set aside.
Toast cumin seeds in a dry pan over medium heat. Stir constantly. When they are a few shades darker, remove from the pan and cool. Either grind to a powder with a mortar and pestle or a coffee bean grinder.
Add the toasted cumin powder, garlic powder and ground oregano to the blender. Pulse everything together. Store in a glass jar. Can be frozen.
Mild 4 ancho chiles (dried poblanos)
3 dried New Mexico chiles
Hot 3-5 dried Chiles de Arbol or Cayenne
Flavor 2 Tbsps cumin seeds, toasted
2 Tbsps garlic powder
2 tsps oregano, ground (Mexican oregano is best)
Remove stems and seeds from chiles, cut in half with scissors and flatten. Put in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake 4-5 minutes. Remove the pan and check the chiles. The smaller chiles will toast faster, so remove them, and set aside. Return the pan to the oven and toast 3-4 minutes and check again.
When all the chiles are toasted and crispy, place in a high-powered blender. Pulse till a powder forms. Keep in blender and set aside.
Toast cumin seeds in a dry pan over medium heat. Stir constantly. When they are a few shades darker, remove from the pan and cool. Either grind to a powder with a mortar and pestle or a coffee bean grinder.
Add the toasted cumin powder, garlic powder and ground oregano to the blender. Pulse everything together. Store in a glass jar. Can be frozen.
A long time local restaurant stays cutting edge
El Pinto Restaurant, Albuquerque, New Mexico
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| El Pinto Restaurant, Albuquerque, New Mexico |
There is no other restaurant quite like El Pinto in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In a hacienda style building that has been added to and expamded over the years, from the moment you park your car and walk towards the entry, you are transported to a very special place.
The menu is full of interesting dishes, but what struck me is how the owners, the "Salsa Twins," grow and use fresh ingredients, and make and bottle varieties of their El Pinto salsa. With a focus on sustainability, the restaurant composts food wastes, then adds this compost to their restaurant garden. I think it would be interesting to tour the lovely premises! Here is their website: El Pinto Restaurant, Albuquerque, New Mexico
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| Vegetarian Combination Plate at El Pinto Restaurant in Albuquerque |
Yum
From a large selection of vegetarian and vegan dishes, I ordered the Vegetarian Combination Plate which included two cheese enchiladas served with red or green chile, chile relleno and pinto beans and rice. The green chili sauce loaded with diced chilies, the beans and rice perfectly flavored, the chili relleno, light with just the right amount of cheese: this meal will be remembered!
Good to know before you go
Semi-Self Serve
We were surprised at how self-serviced El Pinto is though. We had to get our own napkins and water which we saw on sideboards, but needed to ask for spoons and forks. Even though the young waitstaff were chatting together and checking their cell phones, standing very close to our table, when we got up to get our items, no one seemed to think it was odd, so this must be how things are done at El Pinto.
Just know this when you go as I don't think it was indifference, it just must be customary in this 50+ year old restaurant. For future out-of-towners it might be helpful if the person showing patrons to a table tells them how things are done at El Pinto.
Don't modify a menu item
Order "as is"
My husband wanted a vegan tostada: no dairy, no meat, lots of veggies. Our usual experience is that the chef/cook can easily make these modifications.
The waitress suggested he order sides of vegetables. The sides came, all on separate plates. The waitress handed my husband one dinner-size plate and waited while he placed all the sides on the big plate. Then she took away all the small dishes.
The veggies were all delicious, we were just surprised since this was a new experience for us, needing to order 'sides' in order to modify a menu item. Had he known, my husband would have stuck with the vegetarian tostada and pushed aside any cheese and sour cream.
Now that you know
Do go!
The food, location and experience is unique.
Good to know before you go
Semi-Self Serve
We were surprised at how self-serviced El Pinto is though. We had to get our own napkins and water which we saw on sideboards, but needed to ask for spoons and forks. Even though the young waitstaff were chatting together and checking their cell phones, standing very close to our table, when we got up to get our items, no one seemed to think it was odd, so this must be how things are done at El Pinto.
Just know this when you go as I don't think it was indifference, it just must be customary in this 50+ year old restaurant. For future out-of-towners it might be helpful if the person showing patrons to a table tells them how things are done at El Pinto.
Don't modify a menu item
Order "as is"
My husband wanted a vegan tostada: no dairy, no meat, lots of veggies. Our usual experience is that the chef/cook can easily make these modifications.
The waitress suggested he order sides of vegetables. The sides came, all on separate plates. The waitress handed my husband one dinner-size plate and waited while he placed all the sides on the big plate. Then she took away all the small dishes.
The veggies were all delicious, we were just surprised since this was a new experience for us, needing to order 'sides' in order to modify a menu item. Had he known, my husband would have stuck with the vegetarian tostada and pushed aside any cheese and sour cream.
Now that you know
Do go!
The food, location and experience is unique.
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| El Pinto means "the place!" |
