September 28, 2009 - Arrachera con Tres Salsas y Chiles en Nogada

Arrachera con Tres Salsas:

Arrachera is marinated skirt steak. I marinated it with lime juice, cumin, salt and olive oil and grilled it on the BBQ. The salsa verde is tomatillos, green chiles and cilantro. Salsa rojo is reduced pureed tomatoes and onion with some cumin, paprika and coriander. Crema is creme fraiche with a little lime juice.

Chiles en Nogada:

This is the recipe from Mexico: The Beautiful Cookbook. I have had this dish in Mexico City at Los Girasoles and found it too sweet because it had raisins in the meat mixture so I left them out. The recipe takes roasted poblano peppers that is then stuff with a meat mixture containing pork loin, apple, peach, pear and spices. The stuffed peppers are then dipped in whipped egg whites and pan fried.

Wine pairing: Austrian Gruner-Veltliner

The sauce is a walnut sauce where the walnuts are soaked in milk and then pureed with some creme fraiche. Topping it all off are pomegranate seeds and parsley. This dish has some of the most interesting flavor combinations I have ever had in Mexican cooking. The dish was created to also have the colors of the Mexican flag. There is a story behind the creation of this but I don't feel like looking it up right now.