Hi Dave,
You will love using this--you can find these sqeezers at Williams-Sonoma or any cookware supply company. They have them for oranges too.


Sincerely,
Rick

Funny you should ask. In January I published a piece in the Saveur 100, highlighting my favorite place in Mexico City. I think youd love to peruse the short article. Please click here and youll get all the details.


Sincerely,
Rick

I havent had the vehe in Spanish) in Colima, only read about it. Theirs, if Im not mistaken, is made by macerating crushed pomegranates just-distilled tequila, then blending and flavoring it. The only version Ive had is the one served at Garibaldi square in Mexico City, at the venerable (?) old restaurant/bar/music hall called El Tenampa. Their version was probably better 30 or 40 years ago; now its just a watery red drink that tastes very little of pomegranate. Since distilling your own tequila and investing weeks or months in the maceration process seemed an excessive answer to your question, I did a little sleuthing and dug up a recipe from Mexico Desconocido, a fascinating magazine that uncovers interesting places and adventures to be had. Their version starts by making that crimson tea called Jamaica (it has a cranberry-like flavor), then adding muddled (crushed) pomegranate seeds, sugar and white rum (aguardiente); you could use silver tequila, probably to better effect.
Heres how Id make it: Bring 1 quart of water to a boil, add 1 heaping cup of jamaica flowers (these are the calyxes of a flower in the hibiscus familyavailable in any Mexican or well stocked grocery store). Steep half an hour, strain and set aside. With a muddler, pestle or back of a large spoon, thoroughly crush the seeds from 3 pomegranates with 1 cups sugar; work the mixture until the sugar is dissolved. Pour in 2 cups silver tequila (or aguardiente), the cooled jamaica tea, let stand a few minutes, then taste to make sure it has enough sugar, adding more if necessary. Strain. Serve over ice, garnished with more pomegranate seeds.


Sincerely,
Rick

Dear Mike:
A respectable young lad you are, not wanting to do in the potential mother of your children. But Mexican food without citrus? Well, stay away from ceviche and fresh tomato salsas. Instead, concentrate on tomatillo salsas (which have a citrusy quality without any citrus) and make, say, a roasted tomato salsa (like the one on page 146 of Mexican Everyday) which can be sparked with a little vinegar, rather than lime. Beyond that, the world of Mexican main dishes is pretty much open to you, since few of the long-simmered sauces have any citrus added. Guacamole might be a challenge (though a whole host of cooks in Mexico never put lime juice in their guacamole, which most Americans dont really understand), but do try the guacamole thats made with tomatillo salsa (just mix tomatillo salsa into coarsely mashed avocado, add a little extra cilantro, some salt and youre ready). Good thing about that guacamole: it doesnt brown as quickly as other versions.


Sincerely,
Rick

Hi Nancy,
You are hilarious. You can find me on PBS Chicago, channel 11. Our show is at 8:30pm on Friday nights. Thanks for making my day,


Sincerely,
Rick

Congrats on your Ceviche success. Not many people attempt making it at home but here is a classic recipe. The fish I listed I like because they have a large flake or meaty texture. Enjoy! Rick
Classic Ceviche - Ceviche Clsico
Makes about 4 cups, enough for 8 as an appetizer, 12 as a nibble
1 pound fresh, skinless snapper, bass, halibut or other ocean fish fillets, cut into -inch cubes or slightly smaller
1 cups fresh lime juice
1 medium white onion, chopped into -inch pieces
2 medium-large (1 pound total) tomatoes, chopped into inch pieces
Fresh hot green chiles to taste (roughly 2 to 3 serranos or 1 to 2 jalapeos), stemmed, seeded and finely chopped
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus a few leaves for garnish
1/3 cup chopped pitted green olives (choose manzanillos for a typical Mexican flavor)
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil, preferably extra-virgin (optional but recommended to give a glistening appearance)
Salt
3 tablespoons fresh orange juice OR teaspoon sugar
1 large or 2 small ripe avocados, peeled, pitted and diced
Tostadas, tortilla chips or saltine crackers for serving
1. Marinating the fish. In a 1 -quart glass or stainless steel bowl, combine the fish, lime juice and onion. You'll need enough juice to cover the fish and allow it to float somewhat freely; too little juice means unevenly "cooked" fish. Cover and refrigerate for about 4 hours, until a cube of fish no longer looks raw when broken open. Pour into a colander and drain off the lime juice.
2. The flavorings. In a large bowl, mix together the tomatoes, green chiles, cilantro, olives and optional olive oil. Stir in the fish, then taste and season with salt, usually about teaspoon, and orange juice or sugar (the sweetness of the orange juice or sugar helps balance some of the typical tanginess of the ceviche). Cover and refrigerate if not serving immediately.
3. Serving the ceviche. Just before serving, stir in the diced avocado, being careful not to break up the pieces. For serving, you have several options: set out your ceviche in a large bowl and let people spoon it onto individual plates to eat with chips or saltines; serve small bowls of ceviche (I like to lay a bed of frise lettuce in each bowl before spooning in the ceviche) and serve tostadas, chips or saltines alongside; or pile the ceviche onto chips or tostadas and pass around for guests to consume on these edible little plates. Whichever direction you choose, garnish the ceviche with leaves of cilantro before setting it center stage.
Working ahead: The fish may be marinated a day in advance; after about 4 hours, when the fish is "cooked," drain it so that it won't become too limey. For the freshest flavor, add the flavorings to the fish no more than a couple of hours before serving.


Sincerely,
Rick

At Jacques Playa del Carmen condo, he has a Kitchenaide range. I have a continuous grate on my range at home, as well. You can check it out at fivestarrange.com


Sincerely,
Rick

Hi Brent:
That recipe is avialable now on www.rickbayless.com TELEVISION, Season 5 recipes. I don't know if I will put that in a book or not! We will put the pit show on a DVD that you will be able to buy. Look for it to come out in a month or so.
Thanks for watching,


Sincerely,
Rick

Hi Greg,
That sounds great! The beauty of Mexican Everyday is that you really can adapt any recipe to suit your likes. Thanks for writing and let me know how it turns out.


Sincerely,
Rick

Dear Elissa:
Of course, most people think that it's impossible to find fresh local ingredients in the winter in northern climes, but a century ago, farmers were quite good at growing a variety of ingredients year 'round. Maybe not the variety we're used to finding in our grocery stores today, however. Certainly there were the storage crops, the parsnips dug throughout the winter, the cabbages and the like. Most of the fruit was canned or dried from summer harvests, since, as we all know, there were no freezers. So when we run into the grocery store to pick up some romaine or mesclun greens, a bag of oranges, a few berries and a bunch of broccoli ... we're buying into a style of eating that must rely on a good amount of fuel to move food from one place to another. To eat local in the Midwest, means being willing to change your diet from season to season.

All that said, we've come a long way in our restaurant to put local food on the tables year round. Here's how we've done it: We've worked with a couple of farmers to grow sweet winter spinach and mache for us in unheated hoop houses for us from November through April. We've got another farmer that is growing microgreens under lights; another who does sunflower and pea tendrils in a green house; still others are using cold frames to get us baby greens before spring hits. We spin our menus to rely heavily on storage crops and preserved crops, meaning we're experts in root vegetables and how to utilize our freezers. In fact, one farmer freezes 16,000 pounds of tomatoes for us during the summer for us to use in cooked tomato sauces throughout the winter. We installed a temperature-controlled "root cellar" to take some of the storage pressure off some of our small farmers, and we set up several large freezers so that we could process the best of local summer fruit for ices and ice creams during the winter.
So our approach is really this: be a partner with the seasons, but learn about all the technological support that can be utilized to extend the seasons--hoop houses, green houses, cold frames, freezers, temperature- and humidity-controlled storage rooms. Though it may be more work, to us it's worth it. Without great local agriculture year-round, the food we offer in our restaurant can never reach it's potential greatness.


Sincerely,
Rick

Ouch! You got medicinal epazotethe stuff thats brewed into a tea (and strained) to treat stomach problems. The epazote stems (which have little flavor, but contain the greatest concentration of the medicinal ingredient) are used in the medicinal tea; the leaves are used for culinary purposes. You can buy fresh epazote by mail from Melissas, but it will be expensive. For less expensive epazote, either grow it during warm weather (seeds are available from Johnnys Seeds) or look for it in a very well stocked produce department or in a Mexican grocery.


Sincerely,
Rick

Though I haven't done anything near an exhaustive research project, I think most fingers point to the manufacturers of canned or condensed milk as the originator of the Tres Leches cake. Though it doesn't typically have any alcohol in it, there's no reason you shouldn't experiment. Try light rum (right now we're using Aristi from Yucatan in our restaurant), though there's no reason you couldn't weave in a little coffee flavor with Kahlua or XO. Have fun.


Sincerely,
Rick

I could outline a whole course on the topic of what to grow for my style of cooking, but I'll start with some simple stuff. Grow some heirloom tomatoes (try the Zapotec Pleated) and tomatillos (purple tomatillos are my favorites). If you don't have access to banana leaves very easily, order a dwarf plant from one of the on-line sources like Logees. You'll certainly want chiles; I'd suggest growing habaneros, serranos, poblanos and chilacas (all do well in large pots in full sun). And for herbs, I'd choose epazote and Mexican oregano; cilantro is harder to grow and cheap at practically every market. You can find seeds for most of these plants at Johnnyseeds.com and Seedsofchange.com.
Hope this helps.


Sincerely,
Rick

Catharina
Sad to say that it's next to impossible to find a good heavy Molcajete
in the U.S. But if you're not going to Mexico anytime soon check out this company.
The CMC Company
Avalon, NJ
1 800 CMC 2780


Sincerely,
Rick

Typically in Mexico, the word is written chaya. Though it is hard to find in the United States, you can go to the following link and purchase plants: http://toptropicals.com/cgi-bin/garden_catalog/cat.cgi?uid=Cnidoscolus_chayamansa. It should do fine in California, but keep in mind that it likes well drained soil, heat, not too much water and full sun. It will do fine in a large pot, but wont thrive the way it will in the ground. Good luck!


Sincerely,
Rick