Archive for June 5th, 2011
A Mexican Feast
June 5th, 2011 | 
Author: Last week, Dan and I prepared a Mexican feast for 26 teachers during the annual capstone event for the graduate professional development class he teaches along with colleagues Dan B. and Richard.
I was so busy making sure everything was done and we hadn’t forgotten anything that I forgot to take pictures of everything when we were done with each dish. But here are a few to accompany the recipes we used.
Appetizers, all by Rick Bayless, served with toasted sliced baguette and tortilla chips
Prep for Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa
Dinner
- Classic Red Mole, used in Lacquered Chicken, by Rick Bayless
- Lacquered Chicken, by Rick Bayless
- Easy Corn Tamales, by Marcela Valladolid
- Grilled Corn on the Cob with Garlic Butter, Fresh Lime and Cotija Cheese (but I forgot to bring the cheese), by Bobby Flay
- Classic Mexican White Rice with Sweet Plantains, by Rick Bayless
Mole ingredients
Corn tamales stuffed with chicken (left) or cheese right)
Dessert was a trifle layered with cubed angel-food cake, lemon pudding and fresh strawberries, blackberries and raspberries. I tried making a tres leches cake for this, but it was flat and heavy, so I went with store-bought angel food.
Lessons Learned
- When making tamales, test the batter by checking to see whether a handful sticks to itself; if not, it’s too wet, so add a bit more corn flour
- I need a Kitchen Aid mixer if I’m going to try a tres leches cake; I didn’t fluff up the butter enough, so the cake was short and heavy rather than tall and light
- When I’m cooking for a crowd, delegate the camera work to someone else!
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