Cinco de Mayo

I feel like maybe I should preface this with the fact that I did absolutely nothing today I have no Mexican heritage to celebrate, but I do love to sit at home and dream of mexican food. Instead of looking up and learning about regional classics I decided these dishes would be appropriately delicious and deliciously tacky.

I finally gave in to the bottles of pomegranate juice placed in strategic promotional positions throughout the local market which in turn led to the pomegranate margarita. Not Mexican at all but it tasted good. I thought if I were to celebrate this holiday this is what I'd like to make today. Veracruz snapper would be great, but I wanted to keep it simple and not ruin it with a real Mexican dish.

Cinco de Mayo Menu

Pomegranate Margaritas

Crabcake with Pumpkin Seed Sauce

Smoked Pork Tamales with Apricots

Banana Mousse with Cumin and Mexican Chocolate


Pomegranate Margarita

puree pomegranate juice, pomegranate molasses, lime juice, triple sec ice and fresh mint. Serve immediately


Crabcake with Pumpkin Seed Sauce

prepare a crabcake with brunoise, celery, red and yellow pepper and chopped cilantro.

onions
garlic
red jalepeno
vermouth
chili de arbol, rehydrated
tomato paste
cilantro stems
pumpkin seeds
oil
salt
chicken stock

Toast pumpkin seeds in the oven and allow to cool. Grind in a spice grinder to make a pumpkin seed flour. Reserve.

Sweat onions in oil 5 minutes. Add garlic and chilis 2 min. Add tomato paste and cook another 2 min. Add vermouth and reduce au sec. Add pumpkin seed flour and cook 1 minute. Add chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Make more roux with the pumpkin seed if the sauce is not thick enough. Strain and serve.
prepare a crabcake with brunoise, celery, red and yellow pepper and chopped cilantro.

Banana Mousse with Mexican Chocolate

1 mexican chocolate tableta, highest quality
2 bananas, ripe
1/2 tsp fresh ground cumin seed
1 T chopped toasted peanuts
1 T banana liquer
ground unsweetened, un-alkalized cocoa powder
small bit of fresh vanilla bean scrapings or tiny bit of vanilla extract
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 sheet gelatin
salt


Bloom the gelatin in cold water. Add the gelatin and stir until dissolved. Heat 2 Tbs of water until very hot. Dissolve the gelatin in the water and cool slightly. Puree the banana and banana liquer with the gelatin water and a pinch of salt.

whip the cream to nearly stiff peaks. Fold a third of the banana puree into the whip cream. Slowly fold the rest of the banana into the cream in installments. Serve right away or refrigerate.

Crumble mexican chocolate pieces over the mousse.

Pork with Green Apple Curry

This is a really easy dish made with little effort. I took bone-in pork chops about 3/4" thick and removed the rib section. I seared the chops and the rib pieces. Added some onion, green apple and few pieces of red pepper. Deglazed with about a cup of white wine. Braise for about an hour and a half until the meat is tender. Add the chops back in and cook through, another 5-10 minutes. Degrease and stir in about 2 Tbs of curry paste and bring to a boil.

curry paste:
1 medium onion diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbs oil
3-4 Tbs curry powder

Sweat the onions 10 minutes and add garlic for another 10 or until garlic is cooked thoroughly. Add the curry powder and cook until it starts to smell nutty and fragrant. Puree in a blender, adding water as necessary. If you want to make a curry oil or vinaigrette it would be best to toast the spices in the oil and puree all of it together before straining.