Spice up Latin week with 3 Rick Bayless dishes
Make it a fiesta with pumpkinseed guacamole, chile potato soup and more
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Make a fiesta with Rick Bayless Jan. 17: The superstar chef shows festive ways to spice up your dinner with his authentic Mexican dish: Wild mushroom queso fundido. Today Show Kitchen |
Looking to make your winter menu a little more festive? How about spicing up your dishes for Latin week? Make it a fiesta with celebrity chef Rick Bayless' authentic Mexican recipes — pumpkinseed guacamole, roasted chile potato soup and wild mushroom queso fundido:
Serves 6 as a first course
INGREDIENTS
Make the soup base: Cut 2/3 (4) of the potatoes into roughly 4 pieces each and scoop them into a medium (3-quart) saucepan, along with the garlic. Chop the remaining 1/3 (2) of the potatoes into ¼-inch cubes and set aside. Pour half of the broth into the saucepan and set it over high heat. When the liquid boils, reduce the heat to medium and simmer briskly until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
While the potatoes are cooking, roast the chiles over an open flame or 4 inches below a broiler, turning regularly until blistered and blackened all over, about 5 minutes for an open flame, 10 minutes for a broiler. Cover with a kitchen towel. Let cool until handleable. Cut the top off the chiles, slit the side from seed pod to point, open out flat and scrape out the seeds; discard. Flip over and scrape the skin off the flesh; discard. Chop the flesh into smallish pieces.
When the potatoes are tender, use an immersion blender to coarsely puree the soup base (or coarsely process in several batches in a food processor or a loosely covered blender draped with a kitchen towel, then return to the pan). Add the remaining half of the broth, the reserved cubed potatoes and the chile pieces. Simmer 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, fry the chorizo in a large skillet over medium heat, breaking up any lumps, until thoroughly cooked and well browned, about 12 minutes. Scoop onto a plate lined with paper towels to drain.
Just before serving, stir the greens into the soup and let simmer until they are tender — 2 to 4 minutes (tougher greens like amaranth and lambs quarters will take longer to cook than chard which takes longer than spinach).
Taste and season the soup with salt, usually about 1 1/2 teaspoons depending on the saltiness of your broth. Ladle into warm soup bowls, then sprinkle with a portion of the chorizo, cheese and cilantro. Serve right away.
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Serves 6 as a light appetizer
INGREDIENTS
Rehydrate the mushrooms. Scoop the mushrooms into a small bowl, cover with boiling water, weight with a plate to keep the mushrooms submerged and let rehydrate for 20 minutes. Drain off the liquid, pressing on the mushrooms to remove all the water. Chop into ¼-inch pieces.
Preparing the flavorings: Finely chop the chiles (seed them first if you wish), then chop the onion and tomato into ¼-inch pieces. Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chiles, onion, tomato and mushrooms and cook, stirring nearly constantly, until the onion begins to soften and brown, 7 or 8 minutes. Add the beer and stir until the liquid has evaporated and the mixture is once again dry looking.
Finishing the queso fundido: Reduce the heat to medium-low, sprinkle the cheese evenly over the vegetables and stir slowly and constantly until just melted — too long over the heat and the cheese will become tough, oily and stringy. Immediately scoop into a warm serving dish (a small fondue dish with a tea light below is ideal) and serve with warm tortillas for making soft tacos.
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