Obviously I love to cook, but grilling does not come naturally to me. Mostly this is because I’ve always had a fear of fire (I won several fire safety poster contests as a child and did not light a match until I was 16 years old). However, like most reasonable human beings, I do love to eat grilled food, so I’m lucky that my fearless friend and roommate has taken on the challenge of learning to properly grill with charcoal.
For someone who lives in a one-bedroom Manhattan apartment and who abhors clutter, I sure do own a lot of cookbooks. To be fair, I do a lot of research before I buy one, to make sure it’s the right addition to my collection, and though today the collection is mighty, each book has its own merits that make it somehow indispensable to me. I’m not going to choose a favorite child or anything, but of all my books, I think Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen is the one with the most dog-eared pages and sauce-stained recipes. Everything (okay, except maybe one thing) I’ve made from that gospel of Mexican cooking has been outstanding, his instructions are direct and easy to follow and his methods not overly complicated. Basically, he’s achieved the golden recipe trifecta, and these fantastic enchiladas are the perfect case in point.
I spent last week in London, my favorite city in the world. Every time I visit I feel like I might not ever go home, like I could just quietly transition into a similar but much more charming life there. But the trips are always quick, and always work related, and that means I always end up eating meat pies and steaks and many, many deliciously fried things for several days in a row.
A few days ago I told a long tale about my relationship with a tortilla press and I extolled the virtues of plantain empanadas I had made. What I didn’t tell you was that those plantains really MUST be served with salsa, preferably THIS salsa. On a scale of 1 to 10, the effort this salsa requires is about a 2. And if you love the smoky flavor of chipotle chiles, you’re going to be in for a treat.
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