May 2023 – World Tour: mexico city
I first went to Mexico City about a decade ago. We arrived late at night with our young daughter sleeping and were kind of intimidated by the sheer size of the city. We arrived in Roma Norte in the pitch black night and when I woke up and saw outside, I felt like an 8-year old arriving at the front gate of Disney World. It took only a glance to fall in love. There is stunning art, architecture and food everywhere. Within a few days we had visited some of the best museums and parks in the world and eaten a half dozen meals I’ll never forget. I’ve been back 5 times since and in my dream life my family and I spend a week of every month there.
The food, ranging from wildly delicious street Tlayudas to articulate tasting menus served with dense lessons of 1000 years of food culture history, is more vast and inspiring than anywhere else I’ve ever been.
When choosing to celebrate the cuisine of Mexico City, we are really conscious that you all have lots of access to restaurants that focus on this specific cuisine here in Austin. So we consciously forewent some of the more recognizable dishes and focused more on some homestyle meals that I’ve eaten at friends’ houses, and some reimagining of dishes through the lens of my knowledge of the ingredients and techniques of the cuisine. You will find no Nixtamal or use of masa in this out of reverence to the amazing Chefs here who provide immediate access to fantastic representations of this. There is though a mole recipe taught to me by a Mexico City based food anthropologist over 20 years ago.
We hope you enjoy.
-Fiore
What We Have Prepared For You This Week & How to Finish At Home:
Albondigas
A bit of inside baseball: The ideas for subscription items come from a meeting of chefs throwing out ideas to stimulate us. Some come fully formed, some take some work and some are just a memory from what we enjoyed in the past. This dish is from the last category.
Chef Karl mentioned this from his past and makes it on the regular (on Sundays, of course). The meatballs are made from 44 Farms Ground Beef. The bean patties are made from Canary Beans, oats and miso. The guajillo broth further adds smokiness to the dish (Note: it has a spice element). Served with fideo noodles, a texture rich dish that we hope is representative of a classic.
Fideo should be treated like a fresh pasta. Bring 2 qts of salted water to a boil and cook fideo for about 6 minutes and drain. Bring Guajillo Broth to a rolling simmer. Put the albondigas in the broth and let sit in the broth for 5 minutes. Add cooked fideo & serve.
Contains capsicum, gluten and alliums; Soy in Bean Patties. Best within 5 days fresh.
Molé Pasta Bake
Ideas like this make cooking a fun endeavor. Ideas like this make cooking a maddening endeavor. Mole is one of those dishes that is amazing and delightful and makes you wonder why don’t we do this more often (at least I do). Then you put in the work and realize “Oh…right…”
Days of prep and careful work leads to a rich sauce that compliments the earthiness of Oaxacan Green Corn flour that is the base of our conch shell pasta. Served with Queso Fresco, this merging of ideas highlights some of the qualities of L’Oca D’Oro: collaboration, thoughtfulness, being open & present and wIlling to try some new spins.
Bake the pasta at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Top with Queso Fresco
Contains capsicum, gluten, allium, Dairy. Best 5 days if refrigerated or 3 weeks, if frozen
Amaranth Salsa Macha
In thinking of our pantry item, we came up with a staple we have been using lately: Amaranth Salsa Macha. This has been giving our Creste Di Gallo a layer of texture and a spice that plays well with the richness of the pesto. With this menu, it only seems natural to include it. We love it and believe you will too.
Contains capsicum. Can live forever.
Wedge Salad
Collaboration has been a hallmark of L’Oca D’Oro and a manifestation of that ideal is Pasta Paisanos. The monthly dinner series benefitting Lilith Fund brings a shared experience between the chefs, restaurant staff and purveyors to our guests (Up Next: Happy Birthday, L’Oca with Alumni Chefs Fermin Nunez from Suerte and Angelo Emiliani from Cafe Louie in Houston June 13th).
In May, we had Philip Speer join us and he wanted to highlight Mexican flavors. The salad was an idea so nice, we decided to do it twice. Romaine wedges, roasted pepitas and roasted beets, dressed in a guajillo lime vinaigrette. Simple yet such a lovely, earthy dish.
Contains capsicum. Best before 3 days, refrigerated.
Horchata Flan
This came fairly quick in the idea stage. Horchata is perfect and you can see it in almost any menu. We like it and figure you do too. But what could be our spin? Let’s make it flan. Formed and covered in dulce de leche, the classic refreshing flavor of rice and cinnamon is a lovely end to a meal. A small bit of decadence to our exploration of a land that enchants us.
Contains gelatin (from animal products). Best before 3 days, refrigerated.
As always, thank you for joining us on our adventures around the globe…excited to see where next month takes us!
