Bake Me

When it comes to dining, Santa Feans know that it doesn't get any finer than traditional recipes passed down from generation to generation. Here you'll find three delectable options to make you fire up that oven courtesy of the FUZE.SW food conference, which in 2015 enters its third installment. ¡Provecho!


Chocolate piñón Torte
Lois Ellen Frank From Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations, © 2002, Lois Ellen Frank (Ten Speed Press) Serves: 12 for desert

The Feast Day is one of the biggest celebrations of the year among the Indian pueblos of New Mexico. To honor their patron saints, the people of each pueblo gather together. They attend Mass in the morning and hold a procession into the plaza, where an altar houses their patron saint. After Mass, dressed in ceremonial clothing, ancient traditional dances begin and are offered at various times throughout the day. Members of the pueblos, relatives, visitors and tourists often view these dances. Each pueblo has different rules, and I suggest that you check with the specific pueblo you are visiting for guidelines on dress and ethics.

After Mass, many of the women return home to set up for the day's feast, which they have been preparing for, in most cases, for days and set the special dishes up on their tables with chairs crowded around them. On each table is a variety of salads, stews, meats, homemade breads and of course, desserts, both traditional and modern dishes.

During the afternoon, as the dances are going on in the plaza, relatives and visitors drop in and enjoy what foods each household has to offer, express their thanks and leave to go back to the dances. People drop in throughout the day to taste the fine foods at many different houses. It is a festive day filled with warmth and friendliness.

This recipe is my adaptation of some of the tortes I sampled at different pueblos, and I serve it a lot in my catering company, Red Mesa Cuisine. I like to serve it with two sauces: a from locally grown farmers market peaches from the Velarde family's farm and a hand-harvested prickly pear fruit syrup. You can decorate the entire torte and set it out with the sauces for a buffet, or you can slice it and plate it individually for your guests. Either way, it's a wonderful dessert.

1 cup of raw piñón nuts (pine nuts, walnuts or pecans may be substituted)

2 tablespoons blue cornmeal

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

9 ounces semisweet chocolate

6 egg yolks

3/4 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar and 2 tablespoons blue cornmeal for decoration, optional

Grease and flour a 9-inch round cake pan. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a food processor, grind the piñón nuts to a very moist nut butter. Add the blue cornmeal and blend again for about 30 seconds, just long enough to combine.

In a double boiler over medium-high heat, melt the butter and chocolate, stirring occasionally so that they melt and blend together evenly. Add to the piñón mixture in the food processor and blend for about a minute until smooth.

Beat the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla together in a bowl, and add to the other ingredients in the food processor. Blend again until smooth. Always add the egg mixture last. Otherwise the eggs will curdle from the heated chocolate.

Pour the batter into the prepared greased pan and pat down with your fingers until evenly spread in the baking pan. This is a thick batter, and you will be able to handle it. Bake approximately 10 to 12 minutes, depending on your oven (convection works well for this torte) or until the cake springs back when the center is touched. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool before decorating. This is a dense torte, and to me it resembles dense, very moist brownies. I like it very moist, which is why I only cook it for 10 to 12 minutes; if you desire a crisper torte you can cook it slightly longer.

When the torte has cooled, after 20 to 30 minutes, remove it from the pan, and then be creative with the decorating process. You can do individual stencils on each slice or decorate the entire torte. To make the Southwestern motif pictured, cut a stencil out of cardboard. First, dust the cake with confectioner's sugar using a medium sieve, lightly tapping the sides and moving it in a circular motion around the surface of the torte. Then, carefully holding the stencil as close to the torte's surface as possible without touching it, sprinkle the blue cornmeal through a sieve over the exposed areas. Carefully remove the stencil without disrupting the design. For a finishing touch, place a few piñón nuts at the corner of each stenciled triangle.


Carne Adovada
Bill and Cheryl Alters Jamison From the 50th Anniversary The Rancho de Chimayó Cookbook, by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison, © 2014 (Lyons Press/Globe Pequot). We love the Jaramillo family's version of this fiery Northern New Mexican specialty. Serves: 6 to 8

Chile Sauce and Marinade

8 ounces (about 25) whole dried New Mexican red chile pods

4 cups water

1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons diced yellow onion

1 tablespoon crushed chile pequin (dried hot New Mexican red chile flakes)

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried Mexican oregano

3 pounds thick boneless shoulder pork chops, trimmed of fat and cut into 1- to 2-inch cubes (if you plan to use the meat in burritos, cut it into the smaller size pieces.)

Shredded romaine or iceberg lettuce and—in season—diced tomato

Warm the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté until just golden. Immediately remove from the heat.

Break the stems off the chile pods and discard the seeds. It isn't necessary to get rid of every seed, but most should be removed. Place the chiles in a sink or large bowl, rinse them carefully and drain.

Place the damp pods in one layer on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about five minutes, watching carefully to avoid burning them. The chiles can have a little remaining moisture. Remove them from the oven and let cool. Break each chile into two or three pieces.

Purée in a blender half of the pods with 2 cups of the water. You will still be able to see tiny pieces of chile pulp, but they should be bound in a smooth thick liquid. Pour into the saucepan with the garlic. Repeat with the remaining pods and water.

Stir the remaining sauce ingredients into the chile sauce and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce will thicken, but should remain a little soupy. Remove from the heat. Cool to room temperature. Stir the pork into the chile sauce and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Oil a large, covered baking dish.

Spoon carne adovada into the baking dish. Cover the dish and bake until the meat is completely tender and sauce has cooked down, about 3 hours. Stir once about halfway through. If the sauce remains watery after three hours, stir well again and cook uncovered for about 15 minutes more.

Serve hot, garnished with lettuce and tomato if you wish.


Carmella's Baked Chicken Flautas
Carmella Padilla Makes approximately two dozen

These are very easy and very yummy. I always make them with my own cooked chicken, but I added a note that one could use store-bought roasted chicken in a pinch. I tried to turn it into a formal recipe, but much of it is according to taste and preference (how much chile you want to include, how creamy you want the flautas to be, how full you want them to be, etc.).

1 whole chicken

1 pint sour cream (use more if you want creamier flautas)

1 small onion, chopped

1 cup chopped fresh roasted green chile (use more or less according to taste)

2 dozen blue corn tortillas

Grated Monterey jack cheese (optional)

Garlic salt (to taste)

Olive oil or canola oil for frying tortillas

Boil chicken until cooked. Drain and cool. Discard skins and shred chicken. (Store-bought roasted chicken, skinned and boned, can also work if you're in a hurry.)

Place shredded chicken in bowl, add sour cream, onion, chopped chile and garlic salt. Mix well to achieve a moist consistency.

Fry tortillas very lightly in oil (do not let get crisp), so they can be easily rolled. Place tortillas individually between paper towels to drain excess oil and cool.

Fill each tortilla with a heaping spoonful of the chicken mixture and roll to approximately a 1 1/2-inch diameter. (Use less mixture if you want lower-fat flautas. Fuller flautas may require more chicken mixture.)

Place flautas seam side down, side by side, into a glass baking dish. Spread a thin layer of sour cream and a light dusting of grated cheese on top.

Bake flautas at 350 degrees until warmed through, approximately 20 minutes. Serve individually in whole portions for best presentation.

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