Roma Tomatoes a Basic Ingredient in Mexican Cooking

One of the most basic ingredients in the Mexican kitchen besides chiles is the Roma tomato or plum tomato. In Spanish they are called jitomate saladette.

Roma Tomatoes - Jitomate Saladette

Roma tomatoes are meatier and contain less water than slicing tomatoes and are best used in salsas and as a soup base to thicken and enrich flavors. They are also good for guacamole or pico de gallo because they hold their shape well when diced. Romas are my second choice when preparing salads.

Other common Mexican dishes that use Roma Tomatoes are salsa roja, Sopa Azteca, huevos a la Mexicana, table salsa or salsa de mesa.

Slicing tomatoes like the beefsteak are much less commonly used in Mexico and usually cost quite a bit more. They are called jitomate bola or “ball tomatoes.” You can always find them in the grocery store or market but nobody ever seems to use them in their cooking.

How to Choose Roma Your Tomatoes
Look are for Romas that have a nice red color are heavy for their size and firm to the touch but not hard which indicates that they are unripe. They lack flavor and taste woody when they are not ripe. Avoid any that have overly soft spots or black spots. This means that they are overripe and on their way to becoming rotten. If you get some that haven’t fully ripened leave them on the kitchen counter for a day or two until they have softened and reached ripeness. Don’t put them in the refrigerator they will ripen more slowly and lose flavor.

To Peel or Not to Peel
I never peel tomatoes when I cook even if a recipe calls for peeling. It’s one of those small kitchen tasks that I can’t stand to do. I prefer to live with a few stray bits of tomato skin. If you are going to make a smooth blended salsa just force the salsa through a strainer before serving and you will be able to remove almost all of the noticeable pieces of skin. I also never remove the seeds. It’s really a matter of preference.

Related Ingredients

Tomatillos – Tomate Verde

Unique Flavor with Squash Blossoms

Squash Blossoms also known as zucchini flowers are commonly used in Mexican cooking to make a filling for quesadillas and to make a delicious soup, sopa de flor de calabaza. My favorite method to cook them is as a filling for quesadillas. They add add a rich yellow color to any dish made you add them to. If you have a Mexican market in your area look for flor de calabaza.

In Mexico, the best squash blossoms come from street vendors who bring them in from the country and sell them the same day they were picked. They are in season from mid spring to mid summer.

Squash Blossoms

Squash blossoms don’t keep well. The day they are picked they are beautiful. The second day they are looking tired. By the third day they have shrivelled and are covered with black spots. Use them quickly. If you can’t use the right away, store them in the refrigerator until you can. They will keep for two days.

When you cook the blossoms you will be surprised how much your big beautiful bunch of flowers will shrink down to nothing. It takes a large number of flowers just to make a small amount of quesadilla filling.

To prepare the blossoms for cooking, break off the yellow part of the flower and discard the spiky stem and base.

Recipe for Squash Blossom Quesadilla Filling

Squash Blossom Quesadilla Filling

Ingredients:

• 40 squash blossoms prepped and torn into two pieces
• 1 small onion finely diced
• 2 roma tomatoes finely diced
• 3 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 pinch of epazote
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• Salt to taste

Step 1 Saute the onion and garlic over medium low heat until soft. Do not let the onion brown.
Step 2 Lower the heat as much as you can. Add the tomato and epazote. Stir to blend. Cook for about 5 minutes until the tomatoes are soft.
Step 3 Add the squash blossoms. Stir only once to blend all of the ingredients. Cook for 4 minutes until the blossoms have reduced in size and cooked through. Do not overcook. Add salt to taste.

Recipe makes 1 1/2 cups of filling which will make about 10 small quesadillas.

Quesadilla Filling
To make squash blossom quesadillas fill the tortilla with your choice of cheese and add about 1 tablespoon of the quesadilla filling. Cook until the cheese melts.

Crepe Filling
To use this recipe as a crepe filling add one tablespoon of filling to the crepe and add a teaspoon of cream. Serve immediately.

Fresh Artisan Jalapeno Cheese

I made a great discovery at a cheese shop that recently opened, jalapeno cheese. It is an artisan cheese, a cow’s milk Manchego made with fresh jalapeno and epazote(wormseed). The flavors are nicely balanced. It is fresh white cheese which has a softer texture and milder taste than aged Manchegos. It is also milder in taste than the traditional Spanish Manchego cheese made from goat’s milk.

Epazote, a common herb in Mexican cooking, adds a distinct flavor which until recently I wasn’t fond of but it’s growing on me. Epazote tends to have an overpowering weedy flavor but in this cheese it adds a very light, almost imperceptible herbal flavor. The jalapeno adds a mildy spicy flavor and won’t give your mouth a chili burn from when you eat it.

Mexican Artisan Jalapeno Cheese

The owner of the cheese shop wouldn’t tell me exactly where it comes from. I believe she was protecting her source because its her trade secret and competitive advantage. I’ve never seen it anywhere else in town. Her shop has been really busy for a store that has only just opened. I would say that’s due to the unique cheeses carried by the shop..

For a small batch artisan cheese the price is very reasonable. It costs $100 pesos per kilo which is roughly $3.75USD per pound which is better price than the price of many commercial Manchegos available at the grocery store. It is sold in irregularly shaped handfomed blocks.

My favorite way to use jalapeno cheese is in sandwiches and paninis. Try it in a grilled cheese sandwich. I know grilled cheese sandwiches aren’t the least bit authenticly Mexican but made with jalapeno cheese they’re great just the same.

The cheese also makes really good quesadillas or sincronizadas. Sincronizadas are quesadillas made with slices of ham in addition to the cheese. When melted the cheese becomes very creamy. As a quick snack, just cut off a small piece and wrap it in a warm corn tortilla. Because it is a fresh cheese you don’t need to melt it for it to have have a good taste and texture.

Mexican Organic Raw Honey

Honey is sold at roadside stands and markets throughout Mexico but I had never been tempted to buy it. It’s a shame that I never have.

You see, I have never really liked honey until recently. I was closer to hating the stuff than liking it. To me, commercial honey has a bitter, somewhat off taste but the local organic honey is completely different.

Mesquite Organic Raw Honey

I actually like honey now. I eat honey sandwiches, drizzle it on my oatmeal, put it in my tea, and swallow spoonfuls when I have a sore throat. I use it all the time now in place of sugar.

Without trying to sound silly, organic honey tastes like honey should taste – sweet, fresh, and full of honey flavor without the bitter chemical aftertaste.

A local beekeeper in San Miguel de Allende who turned me on honey told me that the reason that commercial honey has the strong aftertaste is that it is pasteurized at a high heat which causes the flavor to turn bitter. He said the most small honey producers pasteurize their honey at a lower temperature to preserve the flavor and many of them sell it raw.

The latest honey that I have tried is is an organic raw honey produced by Alto Desierto. It is in a nearly natural state only having gone through one filtration and no pasteurization. The predominant flavor in the honey comes from mesquite flowers. The honey is an opaque milky color, thick and crystalized. The flavor is very mild and sweet. He said that this honey is best used as a spread on some good bread.

The guy who produces it explained what causes honey to crystalize. Unfortunately, I can’t remember any of what he taught me about the molecular structure of honey and what  causes the crystalization. All that I can remember is that he told me the only honey in the world that never crystalizes in Tupelo honey.

Honey is rarely used in mexican cooking but is used often as a sweetener and in herbal remedies. Many People cite the health benefits of natural honey which I know next to nothing about. I use it for its good taste which is enough for me.

If you have never liked honey find some good quality organic raw honey and give it a try. You just might like it. I did.

The seeds from dried chiles can be lightly toasted and used as a condiment to give a dish some extra heat. Traditionally, you place a bowl of seeds on the table and diners can add them to their food as desired.

I have never seen this done at anyone’s home or in a restaurant. I got the idea to use the chile pepper seeds from a Mexican cookbook. The cookbook doesn’t call for the seeds to be toasted but I liked the added nutty flavor toasting gives them.

Using Serrano Chiles in Your Mexican Dishes

Serrano chiles are called for in many Mexican recipes. Serranos have a bright, sharp taste and are substantially hotter than Jalapeno chiles. Serrano chiles are a medium to dark green when picked and as they mature turn orange and then red. Typically they are used when they are still green.

An average Serrano chile ranges in size from 2 to 3 inches long and about 3/4 of an inch across. Serrano chiles do not need to be peeled as do many other chiles. You can incorporate Serranos into your dishes two ways: minced or in rounds. To reduce the heat of Serrano chiles be sure to remove the white veins and seeds.

Working With Chile Peppers

If you have sensitive skin, wear rubber gloves when working with chiles. Serrano chiles are very hot and the capsacin in the chiles which causes the burning sensation stays on your skin all day.

I speak from experience. The last time I chopped up some Serranos I rubbed the side of my face before washing my hands and where I touched my face burned for nearly four hours. Even after you wash your hands much of the capsacin stays on them.

Mexican Recipes that use Serrano Chiles

Chicken Breasts with a Spicy Tomatillo Salsa

Authentic Mexican Table Salsa Recipe

Charred Tomatillo Salsa Recipe

Avocado Salsa

You might be interested in The Great Chile Book.

Using Tomatillos in Your Recipes

Tomatillos or Tomates Verdes look like small green tomatoes wrapped in a paper husk. Tomatillos are commonly used in Mexican green salsas. They have a bright acidic taste that mellows and sweetens the longer they are cooked.

If a dish calls for tomatillos and you don’t have any on hand, you are out of luck. There is no good substitute for tomatillos. Their taste is unique.

Mexican Recipes That Include Tomatillos

Chicken Breasts With a Tomatillo Salsa

Charred Tomatillo Salsa Recipe

Using Piloncillo in Your Recipes

Piloncillo is raw sugar that is pressed into the form a cone. It is used as a sweetener in traditional Mexican foods. To use piloncillo you shave the required amount from the cone to add your dish of choice.

Piloncillo comes in a variety of sizes. The small 2 oz. cone and the medium 4 oz. cones are most common.

Brown sugar has a similar taste and makes a good substitute in your recipes if piloncillo is unavailable.

Mexican Recipes That Include Piloncillo

Chicken Breasts With a Spicy Tomatillo and Piloncillo Salsa