Red Snapper Veracruz / Huachinango Veracruz
This famous dish combines chiles from the New World with the very Spanish addition of capers and olives.

• 2-3 LB. Red snapper fillets ( rockfish)
• 3 Tbl. lime juice
• 2 tsp. sea salt
• 12 small new potatoes
• 2 Lbs. roma tomatoes or 1- 28oz. can of diced tomatoes in juice
• 1 white onion, cut into eighths
• 1 green pepper, julienne
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 3 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 bay leaves
• 1/3 c. chopped parsley
• 1 t. Mexican oregano
• ¼ c. chopped green olives
• ¼ c. raisins
• 2 Tbl. capers
• 3 pickled jalapeno peppers, halved lengthwise

Cook potatoes in salted water until tender. Drain, when cool enough to handle peel and slice. Rub fish fillets with lime juice and salt. Set aside to marinate.

Peel and chop tomatoes, crush into chunky puree, strain and reserve the juices.

Heat oil in a heavy skillet over med. heat, add onion, cook for one minute, add garlic and cook until onions are tender but not browned. Add chopped tomatoes, green pepper, bay leaves, 1/2 the parsley, oregano, and half the reserved tomato juices, simmer at fairly high heat until sauce reduces, about 5 min. Add olives, raisins, capers, and remainder of tomato juice and continue to simmer for five more minutes. Season to taste with salt & pepper.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat bottom of baking dish with sauce, arrange fish fillets atop sauce, surround with sliced potatoes. Spoon remaining sauce over the fish. Bake covered for 15 min. Uncover baking dish and continue to cook until fish is opaque in center, approx.15 min. Sprinkle with remaining parsley and garnish with the jalapeno halves or slices.

Serves 6

After much tinkering in the Cook with Us.com kitchen, our original new recipe for Stuffed Poblanos is finally published. Mike Gonzalez from the Hispanic Food Network showcased our dish on his TV show “In the Kitchen”.

Check out the HFNTV.com video here:

A few tips on the recipe:
Try using all fresh ground pork instead of half ground beef and half ground pork. The flavor is more subtle, somehow not as meaty.
We used Oxxacan cheese in the the video version of the recipe, instead of the crumbled queso cotijo. Either way it’s great!

Chile Poblano Rellenado / Stuffed Chile Poblano
A Cook With Us recipe

A change from bell peppers, poblanos are a little spicier. The red chile sauce is easy to prepare and really pumps up the flavor of this dish.

• 4 large poblano chiles, roasted, peeled, seeded
• ½ lb lean ground beef
• ½ lb. lean ground pork
• 5 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, diced
• ½ t. cumin, or comino ground in spice mill
• ½ t. black pepper, fresh ground
• 1 tsp. salt
• 4 tortillas
• 4 guajillo chiles
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 white onion, quartered
• 1 roma tomato, seeded
• 1 Tbl. achiote paste, crumbled
• 2 Tbl. Olive oil
• 1 c. Mexican cotijo cheese, crumbled (may sub. feta cheese ) *
• ½ cup Mexican crema*

Prepare chiles: blister and blacken the poblanos over an open flame or under a broiler. Place in a plastic bag for 10 min. to steam. Remove from bag and peel off skin with the back of a spoon. Make a slit to remove seeds and make a pocket for the stuffing. Set aside.

Prepare meat filling: heat 1 Tbl. vegetable oil in a sauté pan over low heat; add the garlic and jalapeno and cook gently until softened, about 5 minutes. Combine the ground meats and brown in the same pan until no longer pink. Season meat with cumin, black pepper, and ½ t. salt. Fill the prepared chiles with the meat mixture. Place in a baking casserole.

Prepare chile sauce: rehydrate the gaujillo chiles in a cup of very hot stock or water, (10 min.) save the soaking liquid. In a blender place the softened chiles, tomato, onion, ½ cup soaking liquid and salt. Puree until smooth. Dissolve the achiote paste in the other ½ cup of hot liquid. Set aside. Heat 1 Tbl. of oil over med. high heat. Strain the chile puree into the hot oil. Cook and stir as the mixture darkens and thickens a bit. Add the achiote and continue to simmer over med low heat. Add more water if sauce is too thick, it should be the consistency of a medium thin tomato sauce.

Finish dish: Pour the hot sauce over and around the chiles. Sprinkle the cheese on top and bake covered at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Uncover dish for the last five minutes of baking.

Garnish: finish dish with a sprinkling of fresh parsley or cilantro and a drizzle of crema* on each chile.

Mexican crema is available in Mexican grocers or substitute a mixture of half sour cream and half whipping cream.

Serves 4

* Oaxacan string cheese is great in this recipe too, especially if you like the filling cheeeesy. Just add the cheese to the cooked meat and let melt. Proceed to stuffing chiles.

A Cook With US recipe
Achiote Jalapeno Bread
• 8 cups all purpose flour
• 1 T. sea salt
• 1T. sugar
• 2 T. dry yeast
• ¼ cup achiote paste
• 3 jalapeno peppers, charred
• 1 ¼ cup warm water
• 2 T. sesame seeds
• 2 T. garlic, chopped fine
• 2 T. Mexican oregano
• 1 egg white
• 2 T. Olive oil
• ¼ cup cornmeal

Combine 7 ½ cups of flour, salt and sugar into a bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon and set aside. Dissolve yeast in ¼ c. warm water for 15 minutes.

Char the jalapenos on a hot comal or griddle. Leave most of the blackened skin intact for flavor. When cool enough to handle seed and coarsely chop chiles. Set aside.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add 1 cup warm water into the well; carefully pour the proofed yeast into the water, add the jalapenos, garlic, and oregano. Break up the achiote paste into the flour mixture. Mix the ingredients thoroughly until dough is pliable, about 5 minutes.

Dust work surface with ½ c. reserved flour. Turn out dough and knead for 10 minutes until dough becomes smooth and elastic. Roll dough into long cylinder and cut into 8 equal pieces. Form each piece into a 14 inch baguette. Place loaves on two cookie sheets sprinkled with cornmeal. Scribe loaves diagonally with a sharp knife, brush lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Cover pans with damp dish towel, let rise at room temp. until double in size. Bake 40 minutes at 350 degrees. Brush finished loaves with egg white wash. Let cool on racks. Makes 8 baguettes