The fish of choice is often Pargo (Snapper) due to its rich fat content, which keeps it moist during grilling. Alternatives like Snook or Red Snapper also work beautifully for this dish. 

The Origins of Pescado Zarandeado 

A Beachside Feast  

Recipe: Pescado Zarandeado

from link

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

For the marinade:
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup lime juice
6 cloves garlic, minced

For the fish:
1 3-pound fillet Snook, Dorado, Bonita, Red Snapper, Pargo or other white-fleshed fish suitable for grilling
6 tomatoes, deseeded and quartered
2 green bell peppers, cut into thick strips
2 red bell peppers, cut into thick strips
1 purple onion, cut into thick slices
6 jalepeños, sliced
Whisk the marinade ingredients. Let steep to blend flavors for about 15-30 minutes. pour over the fish and let the fish marinate for 30 minutes.

If you don't have a grill or fish cage (or if it's winter!), you can put the fish in foil with the vegetables.

Grill (or bake the fish in the oven at 375° until the meat flakes). The time it takes depends on how large the fish is. My small Red Snapper took 20-30 minutes in the oven.

Serve with salsa, guacamole, refried beans, rice, limes, and tortillas.

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
• Visual Recipe Index

Among the culinary delights I experienced was Huevos Divorciados, a unique spin on the classic Huevos Rancheros. This dish creatively separates two poached eggs, placing them on opposite sides of the plate and dressing each in its own distinct sauce. One egg is topped with a zesty green salsa made with tomatillos, while the other is adorned with a smoky red chili salsa. The presentation is completed with a variety of sides—refried beans, rice, guacamole, cheese, and onions—that divide the two eggs like an edible border.  

Though the sandy beaches of Mazatlán may be far away, the flavors of Huevos Divorciados can easily be recreated at home to share with family and friends. 

Ingredients:

For the salsa:
3 medium tomatoes, quartered
½ onion
½ hot green chile or 1 teaspoon canned green chilies
3 sprigs cilantro leaves
½ red bell pepper
2 cloves garlic
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ lemon, squeezed

For the guacamole:
½ large ripe avocado
2 tablespoons green onion, minced
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
½ teaspoons Asian chile sauce
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions:

For the tortillas:
6 tortillas, cut into rounds that will fit a muffin tin

For the poached eggs:
12 eggs, poached

Prepare the salsa:
Put all ingredients in a food processor and whiz until chunky. Drain.

Prepare the guacamole:
Put all ingredients in a food processor and whiz until smooth.

Prepare the tortillas:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut the tortillas into rounds that will fit a muffin tin. Carefully push a round into a muffin cup. Bake until golden, about 5 minutes.

Prepare the poached eggs:
Poach 12 eggs.

To assemble:
Put the poached egg into the baked tortilla cup. Top with salsa on half of the cups. Top with guacamole on the other half. Garnish each plate with refried beans and cilantro along with a tortilla cup of each type. Serve immediately.


Tips
Ottawa Recommendation: For those in Ottawa, Canada, check out the Huevos Rancheros at Edgar—widely regarded as the best in the city. (Sadly now closed.)



Mazatlán Recommendation: If you find yourself in Mazatlán, enjoy this dish at iconic spots like the Shrimp Bucket in Olas Altas.

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
• Visual Recipe Index

Acknowledgment: Special thanks to www.gomazatlan.com for hosting meat the 2011 Gran Fiesta Amigos. All opinions and stories shared are entirely my own.  

Travel and food are the perfect pair. Exploring new places, savoring unfamiliar flavors, and capturing memories in a sunset’s glow or the texture of sand beneath my toes restores my spirit. On a culinary tour of Mazatlán, Mexico, I discovered one of my favorite drinks: Horchata, a creamy, cinnamon-infused beverage that feels like a hug in a glass.

Mazatlán, often called the "Pearl of the Pacific," gave me the pearl-colored refreshment that I couldn’t wait to recreate back home. After a warm morning exploring the village of El Quelite, the Horchata served at El Mesón de los Laureanos quenched my thirst and captured the region’s essence.

One year ago, I was recovering from surgery to remove more thyroid cancer. A year later, I’m feeling the sand between my toes, listening to the waves crash on the beach, and enjoying a culinary tour of Mazatlán, Mexico.

One thing I love to bring home is a favorite taste to make in my own kitchen. Mazatlán is known as the Pearl of the Pacific. For me, the pearl-colored beverage, Horchata (or-CHA-tah), will always remind me of Mazatlán and Mexico. It was also one of the first things I looked up when I got home.

Horchata is often described as “liquid rice pudding,” made by soaking rice (sometimes with nuts) and cinnamon in water or milk, sweetening it, and enhancing it with vanilla and other spices. While modern Horchata uses rice, the drink has its origins in Spain, where the Moors made it from tiger nuts (chufas). When the Spanish brought Horchata to the New World, they adapted it to local ingredients like rice, almonds, and squash seeds.

Legend says that King James I of Aragon, after tasting Horchata in Valencia, exclaimed:

"Açò és or, xata!" ("This is gold, darling!").

I tasted the best Horchata at a small village restaurant called El Mesón de los Laureanos in El Quelite just 45 minutes outside of Mazatlán. It wasn’t too sweet and quenched my thirst after a hot morning of sun and tequila tasting:

Variations include almonds, lime zest, or even pecans and popcorn. Momofuku Milk Bar serves a Horchata Soft Serve Ice Cream with Cinnamon. And adding a dash of Tequila can improve its already soothing qualities. Salud!

Ingredients:

For Horchata Base:
6 tablespoons long-grained rice
2 cinnamon sticks
2½ cups warm water

For sugar syrup:
½ cup sugar
1 cup water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

To finish:
Milk, to taste
Ice
Ground cinnamon and nutmeg, for garnish

Instructions:

In a blender, blend the rice to break it up into small pieces. In a large bowl, combine the rice, cinnamon sticks and water. Cover and store in the refrigerator for 6 hours, or overnight.

To make the sugar syrup, melt sugar and water in a medium-heavy pot over medium-high heat until the sugar is melted. Add the vanilla. Let cool.

Remove the cinnamon sticks from the rice mixture. Strain the rice mixture through cheesecloth and squeeze out the rice to get the entire flavor out of the rice. Add the sugar syrup, to taste.

To finish, in a blender add 1 cup of the strained rice/sugar-syrup mixture and ½ cup milk (or to taste). Blend until frothy. Pour into a glass and garnish with ground cinnamon and nutmeg.

For Horchata Coffee, prepare a double espresso. Froth ½ cup milk with ½ cup Horchata. Mix and garnish with ground cinnamon and nutmeg.

Links
The Bojon Gourmet: Horchata Ice Cream
TastyType: Horchata Ice Cream 
Vampire Weekend – Horchata: “In December, drinking horchata | I'd look psychotic in a balaclava”

 

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
• Visual Recipe Index

Acknowledgment: Special thanks to www.gomazatlan.com for hosting meat the 2011 Gran Fiesta Amigos. All opinions and stories shared are entirely my own.  

Did you know? In ancient Chinese culture, cilantro was used in love potions and believed to bring immortality.

Recipe: Cilantro Salad

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

For the vinaigrette:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper, to taste

For the salad:
4 cups butter lettuce, cleaned and torn into bite-sized pieces
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Instructions:

Whisk the ingredients for the vinaigrette. Mix the salad ingredients. Just before serving, mix the vinaigrette with the salad.

If you don't have puff pastry in your refrigerator, just use a regular pie crust. If you don't have that, just make caramel apples!

Tips for Perfect Puff Pastry:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 to 3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons unsalted, butter, melted
14 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 egg, lightly beaten, for glazing

[You can find the recipe for Puff Pastry in the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home (affiliate link) or here.]

Instructions:

In a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the flour and salt. Pour in the water and melted butter. The dough will be shaggy. Bring it together into a ball and score an "x" in the top. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

While the dough is chilling, place the butter between plastic wrap and form it into a square that's 3/4 inch thick.

To roll the dough, make arms or flaps to form a plus sign. The middle should be mounded slightly. The arms must be long and square enough to cover the middle. (See this post.)

Place the formed butter in the middle and fold the arms over the butter, stretching the dough if needed. Seal in the butter. Using a rolling pin, press on the dough to seal the edges and flatten the square.

Roll the dough about 7 inches wide and 21 inches long. Fold the top down and the bottom up to make an envelope. Turn a quarter turn. Roll again to 7 inches wide and 21 inches long. Fold again. Mark the dough with two fingerprints and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Repeat the rolling/folding/turning and then chill. Repeat once more. Now the dough has been turned six times and is ready to be formed into pie crust, cheese sticks, turnovers, napoleons or whatever you fancy. (The dough keeps well in the freezer, too.)

Next Time
Danoises (Danish) in Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Collection (affiliate link) page 485

Links
White on Rice: Strawberry Danish Recipe
Not without Salt: Quick Puff Pastry
Dorie Greenspan: Puff Pastry Pinwheels

::Whisk::
I'm baking my way through a cooking school curriculum using the Le Cordon Bleu at Home (affiliate link) cookbook. The "classes" are based on the Le Cordon Bleu curriculum found online and used as a guideline. Not all the items in the curriculum are in the cookbook, but most are. Where the items are not in the book, I try to find a suitable substitution.

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
• Visual Recipe Index

Tips for Perfect Brioche  

1. Embrace the Stickiness: The dough will be sticky; let your mixer’s dough hook do the work.  

2. Be Patient: Brioche takes time, but the slow rise develops flavor and texture.  

3. Use Butter Generously: Don’t skimp—this is where brioche gets its magic.  

3 tablespoons milk, warmed
1/4 oz package dried yeast
3 cups bread or all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
6 eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 egg beaten and mixed with 2 tablespoons of water, for glaze

[You can find the recipe for Brioche in the book Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Collection (affiliate link).]

Instructions:

In a small bowl, proof the yeast in some warm milk. In a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, whisk all the ingredients. Add the yeast mixture. Knead until the dough forms a smooth ball. In an oiled bowl, place the dough and cover. Let rise at room temperature for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until doubled in size.

Punch down. In a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, add the room-temperature butter to the dough and knead until the dough is smooth again. Cover and let rest for about 5 minutes.

Form into rolls. Let rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Preheat oven to 400°F. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool.

Here's a video showing how to make it by hand.


Tasting Notes
The crust on my brioche was nice and crunchy, but I should have pulled mine out of the oven sooner than I did. Overall, they have a nice texture and warming them in the microwave for about 10 seconds makes them even tastier.

Next Time
Puff Pastry in Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Collection (affiliate link) page 542

Links
La Tartine Gourmande: Simplest Brioche
Julia Child: Brioche Dough (video)
Dorie Greenspan: Brioche

::Whisk::
I'm baking my way through a cooking school curriculum using the Le Cordon Bleu at Home (affiliate link) cookbook. The "classes" are based on the Le Cordon Bleu curriculum found online and used as a guideline. Not all the items in the curriculum are in the cookbook, but most are. Where the items are not in the book, I try to find a suitable substitution.

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
• Visual Recipe Index

Making croissants at home can seem daunting, but if you’ve mastered puff pastry, you’re halfway there! Croissants are essentially "baby" puff pastries—requiring fewer turns and an overnight rest. While they demand patience and practice, the reward is a flaky, buttery masterpiece that rivals the best Parisian bakeries.

Recipe: Croissants

Makes: 12-16

Ingredients:

[You can find the recipe for Croissants in the book Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Collection (affiliate link).] You can watch this video to see the method: How to Make Croissants.

Tasting Notes
With all that butter and fresh dough, what's not to love about these croissants. I will keep practicing and aim for crumb-explosion perfection.

Croissant in Paris

Next Time
Brioche in Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Collection (affiliate link) page 430

Links
Food Timeline's Croissant History
Food & Wine: Lamination: The Art of the Perfect Croissant

Croissant in Paris

::Whisk::
I'm baking my way through a cooking school curriculum using the Le Cordon Bleu at Home (affiliate link) cookbook. The "classes" are based on the Le Cordon Bleu curriculum found online and used as a guideline. Not all the items in the curriculum are in the cookbook, but most are. Where the items are not in the book, I try to find a suitable substitution.

More to Explore:

• Index of Recipes
• Visual Recipe Index

[You can find the recipe for Concorde (Chocolate Meringue Cake Filled with Chocolate Mousse) in the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home (affiliate link) or here.]

1. Prepare the Meringue:

2. Make the Chocolate Mousse:

3. Assemble the Kisses:

4. Chill and Serve: