Category Archives: Rick Bayless

What I’m Reading: Rick Bayless

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If you know me a bit you know I am a HUGE fan of Top Chef. I even text back and forth with my buddy Kumiko (who left and moved to NYC, which is okay, since now I have another person to visit when I go) about the highs and the lows of the show as it happens

I recently really really enjoyed the Top Chef Masters show and (SPOILER ALERT) loved loved LOVED it when Rick Bayless won. (Honestly, I could have gone with Hubert Keller, too, he was also a great chef with a giving personality. I couldn’t get on board with Michael C. Sorry, Michael. You lost me with the “What is my name?” episode–but I have a funny feeling you know that already.)

ANYway. Back to Rick Bayless, who I also started following on Twitter after that (follow me at BarbFreda. Follow Rick at Rick_Bayless)–it was fun to see his Top Chef nerves play out on Twitter through his tweets.

I’ve been a Bayless fan for years. I bought the first edition of Authentic Mexican but was so sure–and so disappointed in my lack of foresight–that I’d donated it when I moved house four years ago. But there it was on my shelf when I went to double check. I also bought his Mexican Kitchen last year when I worked on some Mexican recipes for Boca Raton Magazine. (And can I say I walked through the snow (in April in Chicago) at the IACP conference to get to Frontera Grill, where they asked if I were there for the conference and was presented a little bite in honor of IACP–I had a killer margarita, a great lunch and another walk back to the hotel (snow had stopped by then, no worries…)

His win, the four dishes they had to make, with each course reflecting something about their lives, really was spectacular. And now I’ve become obsessed with the Black Mole (for you non-Mexican food folks: say mo-lay. It’s a sauce.). I think the recipe in the first book, Authentic Mexican, the one for Turkey with Dark and Spicy Mole, is the black mole he mentions. So one day soon, I’m going to assemble that long long long list of ingredients and make it. It may please no one but me in this house (I’ll do homemade tortillas, too, which I blogged about here when I was working on those recipes for BRM)..but that’s okay. I think I need that black mole.

Rick, thanks for that great win, done with with such class and such great food–and a great cause–on Top Chef Masters. Well done.

Pick up the books. Learn about Authentic Mexican.

What I’m Reading: Rick Bayless

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If you know me a bit you know I am a HUGE fan of Top Chef. I even text back and forth with my buddy Kumiko (who left and moved to NYC, which is okay, since now I have another person to visit when I go) about the highs and the lows of the show as it happens

I recently really really enjoyed the Top Chef Masters show and (SPOILER ALERT) loved loved LOVED it when Rick Bayless won. (Honestly, I could have gone with Hubert Keller, too, he was also a great chef with a giving personality. I couldn’t get on board with Michael C. Sorry, Michael. You lost me with the “What is my name?” episode–but I have a funny feeling you know that already.)

ANYway. Back to Rick Bayless, who I also started following on Twitter after that (follow me at BarbFreda. Follow Rick at Rick_Bayless)–it was fun to see his Top Chef nerves play out on Twitter through his tweets.

I’ve been a Bayless fan for years. I bought the first edition of Authentic Mexican but was so sure–and so disappointed in my lack of foresight–that I’d donated it when I moved house four years ago. But there it was on my shelf when I went to double check. I also bought his Mexican Kitchen last year when I worked on some Mexican recipes for Boca Raton Magazine. (And can I say I walked through the snow (in April in Chicago) at the IACP conference to get to Frontera Grill, where they asked if I were there for the conference and was presented a little bite in honor of IACP–I had a killer margarita, a great lunch and another walk back to the hotel (snow had stopped by then, no worries…)

His win, the four dishes they had to make, with each course reflecting something about their lives, really was spectacular. And now I’ve become obsessed with the Black Mole (for you non-Mexican food folks: say mo-lay. It’s a sauce.). I think the recipe in the first book, Authentic Mexican, the one for Turkey with Dark and Spicy Mole, is the black mole he mentions. So one day soon, I’m going to assemble that long long long list of ingredients and make it. It may please no one but me in this house (I’ll do homemade tortillas, too, which I blogged about here when I was working on those recipes for BRM)..but that’s okay. I think I need that black mole.

Rick, thanks for that great win, done with with such class and such great food–and a great cause–on Top Chef Masters. Well done.

Pick up the books. Learn about Authentic Mexican.

Authentic Mexican with Rick Bayless’s Help

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For another project, I recently had to go visit a few muy mexicano supermarkets. I wandered the aisles and was enticed..and frankly, aren’t we all just a little bit tired of fajitas? We get it already: sizzle plate, greasy meat, veggies to fill you up and enough sour cream and cheese to hide any …”sub-par” ingredients.

Rick Bayless, who owns Frontera Grill in Chicago (among others), has really become an authority on authentic Mexican tastes. I have long owned one of his original books, Authentic Mexican–Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico, but I picked up Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen the other day, a Julia Child Book of the Year Award winner-which I bought when I couldn’t find his most recent book, Mexican Everyday. (you can find all of his books here.) Bayless still goes straight for the heart of Mexican flavors, but he also clues people in to making adjustments for their own American kitchen, little subsections he titles “Simple Ideas from My American Home.” These are little twists on the authentic, original recipe.

I couldn’t wait to try somthing, so I opted for a simple-sounding Tacos of Tomatillo Chicken with wilted greens and fresh cheese. Here in South Florida, these ingredients are readily available in my local, non-specialty supermarket (it’s Publix for me). Roast the tomatillos, blend them (using my favorite immersion blender from Kitchenaid), then add sauteed onions and garlic, blend a bit more. Cook this down with some broth–add greens (I cheated–I was tired, cooking this up around 8 p.m., and hungry, so I used 1/2 package of frozen spinach) to the sauce and stir in 1 1/3 cups shredded, cooked chicken (my single complaint so far: I’d rather see him use weight measurements there…)…Steam a few small corn tortillas (the soft, pliable kind that are only about 4 inches across)…fill each with a heaping tablespoon of the chicken and greens mixture, top with crumbled queso fresco. The result was a fresh, tasty and satifsying dish–three tacos almost filled me up, so I had a fourth. He suggests a party meal of a bunch of these tacos paired with black bean soup, a casual, delicious, fun way to go, I would agree.

I only wish I’d read his suggestion in the notes preceeding the recipe: “I encourage you to make a double or triple batch of sauce, so you can freeze the extra for another meal.” I need to pay more attention, because I would SO like to have this in my freezer as a quick meal. You cook it until the step where you add the greens and the chicken, although I think the greens would probably freeze well, too. A great way to use up the second day of a roast chicken, don’t you think?

Authentic Mexican with Rick Bayless’s Help

Leave a reply

For another project, I recently had to go visit a few muy mexicano supermarkets. I wandered the aisles and was enticed..and frankly, aren’t we all just a little bit tired of fajitas? We get it already: sizzle plate, greasy meat, veggies to fill you up and enough sour cream and cheese to hide any …”sub-par” ingredients.

Rick Bayless, who owns Frontera Grill in Chicago (among others), has really become an authority on authentic Mexican tastes. I have long owned one of his original books, Authentic Mexican–Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico, but I picked up Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen the other day, a Julia Child Book of the Year Award winner-which I bought when I couldn’t find his most recent book, Mexican Everyday. (you can find all of his books here.) Bayless still goes straight for the heart of Mexican flavors, but he also clues people in to making adjustments for their own American kitchen, little subsections he titles “Simple Ideas from My American Home.” These are little twists on the authentic, original recipe.

I couldn’t wait to try somthing, so I opted for a simple-sounding Tacos of Tomatillo Chicken with wilted greens and fresh cheese. Here in South Florida, these ingredients are readily available in my local, non-specialty supermarket (it’s Publix for me). Roast the tomatillos, blend them (using my favorite immersion blender from Kitchenaid), then add sauteed onions and garlic, blend a bit more. Cook this down with some broth–add greens (I cheated–I was tired, cooking this up around 8 p.m., and hungry, so I used 1/2 package of frozen spinach) to the sauce and stir in 1 1/3 cups shredded, cooked chicken (my single complaint so far: I’d rather see him use weight measurements there…)…Steam a few small corn tortillas (the soft, pliable kind that are only about 4 inches across)…fill each with a heaping tablespoon of the chicken and greens mixture, top with crumbled queso fresco. The result was a fresh, tasty and satifsying dish–three tacos almost filled me up, so I had a fourth. He suggests a party meal of a bunch of these tacos paired with black bean soup, a casual, delicious, fun way to go, I would agree.

I only wish I’d read his suggestion in the notes preceeding the recipe: “I encourage you to make a double or triple batch of sauce, so you can freeze the extra for another meal.” I need to pay more attention, because I would SO like to have this in my freezer as a quick meal. You cook it until the step where you add the greens and the chicken, although I think the greens would probably freeze well, too. A great way to use up the second day of a roast chicken, don’t you think?