Chile

SLOPPY JOES, THE OLD CHILDHOOD FAVORITE, get a makeover in this weeknight dish. With turkey instead of beef and the addition of corn, cilantro, and jalapeño, this is no ordinary joe. Spoon this flavorful mixture into hamburger buns or warm tortillas for a kid-friendly main course, or try it over rice or in a lettuce cup.

THIS IS THE SAME GREAT BEECHER’S MAC AND CHEESE recipe taken to a new level, with the spice of chiles and the addition of vegetables. Feel free to experiment with leftover cheeses for new flavor combinations.

The secret ingredient of this tangy, spicy dressing is fish sauce, or “nam pla.” Made from small, dried fish, nam pla is a staple in Southeast Asian cooking; its strong, distinctive flavor is mellowed by the lime. Adjust the level of spiciness by adding jalapeños or leaving them out entirely.

FLAVOR BOOSTER A ginger-and-lime yogurt marinade spiked with chopped jalapeños adds tang and a little heat to skinless chicken thighs. Peach chutney makes a tart-sweet, low-fat accompaniment. If using wooden skewers, soak them in water for thirty minutes before grilling.

WHY IT’S LIGHT This rendition of a Tex-Mex favorite uses lean chicken breasts, corn tortillas, and just enough Monterey Jack cheese to create a luscious topping. The gentle, moist heat of pan steaming keeps the chicken breasts juicy and tender without any oil.

GOOD TO KNOW Puréed vegetables give soup the same sort of velvety consistency that cream does. Vegetables like sweet potatoes, because of their starch content, also lend body to soups and stews.

For Bryant, shucking and eating freshly picked ears of corn reminds him how for generations his family was intimately connected with their food sources—they ate what they grew. When you eat juicy corn on the cob, served straight from the pot and slathered with butter, it’s easy to imagine such a connection. Freshness really matters with corn—as soon as it is picked, the sugars in the corn start converting to starch. Choose ears that feel plump and fat with tightly closed, bright green husks and golden brown silks. Look for stems that are moist and pale green, and check for tight, small, plump kernels. Kernels cut from the cob offer other possibilities: sautéed, with sweet peppers, chiles, tomatoes, squash, or beans; or used in cornbread and griddle cakes, and in numerous soups and salsas. To prepare kernels for cooking, pull off the husks and cornsilk from the ears of corn. Rub the ears with a clean dish towel to remove any clinging cornsilk, and snap off the stems. Cut the kernels from the cobs: Hold an ear by the tip, stand it up vertically with the stem end down, and use a sharp knife to cut down the length of the cob, cutting just deep enough to slice off the kernels. This is messy; to contain the kernels, it helps to work in a large bowl, or on a small cutting board set inside a roasting pan.

In Mexico, salsas are typically made with ingredients roasted on a clay comal, or griddle. A cast-iron skillet is a good substitute. When whole chile peppers, unpeeled garlic cloves, tomatoes, and tomatillos are dry-roasted, they brown as they cook and develop the toasty overtones that create deep flavors in the salsa. Another traditional tool is the molcajete y tejolote, a rough stone mortar and pestle used to mash and blend the salsa.

This is a classic Mexican soup that is brought to the table with a variety of serve-yourself garnishes.

This North African condiment is made from puréed sweet peppers and chiles. Use it to spice up a soup, roast meat, or grilled vegetables; as a sandwich spread; or as a sauce with rice or couscous dishes.

This bright-tasting sauce is a great accompaniment to grilled foods of all descriptions—steak, chicken, shrimp, or vegetables—and it is also wonderful as a dip for tortilla chips or as a sauce for tamales.

This is an excellent way to cook a shoulder roast, whether pork, lamb, or beef; it combines the best of roasting and braising into one method to produce a meltingly tender, mouthwatering golden roast with a rich, deeply flavorful sauce. The meat is cooked in the oven, uncovered, with a small amount of liquid, which allows a large part of the roast to brown and render its fat in the dry heat of the oven while the underside is simmering in flavorful juices. After about an hour the roast is turned, submerging the browned meat in the juices to absorb moisture and flavor, while exposing the underside to the browning heat of the oven. From then on, the roast is turned in and out of the liquid to alternately brown and braise. While the meat is in the liquid it is bathed with sugars from the vegetables and wine; these sugars caramelize when exposed to the dry heat, making a fabulous golden crust that is protected from burning each time it is turned back into the sauce. Any shoulder cut will do—for more flavor, when possible choose a roast that has the bone in (called blade-in for beef chuck). The meat will be tender after it is cooked and will easily separate from the bone. If the butcher has not already done so, trim the majority of the fat from the outside of the roast and season well with salt and pepper. For added flavor use a dry rub: herbs, ground spices, and chiles mixed with the salt and pepper. Or make a paste with pounded garlic, herbs, spices, and a bit of olive oil to rub into the meat after it is seasoned. Do this in advance—overnight if there’s time—to allow the flavors to penetrate the meat. Cut the aromatic vegetables into large pieces. Place them in a heavy baking dish just a bit larger than the roast. Add any herbs and spices and set the seasoned meat on top of the vegetables, fat side up. Pour in liquid (wine, stock, or water) about a quarter of the way up the sides of the roast. Cook, uncovered, in a 375°F oven for an hour or so. Turn the roast over and cook for 30 minutes, then turn it again and cook for another 30 minutes. At this point check the meat to see if it is done. It should offer little or no resistance to the probing of a sharp knife or skewer. If it needs more time, turn and cook until done, turning the roast every half hour. The total cooking time may be as much as 3 1/2 hours depending on the size of the roast. While the meat is cooking, keep an eye on the liquid and add more as needed. This can be deceptive at times, since rendered fat can make it look as though there is more liquid than there really is. Check with a spoon to gauge the level of the actual liquid and add more as needed. If all the liquid were to evaporate, the vegetables and meat would stick and burn, and there would be no sauce to serve with the meat. When done, remove the meat from the pan. Skim the sauce well and either discard the vegetables if they’ve lost all their flavor and you don’t want to serve them, or else push them through a food mill or coarse strainer and add them to the skimmed sauce. Reheat the sauce, slice the meat, and serve it with the sauce poured over or passed around in a pitcher or sauceboat.

A great filling for tacos or topping for any grilled meat, these creamy poblano strips (rajas) showed up on the table a few times a week while I was growing up. You can cream virtually any chile, but mild poblanos add the perfect amount of spice to any dish. My favorite pairing is with sweet Torta de Elote (page 153).

I am obsessed with mayo, especially homemade mayo. All it takes is a little patience, and the end result is much brighter and smoother than any store-bought variety. It’s traditionally made by hand, by vigorously beating with a whisk, but I make it in a food processor, which is much easier. I always have a batch of this chipotle mayo in the fridge; you can easily omit the chipotles for a mayo base to which you could add any sort of flavorings. Raw eggs are used in this recipe, so it’s best to not serve this to pregnant women, children, or anyone with a compromised immune system. If you use pasteurized egg yolks, however, you can serve it to whomever you like.

In Mexico pico de gallo is used to describe a wide variety of regional salsas, which are always made with cubed fresh fruit and/ or vegetables. Pico de gallo is also known as salsa picada, which means minced or chopped sauce. The most common version is made with red tomatoes, onion, and green chiles and is sometimes called salsa mexicana or salsa bandera, because the colors in the salsa represent those of the Mexican flag. I like to make mine with yellow tomatoes when I am in the mood for a sweeter salsa. Feel free to use red tomatoes if you want to keep it traditional.

Mangoes sprinkled with a mixture of chile and salt and served on a stick are popular street-corner fare in Mexico. I love the combination of flavors so much that I used it to create this salsa, with the addition of avocado for extra richness. Mangoes come in several varieties, and any type will work as long as the fruit is ripe but firm enough that it won’t fall apart in the salsa.

Tomatillo salsas vary greatly from region to region in Mexico. Some are boiled, some are fried, some are roasted, but all of them have the same distinct acidic taste that makes the tomatillo one of Mexico’s trademark ingredients. A batch of this salsa is made daily at my house; it’s always in my fridge. It’s my topping of choice for quesadillas.

What’s better than one chile? Three! Mexican food owes much of its flair to the chile, which has been around since about 7500 B.C. Chiles add heat and depth to almost everything I make at home. (As an added bonus, some scientists believe the chile has miraculous disease-fighting powers, with the ability to promote weight loss and to prevent everything from heart disease to cancer.) Here you have the cascabel chile, which adds a slightly nutty flavor, the árbol chile, which brings heat, and my favorite, the sweet and smoky guajillo, to create a salsa that is in perfect harmony.

Every family has a recipe that is a well-kept secret. This one, created by my aunt Marcela, is ours. It took some major coaxing to convince her to let me in on the details. Chile-lovers, this is for you! Yellow chiles are left whole and are meant to be eaten in between bites of tacos or any grilled dish. If you want to get adventurous, try dipping sushi in the spicy lime-soy sauce.