(Purée de Papas)
Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Zarela Martinez's book The Food and Life of Oaxaca. Martinez also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page.
To read more about Martinez and Oaxacan cuisine, click here.
When I visited the Isthmus of Tehuantepec at the season of spring parties accompanying the local velas (saints' day festivals), I found this vividly seasoned dish being served everywhere. It also turned out to be one of the regular Sunday offerings at Venancia Toledo Hernández's food stand in the Isthmian town of Ixtepec. She gave me her recipe and now everyone I've served it to in New York is in love with the brassy, sensuous flavors.
•This recipe from Mexico's Isthmus of Tehuantepec (the narrow, southern section of Oaxaca between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean) is characteristic of the region's rich, exuberant, highly flavored cooking. The Isthmus shows the influence of merchants from Spain and elsewhere, who introduced Mediterranean ingredients such as olives. According to Martinez, there's a local "passion for the richest of the European-derived foods" and aggressive combinations of sweet and sharp flavors.
•Martinez suggests seeking out Mexican pickled jalepeños, which are less bitter than U.S. varieties. She recommends the brands La Costeña and Herdez, both widely available.
•Regular yellow deli mustard, such as French's, will give the most authentic flavor to this recipe.
