Food City Markets - Arizona

The Food City chain in Arizona targets the Hispanic market. It's a subsidiary of Basha's, which also owns the upscale AJ's markets. You will find any ingredient you need for Mexican cooking at Food City, and the prices are phenomenally low. Every Monday I check their website to find out what I'll be cooking that week.

How low are their prices? Some random "personal bests":

Garlic 50 cents a pound (comes to 11 cents a head)
Green cabbage, 25 cents a pound
Radishes, green onions, cilantro, 25 cents a bunch
Italian flat leaf parsley, 50 cents a bunch
Pasilla peppers, 79 cents a pound
Red and green peppers, 50 cents each
Eggplant 88 cents each
Mustard and turnip greens, kale, 69 cents a bunch
Haas avocados, 69 cents each
Potatoes, 5 pound bag for 99 cents
Jicama, carrots, 33 cents a pound
Roma tomatoes, 59 cents a pound.
Cotija cheese, $4.59 a pound
Media crema, $1.29
Chipotle chiles, 7 ounce can, $1
Lentils, bulk pinto beans, 50 cents a pound
Bulk rice, 79 cents a pound
HUGE bunch of fresh dill that stayed fresh several weeks, $1.29
Large bunch of mint, 79 cents
Tomatillos, 59 cents a pound
Cucumbers, 33 cents each
Mexican grey squash (zucchini equivalent) 50 cents a pound

You get the idea. How's the produce? That varies. Sometimes you have to select carefully. Occasionally, I've had to work hard to find bell peppers that looked okay; other times they're all fine. The pasillas are usually great. I bought the roma tomatoes only because they were so cheap, but chose carefully and found that they had at least as much color and flavor, if not more, than the hothouse tomatoes I'd been paying $3 to $4 a pound for at Safeway.

Last week Food City had the single most gorgeous radishes I've seen outside of France which I promptly bought even though they were a relatively high 44 cents a bunch. I use the radish greens in salads, so it's important to me to get radishes where the greens are still actually green.

When we first started shopping at Food City, we experienced sticker shock at the checkout. The opposite kind from what we'd been used to. When I got the total my thought was "That can't be right!" I can't remember how many decades it's been since I've checked out of a grocery store in the low double digits. I'm almost embarrassed to use my credit card.

Downsides? Of course. The stores are not antiseptic. The very first time I shopped at a Food City, with some trepidation, I discovered a large wad of chewed gum stuck to the shopping cart. (I simply got a plastic bag, removed the gum, and deposited the whole thing in a garbage can. I guess the fact that they have garbage cans throughout the store should tell you something.) And I think I once saw a mother and son stuffing packages from the meat counter into their clothing but courageously decided it was best to look the other way and not make a scene.

And speaking of plastic bags, theirs have blue printing on them, which is fine except it flakes off. So you get little blue flecks on your produce, your hands and, eventually, on your refrigerator door. I'm pretty sure this is not food grade dye. Just a wild guess. So now I bring my own plastic bags, which is more environmentally responsible anyway.

More troubling is the fact that there is some question in my mind about their labor practices. I haven't looked into it exhaustively, which reflects poorly on me. Here's Basha's take on the situation. And here's what UFCW has to say. I hope Basha's and UFCW can come to an agreement that serves the workers well.

And you do need to watch carefully as your groceries are rung up. I've had cilantro and Italian parsley mistaken for each other (this happens everywhere), pinto beans mistaken for the more expensive peruanos, parsley mistaken for mint. But the checkers are agreeable, bilingual, and more than willing to rectify mistakes.

The larger Food City markets have in house bakeries as well as tortillerias.

The most amazing thing Food City offers? Chiles verdes (called that here, I think they're what I call Anaheims) roasted outside on a wood fire for $1.50 a pound. They've become a total staple in our household. It's going to be a shock to shop in Seattle again where these same peppers will be near $3 a pound -- raw. Of course I can roast them on a gas flame, but you don't get the wonderful smoky taste that comes from peppers roasted on a wood fire. When we head north, it will be with an ice chest full of roasted peppers and Cotija cheese.

Greek Spinach Dip

Sunset Magazine Photo

The March issue of Sunset Magazine has a recipe for a Greek spinach dip that sounds pretty good. It's basically spanakopita ingredients, less the eggs, plus Greek yogurt. The 2% fat Greek yogurt at Trader Joe's is wonderful and almost fat free, although you wouldn't know it to taste it.

When I make this dip, I'll probably replace the twelve ounces of fresh spinach with a ten ounce package of chopped frozen spinach, well drained, for economy's sake. And use red onion in place of shallots, for the same reason.

I suspect this is best if made at least an hour or two ahead so that the flavors have time to meld.

Beet Salad with Garlic Walnut Sauce

Mark Bittman had an excellent sounding recipe for Beets with Garlic Walnut Sauce in his February 27 column. Mr. Gastronome made the dish (above) this evening and it was excellent. I think with the addition of a little lemon the dressing would also be wonderful on a jicama salad.

There's also a video of Bittman preparing the salad.

Asian Noodles

This month's Sunset Magazine has a pretty good primer on the various types of Asian noodles. It's also available online starting here.

Tucson Style Salsa

The salsa in Tucson has more garlic in it than salsa I've had elsewhere. I attribute this, perhaps erroneously, to the influence of Monica Flin, the original proprietor of El Charro Cafe, and the daughter of two French parents. Opened in 1922, El Charro Cafe is still in the same family and is the oldest continuously operating Mexican restaurant in the country.

But my favorite salsa in Tucson is made by Rosa Ortega of Rosa's Mexican Restaurant, which has been in business since 1970. Rosa is 75 now and the restaurant is run by her children, but she's still often on the premises. I've heard that not even her daughters know the recipe for her award-winning salsa. If that's really the case, I hope she's stashed the recipe in her safe deposit box.

I've bought vats of Rosa's salsa in an attempt to reverse engineer it. ("Good luck!" snorted one of the daughters when I admitted what I was up to.) This isn't exactly the same as Rosa's (it's less salty for one thing), but it's close, and it's damn good salsa if I do say so myself.


28 oz can of tomatoes
1/2 head of garlic, cloves peeled and chopped
1/2 white onion, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup water
1 small bunch cilantro
1 to 2 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano*
1 cup of water
1-1/2 teaspoons of salt
several generous grindings black pepper
1 tablespoon olive or canola oil
Scant 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon of chipotle puree, or to taste

Chop one cup of the tomatoes fine and reserve in a large nonstick frying pan.

Combine the garlic, onion and 1/2 cup of water in the blender and puree.

Remove most of the stems from the cilantro and chop coarsely. Add the herbs and tomatoes (except reserved tomatoes) to the mixture in the blender and puree. Transfer the mixture to the frying pan with the reservec chopped tomatoes. Season the mixture with salt, pepper, oil and red wine vinegar. Mix well to combine.

Add the chiplote puree. Start with half a teaspoon and take it from there. The salsa should be *very* hot, but not painfully so and not so hot that you won't be able to taste whatever dishes are to follow. And the mixture should be a rich reddish brown. (If you decide you've undershot the mark on the heat, you can always add a little more chipotle puree at the very end.)

Add the cup of water to the now empty blender to get whatever is left clinging to the sides and add that water to the skillet. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer and cook until the mixture has lost its raw taste, about ten minutes. Bring to room temperature. Adjust the seasoning if necessary. This will keep in the refrigerator for a week or more. The recipe makes a little over a quart.

*Use 2 teaspoons if oregano is from chain store, 1 teaspoon if it is very fresh from bulk importer, such as Pacific Foods International.

Chipotle Pepper Puree

The chipotle is a jalapeno that has been allowed to ripen until it turns red and is then smoke dried. It is available dried or canned in adobo sauce. I find the canned chipotles easier to use in most instances.

Put the contents of one seven ounce can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in the blender. Fill the can half full of hot water and use a small fork to scrape down the sauce clinging to the sides of the can. Add to the blender and puree the mixture until completely smooth. Put into a clean jar with a tight lid. The mixture will keep indefintely in the refrigerator.

Afghan Eggplant - Badenjan Boorani

This is a recipe I adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's indispensable World Vegetarian. The main change I made was to brown the eggplant in the oven first thing, rather than deep frying it at the last minute.

You can cook the eggplant the day before you serve the dish and the tomato sauce is actually improved by being made a day ahead.

If I have leftovers, I puree everything in the blender and add vegetable stock to make a wonderful soup. In the summer I add yogurt to the soup and serve it chilled.

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/8 teaspoon cayenne, or more to taste

1 large eggplant

olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped fine

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 15 oz can of petite diced tomatoes, plus juice

1/4 cup water or tomato juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

fresh ground black pepper to taste

3 tablespoons of fresh mint or 1-1/2 teaspoons dried

Greek style yogurt (a half cup or more to taste)

mint or flatleaf parsely sprigs

Toast the cumin and coriander in a dry pan until they are very fragrant. Turn off the heat, add the cayenne and stir to combine. Set aside.

Cut the eggplant crosswise in slices 1/2" to 3/4" thick. Spread each slice with a little bit of olive oil on each side and bake on a nonstick baking sheet in a preheated 350 degree oven until they are nicely browned but still somewhat firm -- 20 to 30 minutes.

Put 1 tablespoon of oil in a large nonstick frying pan. Saute the onion in the oil until it is softened and transluscent. Add the garlic and stir for about a minute. Add the reserved spices and stir well to combine. Add the tomatoes and their juice, the water or tomato juice, the salt and pepper, and the chopped mint. Simmer gently for ten to twenty minutes, until the sauce has thickened.

Put the eggplant in a lightly oiled baking dish in one layer. Cover with the tomato sauce and bake in a 350 degree oven until it is completly heated through.

Stir the yogurt with a fork until it is smooth.

Put one or two slices of eggplant on a plate (or all the slices on a platter). Top with the yogurt and garnish with mint or parsley. Serve with rice. This is a very light dish, so I like to precede it with a salad that includes garbanzo beans. This recipe serves about three to four people.

Carrot Pickle

This first time I had carrot pickle was twenty five years ago at Kilimanjaro, an Indian restaurant, now defunct, in the Punjabi Market/Little India district of Vancouver. The restaurant was housed in an old cowboy diner and bar, and it retained the incongruous wild west decor. The owner was of Indian ancestry but had lived in East Africa before coming to Canada. He claimed to have the best samosas in Vancouver, and he may well have, but it was the pungent, garlicky carrot pickle that most impressed me.

I've tried many carrot pickles in the years since, some forgettable, some pretty good, but none as good the carrot pickle at Kilimanjaro. I certainly don't claim this carrot pickle reaches Kilimanjaro's heights, but I like to think it comes pretty close.

1 pound of carrots, about 1/4" to 1/2" dice - they will shrink

10 cloves of garlic, or more to taste, minced

1 serrano pepper, seeded, ribs removed, minced fine

1/4 cup of mustard seeds

2 teaspoons fenugreek

3/4 teaspoon of cayenne

heaping 1/2 teaspoon of tumeric

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup olive oil

Put the carrots, garlic, and serrano pepper in a bowl. Grind the mustard seeds and fenugreek together in a spice grinder and put them over the vegetables. Add all the rest of the ingredients except the oil. Toss everything together until it is well combined. Allow the mixture to rest at room temperature for three or four hours to allow the carrots to begin to soften.

Put the mix into a glass jar or jars. Heat the oil until it is very hot -- almost at the smoking point, then allow it to cool until it is lukewarm. Pour the oil into the jar(s). Put the lid(s) on the jar(s) and shake to combine the ingredients. Put the jar(s) in a sunny spot for five to seven days until the carrots are soft. You can set the jar(s) outside in the sun during the day. Shake the jar(s) at least once a day. Once the pickles are done they will keep in the refrigerator for several months, but I doubt they'll stick around that long. I find myself needing to make a batch every couple of weeks. I not only use them as a condiment with Indian meals, I think they are a fabulous addition to a salad.

Cabbage Salad with Carrot Pickle

I threw this salad together because I had some left over rice and beans that I wanted to use up. I was very happy with the result.

The amounts below are for a single main course salad, but obviously they can be increased to serve more. The proportions of the various ingredients aren't that important anyway, except you need enough carrot pickle to wilt the cabbage and to flavor the salad.

1 cup of very thin sliced cabbage

2 generous tablespoons of carrot pickle

2 tablespoons minced red onion OR 2 scallions, sliced thin

1 small tomato, diced

1/3 of a jicama, peeled and diced OR 6 radishes, chopped

1/2 cup of garbanzo beans or white beans

1/2 cup of cooked rice

1 teaspoon Greek style 2% yogurt

1 teaspoon mayonnaise

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Italian flatleaf parsley, chopped, for garnish

Combine the carrot pickle and cabbage in a bowl and allow to sit for ten to twenty minutes. The salt in the carrot pickle will wilt the cabbage. (The pickle is very salty and you won't need any additional salt in the salad.) Add the rest of the ingredients except the parsley and toss until all ingredients are well combined and the salad is dressed. Garnish with parsley.

Pasta with Garlic, Parsley, Pepper, Lemon, and Pine Nuts

This is a recipe I developed when I found myself longing for the light, simple, flavorful pastas we've had in Italy. The ingredients below are for two servings, adjust accordingly for more, but this is a dish that must go from skillet to table quickly. I wouldn't make more than four servings. It's just too unwieldy in larger quantities to get it to the table while it's still hot.

Do not substitute curly parsley for the Italian. You can use arugula or spinach in place of the parsley (or use a combination) for a different but still interesting dish. If you don't have pine nuts on hand, walnuts (also toasted in the oven) will work.

2 large cloves of garlic, or more to taste, chopped fine

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 small bunch of Italian flatleaf parlsey, stems removed, leaves chopped

Red pepper flakes to taste

Zest of one or two lemons

1/4 cup of pine nuts, roasted in the oven until light golden

Pasta such as linguine, spaghetti or fettucine

Parmesan cheese, grated

Put the oil and garlic in a large nonstick skillet. Turn on the heat to medium and saute until the garlic is just beginning to brown. Turn off the heat and add two thirds of parsley to the pan and toss until it is wilted. (This also stops the garlic cooking.) Add the red pepper flakes. Combine the remaining parsley, lemon zest and pine nuts.

Cook the pasta in boiling water until it is al dente. Drain well and put into the skillet with the parsley, garlic and red pepper flakes. Saute briefly over high heat until all the ingredients are very hot. If the pasta seems a bit dry, add more oil, or butter, or a combination.

Divide the pasta between two plates, top with grated cheese, then with the parlsey, lemon, pine nut mixture. Serve with additional grated Parmesan. Despite all the garlic, this dish is better with white, rather than red, wine.

Mexican Grey Squash - Calabacitas

Well, it's not grey, but it is Mexican and it is squash, so I guess two out of three isn't bad. Mexican grey squash is a summer squash that, like zucchini, is available all year long. In the southwest, it is widely available at both ethnic and national chain markets, sometimes for as little as 50 cents a pound. In taste and texture it's very similar to zucchini, and the two can substitute for each other in most dishes. In Spanish, I've seen it referred to as both calabacitas and calabaza gris mexicana.

Mexican Beans - Frijoles de Olla

1 pound of beans (pinto beans, black turtle beans, or other)

1/2 white onion, roughly chopped

1 generous tablespoon butter

1 generous tablespoon dried epazote

3 bay leaves

salt to taste

Rinse and drain the beans and put them in a large pot with water to cover by several inches.

Put the epazote in a tea infuser (photo) and add it along with the bay leaves, butter and onion to the water in the kettle. Bring the water to a simmer and simmer the beans gently until the skins are soft. The amount of time needed will vary depending on the type of the beans and their age. Add salt to taste and continue to simmer. (Never add salt to beans at the outset. This will make the beans tough.)

As the beans are cooking, check frequently to be sure the water hasn't evaporated too much. It may be necessary to add more hot water from time to time. The beans are done when they are quite soft and thoroughly cooked. (Again this will vary with the age and type of bean used.)

Allow the beans to come to room temperature, remove the tea infuser and bay leaves and promptly refrigerate or freeze the beans. (Beans will ferment very quickly at room temperature, as I learned when I once returned home to find a pot of chili bubbling on the stove. There was no heat under it.)

Variations: You can add garlic and/or diced chile pepper to the beans.

Refried Beans: For low fat refried beans, just mash some beans and some of the cooking liquid in a skillet, using a potato masher. For richer refried beans, melt some butter in the skillet first, then add the beans and liquid. In either case, you can add some cumin to taste.

Filling for Burritos

This is the recipe I developed for burrito filling. As with most soups and stew-like dishes, it is best made a day before serving. Roasting the pasilla pepper over an open flame first would probably improve the dish, but I didn’t take the time.

You can substitute zucchini for the Mexican grey squash. You can use whatever onions you have handy in place of the white onion. Anaheim or even green bell peppers could substitute for the pasilla. You can use white rice in place of brown, but I find that brown rice tends to hold its texture better (in addition to having more nutrients).

You can use this as filling for tamales as well, if you leave out the rice.

Burrito Filling

2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons oregano, preferably Mexican
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons sweet Hungarian paprika
Pinch of cinnamon

1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 white onion, chopped
1 large pasilla pepper, veins and seeds removed, chopped
2 large cloves of garlic, minced (or more to taste)
1 Mexican grey squash, chopped

1 15 ounce can of tomatoes, chopped, with their juice
2 15 ounce cans of beans (black or pinto), drained and rinsed

OR

4 cups home cooked beans
8 large green pimiento stuffed olives, chopped
Red pepper flakes, fresh ground black pepper, to taste.
½ cup of water
Salt to taste

Toast the cumin, oregano and chili powder in a dry pan over medium heat until very fragrant and nearing the smoking point. Add the paprika and cinnamon and stir to combine. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In a large nonstick pan, sauté the onions and pasilla pepper in oil over medium heat until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the garlic, stir, and sauté a couple of minutes. Add the squash and cook, stirring, until it has softened slightly. Add the reserved herb and spice mixture and stir well to combine.

Add the tomatoes, beans, olives, pepper flakes, pepper, and water. Simmer 15 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated. (The liquid will continue to absorb as the mix cools.) Stir in the cooked rice and add salt if needed. Allow the mixture to come to room temperature, then refrigerate or freeze right away, as beans will ferment quickly if left at room temperature.

This recipe makes enough filling for at least a dozen burritos, at a cost of about 27 cents a serving for the filling, plus about 20 cents a serving for a large flour tortilla. You can add cheese if you like when you roll the burrito, but I found that the filling is so flavorful that the cheese tended to get lost, so I forgo the expense, calories and fat the cheese adds. (Plenty of uses for cheese elsewhere!)

My Burrito Epiphany

A few weeks ago I was standing in Safeway and found myself unable to part with $1.99 for a six ounce organic bean burrito, although I'd bought them frequently when they were thirty cents cheaper and the stock market was many thousands of points higher. But no more. After all, that comes to about $5.30 a pound for what? -- a tortilla, some beans and a microscopic bit of cheese. I thought, "I can do better than that."

Since last fall, I've been consciously spending less on groceries, but I had yet to make the leap to committing to spend more time cooking. I'm there now.