Watercress

Great article on watercress in today's Dining section in the NY Times. Three recipes -- two vegetarian and one that easily could be -- included in the sidebar.

Home Made Ricotta

Today's Seattle Times magazine has a wonderful article on making ricotta at home. It includes a recipe. This is one I will definitely try.

The Splendid Table also has a recipe for ricotta.

Mexican Cheeses

Photo by Greg Bryan, Arizona Daily Star. Clockwise from bottom left: Oaxaca, queso fresco, Meononita or Chihuahua, Cotija (queso seco), Cotija (enchilado), panela and requesón.

Today's Arizona Daily Star's food section has several great features on Mexican cheeses, including this primer on the different varieties. Since the paper's content is available online only for a week, I'm copying and pasting instead of linking. Here's the article:

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Mexican cuisine cheeses
Karen Hursh Graber, senior food editor for Mexico Connect, a monthly electronic magazine on all things Mexican, lists the cheeses most frequently found in Mexico:

Fresh cheeses:
• Queso blanco — Creamy, white cheese made from skimmed cow's milk and described as a cross between cottage cheese and mozzarella. Softens when heated but doesn't melt. Good for stuffing enchiladas.
• Queso fresco — A spongy white cheese, used to crumble over snacks as well as on enchiladas and taquitos. Usually made of cow and goat milk. A very mild feta is an acceptable substitute.
• Queso panela — Also called queso de canasta because it carries the imprint of the basket in which it is molded. A soft, white cheese most often served as part of an appetizer or snack tray. It absorbs other flavors easily, and is sometimes coated with a garlic-and-chile paste, or wrapped in toasted avocado leaves, to be served with cocktails.
• Requesón — A loose, ricotta-like cheese used to fill enchiladas and to make cheese spreads. You may substitute a mild but not salty ricotta.

Soft cheeses:
• Queso añejo — An aged version of queso fresco. Classified as a soft cheese, but can become quite firm and salty as it ages. Used primarily as a garnish, crumbled or grated over a variety of dishes. Substitute Romano.
• Queso Oaxaca — Also called quesillo. The most popular cheese for quesadillas. A stretched curd cheese, kneaded and wound into balls. Pull it apart into thin strings before using to fill tortillas or melted on cooked food. Substitute mozzarella or string cheese.


Semi-soft cheeses:
• Queso asadero — Specifically a melting cheese, used to make the Mexican fondue called queso fundido, a dish that adapts well to other ingredients and is usually eaten as a late-night supper. Fontina and Monterey Jack are fine substitutes.
• Queso Chihuahua — Also called queso Menonita, after northern Mexico's Mennonite communities where it was first produced.
It is pale yellow and varies from mild to a nearly cheddarlike sharpness. Used in a variety of dishes; especially good in queso frito, a breaded, fried cheese dish. Chihuahua cheese is available outside Mexico, so substitutes shouldn't be necessary. However, you could use a very mild cheddar or a flavorful Jack cheese in many recipes.
• Queso jalapeño — A smooth, soft white cow's milk cheese with bits of jalapeño chile in it. Serve as a snack or use to make quesadillas.

Semi-firm cheeses:
• Queso criollo — Pale yellow; a specialty of the region around Taxco, Guerrero. So similar to Munster, one easily can be substituted for the other.
• Queso Edam — Although not considered a Mexican cheese, Edam has become such an intrinsic part of Yucatecan regional cooking that it is worth including here. The cheese round is scooped out, filled with a seasoned meat picadillo, and steamed in the oven the same way a custard is prepared. It then is presented whole, accompanied by a salsa roja.
• Queso manchego — Introduced to Mexico from Spain's La Mancha region. Buttery yellow and also popular outside Mexico. Good for melting or serving with fruit or crackers. Widely available in the U.S., but Monterey Jack may be used instead.

Firm cheeses:
• Queso añejo enchilado — Queso añejo with a spicy red chile coating. Aged to the point where it serves as a condiment. A strong feta cheese could be substituted for it.
• Queso Cotija — Named for the town of Cotija, Michoacan, where it originated. A sharp, crumbly goat cheese called "the Parmesan of Mexico." Usually served over beans and salads.
• Queso manchego viejo — As its name implies, this is manchego aged to the point where it hardens with a more intense flavor. Quite often shaved over botanas, appetizers or snacks.

Information from Karen Hursh Graber. More information and recipes, here.
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It's my sense that most, if not all, of these cheeses are available at the Food City markets in Tucson.

Meatless "Chicken" Strips

Although these are quite expensive, I do keep some on hand because they are so convenient. The Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Veggie Chicken Strips are regularly priced over $11 a pound, but Safeway often has them on sale for $3.50, which brings them in at a more tolerable $7 a pound.

Trader Joe's Chicken-Less Strips are 2.99 for a half pound package. They taste remarkably like the Morningstar Farms chicken strips. And there's a reason: both products are made by Gardein.

I haven't personally used Quorn products, but they were recommended in recipes from the late, great vegetarian restaurant Tipu's Tiger in Missoula, Montana. Tipu's Tiger was a wonderful restaurant, and if Quorn is good enough for them, that's all the recommendation I need. Originally sold in health food stores, it was slow to show up in grocery stores, but is now available at QFC (Kroger), Albertsons and Fred Meyer stores.

I use these faux chicken strips not only in recipes calling for chicken, but in any recipe calling for white meat, including pork and white-fleshed fish.

If you prefer not to use meat substitutes, garbanzo beans can be used instead.

Fideos

Fideos are a Mexican wheat noodle, like pasta. They typically come rolled up in little bundles (bottom picture)and are often sauteed until golden (top)and then cooked with broth. Sometimes they are added raw and cooked in the soup itself. In recipes calling for fideos, vermicelli or thin spaghetti is a good substitute.

Three ounces of fideos is a reasonable serving for one person. I get them in 12 ounce packages at the hispanic market for 75 cents a package, or less on sale.

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.

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.

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.