Here’s a New One

With her cookbooks, articles and, of course, her PBS series, chef Pati Jinich is one of Mexican cuisine’s ablest proponents, sharing her enthusiasm with new neighbors in the U.S. In spring 2020 her show Pati’s Mexican Table highlighted cooking in the northern state of Sonora, just over the border from the US southwest. One of the episodes found Jinich at a hacienda set among Sonora’s many pecan groves.

There she prepared a luscious chicken simmered in a flavorful pecan (of course!) and ancho chile sauce, Pollo con Salsa de Nuez y Chile Ancho. Alongside is asparagus drizzled in butter spiked with all sorts of extra goodies, Espárragos con Chiltepín. Both recipes appeared not just on Pati’s Mexican Table, but also on Jinich’s companion website too.

The sauce which enrobes the chicken includes an unexpected ingredient…prunes!  It doesn’t seem as though this would work, because, well, they’re prunes, but that misapprehension disappeared with the first bite.  Not only are they tolerable, but the prunes are superlative.  They’re reduced to a smooth paste, meaning they melt right into the sauce.  Their rich sweetness works beautifully with the ancho peppers, offering an enchantingly similar taste profile, and providing a nice introduction and a warm finish to the chiles’ manageable heat.

It is rather thick, easily coating a spoon, and clinging to the poultry, investing it fully with taste.  The bird is crisped lightly ahead of time, which gives it a beguiling contrast to the smooth and moderately spiced sauce in which it cooks.  Thus, one bite – every bite, in fact – combines just about every agreeable taste element, from savory to salty, sweet to spicy.  All there.

In addition, spring has triumphed last, making an inviting feast of the asparagus emerging from the awakening soil.  A prospect equally appealing on both sides of the border.   Of course, in Jinich’s Sonoran kitchen, she gives the spears a spirited boost with a few ingredients, including a splash of lime juice.  That, and something less familiar. crushed chiltepín peppers:

Though they’re diminutive, the peppers bring the heat. Not only that, but they introduce a slightly nutty and vaguely smoky profile too. There aren’t many of them in the recipe, and they are pulverized ahead of time, but the chiltepíns do add an identifiable boost. A nice bookend to the butter’s salty creaminess and to the fresh asparagus’s earthy sweetness.

Remember, today’s dinner announces two surprises. The first is an ingredient, prunes, many don’t associate with good cooking, let alone with good Mexican cooking. This makes their subsequent success all the sweeter. The second is a pepper, chiltepín, poorly known aside from those with a serious appreciation for Mexican cuisine. That is, until Pati Jinich gave them a triumphant premiere. So, not just one “new one,” but two. What a bonus!

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Once again, a Spoonflower designer created something perfectly fitting today’s theme. This week, the honors go to Philip Nemer, who imagined Sonora.

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Pollo con Salsa de Nuez y Chile Ancho

(Sonoran Chicken in a Pecan and Ancho Chile Sauce)

• 3 dried ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
• 1/2 white onion (*1)
• 1 unpeeled garlic clove
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup shelled pecans
• 6 to 8 pitted prunes
• 1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground pepper
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 4-to-5 pound chicken, cut up, breast split then each halved

Heat a small skillet (*2) over medium heat, and toast the stemmed and seeded ancho chiles until the skin changes color and the chiles begin to release smoke, about a minute. Remove from the heat and add the onion and the garlic clove to the skillet. Toast, flipping the onion and garlic clove from side to side, until charred on the outside and softened on the inside, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the heat, set aside and when cool enough to handle, peel the garlic clove.

Next, bring the chicken broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Add the pecans, prunes and toasted chiles. Simmer for about 12 minutes, until the chiles and prunes have rehydrated and plumped, and the prunes have softened. Set aside and let cool. Transfer to a blender, add the charred onion and purée.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. 

Heat the oil in a large casserole or a wide, heavy-lidded skillet set over medium-high heat.  Once hot, brown the chicken pieces, in batches, skin side down first, then skin side up, until colored nicely, about 5 minutes per side.  Transfer each batch to a plate as it finishes.

Reduce heat to low and, using the lid as a shield for splatters, pour in the puréed pecan sauce.  It should bubble and splutter dramatically. (*3)  Stir well, scraping up all the bits from the bottom of the pan.  Add the chicken pieces to the pan.  Cover, and increase the heat slightly to medium-low, and simmer for 40 minutes, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan from time to time, until the chicken is cooked completely.  Season to taste and serve.

NOTES:

1 – Now, I never would do that to a preparation this succulent.  Substitute a large shallot and you’ll do Sonora proud.

2 – If you have one, a cast-iron skillet is great for this application.  Even better yet is a comal, of course.  Among those who, as I, don’t have access to a comal, go with the skillet.

3 – Just as Pati promised!

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Espárragos con Chiltepín

(Sonoran Asparagus with Chiltepín)

• 1 pound asparagus, stalks trimmed and peeled (*4)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup coarsely-chopped pecans
• 4 to 5 chiltepín peppers, crushed (*5)
• 1 tablespoon freshly-squeezed lime juice

Preheat grill or griddle to medium-high heat. Brush asparagus with oil and season with salt. Grill for about 8 to 10 minutes, flipping the stalks as they char and begin to soften.

Meanwhile, heat a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the olive oil and the butter and butter. Once they begin to bubble, add the pecans and cook for about a minute. Add the crushed peppers. Mix and cook for another minute. Remove from the heat. Add the lime juice and stir.

Place the grilled asparagus on a plate, and spoon the butter pecan mixture on top.

NOTES:

4 – The recipe is for the conventional green variety, of course. However, the white asparagus looked really nice at the market, so why not? They add a nice contrast in color too, don’t you think?

5 – Depending on where you live, you may not be able to find chiltepín peppers. If you have time to make such arrangements, there always is Amazon. Barring either contingency, a couple tablespoons of chiles in adobo sauce (minced) would work.