When you order "green sauce" in Texas, this is what you will be served. It differs from New Mexico's green sauce in that the color is derived from tomatillos rather than from green chiles. This sauce can be used as a dipping sauce, with enchiladas, or as a topping for grilled poultry or fish.
Lemon grass makes a nice houseplant and a continuous supplier of lemony stalks–simply root a stalk in water and then plant it in a pot. Put it in partial sun and it will grow and separate. This marinade is excellent with chicken and fish. Warning: the marinade tastes so good your will want to drink it. Go ahead, call it lemon grass tea. Use this marinade for poultry, fish, or pork, or as a dressing for a salad. Dave serves it over noodles and calls it a pseudo-curry.
This signature but simple Thai dish is delicious with prime rib meat. Note the name, which shows the influence of Malaysia's Penang Island. Serve this curry over jasmine rice accompanied with grilled eggplant. Look for kaffir lime leaves, curry paste, fish sauce and coconut milk in Asian markets and gourmet food stores.
Why wouldn’t the cooks of the prehistoric, ash-covered village of Cerén in El Salvador have developed sauces to serve over meats and vegetables? After all, there is evidence that curry mixtures were in existence thousands of years ago in what is now India, and we have to assume that Native Americans experimented with all available ingredients. Perhaps this mole sauce was served over stewed duck meat, as ducks were one of the domesticated meat sources of the Cerén villagers.
My friend Richard Sterling developed this recipe, which is his version of how the Spaniards transformed Montezuma’s favorite spicy beverage with the addition of alcohol. He commented: "Salud! Drink to the Old World and the New."
"This recipe was handed down from a singer who swears she has stopped numerous sore throats by drinking this tea regularly upon any hint of a cold," says Brenda Roes of Glendale, California. "I've since added to it, and it has helped me combat the winter nasties. It tastes horrible."
Tlatonile is a pipian from Jalcomulco, Veracruz. Pipians are spicy dishes from Mexico that utilize ground nuts or seeds. In Mexico, these are most often pumpkin or squash seeds. This recipe is from Susana Rodriguez, who made this for lunch when we were passing through.
Goat meat, which is not commonly eaten in the United States (except in the Southwest), appears in many West Indian recipes. The Trinis sometimes eat curried goat Jamaican-style, but this version with coconut is more customary.