Eating Our Way through San Miguel de Allende

Girls Weekends rock!

Cindy Lou and I spent 4 fab nights in San Miguel de Allende this October. We helped stimulate the local economy by eating our way through the town!  First was the market, where I bought fresh huitlicoche (corn fungus) and blue corn gorditas.

Huitlicoche is difficult to find in the states; I have bought it in a can at HEB and ordered it off the menu at Fonda San Miguel in Austin. It looks not so good - black and slimy when cooked - but it has an earthy wonderful taste that appeals to me.

Cindy bought a plastic cup filled with pomegranate seeds splashed with lime, and I chowed down on roasted corn.

Often people request mayonaise spread on it, but I draw the line there when eating market food in Mexico. I had mine salted with chile pepper.  

I couldn't get Cindy to eat at one of the market's food stalls (here she is showing off a basket of quail eggs),

so we embarked on our quest to sample a different restaurant each meal. Among our favorites were El Correo which had the seasonal Chiles en Nogada on the menu (this dish is lavishly explained in the book 'Like Water for Chocolate'), Hecho en Mexico, La Parroquia, and La Posadita.  We had our final dinner at La Posadita, which has a view of the Parroquia and surrounding town. The Green Pozole is so scrumptious! with toppings of avocado, chicharones, oregano, onion and lime.

We choose our B&B because of it's charming web site, reasonable price, and associated cooking school.  Arcos de Atascadero B&B, owned and operated by Patricia Merrill, normally offers only 6 night mexican cooking vacations.  However, she graciously arranged for a half day class for us. We began by touring the gardens of the B&B, where lima (Citrus limetta), orange, pomegranate, guava and cherimoya trees yeilded fresh fruit. We then learned how to cut a bananna leaf, discard the stem, and heat it over an open flame to soften it for wrapping around a fish.

In a relatively short time, with guidance and 2 hands of Inez, we made 4 different salsas, billiant red Aga de jamaica, Arroz Verde, Filete de Tilapia en hoja de platano (the bananna leaf) and Guayabas rellenos al horno.

Many recipes are from Patricia's mother, Maria (nick name 'Yaya') who was an accomplished chef.  She taught mexican cooking to Rick Bayless early on. Patricia is writing a cookbook with a twist! It sounds so much fun to read - not your ordinary 'dry' listing of recipes.  Look for it to be published in 2010.

Here's the desert recipe - simple and divine!

"Guayabas rellenos al horno" or

" Baked stuffed guavas"

serves 4

This is especially nice with the large guavas that are pink inside.

4 guavas cut in half lengthwise, seeds removed

1/2 cup fresh goat's cheese

1/4 cup honey

1 tablespoon pine nuts

Fill guava halves with goat cheese.   Place in baking pan and cover with foil. Bake at 300 degrees oven for 10 minutes. Serve hot, covered with honey and nuts.

YUM!

Of course there is so much more to San Miguel de Allende than food! Here's some other random photos to give you a taste (ha) of the town.