Cocido Rojo {Mexican Stew}

With another cold front underway, I am in need of some soup.  But not just any soup will do.  The girls and I want lots of vegetables, Hubby wants meat, Nick wants Tuetano (bone marrow) and we all want it spicy.  There is just one soup that will fit the bill...Cocido Rojo (Red Stew).  A delicious beef and vegetable soup in an ancho chile broth.

You can use any cut of beef that you like.  Here in Mexico, I just go to my butcher and ask for Carne para Cocido (Stew meat).  He will give me a variety of cuts including bones filled with Tuetano.  My boys love tuetano!

This soup is so easy to make.  You can even toss the meat and vegetables into your crockpot with water.  Add the cooked chile mixture and simmer it on low all day! This is even a good soup without the meat!



Cocido Rojo

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds stew meat
• ancho chilies
• 1 small onion
• 1 garlic clove
• Carrots
• Corn
• Green Beans
• Potatoes
• Zucchini

Directions:
Place stew meat in a 4-quart stockpot; fill with 8 cups of water.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cover and cook over medium-high heat for an hour.

While the meat is cooking, cook the ancho chilies in a small saucepan with 2 cups of water until the chilies are soft.  Let cool slightly.

Remove stems and seeds from chilies.  Combine the chilies, the water they were cooked in, the onion and garlic clove in a blender cup.

Puree until smooth; season with salt.

Pour chile puree into pot with meat.  Continue cooking meat for another 15 minutes.

Add the vegetables to the stockpot.  Cover and let simmer until the vegetable are fully cooked.

Enjoy!!!

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I love cornbread.  My great-grandmother Pearl made the best cornbread.  She always made hers with buttermilk in a cast-iron skillet.  It was melt-in-your mouth delicious!

When I was in my teens, I decided to make my own cornbread.  I bought a box of yellow cornmeal and a quart of buttermilk just for that purpose.  I read over the recipe to make sure that I had all of the ingredients.  I set everything out and was ready to begin.  But there was one minor detail that I overlooked.  The recipe called for measurements.  My grandmother didn't believe in measurements and therefore didn't have any measuring cups or spoons.  But Gramm did offer me a couple of things to use instead of the measuring cups and spoons.  

Gramm handed me a coffee cup that she thought was a one cup measurement.  She also supplied me with a large soup spoon that she was sure was a tablespoon measurment and a regular spoon for a teaspoon measurement.  

I followed the recipe exactly.  I added butter, eggs and buttermilk and even baked my first cornbread in Gramm's cast-iron skillet.  When I took it out of the oven I topped it with more melted butter.  I was too excited and nervous to taste it, that I let my grandparents have the first piece.  

Gramm took a bite and didn't say a single word.  I looked over at Pappy and watched him as he took a bite of my homemade buttermilk cornbread.  At first, he made a face, then continued to chew.  He swallowed and made another face.  I thought he was just teasing me, but then he threw down the rest of his cornbread and declared that I had prepared the worst piece of bread, ever!  For a second, he even thought that Gramm and I were trying to poison him! (His previous wife was really into black magic!)

I tasted the cornbread to see for myself if it really was that bad.  And it was!  It was so horrible that I cried!  Gramm did her very best to comfort me.  She blamed the recipe.  She couldn't understand why a person would add so much baking powder and baking soda to anything.  But I later learned that it was the measuring utensils, or lack thereof that ruined my cornbread.

Years later, I tried the recipe again with the correct measurements with excellent results.  I still use that recipe today.  The only difference is that I now use Maseca (masa harina) instead of cornmeal. 

Maseca Cornbread

Ingredients:

• 1-1/4 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 egg
• 1-3/4 cups flour
• 1 cup Maseca
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350º F.  Lightly grease an 8 or 9-inch skillet or baking pan with vegetable oil or butter.

In a 2-cup measuring cup, combine the milk and vinegar.  Let set for 5 minutes.  Beat in the eggs and butter; set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, Maseca, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Stir in the remaining ingredients and mix until well combined.  (Batter will be very thick.)

Pour batter into the skillet and bake for 25 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Spread top of cooked cornbread with butter.  Enjoy!!!

With Love,