First of all -- congratulations to us on surpassing the 100 post mark. Mariana -- it's been so much fun for me to do this with you and I'm impressed with the creativity, skill and humor you've brought to this blog.
Anyway, it's time for another (long overdue) round of Two Kitchens, One Recipe. While Mariana is well aware of my culpability in the tardiness of this project, I'm sure it's not a surprise to anyone else that it is entirely my fault that this version is not only one, but two months past our monthly goal. Not that anyone has been waiting with anticipation, I just want to accept full responsibility and use that background to explain that I tried to pick out something fantastic to somewhat compensate for the delay.
With my desire to find a dazzling recipe and knowing that we both like Mexican food I chose Puebla Chicken and Potato Stew. This recipe stood out because of it's spiciness and use of potatoes, chicken and...chorizo! Needless to say, I had high expectations.
There is a bit of a twist to this version of 2K1R. I'm spending some time in Tucson working on my thesis which means, awesomely, that I had the opportunity to sample Mariana's version of this dish (as well as the tasty blue cheese ice cream -- yay!). Since I was able to sample both of our versions, I can say this-- they were very similar. The one difference being consistency -- mine was thicker and Mariana's was more soup-like. Eating Mariana's dish was such a treat for me and I liked the soupy-ness a lot -- I think the broth was one of the better aspects of this recipe so it makes sense to have more of it to enjoy. Here's my stew:
There was one benefit to the thicker consistency. The day after preparing the stew, I scooped out the potatoes and heated the chicken and chorizo in a bit of the sauce on a tortilla with cheese. This turned into the greatest quesadilla I have ever created:
A-mazing.
Though I found the recipe for the stew in the Gourmet cookbook I received for Christmas (thanks Helen!), it's also conveniently online, so I just included the link here. Check it out. Here's the thing -- while I'd say this was a solid recipe, I'm not sure it was exactly what I had hoped for -- Mariana, I'm curious to hear your opinion. Here are some questions that I would have asked you if we had the opportunity to have a more hardcore, blogger-nerdy discussion about the recipe:
Did this live up to your expectations?
For me, not so much. I'm starting to realize that anytime I make Mexican food, I secretly hope it will live up to meals I've had at Cafe Poca Cosa (a restaurant in Tucson) or perhaps good street food. Sadly, this never happens. This might mean that my expectations are too high.
Would you make this recipe again?
I'm on the fence about this, but probably not. Though the quesadilla was awesome and I LOVE Mexican food, it turns out I might not love (or even really like) making Mexican food. I'm not sure if I'm discouraged by the fact that my versions are never as tasty or complex as those made by a seasoned Mexican food cook or if I'm just put off by the labor intensive aspect involved in preparing a good deal of Mexican food. I wouldn't put this dish in the super labor intensive category (I was able to throw it together in a couple of hours), but I did use what seemed like overkill in terms of pots and pans. Also, though our versions were quite similar, I enjoyed eating yours more.
How would you change this if you were going to make it again?
I hesitate to say this because chorizo is so delicious and an undeniable crowd-pleaser, but I think I'd omit the chorizo -- perhaps using a couple of beef bouillon cubes instead. As delicious and crowd-pleasing as it is, the chorizo also left an unappetizing layer of fat over the stew.
What was your favorite part of making this recipe?
Chopping up the chipotle peppers. I love the brick red color and smell of these peppers!
Least favorite?
Cleaning up all the pots and pans.
Did you mess up any parts of this recipe?
Surprisingly, no -- at least not that I'm aware of. I did use regular oregano instead of Mexican oregano.
If you were going to serve this to one of your friends, who would you choose?
Obviously you -- and then we could really compare notes! But mostly I would just want to make you one of those quesadillas.
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