Fish and Seafood

Crab-Stuffed Poblano with Cilantro Cream

Crab-Stuffed Poblano with Cilantro Cream

I dedicate this crab-stuffed Poblano dish to the Karankawa descendants in Corpus Christi and across Texas. The gulf coast was their home for millenia. As I was growing up, we’d regularly climb on the pickup and drive to “Corpos” for a day on the beach. […]

Hoja Santa Red Snapper with Tequila

Hoja Santa Red Snapper with Tequila

Hoja Santa is native to the southern regions of Mexico and is especially common in the states of Hidalgo, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Quintana Roo. Though it grows here in Texas, it was not a part of my family’s Texas Mexican cooking as I was growing […]

Southern Fish Fry Is Part Native American, Part African American

Southern Fish Fry Is Part Native American, Part African American

This southern fish fry menu includes a rich sauce and a salad.  Fish fry is traditional in the southern US, although the actual frying technique, well, not so recent. The fish fry is born of the African American enslaved communities who spent Saturdays, once the […]

3 Mexican Lenten Dishes

3 Mexican Lenten Dishes

Mexican Lenten dishes celebrate the enthusiasm and imagination of culinary artists intent on designing pleasure within the confines of proscribed public penance. Abstaining from meat during the fridays of Lent, avid cooks could return to the indigenous Texas and Mexican traditions of plant-based cooking. Nopalitios, […]

Saffron Garlic Shrimp – My Tapas Memory of Madrid

Saffron Garlic Shrimp – My Tapas Memory of Madrid

Saffron Garlic Shrimp is a way to recast the iconic tapas, Gambas Al Ajillo, with the addition of saffron, generally known as the unique ingredient used in paella. The shrimp and seasonings are bathed in the Mexican tomato that Spaniards began importing in the 1500s […]

Pissaladiere Tart Makes a Briny Blast

Pissaladiere Tart Makes a Briny Blast

Pissaladiere tart will brighten up your stay-at-home days. These bites are small, but mighty, a real flavor blast and a nod to French cuisine.  Though the French lost out to the Spaniards in their efforts of empire-building in Texas, we nonetheless enjoy their lasting influence […]

Huachinango A La Veracruzana

Huachinango A La Veracruzana

Huachinango a la Veracruzana (Red Snapper, Veracuz Style) is a celebratory and visually beautiful dish, an example of the Moroccan, Arab influence on Mexican cuisine.  There is no cilantro in this recipe but rather flat leaf parsley, reminiscent of the Morrocan “Tagine” this dish resembles. […]

Albóndigas de Camarón | Powdered Shrimp Cakes

Albóndigas de Camarón | Powdered Shrimp Cakes

Albóndigas de Camarón are a culinary tradition meant to be penitential in the sense that foregoing the pleasure of meat presents an opportunity to connect with soulfulness in our daily life.  Catholics commit a sin if they eat meat on Fridays during the Lenten season, […]

Smoked Trout Salad with Yerbaniz-Chipotle Dressing

Smoked Trout Salad with Yerbaniz-Chipotle Dressing

Special shout-out to intrepid, passionate cooks who like a challenge. This salad requires a bit of skill, but it’s really fun. I’ll be serving this ensalada compuesta, a composed smoked trout salad, at a gala dinner in San Antonio next month during which I will […]

Chile Shrimp: Roasted With Cascabel Chile

Chile Shrimp: Roasted With Cascabel Chile

Last night I dreamed up this roasted cascabel chile shrimp recipe, with an underlying hint of anise, because I did not know what to cook, worrying about the immigration debacle happening at the Tijuana-San Diego border, with so many families fleeing death threats and torture […]