Today was a busy day, quick breakfast in the hotel then off to our Cooking Class at the Santa Fe School of Cooking. There is also a great shop which has everything you need for New Mexican cooking.
Normally, we prefer to take a class, but there were just not much in the way of offerings that also included eating what you cooked. So, we took a Demo class entitled Traditional New Mexican I. The chef had a great deal of experience including formal French training. Chef Mary Don Wright, did a great job of explaining everything form the types of peppers to the actual process of making your red or green chile. It was the best demo class we have taken, since taking one from our Friend Tina Brusha at the Portland Whole Foods.
Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas, Red Chile Vegetable & Cheese Enchiladas, Corn Tortillas, Pinto Beans, Posole and Capirotada (pecan bread pudding.) We of course got all the recipes which Jerry and I took several important key notes about the process and ingredients.
key ingredients that just adds increased flavor. The enchiladas were done in the traditional New Mexican way, stacked not rolled. The fresh corn tortillas were the best ever and just soaked up the sauce from the green or red chile sauce.
The red chile sauce and the green chile sauce were the best we have had on this trip. Best part is that the recipe is not or time consuming, like others I have made in the past.
The Posole, was exceptional, definitely the best we have had so far. This was not Posole stew but Posole as a side. To make a good Posole does take time, at least 4 to 5 hours of simmering to get the Posole (Hominy) to open up like a flower. The Posole we had did not have any meat, but pork is certainly an excepted addition. It did have a bit of both the red and green chile sauce added to it.
The Pinto Beans, were simply the best I have ever eaten. The recipe has more ingredients that I have ever seen for a pot of beans, but they were all necessary to get the result and
the flavor. An optional ingredient is epazote (a Mexican herb that helps remove the gas causing effect of beans.) Again, the beans contained no meat just lots of aromatics.
The Capirotada is the easiest bread pudding ever. It has no eggs, and very little dairy, other than butter. The base is caramelized sugar, which you then had water, not cream or milk but water. This then dissolves further. The last addition is the butter, but butter is actually optional. That is pretty much all there is to it, you pour it in to your dried bread crumbs mix and some cream if desired. It is then topped with pecans and Jack Cheese. It was really good.
After the cooking class, which just happened to be a block away from our hotel, we got in the car and headed out for the high country and Vivac Winery. Evidently, New Mexico has the oldest wine history in the United States. There are 60 wineries in the State, far far less than what is in Yamhill valley alone. It took about an hour to get to
the winery, which is just off NM 68. We had a flight. To see what we had please refer to the picture. The best of the 8 tastes was the Merlot which I did purchase a bottle of.
When I went back in to by the Merlot, there were two women ordering wine flights, they seemed a bit unpleasant. This was confirmed after they left and the next couple who had been patiently waiting for 20 minutes to place their order, said they were a bit high maintenance and just said to the woman behind the counter, just breath. They ended up getting their wine flight free, as did we all we needed to pay for was the bottle of wine. It pays to be nice and have manners.
After the winery we then followed the lower portion of the High Road to Taos, back to Santa Fe. Along the way we wanted to stop at Picuris Pueblo, the smallest pueblo in New Mexico, with only 300 members. It was unfortunately closed as are most all of the pueblos due to Covid.
