Quelite Atapakua

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Dry comal or heavy cast iron skillet
• •4-quart clay cazuela from Capula or Tzintzuntzan, or a heavy pot
• •High-powered blender
• •Wooden spoon
• •Large bowl for washing quelites

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the quelites

   Pick through the quelites and remove tough stems, yellow leaves, and any gritty roots. Wash the greens in three changes of cold water, lifting them out each time instead of pouring the dirty water over them. Field greens carry soil. The cocineras in the Meseta do not rush this part, and neither do you.

2. 2

   Blanch the greens

   Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the quelites and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, just until they collapse and turn a deeper green. Drain them, press out excess water, and chop them coarsely. Do not cook them to death. They should still taste like the field, not like wet paper.

   Verdolagas have more moisture than quintoniles. If your mix is heavy on verdolagas, press them well after blanching or the atapakua will thin out too much.
3. 3

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile guajillo and chile ancho one at a time, about 20 to 30 seconds per side, until they soften, darken slightly, and smell deep. Toast the chile de arbol for only a few seconds if using it. Burned chile turns bitter. If one blackens, throw it out and start again.

4. 4

   Soak the chiles

   Put the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover them with hot water. Hot, not boiling. Let them sit for 15 minutes, until the flesh is pliable. Boiling water roughens the skins and can drag bitterness into the sauce. This is small discipline with a big result.

5. 5

   Roast the aromatics

   On the same comal, roast the tomatoes, onion, and unpeeled garlic until the tomato skins blister, the onion has dark spots, and the garlic softens inside its skin. Peel the garlic. This roasting gives the atapakua the taste of a wood-fired kitchen even when your stove is not leña.

6. 6

   Blend the sauce

   Drain the soaked chiles and put them in a blender with the roasted tomatoes, onion, peeled garlic, and 1 cup of warm broth. Blend until completely smooth. Add the masa de maiz and blend again until the sauce looks silky and thick. The masa must disappear into the liquid. If you leave lumps, they will cook into hard little pebbles. Ask the women at the market. They will tell you the same.

7. 7

   Fry the base

   Melt the manteca de cerdo in a 4-quart clay cazuela or heavy pot over medium heat. Pour in the blended chile-masa base carefully. It will sputter because the sauce is alive with water and corn. Stir with a wooden spoon for 6 to 8 minutes, until the color deepens to brick red and the fat begins to shine at the edges. La manteca es el sabor, and frying the base keeps the chile from tasting raw.

8. 8

   Thin and simmer

   Add the remaining 4 cups warm broth little by little, stirring constantly so the masa thickens evenly. Add the epazote and salt. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often along the bottom of the cazuela. The atapakua should coat the spoon but still fall back into the pot in a slow ribbon. This is not soup. This is not mole. It is atapakua.

9. 9

   Add the quelites

   Stir in the chopped quelites and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes more, until the greens are fully married to the sauce. Taste for salt. If the sauce tightens too much, add a splash of warm broth. If it tastes flat, it needs salt, not more chile. The greens should be visible throughout, held by the masa-thickened sauce like the milpa holding its own weeds.

10. 10

    Serve in barro

    Spoon the atapakua into shallow bowls or bring the cazuela straight to the table. Serve with warm hand-pressed corn tortillas. Tear the tortilla, scoop the sauce, and eat it while the sheen is still on the surface. Recetas probadas y garantizadas. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Use fresh masa de maiz from a tortilleria if you can. Masa harina works only as a compromise: whisk 1/2 cup masa harina with 1/2 cup warm broth and let it hydrate for 10 minutes before blending. It will thicken, but it will not taste as alive as fresh nixtamal.
• •The quelites depend on the market and the season. In Michoacan you may see quintoniles, verdolagas, cenizos, malva, or quelite bledo. Cook what the market is selling today. If the greens are old and limp, do not make this dish that day.
• •Do not replace the masa with cornstarch or flour. Atapakua is masa-thickened. Remove the corn and you remove the dish.
• •If you have real nurite from the Meseta P'urhepecha, serve a small leaf at the table for those who know it. Substitute nothing for it. If you do not have nurite, leave it absent with respect.
• •Chile guajillo should be flexible and brick red, not dusty and brittle. A chile that cracks like dry cardboard has been sitting too long. You can have perfect technique and bad chiles and you will still get a bad atapakua.

Advance Preparation

• •The quelites can be cleaned, blanched, chopped, and refrigerated one day ahead. Press out extra water before adding them to the sauce.
• •The chile-masa base can be blended up to one day ahead and refrigerated. Fry it in manteca only when you are ready to finish the atapakua.
• •Finished atapakua keeps for three days in the refrigerator. Reheat gently with splashes of warm broth because the masa continues to thicken as it sits.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 380g)