Quelites del Bajío Salteados con Chiles Toreados

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12-inch clay cazuela from the Guanajuato sierra or a heavy skillet
• •Basalt molcajete for garlic and chilcuague
• •Large basin for washing greens
• •Wooden spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the quelites

   Pick through the verdolagas and quelite cenizo with patience. Remove thick, woody stems and any yellow leaves. Wash the greens in a large basin of cold water, lift them out, dump the sandy water, and repeat until the water is clean. Grit in quelites is laziness you can feel in your teeth. Dry the greens well so they sauté instead of stew.

   Verdolagas are fleshy and hold dirt near the stems. Quelite cenizo carries dust on the leaves. Wash them separately if your bunches came straight from the mercado.
2. 2

   Prepare the xoconostle

   Hold each xoconostle with a kitchen towel, because the tiny spines like to stay behind. Peel off the skin, cut the fruit open, and scrape out the seed center. Dice the sour flesh small. Xoconostle is not sweet tuna. It is the acid of this Bajío dish, and without it the greens taste flat.

3. 3

   Pound the chilcuague

   In a molcajete, pound the two whole garlic cloves with the salt until you have a rough paste. Add the grated chilcuague root and work it in. Use a measured hand. Chilcuague wakes the mouth with a clean tingling bite, but too much will numb everything and then you have taught nobody anything.

   Do not treat chilcuague like ginger. It is a Sierra Gorda root with its own character. If you only have dried powder, start with 1/2 teaspoon and taste at the end.
4. 4

   Torear the chiles

   Heat a low clay cazuela or heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the manteca de cerdo. When it shines, add the slit chile serrano and roll them in the fat with a wooden spoon until the skins blister in dark spots and the kitchen smells sharp and green. Remove the chiles to a plate. Leave the lard in the cazuela. La manteca es el sabor.

   Slit the chiles once so they do not burst in the hot fat. You want blistered chiles, not a mess on the wall.
5. 5

   Fry the aromatics

   Add the sliced onion to the same manteca and cook for two minutes, just until it softens at the edges. Add the sliced garlic and cook until pale gold. Do not brown it hard. Burned garlic makes the whole cazuela bitter, and no amount of xoconostle will save you.

6. 6

   Sauté the greens

   Add the diced xoconostle and toss for one minute so its sour juice loosens the browned bits in the cazuela. Add the verdolagas first and cook for one minute, then add the quelite cenizo by handfuls. Toss constantly. The greens should collapse, turn glossy, and stay alive in color. If the cazuela runs dry, add a spoonful or two of frijoles bayos broth, no more. Fold in the epazote during the last thirty seconds.

   If liquid gathers at the bottom, raise the heat and keep tossing. These are sautéed quelites, not boiled weeds.
7. 7

   Finish with chilcuague

   Turn off the heat. Stir in the garlic and chilcuague paste while the greens are still hot. Return the chiles toreados to the cazuela and taste for salt. The xoconostle should make the greens bright, the chilcuague should wake the lips, and the serranos should sit whole on top for whoever wants the bite. Not all Mexican food needs to punish you with chile.

8. 8

   Serve from barro

   Carry the cazuela to the table and serve the quelites family-style, with warm frijoles bayos and hand-pressed corn tortillas. No flour tortillas here. That is northern tradition, and this is Guanajuato. Cada estado, su propia cocina.

Chef Tips

• •Ask for verdolagas and quelite cenizo by name at Mercado Hidalgo in Guanajuato, in Dolores Hidalgo, or at Mercado de la Cruz in Querétaro. If the vendor only has spinach, buy spinach and make another dish. It will not be this.
• •Xoconostle is sour cactus fruit. Do not replace it with sweet tuna. If you are outside Mexico, look in Mexican markets for fresh or frozen xoconostle before you compromise with tomatillo and a squeeze of lime.
• •Chilcuague is not ginger and not a novelty. It is a Sierra Gorda root documented in old central Mexican food knowledge. Use a little, taste, then decide. The root should sharpen the dish, not take over the table.
• •Use manteca de cerdo. Vegetable oil will sauté the greens, yes, but it will not carry the garlic, chile, and xoconostle the same way. La manteca es el sabor.
• •Serve these quelites with frijoles bayos. The bayo bean is the bean of the Bajío table, beige-tan and creamy. Do not confuse it with pinto, flor de mayo, or black beans. And if someone brings up frijoles puercos, remember the hidrocálido version from Aguascalientes is not the Sinaloan one with chilorio.

Advance Preparation

• •The quelites can be picked over, washed, dried, and wrapped in a clean towel up to 8 hours ahead. Keep them refrigerated so they stay firm.
• •The xoconostle can be peeled and diced one day ahead. Keep it covered in the refrigerator with its own juice.
• •Frijoles bayos de olla can be made three days ahead. Reheat them slowly and use a spoonful of their broth if the greens need moisture.
• •Do not sauté the quelites ahead for guests. They lose color and turn tired. Leftovers are good folded into scrambled eggs the next morning, but the first serving should come straight from the cazuela.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 315g)