Los Tamarindos -Cooking School in Los Cabos

Usually the majority of our time spent during our yearly spring break trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico is enjoyed beachside by the pool soaking up the sun and drying out from a year spent in the soggy Pacific Northwest. 

But if there is one thing that can get us off the beach it is learning about food from people who have a passion and knowledge about it. (It's a first to be sitting here over looking the beautiful Sea of Cortez writing about our experience in the hot sun....thank you Fiesta Americana for finally supplying wi-fi. )

Lots of good food is always consumed in both great restaurants and made in our  almost adequately equipped villa kitchen during our stays. But we've always wanted to find a cooking class of some type to learn more about the local ingredients. Yes, our resort has a fun little cooking class twice a week presented by the serious activities director, Victor. But we were hoping to find something a bit more than a quick ceviche made by the sea. (although it is how & where we first learned to make ceviche 10 years ago and we still use the steps we learned from Victor. So we are not knocking it.)

Los Tamarindos Restaurant

One evening at home while watching our fav Rick Bayless' Mexico One Plate at a Time PBS series we noticed he was visiting Los Cabos. It was fun to see him opening his segment standing on the beach at Fiesta Americana, our resort, and visiting the area we look so forward to visiting each year. 

Los Tamarindos Organic Farm

And on this particular segment he also visited an organic farm in San Jose' that he mentioned had a cooking school, Los Tamarindos. 

We immediately got online and checked it out. When we got checked in and settled into our resort we had the concierge help us set up reservations, rented a car and made our way to this little oasis of a farm about a short 30 minute drive from where we stay.

We were greeted to the lovely historic brick farmhouse turned restaurant and cooking school with a welcomed glass of lemongrass iced tea. 

Refreshing and cooling in the hot sun. 

Shortly our group of 17 participants were all gathered and welcomed by Chef, farmer, restaurateur Enrique Silva owner of Los Tamarindos farm, cooking school and restaurant Tequila in the town of San Jose. 

Chef Enrique Silva

He took us on a tour of his lush organic farm heartedly providing fresh tomatoes, peppers, herbs, mangoes and a wealth of other fine ingredients for his restaurants, cooking school and various other restaurants around Los Cabos. 

Rustic Kitchen

After the farm tour he led us up to his rustic open air kitchen with a wood fire oven that I'm certain we must try to replicate in our back yard in the future. I just have to figure out how to convince G that we can and must do this.

He first took us inside to start the dessert that needed to cook several hours called Dulce De Calabaza. Made with squash, Mexican raw sugar (lots of it...over 2 lbs of sugar) and cinnamon. So simple....more about dessert later. 

Starting with dessert

Everyone was placed around the space with their own cutting board and chef's knife. Chef Enrique explained the secret to his dishes is that he always starts with a freshly made herb & garlic infused oil that he cooks and coats all of his ingredients with. 

We each chopped some herbs & garlic to be used in creating the oil.

Herbs used to make herb & garlic infused oil

The first course to be made was a roasted tomato soup, of course made with all ingredients grown directly on his farm. The tomatoes we first brushed with the lovely herb oil and sprinkled generously with sea salt and then roasted in the magic creating wood oven. 

Tomatoes coming out of wood fired oven

The tomatoes came out blistered and caramelized perfectly as only a wood fired oven could do. The aroma was fantastic immediately. 

Chef Enrique then went on to show us how to make a lovely and again simple mole chicken with rice and the most amazing wood fire roasted vegetable side dish again rubbed with that fantastic herb oil we started out with. 

Several hours into our experience Chef Enrique suggested we might like some wine which the entire group was more than ready to indulge in.

It was finally time to enjoy our group prepared meal at a large communal table shared with our new friends gathered together from all over the US with one common experience and space in time. 

We started with our simple, rustic and absolutely delicious roasted tomato soup topped with fried sage and again drizzled with the flavorful herb oil. Truly this is a soup we will make again and again I'm certain. I can imagine it cold as a gazpacho this summer as well as during the winter. And made with zero cream butter or even vegetable stock it's 100% Paleo..BONUS!

Next we were served a lovely and again simple green salad with tomatoes, a wonderfully sweet red & white striped beet and a balsamic vinaigrette made with that herb oil again. It definitely is an enjoyable experience to be able to see exactly where you food came from as you are sitting there eating it. 

Even as the unrecommended communal table topic of gun control conversation came up we enjoyed our view and our dinner mates. Cringing while listening to a gentleman explain why assault weapons are popular collector items could of likely ruined my experience back in the states but something about Mexico lets little get under my skin. We just ate our salad, sipped our wine and took in the ambiance of the experience. 

Next the chef served us the main course; chicken with mole' over a simple white rice. 

The mole's sauce was mild and wonderful. 

And everyone at the table felt this was a dish they could easily replicate at home. Having spent a full day making homemade mole' before made me appreciate the delight of a chef using pre-made, store purchased mole that is easily found in Mexico not so easily found in Tacoma, Washington.

And how could I forget the perfectly seasoned and roasted vegetables. Oh, carrots prepared this way could make the absolute carrot hater a fan I'm positive of it.

The final dish was the biggest surprise of the meal. The caramelized sugar drenched squash was served in large slices drizzled with the natural result of cooking the squash several hours in sugar, cinnamon, cloves and water. Topped with farm fresh mint I have to admit the squash dessert wasn't my favorite dish of the day. But it was one that would surprise people. A new end to a Mexican themed meal that we will likely serve one day if only as a good conversation starter and vehicle to share today's experience with others.

View of farm from restaurant's terrace

Our day at Los Tamarindos farm & cooking school with Chef Enrique was a great one. One that we would recommend for any food interested visitor to the Los Cabos area. 

A beautiful location. Great ingredients, simply prepared to showcase their natural and healthy flavors. No melted cheddar cheese or sour cream to be had in this authentically deliciously made Mexican made meal.

We vow to hit Chef Enrique's restaurant Tequila next time or the following visit we are town. For tonight we are all too full to think of food. Or at least for an hour or two more.

Chef Enrique's recipe for roasted tomato soup to be posted soon!

Raw Kale Salad with Chicken, Strawberries & Mint Vinaigrette

Have you fallen in love with kale yet? Oh we have and then some. We've been finding all kinds of ways to enjoy it. Our favorite way to enjoy kale is definitely roasted with some good curry flavors.

But for a main dish we made this wonderful Raw Kale Salad with Chicken, Strawberries and Mint Vinaigrette with Pistachios. (yeah, yeah it's way too long of a title we know.) It's great as lunch, a hearty starter or a light main course.

The flavors of avocado, strawberry and mint totally compliment the bitterness of the raw kale. And pistachios create that toasty crunch to pull it all together. 

Recipe:

Raw Kale Salad with Chicken, Strawberries and Mint Vinaigrette

Salad:

6 C. Cleaned Kale

2 C. Diced, Rotisserie Chicken Breast

1 C. Rinsed and  Sliced Strawberries

1/2 Large Avocado, peeled and chopped

1/4 C. Pistachios

Dressing:

2 Tsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Juice of 1 Lime

2 Tbs. Fresh Mint, finely chopped

1/2 Tbs. Agave Nectar (or Maple Syrup)

1/8 Tsp. Sea Salt

1. Place the kale, chicken, sliced strawberries, chopped avocado, and pistachios in a large bowl and set aside.
2. Prepare the dressing by adding the olive oil, lime juice, mint, agave, and sea salt to a small bowl. Whisk to combine.
3. Pour the dressing over the salad.
4. Toss to combine and enjoy!

Mexican Style Caprese Salad

We love summer ripened tomatoes. I mean what right minded foodie wouldn't really?  At our old house we were able to grow the most beautiful tomatoes that flourished in the sun. But our current house just doesn't have a space that gets that kind of sunshine. Tomatoes need good sun.

Now we just rely on the Farmer's Markets to provide us with beautiful sun ripened heirloom tomatoes like these. And during the summer we most often enjoy them in a Caprese salad with fresh mozzarella, basil and a sprinkle of some good balsamic vinegar.

For our Mexican Flavored Feast we wanted to make a Mexican inspired Caprese to compliment our meal with these glorious tomatoes we picked up that morning at the market. 

We sliced the beauties up, layered them with some fresh mozzarella (although next time I might try this some good manchengo style cheese), sprinkled them with a good dose of salt & pepper. Tip= tomatoes need salt.

We adjusted to the Mexican theme by making a Mexican flavored vinaigrette to stand in for the usual good quality aged balsamic. Instead of the usual basil picked from our patio herb garden we used fresh cilantro in it's place.

Really you can't go wrong with any adjustments made to this recipe as long as you are using sun ripened heirloom tomatoes. Well at least that is in our opinion. 

These tomatoes will taste great regardless of the tweaks you make to the "extras." Because let's face it; a Caprese is about the tomato. If the tomato is good, the salad will be great.

Recipe:

Mexican Flavored Caprese Salad (quantities adjusted as you need)

4-5 ripened heirloom tomatoes (adjust amount based on size of tomato and desired size of salad)

4 oz. fresh mozzarella, sliced

Salt & Pepper

handful cleaned cilantro

3 Tblspns extra virgin olive oil

1 Tblspn balsamic

1 tspn chipotle powder

1 tspn red chile flake

1 tspn minced garlic

Slice tomatoes & mozzarella ( we bought pre-slice fresh mozzarella but if not pre sliced, slice it.) Layer tomatoes and mozzarella on a large plate. Salt & pepper tomatoes to taste. ( we are generous with our salt & pepper of tomatoes.) Whisk together olive oil, balsamic, spices and garlic. Pour vinaigrette over salad. Garnish with cilantro. Serve immediately. 

Bourbon Chipotle Cornish Game Hens

Does this ever happen to you?  We know we are in the mood for something..but we are not sure what that something specifically is. This definitely happens to us. 

We knew we wanted to grill because it was a glorious sunny, warm evening. We knew we wanted to use some of the Chipotle Bourbon Barbecue Sauce that we'd made but we knew we wanted something different than the usual. We were up at Whole Foods in Seattle and although there were many great fresh choices we decided to go with the Cornish Game Hens because we don't use them much and it would be something different.

G went online and found some inspiration for how to best grill them. He found a technique for splitting them down the back bone.

He first seasoned them well. 

Then grilled them flat, basting them with our Chipotle Bourbon  BBQ sauce. 

They looked beautiful directly off the grill if not even kind of cute.

We served them with our Roasted Beet and Quinoa Salad with Chipotle Cinnamon Dressing. 

We had our scrumptious barbecued hens with this supple and jammy Temperanillo made by Hesetia.

Recipe:

Bourbon Chipotle Barbecue Sauce:

• 2 cups ketchup
• 3/4 cup bourbon
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1/2 cup chopped onions
• 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 chipotle chiles, chopped w/ adobo sauce
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 
  

Directions

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until smooth, about 15 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pulse 2 or 3 times. Store in a sterilized container until ready to use.

Grilled Minty Thai Chicken Salad (Larb Gai)

This is one of those Thai recipes that we crave around here. Pretty much within days of our mint growing back in the spring you can count on one of us saying, "Hey some Larb sounds good." It usually is G as he truly loves this minty, fresh salad.

This dish was originally introduced to us by our fellow Thai loving friend Steve Brown.Steve & G used to teach together and we often would all come together to go out for Thai which grew into trying to cook some our favorite dishes at home together. We blew his heat thermometer off kilter one night with our Fire Noodle recipe. We haven't seen Steve in years but whenever we eat or make Larb Gai we think of him & acknowledge how happy we are that he introduced this dish to us.

For this particular version we actually grilled the chicken thighs which gave it a great extra layer of flavor. We most often used ground chicken or turkey but grilled thighs will likely be our go to technique from here on out.

Our recipe uses kaffir lime leaves which we find at our local Asian grocery. If you can find them I highly recommend using them as nothing compares to fresh, bright flavor they bring to the dish. But if you can't get them you can sub lime zest.

We served our Larb Gai with a Trust Reisling. Perfect to balance the heat and flavor of this Thai inspired salad.

Recipe

Grilled Minty Thai Chicken Salad (Larb Gai):

2 tspns olive oil

1 Tblspn dried red chile flakes ( we go heavy on this b/c we love heat, adjust to your taste)

1# boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1/2 tspn smoked paprika

2 Tblspns brown sugar

3 Tblspns fish sauce

1/3 C fresh lime juice

1/2 small diced white onion

1Tblspn minced lemon grass ( use the inner layers)

3 Kaffir lime leaves, cut into fine slivers

2 Roma tomatoes, seeded & diced 1/2 C fresh mint leaves, chopped

Red lettuce leaves, to use as the bed

Cilantro for garnish

1 bag shredded cabbbage

A few lime wedges for garnish

Mix olive oil & red pepper. Gently brush chicken thighs with chile oil. Grill until cooked through. Mix paprika, sugar & fish sauce and cook in pot over medium heat. Dice chicken thighs. add thighs to sauce in pot just to coat. Transfer chicken to mixing bowl add lime juice, onion, lemon grass, lime leaves, tomatoes & mint. Toss gently.Line plates with lettuce leaves, add mound of cabbage. Place chicken salad in the middle in a mound. Garnish cilantro & lime wedges.

Strawberry Sangria Light

There are few things that I crave more when spring finally arrives here. One being fresh Washington grown strawberries. And two sangria. This strawberry sangria recipe brings them both together in one perfect craving quencher.

Since we have consciously been looking at ways to keep our daily diet a little more on the healthy side currently around here I was excited to experiment with a lighter version of sangria cutting the wine in half by adding soda water in it's place and omitting sugar all together. With strawberries this fresh and sweet no extra sugar is needed trust me you won't miss it.

I love how simple and free you can get with a sangria recipe. Clean and slice some of your favorite fruit combinations. For this one I went with strawberry as the main flavor component. Added some blueberries as well because I love the combo of strawberry and blueberries mixed together. Then I added one half of both a lemon and a lime because with white sangria especially I always like to add a bit of citrus. Sometimes I go with mint as a contrast but since I planted 2 basil plants recently I went with basil this time. I really like the way strawberries and basil play together.

For wine  I went with a Columbia Crest Pinot Gris. I typically use a Sauvignon Blanc or Fume' Blanc but I had this on hand. And given I was adding soda water I didn't want to splurge on the wine. 

The experiment was a hit. A light, fresh and fruity sangria perfectly refreshing.

I was a bit too anxious to give my experiment a try to let the fruit sit in the wine as long as I think it would of really needed to bring out the flavors fully. But even after 3 hours the fruit flavor was there. Pretty sure we'll continue to make lots of non-light sangria recipes in our future but when we do want to be intentional in making sangria a bit more healthy it's great to have a recipe to turn to.

Strawberry Sangria Light Recipe:

1/2 bottle of pinot gris, sauvignon blanc or fume' blanc wine

3 cups soda water

1 pint strawberries, sliced

1/2 pint blueberries

1/2 lemon, sliced

1/2 lime, sliced

several sprigs of basil

Add fruit and basil to the wine and add 3 cups soda water. Let sit for at least 3 hours in the fridge but preferably over night so fruit soaks up the wine and wine becomes infused with the fruit flavor.

Grilled Rack of Lamb with Honey-Pasilla Glaze...Oh How We Love Rick Bayless

With some beautiful weather hitting us it was time to break out the patio furniture and get grilling. And this meal followed that very familiar Mexican theme again, and again inspired by Rick Bayless. What can we say...we are fairly boring predictable I suppose.We just can't get enough of the flavors his recipes bring to us.

It was a grilling kind of evening but we weren't in the mood for steaks, fish or burgers so when we found this recipe for Grilled Rack of Lamb with Honey-Pasilla Glaze in his Fiesta At Ricks cookbook and we knew it would be love at first inhale.

In typical RIck Bayless fashion our dried pasilla chiles were first roasted then soaked back to softness to make the Honey-Pasilla Glaze.

 Once reconstituted the chiles were mixed with some spices, vinegar and honey to make a rich and thick glaze for the lamb to be first marinated in and then basted with on the grill.

Double the flavor.

While the lamb marinated we made another of Rick's recipes from Mexican Everyday: Roasted Pepper Salad with Butter Lettuce and Creamy Queso Anejo Dressing.

We started by roasting the peppers on the grill for the salad.

The flavor in this salad was so delish. If you love roasted peppers you'll love this salad.

We also made his recipe for Gulf Coast-Style White Rice Pilaf with additional roasted poblano added to the recipe for a side.

It was a fantastic "The Patio is Open...we're grilling again" kind of meal.

To celebrate we opened one of our splurge wines from the basement cellar a 2006 Spanish Clio made with 100% Granache.



Recipes:

Grilled Rack of Lamb with Honey Pasilla Glaze

Serves 4
Recipe from Fiesta At Ricks and linked on Rick's website here

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Ingredients

6 garlic cloves
6 (about 2 ounces total) dried pasilla chiles, stemmed, seeded and torn into flat pieces
1 teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, preferably freshly ground
1/8 teaspoon cumin, preferably freshly ground
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons vinegar (I prefer balsamic here)
Salt
2 lamb racks (each should have 8 rib bones and weigh about 1 3/4 to 2 pounds)
Olive or vegetable oil to brush or spray on the racks
1 small red onion, finely chopped
About 1/4 cup Mexican queso añejo or another garnishing cheese like Romano or Parmesan
Flat-leaf parsley leaves, for garnish

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Directions

1. The pasilla marinade. Roast the unpeeled garlic on one side of a large skillet over medium heat, turning occasionally, until soft and blackened in spots, about 15 minutes; cool and peel. While the garlic is roasting, toast the chile pieces a few at a time on another side of the skillet, pressing them down firmly with a spatula for a few seconds, until they release a toasty aroma, then flipping them, and pressing down the other side. Scoop the chiles into a small bowl, cover with hot water and soak 30 minutes. Drain, reserving 1/3 cup of the soaking water.
In a food processor blender, combine the chiles, 1/3 cup of soaking liquid, garlic, oregano, pepper, cumin, honey, vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt. Blend to a smooth pure, scraping down and stirring frequently. Press through a medium-mesh strainer into a small bowl.

2. Marinate the lamb. Lay the meat into a baking dish. Smear both sides of the racks with about 1/3 of the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for several hours, if time permits.

3. The salsa. Stir enough water into the remaining marinade to give it drizzleable consistency—it usually takes at least 1/4 cup. Cover and set aside at room temperature (or refrigerate if not using within a couple of hours).

4. Grill the lamb. Light a gas grill, setting the temperature at medium-high on one side, medium-low on the other; or light a charcoal fire, letting the coals burn until they’re covered with white ash but still very hot, then bank them to one side. Using the side of a spoon, scrape the marinade off the meat, reserving it for basting later. Brush or spray the lamb racks with oil and lay them, meaty “cap”-side down, onto the hottest part of the grill, when they are well seared (“marked” with the grill grate pattern, as we say in the restaurant kitchen), about 2 minutes, flip them over and sear on the boney underside. Baste the top with the reserved marinade, then move them to the cooler part of the grill and let them cook until as done as you like, usually about 5 minutes for medium-rare.

5. Serve. It’s best to let the meat rest for a few minutes on a very cool part of the grill or in a very low oven, to reabsorb the meat’s tasty juices. Then slice the chops between the bones. Drizzle a little of the salsa on each of 4 warm dinner plates and sprinkle with the onion. Arrange the meat over the top and sprinkle with the cheese and parsley leaves. Serve right away.