recipes@decwrl.UUCP (12/05/86)
TUCSON-TOSTADA(A) USENET Cookbook TUCSON-TOSTADA(A)
TUCSON TOSTADAS
TUCSON-TOSTADA - A toasted cheese tortilla snack popular in
southern Arizona
I first discovered this recipe in 1978 when I went to Tucson
to visit my prospective in-laws. Such visits are often
tense; Loretta's parents knew that I liked Mexican food, so
they took me to their favorite restaurant, Casa Molina. The
appetizer, a toasted cheese tostada, was so good that I for-
got my nervousness and just chowed down on serving after
serving. I think that her parents remembered from that visit
more about my appetite than my personality.
I tried several times to make Tucson tostadas, but they
always ended up tasting like pizza. Then a recipe appeared
in the April 1986 issue of Sunset magazine, and after read-
ing it, I was able to reconstruct this replica of the Tos-
tada Casa Molina. The secret is to use Mexican cheeses.
INGREDIENTS (Serves 6)
3 medium flour tortillas (buy the largest flour tor-
tillas that will fit in your biggest frypan)
1/2 lb Oaxaca cheese, shredded
1/2 lb Monterey jack cheese, shredded
1/3 lb anejo cheese, grated
1/2 lb poblano peppers, sliced (or any other mild chili
pepper)
1/4 cup fresh coriander, chopped fine
lard or oil for frying
PROCEDURE
(1) Preheat oven to 350 deg. F.
(2) If you are using fresh poblanos, roast them and
remove their skins and seeds, If you are using
canned poblanos, wash and drain them. Slice the
peppers into thin decorative slices.
(3) In a big frypan, fry a tortilla in lard or oil
until it is golden brown. Remove to paper towels,
drain well, then place on a baking sheet or pizza
pan. Although lard is bad for you, the grim truth
is that tortillas taste very much better when they
have been fried in lard. Live dangerously.
(4) When the tortilla has cooled and hardened, cover
it with a thin layer of Oaxaca cheese, then with
the jack cheese. Crumble anejo on top of those
layers, then sprinkle finely-chopped coriander on
top of that.
(5) Arrange the pepper slices in a geometric pattern
on top of the cheeses. Bake for 5 minutes, or
until the cheese has melted but not browned.
Remove from the oven, and use a pizza cutter to
slice into individual portions. Serve immediately.
NOTES
Oaxaca (pronounced "oh-HOCK-a") cheese is a Mexican string
cheese. You can substitute any Mexican cheese marked
"asadero" (melting cheese). If you're desperate, you can use
Armenian mozzarella, which has the right texture but the
wrong flavor.
Monterey jack is a bland American cheddar; you can substi-
tute good-quality Muenster.
Anejo cheese is somewhat like Parmesan, dry and crumbly. You
can substitute Mexican cotija cheese, but that is probably
pointless, because a store that carries cotija will probably
also carry anejo. Fresh-ground parmesan will do in a pinch,
though it is not the right flavor. In one of my many
attempts to get this recipe right, I tried a mixture of
Greek feta and cow's-milk romano cheese. It tasted very
interesting, though not at all authentic.
RATING
Difficulty: easy once you have found the ingredients. Time:
10 minutes each. Precision: no need to measure.
CONTRIBUTOR
Brian Reid
DEC Western Research Laboratory, Palo Alto, Calif., USA
reid@decwrl.DEC.COM {ihnp4,ucbvax,decvax,sun,pyramid}!decwrl!reid