Mexican Recipes:

I seemed to have been blessed and inherited my great-grandmother's skill in cooking, thank goodness! My grandmother and mother on the other hand couldn't cook a lick and if they could burn water, they would have...yes, that's how bad they were. I'm of a real diverse hog-podge of ethnic groups, from Native American to German, Dutch, French, Spanish, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, English and Mexican.

Growing up as a girl, my mother's idea of authentic Mexican cooking was merely to fix chili and serve on rice. She also made her version of guacamole, which forever turned me off from it and avocados in general...yes it was that bad. As I got older, I started going full steam ahead with cooking and was self taught. I first started out with French cooking, but then expanded to other ethnic cuisines.

Many years ago, I decided then to indulge with "real" Mexican cooking and wanted to celebrate the Mexican holiday, Cinco de Mayo in true style. I started collecting Mexican recipes books and up to a week before Cinco de Mayo planned out a true Mexican gourmet feast.

Since, as I said my mother could barely boil water right, I naturally had to self teach myself how to prepare the dishes I had planned, which included Gazpacho soup, homemade Tamales wrapped in corn husks, Empanadas, and for dessert coffee flavored flan.

There was one other item on my menu...Guacamole. Since my mother had loved it so much, yet hadn't prepared it in ages (thank goodness), she kind of insisted that I make it also...and I did. I looked through my cookbooks and actually did a combo of several recipes to make my own version. I also decided to make "Gorditas" as the small little serving tortilla that the Guacamole could be served with.

Before making the Guacamole, it's best to make the Gorditas first.

Gorditas

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 8-ounce can red kidney beans
1 cup water
1¾ cups Masa Harina tortilla flour
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
Oil for frying

In blender add red pepper, undrained beans, and water t and blend until smooth. In mixing bowl, combine the tortilla flour, salt and baking powder. Add the bean mixture and mix well. Cover and let stand for at least 1 minutes. Divide the dough into about 24 parts and pat each into a 2-inch round shape.

In a skillet, heat about 1/8 inch oil and fry gorditas a little at a time about 1½ minutes on each side until crisp. Drain on them on a paper towel. Set aside until ready to serve.

Guacamole:

2 large ripe avocados
½ medium onion, finely chopped
1 or 2 serrano peppers, minced
1 small tomato, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
½ salt

Cut avocados in half and remove seed pit. Scoop out avocado meat and mash well in a bowl. Add the onion, serrano pepper, lime juice, tomato and salt. Mix well. Cover bowl with plastic wrap to retain color and refrigerate up to two hours for best color and flavor.

When ready to serve the Gorditas and Guacamole, place Guacamole mixture in a decorative type serving bowl and place on a platter and surround the bowl with the Gorditas. Your guests or family can then take their own Gorditas and top them with the Guacamole mixture.

As a humorous aside here. The first time I made the Guacamole, I was very hesitant to taste it, since lingering memories of my mother's version was still in my mind. Well, when I took a taste of it I nearly fell in a dead faint. No..it wasn't that bad...It was THAT good and I had to laugh at myself...I never knew Guacamole could taste so good, since all I had to judge on was the way my mother had made it.