Naturally Healthy Mexican Cooking: Authentic Recipes for Dieters, Diabetics & All Food Lovers

BEEF IS USED in all parts of Mexico but is the king of foods in northern Mexico, a heritage of the immense haciendas and the vaqueros of bygone days. For years, Mexico’s grass-fed beef was maligned for lack of tenderness, but, recently, people have begun to understand that it is a healthier option than corn-fed beef. Fortunately, tender, high-quality grass-fed beef is now increasingly available in the United States.

Santa Maria–style Tri-tip Steak

6 servings

Some of the earliest Mexican cooking in the United States began in California before Mexico’s independence from Spain. The Californios of central and northern California created delicious Mexican-style foods, and it is a shame that more of them have not been revived. However, one specialty from the area that is in no danger of being ignored is the delicious and relatively low calorie cut of meat called a tri-tip. Although it is less tender than, say, a New York cut, it is the overwhelming choice of pit masters in the area around Santa Barbara and Santa Maria. There, the steak is seasoned with a special rub and seared on both sides over hot red oak coals. It is then smoked over lower heat until medium-rare. Around Santa Maria, they use barbecues whose grills can be raised and lowered in relation to the coals. They are terrific, but the dish can also be prepared on the more common kettle-style grill, and that is what this recipe describes. The tri-tip is similar to a top sirloin, which makes a decent substitute.

INGREDIENTS

7 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon granulated garlic

1 teaspoon granulated onion

1/2 tablespoon smoked or sweet Spanish paprika, or regular paprika

1/2 teaspoon smoked hot Spanish paprika, or cayenne

1/2 tablespoon kosher salt

1/2 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh rosemary leaves

1/2 tablespoon dried parsley

2–2-1/2 pounds tri-tip steak, or substitute top sirloin cut 2–2-1/2 inches thick

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

DIRECTIONS

Make the garlic-infused oil. Mix the olive oil and garlic in a microwave-safe dish and microwave on High for 45 seconds. Allow the garlic to infuse the oil for 1 hour, then strain out the garlic and reserve the oil. There should be about 6 tablespoons.

Make and apply the rub. Combine the black pepper, granulated garlic, granulated onion, both paprikas, salt, rosemary, and parsley. Brush both sides of the steak with 2 tablespoons of the garlic-infused oil. Sprinkle half the rub on one side of the meat and massage it in with your fingers. Repeat on the other side. Allow the steak to sit, refrigerated, for 3 hours or overnight before grilling.

Make the basting liquid. Mix 1/4 cup of the garlic-infused oil with the red wine vinegar and reserve.

Build the fire. Fill and light a charcoal starter with red oak, another kind of oak, or charcoal. If you do not have oak wood, if possible soak two handfuls of oak smoking chips for at least 20 minutes before grilling. In either case, when the coals are nearly ready, dump them into one side of your barbecue. Heat the grill for 5 minutes then clean it with a grill brush.

Grill the meat. Using kitchen tongs, run a paper towel soaked in vegetable oil over the grill and then put the steak (fat side up) directly over the hot coals. Grill the meat, uncovered, until it is a crusty dark brown on both sides, about 4 minutes per side. Move the meat to the side of the grill, away from the coals. If you are using charcoal, drain the soaked oak chips and place them on the coals. Brush the meat with the basting liquid, cover the grill, and smoke the meat, turning and basting it every 5 minutes until it is about 133°F for medium-rare. The entire process should take about 30 minutes. When the meat is done, remove it to a plate, tent it loosely with foil, and allow it to rest for 10 minutes. Slice the meat against the grain into 1/4-inch slices. To keep the meal traditional, serve the steak with Santa Maria–style Beans (page 68).

PER SERVING

Filete Sonorense

SONORA-STYLE TENDERLOIN

4 servings

I named this steak for the beef-raising state of Sonora, where I have most often found it and because that’s what it was called in a Baja California restaurant I frequented. It consists of the whole center of the tenderloin grilled slowly over coals. I like to use mesquite wood, as it does not burn quite as hot as mesquite charcoal, but either works, as will ordinary briquettes with the addition of soaked mesquite chips. The tenderloin is the tenderest and one of the leanest beef cuts, and it is one of the only ones that combine those qualities. It is often criticized for a lack of beefy flavor, and in Mexico it is usually cooked with no more seasoning than salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lime juice. But in one Sonora restaurant the chef used a delicious paste that kicked up the flavor without seeming artificial. I often use the paste with choice tenderloin, but with prime meat I think the natural flavor, combined with the incomparable effect of the mesquite smoke, is sufficient.

INGREDIENTS

For the flavoring paste

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 large cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon adobo sauce from a can of chipotle chiles

1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lime juice

For the steak

1-1/2 pounds whole beef tenderloin, cut from the center

Reserved flavoring paste (optional)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Ground black pepper, to taste

Mesquite wood, mesquite charcoal, or briquettes and soaked mesquite chips

DIRECTIONS

Make the flavoring paste. Place all the ingredients for the flavoring paste in a molcajete or mortar and pestle and grind to a paste.

Prepare the steak. If you are using the flavoring paste, brush it all over the steak about 3 hours before cooking and refrigerate. Whether you use the flavoring paste or not, about an hour before cooking, brush the entire steak with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Grill the steak. If you are using mesquite chips, cover them with water 20 minutes before cooking. Allow the coals to burn to the point that they are not quite raging hot. The goal is to grill the steak fairly slowly for a total of 30–35 minutes for medium-rare, so check frequently. If the underside is quite charred after 2-1/2 minutes, the coals are a little too hot, so move the meat to one side. Continue grilling, giving the meat a quarter turn at least every 5 minutes, until it is done as you like it. After grilling, allow the steak to sit for 10 minutes under a loose aluminum foil tent, then cut it into 4 pieces and serve.

PER SERVING

Imperial Valley Carne Asada

4 servings

Like many rural border areas, California’s Imperial Valley has its own culture, and its unique Carne Asada is a great example. The recipe was originally made with flank steak, later with skirt steak, and recently with loin flap meat that is cut and pounded thin and marinated with lemony concoctions for at least 24 hours. Produced mostly by small independent grocery stores in El Centro, Brawley, and Heber, the recipes are carefully guarded secrets.

Unimpressed after trying Internet versions purporting to be the real thing, I went to the source. At each market I bought a steak and grilled it for dinner. Each was slightly different, but they all had an interesting balance of citrus and salt, and all of them were significantly better than the Internet recipes. After a lot of questions and a few tries, I was able to come very close to my favorite version, the one sold at Kennedy Market in Heber. The biggest problem was that I wanted to use flank steak because it is so lean. It is also tough and better suited to braising than grilling. Instead of using a commercial tenderizer, all of which include spices that give an unpleasant artificial taste, I turned to the more natural tenderizer often used in Chinese cooking: baking soda. That, an initial salting, and some pounding and manual tenderizing with a fork (or one of the spring-loaded devices with thin, razor-sharp blades) worked well. You could buy machine-tenderized flank steak, but it is more difficult to cut to the proper thickness and will have a poorer texture. I know that 1/4 pound per person doesn’t seem like much, but the steaks are so thin and so highly seasoned that they give the illusion of being much larger. Although it is high in sodium because of the baking soda and marinating, the recipe is so unusual and low in calories that I find it an interesting treat.

INGREDIENTS

1 (1-pound or a little more) flank steak, fairly thin

3 teaspoons salt

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 cup orange juice

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup water

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried leaf oregano

1 tablespoon dried cilantro

4 cloves garlic

1/2 medium-sized serrano chile, chopped

Zest of 2 lemons

2 tablespoons canola oil

DIRECTIONS

Slice and pound the meat. The steak will probably be somewhere between 1/2- and 3/4-inch thick. The first task is to cut it into 2 pieces that will be between 1/4- and 1/3-inch thick, and that is easier than you might think. It is particularly easy if the meat is partially frozen. Lay the meat on your work surface and hold the blade of a long, very sharp knife in the middle of one of the short ends of the meat, parallel to the work surface. Keeping the knife parallel, carefully slice the meat in half to form the two thinner pieces. You will need to hold the meat firmly in place with your other hand, so make sure you keep it even with, or behind the knife’s cutting edge to avoid being cut if you make a mistake. Place each piece of meat on the work surface between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound to less than 1/4 inch with a meat mallet or the bottom of a small iron skillet.

Salt and tenderize the meat. Using a total of 2 teaspoons salt, season both sides of each piece of meat and refrigerate it for 1-1/2 hours. Rinse as much salt as possible from the meat and dry it with paper towels. Sprinkle an equal amount of the baking soda over both sides of each piece of meat and rub it in with your fingers. With a fork or, much better, with one of the tenderizing devices mentioned above, jab the meat repeatedly on each side. This will make the meat still thinner and tenderize it without ruining the texture. Place the meat in a glass bowl or large zipper bag.

Marinate the meat. Put the juices, water, pepper, oregano, cilantro, garlic, serrano, and remaining 1 teaspoon salt into a blender and purée. Stir in the lemon zest and oil. Pour the marinade over the meat in a zipper bag or nonreactive bowl (covered), and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Grill the meat. Remove the meat from the marinade, dry it thoroughly, and scrape off any of the dried cilantro. Heat the grill as hot as it will get, brush the meat with the oil, and grill it to medium-rare.

PER SERVING

Grilled Top Sirloin

4 servings

Top sirloin is a terrific choice in terms of taste, tenderness, calories, fat, and price. It is also easy to grill. However, this recipe is almost more about the marinade than the meat. Putting aside the debate advanced by some of my northern Mexican friends as to whether marinades should be used at all with beef, I have long searched for one that will do no more than enhance the natural flavor and do that well. While I previously published the marinades I liked at the time, I always had the feeling that something was missing—until this one, which has the added advantage of pairing well with chicken, pork, and even fish. It intentionally uses very little salt and no black pepper, so those can be applied as usual just prior to grilling. The end result is especially sensitive to changes in the amount of soy sauce (which enhances browning) and lime juice, so if you want a less bold result, just use a little less of them.

Marinated or not, the top sirloin is a great cut to make everything from a steak entrée to an al carbón (charbroiled) filling for tacos or burritos and is much leaner and a good substitute for the skirt steak used to make fajitas. It also heats up well in a microwave at half power. If you plan to do that, I suggest you leave it a little more rare than usual when you grill it.

INGREDIENTS

For the marinade

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 tablespoon pure ancho chile powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon chopped canned chipotle chile

1/2 tablespoon lower-sodium soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice

1/2 cup canola oil

Reserved marinade, if using

1 very lean choice top sirloin steak fillet, 1-1/4 pounds, cut 3/4- to 1-inch thick

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Black pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS

Make the marinade (optional). Put all the marinade ingredients in a blender and purée, about 1 minute.

Marinate the steak (optional). Put the steak and marinade in a zipper bag and refrigerate for at least 3 and up to 24 hours.

Grill the steak. Season both sides of the steak with salt and pepper and grill it over a hot fire, turning it once, until it is as done as you like it.

PER SERVING

Steak Tampiqueña

4 servings

This popular dish was invented by famous restaurateur José Inéz Loredo. He moved from Tampico to Mexico City in 1929, where he opened the famous Tampico Club and served the steak he had learned to prepare in his hometown. Like so many things in the food world, there is controversy about the composition of the original dish. Whichever version is correct, Steak Tampiqueña has evolved into a glorious combination plate, where everything is optional except the specially cut thin steak, traditionally tenderloin, that is served with various antojitos, beans, rice, and rajas.

The concept provides the basis for one of the most individually creative and delicious meals ever. If you choose the right accompaniments, it can have an excellent nutrition profile. Because of the other items on the plate, as well as the way the steak is cut, the meat portion can be fairly small, 3-1/2–4 ounces, yet still produce a satisfying meal. Bear in mind that a very lean 4-ounce tenderloin has about 120 calories, which allows another 280 calories if you are aiming at a meal totaling 450 calories—an amazingly low count for such a feast! One of my favorite versions is to add just an enchilada or two for steak and enchiladas. This also works nicely with the Grilled Top Sirloin.

Following is the recipe for the steak and calorie counts for recommended accompaniments, so you can pick whatever combination works for you.

INGREDIENTS

4 (1/4-pound) lean tenderloin steaks, preferably from the middle or small end, about 1-3/4–2 inches thick

Juice from one lime

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Canola oil, as necessary

DIRECTIONS

Put one of the steaks on its side with the wide portion (normally the top or bottom of the steak) now becoming the side. Starting at the top, about 1/3-inch from one end, with a sharp boning knife, slice straight down, stopping about 1/3-inch from the bottom. Leaving the blade where it is, turn the steak so that the blade is once again at the high point, and once again cut toward—but not all the way to—the bottom. Keep doing this until you have basically unrolled the steak into one piece of meat about 1/3-inch thick. You can smooth out any uneven places by gently pounding the meat. Just before cooking, brush the meat with the lime juice and sprinkle on some salt. Repeat with the other steaks.

Either broil the steaks over very hot coals or sauté them on a very hot griddle or in a skillet with just a little oil.

Serve the steaks with one or more of the items in the list to below.

▸ 1/2 cup Mexican Rice (page 61; 220 calories)

▸ 1/2 cup Refried Beans (page 67; 160 calories)

▸ 1 Spinach Quesadilla (page 146; 180 calories)

▸ 1 Interior-style Enchilada (page 137; 110 calories)

▸ 1/4 recipe of one of the Rajas (pages 70–71; Grilled, 30 calories; Seared, 110; or Caramelized, 150)

▸ 1/4 recipe Guacamole (page 59; 80 calories)