Mexican Recipes: Huevos a la Mexicana

Put two tablespoonfuls of butter in a saucepan. Add four tablespoonfuls of finely chopped onion and shake until the onion is soft, but not brown. Then add four Spanish peppers cut in strips, a dash of red pepper and a half pint of tomatoes; the tomatoes should be in rather solid pieces. Add a seasoning of pepper and salt. Let this cook slowly. When the eggs are ready to serve, put two tablespoonfuls of this sauce at each side of the dish, and send at once to the table.

Emparadas

Take some beans cooked as in Mexican Beans No. 1 and mash them to a paste. Then roll out some puff paste very thin--about the sixth of an inch--cut this into rounds with a large patty cutter, put a spoonful of the bean purée on the half of each round, wet the edges of the pastry, cover, press the edges together, making a half moon, brush them over with beaten egg and bake in a hot oven, or they may be fried in boiling oil or fat until a delicate brown.

Mexican Beans II

Soak over night a pint of beans and boil as in Mexican Beans I until soft. Then melt a tablespoonful of butter in a spider; when it bubbles put in a small onion chopped very fine, and fry a delicate brown. Drain the beans and turn them into the spider, add a cup of boiling water and stir until the water becomes thick like cream.

Mexican Beans I

Put one cup of Bayo or Mexican red beans to soak over night, in the morning drain off the water and put them in a saucepan with plenty of fresh water, let them cook for two hours, drain again, and add to them three fresh tomatoes, skinned and cut small, or a cup of canned tomatoes, and half an onion cut as small as the beans, then cover with boiling water and cook for one hour. Then stir in a very generous tablespoonful of butter, and salt and pepper to taste.

Mexican Recipes: Potato Papa

Wash, pare and boil one dozen small white potatoes, mash while hot and add to them half a cup of raisins stoned and chopped very fine, twenty large Queen olives stoned and chopped fine, one tablespoonful of parsley finely minced, an even teaspoonful of sugar, and salt and pepper to taste.

Mix all well together, form into an oblong shape, leaving the top rough. Brown a little butter in a spider, put the papa into it, and after a few moments' frying scatter little lumps of butter over the top and set in the oven to brown.

Garnish with parsley and hard-boiled eggs cut in quarters lengthwise.

Spanish Beefsteak

Cut the steak into pieces the size desired for serving. Place these pieces on a meat board and sprinkle liberally with flour. With a wooden corrugated mallet beat the flour into the steak. Fry the steak in a pan with olive oil. In another frying pan, at the same time, fry three good-sized onions and three green peppers. When the steak is cooked sufficiently put it to one side of the pan and let the oil run to the other side. On the oil pour sufficient water to cover the meat and add the onions and peppers, letting all simmer for a few minutes. Serve on hot platter.

This recipe is from "Bohemian San Francisco", by Clarence E. Edwords, 1914

Refried Beans

* beans, especially pinto beans or black beans
* home-rendered lard

1. If using dried beans, wash them and examine them for any rocks, then cover with water in a medium pot and simmer until they are very soft. You'll need to cook the beans a long time on very low heat. You may add salt to the water. You may add onion halves or a ham bone, which you can remove at the end. You may wish to soak the beans overnight in the refrigerator before cooking them. Expect the cooking to take at least 3 hours, if not 6 or more.
2. If using canned beans, rinse them. Try to make sure they are not slimy or too salty.
3. Get a large wide pot or tall-sided frying pan.
4. Smash the beans, perhaps with a potato masher.
5. Add home-rendered lard, totaling up to 20% of the total. (25% of the amount prior to adding)
6. Fry the beans, stirring and turning them until they thicken as desired.

This recipe is from Wikibooks. This text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (see Copyrights for details).