I went with two soft tacos, one of huitlacoche, one of flor de
cabeza. The waiter opined that that would not be enough, so I
added enchiladas en mole.

I'm not sure that either of us have had soft tacos.

A taco is just something wrapped up in a tortilla,
so I'm sure you have. Fajitas, for example, are
do-it-yourself tacos using wheat tortillas. Enchiladas
are rolled tacos in sauce. Hard u-shaped tacos are a
USAn invention, but their crunchy appeal has made
them popular lots of other places as well - even in
Mexico as tacos dorados or flautas, tortillas wrapped
around meat and fried, which is sensible, as the filling
won't fall into your lap, have been popular for quite a
while.

rather suave and delicate soup. Here, the fungitude was in full
bloom, with a smell reminding one of old books, blue cheese, and
the kind of unspeakableness that you find in long-abandoned
basements.
It wasn't my favorite.

Why am I not surprised. What I am surprised at is that you ordered it
at all, given the description.

I was hoping for slightly less overripe huitlacoche.

You might also question my choice of zucchini flower,
but all I can say is that the flowers taste different
from the gourd itself (similarly to how cilantro leaves,
stems, seeds, and roots all have different flavors).

The enchiladas de mole were filled with white meat chicken, this

<<SNIP>>

dehydrated stringy protein. The mole was less complex than what I'd
had homemade but better than from a jar. It was heavily chocolaty and cinnamoned. Some clove, some herbs. Lots of unidentifiable hot pepper,

I have had a mole dish once at a Mexican restaurant near us. They claim

Mole just means smooth-pounded sauce - here the "poblano"
variety with chocolate and cinnamon is the one best
known. At Xochi in Houston, one of my favorite places
to eat, you can get a sampler plate of all seven moles
they offer with tortillas for dipping for the excessive
price of I believe $15. As I recall, in addition to the
chocolate one there are yellow and red moles in addition
to one whose lemony-sour and nutty taste comes from the
main ingredient, which is roasted ants.

to be more than Tex-Mex. It was pork chop with mole sauce and I thought
it was pretty good. Gail has said that she does not like mole sauce.
Perhaps that goes back to when we bought a jar of mole sauce. Had one

Another factor of course is what you put it on: pork
seems to be a very friendly vehicle for many such sauces.

spoon full and decided it tasted like dirt -- tossed the rest of the
jar.

Hah - I'd not have thrown it out without making a
serious effort to fix it.>

Title: Stewed Eggplant
1/2 ts Caraway seeds, bruised

I've not tried this with caraway, but my instinct
would be to substitute cumin; as I've said here, I
generally love cumin but distrust caraway and dill.

Ismail Merchant, "Indian Cuisine"
... D/L from: Salata *Redondo Beach, CA (310)-543-0439 (1:102/125)

Bonnie's good buddy from school Dick Robbins was
close colleagues with Ismail and James, so she often
was one of the few women invited to their dinners, and
she had the opportunity to taste many of those dishes,
some of which she has tried to recreate for me,
especially the ones with eggplant, because she is very
aware as you are of my fondness for that vegetable.

I find the Merchant Ivory recipes somewhat gently seasoned
in a comfortingly hazy way, similarly to (from what I can
tell from having seen one of their movies) their
cinematography. That may be partially because of Bonnie's
rose-colored recollections of those days.

---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.01

Title: Buttered Saffron Rice
Categories: India, Rice/grains
Yield: 6 servings

2 ts Saffron, leaf saffron 2 c Rice, basmati
2 tb Milk, warm 4 tb Butter
1 tb Salt

"The darker (the redder) the saffron colour, the better the quality. It
usually comes from Spain, but the best, really expensive stuff, is grown
in
Kashmir, where I went to see it growing. There are many different grades.
Watch out for fake or dyed saffron. Buy it from a reputable source. To
use
it in a recipe, I roast it in a cast-iron pan until it's crisp to draw
out
the colour, then crumble it lukewarm milk and let it sit for three to
four
hours."

Place saffron in small, dry, hot pan over medium heat about 1 minute or
just until fragrant. Crumble into milk.

Fill large pot with about 13 cups water; add salt and bring to boil.

Meanwhile, place rice in medium bowl and cover with cold water.
Immediately
drain rice through colander. Wash and drain two more times.

When water is boils, add rice and stir once; bring to boil. Cook 5
minutes;
rice should be slightly hard in the centre.

Drain in colander and place in oven proof dish. Drizzle saffron milk over
rice, tossing over a couple of times very gently. Divide butter into four
pieces; place over rice.

Cut pieces of aluminium foil 2 inches larger than rim of dish; place on
top
of dish; place lid on foil. Bake in preheated 300F oven 40 to 50 minutes,
checking after 40 minutes to see if rice is cooked.

Serve saffron-coloured streaked rice spooned on warmed platter. SERVES:6

SOURCE: MAdhur Jaffrey, published in Toronto Star posted by Anne
MacLellan

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