Orts from Amie
Prepare the piñatas, smash your avocados and fire up the mariachi band. Cinco de Mayo is cinco days away and have I got a buffet for you!
The Official Cook & Tell ¡Olé! Buffet Menu:
The Mexican Dish Straight from LA
Citrus Salad with Honey Dressing
Key Lime Margarita Pie
Just so you know, it’s not just a clever name. The Mexican dish did, in fact, come straight from LA. The story goes like this:
I landed at LAX on May, 5, 1987 with a green footlocker of clothes, no job, no car, and fifty bucks to my name. And true to its Hispanic heritage, the Southland was going off.
“Happy Cinco de Mayo!” said Cindy, my former Maine-now-California-roommate who’d followed her parents out to Orange County the year before.
“Cinco de what?” I laughed, clueless. “I thought everyone was celebrating my move to the West Coast.”
I had arrived in a land where summers lasted all year, I soon discovered, where Sade’s Diamond Life album—our soundtrack on perpetual repeat—came true. I had a closetful of miniskirts and very big hair and I drove to my new secretarial job in a copper colored shitbox of a VW Rabbit until it blew up on the 55 Freeway. I may have cooked a few things, I can’t be sure--those were my blurred twenties, after all. Cindy’s dear mom, Ann, quickly became my California mom, and she made this Mexican casserole for us. A lot. So it was only fitting to share it with my mom, Karyl, on another coast 3,000 miles and seemingly, a lifetime away. My mom, the lover of words and food, gave it the lengthy name that we still use today and, naturally, shared it with her Cook & Tell readers. And now I’m sharing it with you!
Amie’s Friend Cindy’s Mother Ann’s Mexican Dish Straight from LA
1 lb. ground beef (why not go meatless? Impossible Ground “Beef” works well here)
1 taco seasoning packet
½ c. water
4 wheat tortillas
2 c. salsa (jarred, or homemade)
8 oz. sour cream (or sub Greek yogurt)
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
Sliced green onions and sliced black olives
Brown the beef; add in the taco seasoning and water and simmer 4-5 minutes. Place one tortilla on the bottom of a 2-quart casserole dish, then layer meat, salsa, sour cream, shredded cheese, repeating until ingredients are gone and finishing with cheese.
Top with garnish of olives and scallions. Bake at 300◦ F. for 30 minutes.
Note: the beef allotment may look a bit spotty at first, but everything gets quite friendly and mixes up in the heating and eating.
Citrus Salad with Honey Dressing
Margarita Key Lime Pie
Need more food that rhymes? Here’s a Chicken mole entrée I tested for the buffet. (see what I did there?)
Even more? Hooray for ¡Olé! Elote Soup!
MOMentos
Our last Orts issue asked readers to submit their cherished kitchen favorites and did they ever! In an early salute to mothers everywhere, I now present the awards for best reader submissions:
First Place: Sue F, with a foodie travel tradition I am totally stealing
I always try to purchase something for my kitchen when I am traveling, so every time I use them, I reflect on my journeys. My kids now do the same thing. It's almost always something small, like a wooden spoon or measuring cups, that can easily fit into my suitcase but bring smiles and fond memories for years to come.
Second Place: Beth N, because we all know no family gathering is complete without Jell-O
I could never part with my Mom’s old “Penguin”. (Anyone else ever have one? It’s a double walled stainless steel covered bowl-type container with penguins stamped onto the outside.) At least once or twice every summer I pull it out, fill it with jello topped with whipped cream, and bring it to a family gathering at the lake. Oh, the memories it evokes….🐧
Third Place: Norma T & the rule of threes
I use my Granma’s chopper to make chopped herring. And I use my mother, Bessie’s recipe: 3 generations in a wooden bowl.
Personal to Norma: I’m still working up my courage to try your chopped herring recipe…
Honorable Mention: Amy W for putting Descoware on my radar
My cherished kitchen item is the set of Descoware that I grew up using, all pieces my mom received as a young cook.
Most original photoshoot:
My mom’s old tube pan from Sears. I remember many fine chiffon and Angel food cakes, as well as Italian ciambelle, emerging from it.
Be sure to check out Domenica’s newsletter,
, the ultimate go-to for Italian food. With a name like this, how could it not be authentic?
YUM. I would be tempted to double the Mexican dish recipe and turn it into a Mexican lasagna. Key Lime Pie is in my top 3 favorite pies (it might actually be #1). I love it so. Thank you for sharing the pic of my mom's old footed tube pan, as well as the link to BD xox
Love this menu—I'm craving key lime pie now!