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Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with festive flair in this fun video with Martha Stewart! Martha shares her favorite recipes for the occasion, including flavorful street corn, classic margaritas, cheesy quesadillas, and hearty breakfast burritos. Whether you're hosting a party or enjoying a cozy meal at home, these easy, crowd-pleasing dishes bring bold Mexican-inspired flavors to your table.
Transcript
00:00Now, here is an alternative method of eating corn that I find utterly delicious.
00:06I went to Mexico City last year, and I couldn't believe how fabulous the Mexican street corn was.
00:13It's served on sticks like that, and the corn is coated with either sour cream or a tablespoon or so of mayonnaise.
00:26Hot corn. Just slather on the mayo.
00:31Ugh, so good.
00:34And now sprinkle with a little cayenne pepper all over,
00:39and roll this corn right into queso fresco, Mexican white cheese.
00:48And serve that just like that with some wedges of fresh lime.
00:55That's Mexican corn on the cob.
00:58It's best to spread the condiments on the corn while it's still hot,
01:01and that'll ensure that the fats will melt in between the kernels, providing even more succulent eating.
01:07I love tacos. I like chicken tacos, pork tacos, beef tacos, cheese tacos.
01:12But have you ever even thought of tacos filled with garlicky Mexican greens?
01:17They're a favorite of Rick Bayless, who says that he first tasted them at a market stall in Toluca,
01:23where they're considered old-fashioned peasant food.
01:25And I'm so glad you're here today, Rick.
01:27Thank you very much.
01:28You've seen Rick on the show before.
01:29He's a regular.
01:30We like to think of him as that anyway.
01:31And so what's the salsa that goes with this green taco?
01:34A little roasted tomatillo and chipotle salsa, so it's got a nice smoky edge to it.
01:39Can I promote your books for you?
01:40Please, I would love for you to.
01:42Authentic Mexican, really, really fine.
01:45Mexico, one plate at a time, which I love because it's so good.
01:49And Rick, of course, owns Frontera Grill in Chicago, and also Tampolo Bampo, I always say it wrong.
01:55Tampolo Bampo.
01:56Yeah, Tampolo Bampo.
01:57And Mexican Kitchen.
01:59I love this.
02:00Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen.
02:01I love this book, too.
02:02Okay, we've got to start tacos with tortillas, right?
02:05I mean, that's the base of it.
02:06And in Mexico, of course, they're always making theirs out of soft corn tortillas.
02:11But these aren't soft.
02:12These were made ahead.
02:13And so if you're going to buy corn tortillas in the grocery store, you're going to get ones that were made ahead.
02:17But we have to have a way of reheating them.
02:19And my favorite way is, first of all, to make sure that none of them are stuck together.
02:23So make sure that you've pulled them all apart.
02:25Then wrap them in a clean kitchen towel.
02:27I've got water boiling here, vegetable steamer.
02:29Yeah, how high?
02:30How medium high?
02:31Yeah, we want that to go for about, I'd say, a minute or so.
02:34And then we'll turn it off and just let it sit until we're finished.
02:36I like to let them sit for about 15 minutes.
02:38Okay, so I'm going to enter this pot of boiling water here, plunge some Swiss chard, which is a good...
02:47Should I just plunge it?
02:48Yes, please, please.
02:49It's always available, so it's easy to do.
02:52It'll cook for about, I'd say, a minute or so.
02:55Let's poke them all down in there so that they get completely submerged.
03:00And while those are cooking, we've got a hot pan filmed with a little bit of olive oil.
03:05And then I'm going to put a white onion in here to saute.
03:08Now, white onion because it has that clean, crisp flavor.
03:12You always use white onion.
03:13And that's what they love in Mexico, not yellow onions as much as white.
03:16Did you soak it in water or not?
03:17No, this one is just, because we're going to saute it.
03:19Yeah.
03:20You don't really have to do that.
03:21But if you're eating it raw, you always put it in ice water.
03:22Always, always put it in ice water.
03:23Sometimes with just a little dash of vinegar.
03:25Kind of, well, it takes away some of its strength, some of its heat.
03:29So we'll let that saute, because this takes about 10 minutes.
03:32Yes.
03:33And that's what it cooks down to.
03:34It cooks down, and we want it to get a nice little bit of brown going there.
03:38And I've got a few cloves of garlic.
03:40This is to suit your own taste if you like a lot of garlic.
03:43Lots of garlic.
03:44Then put that in there.
03:45This is four cloves of garlic.
03:46How about the Swiss chard?
03:47I think it's just about ready, but you know what?
03:49I'm going to poke it down a little bit more.
03:51Now, we want this to be tender.
03:53We want it to cook long enough for those central stalks.
03:55But you could use kale.
03:56You could use collards.
03:57Perfect collards.
03:58You could use any of the escaroles, couldn't you?
04:01That's exactly right.
04:02Why don't I just take it out here so that everybody can see that there's still leaves.
04:06I'll tell you what I think is the way to tell when it's done, is when you can test
04:11that central bit of stalk that's there, and if it's still got just a nice crisp tenderness
04:16to it, not too soft, not too hard, then it's just right.
04:19Yeah, that's good.
04:20See?
04:21Just done.
04:22And then what?
04:23Lay this out to cool?
04:24We're going to lay it out to cool.
04:25We'll let this cook for about a minute just to cook the garlic enough to take a little
04:30of the pungency away and bring up the sweetness.
04:33And we're ready to chop those greens.
04:36So you really let, you don't put water on these?
04:42No, I just like to let them cool.
04:44You know, it's one of those health things.
04:46You're washing away a lot of vitamins when you rinse them, so I like to just lay things
04:50out and let them cool by themselves.
04:51I totally agree.
04:52Beautiful.
04:53Now you've got the beautiful aromas of the garlic coming here.
04:55We want to roughly chop the Swiss chard, so I'm going to put that out here.
05:00Any oil on that?
05:01No, this is just done.
05:02We've got a little bit of oil in the pan, and that's going to be the only oil that this
05:05dish is really ever going to see.
05:07I like to cut them across in about half-inch pieces.
05:11We'll combine them.
05:12Oh, this smells so good, Rick.
05:13And wait until you get the flavor of this with that smoky salsa.
05:20A little bit of that there.
05:23Now that's really all there is to this, but we need to go back here to our tortillas.
05:30They're going to take a few minutes to kind of finish their reconstituting, their re-moistening.
05:35We'll just turn them off.
05:36So we'll let those go, and then we're ready to form our tortillas.
05:40So you could add cilantro to that, but we're going to use it fresh?
05:43You could.
05:44We're going to use it fresh just to make little tacos with a garnish of cilantro.
05:48Now let's take a look at these.
05:50They've sat for about 15 minutes or so.
05:53We'll pull them out.
05:54We're going to transfer them to a towel over there in that bowl.
05:59How do you think?
06:00How do they look?
06:01Yeah, they look good.
06:02Yeah, they're very, very nice.
06:03So they really have reconstituted.
06:05Yeah.
06:06Now these are homemade tortillas.
06:07These are ones that I brought from the restaurant because we make them from scratch there.
06:11Well, let's cover these up for a second while we finish the greens, and they'll stay warm in there for quite some time.
06:17Now what kind of cheese is this?
06:18That's called cotija.
06:19It's an imported Mexican cheese that has a kind of, well, a pungency that's a little bit like Romano, like pecorino Romano.
06:28And I love that.
06:30It's very good against the spiciness of the salsa.
06:35I love the Mexican cheese.
06:36So we're going to just take a little bit of this and crumble it up.
06:38You crumble it by hand.
06:39You could put it into a food processor for one or two, but you don't need to.
06:43It's very, very easy like that.
06:44If you could pass me a plate.
06:46Everybody's going to want one of these.
06:48Including me.
06:49Start making them.
06:51Okay.
06:52So we'll put a little bit of our garlicky Mexican greens here, right in the middle.
06:59And a spoonful of this chipotle roasted tomatillo salsa over that.
07:05How much cheese?
07:06Just a sprinkling?
07:07Yep.
07:08Perfect.
07:09And then just roll that up and taste that.
07:12Now I'll tell you, that's, again, a very healthy dish, but also simple to make.
07:19Sometimes this is what I want for lunch and nothing else.
07:22Mmm.
07:23What do you think?
07:25Mmm.
07:26You like spicy.
07:27And I know I made the salsa kind of spicy.
07:30Pretty fabulous.
07:31Is it good?
07:32Mmm.
07:33The nice earthiness of that corn tortilla.
07:35Well, another fantastic, authentic Mexican dish from Rick Bayless.
07:40And don't despair, the salsa recipe is going to be on our website at MarthaStewart.com.
07:44Absolutely.
07:45And which book is it in?
07:46That salsa comes from Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen.
07:49Okay, good.
07:50That's the book.
07:51Good.
07:52Well, thank you.
07:53I can have another, please.
07:54Okay.
07:55Right here it is.
07:56It's like fun.
07:57You have to take advantage of it.
07:59Thank you very much.
08:00There are many stories when it comes to the origin of Mexico's most famous drink, the
08:04margarita.
08:05And they all have one thing in common, a beautiful woman named Margaret.
08:09And while no one is certain who the real Margaret was, I am certain that the best margarita
08:14is made by my friend Tori, who lives in Maine.
08:17Her version is frozen and the secret is infusing the simple syrup with lime rind.
08:22And here it is, right here.
08:24Margaritas are comprised of many flavors.
08:27There is the tart and sour flavor of the freshly squeezed limes, the bittersweet of the orange
08:32liqueurs, the complexity of the agave, that's the tequila, and the slightly salty edge provided
08:38by the salting of the glasses.
08:41Now, this is called the Skylands margarita.
08:44You cut one lime into six wedges.
08:47You've already squeezed a couple of limes so that you have fresh lime juice.
08:52And you've made your infused syrup of sugar, water, and lime rind.
08:58It's one cup of sugar to one cup of water to the rind, taken off with a stripper of at least one lime.
09:06And use one of these wedges for each of your glasses and gently rub the exterior of your glass with the fresh lime juice.
09:17And Tori always uses a very coarse sea salt on the outside of her glasses.
09:25I think she'd approve of these very pretty little depression glass ringed glasses.
09:30And she lets them dry like that.
09:33Oh, don't forget, put your wedge of lime in the glass.
09:36And if you don't like the salt, you can omit this step, of course.
09:41But salting the rims is a very traditional and, I think, a very important part of the margarita.
09:49And now fill your blender jar three quarters full of ice.
10:05Add a quarter of a cup of freshly squeezed lime juice.
10:09A half a bottle, one and three quarters cups of Sousa Commemorativo or Cuervo 1800 tequila.
10:17Now the choice of your tequila is very important.
10:21One and three quarters cups.
10:24Tori has gotten very fond of this wonderful commemorativo.
10:34And your sugar syrup.
10:37Start off with about three tablespoons of your syrup.
10:43You can taste it after you've done the first blending for sweetness.
10:47Some people like them very sweet.
10:49Some people like them a little bit tarter.
10:53And you're going to use a quarter of a cup of Cointreau and a quarter of a cup of Grand Marnier.
11:00Mixing the two just pleases everybody.
11:07And now blend on low and then blend on high.
11:15Something about margaritas that just makes you smile.
11:21And now I'm going to taste a little bit of this mix.
11:34I'm going to add a little shot more of the syrup.
11:40And you're ready to pour your margaritas right into your salt-encrusted goblets.
11:54Fill them right up to the brim.
11:56Serve them.
11:57And you'll get those glasses back empty real quickly.
12:03It's a very delectable margarita.
12:05The Skylands.
12:07And there's another drink that I love to make.
12:09It's also a margarita.
12:11It's a beautiful blue version from the newest book called the Hordeaux of Handbook.
12:15And this margarita gets its luminous color from Curacao, a liquor flavored with the dried bitter peel of oranges.
12:23So to prepare the margarita, cut a lime in half and salt the rims of your glasses.
12:31Now for this margarita, use a great big impressive looking glass.
12:36The bigger the glass, kind of the prettier the presentation.
12:39And I'm just rubbing the cut side of the lime on the edge of the goblet.
12:44And I'm dabbing it into kosher salt.
12:48That looks very pretty.
12:51And I'm going to be using a Cuervo 1800 tequila.
12:55It's a very tasty, rather expensive tequila.
13:00But the flavor is worth it.
13:03And we're going to shake this margarita, not blend it.
13:06And I'm going to use a cocktail shaker.
13:09I've been collecting these old silver cocktail shakers at tag sales.
13:13You'll be surprised how many of these you can find.
13:16And they're just so pretty.
13:18So now we're going to add into here a half shaker full of ice.
13:22And to the shaker, I'm going to add four ounces of tequila.
13:31That'll give us two blue margaritas this size.
13:41And we need one ounce of triple sec.
13:43That's an orange flavored liqueur.
13:45You can, of course, use Cointreau or Grand Marnier.
13:48And we're going to need two ounces of that beautiful, brilliant blue curacao.
14:04Legend has it that that blue color originally came from the crushed carapace of blue beetles.
14:12Oh, I've never seen those blue beetles.
14:15So I don't know.
14:16And a quarter of a cup, don't forget, freshly squeezed lime juice.
14:21And one teaspoon of superfine sugar.
14:26Shake hard for about 30 seconds.
14:31I have to shake really hard for 30 seconds.
14:38Ooh, it's cold.
14:40And now just pour this beautiful drink into your beautiful glass.
14:50Isn't that pretty?
14:51It's a wonderful summertime drink and very colorful at the beach.
14:56Have a good time.
14:57Bye.
14:58Whether you have a cast iron kamal like this or a griddle just to put on your burners, this
15:04is the way to warm tortillas.
15:06And to keep them warm throughout the meal, try using a wonderful tortilla basket.
15:11This beautifully woven and patterned basket was brought from Mexico by Lucinda Scala Quinn,
15:17our TV food editor.
15:18And she's had it for years.
15:20And the cloth, traditional Mexican weaving.
15:22So when your tortillas, corn tortillas or flour tortillas are warm, just stack them right in the basket.
15:30And they are so delicious like this.
15:32And they should be kept before they're warmed under a damp cloth.
15:37And in Mexico, they use clay kamals like this.
15:41But whatever you use to warm them up, Teflon works perfectly okay.
15:46And you will have delicious tortillas.
15:50Don't overcook them because you don't want them to get brittle.
15:55Keep them nice and warm.
15:57If you were going to roast vegetables too, by the way, you can use these griddles.
16:02We have some gorgeous peppers over here.
16:05These could be roasted right on the griddle.
16:12So there we have our big stack of tortillas in here.
16:17And they really stay nice and warm and nice and moist down in the center.
16:21Look, pliable, warm, perfect for our salsas, our dips, and whatever else we're serving on the buffet.
16:31So this goes right to the buffet.
16:34Our paper cutouts are our decoration on the counter.
16:39We have the ring glasses that look so cute here.
16:42The brightly colored flowers in the fiesta wear containers.
16:47Grandma's fiesta wear plates.
16:49It's one time that I really feel great using them when I'm serving Mexican food.
16:54And if you're serving limeade or margaritas, make your delicious drink.
16:59And a big container like this is perfect.
17:02But don't dilute it with a lot of ice.
17:04Let guests fill their glasses with ice and serve themselves a tasty...
17:11Well, this is limeade.
17:13And we have salsa, we have mango salsa, we have a beautiful guacamole with tomatilla.
17:19Well, now I think, before my guests arrive, I think I will just try one of these tortillas.
17:25And this gorgeous-looking avocado, white onion, and tomatilla salsa.
17:31This comes from Zarela's cookbook.
17:34And it is absolutely superb.
17:38Just make sure my guests will be happy.
17:43Mmm, buen provecho.
17:48Ay, muy bueno.
17:50Quesadilla are pan-grilled Mexican tortilla sandwiches, usually filled with cheese.
17:55Often in the United States, they're made by folding one tortilla around a filling,
17:59or sandwiching two tortillas together, which is what I like to do.
18:03Today, I'm going to show you how to make flour tortillas, and how to use them for my version of quesadilla.
18:09First, you have to combine three cups of all-purpose flour, and I'm using a Hecker's unbleached flour.
18:16And one teaspoon of salt, a half a teaspoon of fresh baking powder, and a half a cup of vegetable shortening.
18:31I found the Crisco stick in the market, and it's a really handy way to use Crisco, especially if you need only a half a cup.
18:38Most of us don't use that much shortening, so to be able to buy it in small quantities is a very good thing.
18:45So just cut this up into smaller pieces, and then break it up with your pastry blender,
18:50so that the mixture resembles kind of like a coarse oatmeal.
18:54When the mixture is the right texture, then you're going to add three-quarters of a cup of warm water, about 115 degrees.
19:09So here's a nice coarse texture. Now add your water, and with your fingers, work it into a ball.
19:21Okay, now I can knead it on a floured board.
19:28Push with the heel of your hand, and keep turning the dough back onto itself for approximately five minutes.
19:39Cover it and let it rest for at least a half an hour.
19:43An easy way to do this, if you don't want to wrap it up, and you can keep this right at room temperature,
19:48is just invert the bowl right over the dough, and it can just stay for half an hour on your board.
19:54Here's some dough that's rested. You can see how nice and smooth it is.
19:59This can be divided into eight pieces. Cut it with a pastry cutter.
20:05And then this is formed into balls. And these little balls will rest for approximately 45 minutes.
20:17And then you're ready to roll them out. Keep these little balls covered, as I have right here.
20:23These are all ready to roll. So on a lightly floured surface,
20:28and try to use as little flour as possible.
20:33These are great little rolling pins, specifically made for rolling out pizzas or tortillas.
20:43I love watching the Mexican ladies in the marketplace making their tortillas.
20:53They would have had five done in the time that it's taken me to make this one.
20:57But practice makes perfect.
21:01Well there you have a very nice thin flour tortilla.
21:05Now what I do is just stack them between pieces of parchment paper.
21:11Well here I have a nice stack of tortillas ready to cook.
21:15Now in an iron pan that's been heated on the stove.
21:19This is a number 10, which is a good big pan.
21:23Tortillas will cook right in the pan.
21:27Not too long, because you really want them to look like this when they're done.
21:33Flip it over.
21:38And now I'd like to show you how to make the quesadilla.
21:42While you're cooking the tortilla, always keep them on a plate,
21:46wrapped in a towel like this, so that they don't dry out.
21:50Now to form your quesadilla, you have to find the ones that are going to match.
21:54We have chopped tomato, we have guacamole, we have sliced jalapeno peppers,
22:00we have a little bit of pico de gallo, which is red onion and tomato and coriander.
22:04We have chopped red onion, sour cream also.
22:08All kinds of fresh herbs and cheeses.
22:10We have Colby cheese cheddar and Monterey Jack.
22:14So we'll just make a mix of white cheddar.
22:18And I'm going to mix the white cheddar with a little bit of the yellow cheddar.
22:26This one I'm going to make very Mexican with a lot of jack.
22:32With a jack I'm going to put a little bit of chopped red onion, lots of coriander,
22:46some pico de gallo.
22:50And a tiny, tiny sprinkling of jalapeno.
22:56You cover it up and this one is ready to cook.
23:00I'm going to just transfer onto bread boards like this.
23:04And plop them right down in a Teflon lined heated pan.
23:10They have to cook over a low heat until the cheese melts.
23:15For summertime, great to cook these right on the grill top.
23:25I can feel these are getting warm.
23:28Okay, now I can see that the cheese is melting and they're ready to turn.
23:31Just put your board over like that and then slide it right back into the pan.
23:38A couple of seconds more and you have a quesadilla.
23:57Now, you can just cut them with a scissor.
24:10Oh, by the way, you might have seen that these said fabric.
24:13Well, they were a little bit damaged so they now say quesadilla.
24:18And then, top with a spoonful of guacamole and a little dab of sour cream.
24:26So you see, in just a very few minutes, you can treat your family or your guests to an amazingly good hors d'oeuvre snack, a light meal.
24:38And they're homemade and they're better than store bought.
24:41I'm roasting a poblano pepper or two.
24:44This is what it looks like when you put it on the flame, that beautiful green pepper.
24:48And when it's fully roasted, charred all over, you can then just wrap it up.
24:54I'm trying to peel the poblano pepper for a wonderful breakfast burrito with scrambled eggs, cheese, and a delicious fresh salsa.
25:03And part of the salsa is a poblano chili.
25:08And it's right in here.
25:09Look what happens after you sweat it in the paper towel.
25:12You can just use the paper towel to rub off the charred skin.
25:18Remove the seeds as well as the skin.
25:22It comes off so easily this way.
25:24And we'll finish peeling this one later because I have one already peeled, seeded, and cut up here.
25:30And this is the salsa.
25:31Delicious.
25:32It's one pound of tomatillas, a relative of the tomato.
25:36These are called Mexican green tomatoes.
25:39They're also called jam berries.
25:41That's a kind of a cute name.
25:42They belong to the same nightshade family as the tomato.
25:45These are covered with papery skin.
25:48You see these in the grocery store and most of you would pass them by, but I'll tell you they are utterly delicious.
25:55And use them when they're firm and green like this.
25:58Once you pick them, you can put them like this in a paper bag in your refrigerator and they stay for about a month.
26:04So they're a very useful crop to grow in your garden.
26:06And just cut them into quarters like this.
26:10And the whole pound goes right into the bowl of the food processor.
26:16These are rich in vitamin A and they contain a good amount of vitamin C.
26:21The poblano pepper, cut up.
26:26Poblanos are not real hot, so you can touch them with your fingers.
26:30One small white onion, coarsely chopped.
26:33Coarse salt to taste.
26:36I'd say start with about a half a teaspoon.
26:39And some cilantro.
26:41Oh, a tablespoon or two of chopped cilantro.
26:44Now, just pulse this until it's coarsely chopped, about 30 seconds.
26:50You can do this all by hand, but it's so fast in the food processor.
26:57There.
26:58That's about as coarse as we want it.
27:01And this is just a green salsa.
27:04You can make, of course, a nice red salsa.
27:07So here we have this.
27:09And we're going to add to this some avocado.
27:12Peeled and cut into about a third inch dice.
27:17And so you can just cut your avocado in half.
27:19Twist it like that.
27:24Remove the pit.
27:26Yeah, it's a pretty nice avocado.
27:28And if you don't want to stand here and peel it, this is a quick way to cut this into little cubes.
27:37Just hold the half of the avocado in the palm of your hand.
27:41And with the point of a sharp knife, don't cut yourself.
27:43Don't go through the skin.
27:44But touch your knife all the way to the skin.
27:47Take a spoon and just scoop it out.
27:50See how nice?
27:51All done.
27:52Easy time saving method.
27:57Just stir this around.
28:03It gets better if it stands for half an hour or so.
28:09And actually, it was still good the second day.
28:12We had a little bit left over last week when I had this.
28:16And it just lasted perfectly.
28:18The tomatillo really had a nice effect on the avocado and didn't turn black.
28:23The avocado was great.
28:24So here's our salsa.
28:29And now to make the scrambled eggs.
28:32So warm up your skillet.
28:33You can use a little bit of butter in each skillet for the eggs.
28:38And I'll make one just with yellow eggs, whole eggs, and one with just egg whites.
28:49So six eggs should make two really generous burritos.
28:54And so here, we'll just use one egg yolk and the rest egg whites.
29:04See how nice this is when you beat this up?
29:07It gives you pretty much the flavor and texture of an egg white omelet.
29:11But that one yolk just lets it get a little bit fluffy and not so watery.
29:17Here's our butter.
29:19And nonstick skillets help a lot when you're making scrambled eggs.
29:23Because you don't have to use so much butter.
29:30And if you want to add cheese to these, you can sprinkle the cheese on now.
29:39And some beautiful cilantro.
29:42I love this.
29:46And they're done.
29:47Just turn that off and let it just sit for a while.
29:49You don't want them to get tough.
29:51Scramble eggs should be nice and loose like that.
29:53Now the egg whites.
29:55Same thing.
29:57And we have some wonderful flour tortillas.
30:00Heat these right over the flame.
30:06And get ready to assemble.
30:08Don't burn them.
30:09Remember that six eggs is enough for two of these beauties.
30:21A little bit more pepper.
30:27You can add your lovely tomato salsa.
30:32This is tomato, onion, a little jalapeno.
30:36And serve it hot right away.
30:40And an egg white one.
30:42Mmm, pretty.
30:45Six egg whites make one tortilla.
30:52And the green salsa tomatilla with avocado.
30:59Mouth-watering yet?
31:00I certainly hope so.
31:02And you just fold up your burrito.
31:07And eat it.
31:08It's delicious.
31:09Don't forget to serve immediately.
31:12So let's serve immediately.
31:13All right.
31:15So the next class you have to do.

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