Larguitas with Jalapeño Choriqueso
Since it’s Hispanic Heritage Month, I wanted to reminisce a bit about my own heritage and my parents’ hometown. But it’s not really even about the town, now that I think of it, so much as a regular Saturday morning ritual we would perform there when I was growing up.
On Saturday mornings, my family would head out into la calle to get some breakfast. One of our favorite meals was served just around the corner from my aunt’s house. A neighbor would make the most delicious smelling, and tasting, sopes and larguitas outside her front door and we couldn’t wait to eat them. She would set up tables and chairs on the sidewalk and place a large gas-fired portable stove with, I was going to say a large, but really, it was a gigantic comal on top of it. This is about the larguita, I’ll save the sopes for another time, and the larguita, as you may know, can best be described as a long, thick, oval shaped tortilla covered with yummy stuff.
She would have pots and bowls filled with different options to cover them, like chorizo, chicharrón, chorizo with potatoes, mole, nopales, pork with black chiles, and beans, and, of course, no larguita was really ever complete without queso.
It was thinking about those Saturday mornings that inspired me to create this dish, so my boys could experience some of the loveliest aromas and flavors of my childhood during this Hispanic Heritage Month.
For this recipe, I decided to blend some of my favorite things, like cilantro, jalapeño cheese, and chorizo, right inside the masa, and serve the larguitas with avocado, crema mexicana, and a little more chorizo on top.
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WHAT YOU NEED
- 3 cups tortilla corn flour
- 1 (9 oz) package Cacique® Pork Chorizo
- 2 1/4 cups warm water
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons vegetable shortening
- 20 cilantro sprigs, washed and finely chopped
- 1 (10 oz) Cacique® Queso Quesadilla Jalapeño cheese, shredded
- Cacique® Crema Mexicana
- Avocado (optional)
- Salsa (optional)
HOW TO MAKE IT
- Cook chorizo in a pan on medium-high heat for 10-12 minutes. Set apart.
- While chorizo is cooking, combine corn flour and water. Mix with your hands until well combined. Add salt, vegetable shortening and cilantro, integrate well until the masa is compact and moist.
- Divide the masa in half, then each half in half again, and continue until you get 16 small balls.
- Take one ball of masa and with your finger make a small depression in the middle. Fill the depression with shredded cheese and half a teaspoonful of cooked chorizo. Push the filling in a bit, and fold to close. Form an oval with the masa with your hand or a tortilla press.
- With your hands pat the masa until you get a “larguita” of 1/8 to 1/4 inch and 5 inches long. Repeat until you finish with all 16 balls.
- Place a comal or a non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Place as many “larguitas” you can fit in your pan or comal, (I did 3 at a time) and cook for 6 minutes each side.
- Serve warm and top with Cacique® Crema Mexicana and avocado or your favorite salsa.
