Recipes
Now you can enjoy the diverse flavors and authentic Mexican cooking of Rosa Mexicano in your own home. Impress your guests or simply indulge your love of Rosa Mexicano with the following recipes from our cookbook, Rosa’s New Mexican Table, that are also featured dishes on our homepage.
To purchase a copy of Rosa’s New Mexican Table, click here.
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Over the years at Rosa Mexicano, we have run through so many avocados for guacamole that if you placed them side by side they would stretch from New York to Tierra del Fuego and back—maybe twice! It is our signature dish—nine out of ten guests order it. One thing that makes the guacamole at Rosa Mexicano so special is that we were among the first, if not the first, restaurant on either side of the border to serve guacamole prepared tableside in a traditional molcajete.
We are frequently asked what makes our guacamole so special. For one, we take great care in preparing the chile paste that is the underpinning of the dish—that’s where the layered flavors come from. We begin by grinding some onions, chiles, and cilantro together in a molcajete. Then we gently toss in cubed avocado so that every piece is coated evenly.
Makes 4 servings
Chile Paste Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped white onion
- 1 firmly packed tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped jalapeño, or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon salt, or as needed
Additional Ingredients
- 3 medium ripe but firm Hass avocados (about 8 ounces each)
- 3 tablespoons diced tomato
- 2 firmly packed tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped white onion
- Salt if necessary
- Tortilla chips and/or fresh corn tortillas
Make the chile paste: Grind the onion, cilantro, jalapeño, and salt together in a molcajete until all the ingredients are very finely ground. Alternatively, use a fork to mash all the ingredients to a paste in a wide hardwood bowl.
Cut each avocado in half, working the knife blade around the pit. Twist the halves to separate them and flick out the pit with the tip of the knife. Fold a kitchen towel in quarters and hold it in the palm of your “non-knife” hand. Rest an avocado half cut side up in your palm and make 3 or 4 evenly spaced lengthwise cuts through the avocado flesh down to the skin, without cutting through it. Make 4 crosswise cuts in the same way. Scoop the diced avocado flesh into the molcajete. Repeat with the remaining avocado halves.
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Makes 1 drink
- 1 ½ ounces (3 tablespoons) silver tequila
- ¾ ounce (1 ½ tablespoons Cointreau or Triple Sec)
- ¾ ounce (1 ½ tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice)
- 1 tablespoon superfine sugar
- A lime wedge
Prepare a salt-rimmed glass if you like (see below). Use a 10-ounce glass if serving on the rocks; a 6-ounce glass if serving up.
Put 6 ice cubes in a tall cocktail shaker. Pour the remaining ingredients (except the lime wedge) into the shaker and shake vigorously. Pour (ice and all) into the larger glass or strain into the smaller glass. Garnish with the lime wedge.
Salting Glasses for Margaritas
Oversalting the rim of your glass causes the salt to dissolve into the drink, which can leave your cocktail tasting like Acapulco Bay on the rocks. To avoid this, follow these simple steps.
- Roll and press a lime on a hard surface to break down the membranes and yield more juice. Halve the lime crosswise.
- Spread an even layer of fine sea salt on a plate. Lightly rub the lime around the outside rim of the glass (just a gloss).
- Lightly press the rim of the glass into the salt. Lift, and tap off any excess.
- Allow the salt to air-dry before filling the glass. This is important you do not want too much salt coming off the glass with each sip. In upscale restaurants in Mexico, among the few places in the country where margaritas are served, one sees salt-rimmed glasses hanging upside down from racks behind the bar.
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Tortilla Soup
In Mexico, this soup also goes by the name sopa Azteca; it is most popular in the country’s central highlands. To thicken the soup, some Mexican cooks place tortilla strips directly into the simmering broth. At Rosa Mexicano, we first bake the tortillas until slightly crispy, then present diners with individual serving bowls holding dried tortilla strips along with cooked chicken and sliced avocado. The steaming broth is poured over everything.
Makes 6 servings
- 3 large ripe tomatoes (about 11⁄2 pounds)
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 3 large pasilla chiles, wiped clean, stemmed, seeded, and toasted
- 3 medium garlic cloves
- 3 large epazote stems (optional)
- Salt
- 6 fresh corn tortillas or store-bought 6 inch corn tortillas
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 medium Hass avocado
- ¼ pound queso fresco, cut into ½ inch cubes or coarsely shredded (about 1 cup)
- 2 cups shredded cooked chicken (optional)
Place the broiler rack about 8 inches from the broiler and preheat the broiler, to low if possible. Cut the cores from the tomatoes and cut a small X in the skin on the opposite end. Place on the broiler pan and broil, turning as necessary, until the skins are blackened and the tomatoes are softened throughout, about 20 minutes. Remove and let cool. Turn the oven down to 350°F.
While the tomatoes are cooling, heat the chicken broth in a medium pot to simmering. Pour enough of the broth over the chiles in a heatproof bowl to cover, and let stand until softened, about 20 minutes.
When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, cut them into quarters. Put the tomatoes, chiles and their soaking liquid, and the garlic in a blender jar and blend at low speed until coarsely chopped. Increase the speed to medium and blend until smooth, adding a little more of the remaining broth if necessary.
Strain the mixture into the pot with the broth. Add the epazote and season with salt. Bring to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the tortilla strips: Stack the tortillas and cut them into 4 triangles. Cut each stack of triangles into ¼-inch-wide strips. Pile the strips on a baking sheet and drizzle the oil over them. Gently toss and rub the strips until they are lightly coated with oil. Spread them out in an even layer and bake until golden and crisp, about 12 minutes. Stir them once during baking. The tortilla strips can be made up to several hours ahead. Store them uncovered at room temperature.
To serve: Remove the epazote from the soup and season to taste with salt. Cut the avocado in half and remove the pit. Peel each half and cut it into 6 slices. Place 2 slices in each of six shallow soup bowls. Divide the tortilla strips, cheese, and chicken, if using, among the bowls, ladle the soup into the bowls, and serve immediately.
* Photo excerpted from ROSA'S NEW MEXICAN TABLE (Artisan Books).
Copyright 2007. Christopher Hirsheimer photographer.