Grand Recipes
Grand Residences Executive Chef Guido de la Mora’s recipe of the month is queso fundido con mezcal, a Mexican dish that is perfect as an appetizer for sharing, supper or a quick summer lunch. Try it with grilled octopus this month in Flor de Canela.
Cheese was introduced to Mexico by the first Spanish settlers after the Conquest in the 16th century. They brought herds of goats and sheep, and later, cattle for milk and beef, and gradually their livestock spread through different regions of Nueva España.
Mexican cheeses have evolved since the Colonial period. At first, they resembled Spanish cheeses such as Manchego and then gradually, through a process of culinary syncretism, native foods and cultural elements were incorporated. An example of this is adding chili to the cheese or using it to cover the surface of the rind.
The first cheeses really identified as Mexican produce were the ranchero or fresco soft cheeses, marqueta, which are cheeses covered with adobe chili powder, queso prensado or molido, often covered in chili paste, oreado in which the rind is left to dry and ripen for 24 to 48 hours, aged cheeses like cotija or queso añejo and varieties resembling cottage and ricotta. At the end of the 19th century, string cheeses such as quesillo from Oaxaca and asadero from the highland state of Durango in northern Mexico emerged. In Ocosingo, Chiapas, queso de bola is a ball of double cream cheese covered with a hard yellow wax rind.
This recipe for queso fundido or melted cheese uses asadero cheese.
Queso fundido con mezcal
Mezcal-infused melted cheese
Serves 6 as an appetizer
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp. olive or vegetable oil
- 1 large (10 oz.) ripe tomato, cored, seeded (if you wish) and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
- 1 medium white onion, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
- Fresh hot green chilies to taste (roughly 1 large jalapeno or 2 large serranos), stemmed, seeded (if you wish) and finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons Mezcal
- 8 ounces of Asadero, Chihuahua or other Mexican melting cheese, such as Oaxaca, shredded (about 2 cups)
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
instruccions
Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high flame. Add the tomato, onion and chiles, and cook, stirring nearly constantly, until the onion begins to soften and brown, about 7 minutes. Add the Mezcal and cook quickly, stirring, until nearly reduced to a glaze. (If you tip the pan toward an open gas flame, it will ignite. If you choose this route, simply shake the pan back and forth until the flames subside and the Mezcal has reduced to a glaze.)
Reduce the heat to medium-low, sprinkle the cheese evenly over the vegetables and stir slowly and constantly until just melted—too long over the heat and the cheese will become tough, oily and stringy.
Scoop into a molcajete or warm dish, sprinkle with the cilantro and serve right away with tortillas for making tacos. Salsa is the perfect accompaniment for this tasty dish.
