{"id":4489,"date":"2011-03-10T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-10T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.patismexicantable.com\/2011\/03\/national_public_television_series_chop_chop_salad\/"},"modified":"2021-03-19T17:13:55","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T21:13:55","slug":"national_public_television_series_chop_chop_salad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/patijinich.com\/pati_2020\/national_public_television_series_chop_chop_salad\/","title":{"rendered":"A National Public Television Series and an Avocado Chop Chop Salad: Take a Peek!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been wanting to write this post for days. Every time I try, it feels like hundreds of flowers bloom in my head, clouding my thoughts. My tongue gets tied too. Which is not common. I usually don’t hesitate to express my thoughts.<\/p>\n

So, pushing aside the flowers and the thing with the tongue…<\/p>\n

Dearest friends, here’s the news: if you like Mexican food, if you like Public Television, if you like my approach to cooking, then… I hope you’ll like to hear that Pati’s Mexican Table<\/i> is premiering on National Public Television, this spring.<\/p>\n

I can tell you so many things about how the series came together and why I am so passionate about it. It’s been a fascinating journey: radically switching careers, launching the Culinary Program at the Institute, starting the blog, and now, embarking on the TV series.<\/p>\n

What a wild zigzag. But with each turn I’ve confirmed that I\u00a0want to keep on sharing and exploring Mexican food and all that\u00a0surrounds it for as long as I can.<\/p>\n

\"Avocado<\/p>\n

It pleases me to no end to watch my students devour the food at the Institute’s events, and more so when they write to say they’ve made the recipes at home. I love the stories you’ve shared in the blog’s comments and your requests for different cravings. I try to give you the most reliable recipe for that special cookie, dish, soup, or drink that brings you good memories or that you’ve been dying to try. Your filled and happy tummies, stories and requests, fuel my appetite to cook and share more.<\/p>\n

See… there is a side of Mexican cuisine that is yet to be fully savored and appreciated: home-style Mexican food.\u00a0 And for that, thankfully, many preconceptions become broken.<\/p>\n

Take this Avocado<\/a>, Tomato, Corn and Hearts of Palm Chop Chop Salad. One of the first recipes I thought of including in the series.<\/p>\n

\"Avocado<\/p>\n

The buttery and luxurious Mexican avocados, the plump and fresh tomatoes, the sweet and crunchy corn, are all native Mexican ingredients. The hearts of palm are not, but its an ingredient that has been popular in Mexican kitchens for ages. Called palmitos, or little palm trees, when I was growing up in Mexico city, my grandmother and mother used to pair Palmitos and avocado for special occasions, just like many restaurants do.<\/p>\n

See the mix! It is colorful, it is fresh, it is wholesome. Not many adjectives given to Mexican food outside of Mexico.<\/p>\n

This salad is not laborious, as many consider good Mexican\u00a0food to be. Ingredients here have to be simply, roughly chopped. Just\u00a0like that!<\/p>\n

\"Avocado<\/p>\n

The vinaigrette has crisp and clear ingredients: olive and safflower\u00a0oils, the always straight forward apple cider vinegar, the lively fresh\u00a0squeezed lime juice, salt, pepper, oregano (commonly used to season\u00a0Mexican food, though not that well known) and brown sugar to help all of\u00a0those flavors shine.<\/p>\n

Simple, but layered flavors that feel so smooth when you take a bite.<\/p>\n

And no. This salad isn’t spicy. Though I am wild about\u00a0fresh and dried chiles, like most Mexicans (we need them! we do! there is sooo much one can do with each different kind!), and they are a\u00a0staple in Mexican cooking (you will see some of my favorite ones in the\u00a0series…) not all Mexican food is spicy nor has chiles.<\/p>\n

What gives this salad a bit of pungency is a bit of chopped red onion.<\/p>\n

\"Avocado<\/p>\n

There is nothing here battered or fried. Nor is this salad stuffed inside a giant tortilla with a gazillion other ingredients (OK, my boys do like U.S.-style burritos and I have come to appreciate them, but we also love Mexican-style ones… which I share in one of the show’s episodes).<\/p>\n

\"Avocado<\/p>\n

What tops the salad, and gives it a healthy, crunchy and lightly nutty flavored bite are the toasted pumpkin seeds<\/a>. An ingredient that since long before the time of the Aztecs, has been the base of moles, stews, sauces and pastes. They are used for all that, and for this too.<\/p>\n

\"Avocado<\/p>\n

So of course I will share traditional dishes that have been passed down in families for generations, the pepitos, the soups, the tacos, the stews, the salsas, the practical moles, the flans and the panes dulces. But I will also share some of the modern spins made within the genuine boundaries of Mexican cooking: so you can explore along with me, a cuisine that keeps on evolving, inside and outside of Mexico.<\/p>\n

\"Avocado<\/p>\n

So tune in!! And please, keep on sharing what you like and what you don’t, and mostly: send me your requests, I will try to keep on honoring them all.<\/p>\n

p.s. The series premieres on WETA TV 26 Saturday April 2nd at 11:30 am in DC\/MD\/VA. Check your local public television station for their schedule this Spring!<\/p>\n

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Avocado and Hearts of Palm Chop Chop Salad<\/h2>\n
Ensalada de Aguacate y Palmitos<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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