Encounter Intelligence

Carmen Ayon Granillo is a retired teacher who lives in Mexicali. I met her by chance at a winery party near Ensenada, and our conversation led to the menu for this casual Mexican lunch.

Carmen had signed up for a bus tour that included a stop at Bodegas San Antonio, winery in the town of San Antonio de Las Minas. You come to this dusty small settlement as you drive from Tecate to Ensenada through Mexico’s major wine district.

That day, the winery was staging a comida campestre, an outdoor lunch for several hundred wine enthusiasts. The highlight would be barbacoa, lamb cooked until falling-apart tender, accompanied by the usual trimmings you get at a Mexican barbecue. These are limes to squeeze over the meat, chopped onion mixed with cilantro, refried beans studded with tortilla chips, salsa and freshly made corn tortillas.

By the time I arrived, the tables were filled--except for one space across from Carmen. Soon, I had a circle of new friends: Carmen, her daughter Lupita and their tour companions, Consuelo, Dolores, Ramona and Amalia.

We poured each other wine, bounced in our chairs to lively band music and snacked from a huge appetizer platter placed on our table along with several bottles of the winery’s Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The tempting snacks included cubes of pale cheese, locally harvested green olives, red grapes as fat as Ping-Pong balls, slices of French bread and a creamy gelatin mold dotted with bits of olive, celery and pimiento.

Naturally, we chatted about food, and I pulled out a notebook to write down Carmen’s recipes. First, she told how to make frijoles de la olla, pinto beans served whole in their juices. Beans in Mexico always taste terrific, but whenever I ask for the secret seasoning, I get only one answer: Water and salt, nothing more. That’s what Carmen told me too.

What should I serve with the beans? Tortillas and cheese, she said, suggesting Oaxaca, Manchego and Monterey Jack cheeses, which I bought on my way home at a market near Tijuana.

And you must have salsa, she said. Carmen makes salsa in two styles, using the same ingredients. If the salsa is to go with a cheese platter or carne asada, she roasts the tomatoes, chiles and garlic, then grinds them. If the salsa is to accompany fried tacos, she simmers the vegetables in a small amount of water.

Carmen grinds her salsa in a blender, rather than pounding it in a molcajete. And she cooks the beans in an ordinary pot rather than in a quaint earthen olla, as she is well aware that lead leaks from the glaze of some of these pots.

Our lunch that day was elaborate, but Mexican food isn’t always rich and complicated. The simplest ingredients can make a delightful meal, as in this light lunch composed of Carmen’s recipes.

Carmen’s Light Lunch

Frijoles de la olla

Mexican cheese platter

Hot corn tortillas

Salsa

Beer, limeade or soft drinks

STAPLES

Salt

Garlic

Green olives

SHOPPING LIST

Pinto beans

1 dozen corn tortillas

4 tomatoes

2 fresh or canned guero chiles

Assorted Mexican cheeses, such as Cotija, Manchego and Oaxaca

Jack cheese

Red or green grapes

GAME PLAN

Day before: Wash and soak beans.

Three hours before: Cook beans.

One hour before: Roast vegetables and make salsa.

30 minutes before: Wrap tortillas in foil and place in warm oven. Reheat beans. Make limeade, if serving.

FRIJOLES DE LA OLLA

1 cup pinto beans

Water

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 dozen corn tortillas

Salsa

The beans are delicious eaten taco-style, wrapped in a tortilla along with some of the salsa. Add some of the cheese, or eat it on the side.

Day before, wash beans well and place in 3-quart saucepan. Cover with water and let stand overnight.

Next day, drain beans and rinse saucepan. Return beans to saucepan. Cover generously with water. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover loosely and simmer until almost tender, about 1 hour. Add more water if needed to keep beans covered.

Add salt and continue cooking until beans are tender, about 15 minutes. Mash some of beans, then boil until liquid reduces to thick sauce, 10 to 15 minutes longer.

Meanwhile, wrap tortillas in foil and place in warm oven until heated through, about 30 minutes. Serve beans in individual bowls, accompanied by tortillas and salsa.

Makes about 3 cups, about 6 servings.

Each serving, without tortillas or salsa, contains about:

39 calories; 590 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 0 fat; 7 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 0.86 gram fiber.

CARMEN’S SALSA

4 tomatoes

2 guero chiles, fresh or canned

2 cloves garlic

Salt

Roast tomatoes and chiles on griddle until blackened. Alongside, roast garlic until golden brown. Peel tomatoes and garlic. Peel chiles and remove seeds.

Combine tomatoes, chiles and garlic in blender and blend to puree. Season to taste with salt.

Makes 1 1/2 cups.

Each tablespoon contains about:

5 calories; 14 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 0 fat; 1 gram carbohydrates; 0 protein; 0.17 gram fiber.

CHEESE PLATE

Assorted Mexican cheeses, such as Cotija, Manchego and Oaxaca

Jack cheese

Green olives

Red or green grapes

We found the three Mexican-style cheeses at a chain supermarket. If you can’t find them, use Jack and any other cheeses you like. The Oaxaca cheese that I bought south of the border tasted much like Armenian string cheese and had the same consistency, so string cheese could well stand in for it.

Slice or cube cheeses. Arrange on platter around bowl of olives. Provide wood picks for spearing cheese and olives. Decorate with bunches of grapes.

* Platter and dinnerware from Pallets of Plates, South Pasadena.