Cookbook Experiment: Cusines of Mexico

Number two in The Cookbook Experiment is Diana Kennedy's Cusines of Mexico (1972). Well, number three really, because number two should have gone to Ann Clark's Fabulous Fish, but I forgot to take a picture. It happens sometimes.

Cusines is a fairly intimidating book, and I flipped through it for a while trying to find a recipe that looked simple enough for me to prepare without too much extra shopping or prep. Finally I settled on a cold squash salad, or ensalada de calabacita, garnished with pickled onions called cebollas encurtidas.


The recipe called for zucchini and also a chayote squash, which I'd never cooked with before. According to Kennedy, the light green ones that we see most frequently are also the least prized of three different varieties of chayote.

The pickled onions, with oregano

A three-sisters dinner: corn tostadas, pinto beans, and the salad, with queso fresco
(and carrots from the farmer's market)

Closeup!

The salad was ok, but I'm still working on my taste for chayote. It's certainly an expressive vegetable, though.