Mexico native Estela Calzada will teach and prepare 2 cactus dishes and a huitlacoche quesadilla
Estela Calzada, a native of Durango, Mexico, will teach attendees to create a (totally vegetarian) Mexican meal starring nopales, the flesh of the prickly pear cactus. Don’t be fooled by the spiky appearance of these succulents - once the spines are stripped off, the flesh of nopales has a mild, slightly tart flavor that can be used in both savory and sweet preparations and are a fixture in Mexican cuisine. Estela will teach us how to make two cactus dishes ensalada de nopales (salad with nopales) and pasteles de nopales. Yes, you heard right, we’re making cactus cake! In addition to our cactus creations, we will make quesadillas de huitlacoche - called “mexican truffle,” huitlacoche is indeed a fungus that grows on corn, but don’t let this classification scare you off! Huitlacoche has an earthy and smoky flavor that tastes like a cross between mushrooms and corn. In Estela’s words, it is the”caviar of Mexico”. We will round out our meal with aqua de pepino, chia y limon - cucumber, chia seed and lime juice.
Estela worked for two years at Somerville’s Tu Y Yo restaurant (her mole and tamale recipes still grace the menu there!) and runs a catering company called Comida Autentica Mexicana. She also wow'ed us all with her Chiles en Nogada when she taught a Nibble class back in August. When we are done cooking we will sit down together to enjoy our meal and learn more about Mexican culture.
** We are excited to offer a English-Spanish bilingual class! This class is open to all but especially recommended to those looking to practice a little español and Mexican cooking. ¡ándale!