Weekend Cookbook Challenge #5 - Cinco De Mayo

I am very excited about this months WCC challenge - celebrating Cinco De Mayo - because I love, love, LOVE Mexican food. Sadly, there are not many Mexican restaurants in Calgary. So I am looking forward to combing through all the entries to look for tasty dishes to try.

I made two dishes for WCC - a soup and main course and was thrilled with both of them. The soup, Spicy Zucchini with Rice and Lime came from a small cookbook I got out of a discount bin. It's called "Cookshelf Mexican" by Marlena Spieler. The main course - Calypso Roti with Mango Mojo came from my current favorite cookbook Rebar Modern Food Cookbook by Audrey Alsterberg and Wanda Urbanowicz. I am crazy about this book; although this is the first thing I have actually made out of it, I have read it cover to cover three times and have marked almost every recipe to try out.


Spicy Zucchini Soup with Rice and Lime by Marlena Spieler.

This soup is a snap to make, an amazing color and made the house smell incredible. If you like zucchini, make this soup.

4 generous servings

2 tb oil
4 garlic cloves thinly sliced
1 tb chile powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
6 1/4 cups chicken stock, vegatable stock or beef stock
2 zucchini, cut into bite size pieces
6 tb long grain rice, orzo or other small pasta
salt and pepper
lime wedges

Heat the oil over medium high heat, add the garlic and cook until the garlic just starts to color, 1 or 2 minutes. Add the chile powder and cumin and stir for 1 minute more. Add the stock zucchini and rice and simmer for 10 minutes, until rice is cooked and zucchini is tender. Season with salt and pepper. Pour into bowls and squeeze lime over top.




Calypso Roti with Mango Mojo adapted from Rebar Modern Food Cookbook

Everyone should own this book - it's a wonder. The mojo is so incredibly good and I bet would be amazing with shrimp. An extra plus - there's no fat!

4 servings

4 whole wheat tortillas
2 sweet red peppers
1 tb oil
2 cups shredded cabbage
1 19oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 garlic clove
juice of 1/2 lime
1 chipolte pepper in adobo sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
2 tb chopped cilantro

Combine the beans through cilantro in a food processor and process until combined and the consistency you would like. Season to taste.

Wrap tortillas in foil and warm in a 300' oven. Thinly slice the peppers. Heat oil over medium high heat and saute peppers until soft.

Romove tortillas from oven and spoon beans down the centre. Top with the peppers and cabbage and drizzle with the mojo. Roll up and serve.

Mango Mojo

1 mango
juice of 2 limes
2 cloves garlic
1/2 hot pepper minced, or hot sauce to taste
1 tsp salt
2 tb chopped cilantro

Puree in a food processor until smooth.