The Mexican Slow Cooker: Recipes for Mole, Enchiladas, Carnitas, Chile Verde Pork, and More Favorites (22 page)

This bright, crunchy combination of fresh vegetables and chiles
en escabeche
(which means pickled with spices and vinegar) will find a place on your table every day. The pickled jalapeños and vegetables add zest to
tortas,
burritos, tacos, salads, beans, and soup. Or just munch away on the chiles and vegetables between bites: they are an extraordinary palate cleanser. Aficionados of this addictive condiment know that cooking the jalapeños doesn’t mellow their heat at all. Quite the opposite, it spreads the heat of the chiles, so that the carrot is often the spiciest vegetable in the bowl. Serrano chiles may be substituted, but they will have more heat and less chile flavor. The finished chiles will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator, and, in my opinion, they just keep getting better.

Combine all the ingredients in a 5-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 2½ hours, or until the vegetables are just tender when poked with the tip of a knife. Let cool, then cover and store in the refrigerator, leaving the vegetables in the pickling liquid.

This rich, creamy rice pudding is gently flavored by a small piece of true Saigon cinnamon bark, which is milder and sweeter than the cassia cinnamon used north of the border. Cinnamon figures prominently in both sweet and savory Mexican cooking. Every marketplace sells big bundles of rolled cinnamon bark quills, which are steeped in dark syrup for candied sweets, brewed with coffee to make
café de olla
, or toasted and ground for moles and
asados
. The cinnamon will turn the rice a pale caramel color as it cooks. If you like raisins in your rice pudding, add them for the last hour of cooking.

To make the arroz con leche, combine all the ingredients except for the vanilla in a 4- or 5-quart slow cooker and stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for 2½ hours, gently but thoroughly stirring the rice about every 30 minutes. When the rice is cooked, stir in the vanilla and remove the cinnamon stick. The pudding will thicken as it cools.

To make the sweetened whipped cream, pour the cream into a bowl. With an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer, beat the cream at medium speed until it begins to thicken, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the sugar and beat on medium-high speed until the mixture is thick and holds its shape.

Serve warm or cold, topped with a dollop of whipped cream.

Coconut lovers will adore this lush rice pudding flavored with both coconut milk and thick, sweet cream of coconut.

Serve small portions of the pudding accompanied by crunchy toasted coconut, fresh berries, or pineapple, or top it with whipped cream, toasted almonds, and crushed chocolate. For a variation, omit the other garnishes and grate a tiny bit of fresh lime zest on each serving. The pudding may be made vegan (though no less delicious) by substituting water, coconut juice, almond milk, or rice milk for the dairy.

Combine all the ingredients in a 4- or 5-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 2½ hours, gently but thoroughly stirring the rice about every 30 minutes. The pudding will thicken as it cools.

Serve warm or chilled, with any of the suggested garnishes.

This addictive bread pudding is a favorite at my SOL Cocina restaurants. The moist, cake-like pudding is studded with bananas that have been sautéed in brown sugar, and it is infused with the warm flavors of cinnamon, allspice, and cardamom, which flavor the Ibarra Mexican chocolate. Cracking the lid toward the end of the cooking time allows the pudding to firm up. You probably won’t have leftovers, but if you do, be sure to refrigerate them; it’s just as good cold.