Atápakua Verde con Cilantro y Serrano

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Volcanic stone molcajete with tejolote
• •Comal or heavy cast iron skillet
• •10 to 12 inch clay cazuela, preferably Cocucho barro, or a heavy saucepan
• •Wooden spoon
• •Fine-mesh strainer for the masa slurry

Instructions

1. 1

   Roast the vegetables

   Heat a comal over medium heat. Roast the tomate verde, serranos, onion, and unpeeled garlic, turning them as they soften. The tomatillos should turn from sharp green to olive and leak a little juice. The serrano skins should blister in patches. The garlic is ready when it feels soft inside its skin. Do not blacken everything. Char is seasoning, not the whole dish.

2. 2

   Grind the salsa

   Peel the garlic. In a volcanic stone molcajete, grind the garlic with the salt until it becomes a paste. Add the serranos, then the onion, then the roasted tomate verde with all its juices. Grind until martajada, rough enough that you still see bits of chile skin and tomatillo seed. Add the cilantro and hierbabuena last and work them into the green base. A blender works for a large batch, but pulse it. If you make it perfectly smooth, the sauce loses the hand of the cook.

   The molcajete bruises the herbs and gives the sauce body before the masa enters. That texture is part of the atápakua. No me vengas con atajos.
3. 3

   Make the masa slurry

   Put the fresh masa in a bowl and whisk in 1 cup of the warm chicken broth a little at a time until smooth. Rub it between your fingers. If you feel hard lumps, keep whisking or pass it through a fine strainer. This is the binder. Not almonds. Not pepitas. Not bread. Masa de maíz. Así se hace y punto.

4. 4

   Cook the base

   Pour the ground green salsa into a clay cazuela or heavy saucepan. Add the remaining 2 cups warm chicken broth and bring it to a gentle bubble over medium heat. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the raw edge of the tomatillo calms down and the herbs smell cooked but still green.

5. 5

   Thicken with masa

   Lower the heat and stream in the masa slurry while stirring constantly. The sauce will look thin at first. Give it time. Simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes, scraping the bottom of the cazuela so the masa does not catch. It is ready when the atápakua coats the spoon in a soft green layer and the smell of raw corn is gone. If it gets too thick, add broth by the tablespoon.

6. 6

   Serve with chicken

   Taste for salt. If serving with pollo, nestle the warm cooked chicken pieces into the cazuela and spoon the atápakua over them. Let them sit in the sauce for 5 minutes over low heat so the chicken takes the flavor. Bring the cazuela to the table with warm corn tortillas. This is not mole. It is atápakua, and Michoacán knows the difference.

Chef Tips

• •Ask for fresh masa at a tortillería that smells like corn, not sour dough. Fresh masa gives the sauce a soft, living thickness. Masa harina will thicken in an emergency, use 1/3 cup mixed with 1/2 cup warm water, but you lose the sweetness of corn ground that day.
• •If you find chile perón from Michoacán, use 2 perones in place of 2 serranos. That chile has a floral, citrus heat and thicker skin from the P'urhépecha highlands. Jalapeño is dull here. Serrano is sharper and greener, useful outside Michoacán, but it is not the same chile.
• •Atápakua is not mole and not pipián. Pepita belongs to pipián as flavor and body. This sauce is bound with masa de maíz. Nuts and seeds will make it heavier and wrong for this dish.
• •Do not strip every bit of fat from the chicken broth. A little yellow chicken fat on the surface gives the sauce shine and carries the chile. La manteca es el sabor in the dishes that need lard. Here, the broth's own fat does the work.
• •The molcajete gives the best texture. A blender is acceptable for a larger batch, especially in a working kitchen, but pulse it and stop before it turns flat and smooth. The señora who taught this would see the difference from across the table.

Advance Preparation

• •The tomatillos, serranos, onion, and garlic can be roasted one day ahead and refrigerated. Grind the herbs and cook the masa-thickened sauce the day you serve it so the green flavor stays clean.
• •Finished atápakua keeps refrigerated for up to 3 days. Reheat gently with splashes of chicken broth because the masa tightens as it cools.
• •Do not freeze it. Masa-thickened sauces thaw grainy and tired. Cook what you need, or share the extra with tortillas.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 320g)