Hoja Santa con Quesillo al Comal

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron or clay comal, well seasoned
• •Sharp paring knife for trimming the central vein of the leaf
• •Thin metal spatula for flipping the wraps without tearing the leaf

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the hoja santa

   Rinse each leaf under cold water and pat dry between two clean towels. The leaves bruise easily, so handle them like you handle good lettuce, not like you handle lechuga that has seen better days. Lay them flat on the counter, glossy side down. The matte underside is where the quesillo goes. The veins on the back are thick and woody. If a leaf has a particularly fat central vein, run a sharp paring knife along its length to shave it down. A thinner vein folds cleaner.

   Hoja santa is a Oaxacan herb. Outside Mexico you will find it under the names yerba santa, hierba santa, and acuyo. If your market does not stock it, look in a Mexican grocery with a serious produce section. Frozen leaves work in an emergency but the perfume is muted. Asi se hace y punto.
2. 2

   Toast the chile pasilla oaxaqueno

   Heat a dry comal or heavy cast iron skillet over medium. Open each chile flat with your hands. Press them onto the hot comal for about ten seconds per side. The pasilla oaxaqueno is smoked over wood and it is already dark, so do not wait for color. Wait for the smell. The kitchen will fill with a deep, smoky perfume that is unlike any other chile in Mexico. That is the moment. Pull them off and slice each one lengthwise into thin strips. You want eight strips total, one per leaf.

   The pasilla oaxaqueno is grown in the Sierra Norte and smoked over fires of pine and oak. There is no real substitute for the smoke. Chile pasilla negro from central Mexico is closer in flavor than chipotle, but you will lose the wood smoke. Tell the cook what they are missing so they can decide.
3. 3

   Pull the quesillo

   Quesillo de Oaxaca comes wound in a ball. Find the loose end and pull off thin strands the way the senoras at the Mercado 20 de Noviembre pull it for their tlayudas. Do not chop it with a knife. Quesillo is a stretched-curd cheese and it melts cleaner when the strands lie flat. Divide the pulled cheese into eight portions, about an ounce and a quarter each.

4. 4

   Build the wraps

   Lay one hoja santa leaf flat, matte side up, with the heart-shaped point facing away from you. Place a portion of quesillo in the center, slightly toward the wide rounded end. Lay one strip of toasted chile across the cheese. Add a slice or two of tomato if you are using it. Sprinkle with a pinch of flaky salt. Fold the wide rounded sides of the leaf over the cheese first, then fold the pointed end down to make a small packet. The leaf is pliable and will hold itself closed once warmed. Repeat with the remaining seven leaves.

   Do not overstuff. The cheese will swell and seep when it melts, and an overstuffed wrap splits open on the comal. An ounce and a quarter of quesillo is plenty. If you cannot resist adding more, add another leaf instead.
5. 5

   Heat the comal

   Wipe the comal clean of any chile dust from the toasting and set it back over medium heat. Smear about a teaspoon of manteca across the surface with a folded paper towel. Not enough to fry. Enough to keep the leaf from sticking and to help the underside crisp. La manteca es el sabor, even here, in something this simple.

6. 6

   Cook the wraps

   Place the packets seam-side down on the warm comal. Cook for about two minutes, until the underside of the leaf darkens to a deep olive green and the edges lightly char. Flip carefully with a spatula. Cook the second side for another two minutes. You will hear a faint sizzle as the cheese starts to melt and you may see a thin trail of quesillo escape from a corner. That is the dish telling you it is ready. Press the top gently with the back of the spatula. If the wrap feels soft and yielding throughout, the cheese is melted. Pull them off the comal.

7. 7

   Serve immediately

   Transfer the wraps to a warm plate. Serve them whole, two per person, with a stack of warm corn tortillas, a bowl of salsa de chile pasilla, and lime wedges. The leaf is edible and you eat the whole packet. Tear a piece, lay it on a tortilla, add a spoon of salsa, fold, and eat. The hoja santa tastes of root beer and anise and tarragon all at once, the smoke of the chile cuts through the milky stretch of the cheese, and there is nothing else like it. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Hoja santa is the entire dish. If your leaves are tired, yellowed, or small, do not make this. Wait until you find good ones. The leaf is not a wrapper, it is an ingredient. A bad leaf gives you a sad packet of melted cheese.
• •Real quesillo de Oaxaca is sold in balls of pulled, wound strands. If your market only carries shredded mozzarella labeled Oaxaca cheese, that is a compromise, not the real thing. Look for an unwound ball in a Mexican grocery or a Latin market. The texture and the milk fat are different.
• •Salsa de chile pasilla oaxaqueno on the side doubles down on the smoke. Toast a few extra chiles, soak them, blend with charred tomato and garlic and salt, and you have a salsa that completes the dish. No me vengas con atajos: a green tomatillo salsa is not the same plate.

Advance Preparation

• •The chiles can be toasted and the quesillo pulled up to four hours ahead and held at room temperature, covered.
• •The wraps can be assembled up to one hour ahead and held at room temperature on a plate, ready to go on the comal at serving time. Do not assemble earlier than that, the leaf will weep and the cheese will sweat.
• •These do not reheat well. The leaf turns leathery on the second pass. Make what you will eat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 200g)