Quesadillas de Huitlacoche con Hoja Santa

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide cast iron comal or heavy griddle, well-seasoned
• •10-inch skillet for the huitlacoche filling
• •Tortilla press lined with plastic (or strong hands)
• •Wide spatula for turning the quesadillas

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the huitlacoche filling

   Melt the lard in a wide skillet over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook until it softens and turns translucent, about three minutes. Add the garlic and chile serrano and cook one minute more, until the garlic smells sharp but has not browned. Add the huitlacoche, breaking up the larger pieces with a wooden spoon. It will release liquid almost immediately. That's good. Let it cook, stirring occasionally, for eight to ten minutes. The liquid will cook off and the mixture will darken to a deep gray-black, glossy and thick enough to hold its shape on the spoon. Stir in the epazote and salt in the last minute. The epazote goes in late because heat kills its flavor. Pull the skillet off the heat and set it aside.

   If using frozen huitlacoche, thaw it completely and drain off the excess liquid before adding it to the pan. Frozen is a fair compromise when fresh is out of season. Canned huitlacoche exists but the texture is mush and the flavor is a shadow. Use frozen before you use canned.
2. 2

   Prepare the quesillo

   Pull the quesillo apart into long, thin strands, the way you would pull string cheese. Oaxacan quesillo is not grated. It is not cubed. It is pulled. The strands melt into long threads inside the quesadilla, and when you tear one open, the cheese should stretch. If your quesillo is dry or crumbly, it is old. Find a better source.

3. 3

   Prepare the hoja santa

   Rinse the hoja santa leaves and pat them dry. Remove the thick center rib by folding the leaf along the vein and tearing or cutting it out. The rib is tough and fibrous. Tear each leaf into pieces roughly the size of your palm, enough to line one side of the quesadilla. The leaves should be large enough to cover the filling but small enough to fold inside the masa without poking out the edges.

4. 4

   Form the masa

   Heat a dry comal or cast iron griddle over medium-high heat. Take a ball of fresh masa about the size of a large egg, roughly 80 grams. Press it between your palms or use a tortilla press lined with plastic to flatten it into an oval about six inches across and a quarter-inch thick. The masa should be moist and pliable, not cracking at the edges. If it cracks, it is too dry. Knead in a tablespoon of water at a time until it presses smooth.

   Fresh masa from a tortilleria or a Mexican market is the only correct option here. Masa harina mixed with water will work in an emergency, but the texture is drier and the flavor is thinner. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado where to find fresh masa in your area. They will know.
5. 5

   Fill the quesadilla

   On one half of the pressed oval, lay a piece of hoja santa flat against the masa. Place a generous spoonful of the huitlacoche filling on top of the leaf. Spread a small nest of quesillo strands over the filling. The order matters: hoja santa against the masa, then huitlacoche, then cheese. The leaf perfumes the corn from underneath while the cheese melts down through the filling. Fold the empty half of the masa over the filling and press the edges together firmly with your fingertips. Seal them well or the quesadilla will split open on the comal.

6. 6

   Cook on the comal

   Place the quesadilla on the hot dry comal. Cook for three to four minutes on the first side, until the bottom develops golden-brown spots and the masa firms up enough to flip without breaking. Turn it carefully with a wide spatula. Cook two to three minutes on the second side. The surface should be lightly blistered and the edges should feel crisp when you press them. The quesillo inside should be melted and pulling in threads. If your comal is well-seasoned, you need no oil. If the masa sticks, brush the surface with a thin film of lard. Asi se hace y punto.

   Work in batches of two or three quesadillas depending on the size of your comal. Do not crowd them. Each one needs full contact with the hot surface to develop the char spots that mark a properly cooked quesadilla.
7. 7

   Serve immediately

   Transfer each quesadilla to a warm plate the moment it comes off the comal. Serve with salsa verde cruda and lime wedges alongside. These are eaten the minute they are made. A quesadilla that sits becomes a quesadilla that steams inside its own masa and loses the contrast between the crisp surface and the molten filling. Make them, eat them, make the next batch. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Huitlacoche is seasonal, June through October in Mexico, tied to the rains that make the corn fungus swell. Outside Mexico, frozen huitlacoche from Mexican importers is your best option. Look for it at Latin American markets or order from specialty suppliers. If the package says 'corn truffle' in English, you've found the right product.
• •Quesillo is Oaxacan string cheese, and it is not interchangeable with mozzarella or Chihuahua cheese. The texture is different: quesillo pulls in long, silky threads that coat the filling. If you absolutely cannot find quesillo, use a good fresh mozzarella pulled into strands, but know that you have left Oaxaca behind. That is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •Hoja santa has no true substitute. Some people say anise or fennel fronds. They are wrong. The flavor of hoja santa is anise crossed with black pepper and eucalyptus, and nothing else replicates it. If you cannot find fresh hoja santa, leave it out entirely and make a quesadilla de huitlacoche. It will be good. It will not be this dish.
• •La manteca es el sabor. The lard in the filling gives the huitlacoche a richness that oil cannot match. If you cook the filling in vegetable oil, the huitlacoche will taste flat and watery. One tablespoon of good rendered lard changes everything.

Advance Preparation

• •The huitlacoche filling can be made up to two days ahead and refrigerated. Reheat gently in a skillet before filling the quesadillas. The flavor deepens overnight.
• •Fresh masa does not hold well. Buy it the day you plan to cook, or at most the morning of. Masa left overnight dries out and sours. If you must store it, wrap it tightly in plastic and refrigerate, but use it within 24 hours.
• •The hoja santa leaves can be washed, de-ribbed, and torn a few hours ahead. Store them between damp paper towels in the refrigerator.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 160g)