Quintoniles Guisados Tlaxcaltecas

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide clay cazuela or heavy 12-inch skillet
• •Large bowl for washing greens
• •Wooden spoon or tongs
• •Comal for warming corn tortillas

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the greens

   Pick through the quintoniles and remove tough lower stems, yellow leaves, and any weeds caught in the bunch. Wash the greens in a large bowl of cold water, lifting them out instead of pouring the dirty water over them. Repeat until no grit sits at the bottom of the bowl. Market greens carry soil. That is not a problem. Bad washing is the problem.

   Do not dry the leaves completely. The water clinging to them helps them collapse in the cazuela without adding extra liquid.
2. 2

   Soften the onion

   Set a wide clay cazuela or heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the manteca de cerdo and let it melt until glossy. Stir in the white onion and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until translucent and sweet-smelling but not browned. La manteca es el sabor. For this dish, it gives body to a vegetable that people wrongly treat as poor food.

3. 3

   Add chile and garlic

   Stir in the garlic and chile serrano. Cook for 45 seconds, just until the garlic smells sharp and the chile opens. Do not burn the garlic. Serrano gives a clean green heat, not a mask. This dish should taste of quintonil first.

4. 4

   Cook the jitomate

   Add the chopped jitomate and salt. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring often, until the tomato softens and its juices stain the onion lightly. You are not making a sauce. You are giving the greens a little acidity and sweetness so their mineral flavor has somewhere to sit.

5. 5

   Wilt the quintoniles

   Add the wet quintoniles by handfuls, turning them with tongs as they shrink. Cover the cazuela for 2 minutes, then uncover and stir. They will release their own liquid. Do not drown them. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes total, until tender, dark green, and still distinct, not mashed into a paste.

6. 6

   Finish with epazote

   Stir in the chopped epazote during the final minute. Taste for salt. The epazote should smell resinous and sharp, like the edge of a milpa after rain. Add it too early and it goes dull. Add it at the end and it tells you exactly where this dish comes from.

7. 7

   Serve from the cazuela

   Spoon the quintoniles into a warm clay serving dish or serve straight from the cazuela. Put warm corn tortillas on the table and crumble queso fresco over the greens only if you want it. Beans from the pot belong beside this. Flour tortillas do not. This is Tlaxcala, not the northern border.

Chef Tips

• •Buy quintoniles during the rainy season when the bunches are tender and the stems snap cleanly. If the leaves are leathery or the stems are woody, the plant is too old for guisado. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado.
• •If you cannot find quintoniles, use tender verdolagas or quelites cenizos. That is a compromise, not the same dish. Spinach cooks too soft and tastes too sweet, but it is better than pretending kale belongs here.
• •Do not add broth. Quintoniles release enough liquid when covered. Too much water turns a quick guisado into boiled greens, and boiled greens are what people make when nobody taught them better.
• •Use chile serrano, not jalapeno, for this Tlaxcala version. Serrano is sharper and cleaner against the epazote. One chile makes it gentle. Two makes it wake up.

Advance Preparation

• •The quintoniles can be picked over and washed up to one day ahead. Wrap them in a clean towel and refrigerate in a loose bag so they do not rot from trapped water.
• •Cooked quintoniles keep for two days refrigerated. Reheat gently in a cazuela with a spoonful of water or lard. Do not microwave them into a wet pile.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 185g)