Recipes from Fonda San Miguel

Austin locals know the restaurant Fonda San Miguel as a great place to gather with families for a special occasion. Its Sunday brunch is legendary. As one of the Southwest's top restaurants, not only is the food top quality, its ambiance and art transport patrons to

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a romantic hacienda in Mexico.

When the Fonda San Miguel cookbook was first published in 2005, it was an instant hit and won awards from the International Association of Culinary Professionals and Independent Publishers Association. Fonda San Miguel: Forty Years of Food and Art is now updated and reissued with a lavish compilation of recipes and art from one of America’s premier restaurants serving interior Mexican cuisine.

To celebrate, we've pulled a few recipes from the book for Thanksgiving week. Feast well!

We've partnered with BookPeople and Edible Austin for a talk with restauranteur and author Tom Gilliland on Thursday, December 8th at 7pm. He'll speak about the book and there will be some bites to taste along with his talk. Don't miss it!

From Fonda San Miguel: Forty Years of Food and Art

Spicy Red Snapper Bloody Mary—or María

This is your spicy Bloody Mary but with a fun twist. You can make it with your choice of gin, vodka, tequila, or mezcal.

• 5 ice cubes
• 1 6-ounce can tomato juice (the best you can get)
• 2 ounces gin, vodka, tequila, or mezcal
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons bottled hot pepper sauce (Salsa Valentina)
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon brine from a jar of olives
• 1 pinch hot chili powder
• 1 pinch garlic powder
• 1 pinch ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon prepared or freshly grated horseradish

Garnish

• 1 celery stalk with leaves (from the heart of the celery)
• 1 small dill pickle
• 2 stuffed green olives
• 1 freshly cut lemon wedge

Place ice cubes in a cocktail shaker. Pour in all liquid ingredients and season with all the rest. Cover and shake until the outside of the shaker is frosty.

Pour all contents, including ice, into a 12-ounce highball glass. Before serving, garnish with celery, pickle, olive, and lemon wedge. Serves 1.

Higaditos con Higos Y Jalapeños
Chicken Livers with Figs and Jalepeños

This may sound like a strange combination, but the sweet/sour/spicy joining of figs, onions, jalapeño, and vinegar is a perfect foil for the livers and their savory richness. These are great served with cocktails.

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter 
• 2 red onions, peeled and thinly sliced 
• 1 fresh jalapeño pepper, chopped 
• 1 2/3 cups chicken livers, trimmed of sinew 
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar 
• 4 ripe figs, stems removed and halved 
• 5 tablespoons red wine vinegar 
• 4 slices sourdough bread, toasted 
• Extra virgin olive oil 
• 1/4 cup fl at leaf parsley, roughly chopped 
• Zest of 1/2 lemon

Melt half the butter in a large frying pan. Add the onions, jalapeño, and a pinch of salt. Cook over gentle heat for 20 minutes, until the onion is soft and starting to brown. Remove to a plate and set aside.

Thoroughly pat dry the chicken livers on paper towels. Season well with salt and pepper. Add the remaining butter to the frying pan and, once it foams, add the livers. Fry over medium heat for about 2 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Cook in batches if needed. Set aside with the onions.

Turn the heat to medium-low. Sprinkle the sugar over the pan and add the figs, cut side down. Cook for about 1 minute, until the cut side starts to bubble and brown; turn over. Add the vinegar and bubble for a few seconds, until syrupy. Return the onions and livers to the pan. Correct the seasonings and stir together.

Spoon the fig and liver mixture over the toast. Splash with olive oil and sprinkle with parsley and lemon zest before serving. Serves 4.

Tour Texas on the Table This Fall

Fall is the season to experience Texas. Don't let it get away from you without visiting some of the farm-to-table culinary hotspots featured in Terry Thompson-Anderson's new book Texas on the Table: People, Places, and Recipes Celebrating the Flavors of the Lone Star 

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State. To help you plan day trips, autumn weekend adventures, and even your next grocery run, we turned to Google maps to take the guesswork out of putting Texas on your table.

Organized by category (Cheese, Wine, Dining, Meat and "Foraging"), this map charts the extraordinary family-owned establishments from which the book pulls quintessential Texas dishes and wine pairings with an emphasis on terroir (loosely translated as "a sense of place").

Access the map here: Tour Texas on the Table

A detail from the Tour Texas on the Table
Google map.

We've incorporated recipes and wine pairings from the book in the map pins, so you'll really know what you're doing when you've got the book in hand and the best local food and wine Texas has to offer.

On social media? If you find yourself supporting one of these small businesses, take a photo (selfie if you want), post your photo tagging where you are and using the hashtag #TexasOnTheTable, and we'll share it!

To help get you started while you plan your Texas terroir treks, impress your family and friends by making pulled pork barbecue from one of the hottest old-school purveyors of 'que in the country. Yes, that's right, you now have access to some of Franklin Barbecue's secrets.

Franklin Barbecue’s Pulled Pork Sandwich

Although beef is foremost in the minds of Texans when you mention barbecue, the pulled pork sandwich served at Austin’s wildly popular Franklin Barbecue is so fabulous it is worth the long wait usually required to get one. Adored by everyone from local bloggers to the New York Times and Bon Appétit, Franklin Barbecue has a line outside its door every single day, and very few complain about waiting three hours or more to get their barbecue. The sandwiches are great to prepare for a crowd, each of whom will love you, especially because they didn’t have to stand in line.

Posadas Navideñas Recipe from ¡Viva Tequila!

Lucinda Hutson, our go-to party expert, has Feliz Navidad down pat. Kick off Las Posadas, the nine-day Mexican celebration leading up to Christmas, with this anecdote from ¡Viva Tequila! and a recipe for a traditional Mexican Christmas punch, the perfect libation for your holiday fiesta. Pro tip from Lucinda: use a real sugar cane as a stir stick, and wreathe the base of the jar with fresh fruits, greenery, Christmas lights, and ornaments. 

Feliz Navidad, Prospero año y felicidad!

Posadas Navideñas

In villages throughout Mexico, locals partake of celebrations called posadas during the nine days before Christmas. They reenact Mary and Joseph’s pilgrim­age, seeking shelter in Bethlehem. Candlelight processions go door to door, singing and praying, and are turned away until they reach the “inn,” a home predestined for the fiesta. There, the pilgrims gather around an ornate nativity scene. Like most Mexican religious observances, the sacred nature of the posadas soon gives way to merriment—tasty food, piñatas, and steaming cups of ponche for the travelers, sipped from earthenware mugs called jarritos and often spiked with tequila or mezcal.

Many North Americans—especially in the Southwest—also embrace the posada tradition. Luminarias (small paper bags, partially filled with sand, holding a glowing candle) light the way to the door. Whether part of the procession of a posada or simply served in a small gathering, ponche is part of a tradition that most Mexican families look forward to during the holidays. Sharing this drink is a way to assure a “Feliz Navidad, Prospero Año y Felicidad.”On Christmas morning, I simmer a big pot of ponche on my stove. Wafts of enticing and comforting aromas fill my house, bringing back memories of my beloved Mexico. Sometimes this punch is hard to duplicate in the United States because of the unavailability of the exotic fruits. However, Latin American markets and pulgas (flea markets) north of the border stock ponche ingredients during the Christmas season just for this revered tradition.

I love visiting these venues at this time of the year, joining others who come to hand-select fruits and spices, long stalks of sugarcane, crimson jamaica flowers, and cones of brown piloncillo sugar for this annual ritual. I often ask them to share their ponche recipes with me, though it’s usually simply una cuchara, un poquito, or una copita of ingredients (“a spoonful of this,” “a little of that,” or “a little cupful”). Once, in my best Spanish, I told a viejita (old Mexican woman) as she frugally picked a handful of fruit for her Christmas punch, “Voy a hechar tecolotes en mi ponche.” The little woman jumped back, wide-eyed and terrified! The other women around us broke out in merry laughter. I had told her I was going to put owls in my punch! She must have thought I’d been sipping tequila before even making the punch...or was planning to conjure up a dark brujas (witches) brew. 

I meant to say tejocotes, the name for the small, hard, black-speckled orangish fruits that are a favorite seasonal ingredient for ponche. These fruits come from various species of Mexican hawthorn trees and taste rather like crabapples, although tejocotes are usually about half the size, with several big, hard seeds. Tart and mealy until cooked, tejocotes produce a pectin that naturally thickens the ponche and are a highly sought-after and expensive ingredient during the holidays. 

Though traditional ponche calls for many ingredients, it’s easy to make. I have allowed for a choice of substitutions in my version. You’ll find that tropical fruit nectars add flavor when the more unusual fresh fruits are not available. Dried apricots, prunes, cherries, and apples may be substituted as needed, and a handful of fresh cranberries adds pleasing tartness (see note following recipe).

Ponche Navideño

Traditional Christmas Punch

Serve Mexico’s beloved Christmas punch from clay jarritos or small mugs and spike with your favorite tequila or mezcal—or a splash of both! Provide a spoon for eating the stewed fruit. It’s delicious for a holiday gathering that might include Mexican Wedding Cookies, crispy buñuelos, polvorones (cinnamon-sprinkled sugar cookies), or pan dulce pastries from your favorite Mexican bakery.