Rosa's New Mexican Table: Friendly Recipes for Festive Meals [Hardcover]

Roberto Santibanez (Author), Christopher Hirsheimer (Photographer), Christopher Styler (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2007

A fresh, exciting, accessible approach to Mexican cooking, in glorious full-color, by the highly respected chef of the wildly popular Rosa Mexicano restaurants.

Rosa Mexicano has been named Best New York City Mexican Restaurant by New York Magazine, The Village Voice, CitySearch, and Zagat. Rosa’s chef, Roberto Santibañez, has been featured everywhere from Martha Stewart Living, Gourmet, and Bon Appétit to Us and Life. Together, this chef and these restaurants are at the very pinnacle of Mexican food—a mediagenic star and his extraordinarily popular restaurants that serve more than 1 million (!) customers a year. Rosa's contemporary approach—lighter, easier, more accessible—is a much needed breath of fresh air for Mexican cooking, including:

• Starters such as Rosa's world-famous Guacamole and incredibly easy ceviches like Red Snapper with Mango
• Triumphant tortilla creations like Tacos with Grilled Adobo-Marinated Chicken, and Octopus Enchiladas with Yellow Tomato Sauce
• Entrées such as Salmon in a Fruity Mole, Boneless Slow-Braised Short Ribs, Shrimp and Vegetable Skewers, and Rack of Lamb with Pistachio Pipian
• Simple, delicious sides like Grilled Corn Street Vendor Style and Traditional Refried Black Beans, and irresistible desserts such as Chili-Spiked Chocolate Cake, Cajeta and Cream Cheese Flan, and Almond Cinnamon Cookies.

An exhaustive, authoritative section on essential ingredients, equipment, and techniques rounds out this eminently useful, home-cook-friendly—and beautifully photographed—book, which is destined to set a new standard in the category.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

New Yorkers love Rosa Mexicano with a fidelity few restaurants ever achieve.

Since it first opened its doors nearly twenty-five years ago, it's been the place to meet up with friends, to talk, to drink, to eat. All day long people drop by for a quesadilla or torta or for the famed guacamole dubbed by one food critic "green ecstasy in a bowl." Come evening, the bar hums and crowds arrive for Rosa's homey entrees: short ribs served off the bone with a sauce of roasted tomatillo and chipotle chiles, or its red snapper Veracruz, or one of the many vegetarian meals, such as the roasted poblanos stuffed with spinach and goast cheese. Each is the epitome of contentment, and each is in this book.

Mexican food is downright delicious, and Chef Roberto Santibañez's food is triumphant because it succeeds in being true to its antecedents yet open to the tastes of the cities this growing family of restaurants now calls home. Rosa's New Mexican Table is entirely about the food we want to eat today, and it's simple enough so that we can enjoy it on any given work night. Every page is the product of Santibañez's determination to simplify the complexities of his native cuisine and to share his fascination with its multicultural currents with you.

His twists and innovative takes bring magic to cooked and uncooked sauces, such as his delicious mahogany-hued pecan-prune mole. There are fork-tender meats redolent of classic Mexican pit roasts (barbacoas), as well as great moist adobos—made from chiles, garlic, and spices and used as rubs—which make fowl and grilled meats sparkle.

Expect surprises: spectacular haricots verts baked with tomatoes, orange juice, achiote paste, and oregano in a slow oven for two hours; a ceviche green with basil; salmon served with a sauce that's both sweet and hot; and a stunning orange-gold-colored roasted yellow tomato salsa, uncommon in Mexico, and uncommonly good. Each dish is a study in intriguing contrasts: spicy and sweet (chile with pineapple); or rich and lean (a chorizo and turkey enchilada). Even desserts excite: the individual baked chocolate cakes called bocas negras offer a mix of chocolate, smoke, heat, and sweet that's heavenly.

Roberto Santibañez makes all these good flavors accessible with virtually no last-minute work. Dishes can be made ahead and most improve with time. Step-by-step plans for festive dinners—a traditional taco party, a cocktail party, a dinner for vegetarians, a barbecue—make for lively get-togethers that provide happy times for all.

This is the perfect book for those new to the joys of cooking Mexican food at home as well as anyone in search of delicious, low-stress recipes with a modern approach.

About the Author

Roberto Santibañez, the culinary director of Rosa Mexicano, has been featured in Martha Stewart Living, Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Life, Us, Self, and The Washington Post; this is his first book. Rosa Mexicano opened its doors in 1984; more than two decades later, there are three outposts in New York City, one apiece in Washington and Atlanta, one in Palm Beach, and two new ones opening in Miami and Hackensack, New Jersey.

Christopher Styler has enormous culinary range. He is a chef, cookbook writer, editor, restaurant consultant, and culinary producer of some of PBS-TV’s most successful cooking series. He lives in New Jersey.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Artisan (March 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579653243
• ISBN-13: 978-1579653248
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 0.9 x 10.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #410,404 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic September 19, 2007

By Mexican Glutton

Format:Hardcover

I'm the biggest fan of chef Roberto Santibanez and I can't get over this cookbook. I've tried all the ceviches recipies,the snaper Vera Cruz Style, the salsas and the desserts of course and they are FANTASTIC!
And I've noticed that most of this recipies have been on the restaurants menu. I go very often.....it's too close to home. If you want to learn or refine your mexican cooking skills don't wait and get this book, it's a must.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh, how I LOVE this book! October 8, 2007

By Shep Huntleigh

Format:Hardcover

Wildly imaginative and colorful in both content and design, this book and its inventive recipes remind me of wonderful meals at Rosa Mexicano each time I open it. It's tough to evoke the sensual memories of a really good restaurant on two-dimensional pages, but that's what this marvel of a cookbook does. Anyone who's been to Rosa Mexicano cannot help but remember the bold splashes of color, both on the walls and on the plates. Open 'Rosa's New Mexican Table' and I think you'll be transported as I was. The recipes are clear and easy to follow, using ingredients that are easy to find in most markets these days. The section on the many different kinds of chilis is an education in itself. The explanations and headnotes to the recipes offer an insider's perspective that makes me want to rush back to the restaurant and try the many dishes I've eaten there all over again. If you've been to Rosa Mexicano, you'll know what I mean. And if you haven't been yet, check out this book and you'll soon be making a special trip there.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing! June 21, 2008

By static

Format:Hardcover

This book is fantastic. It contains recipes for all of my favorite dishes from the restaurant: the fillet mignon in mushroom/tequila sauce, duck in nut/prune mole, and many others. And the best of all, it actually provides the recipe for Rosa's famous guacamole. In general, the instructions are easy to follow and I appreciate many colorful photos. If you enjoy gourmet Mexican, this book is a must!