Labor Day Mexican-style

For Latinos “every day is a blessed event and a cause for celebration” but families usually  gather for holidays, particularly long weekends associated with government holidays like Labor day, 4th of July and Memorial Day,  when the entire family is off work.  Usually the party is held at the parents’ house and as the kids grow older one might host the reunion with everyone contributing something. <p>

In my family Rodrigo and Victoria usually provide appetizers and one or two desserts, Marissa and Manu make another dessert or two, the salad and sometimes an hors d’ouvres.  Aaron or me provide the main dishes and vegetables and other side dishes.  Our meals are pretty elaborate and we have a rule that everything has to be homemade except the bread — after all Aaron and me are professional chefs, Marissa is an event coordinator and everybody else is an excellent home cook used to eating good food.   That doesn’t mean the dishes have to be difficult to prepare.  <p>

Along the Texas border the menus are often a combination of American, Mexican and Tex-Mex  dishes such as chile con queso made with Velveeta, potato or pasta salad, grilled or boiled corn the cob along with thin steaks called chuletas, served with salsa, guacamole, beans and flour tortillas.<p>

I’ve designed some menus that incorporate the same elements with my twist and the recipes are or will soon be posted in the recipe sectionUnfortunatel the recipe program we have does not allow for direct links to each recipe.. <p>

My take on this menu:

Fajitas (arrachera)  The meat has substance and is satisfyingly chewy

Served with flour tortillas, salsas, and guacamole

Queso Fundido – cheese fondue topped with pickled jalapenos and/or chorizo

Pure de Papas del Istmo

Ensalada Girasol- Grilled chipotle rubbed chicken breasts salad with sliced mangoes and chipotle vinaigrette

Esquites

Ensalada de Repollo de mi mama

Frijoles Charros

A fancier menu might be:

Salmon a las a Brasas –  Chipotle rubbed salmon smoke-grilled and served at room temperature with

Escabeche de Jicama

Pepinos con Vinagreta de chipotle

Pollo Asado al Chiltepin

Arroz con crema y Poblanos

Esparragos a las brasas

I hope you enjoy your Labor Day  celebration and please share what you will be serving with my readers.