On April 6, 1983, I drove into New York City in my beat-up Ford van with a big Zarela Cetering sign emblazoned on the sides. Because it was a cargo van with no regular seats, my seven-year old... (Continue reading)
I must confess that I am not partial to ceviches made with fruit and any other juice except lime juice but Lesterloon made a believer out of me.This is a simple, light, refreshing, and delicious dish. ¾-pound of sea or... (Continue reading)
This would have to be close to the top of any list of classic, peerless, sensational Veracruzan dishes. You find different versions everywhere, but it belongs mostly to the central southern coasts and waterways of Sotavento. I call it... (Continue reading)
It’s grilling season and this is one of my favorite recipes for summer entertaining. I serve it on a fish platter whole with the chipotle mayonnaise on the side. The picture shows how the salmon was served at... (Continue reading)
It wasn’t until our second to the last day that we were in Peru before I had Peru’s signature dish: cebiche or ceviche but then it was an embarrassment of riches. We were being treated like royalty and lavished with... (Continue reading)
Easy to cook with head on, hard to photograph. The only fish I ever ate while growing up was the heavily-battered, deliciously crunchy fried fish at Luby’s Cafeteria in El Paso, Texas. So it stands to reason that I never... (Continue reading)
Today I tested my recipe named by Food and Wine Magazine as the best easy fish recipe and it is fabulous and easy. The recipe recommends that you turn the fish over using two spatulas but I used... (Continue reading)
This was the octopus I made last night. It looked great but was not perfect. I must admit that my experiment of broiling the octopus instead of grilling as specified in the recipe was not a total... (Continue reading)
Recipe: Zarela’s Veracruz, Houghton Mifflin, 2001 I first had this rich but delicate appetizer in Tlacotalpan, made with spanking-fresh crabmeat from the wonderful jaibas (relatives of our U.S. blue crab) fished from the Papaloapan river system. The... (Continue reading)
I first tasted this dish with shrimp at the Mexico City outpost of the Veracruz restaurant, Pardiῆos, where they use powdered chicken base instead of salt. I normally would too but did not have any on hand... (Continue reading)