My dear friend Jan and I recently returned from a trip to Taos and Santa Fe, where we were treated to an incredible show of fall color, so typical of northern New Mexico in October. Neither of us could remember a more beautiful visit there, especially along the high road between Taos and Santa Fe. I shot this just outside our lovely room at the Taos Inn.
Of course there was shopping and museums, but we also made our way down the list of must-visit restaurants of the region. Doc Martin’s at the Taos Inn is always a treat, and the tapas at El Farol on Canyon Road in Santa Fe are not to be missed. Maria’s is great for traditional New Mexican cuisine, and we can never get enough of the green chili and sopapillas at the Plaza Café on the plaza downtown.
Just before we headed back to Albuquerque and the airport, we shared a burger smothered with green chili at the Blue Corn Café off Water Street. It came with a side of jicama slaw that inspired this post.
I drew inspiration from two recipes in the Santa Fe School of Cooking Cookbook, replacing cabbage with jicama, adding cilantro for a fresh touch, and tweaking some other ingredients and measurements. As you can see, I added some spice which had been missing from the slaw I sampled in Santa Fe.
Poor Larry is neither a fan of jicama (“tasteless”) or cilantro, claiming it tastes like soap. The jalapeno and sriracha sauce scared him off as well. But no worries – the pinenut bark I brought him from Senor Murphy’s proved an excellent substitute…
- Slaw:
- 1 large jicama (1½ pounds), peeled and chopped into matchstick-sized pieces
- ½ hothouse cucumber (1/2 pound), thinly sliced
- ½ orange bell pepper, cored, seeded and thinly sliced
- ½ yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded and thinly sliced
- 4 scallions, white and light green portions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
- 1 large carrot, peeled and grated
- ⅓ cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
- 1 jalapeno pepper, cored, seeded and finely chopped
- Dressing:
- zest of 1 lime
- ¼ cup fresh lime juice
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1-2 teaspoons sriracha, or other hot sauce, to taste
- ¼ teaspoon celery seed
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the jicama, cucumber, bell peppers, scallion and carrot.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine all the dressing ingredients and whisk together.
- Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss. Allow the dressed slaw to sit for 30 minutes at room temperature before serving.
I’ll take Larry’s share!!!! This is completely up my alley. Pinned this to make hopefully this weekend. I love it!
LOL, Susan – easy to sub other ingredients too. I like the jicama, though.
Looks great and so, so pretty!
Thanks, Dorothy – see you tomorrow at the gathering.
Yum, yum, yum. I’ll be right over. 🙂
Yes, I think you’d like this one…
Oh, I like this – cilantro and sriracha are favorites. Of course pine nut bark is a winner too.
Kind of a toss-up for me 😉
Great photo Liz, wonderful colors! I’ve never tried or even seen a jicama before! Pine
bark is also new to me. It’s wonderful that there are still new food discoveries to be made!
The pine nuts were being harvested in New Mexico when we visited – you may call them “pignolis”.
Well I love cilantro and jicama so you can make this anytime for me! Nice one Liz. And New Mexico looks lovely!
Would love to make you some…
Lots of folks don’t like cilantro. But I agree with you it adds a fresh zip. GREG
I love jicama and only wish I could find it more regularly where I live. Poor Larry indeed, cilantro is one of my favorite herbs, I can’t imagine cooking without it.
Jicama! I thought I was the only person on this planet that eats it! Will make this for sure! Thanks for another way to eat it!
Jicama is not tasteless!!! Everyone I introduced jicama to ends up loving it, too. I will have to try out this slaw.
Maybe you have a recipe I can try out on Larry 😉
I’m saving this gorgeous recipe for my next Mexican feast!
Thanks, Cathy – it is pretty spicy so taste as you chop 😉