Next time you grocery shop, try this: Pretend you are on your own episode of Chopped.
It’s a trick from Aimee Tortorich, executive chef of Gov’t Taco. For her, cooking is all about challenging yourself to try new ingredients and techniques—even if you don’t fully know what you’re doing. It’s not unlike her to walk into a store, stumble upon an ingredient she’s never worked with before and decide to create a new dish around it.
“Use the supermarket almost as a canvas,” she says.
Today, she wanders through the aisles of La Morenita, a Latin grocery store and meat market on Florida Boulevard. She has an idea for a new dish: an empanada crossed with a chicken pot pie. But as she scouts the aisles, she points out how easy it is to get lost in and distracted by her surroundings. There are bins of prickly nopales, banana leaves, garbanzo beans, dried chilies, rare cuts of meat and a cafe serving what Tortorich insists are the best tacos in town.
“It’s hard to come in here and not be inspired,” she says.
In her early days of cooking school and working in the kitchen at Beausoleil, Tortorich was more likely to carry recipes into the store than she is now. The more time you spend in the kitchen, she says, the better understanding you’ll gain of techniques and how ingredients will mesh. Eventually, you’ll be less afraid to color outside the lines. For her, it’s all about respecting traditional cooking while putting her own spin on it.
“There’s nothing to be scared about with cooking. What’s the worst that’s going to happen?” she says. “The way that I learned was making mistakes and messing up and learning how to fix it. I still mess up to this day. But most of the time, I can recover from it.” govttaco.com
WHY FARM TO TABLE MATTERS—EVEN AT HOME
Tortorich lived in Italy for more than two years and was inspired by the home-cooked meals that always revolved around what was fresh and in season. “Their refrigerators are so small because they grocery shop every day,” she remembers. Sourcing your food closer to home is sure to make your dishes taste better. Because of travel time to get to Louisiana grocery stores, imported produce and meat isn’t as fresh.
SHOP LIKE A CHEF
Tortorich likes the Red Stick Farmers Market, Fresh Pickins and Southside Produce for fresh fruits and veggies. She goes to Tony’s Seafood & Deli for seafood and Costco to buy meat in bulk. She’s a fan of Trader Joe’s for its selection of nuts, cheeses, wine, snacks and salads. And she loves ethnic markets like La Morenita for those off-the-beaten-path ingredients. Here are some of her favorites.
Crema Mexicana
The consistency is smoother and creamier than American sour cream, according to Tortorich. She recently incorporated it in an avocado-lime crema.
Green garbanzo beans
She uses them as aromatics in stocks, or toasts them to add crunch in tacos.
Jarritos soda
These natural-flavored fizzy drinks are sold in flavors like pineapple, mandarin and grapefruit.
Dried chiles
You won’t find chili powder in Tortorich’s sauces. She prefers dried chiles, which can be toasted or fried to release the oils inside.
You can put just about anything in an empanada, according to Tortorich. Think of this one as a Latin version of the classic chicken pot pie.
Your shopping list: Chicken, coconut milk, your choice of root vegetables (Tortorich likes carrots and a variety of potatoes), cilantro, corn, onions, peppers and celery
For the filling:
Heat the oven to 350 F. Season your chicken with salt/pepper, and roast until internal temperature is 165F.
Small dice your root vegetables. Toss in oil and season with salt/pepper. Roast until golden brown and tender on the inside.
Chop onions, garlic, celery, carrots, habanero pepper and chorizo sausage. Remove husks from corn and cut off cob. Heat oil or butter in a saute pan, and lightly saute these ingredients for about 10 minutes. Dust the mixture with flour and cook for another minute or two. Add chicken stock and simmer for 30 minutes.
Once the chicken and root vegetables are ready, shred the chicken. Add the roasted root vegetables and chicken to the simmering liquid. Let the flavors of the stew combine. “You want the stew pretty thick so it stays inside the puff pastry,” Tortorich says, so you may need to thicken with a corn starch slurry if you find the need to. Finish with a touch of coconut milk and cilantro.
For the empanada dough:
You can buy frozen puff pastry to make things easier. Sprinkle some flour on your counter or cutting board. Spread out the puff pastry and cut into 3-by-3-inch squares. Place a tablespoon of the chicken mixture in the middle, and fold over corner to corner. Moisten the edges with water, and crimp closed with a fork.
Fry at 350 F until golden brown. Enjoy!
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This article was originally published in the December 2017 issue of 225 Magazine.
