Preparing this molcajete for two has been a long time coming! Recently a friend informed me of a Mexican restaurant that was serving a dozen variations of mexican dishes in a hot molcajete! I was intrigued! I have seen the delicious molcajetes online, in videos and on social media shared by other bloggers. Unfortunately, the restaurant molcajete came out looking like a big mess and you could not distinguish the steak from the chicken or shrimp piled on top of eache other. So, it was right at that moment that I decided I had to attempt to prepare my version of this molcajete. I think the idea of handling the hot and very heavy molcajete is what I was hesitant about. I had contimplated heating it on my outdoor grill and even in the oven, but never did it. I finally came across one video on You Tube where this guy just placed the molcajete directly onto his electric stove top, onto the coil. I thought, “hey, I can do that!” Since my stove is a glass top, I just used my cast iron comal(griddle) to slowly heat up the molcajete. It worked! I know you may be thinking that this whole thing is more work than it worth, lol! It might be, but what’s the fun in cooking if one does not challenge themself once in a while? #molcajete #foodieforlife
For Salsa
1 pound roma tomatoes
8 -10 chile japones or chile de arbol
2 serranos , stems removed
1/3 piece of white onion
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup cooking water
salt to taste and pich of oregano to finish
In a saucepan, combine all of the ingredients for salsa, minus garlic and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and continue cooking for 10 minutes or until skins from tomatoes beging to tear open. Set aside to cool. After a while, peel the skins off of the tomatoes and cut out the core. Add all of the salsa ingredients to the blender, including 1/2 cup of cooking water. Blend on high until very smooth. Taste for salt. Add pinch of oregano on top. Set aside.
For Marinade
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1 tsp. peppercorns
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/3 tsp. chile de arbol powder
Juice of 1 large orange
Juice of 2 key limes or 1 reg. lime
salt to taste
1/4 cup olive oil
In a molcajete, add the garlic cloves and salt. Grind down to a paste. Gradually add in the cumin seeds, peppercorns and oregano and grind down until smooth. Stir in the remaining ingredients, then whisk to combine. Set aside.
You will Also need
A large and deep molcajete
6 oz ribeye steak
8 oz boneless chicken breast
8 jumbo shrimp, peeled and cleaned
6 oz longaniza sausage
1 large bell pepper, or poblano, sliced into strips
1 medium onion, sliced into strips
2 -3 jalapeños
queso panela, sliced
cilantro
lime
tortillas
Variation: if I would have been able to find fresh nopales(cactus), 1 would have grilled some and added them as well.
Directions
You want to begin by placing the stone molcajete on top of a cast iron comal or griddle and turn to medium heat.
While the molcajete begins to heat up slowly, place your steak, chicken and shrimp onto three separate plates. Divide the marinade among the three. Make sure they are evenly coated. Let them marinate while molcajete heats up.
In the meantime, preheat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet to medium heat. Saute the peppers and onions for a few minutes. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Don’t overcook them. Remove from skillet and spread them out in a baking dish lined with foil paper. Set aside. Fry the jalapeños by adding a little more oil to skillet and cooking at medium heat until the skins have blistered. .
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees, just to keep the foods warm while you are finishing up.
Preheat your stove top grill pan to medium heat. Line a baking dish with foil paper and set aside. If your grill pan is big enough, you can grill the chicken, steak and longaniza sausage at the same time. The chicken breast cooks in about 12-13 minutes, the steak cooks in 7 minutes(for medium/rare) and the sausage 8-10 minutes. Turn as needed and place in foil lined dish with peppers and onions. Keep warm in the oven. And finally cook your shrimp for 5 minutes, turning halfway through cooking time.
To assemble, carefully move the very hot molcajete onto a trivet on your table. Pour in half of the salsa to the bottom. It should sizzle! Slice your meats and arrange in molcajete on top of salsa. Add some of the queso panela, peppers, onions and jalapeños. Serve with warm corn tortillas, extra salsa, cilantro and lime.
This marinade works well for steak, chicken, seafood and pork!
The salsa pictured is from another recipe, but has the same ingredients as the salsa I used for this recipe. The one pictured was processed in the molcajete.
Tacos!!
The taco above is chicken, longaniza, grilled onions, avocado, salsa and cilantro! Oh, and lime!
More chicken and longaniza!
breathtaking photographs ,can’t wait to try out your recipes!!!!
Thank you Marie!!!!
Looks delicious! This is my husbands favorite meal. And yes -your photos are fabulous.
Thank you!
Your Pictures satify my hunger for this dish. Bueno
Thank you so much!
Looks AMAZING!! Being a total foodie I’m gonna have to pull this one off for Sunday dinner! THANK YOU for the awesome idea!!
Thank you Alexandro!
This looks so good! Where is a good place to buy a molcajete? I follow you on Instagram and love your recipes!!
Well if you are looking for an online source, there is molinotortilla.com, MexGrocer.com, Williamandsonoma.com and verveculture.com I believe all of these places sell molcajetes. Just make sure you ask them if they are from lava rock and not cement.
I’m going to make this mocajete – I’m concerned if I put the mocajete into the cast iron pan it could ruin the pan??? Do I add water or fat or anything to the cast iron?
I am just using the cast iron skillet or pan to slowly heat the molcajete all the way through. Nothing happened to the pan when I made the recipe.
I live in the land of this dish, Jalisco.
It is served to you as a hot , molten mess.
The last time I had one it was hot it was still gurgling and bubbling 5 minutes after it after it arrived at the table.
Sounds delicious! Wish I could see it in Jalisco! Saludos!
I had this dish fist time in San Miguel de Allende. You can also just put the molcajete in a 250 degree oven for 20-30 minutes! Can’t wait to try this. My confusion is that most of the molcajetes sold in the US just call them mortar-and-pestles and do not mention cooking in them. But if made from stone, what can a little heat hurt?
Hi Stephen! Thank you for taking the time to write to me! I appreciate it! Many molcajetes sold in the US are made of cement and some are even from China! I am guilty of purchasing the cement version because that was all I could get a few years back. Lucky for me, I have been able to find the authentic lava rock molcajetes here in Northern California. Yes, why doesn’t anyone ever mention that they can cook in them? That sizzling salsa that stays warm for a very long time makes such an impression at the table! Add some queso panela and chorizo with homemade tortillas and wow!
Can’t wait to try this, I had it in a restaurant in Hawaii was so so good
I love the idea of using the molcajete that way!