Green Jell-O and jalapenos?

The Salt Lake Tribune ^ | TUESDAY July 08, 2003 | By Tim Sullivan

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Isabel Lake has added some Mexican flair to some typical Utah dishes. (Paul Fraughton/The Salt Lake Tribune)

Isabel Lake loves carne asada, served with warm tortillas, pico de gallo and refried pinto beans. Then again, she couldn't do without potato salad. She craves the seafood of her native Mazatlan but the mix of whipped cream, cottage cheese and fruit dubbed "Mormon Salad" also does her right.

Just like her name, Lake's cooking is a combination of Mexico and Utah. Her kitchen skills have the equal influence of her Sinaloan mother and her mother-in-law, a Mormon from Salt Lake.

"We follow the LDS cookbook from the relief society, but we give it our own flair," says Lake, an LDS convert who came to Utah 32 years ago and now owns Isabella's Catering in West Jordan. Food styles are often the result of migration patterns, of colliding tastes, ingredients and cooking methods. Mexican food itself resulted from indigenous and colonial traditions combining in different ways to create regional cuisines. And in Utah, Northern European and Greek immigrants have influenced the state's food.

Utah's most recent immigration wave, from Mexico, has helped increase its Latino population to more than 200,000. Mexican food has spread its influence over a wide swath of the culinary scene, from the popularity of taco carts to the inclusion of foods like tamales and quesadillas at some of the state's toniest restaurants.

The impact of Deseret -- with its funeral potatoes, Jell-O and deep-fried scones -- on the food of Mexican immigrants, meanwhile, has not been drastic. At first glance, it is easy to write off Mexican food's adaptation here as the same kind of de-spicing that has happened to south-of-the-border cuisine all over the country. "The adaptation is making things blander," says Bob King, president of the Utah chapter of Slow Food, an organization that promotes local food traditions.

Especially in Utah, say some experts, "Mexican" food is all too often simplified Tex-Mex centered on burritos and enchiladas suffocated in orange cheese and dull, tomato-based sauces.

Michael Gallegos, a Mexican food expert for Sysco Foods, fondly remembers "Salt Lake-style Mexican," a version that was popular when he was growing up here 30 years ago and favored heavy cheese enchiladas and chile verde. But as some food enthusiasts from Mexico have acquainted Utah with more sophisticated and "authentic" food from their country, others have taken the Salt Lake style and run with it.

Though clearly not the kind of Mexican fusion that has happened in Texas and California, "Mexitahn" -- or "Utexican" -- has been evolving just the same. While Salt Substitute has yet to find anyone creating a taco with fry sauce, some culinary mavericks have come shockingly close.

Cantaloupe Water

Many Mexican cooks along the Wasatch Front have recognized Utah's wealth of produce.

"We live in a desert, but the fruit is good. Mormon [pioneers] were agrarians," Bob King, of the Utah chapter of Slow Food, says, pointing to the peaches, cherries, raspberries, heirloom tomatoes and lettuce. "And melons do great here."

Indeed, one specialty at Midvale's El Taconaso is the cantaloupe water. In Mexico, ground up fruit combined with water and sugar are popular refrescos. The Ambrosio family's high opinion of Utah melons led to their cantaloupe version.

Cantaloupe Water (courtesy of El Taconaso) * 1 cantaloupe * 2 cups sugar * Water (to taste) Cut slices of cantaloupe and purée. Add sugar and water. Serve with ice. Optional addition: your choice of vodka or tequila to make a drink we've dubbed. "The River Jordan."

Pastrami Torta

Some culinary fusions of Utah and Mexico are not so successful. Pedro Lopez, who owns Chubby's Mexican Restaurant in Rose Park, says the restaurant's previous owner tried to incorporate the Utah burger joint staple of pastrami into her repertoire.

"She tried to make a pastrami sandwich, Mexican style," Lopez says, explaining how the pastrami, chiles, avocado and mayonnaise folded into a torta, a grilled Mexican sandwich, completely flopped.

Pastrami Torta (courtesy of Chubby's) * Pastrami * A few avocado slices * Roasted chiles * Mayonnaise * Torta roll (available at most Mexican bakeries) Put first four ingredients on roll, then oven bake until crispy.

Enchiladas del Lago Salado

At the Red Iguana, one of Salt Lake City's vanguards of Mexican cooking, the Cardenas family has spent its 36 years in Utah reproducing authentic regional cuisine of its home country. But here and there, out of the restaurant's gastronomic laboratory, have come a few Mexitahn innovations.

The Enchiladas del Lago Salado, "Salt Lake Enchiladas," combines chicken salad in a lettuce leaf with two potato and chorizo enchiladas. Antonio Cardenas, the restaurant's chef for 20 years, says that his grandmother named the dish after Salt Lake because it was where she first tasted chicken salad.

"I've eaten a lot of tacos, but I'd never seen one like that," Cardenas says of the lettuce-wrapped chicken salad, which his grandmother Mexicanized with chipotle peppers, peas and carrots.

The family has used Utah's quality produce to create regional adaptations. Cardenas says he, his wife and kids often journey to Brigham City to pick the surrounding area's plentiful squash and use its blossom, which has a cabbage-like flavor, to make quesadillas.

The Red Iguana's specialty is its moles, rich sauces whose disparate ingredients like chocolate, seeds and nuts reflect their region of creation. Though the restaurant has not developed the Utah mole, Cardenas says it would definitely be salty and might include chiles, pumpkin seeds and corn ("the sweet corn is so good here," he says).

Chicken Salad for Enchiladas del Lago Salado (courtesy of Red Iguana -- all ingredients to taste) * Boiled chicken * Mayonnaise * Dijon mustard * Capers * Celery Begin with mayonnaise and fold in other ingredients. * Walnuts * Peas * Carrots * Chipotles

Squash Blossom Quesadilla (courtesy of Red Iguana) * Squash blossom, chopped * Monte rey Jack cheese, grated * 2 tortillas * Butter * Oil * Garlic Fry blossom in butter, oil and garlic. Spread between tortillas with cheese and grill.

Chicken With Sausage (adapted from an LDS Church relief society cookbook by Isabel Lake) * 6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts * 8-10 link sausages cut in 3 pieces each * Large can of diced tomatoes * 1 garlic clove, smashed * 1 tsp. dried basil * 1 tsp. oregano (to taste) * pepper (to taste) * 1 large green pepper -- sliced * Carrots * Green beans * Salsa (to taste) * Cooked rice Brown chicken with the sausage in a large skillet then transfer to a Pyrex dish. Add all ingredients except green pepper and salsa. Bake at 450 degrees for 45 minutes then add green pepper, carrots and green beans for 15 minutes. Add salsa.

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