Chef Rick Bayless will headline this year's Good Food Festival & Conference at the UIC Forum in Chicago.
The 13th annual event, running March 16 through 18, will feature speakers, cooking demos, sampling, DIY workshops, and more than 150 farmers, artisanal food producers, retailers, other vendors.
Bayless, of Frontera Mexican Group, will be joined with other culinary visionaries for the festival, including Michael Bashaw, president of Whole Foods Market’s Midwest division; Marc Schulman of Eli’s Cheesecake; Rob Levitt of Local Foods and The Butcher & Larder; and Chuck Templeton Founder of OpenTable.
Passes to the event can be purchased at goodfoodfestivals.com.
On Tuesday Bayless stopped by Café 5 to discuss what he's looking forward to most for the 2017 festival and shared the recipe to one of his classic dishes:
SALSA MEXICANA
Servings: 12 as part of a party; 1 1/2 cups
Ingredients:
- ½ medium white onion, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces
- Fresh Hot Green Chiles to Taste (usually 1 or 2 serranos or 1 small jalapeno), stemmed, seeded (if you wish) and finely chopped
- 12 ounces (about 2 medium-small round or 4 to 5 plum) red-ripe tomatoes, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces
- 2 to 3 tablespoons (loosely packed) chopped fresh cilantro (thick bottom stems cut off)
- About 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Instructions:
Local
Scoop the onion into a strainer, rinse under cold tap water, shake off the excess and transfer to a medium bowl.
Add the green chile, tomatoes, cilantro and lime. Stir well, taste and season with salt, usually about 1/2 teaspoon.
Cover and refrigerate until you are ready to serve.
CHORIZO-POTATO TACOS (Tacos de Chorizo con Papas)
Servings: 4
Ingredients:
- 3 medium (about 12 ounces) boiling potatoes (Yukon gold's or the smaller red or white-skin potatoes work well here), peeled if you wish, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 12 ounces fresh Mexican chorizo sausage, casing removed
- 1 medium white onion, cut into small pieces
- Salt
- ¾ cup Salsa
- 1 avocado, pitted, flesh scooped from the skin and sliced
- 12 warm tortillas
Instructions:
Scoop the potato into a microwave-safe bowl, cover with plastic wrap, poke a few holes in the top and microwave on high for 3 minutes.
Lay the chorizo and onion in a very large (12-inch) skillet (preferably non-stick) and set over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently and breaking up clumps, until the fat renders, the sausage looks cooked, and the onions are translucent, about 6 minutes.
Scoop the potatoes, leaving the steaming liquid behind, into the skillet and continue cooking until the potatoes are soft, about 5 minutes. If the potatoes begin browning long before they’re soft, reduce the temperature a little. Taste and season with salt if you think the mixture needs it—some chorizo is so highly seasoned, little additional salt will be needed.
To serve, scoop the mixture into a deep bowl. Set out with the cheese, cilantro salsa, avocado and warm tortillas.
