Expanding Your Pantry: Mexican Cheeses

By Jonathan Berohn

As the Hispanic population in the US continues to grow, mainstream grocery stores are finally starting to come around and offer a selection of Mexican and Hispanic food that goes beyond Old El Paso and Pace.  One of the best things I've found in my local store is Mexican cheese.  I no longer have to choose between making a long trip to a specialty store and muddling through bland enchiladas.  Now there's a large selection of authentic Mexican cheeses right around the corner.

Beyond Pepper Jack

Naturally, you might ask why Mexican cheese?  Well, first off, I like Mexican food, and I like to be authentic when I can.  It generally adds to a dish, and it's much easier to impress your friends by telling them you're using Queso Menonita than it is with Cheddar.  That's not really doing Mexican cheeses justice, though.  They offer new flavors and textures that most of us have been missing out on and that are worth building dishes around.

I've picked three of the most common (and flavorful) of the bunch: Queso Menonita, Queso Panella, and Queso Fresco.  These three cheeses also offer a good sampling of the Mexican cheese spectrum.

• Queso Menonita: Queso Menonita is a classic melting cheese.  In Mexico it is the staple for making quesadillas.  It is light yellow in color and fairly soft-about the texture of a Monterey Jack.  Its flavor is also faintly reminiscent of a good jack cheese, just cranked up quite a few notches and topped off with a smooth finish.  You can use Queso Menonita quite well in any Mexican dish that calls for cheese to be melted.
• Queso Panella: Queso Panella, on the other hand, does not melt well. It is a smooth white cheese, usually flavored with a hint of salt.  It is fairly firm, and crumbles slightly when cut-reminiscent of an Indian Paneer cheese.  Queso Panella works best when cut in slices or cubes.  It holds up very well with olives as an easy appetizer.
• Queso Fresco: Finally, Queso Fresco is another non-melting cheese.  It is a firm, white, crumbly cheese you could describe as a Mexican feta (it's not made with sheep's milk, though).  Queso Fresco is a perfect topping for things such as tostadas and tacos.

If you are like me, once you try any of these cheeses, you will want to try more.  The recipes I picked use the three cheeses in fairly traditional roles, but I only did that to give you a baseline.  Experiment with any your local store stocks. You can even use Mexican cheeses successfully in non-Mexican dishes for a little added flavor.  Who isn't tired of the prepackaged shredded cardboard the grocery store passes off for cheese.  Add a little zest with some Mexican cheese.

Recipes Using Mexican Cheeses

Queso Chihuahua - Cheese Crisp with Queso Menonita

One of the best Mexican restaurants I've ever eaten at is, believe it or not, in Ohio.  Marcelita's in Hudson, OH has been turning out authentic Mexican food for over 20 years.  Here is my homage with an appetizer inspired by many cheese crisps I ate there while growing up.  It's fast, it's easy, and-as does anything with melted cheese-it ranks pretty high in the world of perfect appetizers.

• 1/2 lb. Queso Menonita, shredded
• 2 large flour tortillas
• 2 green or red chiles, sliced into thin rings (optional)

Heat your oven to 450 degrees.  Preheat a pizza stone, baking tray, or cookie sheet.  The pizza stone works best here.  First, because it actually does, and, second because it lets me use my pizza stone for something other than pizza-I hate one-use gadgets.

Sprinkle the cheese on the tortilla, add some sliced chiles if you like the heat, slide it onto your stone/tray/sheet, and bake until the cheese is bubbling and starting to brown (about 3-5 minutes).

Cut it up like a pizza (here's a great opportunity to use that pizza cutter that's otherwise sitting in your drawer waiting for pizza) and serve plain with sour cream, salsa, and/or guacamole on the side.

Serves 4-6 as an appetizer.

Queso Panella, Cucumber, and Tomato Salad

This is my variation on a cucumber and tomato salad one of my dad's neighbors makes.  I'd never really had cucumber in Mexican cuisine before, and it's definitely a keeper.  It adds a nice bit of cool balance to the heat the peppers and hot sauce churn out.  I added the cheese to give another counterpoint to the bite from the peppers and onions.  This salad is great with any Mexican dish.  It also works well with most summer barbecue meals like burgers, grilled fish, and even ribs.

• 1 lb. queso panella, diced into 1/4" cubes
• 1 large cucumber, peeled and diced into 1/4-1/2" cubed
• 2 medium tomatoes, cut into 1/2" pieces
• 1/2 medium red onion, diced small
• 1/4 cup cilantro, coarsely chopped or torn
• 1 teaspoon-1 tablespoon finely diced seeded hot green or red chiles
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons extra virigin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon-1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce (or your favorite hot sauce)
• Salt and pepper to taste (I usually use about 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 7 or 8 turns from my pepper mill)

Experiment with the chiles and hot sauce to find the level of heat you are comfortable with.  I tend to prefer heat in tablespoons, but since I'm also cooking for my wife and kids, teaspoons (and, sadly, less) have become the standard in our house.  If you want to serve this to your kids, I'd suggest leaving the chiles on the side, and serve them in a separate bowl.  That way, the chile heads at your table can sear their tastebuds to their hearts' content, and you don't have to dine to a chorus of "this is too spicy," in whine major.

Other than that, just mix it all together in a large bowl and enjoy.  It's best if you let it sit for about half an hour to let the flavors meld, but it works straight out from the kitchen, too.

Serves 4-6.

Taco Salad with Queso Fresco

When I make this at home, the kids always insist on eating theirs as regular tacos.  As I'm no longer 6, however, I've lost the fascination for having my food break all over my hands.  Ok-not really-but you can get a lot more hot sauce onto a taco salad.  And since I'm not dropping my food all over the table with the kids it makes for an easier clean up.  Oh yeah-and it tastes great.  The easiest way to make this is in steps.

Salsa Fresca:

• 3 medium tomatoes, chopped small
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced small
• 1-3 finely diced seeded hot red or green chile peppers
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seed
• 1/4 cup cilantro, coarsely chopped or torn
• Juice of 1 lime
• Salt and pepper to taste (the usual 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 7 or 8 turns from the pepper mill)

Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl (I like glass as it's not only functional but presentable) and refrigerate until you are ready for it.

Chicken:

• 4 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/2 tablespoon ground coriander seed
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1/4-1 teaspoon ground chipotle or ground cayenne pepper (I prefer the smokey taste of the chipotle here-it goes perfectly with the cheese; cayenne is certainly a passable substitute if you don't have chipotle-it has more heat, too)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine the spices.  Rub the spice mix onto the chicken, coating each piece evenly on both sides.

Either broil or pan saute the spiced chicken breasts.  As an aside, you might find (as I usually do) that the chicken breasts tend to burn before they cook in the broiler.  To take care of that, just broil them until they are nice and seared on the outside, and finish them in the microwave for a minute or two.  Note-cut them in the thickest part to make sure they are done.  Salmonella is very nasty-trust me.

Dice the chicken into 1/2" cubes when done.

Putting it all together:

• 1 medium head romaine lettuce, rinsed, dried, and coarsely torn
• 1/2 medium white or yellow onion, sliced into very thing rings
• 1/2 lb. Queso Fresco, crumbled
• Sour cream
• Hot Sauce
• 2 limes, quartered
• 1 bag of your favorite tortilla chips (none of that flavored stuff, though-it'll just get in the way); you can even use crumbled taco shells if you are buying those for the kids

For each plate, put down a layer of chips.

Add about 1/4 of the lettuce, chicken, and onions one at a time-don't mix them.

Next spoon about 1/4-1/2 cup of the salsa over the whole lot and sprinkle cheese over everything.

Top with a healthy dollop of sour cream and serve with lime quarters and hot sauce.

Serves 4