SSC Dia de Most-AWESOME Edition: A Mexican Day of the Dead Celebration for the Ages!

It's that's time of year again kiddies! That's right! Halloween is just around the corner! Now, All Hallows Eve has always been one of my favorite holidays BUT I've always been fascinated by Mexican culture, particularly their Dia de los Muertos celebrations. (That's Day of the Dead for you kids who didn't bother paying attention in high school Spanish class.)



El Dia de los Muertos is celebrated on November 1st, or All Souls Day and is basically a far more exciting version of the American Halloween. People decorate sugar skulls, have parades, dress up like dead people, build beautiful alters honoring their relatives and of course, make tons of delicious traditional dishes. Since I have a nifty little collection of Mexican artwork, a love of all things involving skulls and a knack for cooking Mexican food, I thought this year I'd forgo the traditional Halloween party and go for a Dia de los Muertos celebration that will be remembered throughout the ages! The results were deliciously terrifying! (The terrifying part was mostly how we felt the next day after drinking several bottles of tequila.) Check it!


Slow Cooker Mexican Pulled Chicken
This recipe is super easy and can be served as a taco filling or simply put over rice.

4 chicken breasts
2 1/2 tsps cumin
2 tbsps chili powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp black pepper
2/3 cup chicken broth
2/3 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
2 limes, juiced
2 large onions, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
2 tbsps minced garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil

Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt, pepper and garlic and sauté a few more minutes. Add chicken broth and continue to satue for another minute or so. Turn off and set aside.

Add chicken to crock pot. Squeeze the lime on top, add the cilantro, jalapeno, and pour the onion and garlic mixture over top.

Cook on low for 4-5 hours, or until cooked through and tender. Stir around every once and awhile. Shred chicken with 2 forks. You might want to scoop out a bit of the juice depending on how long you are planning on keeping it warm.

Serve with corn or flour tortillas, rice, black beans, cheese, salsa or anything else you like on tacos. Emily was nice enough to bring her famous AWESOME GUACAMOLE, which you can find the recipe for here, along with some other fantastic Tex-Mex treats!



Mexican Sweet Corn Cake
This is almost like a Mexican version of bread pudding.
It's sweet, delicious and just a bit gooey! Also, it's absolutely terrible for you. Try not to think about it.
It's totally worth it!





1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup water
3 cups frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed
1/2 cup cornmeal
2/3 cup sugar
4 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

In a medium bowl beat butter until it is creamy. Add the flour, cream and water and beat until well mixed. Stir corn into the butter mixture.

In a separate bowl, mix cornmeal, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Add to flour mixture and stir. Pour batter into an ungreased 9x13 inch baking pan. Smooth batter and cover with aluminum foil. Place filled pan into a larger pan or dish that is filled a third of the way with water. (I used a roasting pan. I'm not quite sure why you have to do this, I just know it works.)

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 50-60 minutes. Cool for a few minutes so you don't burn the crap out of your tongue like I did.




Sugar Skull Cookies & Gingerdead Men!*
In lieu of making actual sugar skulls, which although beautiful are a bit complex and largely inedible, I substituted this great sugar cookie recipe. It's perfect for making simple cookies to decorate, no matter what the occasion!

Cookies
3 c flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 c unsalted butter, softened
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg

Frosting
2 cups powdered sugar
4 tbsps milk or heavy cream

Decorations
Gingerbread man cookie cutter
Skull shaped cookie cutter (if can't find skull cookie cutters cut a 3/4 circle into dough and complete circle with a rectangle. [The rectangle will be the teeth])
sprinkles
gel frosting
candy corn
candy coated chocolates...etc.

Put flower and salt together in a small bowl.

In a large bowl beat butter with an electric mixer until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar gradually and beat for about 3 minutes; beat in extract. Beat in egg. Gradually add flour mixture. When it becomes too difficult to beat with an electric mixer, use your hands.

Form dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate about an hour or 2, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350. Spray cookie sheets with non-stick cooking spray. Roll out cookies on a floured surface, to about 1/4in thick. Make sure to flour the rolling pin as well. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Place on cookie sheet.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Frosting
Add heavy cream or milk to powdered sugar slowly. A little goes a long way, so be careful. Whisk to get the lumps out. Heavy cream will make for a thicker frosting.

Wait for cookies to cool completely to frost. Decorate!




*Okay, like I said before, this is just a straight up sugar cookie recipe. No gingerbread here. Sorry, I was dying to be punny with the gingerdead thing. Incidentally, The Gingerdead Man is also a ridiculous B Horror Movie starring Gary Busey. If that doesn't terrify you, I don't know what will.



Booze Pairings!
As with any Mexican themed party, tequila is always a must...and believe me we had plenty! If you've have some unpleasant experiences with tequila before, Kahlua is another great Mexican liqueur that is fabulous as a dessert drink.

Kahlua & Cream
1 part Kahlua
2 parts cream or milk

Mix! Serve over ice!

Margaritas!
You can find a great (and uber strong) margarita recipe here, from our Tex-Mex Supper Club Edition.

Mexican Beers
Corona, Dos Equis, Sol, Tecate or Modello



Other Dia de Los Muertos Party Tips!

• Ask your friends to dress up like skeletons, Mexicans or dead people. I painted my face to look like a sugar skull. Since most of my friends don't have the scratch to spend on frivolous things like multiple Halloween costumes (when they can spend their money on frivolous things like booze), we also suggested people could wear whatever they were using for a Halloween costume.

• Buy a package of fake mustaches to give out to your guests. Works best when to bust them out when your friends are already half in the bag. Heh.

• Build an alter.

1. Find a small side table to use.
2. Place a couple of short sturdy boxes on top for multiple levels.
3. Cover with a colorful cloth.
4. Place Christmas lights, candles, skulls, small statues and photos of whatever or whoever you'd like to represent on top. (If you're being serious about this, it's usually photos of dead relatives.) Because I am a comedian and am incapable of taking anything seriously, I had photos of dead concepts.

We memorilized dead things! A photo of Mikey, the Life cereal kid, who died of eating pop rocks and soda, a statue of the Social Distortion Skeleton, to represent the death of punk rock, and a photo of the American flag, to represent the American Dream(...which if you're anything like I am, you've realized was dead a long time ago). Ha.
















Marylin Monroe & Sugar Skull Chick (Emily & Me); Mexican wrestlers fight!














Fun Fact #1: Candy corn now exists in apple, blueberry, tangerine & caramel flavors
Fun Fact #2: Every single one of these flavors is gross; Mustaches in action!

















Huukah time!; Durso gets serious.













Phoebe the mustachioed Mexican , Mary-Catherine Spillane-Gallager, Me; The spread!


Happy Dia de Los Muertos!....(and Happy Halloween too...I guess.)

Cheers!
Christa






About Christa
Christa is a comedian, artist and graphic designer living in Boston. Because most of her family is fresh off the boat, she knows a thing or two about traditional European cooking and baking, provided that the recipes are in English (Thanks a lot, crappy American school system!). She also has a vast knowledge of fancy-smancy beers made by smelly hippies. Although she has no food credits to speak of, generally speaking everything she makes is considered to be "damn good." Check out her other blog Shameless Pomp and Circumstance if you feel like it!