>> Pati Narrates: You give so much to your cooking!

Now it's time for your kitchen to give back.

>> The best part is the smell!

>> Pati Narrates: Today, I'm making 3 recipes that can be used in a variety of ways.

>> You can do a gazillion million things with it!

>> Pati Narrates: You can make a lot and keep them in the fridge for when you need them.

And because each one is fantastic in a sandwich, I'm using a tangy chipotle goat cheese spread for a BLT.

Savory cesina is piled onto crisp ciabatta bread.

Pickled poblano rajas sparkle in a tuna melt.

>> This one's a winner.

Another one.

♪ ♪ >> Pati's Mexican Table is made possible by: >> Some things are always there for you.

Like your alarm clock, right on time.

Your parking space.

Seriously?

Girl's night, always there.

And avocados from Mexico.

They're always there because they're fresh all year round.

>> ♪ Avocados from Mexico >> La Costeña, por sabor!

Taste that transcends.

More information at mexicorico.com Over 40 years, bringing authentic Latin American flavors to your table.

Tropical Cheese.

>> The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food.

Mexbest.

The National Agricultural Council.

♪ epic music plays ♪ >> You know what I love doing?

I love coming up with new recipes that you can use in multiple ways, and that's what I'm gonna do today!

3 recipes that are more than one meal.

So I'm gonna start with Chipotle Goat Cheese Spread.

Add some oil to the pan over medium to medium-low heat.

I'm gonna chop about 1/3 cup of white onion.

This spread can be used in so many different ways!

As a dip for crackers, or for vegetables.

You can also use it to spoon on freshly cooked pasta, and it gives you a quick delicious creamy weeknight meal.

As that cooks and softens, I'm gonna start adding the rest of my things into my food processor.

I have 6 ounces of goat cheese.

Then I'm gonna add about 2 tablespoons of chipotle in adobo sauce, and it has a sweet spicy smoky tomato taste from the chipotles in adobo sauce.

Then I'm gonna coarsely chop 2 tablespoons of sun dried tomatoes packed in oil.

I love this combination because it's a different kind of sweet than what the chipotles in adobo have, and I love their texture.

Then I'm gonna add 1/2 a teaspoon of salt because everything in here has so much flavor.

Let's check on how the onion is going.

The edges have browned and sort of caramelized.

In going with the spirit of the recipe, I'm gonna add 1/4 cup of walnuts, but I'm gonna lightly toast them here as well, just a little toast.

We're changing the flavor from nutty to even more nutty.

I'm gonna add these into my food processor as well, so you can see just a little bit toasted.

So we have everything in here, now I'm gonna process this until completely smooth.

I love recipes that you can multipurpose because you get ahead of the game in the week.

You work on something like this chipotle goat cheese.

You can eat it cold just like this.

Mmm, it's super yummy.

But also you can put out crackers, some vegetable sticks and just eat it as a snack or an appetizer.

You can also use it as a spread for a sandwich, and I'm gonna make myself a BLT.

Just wait and see what's so great about this BLT sandwich.

So I have some thick slices of bacon that I cooked until crisp.

We love bacon in this house so much that when Alan was a little boy, I would send him off to the bus stop with a little pack of bacon just to eat.

I have a small skillet over low heat.

I'll add a touch of oil, crack a couple eggs.

I always love adding eggs to my sandwiches.

I mean, I add an egg to whatever I can.

I think it goes really well with a BLT.

Add a sprinkle of salt, a little bit of pepper.

Then I'm gonna cover them like this and they're gonna cook for 4 - 5 minutes.

I have a loaf of white sandwich bread.

I'm gonna cut some thick slices because I have a lot going into that sandwich.

We're going to toast the bread right in the rendered fat from the bacon.

Adding so much flavor to the bread!

It's also gonna be really nice and crispy.

Perfect!

Because I like my egg whites fully cooked and my egg yolks to be nice and runny.

Flip your bread to toast both sides.

So even though it's nice and toasted on the outside, because I cut thick slices it's spongey, so when you bite into it, it's gonna be really soft.

Now I'm gonna add a generous amount of the spread on both sides.

If you have a spread like this, you really want to make it the star of the sandwich, and it has a lot of things to compete with here, so I'm really adding a thick layer because I really want to feel it when I bite into it.

Another great thing about this spread is it can be used in so many ways!

You can also serve it on crackers garnished with a little bit more bacon, why not?

Lettuce leaves.

It is looking so pretty.

And then add a couple slices of tomato and my eggs.

So you're busy, everyone's busy, make your life easy and make things you can use in many ways.

Yum!

It's fun no?

Oh this is so beautiful!

See what the spread is doing to the sandwich?

It is just completely wrapping the fillings.

Mmm.

Mmm!

That chipotle goat cheese spread has a meaty quality to it.

With its smokiness and little bit of heat and sweetness of the sun dried tomatoes and it just comes together so beautifully and just - mmm!

I told you this was going to be a BLT like nothing you've ever seen and you have got to try this!

>> In keeping with today's theme I'm making a gigantic ciabatta.

We call it "ciabatta" in Mexico I know you guys call it "ciabatta".

You've seen cesina, Oaxaca style.

Cesina is a marinated piece of meat.

You can marinate it ahead of time, it stays in the refrigerator a couple of days, and then you can use it for tacos, for tortas, just as carne asada.

I'm gonna start by making the adobo.

I have 12 guajillo chiles.

Remove the stem, and remove the seeds.

Do not be afraid by the number of chiles because these are not spicy at all.

They have a bright, friendly flavor.

I have the comal here over medium-low heat.

I love this process.

I'm constantly working with chiles, toasting, rehydrating, pureeing them.

They're such a fabulous ingredient to have, they're very accessible, not expensive at all.

They will keep in your pantry for ages.

You wanna toast them on all sides, and I'm gonna cover them with boiling hot water.

This is going to rehydrate them.

While my chiles rehydrate, I'm going to pound my meat.

I have here some pork cutlets.

This is what makes a cesina, the really thin pounded pork meat and also the marinade.

So now I'm gonna pound this in between some wax paper, but you could use plastic wrap, you could use parchment paper.

I love wax paper because it doesn't stick, and then you just take a go at it.

[pounds meat] >> There is no such thing as too thin when it comes to cesina.

Super thin.

[pounds meat] >> There's so many great things about the cesina.

One is that as you're pounding it, you're tenderizing it, and the other thing is that you can pound a lot of meat, and then marinate it, and then keep it in the fridge a few days and it continues to get better, and then you just cook it as you need it, in a sandwich, with refried beans, for tacos, with rice, I mean there are so many ways to use it.

Now I'm gonna puree the ingredients for the adobo sauce.

The rehydrated chiles go in the blender with a cup of the soaking liquid.

4 peeled garlic cloves, and 2 teaspoons of oregano.

1/2 a teaspoon of thyme, and 1/2 a teaspoon of marjoram, and 1.5 teaspoons of salt, and then something to brighten everything up in here, I'm gonna add 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar.

One thing that distinguishes Mexican adobos from other Latin American adobos is the addition of vinegar.

Most times, you have a combination of one or another different kind of chile, some spices, and vinegar.

And 1/2 a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.

Chiles love the company of black pepper.

I know it's a funny thing because it's different kinds of heat, they go really well together.

We start at low speed, and then we go to high.

[blender whirs] >> Great!

Just as it looks with that bright rich color is just as it tastes.

Now I'm gonna completely marinate the meat.

I wanna completely cover it in this adobo, every centimeter!

I know centimeters don't work here, every inch!

And the more it sits, the better it gets!

But another fabulous thing is if you want to grill it right away, it will be delicious too and that's what I'm gonna do.

>> I'm gonna make a quick slaw for dressing that sandwich.

I have 2 cups of shredded green cabbage and 1 cup of red cabbage.

To that, I add 1/2 a cup of mayo, 1/2 a cup of Mexican crema, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, some freshly ground black pepper, 1/2 a teaspoon of salt, and 3 tablespoons of lime juice.

It's very simple because it has this sweet creaminess from the mayo, but it has the tangy saltiness from the Mexican crema, and it has that freshness from the lime juice.

Just a tad of sugar to balance everything else.

Mmm!

Needs nothing.

We call this bread "ciabatta", and it is really popular, I know it's funny.

>> I love these recipes that have so many uses because it just brings the practical out of the kitchen, and it makes me feel like my time in the kitchen is very productive.

I mean, we're constantly running around, 3 boys have 3 different schedules, they're growing boys so they're always hungry!

So it's really good to have something that's there to throw on the grill.

The really thin meats of Mexico are cooked until well done.

Mmm.

You know what I do with this meat?

When I have leftover white rice, and I have this meat marinating in the fridge, the next morning I will quickly sear it, just like that.

I heat the rice, and I will send it in a lunchbox, the rice, the meat on top for Juju with ripe avocado slices on top.

Ah!

So crunchy and spongey.

A lot of meat everywhere.

Mmm!

Avocado.

Mmm mmm.

Because I am my father's daughter, I always add a sprinkle of salt on top of avocado.

Mmm!

The bread is so crunchy, the meat has a grilled flavor, and the rich adobo, then the slaw is so creamy and citrusy, the avocado is buttery and fresh.

You're really eating a torta, or a crusty sandwich, that definitely has the dressed cesina.

It's not like the cesina is hidden in there, you can really get the taste and the bite of it.

This one's a winner, another one.

>> I am fascinated with poblano chiles.

There's just so many things you can make with this ingredient, however, the poblano chile has to be coaxed for it to really bring out all of its virtues.

I'm gonna show you how to do that.

You have the poblanos just like these, and there are many ways in which you can roast or char them.

One of them, and the most traditional and ancient actually is to just roast them directly on top of a flame.

You can do that on the stove top, so as they char and roast, you start flipping them.

If you don't feel comfortable using the direct flame, you can just put them on a baking sheet and stick them under the broiler.

You can also char them on top of a heated comal or a skillet, and I love doing this because the chiles start reacting, and the best part of it is the smell is so incredibly delicious.

I wanna bottle it into a perfume, that's what I wanna do.

You really want to burn the skin on the outside.

Think of s'mores, you want to char the outside, but you want the inside to have been transformed, but you don't want the inside to have burned.

The same thing with the poblanos.

You can see the skin starts wrinkling, and then right after you do that, you have to put your chiles inside of a plastic bag, it can be any kind of plastic bag, but you have to immediately close it because now you've created a steam bath.

Do you see all the steam?

After it steams for 10 - 15 minutes, what happens is you can remove the skin just like that, super easy.

You unwrap the flavors of the poblano chile, and the taste is so deliciously Mexican.

Open it up, and under a thin stream of water, you rinse it and remove the seeds, and then you end up with chiles that look like these!

Once you have the poblano chile roasted, you can do a gazillion million things with it.

You can use them to make soups or salads, but another thing I like to do with my chile poblanos is to make rajas in vinegar because that is something else I can use for many things.

So I begin with a whole onion that I halved then thinly sliced.

I'm gonna add about 1/2 a cup of olive oil.

I have this over medium heat.

I'm counting tablespoons in my head.

Add the onion.

Woah!

And then I'm gonna slice 3 cloves of garlic, thin slices.

I'm gonna add the garlic.

Once the garlic becomes a little fragrant, I'm gonna add my spices.

3 dried bay leaves, 10 whole black peppercorns, 1 teaspoon of oregano and thyme, 5 whole cloves, 1/2 teaspoon of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of salt, gonna mix that up.

So now I'm gonna add 1/2 a cup of rice vinegar, but I'm using natural rice vinegar, not seasoned, and I like to combine it with white distilled vinegar so 1/2 a cup of each, and now you want these vinegars to boil, so I'm raising the heat to let this reduce.

Meanwhile I'm gonna cut my roasted poblanos into rajas.

I'm just gonna add all of the rajas in here.

Some of the vinegar evaporated.

Agh, my mouth is watering 'cause I love this flavor combination so much!

I like to put them in a jar, and then I keep the jar in the fridge because these are delicious cold too.

If you sell stuff and you want to start bottling these, they'll sell.

I'm giving away my recipe.

You can use it for tacos, for quesadillas, salad (gasps) a fajita salad!

But you know, what I'm gonna use these for right now is a tuna melt because today we're all about sandwiches, and I love a good tuna melt!

I have 2 cans of tuna.

I'm gonna add 2 tablespoons of mayo, 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lime juice.

Then I'm gonna season with salt and pepper.

Mash this up.

The very first time I ate a tuna melt, because they're not common in Mexico, was the first time I came to Washington D.C. One of my sisters, Lisa, was living here in Washington at the time.

She started making the tuna salad, she topped it, she added the cheese, and I didn't want to be rude but I was thinking "what is she doing?

", and then I remember the first bite was so yummy!

That's when cultures clash, and you realize you like something from the other culture, but now you're gonna like something from my culture in your tuna melt.

So James doesn't like tuna melts.

He's been telling me since we started today that he doesn't like fish and cheese together.

James, will you try mine?

>> I'll try yours.

>> Promise?

>> Promise.

>> And he's smiling too.

[laughs] >> Okay, I have 2 slices of rye bread that I already toasted.

I'm adding the tuna, and then look at these!

The rajas.

It's gonna be that pickled exuberant layer under the melted cheese, mmm!

I have thick slices of muenster cheese, and I'm gonna put these under the broiler for a couple of minutes, just until the cheese melts.

Ready James?

Yum!

Mmm.

It sounds crunchy in the bottom, and you can see how where the tuna sits started to get a bit moist and mushy, and then you see the layer of pickled poblanos, and the muenster cheese, it's so deliciously melted and bubbly on top and yum.

Mmm!

The poblanos are giving it a fabulous layer of not only flavor, the crunch!

They're so crunchy.

The tuna is so delicious with everything on top, it's just so good.

James... [laughs] >> You've tuna melted my heart.

>> Aww!

Aww [laughs] Did you like it?

>> Si.

>> See!

He liked it.

Will you finish it?

>> No.

[laughs] >> These are 3 great and easy recipes that are gonna give you so much more than one meal out of each one.

You're gonna get so much use out of every single one!

>> Pati Narrates: For recipes and information from this episode and more, visit patijinich.com, and connect!

Find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest @PatiJinich.

>> Pati's Mexican Table is made possible by: ♪ epic music plays ♪ >> The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food.

Mexbest.

The National Agricultural Council.

A tradition of authentic Latin flavors and family recipes.

Tropical Cheese.

>> La Costeña, por sabor!

Taste that transcends.

More information at: mexicorico.com >> Some things are always there for you.

Like your alarm clock, right on time.

Your parking space.

Seriously?

Girl's night, always there.

And avocados from Mexico.

They're always there because they're fresh all year round.

>> ♪ Avocados from Mexico >> Proud to support Pati's Mexican Table on public television.