Squash, Tomato, and Corn Calabacitas at the Roadhouse
A traditional, marvelously tasty New Mexico–style small plate
This past Saturday, August 8, was National Zucchini Day. In case you missed it, you can celebrate throughout the month of August at the Roadhouse with a tasty and compelling plate of calabacitas! The name means “little squash,” so it’s a perfect way to mark the occasion.
Didn’t grow up with calabacitas? Neither did I! They sure are tasty, though. The website New Mexico True writes,
In high summer in New Mexico, people eat this sauté by the bowlful. It is essentially the fresh vegetable preparation universal to cooks throughout the state.
In recent years, calabacitas have become a late-summer classic at the Roadhouse—local zucchini, yellow squash, and sweet corn all stewed up together with some of my friend Chris Bianco’s amazingly delicious Bianco DiNapoli tomatoes, fresh cilantro, and New Mexico fire-roasted green chiles. The finished dish is tossed with a generous handful of traditional Monterey Jack from Vella Cheese Company in Sonoma, California, and then topped off with a little Mexican-style cotija cheese and some slivers of pickled red onions.
The squash for the calabacitas comes from Tantré Farms in nearby Chelsea, Michigan, one of the oldest—and, I believe, best—organic farms in the area. Deb Lentz and Richard Andres have been growing great vegetables there since 1993!
The green chiles hail from south of Santa Fe—they’re actually, by our choice, not the better-known but, I think, less flavorful peppers from the Hatch region. I prefer what we’ve been getting for close to 30 years from the folks near Santa Fe. We go for the ones that are really fire-roasted over an open flame—they’re 10 times tastier than the more typical modern alternative, which are oven-roasted. We have to peel the charred skin off of each one by hand, but the superior flavor makes the extra work so worth it!
The Monterey Jack in the dish would be easy to overlook, but I’ll clue you in here—it’s a fantastic, hard-to-find American classic. We’ve been buying it from Vella Cheese in Sonoma for well over three decades. While probably thousands of dairies make Monterey Jack today, to my knowledge, only two make it using old-school artisan methods. The cost, of course, is far, far higher, but the result is radically better. At every level, our determination and dedication to this special cheese is, I feel, one of the many ways we transform our food philosophy into real-life values. It’s got a creamy, milky, and mild—but still wildly good—flavor!
Historically, calabacitas date back to sometime in the 16th century. The dish was a natural coming together of European vegetables with already present Indigenous ingredients, like corn, chiles, and squash. Since Spanish conquistadores began to arrive in the New Mexico area in 1598, it’s reasonable to imagine the region’s Pueblo people teaching the Spaniards how to cook with Indigenous ingredients and make a vegetable stew like calabacitas not long thereafter.
The New Mexico Calabacitas are listed on the Roadhouse menu as an appetizer, but, truth be told, if it were me, I might well order them as my main course, with a side of Carolina Gold rice or grits. Or sub them in for a side with a steak or a piece of fresh fish. Calabacitas are easy to take home and reheat as well—you can even serve them for breakfast with a couple of over-easy eggs on top!
