The Chopping Block Cooking Blog

Vegan Pumpkin Tamales with Black Bean "Mole"

We’ve all been through major life changes. Whether voluntary or mandated, lifestyle or dietary, you know that when you make changes, things, well, change! If you have recently moved to a vegan ...

Conchas: A Mexican Sweet Treat

I love having adventures in the kitchen, and I love making recipes that are totally unfamiliar to me. Both of these occurred when I tried my hand at making conchas, a traditional Mexican sweet ...

Pork Stew in Salsa Verde: A Delightful Mexican Dish

A very good friend of mine gave me this recipe, and we have cooked it several times now. He learned it in Mexico from his grandmother, and he comes from the city of Puebla where this is a regional ...

Homemade Tamales: Check This Off Your Bucket List

Who doesn’t love tamales? Masa dough with a sweet or savory filling wrapped in a corn husk, steamed to fluffy perfection is the way I like to sum up this delicious Mexican dish. But this is ...

Homemade Corn Tortillas

When I go to a Mexican restaurant and they ask me “Corn or flour tortillas,” I am always going to choose corn. I think they are so much more flavorful! In Chicago, you can go to just about any ...

Pork Chili Verde: Versatility Personified

If you’re anything like me, very few things satisfy like slow-braised meat dishes. I use my Le Creuset braiser, a piece of enameled cast iron cookware we carry at The Chopping Block, a lot. I ...

Celebrate Churros and Mexican Chocolate Sauce

Whether you celebrated Cinco de Mayo or not, we can all agree that homemade churros with chocolate sauce should be celebrated. My friend recently had a taco-themed dinner party and when she asked ...

Chipotle Chicken with Avocado Leaves

Spring is upon us, even though it did not look like it a couple of weeks ago here in Chicago. We had a mixture of snow and hail on a Sunday, and we even needed to salt the sidewalk at our Lincoln ...

How to Make Homemade Mexican-Style Chorizo

I love chorizo, and I am honestly baffled when I meet someone who doesn’t. When I ask people what they don’t like about chorizo, they often say it is because it is greasy. I’ll admit it can be ...

Grilled Salmon Torta: A Fish Sandwich Like No Other

Tortas can refer to many different culinary treats such as cakes and flatbreads, depending on what country you're in, but the torta we're going to explore now is all about the sandwich from Mexico. ...