Chef Azucena Tovar’s Los Sombreros: a Taste of San Miguel de Allende in Scottsdale

By: Brian Garrido

Chef Azucena Tovar, Los Sombreros (Photo Credit: Joanie Simon)

Born the second youngest of eleven children in Mexico’s colonial town of San Miguel de Allende, Chef Azucena Tovar arrived in Arizona 20 years later as a married woman. In 2016, she is an independent Mexican entrepreneur armed with her own recipes.

Tovar’s successful restaurant, Los Sombreros (now entering its 13th year) is housed in a former brick home, while the backyard has been converted into a verdant al fresco dining patio and bar. The renovated building is an homage to her San Miguel de Allende youth – decorative tin mirrors, original art – while Tovar presides over the kitchen. Here, she serves up dishes using mostly native Mexican ingredients. Real Mexican food devotees will find canonical flavors, such as huitlacoche, tamarind, hibiscus, and pomegranates – along with 70 different versions of tequila and mescal.

Los Sombrero’s menu is essentially a love letter to Tovar’s childhood food memories, complete with familial recipes like crispy tacos stuffed with potatoes, chicken or a picadillo, Mexican quesadillas filled with huitlacoche or hibiscus (made with masa instead of flour), and a fig and panela salad. Tovar’s cooking is crafted with typical

Chicharrón Quesadillas, Los Sombreros (Photo Credit: Joanie Simon)

Mexican elements, yet the well-traveled chef occasionally uses European components like capers, smoked salmon, and artichokes to keep the menu current.

Growing up in San Miguel de Allende, Tovar’s parents owned a supermarket that is now maintained by one of her sisters. “I learned how to pick out produce,” she says. “Most chefs choose the prettiest vegetables for presentation. I want the best flavor first. It’s like a man, he goes for the outside – like a pretty girl – instead of the flavor and the integrity. I want the flavor and the integrity of the produce.”

Tovar has re-claimed Los Sombreros as a single chef with generations-old methods in hand. “Now, I make the food I love and spoil myself,” Tovar states. “I like to come up with new ideas based upon my childhood such as the Alcaparrado, seared baby back ribs in a caper tomatillo sauce. It’s sweeter than just tomatillo. We [also] have a delicious bacon and chipotle cream sauce served with camarones, another link between my European travels and Mexico.”

“San Miguel has taken off on its own little gourmet path,” Tovar states. “It has changed. It was a sleepy town and now it’s a destination town for food. Like me, I’ve grown as a person but at the end of the day, San Miguel – it could only offer so much growth.”

Today, Los Sombreros food is a delicious and healthy dose of traditional with a couple dashes of something new. It’s the perfect seasoning, showcasing Tovar’s place in life. She says, “I really like my food. I’m very Mexican and I speak to my truth — my life.”

Los Sombreros Chocolate Tamales (Makes 2 dozen)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. of butter

• 4 cups of masa (corn)

• 1 tbsp. cinnamon

• 1 tsp. kosher salt

• 2 cups of liquid chocolate (such as Hershey)

• 4 cups of semisweet chocolate chips or chopped Mexican chocolate

• 4 cups of sugar

• 7 tsps. Cocoa powder

• 1 1/2 cups milk

How to Make Chocolate Tamales

• Cover husks with hot water. Keep them submerged for a few hours until husks are soft and easy to handle. Use 24 husks at least 6″ across on the wide end and 6-7″ long. Pat dry.

• Grind chocolate. Makes approx 1 ½ cups ground.

• Mix butter, chocolate, sugar, salt and baking powder on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add masa in three additions but keep mixing. Reduce speed to medium-low, add milk or water.

• Beat until a 1/2-teaspoon of batter floats cold water, about 1 minute.

• Refrigerate batter for an hour or so, and then beat again. Add additional milk or water to bring batter to the soft consistency it had before.

• Line steamer rack with leftover corn husks to protect tamales from direct steam. Cut 24 – 10″ pieces of string. Lay out a corn husk with the smaller end toward you. Spread 1/4 cup of batter into a 4″ square, leaving at least a 1 ½” border on the side toward you and a ¾” border along the other sides (with large husks, the borders will be much bigger).

• Pick up 2 long sides of corn husk and bring together. If the 2 long sides of the corn husk you’re holding are narrow, tuck one side under the other; if wide, then roll both sides in the same direction around the tamale.

• Fold up the empty 1 ½” section of the husk (to form a tightly closed “bottom,” leaving the top open). Loosely tie string around tamale.

• Place tamales on their seams in the prepared steamer. Steam tamales in batches. Don’t tie tamales too tight or crowd in the steamer.

• Cover tamales with a layer of corn husks. Cover and steam over medium heat for about 1¼ hours. Carefully watch that water doesn’t boil away. Add more hot water if needed.

• Tamales are done when husk peels away from the masa easily. Let tamales stand in steamer off the heat for a few minutes to firm up.

• Refrigerate or keep frozen.

• To re-heat: Steam 15 minutes until hot. Serve with helado de vainilla.