Actress and activist Eva Longoria is celebrating her Mexican roots with her new cookbook, "My Mexican Kitchen: 100 Recipes Rich with Tradition, Flavor, and Spice."
Inspired by her travels to Mexico while hosting a TV show, Longoria captures the vibrant techniques and flavors she discovered in her cookbook, bringing them back to her Southern California kitchen.
"Eva's genuine love for cooking and culinary-related history along with her pride for her heritage shine on every page of this beautiful, meaningful, and delectable cookbook," a synopsis states.
On Tuesday, the "Desperate Housewives" alum joined "Good Morning America" to share her recipes for veggie chili and tres leches cake from the cookbook.
Read on for the full recipes and to shop the book.
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"As any true Texan knows, you gotta have a good chili recipe, and this is mine. It's my go-to Super Bowl dish and soccer day meal. You can put it on hot dogs, you can put it on a burger, you can eat it in a bowl. While Mexican chili, or chili con carne, is made with chunks of beef and/or pork slowly simmered in a dried chile sauce, my recipe is a little more Tex-Mex," Longoria writes in the book about this dish. "Inspired by the canned chili I grew up eating, this vegan version is loaded with beans, fire-roasted tomatoes, and lots of spices. I love the combo of kidney, cannellini, and pinto beans, but any mix of canned beans works well here."
Servings: 6 servings
Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
1 medium yellow bell pepper, diced
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
1 large yellow onion, diced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 large garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons ancho chile powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Two 14.5-ounce cans diced fire-roasted tomatoes, undrained
15-ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
15-ounce can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
Directions
1. In a medium soup pot or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the bell peppers and saute, stirring often, until tender and starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the onion, season generously with salt and black pepper, and cook until translucent and starting to brown, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the garlic, ancho powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, pepper flakes, and cayenne and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the canned tomatoes and their juices and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often to make sure nothing is sticking or burning in the bottom of the pot.
3. Add the beans and 4 cups water, season generously with salt and pepper, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes to thicken the chili and meld the flavors.
4. Taste for seasoning and serve with your favorite garnishes (such as shredded cheddar cheese, diced avocado, diced onion, hot sauce, or tortilla chips) on the side.
"Tres leches cake (thus named because the simple sponge base is soaked in a mix of three milks: sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and whole milk or heavy cream) is ubiquitous in Mexico, and is popular all over Latin America. There's a lively debate about whether the first version was made in Mexico or Nicaragua -- I don't know the answer to this, but I do know you can find it in just about any Mexican bakery," Longoria writes in the cookbook. "It's simple to make and is actually a great cake to make during hot months when you want something cool and refreshing and don't want to worry about buttercream melting! I bake my cake the morning of a dinner party or celebration so it has all day to soak up that cold, sweet, milky mixture."
Servings: 12 servings
Ingredients
Softened unsalted butter for the pan
1 2/3 cups cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
5 large eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (preferably Mexican)
12-ounce can evaporated milk
14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup heavy cream
For the whipped cream:
2 cups heavy cream
Sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (preferably Mexican)
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Generously butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk, beat the egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. With the machine running, slowly sprinkle in the sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula to make sure all the sugar has been mixed in, increase the speed to medium-high, and whisk until stiff peaks form (like a meringue), another 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium and add the yolks, one at a time, whisking thoroughly after each addition. Add the milk and vanilla and whisk again just to combine.
4. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a spatula to gently fold in the flour mixture a little at a time, trying not to deflate the whipped eggs too much. Transfer the batter to the prepared baking dish and use a spatula to spread it out evenly in the pan.
5. Bake until the top is golden brown, the cake doesn't jiggle at all in the center when you shake it, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (or with just a crumb or two attached), 28 to 30 minutes. Set the baking dish on a cooling rack and let cool completely.
6. Once the cake is cooled, in a medium bowl, whisk together the evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and heavy cream. Poke the cake all over with a toothpick or wooden skewer and pour the milk mixture, a little at a time to let it soak in, over the top. Cover the pan with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or preferably overnight.
7. Make the whipped cream: Before serving, in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk, whip the cream until it holds soft peaks, adding sugar to taste (the cake itself is very sweet so I like to go light on the sugar here) and the vanilla.
8. Spread the whipped cream evenly over the top of the cake and cut into squares to serve. Store in the fridge, covered with plastic wrap or in an airtight container, for up to 3 days.
Reprinted with permission from "My Mexican Kitchen: 100 Recipes Rich with Tradition, Flavor, and Spice" by Eva Longoria, copyright © 2024. Photographs copyright 2024 by Matt Armendariz. Published by Clarkson Potter Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House."