The version from Kennedy’s blue book. Used jasmine from Lundberg. And homemade chicken stock – a must in this dish. The recipe is very precise though she doesn’t specify for how long to fry rice – just the color: took me about 8mins.
The rice texture was interesting – grains were light and looked fragile but the dish was not sticky. I wonder how it would be with basmati or even medium grain rice.
Seems like Kennedy has a different version in her yellow book, with tomatillos. Need to explore.

Nice recipe for meatballs in tomatillo (with some chipotle) sauce. Couple problems – the color of cooked sauce – on the pic it was pretty and clear. In reality it came out grayish, apparently from the juice leaking from meat. Possible remedy? Cook meatballs in stock and add the sauce at the end. Or even bake them?
Zucchini/corn/mushrooms side was ont he otehr hand excellent (Kennedy’s blue book). The only thing i’ll change for the next time is to start with mushrooms – i used tiny oysters when hers was an huilacoche dish.

The carnitas description from Nopalito’s menu sounded sounded lovely: Long braised pork, orange, bay leaf, cinnamon and beer; cabbage salad, pickled jalapeños, tomatillo salsa.
Using Kennedy’s recipe from her red book as a base, the only thing i changed was to skip oranges and milk and use 1 1/2 cups of dark beer – Sam Smith nut brown ale to be precise.

served with a small salad of brown tomatoes in sherry vinegar, and shredded romaine with shaved carrots and pickled serranos.