Mixup sends Saucedo from the garage into the kitchen

Mardi Suhs | Cadillac News Gus Saucedo raced from church after his daughterÕs Quinceanera mass to help prepare the food for her party. Everyone loved his homemade Pico de Gallo.

hen Gus and Becky Saucedo threw a Quinceanera celebration party for their daughter Natalie, food was the one thing they didn’t have to worry about.

They didn’t have to hire caterers or lose sleep over the menu. Instead, Gus and his sister Elena Trevino, with the help of family and friends, prepared the entire menu for 250 to 300 guests.

Starting on Wednesday before the Saturday party, they hit the kitchen with authentic Mexican spices brought north from Mexico and Texas to add to recipes handed down from their mother and their grandmother.

And the guests noticed.

“I got three proposals to do catering,” Gus laughed. “I had to respond that I’m not into that anymore. I’ve done that and now I just stick to cooking for the family.”

Gus, area grocery manager for Meijers’, said he first learned how to cook from his grandmother in his hometown of Saginaw.

“When I was a kid, I lived next door to my cousins,” he recalled. “So we ended up being eight kids. When the kids were in the driveway playing kickball, I was in the kitchen watching my Grandma cook. I was always interested in cooking.”

But in high school, cooking was not on his mind until fate intervened.

As a sophomore Gus signed up for an automotive class but ended up in cooking class by mistake. He was not happy.

“I was a part-time dishwasher and I wanted a better job,” he said. “I didn’t want to pay to get my car fixed and I wanted that automotive class.”

When Gus expressed his anger, the teacher challenged him to try the class for one week.

“Give me a week,” Dr. Joe Garza offered. “If you don’t like it by the end of the week, I have some pull and I will get you into the automotive class. But if you stay, you have to strive and be my best student.”

Gus agreed. And he never looked back. Garza later recruited him to work in his restaurant and Gus spent two more years at the Career Opportunity Center in Saginaw, cooking with his mentor.

The two have kept in touch and Garza, who attended the Quinceanera celebration on April 21, gave his former student an A-plus after sampling the buffet.

Gus’s sister Elena Trevino of Florida also helped prepare many of the buffet items from scratch, including tamales in a cornhusk wrapper.

“I’ve been cooking since I was a kid,” she said, stirring the large taco salad. “And I used to do a lot of catering. And since not everyone likes Mexican food, we have prepared some American favorites as well, like potato salad and seafood salad, scalloped potatoes and ham.”

The buffet also included Steak Laredo, Tamales, Pico de Gallo, Enchiladas, Rice. Beans. Meatballs. Tortillas. Plus veggie trays and an array of desserts.

Gus, who has cooked his entire life, said he received tremendous compliments on the food.

“One thing everybody asked about is the calories,” he reported. “But some of this you don’t want to eat every single day. I got a lot of compliments on the Pico de Gallo. The mole sauce is unique.”

Although delicious, home made foods played a large role in the Quinceanera party, for the Saucedo family the Sweet 15 party was more about sharing their Hispanic tradition with family and friends, staring with the mass that symbolized Natalie’s transition into womanhood, a time when she will take more responsibilities in her home and in her church.

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Gus’s Mexican Mole Sauce

2 tablespoons lard

2 tablespoons flour

Dona Maria brand brown mole sauce

15 ounce can chicken broth

1 can chopped tomatoes

8 chili anchos, dried Mexican pepper

Dash each of salt and pepper

1 Hershey’s chocolate bar, grated

1 heaping teaspoon peanut butter

Melt lard in large saucepan. Add flour and stir until it turns brown. In a separate pan bring chicken broth to a boil and add to lard and flour mixture. Add chopped tomatoes and chili anchos. Next add salt and pepper and stir until it’s like gravy. Add grated Hershey’s chocolate into the sauce and add a heaping teaspoon of peanut butter.

Cottage Cheese Enchiladas

1-package enchiladas

1 carton cottage cheese

1 package cream cheese

1 package Monterey Jack

1 packaged mild cheddar cheese, shredded

1 package goat cheese

Dip enchiladas in hot oil just to soften. Drain on paper towel. Mix together all cheeses and spoon down the center. Top with this homemade mole sauce and more cheese mixture. Heat to melt filling and cheese on the top.

Botannas

Gus said this hors’doevre would be a hit.

1-18 count box of taco shells

1 good size ripe tomato diced

1/2 Spanish onion diced or 1 bunch of scallions diced

16-ounce bag of fancy shredded cheese

1 package El Popular Spanish sausage Chorizo (in hot dog section)

2 16-ounce cans of refried beans

1 Jalapeno pepper for garnish

Sour cream

Cilantro leaves for garnish

Dice vegetables. Gus likes to prepare the vegetables the night before.

Cook of the tube of Chorizo sausage as if it was ground beef. No fat is needed in the pan. When finished, drain grease off and set aside at a low temperature just to keep warm.

Take your Taco shells and break in two, so you have 36 halves.

Take the refried beans and spread on the taco shell halves. Then sprinkle on Chorizo. Add fancy cheese on top and place in a 350 oven or under a broiler. Watch carefully. Just let the cheese start to bubble and pull out of the oven. On top of the melted cheese add the tomatoes and onions. Some people like to add chopped green pepper.

To garnish, take a round Jalapeno very thinly sliced, just for looks and place on top. Add a small scoop, about half a teaspoon, of sour cream in the center of each Botanna. Place a small cilantro leaf in the center of the sour cream. Arrange the Botannas on a platter, fanning then in the same direction until it looks like a giant fan.

The Botannas should be made right before serving to prevent the taco shells from becoming soggy.

Gus Saucedo’s Spicy Pico de Gallo

1-Spanish onion

4-6 jalapeno peppers

1 bunch cilantro

5 medium vine ripened tomatoes

2-3 cucumbers

Dash each of cumin, oregano, and chili powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Dice onion, peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers. Wash, drain and chop cilantro and stir into the other vegetables. Stir in seasonings. Let sit overnight, covered in fridge to absorb all of the juices and flavor. Use as a relish salsa.