Name: Ensalada Doña Luz (Doña Luz Salad)
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: ⅓ cup [80 ml] olive oil; ½ cup [70 g] pumpkin seeds, or green pepitas; ½ pound [230 g] red or purple baby potatoes; 2 teaspoons grated piloncillo or dark brown sugar; ¼ cup [60 ml] freshly squeezed lime juice; ½ cup [60 g] crumbled queso fresco; 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning; 1 ripe avocado, peeled and quartered; 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped into 2-inch [5-cm] squares; 2 cups [80 g] (2 large handfuls) watercress; 1 small jalapeño chile, seeded, stemmed, and minced; Freshly ground black pepper; 1 handful cherry tomatoes, halved; ½ cup [20 g] cilantro leaves

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

We Are La Cocina

By Leticia Landa and Caleb Zigas

Published 2019

About

My mom, Doña Luz, is famous now because of this dish on my menu. When we were young sometimes there wasn’t enough money for meat, so she’d go to the market and buy vegetables that were in season so they were cheap. When we didn’t have money she’d always invent something. We’d have some agua fresca, this vegetable salad, and some rice and beans, and it would be our meal. When people order Ensalada Doña Luz at the restaurant now, it makes me happy to remember