For Fall Guac, Add Hazelnuts and Pomegranate Seeds

The Rosa Mexicano Fall Harvest Dinner—designed to highlight seasonal ingredients and local, organic produce from Parker Farms in Oak Grove, VA—is offered only one night (Oct. 24), but here are a few recipes you can make at home, courtesy of the restaurant:

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Spicy Pineapple Salsa (served with roast pork flautas):

• 1 pineapple
• 3 jalapenos
• 1 pinch saffron
• 1 Tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 cup sake
• ½ cup tequila
• ½ cup sherry vinegar

Cube the pineapple and place in a large saucepan with all of the other ingredients. Simmer for 40 minutes, let cool and serve at room temperature.

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La Abejita  ("The Little Bee")

• 1.5 oz. Buffalo Trace bourbon
• 0.25 oz. Del Maguey Vida mezcal
• 0.5 oz. white crème de cacao
• 0.5 oz. chipotle-infused honey syrup* (locally sourced honey)
• 0.5 oz  freshly-squeezed lemon juice 
• charred lemon wheel garnish

*Local honey syrup: Try to stick with Grade A clover, wildflower, orange blossom or other similar sweet, floral honey. Dilute 3 parts honey with 1 part hot water. For every 4 cups of honey, add 1 cup of chopped, dried chipotle chiles. Allow to steep for 12 hours at room temperature, then strain through a fine chinois. Store covered and refrigerated when not in use.

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients except dark chocolate in a cocktail shaker. Shake hard with ice, and strain over fresh ice into a rocks glass. Garnish with shaved dark chocolate.

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Fall Guacamole 

For chile paste:

• 1 Tablespoon white onion, finely chopped
• 1 Tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 teaspoons jalapeño, or more to taste, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt, or as needed

Other ingredients:

• 3 medium ripe but firm Hass avocados
• 3 Tablespoons plum tomato, diced
• 2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 Tablespoon white onion, finely chopped
• Salt as desired
• ¼ cup pomegranate seeds
• ¼ cup toasted, chopped hazelnuts

To make the chile paste: Grind the onion, cilantro, jalapeño and salt together in a molcajete bowl until all the ingredients are very finely ground. Alternatively, use a fork to mash all the ingredients into a paste in a wide, hardwood bowl.

Cut each avocado in half, working the knife blade around the pit. Twist the halves to separate them and flick out the pit with the tip of the knife. Fold a kitchen towel in quarters and hold it in the palm of your “non-knife” hand. Rest an avocado half cut side up in your palm and make three or four evenly-spaced, lengthwise cuts through the avocado flesh down to the skin, without cutting through it. Make four crosswise cuts in the same way. Scoop out the diced avocado flesh into the molcajete. Repeat with the remaining avocado halves. 

Gently fold the avocado into the paste, keeping the avocado in as large pieces as possible. Add the tomato, cilantro, onion, pomegranate seeds and hazelnuts and fold in gently. Check and add salt if necessary.

Serves four.

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To purchase tickets for the Fall Harvest Dinner on Wed., Oct. 24, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., visit Rosa Mexicano's website. Tickets are $45 per person, plus tax and tip. Rosa Mexicano's Chevy Chase location is at 5225 Wisconsin Ave. NW, Washington, DC.

All recipes courtesy of Rosa Mexicano.