Shocking as it may sound, Mexico knows food - and not just the crap at one of my favorite haunts - Taco Bell. Great food culture up there with the Italians, believe it or not. And not too bad on the vegetarian theme, since meat can be so expensive for some.They know how to cook beans and rice, which is a fast dying art form. And they also have a huge range of vegetables, fruits, and other foodstuffs that defy explanation.
Enter this pasta dish (also at the greatest margarita hacienda) - a relatively simple dish of fettucine, butter, and . . . corn fungus. Actually the name in Spanish is huitlacoche, which sounds a lot better than its other names (e.g. corn smut). They need to work on marketing and call the stuff Mexican truffles or something like that though, since I think most of you were lost after "smut". Basically, the fungus is collected from corn (considered a bad thing in the US), but it has an amazing flavor - earthy and unique. The whole dish qualified for the french stamp of approval in good cooking - simple dish with less than five ingredients.
