Mexican heritage a key ingredient in his cooking

Chef Freddy Sanchez, executive chef of the Adobo Grill restaurants (Lombard, Old Town, Wicker Park and Indianapolis), knew he was destined for a career in restaurants from the time he got his first job as a dishwasher at age 15.

Born in Guerrero, Mexico, and reared in Acapulco, Sanchez came to Chicago as a teenager, worked his way up through the kitchen ranks at Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, and earned a degree in culinary arts at Chicago's Washburne Culinary Institute in 1994.

Sanchez spent much of his career working in Italian restaurants, notably as executive chef of Scoozi, before joining Adobo Grill in 2003. There, he returned to the Mexican cooking he first learned from his grandmother in his native land. Since then, he has traveled annually to Mexico to study the country's varied regional cuisines.

Sanchez, his wife, Haeja, and their two children live in Chicago.

What made you become a chef? In Mexico, my grandma used to have a kiosk in the market where she used to serve traditional everyday dishes, and my mom worked with her, and after school, we used to go and help.

My father had been coming to the United States since the 1960s. In the early '80s, he decided to bring us. I was 15.

My first job was as a dishwasher. When I was 15, I knew I wanted to be a chef. I was already working in a restaurant for Lettuce Entertain You when I went to get my degree. Then they promoted me to sous chef, and after two years, to executive chef at Scoozi.

How did you switch from Italian to Mexican cooking? That's something I always wanted to do, to cook my own food. I travel to Mexico every year and I travel to different states. I make traditional, regional food. My menu focuses on the different states of Mexico, like Yucatan and Oaxaca.

I do a lot of research. I read a lot. I have probably 100 Mexican cookbooks.

I go to the markets. Every place, they have their own dishes, their own history.

What region is your favorite? Out of all, I would say, probably, Oaxaca (which is known for its moles). I love moles. Black mole has 36 ingredients. At the restaurant, we make it several times a week. It's too hard to make it at home.

What's your culinary philosophy? I think what makes me who I am is staying true to the flavors. Even though I have to change them a little bit for restaurant cooking. Stay true to what you cook and believe in it.

Do you cook primarily traditional dishes or do you invent your own? Both. We change the specials menu every other week. If a special sells well, we add it to the menu. So that's where I get to create my new dishes. And also when we do tequila dinners. We do different ones at all the restaurants every month. We change the tequilas and we change the menu. Some of the sauces I make with tequila.

How much cooking do you actually do at work? I'm in charge of creating all the food and all the recipes. I work with each chef at each of the four restaurants one to two times a week. It's not easy, but I enjoy it.

Do you have favorite ingredients? I would say all the different dried chilies. We have over 100 different kinds in Mexico. We use over 15 kinds in the restaurant. Each one has its own flavor.

I also enjoy cooking with seafood, because I grew up in Acapulco.

What advice do you have for home cooks about chilies? They're kind of tricky --sometimes they're hot and sometimes they're not. We get cases and cases of fresh serranos and jalapenos, and I've learned, for example, with jalapenos, the really dark green ones tend to be hotter. Also if they have marks, like scratch marks, that's also a sign that the chili is really spicy. But if it's grass green, it's not too spicy.

With poblanos, too, the dark green ones are kind of spicy. It also seems like the chilies from Mexico are more spicy than the ones from California. I think it's because of the soil.

What do you do in your spare time? In my time off, I try to go out and look at the competition. And I spend time with my wife and kids and my mom. I only get one day off.

Who does the cooking at home? Me, most of the time. My wife's a manager at Japonais, although she used to work in the kitchen; she used to do pastry.

At home, I cook kind of quick stuff. I cook Italian food -- it's much quicker than making moles.

Tell us about this dish. Huachinango a la Veracruzana, or Red Snapper Veracruz-style. The state of Veracruz is long and thin with a coast line of more than 400 miles along the Gulf of Mexico. There is great variety, but it's the seafood that first comes to mind when thinking about the foods of Veracruz.

Red snapper prepared in the Veracruz-style is a favorite all over Mexico; the flavors of capers, manzanilla olives and olive oil reflect the Spanish influence in this famous dish, which is often prepared with whole fish, as well as individual fillets. Jalapeno chilies, originally from the city of Xalapa, the capital of the state of Veracruz, add the spicy taste to the dish.

In Old Town, we serve this as a whole fish, and sell 30 to 40 a week, but in Lombard, I only have the fillets. I'm thinking about adding the whole fish; we can fillet it for the customer.

When making this dish, be careful with the hot oil. With the fish, make sure the eyes are nice and clear and the meat is firm. You can also make this with sea bass. You can make this with four 6-ounce fillets, but with fillets, I would just pan-sear the fish.

Try this at home or at Adobo Grill, including 356 Yorktown Shopping Center, 500 E. Butterfield Road, Lombard, (630) 627-9990; www.adobogrill.com.

Huachinango a la Veracruzana -- Red Snapper Veracruz-style

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium white onion, chopped

2 medium garlic cloves, sliced

1 pickled jalepeno, sliced

½ red pepper, diced

½ yellow pepper, diced

3 medium ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped

½ teaspoon dried Mexican oregano

¼ teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

2 teaspoons drained capers

6 medium manzanilla olives, chopped

teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon kosher salt or to taste

Corn oil for frying

1 red snapper (about 2 pounds), cleaned and scaled

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

¼ cup flour

3-4 stems cilantro, chopped

1 chile guero, sliced

½ avocado, diced

1 radish, sliced

Hot cooked white rice

Heat the olive oil in heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and saute for 40 seconds; add the garlic and stir 40 seconds. Add the jalapeno and red and yellow peppers. Stir 1 minute and add tomatoes, oregano, thyme, capers, olives and cinnamon and simmer for about 10 minutes. If dry, add 1 cup of water. Taste and season with salt.

Heat oil in a large, heavy saute pan or fish frying pan to 375 degrees.

Lay the fish on its side and cut two parallel slashes down through the flesh from the backbone. Turn and cut two more on the other side.

Drizzle lime juice on both sides of the fish and sprinkle liberally with salt. Lightly flour the fish and carefully cook it in the hot oil for about 6 to 8 minutes per side.

Use tongs or a metal spatula to transfer the fish to a large serving platter. Cover the fish with the steaming tomato sauce and garnish with cilantro, chile guero, avocado and radish. Serve with the rice.

Serves two.

Chef Freddy Sanchez, Adobo Grill, Lombard, Chicago and Indianapolis