This story is part of On Repeat, a series in which we ask top chefs, cookbook authors, and other famous foodies about the dishes they just can’t quit.
Cooking in a desert means there’s a dearth of local produce, so many of chef Sarah Thompson’s favorite menu items at Casa Playa in Las Vegas are inspired by deliveries from a purveyor from farms in California and other more fertile locales. One prime example: her asparagus tostada with a carrot-and-pepita-based mole. “They sent these beautiful carrots and this beautiful asparagus. So we just put those ingredients together in a really wonderful way,” she says.
“We wanted to make a sauce using Mexican ingredients and also seasonal ingredients, and it came together in this really delicious roasted carrot pipian sauce.” The sauce—a mole blend that includes chiles, tomatoes, carrots, and pumpkin seeds, among other ingredients—gives the dish its particular character and is well worth a try, but she says you could always sub in your favorite store-bought salsa.
Why I love it
“The asparagus tostada is so delicious. I love asparagus, and it’s in season. I love how as you’re eating the dish you can taste all of the ingredients: the sweetness of all the chiles, the tomatoes. Especially when they get more and more in season, these flavors are going to be even more robust. The pepitas add a nice nuttiness, a kind of buttery note to the mole.”
What I’ve changed
“We’ve actually played around with doing it a bunch of different ways. You could broil the asparagus in the oven or use a grill pan—you just definitely want to get a little bit of char on there. It’s also good with or without the cheese; if you have a nondairy option that you really like, then that would be wonderful as well. I also use the mole as a dip for crudités: It can be hot, it can be cold, it’s really delicious.
“[After asparagus season], the tostada would be great with some grilled summer squash. It would be great with grilled eggplant, with some roasted peppers in there as well. Come winter, this would be great with a honeynut or delicata squash.”
Plus: My favorite planet-friendly practices
Embracing seasonality. “I’ve been really inspired by the cookbook Rosetta. Chef Elena Reygadas does a really good job using local purveyors, local produce, and the book is broken down by ingredient and by season. She’s telling you to get this ingredient at this time, so you get the best out of it. And she is so right: It’s such a beautiful way of cooking.”
Running down rhubarb. “You almost never see rhubarb in a savory dish, but we make a rhubarb aguachile [a type of ceviche]. We clarify the rhubarb in sugar and habanero, which leaves behind sediment that we dehydrate into a powder and turn that into a crumble that goes on top of our rhubarb tart. So it’s a no-waste product.”