Mexican Paradise Lite

Rancho La Puerta, Baja's famous health resort, now teaches guests how to cook the Rancho way.

 
We’ve all heard the advice: Eat more fruits and vegetables, and plenty of whole grains. Avoid red meat, butterfat, refined sugar, and sodium. Don’t drink too much. But often, this advice seems at odds with the delights of the food world.
Enter Rancho La Puerta, a destination fitness resort just south of the U.S. border that specializes in healthy—and tasty—cuisine. Think crisp, light tostadas loaded with chopped vegetables and lettuce, and sprinkled with Cotija cheese. Or, delectably grilled wild salmon served over soba noodles dotted with edamame.
Rancho’s cofounder Deborah Szekely, an 86-year-old dynamo, insists this is not diet fare. “I hate everything to do with diet and exercise,” she says. “It’s not diet and exercise—it’s what you do every day. My function is to change the way you live.”

Most of Rancho’s guests sign up for the weeklong retreats to change the way they live; yet few know how to prepare food as lively and healthy as what they enjoy at the ranch. So, last year, Szekely opened La Cocina Que Canta (the kitchen that sings), the resort’s own cooking school. There, chef Jesús González reveals the techniques and tricks behind such Rancho favorites as chunky guacamole (made with frozen peas) and orange-chocolate mousse (made with roasted baby carrots).
 

González, a native of Mexico City, cooks largely in a Mediterranean style, but his adaptations of Mexican dishes are among his best. “Mexican cuisine used to be healthy,” he says. “But the first thing we accepted from the Europeans was the pig, with its lard. Next was flour, followed by sugar, and it just went on from there.” When you make Mexican papaya salad on red leaf lettuce with pepitas (roasted pumpkin seeds) or a zingy chipotle sauce to pair with roasted vegetables, you learn how the essential flavors of natural ingredients can carry a dish, even with reduced fat and sodium.
 

The setting of the new school is reason alone for a visit. The Spanish-style building includes an airy patio with a view of the six-acre organic garden, Tres Estrellas. The kitchen, spacious and finished in earthen tile, is a joy to work in. Credit for that joy also goes to the cooking school’s staff members, who lay out prepared materials for each recipe and sweep away dirty dishes as soon as students are done with the fun part. Hands-on classes cost $75.
Breakfast is offered every morning in the ranch’s dining hall, located near theguest rooms, but another great way to experience the cooking school is to rise and shine for a 6 a.m. two-mile hike to its open kitchen. At that hour, morning mist might rise from Mount Kuchumaa, which overlooks the ranch. Steaming mugs of Mexican hot chocolate (again, carrots give the creamy texture) await your arrival. The breakfast hike buffet is a standout meal at Rancho—a hearty repast that doesn’t break the rules. Vegetable-egg frittata and roasted rosemary potatoes are just a couple of the offerings.
 

 

It’s hard to resist packing your schedule with activities at Rancho La Puerta. Classes are offered from dawn until dusk in myriad subjects designed to address mind, body, and spirit. You might start the day with a subtle session of Feldenkrais or a vigorous seven-mile mountain hike; go on to aqua aerobics, trekking, Pilates, tennis, or strength training; and cap your day with Tai Chi, Qigong, or guided meditation.
 

While Rancho’s fitness activities often work guests hard, the Szekely approach is for you to also have fun. Try classes in jewelry making, painting, or other crafts, or after-dinner activities, including lectures on topics such as sexuality and health, movie screenings in the library, and, once during your week, bingo with Barry, the guest activity director who doubles as a stand-up comedian and is practically the ranch’s mascot.
 

Then there’s the full menu of spa treatments offered at three scenic facilities. Try the exquisite hot riverstone massage at the Villas Health Center, where you lounge on a rooftop deck, with a hot tub and a cold plunge pool.
 

Once back at your room, enjoy the terra-cotta tile floors, brightly colored Mexican folk art and tapestries, and big windows with views of the beautifully landscaped, impeccably maintained grounds. Before you know it, you’ll find healthy’s not too hard to take.  
 

Weekly rates start at $2,795 per person (based on double occupancy) and range up to $4,380. Spa services are charged individually on top of your overall cost, but rates aren’t too high: $45–$145. For information, call (800) 443-7565 or visit www.rancholapuerta.com.
 

Meanwhile, if your plans don’t include a trip to Rancho, you can indulge in its recipes by buying Cooking with the Seasons at Rancho La Puerta, a new cookbook by Szekely and Deborah M. Schneider, with recipes by González.

WEB EXTRA

Recipe from “Cooking with the Seasons at Rancho La Puerta”

By Deborah Szekely and Deborah M. Schneider with Chef Jesús González, Chef of La Cocina Que Canta

 

Butternut Squash Flan

Traditional flan is creamy, rich and heavy. This lightened version is based on naturally sweet butternut squash puree with a zing of orange in the syrup. Baked pureed yam may be substituted for the squash. Makes 6 flans.
1/3 Cup Plus ¼ Cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
3 Tablespoons Fresh Orange Juice
3 Cups Milk
4 Extra-Large Eggs
¾ Cup Cooked, Pureed Butternut Squash
1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract
Finely Grated Zest of 1 Orange
Seasonal Fruit
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a small saucepan, combine 1/3 cup of the brown sugar and the orange juice, and cook over low heat until the sugar is melted and bubbles form across the surface of the syrup, about 3 minutes.
3. Divide syrup evenly among six 6-ounce ramekins.
4. In a medium saucepan, combine the milk and ¼ cup brown sugar. Heat over low to medium heat to dissolve the sugar, stirring constantly. Set aside to cool.
5. In a bowl, whisk the eggs until frothy. Add the squash, cinnamon, vanilla and orange zest. Stir in the cooled milk mixture. Strain the custard through a fine sieve to remove any traces of the squash fiber.
6. Divide the custard evenly among the ramkins, filling to within ¼ inch of the rim.
7. Place the ramekins in a rectangular baking pan with high sides and carefully pour 1 inch of boiling water into the pan. Cover with foil and bake on the middle rack of the oven for 30 minutes, or until the custards are no longer jiggly in the center and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven, take off the foil, and let the custards cool in the water bath. Once they are cool, remove from the pan, cover, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
8. To un-mold, press gently around the edge of each flan to break the seal. Invert onto a dessert plate. If you prefer, the flan may be served right in the baking dish. Top with seasonal fruit.
 

Recipe from “Cooking with the Seasons at Rancho La Puerta”
by Deborah Szekely and Deborah M. Schneider
with Chef Jesús González, Chef of La Cocina Que Canta