Cooking the food of my memories

Born and raised in Mexico, and having left my country more than 20 years ago, I am proud to say I still cook like I ate when I lived in Monterrey.

The Mexican diet has historically consisted of beans, corn, pumpkin, tomatoes and chiles: all vegetables that grew in the "milpa", or vegetable parcel. Not everyone could afford much meat or cheese, but beans and corn were - and are - very affordable. Best of all, beans are full of protein and fibre, and are very good for our bodies.

Because beans are so common, we are very creative on the ways to cook and eat them. After all, no one wants to eat refried beans every day of the week! Mexican cooks are very good at presenting the humble legume in different guises for lunch or dinner on a daily basis.

One of the most delicious ways to make soup is to turn the vegetables into a cream, and this recipe is a very good example. It is also popular with picky children who turn their noses up at the sight of mashed beans.

You can make this soup with canned beans, though I highly recommend making a large pot of beans yourself. It is much cheaper and infinitely healthier. This recipe uses evaporated milk for a creamy texture and mouthfeel; if you prefer, you can substitute whipping cream instead, but I don't find it necessary.

Like all Mexican soups, a very important part of the recipe is the garnish, and in the case of this soup, it is an essential part of the dish. Bacon bits add a rich meatiness, while the cheese gives a salty tang. The avocado adds a buttery softness and the crema brings everything together.

I hope you make this soup. It makes the perfect lunch or starter for dinner.

Cream of Pinto Bean

5 cups cooked pinto or black beans, with 1 cup of their broth
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 roma tomato, diced
2 sprigs fresh epazote, or ½ tsp dried
¾ cup evaporated milk
1 tsp ancho chile powder
1 Tbsp lard or vegetable oil
½ tsp kosher salt, or to taste

Garnish:
1 avocado, cubed
½ cup fresh, feta or panela cheese, cubed
½ cup crumbled cooked bacon or chicharrón
½ cup crema

In medium saucepan, heat 1 Tbsp lard or vegetable oil. Cook onion over medium high heat for a few minutes, or until it starts to brown on the edges. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Add tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes, or until they become saucy. Transfer mixture to blender container and add beans and their broth. Blend until completely smooth, adding more bean broth or water if needed to make mixture blend properly.

In same saucepan, cook bean mixture over medium heat, adding epazote, ancho chile powder and salt. Bring to a boil and then turn heat down to simmer and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes, to allow flavors to blend.  Add evaporated milk and simmer for 5 minutes more. Taste for seasoning and add more salt if needed.

To serve, ladle soup into shallow bowls and garnish with avocado, cheese, bacon or chicharrón and a drizzle of crema on top. 

Serves 4 to 6
This recipe was first featured at www.thelatinkitchen.com

A little Mexican fare to celebrate Spring.

There are so many types of Enchiladas in Mexico, and they are all delicious. This recipe makes a fast and easy lunch or light dinner meal that comes together quickly, and even faster if you already have the ingredients on hand. The secret to this recipe is an amazing tomato sauce.

Entomatadas

Salsa:
4 hothouse tomatoes
1 large Spanish onion, peeled and cut into quarters
2 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 Jalapeño chile
¾ tsp salt, or to taste
1 tsp vegetable oil
12 corn tortillas
¼ cup vegetable oil
3 cups queso fresco or farmer’s cheese, crumbled
1 small onion, minced
½ cup chopped cilantro leaves

Garnish:
½ cup queso fresco or farmer’s cheese, crumbled
1 small onion, thinly sliced into rings
1 avocado, thinly sliced

On dry comal or griddle, roast whole tomatoes, onions, Jalapeño chile and garlic, turning often until completely charred, about 15 minutes. Peel garlic and then transfer tomatoes, onion, chile and garlic to blender container and blend until smooth. Season to taste with salt.

On medium saucepan, heat 1 tsp vegetable oil and cook salsa, until flavors completely blend, for about 10 minutes. Keep warm.

On medium frying pan, heat ¼ cup vegetable oil. Soft-fry tortillas for 20 seconds, only until they soften and warm up. Drain on paper towels and keep warm until all tortillas are done.

Mix queso fresco with minced onion and set aside.

To assemble plates:

Dip one tortilla at a time in salsa and place on plate. Fill with some queso fresco and onion mixture. Fold tortilla in half. Continue with another two tortillas per plate. Spoon a pool of salsa on plate and arrange the three enchiladas over salsa. Spoon more salsa over enchiladas, garnish with crumbled cheese and onion rings. Arrange a few avocado slices on the side. Serve immediately.

Serves 4

Thinking of Home...

Some of the earliest memories I have are of food. Specifically, food that came out of my Nana’s kitchen. As incredible as it seems today, Nana used to make tortillas EVERY DAY. We were spoiled beyond belief!

While we were at school, Nana would be in the kitchen, getting ready for what is in Mexico our big meal, around 2pm. As soon as we came home, we would gather around the kitchen table to enjoy our lunch. She would always make our favourite food, and invariably, there would be a simple dessert, like these Sugar Tortillas.

These sweet little tortillas are a favourite treat of mine, comfort food at its best. They are like a cross between a cookie and a biscuit.  They are super fast to make if you use a tortilla press. Ask your little ones to help you press the dough, they will have a fun time at it.

Vanilla was not present in Nana’s recipe, but I like the flavour when I use it. You can use extract or ground vanilla bean, which gives the dough a pretty speckled look.

You cook these tortillas on the griddle, just like you do corn or flour tortillas. In just 25 minutes, you can have a platter of these treats, ready to delight your little ones. If you eat them while they’re warm, they will be soft… but if you eat them once they’ve cooled off, they will be crispy. You decide how you like them best. I cannot resist eating one or two as they come off the griddle! Store them in a tin to keep them nice and crispy. Serve them smeared with cajeta for dessert, or plain with a cold glass of milk. Either way, they are delicious!

Gorditas de Azúcar

2 cups flour
1/2 cup shortening or butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
¼ cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients.  Add shortening or butter and mix well, working dough with your hands.  Add egg, milk and vanilla and knead until you have a smooth dough that’s not sticky.

Divide dough into 24 pieces the size of a ping pong ball.  Press with a tortilla press until they are about 3’ wide and ¼’ thick.

Cook over medium heat on an un-greased griddle for about 1 minute and then turn over with a spatula and cook for another minute.  The tortilla should be nicely browned on both sides.

Place on a wire rack and let cool.  These tortillas are soft when warm but harden to a crisp when cool.

Store in a tin for 3-4 days
Makes 24 Gorditas de Azúcar

Recipe was first featured at www.thelatinkitchen.com.

Comfort Food at its best

Winters in Canada are very long, and even though this winter has been relatively mild, it still feels like it's been 10 years since we had nice, mild days. With the harsh weather, many of us get sick, and when we're not feeling so hot, an easy but delicious soup is always welcome.

That is where this recipe comes in. When I lived back home, my Nana would make this Sopa Aguada at least once a week. It is very simple to make, but very delicious and totally comforting.

I hope you make this Sopa Aguada soon!

Sopa Aguada, a.k.a. Pasta Soup

1 tsp. Vegetable oil
1 cup small pasta, such as filini, stars, etc.
1 plum tomato, chopped
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 sprig cilantro
1 Jalapeño chile, optional
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 white potato, peeled and diced
1.5 L chicken broth
Salt to taste
Lime wedges to serve
Chipotle chiles or Salsa for garnish
Avocado and/or  queso fresco for garnish

In blender container, place tomato and onion. Blend until smooth.

In deep saucepan, heat the oil and sauté the pasta until golden.  Add the tomato sauce and cook for a 4 minutes.  Add the broth, cilantro, chile, carrot and potato. Season to taste with salt. Bring to a light boil.  Cover and turn the heat down to a simmer. Cook for about 10-12 minutes, until vegetables and pasta are tender. 

Ladle hot soup into bowls and sprinkle with lime juice. Garnish with salsa or chipotle chiles,  avocado chunks and cheese, or a combination of these. Serve with tortillas on the side.

Serves 4 to 6
Recipe was first published at www.thelatinkitchen.com

PAN DE MUERTO - Day of the Dead Bread

I love this time of year - not because of Halloween, but because of the Day of the Dead. Apart from the actual celebration being part of UNESCO World Heritage - which is exciting and important, I love it because of what it represents. In Mexico, we see this festivity as a time to be happy and to remember and honour the loved ones that have left us.

The most representative thing about this celebration is the shrine or altar. These altars can be very simple or very complex, and can be built at the cemetery, at home or at work. They all have something in common: they contain food and drink - what the person or persons used to love in life, plus candles, pictures, flowers, and bread, among other things.

One of the items that must be included in the altars is the "Pan de Muerto", or Day of the Dead Bread. In most of Mexico, it is a round loaf decorated with bones and skull, but in Oaxaca it is a simple round loaf decorated with sesame seeds. In other regions of Mexico, the breads adopt different shapes, but in all cases, it is a rich eggy dough that is slightly sweet and delicious, made for enjoying with a mug of frothy Mexican hot chocolate.

The Oaxacan loaf is flavoured with aniseed and orange rind, while the other more common loaf is often flavoured with orange blossom water (or zest), or not at all. In recent years, bakeries in Mexico started making the traditional loaves filled with pastry cream or cajeta.

I love the flavours of the Oaxacan bread, but I also love the look of the decorated loaf, so taking a little bit of creative licence, I merged them both in this recipe.

In the finished product, we have the rich, eggy dough flavoured with aniseed and orange that I love so much, but it is shaped in the traditional way with bones and skull.It is a bit of a process, since this recipe requires a starter, but the end result is worth it.

To make this Pan de Muerto you need:

Starter:

2 cups flour 

3/4 tsp salt 

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 Tbsp active dry yeast

1/3  cup water

2 eggs



Dough:

Starter

1/2 cup sugar

7 Tbsp butter

2 cups flour

4 egg yolks + 1 Tbsp water

1/8 cup water

grated rind of 1 orange

½ tsp anise seeds



Glaze:

2 egg yolks



Garnish:

melted butter

¼ cup sugar




Starter: dissolve yeast in water and when it’s foamy add the rest of the ingredients, beating well until it’s mixed thoroughly.  Place in a greased bowl and let rise, covered,  until doubled.  Starter can mature overnight in fridge.  Next day, bring to room temperature before working with it.



Place starter, sugar, butter, egg yolks, water, orange rind and anise seeds in mixer bowl.

Mix well using the dough hook.

Start adding enough flour to make a sticky but manageable dough.

This is what the dough looks like. It is still very sticky at this point, but I like to take it out of the bowl and finish it by hand. I feel I have more control of the dough if I use my hands. Sometimes you can add too much flour if the machine does all the work for you, since it is harder to feel the texture of the dough.

Place the dough on a floured board and start kneading, adding flour as needed to make a smooth dough.

After a few minutes, the dough will look like this. At this point, it will not accept any more flour, so it is ready to rest.

Place dough in an oiled bowl, and cover with a tea towel and let it rest, until doubled in bulk, 1-2 hours, depending on how hot your kitchen is.

After one or two hours, the dough will have risen until it has doubled in size. Time to continue...

Punch down the dough. Yes, literally. You want to remove all the air bubbles to continue working with the dough, so knead it a bit until there is no air left.

Divide your dough in up to three parts. I like making two smaller loaves so I can share, but if you want, you can make one large one, two medium ones or three small ones. In any case, for every loaf, you want to have a big piece of dough and from that one piece, you rip a piece about a third its size, so you can form the bones and skull.

Out of the small piece, make 4 pieces, one of them a bit larger than the other three. In this photo, I am making enough for two loaves.

Out of the smaller pieces, make ropes, and then press at intervals so your rope looks knobby. This will form the bones. The other larger piece, shape as a ball. Place the shaped pieces on parchment and they are ready for the next rising.

Shape the large piece of dough as a ball and place on parchment for the next rising.

Place a tea towel over the bread dough and let rise in a warm place, until it puffs up a bit more.

After an hour or so of rising, you can place the bones on the large loaves, pressing gently so they adhere. The "skulls" go right on top.

Brush shaped loaves gently with egg yolks, making sure you get in all the nooks and crannies. Bake loaves for 15-20 minutes, or until they sound hollow when tapped. If you think they are browning too fast, decrease the temperature to 350°F. Bring finished loaves out and let cool for a of minute on the baking trays.

Have your melted butter and sugar ready for when the loaves come out of the oven. As soon as you can handle the loaves, brush with melted butter. The loaves have to be hot for the sugar to stick to the melted butter on the loaf.

As soon as you brush them with butter, sprinkle liberally with sugar, so it sticks to the melted and warm butter.

Set parchment and loaves over a wire rack and let cool, at least two hours before you cut them.

Serve your Pan de Muerto with steaming mugs of Mexican hot chocolate. This bread is best enjoyed the day it's made, but if you wrap it properly, it can last for a day or two. If you have leftovers, warm them up a bit before serving.

I hope you make this bread and most of all, I hope you enjoy it!!

Feliz Dia de Muertos!

Maria Amalia

P.S. Notes from my testing:

This year I made a double batch of starter. With the first half, I made one batch of bread immediately after the starter had risen. The resulting bread was very good.

With the second half of the starter I made a second batch, but the starter rested for three days in the fridge, until I had time to make the second batch. I let the starter come to room temperature and continue to rise for a few hours before I used it.

This time around, I did not have a fresh orange for zest, so I used orange flower water - using 1 tsp in the recipe. I also increased the amount of aniseed to 1 tsp, instead of 1/2 tsp. The resulting bread was superior to the first batch in terms of texture. I thought the orange flavour was too subtle, so in future, if I use orange flower water, I will increase the amount to 1 Tbsp instead. I still believe using orange zest gives a better taste. I love the flavour of aniseed, so I think adding more is a great idea.

The other thing I did differently was that I rotated the trays after 17 minutes of baking, bringing the top tray to the bottom and the bottom one to the top rack in the oven. This gave the breads a more even cooking on the bottom crust.

A Meeting in the Kitchen

I had an interesting guest in my little kitchen, someone who asked me to make my Mole recipe so he could blog about it. I’m talking about the late Ron Eade, who was the food writer for the Citizen for many years. After he retired, he couldn’t sit still, so he started blogging.

I had met Ron in my DiVino Wine Studio days… he documented a dinner we made with an Italian guest Chef, but during that night, I was busy getting things done, and Ron judiciously stayed out of the kitchen.

Years later, after I’d left DiVino, Ron contacted me and asked if he could come cook with me. He wanted to know how Mole was made. I thought he was going to actually help me make the sauce, but no… he stood across the bar from my counter and watched me intently. He asked lots and lots of questions. I have to say, he grilled me for information. He even made a video of our session together. I had a good time with him. You can check the recipe and the video out by visiting his website.

He left that day with a litre-full of Mole sauce, which he then said he enjoyed with his family.

Months later, Ron “Liked” my Facebook page, and he sent me a private message saying he really liked my Mole recipe and thanked me for generously sharing it with him.

I am glad I got to cook and share my Mole with him. That is precisely what I love to do.

I hope Ron is having fun up in Heaven.

Help us Feed the Hope

I was very fortunate to participate in the campaign called "Help us Feed the Hope", from Catelli Pasta. I was asked to write a recipe with 5 ingredients plus the pasta. This recipe went into the cookbook called "Pasta Plus Five", and it was part of the campaign to raise awareness on hunger in Canada, and at the same time help folks at home cook fast, delicious, and nutritious meals. With every box of pasta sold at Sobeys and Metro in the months of March through May, Catelli donated one portion of pasta to food banks across Canada. Additionally, with every "Like" and "Share" on the Catelli Facebook page, Catelli donated one portion of pasta on behalf of the people who did this. The goal is to reach 1,000,000 portions. Up to this date, the number is at 793,207. Not bad at all!!

I was present at the Ottawa Food Bank when Catelli sent the donation. There were 3 large skids of pasta! The folks at the Food Bank told me that pasta is on the top 5 items used most, so this generous donation by Catelli will be helping a lot of people in need. Statistics tell us that around 850,000 Canadians go to food banks every month, and about 36% of those are youth and children. These are shocking numbers.

I was very excited to participate in this campaign and do my little bit to help the community. Thanks to all of you who followed me and participated in the campaign. If we all do our part, we can make the lives of many people a tiny bit better!