Cuisine by Country | hungry sofia

Aug 27

Oh Fig!

A friend coined the term produce shopaholic on her blog, Mindy’s Recipe for Disaster. If I’d read her post earlier, I may have recognized the symptoms before I went on a why-not-bender at the Park Slope Food Co-op yesterday. Though I love figs, I rarely buy fresh ones. I have plans for tarts and compotes, but the slightest delay and they’re past all use. Still, I couldn’t resist when I found organic Calimyrna figs. I reasoned that the green ones would at least give me a head start, and they were so cute and plump I had to take them home. A quick search online and through my books gave me a couple of ideas. I had some this morning drizzled with peppered honey and Spanish goat cheese with sweet olive oil crackers. It was sweet, spicy, flowery and creamy all at the same time. The recipe from Bon Appétit could not be easier, so there is no reason to put off using them straight away. I also found an interesting recipe for fig compote with red wine and spices among the formidable 1080 Recipes, one of my favorite cookbooks/step stools that I’ll try next. Now that I’m hooked, I’ll need more figs.

For the complete Fresh Figs with Goat Cheese and Peppered Honey recipe click here.

Last Gazp

I know it will still be warm in September, but with August almost gone, summer is definitely slipping away. I wanted to include one more gazpacho recipe before it was over, using the few tomatoes that had made it to market despite the late blight. I checked Saveur for recipes and found this post featured on their best of the web section, which led me to delicious days. A wonderful site maintained by Nicky and Oliver, a couple based out of Munich, the recipe itself comes from their friend Carlos fittingly named Gazpacho con Tropezones or stumbling stones. Once I’d finally jumped to the right page, I found it as easy and straightforward as the recipe promised, and just in time.

Aug 21

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Pastel de Mango Verde

I still remember seeing the “Cookies” sign for the first time. Just off the corner of Smith Street, I was drawn to the bright blue storefront realizing with disappointment that they were closed for the night. Peering through the grating into the store (it was pretty sad), I knew I’d be back. I reasoned that if an entire bakery was dedicated to just making cookies, they must be really good cookies. If the same cookies were displayed lovingly gift wrapped, they must be uniquely great. I’ve been scratching at their door ever since. Read more

Aug 18

Huevos en Cemitas

A couple of years ago, I found a recipe for eggs baked in brioche that I decided to make for Mother’s Day. It went over better than I’d hoped since it reminded my Mom of a breakfast she’d loved as a little girl in Cuba. Not having had it since then, she vaguely remembered ham and béchamel sauce added to eggs baked in rolls called cemitas. I was especially curious since I’d always thought of traditional Cuban breakfast as pressed pan cubano and cafe con leche. A few weeks ago, a friend lent me her copy of the book Cuban Cookery by Blanche Z. De Baralt. An American who lived in Europe and studied at Packer Collegiate, a few blocks away from where I live now, she moved to Havana at the turn of the century with her husband, a Cuban doctor. Published in 1931, I fell in love with the combination of her Edith Wharton English with her use of “our” and “we” to describe traditional Cuban food. She’d clearly gone native, and I liked her that much more for it. When I found her notes on Huevos en Cemitas or Eggs in Rolls – a hollowed out breakfast roll filled with chopped meat, petits pois, and cream sauce topped with a raw egg and baked till set – I knew I’d found my mother’s missing recipe. Read more

Aug 17

Vicarious Eating

A few weeks, I listened to the Times Talks podcast from November 2008 where Eric Asimov from of the New York Times moderated a fascinating discussion between Anthony Bourdain and El Bulli’s Ferran Adrià. While Adrià’s passion and intellect were in full display, the slide show that accompanied his evocative words was not. While we’re used to watching people talk about and enjoy food we’re not eating, listening on my iPhone to an audience ooh and ahh over the photographs being projected that I also wasn’t seeing, was just sad. Normally, I could let my imagination run wild, but I don’t think my imagination would be a match in this case. That’s one reason I loved this post by the Amateur Gourmet, Adam Roberts, about his visit to El Bulli this month. It’s exactly how I may have imagined my own meal there but in comic book format with video clips. By far, my favorite vicarious meal this summer.

Aug 13

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Chaulafan Addiction

I hold take-out chicken fried rice responsible for the freshman 10 I gained in college (except it was closer to 15 and I was a senior). While others may dabble, I know I can’t stop at a pint and have largely avoided it for years. However, since I’m preparing to run a half-marathon this Saturday and need to eat carbohydrates covered in soy sauce, this kind of indulgence is not only permitted, it’s encouraged. Plus, I’m stronger now. The stars seemed to align for making my own when I found a recipe on Laylita’s recipes, one of my favorite sites, for chaulafan de pollo, a popular Latin American version of fried rice popular in Ecuador and Peru. This is the first time I made fried rice at home and at first glance it seemed like standard take-out – chicken, peas, scallions, carrots, eggs. It was the seasonings like achiote, chili, cilantro, and more cilantro that really set it apart. My favorite addition though were the raisins. Not sure how they would blend, they were like tiny, interspersed packets of plum sauce. Served with sliced avocado as suggested, it’s the perfect light meal to enjoy in moderation. Starting tomorrow that is, right now I just want more.

Click here for the complete recipe.

Aug 12

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Yucassoise

I’ve had waxy brown yucas on my counter for a couple of weeks. There were so many things that I wanted to make with them – salads, empanadas, croquetas – that I ended up doing nothing at all. My absolute favorite way of eating yuca is on Christmas day, standing around my aunt’s kitchen while she fries up perfectly golden batches of fries using the boiled yuca left over from Noche Buena. Dipped in garlic aioli, it’s impossible to let it cool long enough before diving in, but worth the burn. With Christmas months away, I flipped through a few books to see how I wanted to use the increasingly reproachful yuca I’d been putting off. That’s when I found Alex Garcia’s recipe for yucassoise from In a Cuban Kitchen. There is nothing suave about barklike, starchy yuca so I loved the idea of transforming it into a smooth, cold soup. Read more

Aug 10

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Getting Warmer

I made yet another attempt at producing Cuban pan de agua this morning with mixed results. If my last loaf went French, this one stopped by Italy came out a pan de ciabatta or ciabatta de agua. The barely there crust of Cuban bread still eludes me but the slightly sweet flavor and airy texture were much closer. When it rised up perfectly and plumped in the oven, I thought I finally had it but it wasn’t to be. Nevertheless, I am getting warmer and will be diving into the flour bag again. It’s hard to tell where my Cuban bread will go next. Greece? Morocco? Spain? I’ll find out soon enough.

Aug 9

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Ice Cold

Anyone who has ever chased an ice cream truck, begged for an Italian ice on the way home, or broken their new Snoopy snow cone machine on Christmas morning (still bothers me), will understand how excited I was when my friend sent me this article by pastry cook Gaby Camacho, A Chef Perfects the Paleta of Childhood, from the San Francisco Chronicle. Raised in Tijuana, she sets off in search of the paletas and raspados of her childhood. Remembering flavors like cucumber and lime, rose petals, and tequila, I could understand why she would be nostalgic. As an adult, I’ve stayed away from raspberry blue popsicles and radioactive snow cones, but I love the idea of making them with fresh ingredients from home. Trying the raspado de tamarindo first, I used all natural tamaring pulp from a nearby bodega to make the syrup. I’ll try it again when I find fresh tamarinds and some of the other combinations she suggests as longs as the heat lasts. It can’t be harder than chasing ice cream trucks.

Aug 8

An Argentine Affair

When I found about An Argentine Affair to be presented by Trapiche and Michel Torino Wines on August 19th at Water Taxi Beach, I had mixed feelings. With the summer winding down, I’ve become skeptical of open air events that either become a bittersweet reason to fall in love with New York all over again or sand and paper plate push and shove events. With the promise of wine and Argentinian grilling, tangos, and soccer, this one seems worth the risk, especially with a portion of ticket proceeds benefit to Action Against Hunger,