Breads & Baked Goods | hungry sofia

Sep 29

Fainá a Caballo

My oven and I have been locked in a battle of wills – and I’m losing. It will work just fine for a couple of days, do whatever I ask of it, then for no particular reason refuse to heat up at all. Its left me with unroasted tomatoes, ungratined cheese, unbaked cakes and generally frustrated. Getting anything fixed in my apartment is an ordeal and I’ve had no fewer than three visits from the building’s supers where they stand in the kitchen, look over the oven, agree that “yes, it’s not working”, then leave. While I appreciate their sympathy, the nodding isn’t getting me any closer to 350 degrees. Read more

Jun 19

2 Comments

Sopa Paraguaya

Of course, my father had every reason to expect a boy – they already had a girl after all. Though I rarely met him even halfway (tee-ball, soccer and tennis were disasters), I did prefer Star Wars to Barbie (there was a princess in it), wasn’t squeamish about what went in the frituras de sesos he love to make, and stayed awake during The Right Stuff – so I don’t think he minded too much. A foodie before the word, he gave me sugar cane to cut my teeth on, took me to the docks to buy fish as the boats came in, presented me with meltingly tender Italian prosciutto like it was a visiting dignitary, and charmed a fast melting cooler of Mexican guanabana ice cream through customs. Read more

Feb 24

1 Comment

Down South

I know it shouldn’t make a difference but I love it when food has a story and Chilean olive oil has been writing its own. Alfonso Swett who discovered small scale olive oil plantations in conditions similar to the Chilean climate on a trip through Spain, wondered why it shouldn’t be cultivated and produced in Chile as well. Olisur, an estate grown, largely sustainable operation encompassing a 6,500 acre olive groves and expecting to produce 1.7 million liters of olive oil in their next harvest, grew from this initial why not. Read more

Jan 20

21 Comments

Panquecitos de Narajna

If my posts have been Miami-centric lately it’s because two weeks at home leaves a lot to unpack. I had one more Miami-inspired recipe I wanted to try and I finally got around to it over the long weekend. Since I’ve started this blog, I’ve slowly become less dependent on my trips home for Cuban food. Though I miss the fresh tropical produce and stock up on cans of cascos de guayaba, Brazilian condensed milk and Café Llave when I visit, there is very little (and increasingly less) that I can’t find locally. The restaurants that I loved are long gone or not quite how I remember them though I keep going back — nostalgia adding its own flavor. I promise myself I’ll seek out new spots but fall short and mostly play catch-up from the moment I land. Read more

Nov 28

2 Comments

Elena Ruz Redux

Stuffing, cranberries, and sweet potatoes go fast but there’s always more turkey. I haven’t re-posted often but this weekend has been all about leftovers so it made sense to test out my bread making skills, practice my sandwich pressing, and revisit Elena Ruz.

The Elena Ruz sandwich always seemed a little out of place on the menu. A combination of roasted turkey, cream cheese and strawberry preserves, it floats alongside the heavier ham, lechon asado and cheese melds of Cuban lunch menus – lighter and prettier with a first and last name. Named for Elena Ruz, a Havana socialite who had the unusual combination made to order for her at El Carmelo. Then a fashionable cafe in the 1930s, it landed on the menu becoming a popular item. According to later interviews, her parents were scandalized to see a sign for “Sandwich Elena Ruz 25 centavos” on display, though as she pointed out the other sandwiches only went for 10 cents at the time. Read more

Oct 5

8 Comments

Empanada Gallega

I could never take food for granted. There’s always something to learn, and I’m constantly surprised. I knew that empanadas were a specialty of Galicia, but I didn’t realize they’d partly originated there. I also didn’t know the “empanadas” I’d grown up with were actually empanidillas, smaller versions of the larger pies that Galician bakers first sold to pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela (a detail that make my history-major-geek heart beat faster). Fortunately, they never stopped moving, spreading across Latin America, baked or fried, in a million different variations. Read more

Aug 25

16 Comments

Pizza à Portuguesa

I’ve gotten into the terrible habit of buying and not using pizza dough. Every time, I tell myself it’ll be different but end up tossing away a once perfectly good round of dough a few weeks later. Instead of making my own, I head over to South Brooklyn Pizza where they know more about what you want than you do, Grimaldi’s when family is in town and there’s time for the line, Layla Jones for a fast slice, or Sam’s Restaurant for the mildly terrifying son of Sam jokes the waiter drops with your pizza. With so many great options just a few minutes in any direction, the fun of spinning and topping my own gets left for another day. The pizza stone that lives in my oven is looking angrier and spottier than usual. Read more

Jul 22

8 Comments

Pastelitos de Dulce de Membrillo

I’ve always been drawn to recipes where you can manipulate an ingredient into an object or shape that more accurately captures its essence. It’s why I love retro dishes like fighting lobsters (don’t they look like they should be fighting?) or deviled eggs (yolks sent to finishing school). It’s what attracted me to these Argentinian pastries filled with membrillo and shaped into flowers. Fresh quinces have always remind me of perfumed apples so it’s fitting that boiled down with sugar and tucked into pastry dough, they bloom. Read more

Jan 13

12 Comments

Pan de Yuca

Though I’d love to have homemade rolls every day, I stay away from bread recipes for first thing. They never seem to rise and bulk up in the time promised. I wake up early and spend the morning nervously peeking at the dough I lovingly covered in its blanky and placed in a draft free place to no avail. One hour becomes two and there’s no breakfast in sight. By the time it’s done, I’m too cranky to really enjoy it. I didn’t get to sleep in yet the dough enjoyed a leisurely rise. When I came across pan de yuca or yuca bread in a Miami, I was curious. A combination of yuca flour (also known as tapioca starch) and cheese, it can be mixed and rolled as quickly as arepas then baked off. Read more

Nov 28

4 Comments

Elena Ruz

The Elena Ruz sandwich always seemed a little out of place on the menu. A combination of roasted turkey, cream cheese and strawberry preserves, it floats alongside the heavier ham, lechon asado and cheese melds of Cuban lunch menus – lighter and prettier with a first and last name. Named for Elena Ruz, a Havana socialite who had the unusual combination made to order for her at El Carmelo. Then a fashionable cafe in the 1930s, it landed on the menu becoming a popular item. According to later interviews, her parents were scandalized to see a sign for “Sandwich Elena Ruz 25 centavos” on display, though as she pointed out the other sandwiches only went for 10 cents at the time. Read more