Recipes | hungry sofia

Sep 27

Cortado

After a wonderful fall break, I thought it was appropriate to wake up my blog the same way I wake up myself – with a cortadito. Landing in Paris was exhilarating, tinged with pink and capped with gold, the city smells like butter. From the first moment, I wanted to go in twenty directions at once. Exhausted but not wanting to lose the day, we went to the closest cafe for a quick lunch before heading out. Ordering in broken French, our waiter responded in broken Spanish. We weren’t getting very far until he hit on exactly what we were looking for – a cortado. Relieved to be understood, I finally felt awake. Read more

Sep 12

4 Comments

Chiles en Nogada

I saw a reference describing end of summer/start of fall cooking as “valedictory meals”. I prefer to think of this time as a cross-fade. As one season quiets down, another one starts to roar, but for at least a moment they make the same sound. To take advantage of the markets in transition, I made an Argentinian Carbonada Criolla, a heavy beef stew lightened with peaches, pears and corn served in a pumpkin last September. This year I decided to try Mexico’s chiles en nogada. Pork or beef picadillo stuffed into poblano chiles, it’s covered in a chilled, creamy walnut sauce and garnished with pomegranate seeds. Read more

Sep 9

4 Comments

Soufflé de Quinoa

Nothing takes the fear out of making a soufflé like making three in a row. I found a recipe for one combined with amaranth that I couldn’t wait to try. My training for this year’s New York City marathon is nearing the 20-mile mark so I’ve been cooking up batches of amaranth to have on hand for cereal topped with honey and fruit. While adding eggs and cheese may not be the best way to enjoy my vitamin high grain, it sounded wonderful and I’d been so good. Read more

Sep 2

5 Comments

Gnocchi di Susine

My monthly ñoquis del 29 post is either very late or extremely early. Meant to bring luck when eaten at the end of the month, I was unlucky the first time I tried to make these gnocchi di susine or plum gnocchis. A Triestian recipe similar to pierogis, they reflect the region’s blend of Mediterranean, Austrian, Hungarian, and Slavic cuisine. I thought it would be a great way to use the late summer plums that are filling the markets and fulfill my August gnocchi post – two birds, lots of stone fruit. Read more

Aug 28

14 Comments

But Is It Cuban?

Looking back at my summer posts, I noticed a lot of limes on the side or off in the corner – standing by to restore the balance to anything too heavy, too rich, or just too fried. With Labor Day coming up, it’s was only right to bring them front and center in a key lime pie. I thought it would be a departure from my Latin American desserts when I came across a few references to the Cuban pastel de limón. Made with juice from limones criollos – also known as key limes – and condensed milk, the custard is topped with meringue, and poured into a cookie crust made from galleticas Maria. Could the key lime pie be Cuban? According to Maria Josefa Lluria de O’Higgins, a version of the pie was brought to the Florida Keys in the late 1860’s with Cuban settlers during our war for independence. Other alleged sources include self-made Florida millionaires, their cooks and local fisherman. While I can’t pretend to be impartial, I will say this – creole limes, condensed milk, meringue – it certainly sound like us. 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

Aug 18

12 Comments

Blanket Comfort

My sister Carmen has been asking me to make bistec empanizado for this blog for awhile. When I wrote about masitas de puerco, my favorite thing to order from Cuban menus, it seemed only fair to write about hers. Mine came with black beans and hers didn’t, so I’d always pass her my frijoles negros. This week we made a different deal – I’d finally make the bistec empanizado if she’d write the post. Here it is and I’m sure you’ll agree it was well worth the beans.

When I was little, the center of the universe seemed to exist at Casablanca. A bustling Cuban café on 8th street in the then sleepy little town of Miami. When my grandfather took me for lunch, I loved sitting at the counter where the vinyl covered, revolving stools gave me a 360 degree view of the action. When my parents took me at night, the same café was usually empty which gave my sister and I the odd run of the place. We’d feed quarters into the jukebox and play Donna Summer songs as my father talked about what life would have been like/could be like for us in Cuba. I don’t know exactly why I chose Donna Summer. I wasn’t crazy about disco (I didn’t want to dress like a that when I grew up) but there was something about her voice that kept me coming back. It was lonely and defiant. It spoke of another world I couldn’t possibly understand at that age. The boldness of it drew me in and it was endless. Very much like the breaded steak on my plate that I always ordered for dinner. Read more

Aug 16

3 Comments

Sopa de Flor de Calabaza

I don’t usually let myself buy flowers. Frivolous in a million other ways, I become oddly practical when it comes to that. I’ll consider the enormous sunflowers bursting out of their buckets but head straight to the potted basil, lavender, and rosemary plants instead, preferring the kind of pretty you can eat. That’s why I get so excited when squash blossoms arrive at the markets. Since July, I’ve had them stuffed, fried, chopped and sauteed with tomatoes. Now that the summer is melting away and every day feels like Sunday night, each bag of blossoms has become that much more precious – shriveled and golden, bugs and all. Read more

Aug 10

3 Comments

Launching Into OpenSky

I usually write about what goes in the pot, on the table, or fills the bowl. This post is about the bowl and where to find it. I’ve always found interesting things in my neighborhood – gadgets, housewares, and yes bowls. Shopping in Brooklyn stores is a unique experience. Relatively small, most shops have their own aesthetic with a limited but well thought out selection. Excited or bored, helpful or indifferent, there’s always the likelihood that the salesperson is also the owner/designer/artist/buyer of the merchandise your casually turning over and commenting on with your friends. It makes you think about what you say, and leave with a goodbye and thank you – like you would in Paris or an Ernst Lubitsch movie. Read more

Aug 6

111 Comments

Julia Child’s Madeleines de Commercy

It’s impossible to cook a Julia Child recipe without summoning her in some way. From the first moment, you can feel her peering over your shoulder – self-assured, encouraging, generous. Once you’ve started, you’ll do anything to keep her there, so I’m always on the look-out for Julia Child cookbooks. Just before my last birthday, I found a second-hand copy of From Julia Child’s Kitchen that included this recipe for les Madeleines de Commercy. When the Cooking Channel invited bloggers to celebrate her upcoming birthday by posting about one of her recipes, I knew which one I wanted to make. Read more