Recipes | hungry sofia

Sep 8

A New Season

I may have waited until the very last weekend of the summer to have my first lobster roll, but now that I had, I wasn’t letting it scuttle away just yet. I decided to try a recipe from the 1930s for Lobster Havanaise, a cross between a Thermidor and Newburg but with rum instead of brandy. The rum is added off heat just before serving so the flavor is very pronounced. I started at Fish Tales in Brooklyn since they’re always helpful and let me take complimentary limes, even on a 1/4 pound of salmon. I almost left empty handed when I realized I would need at least two Maine lobsters to make up for the 2 pounder called for in the recipe. They pointed me instead to the Brazilian rock lobsters right for Caribbean cooking. With no claws, rock lobsters carry all their meat in the tail (no kidding, and I thought the only Cuban element was the rum). Though they’re not as sweet as the Maine variety, they’re in season from the end of the summer through winter, so they’re is plenty of time to play with. Read more

Sep 5

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Summer Break

Maybe it’s because of the “what I did on my summer vacation” essays, but summer always feels like a project. You’re given 2-3 months to put together a set piece for future memories and expectations are high. Even as an adult, fall blends into winter which blends into spring, but summer stands apart. It’s hard not to spend Labor day weekend thinking about what I did or didn’t get to do. It also marks my 100th post since I started writing this blog, though some days, I’ve felt like it’s been writing me. Still, I love where it’s taken me, and I’m still hungry for more. I wanted to end the season with fresh cava sorbet, a mix of Spanish sparkling wine, strawberries and oranges. It seemed like the right palate cleanser to catch my breath, send off summer and start making plans for fall. Read more

Sep 3

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Fritas

With a long weekend ahead and no barbecues in site, I’ve been thinking about fritas. A Cuban-style hamburger with more spice than size, it’s pan-fried and topped with crispy shoestring fries. Miami even has it’s own Rey de las Fritas challenging Ronald, Wendy and the Hamburgler for drive-thru supremacy. It was my favorite after the beach snack growing up, and I made my first batch last night. The only missing ingredients to make it a perfect burger madeleine were 1970s strength sun tan oil and sand. Read more

Sep 1

Corn at Last

I’ve wanted to try this corn tart recipe from Lourdes Castro’s Simply Mexican for weeks. Unfortunately, I’d only remember this when I’d just left the market cornless, mid-pool at the gym, or ten minutes before I fell asleep. With summer winding down, I realized it was now or never if I wanted to take advantage of the piles fresh summer corn that were getting smaller each week. Similar to a soufflé but less temperamental, I had it with the achiote chicken roasted in banana leaves. Having read it cover to cover, I should have known the tart would be easy to make. A straightforward collection of recipes, it’s a great introduction to cooking Mexican at home. Read more

Aug 29

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Pan y Chocolate

Since August has been more hectic than I’d planned, I’ve been enjoying my own kitchen vacation this week. With family visiting, I’ve avoided my usual pitfall of putting together an over ambitious meal with only a 50/50 chance of success. This morning I kept it simple. I found a Catalan recipe in Anya Von Bremzen’s The New Spanish Table for toast with chocolate and olive oil. Just a baguette brushed with olive oil then toasted or broiled for a couple of minutes till golden, covered with melted dark chocolate then sprinkled with Maldon sea salt. With only a few basic ingredients, I can dwell on which chocolate to use or whether my olive oil is sufficiently “fruity”. An easy lesson learned, and something to remember the next time I’m elbow deep in the kitchen. Read more

Aug 28

Universo Venezuela

I was happy to hear that Miss Venezuela had won the Miss Universe title for a historical second year in a row. Though I don’t follow the pageant and can’t speak for the universe, they do seem to want it more than any other country. I think it was seeing this in the news that reminded me of a Venezuelan restaurant I had wanted to try for a few weeks. When I read in the New York Times about the patacón Maracucho served in El Cocotero, I felt deprived. Having grown up on fried plantains, Read more

Aug 27

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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