Recipes | hungry sofia

Mar 25

Almond-Orange Flan

Whenever I turn out a successful flan, I always feel like I’ve gotten lucky. Made with with relatively few ingredients, they should be simple but that’s not always the case. I recently tried to make a Mexican flan imposible (part custard, part chocolate) that turned out to be – well – impossible. This week, I was determined make this almond-orange flan for the Cooking Channel’s Devour the Blog dairy-free for Passover. Making flan without my go-to cans (part condensed milk, part evaporated milk) was unnerving, but I had a feeling it would work out in the end. I was due. Read more

Mar 15

10 Comments

Tinga de Pollo

Trying to cover a lot of ground on my site, I regret that I don’t get to spend too much time in any one place – picking up terms and techniques without becoming fluent in any one country’s cuisine. But lately my Cuban cookbook research has kept me at home, literally and figuratively, so I was due for a side trip. Read more

Feb 19

7 Comments

Sopa de Ajo con Huevos

I was very late to try it, but this week I finally made Jim Lahey’s now famous no-knead bread recipe. I’m not sure how it came to mind, but around 6 o-clock one evening, I decided that I absolutely could not go another minute without digging it out from a stack must trys I’d had going for a couple of years. After looking at the online video Mark Bittman created with Lahey, I bundled up and headed out for the ingredients. By 7, I was mixing up the dough and setting it in the oven for the initial long slow rise. The next day, after a few turns and second rise, it was in the oven pre-heated to scorching hot. I was cautiously optimistic. Read more

Feb 8

21 Comments

Churros con Chocolate

I was in Miami a few weeks ago when the temperature dipped to the high-60s.* Anywhere else this would have been a non-event in January, but for me it was a big deal. It had been unusually warm through the holidays so my family and I took no chances that this could be our last opportunity for midnight churros at Las Palmas – freshly fried and served with chocolate so thick that the spoon could stand on its own. Read more

Jan 30

5 Comments

Boniatillo

Deep in cookbook research the past few weeks, this boniatillo has been on deck for awhile. Now that I’m (almost) ready to return to regular programming, I couldn’t go forward until I posted a favorite and final recipe from last year. Boniatillo – boiled sweet potatoes cooked down with syrup, spiced with cinnamon and spiked with rum – is a simple kind of dessert that would be easy enough to make before the holidays. Or so I thought. Read more

Dec 16

18 Comments

Holiday Cookbook + Apron Giveaway

A few weeks ago, I decided to make Cannelle et Vanille‘s Aran Goyaga’s Swiss Chard, Pear and Gruyère Tart from her new cookbook, Small Plates and Sweet Treats. I’m not sure how to describe this beautifully photographed book except to say that it glows. It actually glows. Read more

Nov 1

10 Comments

Tale of Two Hurricanes

It was the wind howling against the windows that really unnerved me. The un-ignorable fact that the smallest pebble hitting the pane at the wrong spot would shatter it completely and bring the full force of the hurricane inside the house kept me sleepless. When the storm had finally passed, I left the interior room we’d huddled down in and dared to look out the window. Most of the surrounding houses were still standing, but I couldn’t make them out – it was all white sky and black water. Knowing we were safe, I allowed myself to sleep, unless I was wrong and had been dreaming the whole time. Read more

Oct 18

11 Comments

Risotto al Perfume de Ají

A week ago, I got tired of playing kitchen Jenga in my overcrowded pantry. Deciding to clear the decks, I went through every can and bottle, checked expiration dates, and relined the shelves. While there weren’t as many items to throw away as I’d feared, there were enough to make me feel more than a little ashamed and wasteful. I hate throwing away food to the core, and there’s no excuse for it. Read more

Oct 4

5 Comments

Chayotes Rellenos Dulces

I’d almost given up on the stuffed chayotes when I put them in the oven. Bright green and plump, they’re available year round and go by christophene (France), mirliton (Caribbean), chu-chu (Brazil), güisquil (Central America), depending on where you find them. Bought the week before, they kept well so it was easy put them off for another day. I’d had them sauteed and lightly dressed and filled with chorizo before, but there was a sweeter variation I came across in older Cuban cookbooks that I decided to try. Read more

Sep 12

11 Comments

Sea Scallops with a Malanga Crust

Every four years, my extended family gets together in South Carolina for a week long reunion. Synced to both the presidential election (something to argue about) and the summer Olympics (something to look forward to), we always know when it’s coming. This time I carved out a few extra days to visit nearby Savannah – a city I’ve had a crush on for a very long time. Read more