Sunday, January 29, 2012

If Life Gives You Blood Oranges, Make Candied Orange Peel


My students at an all boys school are exceptional in many ways, one of which is how they often take the initiative to pursue enrichment through extracurricular activities.  Sometimes, the boys design their own after-school clubs and ask a faculty member if he or she will host it. That is how I came to host the Cooking Club several years ago.

This past Friday my twelve to fourteen year old cooking devotees donned their aprons, washed their hands and readied their knives for the lesson of the day: How to make a Sicilian blood orange and fennel salad. Their bantering about food on this day and any other is nothing short of impressive. This little group is no stranger to terminology such as the locavore ethic, sustainable agriculture, slow food, and are knowledgeable about a myriad of exotic ingredients. They understand simplicity and authenticity in the context of food. Listening to their lively chatter as we sit down to enjoy the products of our labor, I smile to myself knowing they will grow to be men and fathers who will value the importance of sharing healthy meals with family and friends.




To practice what we preach, I asked the boys to save the peels from the blood oranges we used for last week's recipe. I know what you're saying. Blood oranges are not exactly locally grown; they come from who knows how many thousand miles away, but we used every bit of the orange and used the peels to make the delectable candied fruit one finds everywhere in Mexico.




Candied Orange Peel


Recipe Type: Dessert

Author: Gilda Valdez Carbonaro

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 1 hour 30 mins

Total time: 1 hour 50 mins

Serves: 8

This is the ideal thing to have on hand to chop up and add to a dessert bread such as the holiday rosca or pan de muertos.


Ingredients


  • Five or 6 oranges or 5 oranges and 2 lemons

  • Water in which to boil the orange peel and to make the syrup

  • About 1 cup of turbinado cane sugar

  • 2 cups regular sugar

Instructions


  1. Cut into the citrus as if you were going to quarter the fruit, but don't cut into the orange or lemon itself.

  2. Peel off the quartered peel.

  3. Slice into strips.

  4. Drop into boiling water and cook for 5 minutes.

  5. Drain and repeat two more times to remove the bitter taste, then set aside.

  6. Dissolve the 2 cups regular sugar in 2 cups water, bring to a boil and add the peels.

  7. Stir occasionally; when the syrup is almost completely absorbed (about 50 minutes), remove the peels and drain.

  8. Spread the peels on a rack for about an hour to dry ( or in a slightly warm oven)

  9. Place the peels in a paper sack with the turbinado sugar and shake to coat them with the sugar.

  10. Spread them on wax paper to dry.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Pan de Jamón






My family and I spent our first Christmas in Spain in 2010. My husband, our daughter, my mother, and I had just settled down in a tiny apartment in the center of a small suburb of Valencia. What brought us to Spain? It's a very long story, I can only say it wasn't altogether a straightforward decision. Suffice it to say that, unlike past Christmases with all the family present, there were only five of us at the table.  I love to cook and even more so when it is for a special occasion; but in this case, it was actually a challenge to cook for so few people. Fortunately, we had leftovers for several days.

In July we moved to Cantabria after having lived for a year in Valencia. The region has enough water, fertile soil, and other possibilities that my husband and I were able to start an organic farming project.  Maybe this enticed guests to our table for Christmas the following year because we grew from five to sixteen at the table.

Here, we also live in a tiny apartment in the center of a tiny, ancient town 40 kilometers from Santander. As much as I like to cook, with so many guests and my microscopic kitchen I had to perform culinary magic to be efficient and avoid chaos.


This pan de jamón or ham loaf constitutes what is considered traditional holiday fare served in Venezuela with hallacas (similar to Mexican tamales) and the obligatory chicken salad.   The preparation of it is something I look forward to every year; to get up early, knead the dough, and then drink my coffee while the dough grows is a ritualistic and meditative process.

You can prepare the loaves in the morning and they will stay fresh for a few days, although that's an illusion if there are a lot of hungry guests in the house. It's a simple recipe and can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, a snack, dinner, or to accompany a main dish.

I should add that I only prepare this at Christmastime, but nowadays one can find it all year round in bakeries in Venezuela, taking something away, in my opinion, from the precious memories one associates with foods prepared at special times.



Pan de Jamón


Recipe Type: Appetiser, Entree

Author: Carmen De Las Casas

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 2 hours 30 mins

Total time: 3 hours

Serves: 10

This is a savory and slightly sweet bread that is perfect to prepare ahead of time.


Ingredients

  • 1 ½ lb flour (you'll need more for kneading)

  • 1 cup lukewarm milk

  • 2 tablespoons bread yeast

  • 2 eggs

  • 6 tablespoons melted butter

  • ½ cup sugar

  • A pinch of salt

  • ½ lb cooked ham

  • ½ lb smoked ham

  • ½ cup raisins

  • ½ cup olives filled with pimentos


Instructions


  1. Place the lukewarm milk in a bowl with the yeast, cover it with a dishtowel.

  2. Keep in a warm place in the kitchen for 10 minutes.

  3. In the meantime, melt the butter without letting it cook.

  4. Beat an egg, the sugar, and salt.

  5. Add the melted butter.

  6. In a large bowl place the flour and make a well in the center.

  7. Add the yeast mixture and the butter mixture and start to amalgamate it all starting from the center toward the outer part, first with a wooden spoon and then using your hands.

  8. Add more flour if necessary until you get a homogeneous and flexible texture.

  9. Place the dough on a tabletop and begin to knead for 5 minutes.

  10. Place in a bowl with enough space for it to double in size, cover it with a dishtowel and let it rise for about an hour.

  11. After an hour, punch out the dough, knead it against the tabletop and deflate completely.

  12. Let it grow for another ½ hour and then divide it in two.

  13. Roll out the dough to obtain a rectangle about ¼ inch thick.

  14. Divide the ham, the olives and the raisins in two.

  15. Start covering the dough with the ham, both smoked and uncooked; the ham should be placed in a wrinkled manner.

  16. Spread the olives and the raisins.

  17. Roll the dough, leaving the seam well closed underneath.

  18. Prick it with a fork on the top and leave it on a floured baking sheet covered with a dishtowel for about 20 minutes before placing it in the oven.

  19. Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.

  20. Beat the other egg with a tablespoon of sugar and moisten the loaves just before taking them out of the oven.

Las Navidades del 2010 fueron las primeras que mi esposo, nuestra hija, mi madre y yo pasamos en España. Hacía pocos meses que nos habíamos establecido en la región de Valencia, en un pequeño apartamento en el centro de un pequeño pueblo suburbio de la ciudad. Qué nos trajo a vivir a España? Es una historia muy larga, sólo puedo decir que no fue una decisión propia. Por primera vez en muchos años éramos solo cinco personas a la mesa en Navidad.

A mí me encanta la cocina y más aún cuando es una ocasión especial, sin embargo no sabía cómo cocinar para tan poca gente. Cuando estás acostumbrada a cocinar para muchas personas, ajustar las medidas de las recetas para poca gente puede ser un reto. La parte buena es que tuvimos sobras por varios días.

En julio nos mudamos a Cantabria. Después de un año viviendo en Valencia decidimos probar Cantabria. A pesar de ser un sitio desconocido, este lugar parecía tener agua suficiente, tierras ociosas y más posibilidades para que empezáramos un pequeño negocio de agricultura orgánica. Mi esposo ha estado en el negocio de la agricultura por más de tres décadas. Años atrás, después de haber sembrado grandes extensiones de tierra se dio cuenta que la producción orgánica a pequeña escala era el futuro en agricultura.

En todo caso, por obra y gracia de lo inexplicable esta Navidad pasada crecimos de ser cinco a ser dieciséis personas a la mesa. Pienso que como el año pasado fue tan diferente para nuestra familia, este año había un sentimiento general de tratar de estar juntos.  Aquí también vivimos en un pequeño apartamento en el centro de un pequeñito pueblo a 40 Km de Santander. Por mucho que te guste cocinar, cuando hay tanta gente a comer y tienes una cocina pequeña y una mesa de comedor donde ocho caben apretados, tienes que hacer magia para poder ser eficiente y conseguir que no sólo la comida esté lista a tiempo sino que los comensales sean atendidos a la vez y sin caos.

El pan de jamón le gusta a todos y a mí me encanta prepararlo. Este forma parte de la tradicional comida navideña venezolana, junto con la ensalada de gallina es el acompañante obligado de las hallacas las cuales son parecidas a los tamales mexicanos.  Y aunque son laboriosas, se hacen con varios días de antipación, luego ya solo es calentarlas. Levantarme temprano, amasar y luego tomarme mi café mientras crece la masa es un proceso ritualístico y meditativo. Los preparas por la mañana y se mantienen frescos por un par de días, aunque cuando cuentas con mucha gente hambrienta pensar en un par de días es una ilusión. En todo caso es una receta fácil y se puede usar para desayuno, comida, merienda, cena lígera o como acompañamiento de un plato principal.

Tengo que añadir que yo solo preparo este pan durante la Navidad. Ahora en Venezuela puedes conseguir en las panaderías pan de jamón durante todo el año, pienso que le resta ese encanto especial de la comida tradicional navideña.

Receta para dos panes medianos

1 1/2 lb de harina (un poco más de harina hará falta al amasar)
1 taza de leche tibia
2 cdas de levadura para pan
2 huevos
6 cdas de mantequilla, derretida
1/2 taza de azúcar
una pizca de sal
1/2 lb jamón cocido
1/2 lb de jamón ahumado
1/2 taza de pasas
1/2 taza de aceitunas rellenas de pimiento

Poner la leche tibia en un bowl con la levadura, taparla con un trapo y dejarla en un lugar tibio por unos 10 min. Mientras tanto derretir la mantequilla sin que cueza. Batir un huevo, el azúcar, la sal y por último la mantequilla derretida.

En un bowl grande poner la harina y hacer un hueco en el centro. Añadir la levadura y la mezcla de la mantequilla y comenzar a unir todo desde el centro hacia afuera. Yo comienzo a hacerlo con una cuchara de madera y luego cuando esté unido ya meto las manos. Añadir más harina si fuera necesario hasta conseguir una mezcla homogénea y flexible.

Entonces pasar la masa a la mesa y amasar por unos 5 minutos. Poner en un bowl con espacio suficiente para que crezca el doble, tapar con un trapo y dejar por una hora más o menos. A la hora, desinflar la masa, y tirarla contra la mesa unas cuantas veces para sacar el aire y amasar otro poco.

Dejarla crecer nuevamente por una media hora más. Dividir la masa en dos. Extender con el rodillo hasta obtener un rectángulo de aproximadamente 1/4" de espesor.

Dividir el jamón, las aceitunas y las pasas en dos. Ir cubriendo la masa con el jamón, mitad ahumado, mitad cocido. El jamón debe ponerse en forma arrugada, sin extenderlo. Esparcir las aceitunas y las pasas.

Enrrollar el pan dejando la costura bien cerrada por debajo. Pincharlo con un tenedor por encima y dejarlo sobre un bandeja de horno enharina cubierto con un paño unos 20 minutos antes de meterlo al horno.

Repetir con el resto de la masa y los ingredientes. Hornear por unos 30 min a 350 grados F. Batir el otro huevo con una cucharada de azúcar y pintar el pan unos minutos antes de sacarlo del horno.


Carmen De Las Casas is a native of Venezuela.  She is a photographer and avid cook and lives with her husband, an organic farmer, in Spain.  To learn more about hallacas, read her cookbook here and visit her photography blog here.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Sweet New Year

Another year is gone.  What is remarkable about the year is that the war in Iraq finally ended, in a manner of speaking.   Our troops came home. These four words: Our troops came home do nothing to tell the story of the profound loss some of us suffered or how our lives changed forevermore.

As I have throughout these years, I attempt to find meaning in all this 'sound and fury' of this life. I deal with this rage over this unspeakable loss of my only child, through the tireless activities of my day to day existence, in the forceful and difficult breaking of old habits and the willful discovery of new ones. But I also reminisce about my past and what there could be in it that led me to survive where others have not.



From my past I gather and reorganize my memories again of days when the the aunts and cousins from Monterrey or Villaldama, or Puebla arrived in Laredo with gifts for us. We all lived frugally in those days, that is, the 50's and 60's, but no one ever arrived without treats for us. Recently, one of these cousins, visiting from Mexico city arrived with a magical box from a legendary candy store in Mexico City: Dulcería Celaya.  I was fascinated by the elaborate decoration and delicate aspect of these sweets. I had not seen my cousin in years and the box she brought me resurrected memories of the past when everything was safe, and good...and sweet.

On this one year anniversary of the launch of this blog, las dos Gildas wish you all the luxury of time to spend with your families.   Enjoy the sweet things in life as if there is no tomorrow!


If you have never tried your basic dulce de leche, here is a recipe from Girl Gone Granola