Sweet potato pudding - Boniatillo

 

Servings: 

5

Ingredients: 

2 pounds sweet potatoes
2 pounds refined sugar
2 cups water
½ lemon
4 egg yolks
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons dry wine
ground cinnamon

Cooking instructions: 

Peel the sweet potatoes and boil them in water with a pinch of salt. Boil the water with the sugar and the lemon juice. When it comes to a boil add the syrup, still hot, to the sweet potatoes also hot. Put it all back over the fire until it thickens slightly. Stir it to prevent it from sticking. Scoop some out and add the yolks to it before putting it back into the pot. Add the dry wine and the butter and let it simmer for a while, stirring constantly, until the desired consistency is reached. Pour it into a bowl or serving dishes and sprinkle with ground cinnamon.

Pork with red kidney beans - froijoles colorados con carne de puerco

 

Servings: 

8

Ingredients: 

½ kilogram red kidney beans
4 cups water
¼ teaspoons ground cumin
1 Seville orange
¼ kilogram boneless pork
2 cloves of garlic
1 ½ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoons ground pepper
¼ teaspoon ground oregano
1/2 cup oil
1 large onion
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup sweet red peppers
¼ cup dry wine

Cooking instructions: 

Soak the beans in the 4 cups of water for about 2 hours. Chop the boneless pork into 5 or 6 cm. chunks.
Crush the cloves of garlic with the salt, the pepper, the oregano and the cumin; add the Seville orange juice and coat the pork with this marinade.
When the beans are puffy, cook in the same water they were soaked, for about 45 minutes (or 15 minutes if you are using a pressure cooker) or until they are a little tender.
Cook the boneless pork with the marinade until dry.
Heat the oil and saute the chopped onion, then add the chopped pepper; saute for a few minutes; add the tomato sauce, the ground sweet red peppers and the dry wine.
Combine the beans, the pork and the sauce; cook over low heat, well covered, for about ½ an hour.

Notes: 

To replace the sweet red pepper, you can use red peppers roasted and peeled or pepper paste.

Cafe Cubano - Cuban Coffee

There are two methods to making coffee the Cuban way: the traditional method using a metal stovetop espresso pot, or with an electric espresso machine. While the stovetop method takes longer, its certainly the authentic method, you can find a stovetop espresso maker at most online Cuban store websites.

1. Using an espresso machine, add the desired amount of finely ground coffee, common Cuban style brands include Bustelo, Pilon and La LLave (I'm partial to Bustelo supreme, I buy the Cuban brands online from the Cuban Food Market). You can also purchase fresh whole coffee beans from supermarkets like Albertson's or Whole Foods, any of the very dark roast Colombian brands will work best for Cuban coffee. I used to grind whole beans there at the store so that it is fine, fresh and ready to be made (espresso grind setting), I eventually bought my own small grinder.

Do NOT store your ground coffee in a freezer, but do keep it in a cool place away from sunlight.
2. For every demitasse cup of coffee you plan on making, use a teaspoon of sugar. The key to Cuban coffee is that it be very sweet. The trick here is to put the sugar into the glass carafe before you even brew the coffee.

3. Brew the coffee just as you would an espresso. The coffee will pour over the sugar in the carafe as it begins to brew. After it is finished filling the carafe, stir it briskly as there will still be a little undissolved sugar. Pour the coffee into several demitasse cups and enjoy.

* For Cafe con Leche, simply use 2 parts Cuban Coffee to 1 part steamed milk

Bistec Empanizado - Cuban Breaded Steak

4 steaks (1/4 inch thick)
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 tbsp fresh garlic, minced
1/4 cup sour orange juice
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs, beaten well
1 cup finely ground crackers,breadcrumbs or panko salt to taste
 A little flour
Olive oil


Sprinkle steaks with chopped onion, garlic, orange juice and salt. Rub garlic into meat. Marinate for a few hours in the refrigerator. Brush off the onion pieces and dip each steak into the egg to make sure its fully coated.

 

Dip the steak into the crackers, making sure that the ground crackers completely cover the steak. Fry the steaks in cooking oil on medium heat until golden brown and well done.

Pudin Diplomatico - Cuban Bread Pudding

1 lb bread, white or wheat
1 cup raisins
2 tsp dry white wine
4 eggs
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 pinch salt, optional
1 12 oz can fruit cocktail (or make your own mixed fruit cocktail)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 1/2 cups milk
2 tsp brandy or Kahlua
1 cup melted butter

Caramel to cover mold (*)

 Preparation:

In a food processor, finely chop the bread and place in a large bowl. Mix with the other ingredients including the fruit cocktail with its syrup. Stir well to be sure to dissolve the sugar. Place the mixture in a caramel covered mold (*).

Cook in oven at 375 degrees F for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry. Let cool before serving. Cut in small pieces.

(*) To line the mold with caramel:
1/2 cup sugar
a few drops (scant) water

Place mold on burner and dissolve sugar until it turns a nice light brown color. Rotate the mold to coat all sides and bottom with the caramel.

Serves 6.

Lechon asado

If you can't go to the trouble of a full backyard pig roast on Noche Buena, you can go for this easier alternative that can be cooked in an oven, a 10lb  suckling pig.


10 lb whole suckling pig
3 cups fresh squeezed orange juice
1 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (6-8 medium limes)
12 garlic cloves
1 onion
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp oregano
2 tbsp olive oil
4 bay leaves

Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Wearing rubber gloves to protect your hands, hold pig by head and submerge as much of body as possible in water for 1 minute. Remove, reverse pig and, holding tail end, submerge head and as much of body as possible, 1 minute. Place in a snug-fitting, non-reactive pan and pour orange and lime juice over and inside pig.

In a food processor combine garlic, onion and salt. Add oregano and olive oil and process to a paste. Smear inside and out of pig with garlic paste and scatter with bay leaves. Tightly cover pig with plastic wrap and marinate, refrigerated, 48 hours, turning occasionally.

Preheat oven to 200 degree. Transfer pig to a large roasting pan. Pull hind legs forward toward head and prop it up so its back is up and it is sitting on its hind legs. Open mouth a stuff with crumpled aluminum foil. Roast pig 12 to 13 hours, basting with marinade every hour. A meat thermometer inserted in thickest part will register 190 degrees. To brown and crisp skin, turn heat up to 350 degrees for last 1/2 hour of cooking. Let sit, loosely covered with foil, 1/2 hour before carving.

Yield: 8 servings.

 

Crema De Vie - Cuban Egg Nogg

Ingredients:

One can condensed milk
One can rum
one can simple sugar syrup (**)

(**)using the empty condensed milk can, mix:
Two cans white sugar
one can water
lemon rind
cinnamon stick
Boil until it becomes a syrup. Let cool and discard cinnamon stick and lemon rinds.

 Mix all ingredients in a bottle along with two egg yolks (whipped) and two or three large sticks of cinnamon.

Refrigerate for two or three days and it is ready to drink.

WARNING: It is SWEET and it can be habit forming (you just can't put it down). Serve in shot glasses and sip. It is good anytime.

SAFE EGG YOLKS:

Heat 2 egg yolks and 1/4 cup of liquid from the recipe, add 1/2 tsp sugar in a small skillet over very low heat, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan constantly with a spatula. At the first sign of thickening, remove the pan from the heat, but continue stirring and dip the pan bottom in a larger pan of cold water to stop the cooking. Use in the recipe instead of raw yolks.

Destroying bacteria is a matter of both time and temperature. You do not even have to get the yolks to the salmonella instant-kill temperature of 160oF (71oC). Holding them at slightly lower temperatures for several minutes is just as effective. Yolks are pasteurized by holding them for 3.5 minutes at 140oF (60oC), which is not very hot- hot tap water is in this range. Eggs don't scramble (cook) until about 180oF (82oC). So there is some margin here.

 

PS- It is well worth the effort to go through the pasteurization of the eggs. The Crema de Vie is very good!

Torticas de Navidad – Cuban Christmas Cookies

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 12 minutes
Total time: 22 minutes
Yield: 2 dozen

1 cup butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups corn flakes lightly crushed into small pieces, NOT crumbs
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup raisins
1/3 cup chopped maraschino cherries (you should have enough in the jar below)
1 (14-ounce) jar maraschino cherries

 Preheat oven at 375°F
Use an electric mixture to cream the butter and sugar together in a small bowl. Gradually add the eggs and vanilla.
Sift together the flour, baking power, baking soda, and salt. Add these dry ingredients to the creamed sugar and mix well. Use a spatula to gently fold in the walnuts, raisins, and maraschino cherries.
To make the cookies
Take a teaspoon of dough and roll it in the corn flakes. Place the cookies on a greased pan. Put one maraschino cherry in the center of each cookie.
Bake for 10 to 14 minutes.