My idea of comfort food

It's been raining in New York all day. It's windy, cold, and gray outside. I have to say I actually like days like these, when I don't have to go out that is.

All I want is to sleep all day and be on my socks and pj's but my son Lucas had other plans like play all day and crawl around the house. Phew! Days like today make me think of comfort food and to me nothing says comfort more than a bowl of hearty lentil soup. During winter time I make lentil soup once a week, yes, I love it that much. It's everything I want in a bowl. It's high in protein and very healthy too. I hope you like this recipe as much as I do. 

Ingredients:

1 Pound Pardina lentils, rinsed

1 Cup chopped onion

2 Carrots

2 Garlic cloves

1/2 Cup chopped celery

3 Chorizos, cut into slices 

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 Quarts water

2 tablespoons salt

1/2 tablespoon gound black pepper 

Directions

In a Dutch oven, place the olive olive and set over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots and celery, cook until onions are translucent, about 6 minutes, add the garlic and chorizo and cook for another minute. Add the lentils, water, salt and black pepper, stir until combined. Cover and cook until the lentils are tender, approximately 35 to 40 minutes. Check the lentils after 20 minutes to make sure they have enough water also,

taste to see if they need salt. 

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Almond Pots de Creme

This summer will be very special for me. I know we just started spring but I just can't wait to do all the outdoors activities that I have planned for my son. I see a lot of picnics and trips to the beach.

Today I was thinking about a dessert to take to a picnic we have been planning with my hubby but winter doesn't quite wants to leave New York yet. However, that didn't stop me from making Almond Pots de Creme. Yes, Almond Pots de Creme for a picnic. It's perfect! I  baked them in baby food glass jars that I have been collecting just for these trips. They seemed perfect. Just remove the stickers and clean them well and when you are done with baking, cover them back with their lids. You can bake many things in these jars. Imagine individual servings of cheesecakes or flan, just get creative. Pots de Creme are usually a little richer than a regular pudding and you can infuse them with about any flavor you want, in this case I added ground almonds for texture. I love them. You will be seeing more recipes of it for sure. 

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups milk

2 egg yolk

1 egg

1/3 cup of sugar

1 vanilla pod

1 1/2 tablespoons of 

ground almond plus 

more for topping

Preheat the oven to 300 F.

Place the milk in a sauce pan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the milk and bring it to a boil. Meanwhile, mix together the yolks, egg, sugar and the ground almonds. Strain the boil milk over the egg mixture constantly stirring to avoid the eggs to scramble. Skim off the surface to remove any foam. Ladle into five 4oz jars and place it in a roasting tin. Pour hot water to come halfway up the sides of the jars. Bake for 40 minutes or until the custards are set, (The center of the Pots de Cremes may still jiggle slightly when shaken). Let them cool and then refrigerate them for 2 hours. Sprinkle them with the rest of the ground almond.

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Arroz con Leche

I went to sleep last night thinking about this cinnamon sticks I got a few days ago, thinking on a recipe to utilize them and of course arroz con leche (rice pudding) immediately popped into my mind. Arroz con leche means to me cozy, home, mom, warm, soothing and all of those things that make you go back in time and find that little kid in you. Just the smell of the cinnamon perfuming my whole house takes me back to those happy days. This recipe is my mom's. We made it together because her directions are a bit hard to follow: "a little bit of this, a pinch of that, stir it until you see it's right" ahhh the old school way, the best way. 

I gave my son Lucas a little taste and he seemed to like it. Well, at least he didn't make that face he makes when he absolutely hates something. It makes me happy to think that I am building this memories for Lucas and hopefully one day he will say " smells like my mom's kitchen"

Ingredients

1 cup long-grain white rice (I like Basmati)

5 cups water

2 cinnamon stick

1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk

1 (14-ounce) can condensed milk

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup raisins

Ground cinnamon, for dusting

Directions

Put the water, rice, and cinnamon sticks in heavy saucepan set over medium heat. Bring to a boil, uncovered, and cook until the rice is tender, about 20 minutes. Strain out the liquid, discard the cinnamon sticks and return the rice to the saucepan. In another saucepan add whole milk, evaporated milk and condensed milk and bring it to a boil. Stir in the milk mixture into the rice and continue cooking over medium heat for 15 to 18 minutes or until the mixture is thick, stir constantly. Add the raisins, and stir well. Dust with ground cinnamon and serve.

Note: A good sing for me is to cook until the liquid it's just below the level of rice. The rice will 

continue to absorbe the liquid even after cooking.

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Popovers

I love popovers. They are so simple to make and so versatile. You can enjoy them in many ways with soup, cheese, cream of vegetable, stews or just have them with your favorite marmalade.

They should be crispy on the outside and hollow and tender on the inside which makes them easy to fill after baking them.  Sometimes, I even like to add cheese and herbs to the batter before baking them. You can really get creative and turn popovers into a very special treat.

Makes 12

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 cups whole milk, warm

4 lg eggs, room temperature

2 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Generously spray the popover pan with nonstick spray. Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder together.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together the eggs, milk and melted butter just until well combined. Add in the flour mixture until evenly incorporated. Let the batter rest for 20 minutes. Fill the popover cups three-quarters full. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for about 30 minutes more or until golden brown. Remove the popovers to a cooling rack and pierce the sides of the popovers with a knife to allow steam to escape. Serve warm.

Note: It's very important not to PEEK on them while baking. This can cause the popovers to collapse.

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Tres Leches

Last week was Melissa's birthday. She is a good friend of mine and not necessarily a big fan of desserts but there was no doubt in her mind when I asked her what kind of cake she would want for her birthday party. Tres Leches, literally translates to "Three Milks". It is my all time favorite cake.

This cake is a keeper, every time I'm in charge of bringing dessert, I always come back to this one. Actually, I'm starting to suspect that I am invited to parties just for this cake. Mmm.., very possible.

This cake is a very popular dessert in Latin America. It's basically a sponge cake soaked preferibly over night in three kinds of milk: evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk and whole milk.  

Lately, I have been making individual servings of it and I don't really know why because I always end up eating two of them, I guess I like the idea of  "portion control". Well, that idea doesn't quite work when it comes to eating this cake. 

Ingredients:

For the cake:

2 1/4 cup cake flour

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

pinch salt

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla 

2 Lg eggs

Tres leches:

12 oz can of evaporated Milk

14 0z can of sweetened condensed milk 

12 oz whole milk 

Topping:

maraschino cherry

whipped cream

Preheat the oven 350 F.

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix the dry ingredients just to blend. Add the vegetable shortening to the dry ingredients and blend on low speed for 2 to 3 minutes. In a mixing bowl, whisk to blend the milk, vanilla and eggs. On medium speed, add slowly half of the liquid to the dry ingredients and blend well, slowly add the other half and mix until well combined. Turn the speed up and mix for 30 seconds or until batter is smooth. Bake for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. 

Cool for 30 minutes before adding the tres leches. While cake is cooling, add into a blender the tres leches and blend for 20 seconds. With a fork, poke holes in the cake and pour the tres leches mixture over the cake. Cover and refrigerated for at least 6 hours or overnight. When ready to serve, top with whipped cream and cherries.

Note: If you would like to make individual servings, just divide batter into ramekins 1/3 of the way and bake for less time. 

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Chocolate Molten Cake

Molten Cake is one of the MUST HAVE recipes. It's simple, delicious and has an appealing presentation.
I make molten cake all the time even when nodody is come over to visit, just because, yes, I am a bad girl
sometimes, actually most of the time. I should really control my love for anything chocolate.

Another thing I love about it is the cooking time, it only takes about 12 to 15 minutes depending on the size. Also you can freeze them but if you do, make sure they come to room temperature before

 you bake them. 

Ingredients:

8oz Bittersweet chocolate

8 tablespoon butter (1 stick)

plus more for ramekins

3 eggs

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Generously butter four 6 ounce ramekins.

Place the prepared molds on a baking sheet and set aside. Melt the chocolates and butter in a double boiler. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until pale, about two minutes, beat in the vanilla. Stir in the egg mixture into the chocolate and then add the flour, mix well. Divide the batter among the prepared ramekins and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, the edges should be firm and set but the center will still look a little wet. Serve immediately with vanilla bean ice cream. You can serve them in the ramekins or run a knife around the edges to loosen and invert onto dessert plates.

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Ratatouille

Ratatoille. I am not a vegetarian but I sure don't miss meat when I have in front of me a delicious bowl of this quintessential vegetable mix. To be honest, I wasn't too crazy about this dish because I had a first bad experience and I said "Oh, Is this it? a bland mix of veggies?" It wasn't until last year when I decided to give Ratatoille a second chance and boy was I glad. I would be lying if I told you that I spent hours trying to figure out a "good recipe". I was lucky enough to get help from the mother of a good friend of mine, Madame Nicole. They are from Normandy, north-west of France. She is known for making a good Ratatoille. Lucky for me, my search was over.

A good Ratatouille is not a quick dish to make because each vegetable is cooked separately and then put in one pot and cooked a bit more to let the flavors fuse together. Believe me, it's so worth the effort.

Ingredients: 

1 Large yellow onion, thinly sliced

4 garlic clove, chopped

1 large eggplant, diced 

2 zucchini, diced

2 Red bell peppers, seeded and diced

5 plum tomatoes

2 potatoes, cut into 1 inch cube 

Fresh Thyme 

1 cup Olive oil, reserve 1/4 cup

Salt and ground pepper

Preheat the oven 325 F.

Score a cross in the top of each tomato, plunge into boiling water for about 20 seconds and then peel the skin away, it should come out easy. Cut into 1 inch cube. Place the tomatoes and garlic in a dutch oven and drizzle with a few tablespoons of olive oil, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with some thyme.

Repeat this with the remaining vegetables using individual containers for each. Bake the onions, red bell peppers, potatoes and zucchini for about 1 hour, the eggplant for 1 1/2 hour, and the tomatoes for 15 minutes. Once the vegetables are completely tender, transfer them into the dutch oven with the tomatoes, add remaining 1/4 of olive oil and bake them together for 20 more minutes. Serve warm with bread.

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Flour-less Chocolate Cake

I have a love affair with dark chocolate! I mean its very hard not to and after working in a chocolate store for 6 year I have inevitably become a chocoholic, I love to bake with chocolate. The higher the percentage the better, I normally use 70% - 75% or higher when available.

This is a great recipe, I love it because it's really light despite what you might think, it almost feels like eating a chocolate souffle. I also like the fact that it needs few ingredients and is fairly simple to make. The best way to enjoy it, slightly warm!!

Ingredients:

8oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 sticks of butter, cut in small pieces,

 plus more for the pan

5 large eggs, separated

1/2 cups of sugar

Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

2 Tablespoons of  cocoa powder

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Butter  and dust with cocoa powder an 8-inch spring form pan, set aside. Melt butter and chocolate in a double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, make sure the bowl is not touching the water, stir until smooth. 

Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar in a mixing bowl. Gradually add the egg mixture into the slightly cool chocolate whisking until well blend. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Whisk 1/4 of  the whites into chocolate mixture, gently fold remaining whites into the chocolate with a spatula. Pour into the prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 to 45 minutes. Let it cool and serve dusted with confectioners' sugar or vanilla bean ice cream.

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