Dia de la Candelaria (Candlemas)

Today is another feast day. Whomever got the Baby Jesus figurine in the Rosca de Reyes on January 6th, traditionally hosts a party today with tamales and champurrado. Sandy got the figurine, but since it's a "school day" and we all have commitments, our Candlemas celebration will be this Friday at her place.

Check out fellow Latina blogger's Muy Bueno Cookbook blog for a more descript article on Candlemas and a slew of yummy recipes!

Did you get the Baby Jesus figurine in the Rosca de Reyes? Are you celebrating Candlemas?

Rosca de Reyes (King's Bread)

Dia de Los Reyes Magos!!

That's the holiday we looked forward to as children when we lived in Mexico City. To wake up on January 6th to find what gifts the Three Wise Men brought us...our version of Santa Claus on Christmas Day! Oh, how I remember those days fondly. I'll never forget my favorite gift...a three story Barbie house. And I remember my brother received a remote control racetrack that year.

The epiphany, January 6th, marks the end of the Christmas Season for catholics (12 Days of Christmas). In Mexico, this day is celebrated as the day the Three Wise Men on this day. Traditionally, Rosca de Reyes (King's Bread) is eaten with hot chocolate after opening the presents. It is baked with a porcelain or plastic baby Jesus inside. Whoever gets the Baby Jesus in their serving, throws a party with tamales and champurrado on February 2nd. Hey, any opportunity for celebrating with friends and more food!

(The Baby Jesus. If you get this, you're feeding us tamales and champurrado on Feb. 2nd)

This year I'm not up to baking a Rosca de Reyes. However, I will be enjoying one I will pick up at my local Mexican bakery. If you're up for it, here's a recipe I found online. Let me know if you try it.


Buen Provecho!!


http://http//whatscookingmexico.com/2009/01/07/rosca-de-reyes/

TAMALES, savory pork, rajas con queso and dulces!

Wow! Well, this was no easy feat. There was so much going on in the kitchen.

I arrived at mom's and she had already started everything. In fact, she was already assemling the tamales. This is definitely time consuming, but if you prep ahead of time, it doesn't have to be.

I'll start with the delicious pork filling first.

PORK FILLING:

Ingredients:

3 lbs. pork riblets, with or without bone

2 garlic cloves

8-10 dry chile guajillos, like the ones in the picture above. Soaked in warm water for 1 to 2 hours tomato

a handful of fresh oregano

salt

Place pork in a pan, and fill the pan 1/2 way up with water. Cook in the water, add salt and garlic. Simmer until pork is cooked through.

Blend the soaked chiles, fresh oregano, garlic cloves with some of the juice from the chiles, and tomato.

Once the pork is cooked, drain some of the juices out, and add the salsa (drained). Simmer for about 5-10 minutes. Salt to taste.

Cooked pork.

TAMALE MASA:

Ingredients:

(Makes about 6 dozen tamales)

10 lbs. of masa (you get this at a mexican food shop)

1 cup white rice

6 dozen corn husks, soak in very hot water for 1 hour prior to assembling tamales (you get this at mexican food shop). Refer to picture above.

Tortilla maker, it'll make things easier :)

Tamale masa

Soaking corn husks

Cook the white rice with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil then simmer for about 20 minutes, until water is evaporated. Mix the rice in with the prepared tamale masa in a deep bowl.

Assemble tamales:

Place a corn husk on the tortilla maker. Place a ball of masa in the center of the corn husk. Squeeze the tortilla maker down gently, ever so slightly. You may have to place a piece of plastic on the top portion of the tortilla maker so the masa doens't stick to it. Keep the plastic just a little moist with water.

Take the corn husk off the tortilla maker and onto a flat surface. Put the filling on it.


Then fold the right side toward the center and lay the masa over the filling. Open the leaf back toward the right. Fold the left side over toward the center, and leave it there. Fold the bottom portion of the corn husk toward the top. Then fold the right side over the left side, snugly.

Folding the bottom of husk toward the top

Folding snugly

Place the tamales in a steamer, standing. Fill the steamer with tamales. Make sure the bottom portion of the steamer has plenty of water.

Place a towl over the tamales and tuck into the sides of the steamer. Put the lid on the steamer and cook over medium heat for about 1 hour, or until masa is completely cooked.

BUEN PROVECHO!!!

We also made tamales de rajas con chile (chile and cheese tamales) and tamales de dulce (sweet tamales)

Tamales de Rajas con Chile filling:

Monterrey Jack cheese cut into sticks

Chile pasilla, roasted and cut into strips

To roast the chile place it right ove the stove fire and leave until every surface turns black. Once done place the chile in a plastic bag so it sweats and the peel comes off easily. After about 10 minutes, remove the chile from the bag and peel all the black off by sliding it off with your fingers. Then cut into strips, and remove seeds and stem. Cut enough strips to use one for each tamale.

Assemble the same as the pork tamales, but instead of adding pork filling to the corn husk, add a strip of cheese and a strip of chile. Fold the corn husk closed in the same manner and cooke for an hour, or until masa is completely cooked.

And now for the sweet tamales!!

Sweet tamale filling:

2 lbs. of prepared tamale masa

1/3 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of chopped fresh pineapple, or out of a can ;)

1/4 cup of raisins

Mix all of the above ingredients together.

To assemble the tamales, place a large dollop of sweet masa in the center of a corn husk. Then fold the right side to the center, followed by the left side of the husk toward the center, covering the masa. Then, take the bottom edge of the husk and fold up in half toward the top edge. Tie together with a strip of corn husk to keep it from opening. Place all tamales in a steamer and cook for an hour.

These are so delicious, I couldn't stop eating them today! Can't wait to make them again for Christmas!!

BUEN PROVECHO...enjoy. Let me know if you're brave enough to try them and how it all turns out.

Albondigas | Meatball Soup

Making mom's albondigas recipe couldn't have come on a better day. I woke up with a bit of a sore throat. The warmth of the ablondiga soup felt so good to my throat, it relaxed me and put me to sleep early. I love to make a large pot of albondigas so there's enough for the next day. My son Aidan loved it so much, he couldn't wait to have it for dinner the next day.


INGREDIENTS
1.5 lbs. ground turkey
1 egg
1 tomato
1 onion
1/2 cup rice
3 potatoes cut into cubes
6 carrots in 1/2" slices
salt
chopped mint (hierbabuena) or oregano



Blend tomato and onion. Add 1/2 the sauce to a bowl with ground turkey, raw egg, rice, salt and hierbabuena. Mix well and form into balls.





In the meantime, have water boiling with some salt and the other 1/2 of the tomato and onion sauce. Once the water is boiling, add meatballs to it along with carrots and potatoes. Just place them right above the water, they will sink to the bottom. It may even seem like they may just fall apart. But don't worry, I think the same thing everytime I make them and they always come out perfectly round and delicious. Lower the flame until the meat and vegetables cook.




Serve with a splash of lemon juice and warm tortillas. DE-LI-CIO-SO!!!!

This picture shows the albondigas rising to the surface...see, they didn't fall apart!

This recipe is super simple, and super delicious and comforting. Sometimes I double up the recipe just to have enough for days. So comforting on cold, rainy days.

BUEN PROVECHO!!!

Pumpkin Empanadas...they're ready!

The minute I saw the beautiful, bright picture of the pumpkin wtih the empanadas next to it, I knew this was a recipe I had to try at home. A fellow blogger from Muy Bueno Cookbook posted it, it's a recipe she grew up making with her grandmother. So as soon as I had a chance over the weekend I got started.

Everyone absolutely loved these and they were gone in no time!!

I'm posting the recipe exactly as I found it on my fellow Latina's blog.

Makes 24-30 empanadas

Pumpkin Filling

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter

3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed firmly

1 cup organic pumpkin, NOT pie filling

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar until it dissolves with the butter.

Stir in the pumpkin and the spices. Continue to stir over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Make sure the filling is not too watery; otherwise, let it cook for a couple more minutes.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and let it cool down. After it's cooled off for about 15 minutes, put the filling in the refrigerator to help it set for 30 minutes or overnight.

You can make the Empanada Dough while the filling is cooling off.

Empanada Dough

Ingredients

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 tablespoons sugar

Mix the first 3 dry ingredients. Cut in the shortening with the dry ingredients. Works better if you use your hands. Add the eggs, milk and sugar. Continue to work in with your hands.

Split the dough in half, wrap in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for about 20-30 minutes. Take out one half of the dough and split it into 12-18 balls of dough. Depending on how small you want your empanadas.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. You can fill your empanadas with any preserves made ahead of time.

Roll out the dough into small round circles. Add a small dollop of filling on one half of the rolled out dough.

Wet the botton edge of the dough with water to help seal the two halves. Fold over the dough to seal. Seal off the edges with a fork by pressing down along the two edges. This also makes for a pretty pattern when baked.

Brush each empanada with egg whites, sprinkle with sugar and puncture each empanada with a fork to allow steam to escape while baking. Spray a large cookie sheet with cooking spray **I (Sonia) used a stoneware tray = no need for spraying**, place the empanadas on the cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes on medium rack in the oven. If after 15 minutes you notice the bottoms of the empanadas starting to brown, move the cookie sheet to the top rack and continue to bake for the last 5 minutes.

That's it. Let them cool and enjoy! The are the perfect size.

If you try them, please give me feedback.

BUEN PROVECHO!!

Subscribe here to receive our recipes, special offers and posts in your inbox.

* indicates required

Email Address *

Email Format

• html
• text