Rogel de Dulce de Leche: Crepes with Sweet Milk Jam from Argentina

Rogel de Dulce de Leche: Crepes with Sweet Milk Jam from Argentina Makes about 6

1/2 cup whole milk
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
6 egg yolks
5 Tbsp browned butter
1 cup flour

First, make the dulce de leche. Heat the milk, sugar, and cinnamon over very low heat for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally so a skin doesn’t form. When the mixture has thickened to the consistency of jam, remove it from the heat and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, brown the butter in a saucepan, mix in the egg yolks, and add the flour. If the dough is too sticky to roll into a ball, add up to 1/2 cup more flour. Divide the dough into 6 pieces and roll each into a ball. Use a rolling pin to roll out each ball into a thin pancake.

Bake the pancakes on an oiled cookie sheet at 400 degrees (F) for about 10 minutes, until the pancake is golden.

Spread the dulce de leche onto the pancakes and serve.

Fluffernutter - (Almost) The Official State Sandwich of Massachusetts

This was almost the Massachusetts State Sandwich. It’s a ridiculous story:

Massachusetts State Senator Jarrett T. Barrios (D) has a third-grader named Nathaniel, who went to the school cafeteria one day and was served a Fluffernutter: a peanut butter sandwich with a layer of Fluff – the famous marshmallow spread that was invented just north of Boston and is essentially pure sugar with a little bit of air whipped in.

Outraged that his son was served junk food in his school, Senator Barrios attached an amendment to the state’s junk food bill that would limit how much Fluff could be served up in public schools. (Ha)

Outraged at such an attack on local heritage, Massachusetts State Senator Kathi-Anne Reinstein filed a bill to make the Fluffernutter the Official State Sandwich.

Meanwhile, a friend of mine from Wisconsin was starting a new internship at the Boston Globe and found the Fluff Huff deposited on his desk. So many of us got a blow-by-blow account of how the Fluffernutter Fight went down, and the subsequent fallout.

Both senators eventually dropped their proposals, but Fluff sales went up 800%. One of those 8-ounce jars was me – I had to try it. After all the Fluff huff, I was expecting something a little more sinful. But it just tasted like an especially gooey peanut butter sandwich. Cute, but not something that screamed “Legislate me!”

Fluffernutter Recipe:
Makes 1 New England Icon

2 Tbsp peanut butter
2 Tbsp Fluff
2 slices bread – preferably mass-produced white bread with zero nutritional value

Combine.

Nepal: Vegetable Pulao

This is another gem from the UN's book on rice. Most countries have some kind of fried rice variation, but I love the warm spices of the Nepalese version.

Recipe: Vegetable Pulao (Nepalese Fried Rice)
Serves 4

1 1/4 cups Basmati rice
1 1/2 tsp oil
1/3 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 bay leaf
4-6 gloves garlic, minced
2 black cardamom pods
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 inch ginger, minced
2-3 green chilies
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 large tomato, chopped
1/2 cup green peas
2 1/2 cups water
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Wash and soak the rice for about an hour. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the cumin. When the cumin starts to turn golden, add the turmeric, bay leaf, garlic, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, and chilies. Cook over medium heat for about a minute, then add the onion, tomato, and green peas. Cook for another 3 minutes or so, stirring.

Drain the water from the rice and add the rice to the frying pan, stirring and cooking for about a minute. Add the 2 1/2 cups of water and cook over high heat, stirring continuously until all the water is absorbed.

Add the lemon juice, lower the heat, and cook for another 5 minutes or so.

Czech Easter Braid

The photos for this bread came out poorly - but the bread itself was delicious: a delicate, crispy crust, with a flakey yet soft interior and a lemony flavor. I ate it with delight for a whole week and it never went stale.

Recipe: Czech Easter Braid
Modified from Kathy Cutler's The Festive Bread Book
Makes 1 medium braid

1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
2 Tbsp warm water
1 cup flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp grated lemon peel
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 tsp ground mace
2 Tbsp warm milk
1 egg
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1 egg white, optional, for glaze

Proof the yeast: mix it with the warm water and set aside for 5 minutes, until foamy.

Meanwhile, mix 3/4 cup flour with the sugar, salt, lemon meel, and mace. Cut in the butter until the mixture has the texture of wet sand.

To the yeast, add the warm milk and egg, then add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture and mix thoroughly. Add the last 1/4 cup of flour, turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead in the raisins and almonds until a smooth dough forms - about 10 minutes. Set in a greased bowl, turn to coat, cover, and let rise until double - about an hour. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Punch down the dough and divide it into three pieces. Roll each piece into a long rope, and braid the ropes together. Set on a greased baking sheet, brush the top with egg white for a glaze, and bake until golden, about 45 minutes.

Anguillan-Style Black-Eyed Peas

Anguillans seem to like lobster. I don't blame them. I loved lobster before I met that chicken on the subway.

This recipe is modified from Bob Green's Anguilla News website, submitted by Ijahnya Christian. Thanks Ijahnya!

Recipe: Anguillan-Style Black-Eyed Peas
Makes enough for 1

1/4 cup rice
1/2 cup black-eyed peas, canned or pre-cooked
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 small red sweet pepper, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 medium onion, sliced
1/2 stalk celery, chopped
2 Tbsp lime juice
1/2 avocado, sliced

In a medium saucepan, cover the rice with water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cook for about 10 minutes, until the rice is tender but not falling apart. Add everything but the lime juice and avocado. Cook until the sauce has all been absorbed by the rice and beans, another few minutes. Spoon into a bowl, mix in the lime juice, and top with the sliced avocado.

American Samoa: Coconut-Banana Dip

One could easily find Samoa on a map, just based on a list of their favorite foods:

OKA I'A (Raw Fish in Coconut Cream)

Taisi Moa (Chicken Baked in Banana Leaves)

Faiai Fee (Octopus in Coconut Cream)

Faiai Eleni (Herrings in Coconut Cream)

Lupe Tunuvilivili (Wild Pigeon Grilled on open Spit)

Pea Tunuvilivili (Chargrilled Wild Flying Foxes)

Puaa Tunuvilivili (Pig Grilled on Open Spit)

If I were not a vegetarian, I would have to try the chargrilled wild flying foxes. Never seen a flying fox, let alone ate one.

In researching Samoan cooking, I came across Ethnic Foods of Hawaii by Ann Kondo Corum, which includes a chapter on the cuisine that immigrants from American Samoa brought to Hawaii in the early 1900s.

Corum wrote that the people of Samoa adore a good pig, and, in cooking one, divvy its parts up to people based on rank. The head chief gets the heart. The talking chief gets the liver, cooked in a banana leaf. The cooks get seasoned blood (also the intestines). The commoners get things like neck bones and the rump.

As a cook, I should have gotten the seasoned blood and pig intestines.

Instead, I made coconut-banana dip.

This is a deceptively simple and drop-dead delicious dish. I ate it with some toasted crostini. It's about a billion times more delcious than hummus, which is saying something.

Fa'alifu Fa'I: Coconut-Banana Dip
Adapted from a recipe by Sandy McDonald, Magele Mose, Faataualofa Magele, and Karen Suaava McDonald
Makes about 1 cup of dip

1 green banana
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 medium onion, chopped into long pieces
Salt, to taste

In a medium saucepan,

Place the banana (peeled) in a medium saucepan and cover with water. Bring the water to a boil and cook until the banana is soft but not falling apart. Drain the water. Add the coconut milk and onion, and bring to a boil again, then lower the heat. Mash up the banana with a fork while you simmer the mixture over medium heat. When it has reached a thick, dip-like consistency, remove from heat, sprinkle with salt, and serve.

Inspirations: Breads of Beauty

Sometimes I just like to look at pretty breads. Here are loaves I go to when I need some inspiration . . .

Fumbwa Elambani Na Mafuta Ya Nguba: Peanut Butter Spinach from Angola

Peanut butter spinach: an unlikely combination that is my new favorite spinach dish, not an honor that is lightly pried away from the Catalan spinach salad.

The recipe is apparently popular throughout central Africa, traditionally made with fumbwa (or m’fumbwa), a wild African vine that grows in the Congo region. The delicious, subtle peanut flavor somehow compliments the texture of the spinach and the tang of the tomatoes in a way I never, ever would have suspected.

Fumbwa Elambani Na Mafuta Ya Nguba: Angolan Peanut Butter Spinach Recipe
Modified from the Congo Cookbook Makes enough for 1

1/2 lb. Spinach (or another green, like fumbwa, cassava leaves, collards, or kale)
2 cups water
1/2 cup tomatoes, diced
1/2 small onion, diced
1 Tbsp peanut butter
2 Tbsp red palm oil

Wash and stem the spinach. Boil the water, add the spinach, onion, and peanut butter. Cook over medium heat until the spinach is wilted and the water and peanut butter have turned into a thick-ish sauce. Scoop into a bowl, top with palm oil, and serve.

The Congo Cookbook suggested serving this with boiled yams, but it is flavorful and filling enough to stand on its own.

Switzerland: Basler Brunsli

Here, at last, is another cookie my mother can eat. No wheat, gluten, corn, milk, peanuts, soy, or butter.

This is a surprisingly soft, chewy roll-out cookie from Switzerland. I found the recipe in the darling book Great Cookies by Carole Walter - a delightfully written and beautifully photographed book with a great many cookies I've actually never seen before.

Basler Brunsli
From Great Cookies by Carole Walter
Makes about 30

8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
6 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
2 egg whites
3/4 cup superfine sugar
3 Tbsp Kirshwasser (I used water, worked fine)
3/4 pound almond flour - about 3 cups lightly packed
1/4 cup granuatled sugar (for rolling)
2 Tbsp sparkling sugar for sprinkling

Combine the chocolate, cocoa, and spices in a food processor for about a minute, until the chocolate is well-diced-up.

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add the sugar 1 Tbsp at a time, beating until it forms a stiff meringue. Fold in the Kirschwasser, chocolate mixture, and almond flour. Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.

When the dough is chilled, roll out to about 1/2 inch thickness on a worksurface that has been sprinkled with about 2 Tbsp of granulated sugar. Cut with cookie cutters and place cookies on prepared pan. Let them air-dry for about an hour before baking.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F, with baking shelves on the upper and lower thirds. Bake cookies for about 10 minutes, until the top is just beginning to harden.

Scottish Oatmeal Bannock

This is a soft, sweet little bread, a little like a scone. It's often cooked or fried in a frying pan, but this recipe uses an oven. In the future, I'm going to try the pan-frying method.

Apparently, Scottish fur traders brought the recipe to the Native Americans of Eastern Canada in the 18th Century, and eventually the recipe morphed into a kind of frybread.

Scottish Oatmeal Bannock Recipe
Modified From Kathy Cutler's The Festive Bread Book Yields 1 8-inch round loaf

1 Tbsp yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 cups flour
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup milk
4 Tbsp butter
1 egg
1/4 cup currants or raisins

Combine the yeast with the warm water and set aside to proof for about 5 minutes, or until foamy.

Combine the flour, sugar, salt and oats in a large mixing bowl.

In a medium saucepan, heat the milk and butter until the butter is melted and the mixture is warm but not too hot to touch. Mix into the yeast mixture, then add all of it to the oat-flour mixture. Mix thoroughly and beat in the egg.

Mix in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth – about 10 minutes.

Let rise in a covered, greased bowl until doubled in bulk – about 1 hour.

Punch down and knead in the currants or raisins. Roll into an 8-inch circle and place in a greased 8-inch cake pan. Cut into 8 wedges, cover, and let rise until double again – about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F, and bake about 25 minutes.

New England Raisin Bread

Tra – la, it's July! Time to be patriotic in the only way I know how: bread!

This is New England Raisin Bread, which is beautiful with a lemony flavor, soft interior, crunchy exterior, lots of raisins, and excellent toast potential.

New England Raisin Bread Recipe
From Kathy Cutler's The Festive Bread Book
Makes 1 loaf

1 1/2 tsp yeast
2 Tbsp warm water
3 cups flour
1/2 cup warm milk
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
3 Tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest

Proof the yeast by dissolving in warm water and letting sit for about 5 minutes, until frothy.

Mix 1 1/2 cups of the flour with everything else, then add the proofed yeast mixture. Mix in enough flour to make a soft dough, then knead on a floured surface until its smooth – about 10 minutes.

Let rise, covered, in a greased bowl until double in size – about an hour. Then punch down the dough, shape into a loaf, and place in a greased 9- by 5-inch bread pan. Cover and let rise again for about 30 minutes.

Brush with melted butter, sprinkle with sugar, bake in a 350 degree (F) preheated oven for about 35 minutes.

I love the way the raisins pop out of the top of the loaf as it bakes!