Puding de Pan (Bread Pudding)

This is how my grandmother makes bread pudding. It is very simple and straight forward. It is a sweet,firm, dense pudding made with bread. My grandmother likes to soak the bread pudding in a sweet cane sugar syrup, and when served one may pour more over it (yes we like sweet!)

For this "authentically" "Cuban Bread" is suppose to be used, French Bread can be used in it's place, as well as "Bolillos" which are the Mexican version of french bread they are medium large bread rolls. Here in Southern California since we have a very large Mexican community fresh "Bolillo" bread is available at any Hispanic store nice and hot usually stores like "Vallarta" chain have very good "Bolillos" my grandmother here in the states replaced her Cuban bread with "Bolillos" since Cuban bread is hard to find all the time fresh in our area.

Of course ANY type of bread will do but for best, typical results I recommend the above. In my house this recipe is used to get rid of any old bread, we even freeze bread we don't consume and also the crusty tops from American Sandwich bread, leftover baked sweets we don't want to eat no more etc. and when the freezer get's filled with enough we make huge bread pudding batches.

Ingredients for bread pudding:
-6 bolillo rolls or 1 big loaf of french bread
-1 can evaporated milk (optional you can replace it with more milk)
-3 cups whole milk
-1/2 cup of butter
-4 beaten eggs
-1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1 1/2 cups white sugar (or more to taste some people like it sweeter)
-1/2 cup raisins (optional my Dad hates raisins)

Ingredients for syrup (If I were you I'd make double then what I made I didn't have enough leftover syrup to pour over my individual serving unfortunately but this amount will enough to soak):
-1 1/4 cups water
-1 stick cinnamon
-1 cups dark brown sugar or 1 large piece of "Piloncillo" or "Raspadura" or "Panela" (whatever you call it depends on your culture it is unrefined solid cane sugar)

Directions:
(1)Rip the bread into pieces, BUT DON'T SQUEEZE OUT THE AIR! Now add all ingredients to it, CAREFUL WITH THE MILK you don't want to add to much milk just enough to soak, toss the bread as you add the milk enough to soak it will not drown it a bunch. USE YOUR JUDGEMENT YOU MAY NEED MORE OR LESS MILK THAN WHAT I TOLD YOU DEPENDS ON HOW MUCH BREAD YOU HAVE
(2)If bread is older and dry and hard then soak for 1-2 hours. If it's fresh because you didn't have any old bread then continue the bread will be moist enough.

(3)Mix bread well and break it up, grease a baking dish with butter, pour batter in, if you wish you may dot the bread with little pieces of butter to melt over it I did.

(4)Bake in oven for atleast 60 minutes at 350 degrees fahrenheit. Until golden brown.

Directions for syrup:
(1)Bring water to a boil with cinnamon stick uncovered and simmer on medium for about 10 minutes until infused, when getting color shock it with a little bit of cold water and bring back to boil this will cause the color to deepen.

(2)Add dark brown sugar or unrefined solid cane sugar, until it dissolves and stir and let it boil until it becomes a thin syrup, it shouldn't be super thick but also not like water somewhere inbetween like "Pancake syrup"
(3)Turn of set aside.
Directions for the rest:
(1)Once bread pudding is done baking. take it out, pierce holes through it with a knife all the way to the bottom, with a knife loosen edges, now pour syrup little by little over it making sure it soaks it in, also get some syrup in the sides.
(2)Now let the bread pudding cool down to room temperature. I made 2 seperate small dishes for my father who hates raisins so I decided to make to small dishes of bread pudding without raisins just for him :)
(3)Cut to serve, you may pour more syrup in your serving plate for it.
NOTE: Be ready for a shocker or to be shocked...my grandmother would almost never make the syrup... nstead she would use the cheap high corn fructose syrup and regular corn syrup laden "Pancake Syrup" popular here in United States called "Aunt Jemima" she would just use that in place of making the syrup ALMOST ALWAYS but it was still damn good, but I chose to make the syrup from scratch, I try to avoid "high fructose corn syrup" and use real products or the highest quality I can afford. But I'll be 100% honest I love it more with pancake syrup and drenched in tons of it on my plate YUM! If I'm gonna eat dessert I want it sweeeet.

ALSO: This recipe is very basic you can alter it other cultures have their own version of bread pudding and there are a variety of way's to prepare it, this is how we enjoy it in my house most of the time.

There is another bread pudding I like that a Salvadorian friend taught me called "Puding de Platano"

Also Marilyn my FAVORITE Cuban blogger makes a good bread pudding that is slightly different from mine BUT STILL DELICIOUS I CAN TELL :) Check her's out to! "Marilyn's Cuban Bread Pudding"

Arroz Amarillo Con Maiz (Rice and Corn)

This is my grandmother's recipe. When the rice is steamed with the corn it get's a very subtle sweet corn scent and flavor.

We use the rice cooker in my home since we are heavy rice eaters, rice is a daily thing we don't go without, so having a rice cooker is almost essential to use much like many Asians have rice cookers to.

The rice is colored yellow with "Bijol" which is achiote seed powder is used in Cuban cooking in place of saffron very often, because good quality saffron can be expensive. Achiote does not have any scent like saffron but it does have a unique flavor, some people use "Achiote Oil" instead which is just olive oil infused with achiote seeds then strained it will color anything it comes in contact with yellow.

Feel free to use saffron instead but don't be using turmeric and other stuff like that for this dish it will alter the flavor.

Ingredients:
-3 cups long-grain white rice
-3 sweet corn cobs (cleaned, husk removed, sliced into 1 inch rounds)
-*water (depends on the brand of rice, etc, see note at end of recipe)
-extra-virgin olive oil about 3 tablespoons or more
-1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
-1 teaspoon or 1 1/2 teaspoons bijol
-atleast 2 1/2 teaspoons salt (or more to taste)
-1 medium onion minced
-1 green bell pepper minced (or 1/2 green and 1/2 red bell pepper for nicer color)
-6-8 cloves garlic mashed to a paste

Directions:
(1)Wash rice well rinse until water runs clear. Strain well and put in the rice cooker pot with the amount of water it needs.
(2)Heat olive oil on medium high heat, sautee bell pepper and onion for about 6-10 minutes until translucent and reduced, add garlic and sautee 1-2 minutes. Dump it into the rice pot. Add bijol, salt, and cumin, stir well incorporate everything and dump in sliced corn.

(3)Set rice cooker to cook and then in a little bit it will be done and just fluff the rice.
(4)Serve with whatever you want, I served it with some "Calabaza Con Mojo" (squash with garlic lime sauce) and "Vaca Frita" (cuban pounded fried flank steak with onions) I'll post the recipe for "Vaca Frita" some other time I make it again because I didn't take pictures, and got angry because I forgot the meat tooo long boiling so it fell apart to much, I wanted it shredded into large pieces not like floss that reminds me of "Quando uno mastica la carne y le saca todo el jugo y luego lo escupe jeje, me recuerda de puro GABASO..." but still tasted good but I want to post it perfect so you'll have to wait til next time.

NOTE: The water you will need depends on the type of rice, for regular long-grain white rice you find at most places use 1 1/2 cups water for every 1 cup of rice.

If you are using a good quality new crop Thai Fragrant Jasmine Rice (like I do) you will usually need only need 1 cup water for every 1 cup rice equal ratios because the new crop Jasmine rices aren't old and still have some moisture content in them so they don't need much water.

ALSO: If doing on stove top, wash the rice well, drain it, when the aromatics are sauteed well, add the rice and stir it well so it get's coated with the oil, add the spices and salt, mix with the corn, then add water and bring to boil, stir once well, cover and set on low heat for about 30 minutes then turn off.

Carne Con Papas (Meat and Potatoes)

This is my grandmothers "Carne Con Papas" it is a fat, juicy, greasy, tender beef chuck steak simmered in a rich tomato based sauce with strong meaty smokey flavor with starchy potatoes and carrot. A very comforting food.

My grandmother's Cuban cooking can be very rustic, simple, in your face cooking. She does everything care free with few basic ingredients and the food comes out awesome. I on the other hand sometimes add some additional stuff to her dishes, like I may add a bit of oregano, or a little pepper sometimes but her reaction sometimes is, "Ay chico que es eso, no le tienes que meter tanto garabato a la comdia, le quitas el sabor natural a la comida solo nesicitas la moyeria del tiempo comino y sal, un buen sofrito y san se acabo" (it's be long to translate that but the main message of what she say's is you don't always need a bunch of spices, sometimes you just need to just let the natural flavors come through and appreciate them), oh boy and sugar in savory Cuban dishes is usually a big no no for her, she won't eat black beans with sugar she say's, "Eso es locura" (translates to something that's just wacky) I've looked at other Cuban bloggers "Carne Con Papas" it seems everyone does it slightly different and adds a different combination or proportion of Cuban spices or use different techniques.

But let me tell you that my grandmother's Carne Con Papa is my favorite, it is how she say's "echo a lo Gallego/ bruto" old school, rustic, simple and hardy yet delicious. The way she browns the steak in super high thundering heat then simmers in low heat for hours is what makes this dish special I think. Not covered in a bunch of spices just bold it is what it is. Today the weather was more chill as compared to yesterday so I decided to have this dish to warm me up and put some meat on my bones.

Ingredients:
-2 1/2 pounds of whole well cleaned boneless beef chuck steak (diesmillo de res sin hueso)
-1 green bell pepper finely chopped (or 1/2 red and 1/2 green)
-1 yellow onion finely chopped (it doesn't have to be yellow)
-1/2 head of garlic finely minced (mashed to a paste/ garlic press)
-1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce
-1 cup water
-1 cup red wine (the cheaper the better for Cuban food)
-1 teaspoonful ground cumin
-1-2 teaspoons salt (to taste)
-2 bay leaves (optional)
-Extra-virgin olive oil
-4 russet potatoes (peeled and wedged)
-2 large carrots chopped into chunks or 2 large handfuls of baby carrots

Directions:
(1)Heat a large metal pot WITHOUT ANY OIL until it's really hot on very high heat, to see if it's hot just sprinkle some water and if the water dances or instantly disappears it's ready, add the meat it should make like a screaming noise from the high heat, not a sizzle but a thunder like sound, do not move the meat let it brown for 5 minutes un-touched in one side, then flip it quickly to brown on other side. Set aside
(2)You want the pan should have a blackish browning on the pan, this is gonna lend the dish great strong beefy smokey flavor.
(3)Lower heat to medium high and wait a little, add your extra-virgin olive oil and immediately add your onions and bell pepper diced up, sautee for about 6 minutes until translucent scrape with a wooden spoon to pick up drippings, add garlic sautee 1 minute until you can smell the garlic.
(4)Add 1 cup of red wine, bring heat back to high and scrape to deglaze with further with a wooden spoon, add tomato sauce, 1 cup water, cumin, and 2 bay leaves.
(5)Bring to a bubbling boil, add the meat back spoon some of the sauce over and cover then lower heat to medium low to simmer.
(6)Let the meat cook 1 hour then flip it and boil another 1 hour, add the potatoes and carrot afterwards and cook maybe another 30 minutes or more to get the potatoes tender as well as the carrots, the potatoes will thicken the sauce.
(7)Now turn of heat, take out steak real quick and cut against the grain into thick strips, and add back to the sauce, you can also cut it into large chunks against the grain, and return to sauce.
(8)Serve with plenty rice and black beans, if you want a salad, but you don't need it you already have potatoes and carrot.