Natilla (Milk Custard)

Growing up my Tata (grandmother) use to make these cute little rich Natillas pronounced "na-tee-ya" (milk custards) her version was infused with lots of cinnamon and vanilla, dotted with raisins, and served in these little Styrofoam cups dusted with cinnamon powder.

For winter we would eat them warm and hot, but I remember in hot summers she'd cool these custards in the fridge, and I just couldn't get enough of them, they were rich, sweet, cinnamon y.

However my grandmother would always make 2 batches, one with raisins, and one without since my father HATES raisins, and occasionally the Natilla was poured into a large container/ mold to eat family style with everyone spooning into their plate as much Natilla as they wanted.

Natilla is one of those desserts that always brings me fond memories of my Tata's cooking, and child hood sweets. Natilla along with "Pudin de Pan" (Cuban style bread pudding smothered in syrup) is something I grew up eating lots of, and we still make them several times a year :)

Ingredients:
-4 cups of whole milk
-1/2 stick butter (optional)
-1 cup of white sugar
-1 large or 2 small sticks of cinnamon
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-peel of 1 lime, or lemon or 1/2 an orange (optional my older sister HATES citrus in natilla)
-5 egg yolks
-1/2 cup cornstarch
-1/4 cup water or milk (a little more or less to dilute cornstarch)
-1/2 cup raisins (optional)

To garnish:
-dust with a few pinches of cinnamon powder

Directions:
(1) In a medium pot, add whole milk, sugar, cinnamon sticks, and citrus peel if using. Leave at medium high heat, stirring occasionally.

(2) Meanwhile in a medium bowl add cornstarch. add water little by little to dissolve cornstarch whisking with fork until the cornstach dissolves into a white milk like constistency, whisk in egg yolks, and set aside. This will be your "cornstarch and egg yolk slurry"

(3) By now you milk should be hot and kind boiling, keep an eye on it while your preparring the slurry or it may over flow, if it boils lower heat to prevent spillage.

(4) So now that it's bubbling, quickly whisk in cornstarch and egg yolk slurry, with a large whisk, and whisk non stop in one direction or else your custard will lump up and break, raise the heat, and when it starts thickening

(5) The first boil it gives up, like bubble or burst, quickly turn off heat, remove and pour into a mold. Or pour into small individual serving bowls.
(6) Dust with cinnamon :)

PLEASE NOTE:
(1) If you want a richer custard you may add 1/2 a stick of butter to heat together with the milk, my grandmother sometimes does this sometimes doesn't

(2) The egg yolks I used were from my friends house, her chickens produce beautiful strong golden yellow egg yolks that color everything a strong yellow which is why I used them, if using typical store bought egg yolks you won't get this color unless you use a lot of egg yolks which is unnecessary. This may sound like taboo, but my grandmother and me, we use "Bijol" (anatto seed powder) or "Colorante" (coloring) to make the natilla yellow if we use store bought eggs to give it a rich color. When doing this be sure you add the coloring when your simmering the milk so it dissolves completely.

(3) I know 1/2 cup cornstarch may seem like a lot for some cubans, but it's actually "4 cucharadas grandes" which is the measurement my grandmother uses, which is 4 regular eating tablespoons with humps on them what we in Spanish call, "cucharadas colmadas" (peaked tablespoons) I measured them out and it was actually 1/2 cup. So I guess the cornstarch to milk ratio is 1 heaping tablespoonful per cup.

(4) The one I made in the picture, had no butter, or raisins, and I left out the vanilla and only used cinnamon and orange peel, it was delicious and light yet rich :)

IF YOU LIKE THIS RECIPE... you may want to check out my post for "Leche Frita" (fried milk custard squares)

Costillas de Puerco Con Mojo (Cuban-style Pork Spareribs)

Marinading meats in "mojo" (pronounced mo-ho... yes I know it sounds funny... hehe) is a very common thing to do in cuban cooking which is simply in it's purist form lime or bitter orange, salt, and garlic this simple combination is the back bone of many Cuban meat dishes and roasts and formed into a sauce to be consumed with boiled yuca or other starchy tubers. Of course some add certain things too it depending on what they are cooking.

This week my Tata (grandmother) was craving some Cuban style pork ribs roasted in the oven in delicious mojo sauce, fall of the bone tender with lots of savory sauce to pour over the meat and rice :)

I know I know many might be wondering when the hell is Nathan gonna post a "lechon asado" (Cuban whole roast pork) or "Pierna de Puerco Asada" (pork leg roast) all of which are typical, but to be honest I still havent perfected it. I can never get the perfect crispy skin on the pork leg, but a fatty pork shoulder with no skin to crisp I can pull off very well. I'll post in the future when I can be proud of it ha ha. I basically marinade it the same way I do to pork ribs except I need to figure out the perfect cooking method, so til then hold on my fellow foodies :)

Ingredients:
-10 lbs. pork spareribs (about 2 racks 5 lbs. each)
-2 cups bitter/ sour orange juice or lime juice (fresh)
-3 heads of fresh garlic, peeled, mashed to a paste with garlic press or use a mortar and pestle
-1 1/2 tablespoons salt (more to taste)
-1 tablespoon oregano (optional)

Directions:
(1) Clean the racks of pork spareribs by rinsing well with water. Pat dry and place them in a oven pan.

(2) Make garlic into a paste using garlic press, or mortar and pestle, mix it well with salt, and add sour orange or lime juice, mix well. If using oregano add it to the mixture. This is considered your "mojo"

(3) Pour and rub all over pork ribs, cover with plastic and refridgerate over night (up to 24 hours)
(4) Next day EARLY IN THE MORNING so they will be ready by dinner time (like I put them at 10 AM and finished them at 5 pm), unwrap and seal really well with aluminum foil. Pre-heat oven at 220 degrees Fahrenheit and put the pork ribs in.
(5) Allow to cook at that temperature approximately 6 hours (yeah it's a long time but they will be really tender. and it's not hard at all just put them in the oven and forget about them and go on with your day), then uncover and raise heat to 425 degrees fahrenheit for 30- 60 minutes to allow to brown on top. I had to rotate the bottom ribs with the top one's because the one's at the bottom doesn't get to much heat. Remove and allow to rest 5-10 minutes.

(6) They are ready to serve, You can cut in or rip'em out and eat with whatever you'd like :) Preferably some fluffy white rice and black beans with a nice simple salad or plantains or boiled yuca (you know the traditional side dishes) I didn't make a complete traditional meal, I just accompanied with some leftover white rice, my mom had cooked a white bean stew, I had tons of turnip greens in the fridge which I sauteed to serve in place of the salad and starchy tubers. But it was still delicious non the less. Mmmm.... and for a after dinner treat I made some "Churros"to satisfy the sweet tooth, I ended up eating them before dinner, while they were hot and just out of the frying pan (which if you don't know what they are you might live under a rock :)
PLEASE NOTE:
*I know the mojo I made has no "spices", simply because we just like a very traditional simple mojo. But I know there's people that really like to use a lot of spices in their mojo, if your one of them you can add ground black pepper, ground cumin, and oregano to the pork marinade and throw a couple bay leaves if desired all proportions to taste. Hey this is probably not traditional or typical at all, but maybe some toasted ground coriander seeds would be delicious too, for those that like to be more adventuress.

LOONG STORY YOU CAN SKIP... if you want
*You can actually remove he meat and put it in the broiler to brown and serve seperate from the mojo sauce. My grandmother was stubborn that she wanted the bottom part browned, but I felt like it was redundant and to much of a pain in the @$ she got mad and told me she's not gonna eat them she was like, "Entonces no me las como chico, bruto que eres" (then I won't eat them boy, your dumb), and I told her, "Pues no te las comas chica me las como yo" (well girl don't eat I'll eat them), and she said, "Pues cometalas todas" (well eat them all), and I told her, "Pue' gracias caray punto se acabo" (well thanks dang, end of story), I've put up with bull sh@t all my life and quiet frankly didn't feel like putting up with it today, there's leftovers in the fridge I can heat up for her to eat :) ... "mal'criada" (poorly raised is direct translation means spoiled brat) and yeah sometimes we are kinda like a Cuban household so talking like that isn't rude... well turns out my grandmother LOVED them, she told me she hated them and didn't talk to me, but she ate them and later that night she told, "Estaban ricas, nunca me an salido tan tiernas a mi, y se doraron bastante bien, PERO mejor quedarian si estubieran doradas de abajo" (they were good I've never made them so tender, and they were nicely browned) and I said, "Ya ves, bueno otro tiempo que las prepare las voy a sacar del mojo, hervir el mojo aparte pa' matarle bacteria y dorarlas de todos lados en la parilla del horno" (translates to next time I'll take it out of the mojo sauce when it's real tender and ready to uncover then I'll brown it on all sides on high heat in the broiler, and boil the mojo sauce seperately to serve with the meat)

P.S.
I love my Tata (grandmother) we just have tough love I guess, in the end we love each other and there are no hard feelings :)

Pollo Asado en Cazuela (Chicken Roasted in Pan)

Pollo Asado en Cazuela literally translates to "Chicken Roasted in Pan" I don't understand why this name was given to this dish since the meat is actually braised rather than roasted, but oh well that's what it's known as and or called.

This recipe is the common Cuban version of the dish, which is simply marinading Chicken in a mojo, browning it, de-glazing with wine, and simmering it with onions. Simple.

The recipe I got it from Rox's from "The Yuca Diaries" when she commented on my "Pollo Frito a la Criolla" which is almost identical to this except I made a really garlicky, plentiful mojo sauce, and simmered the chicken in a huge amount of mojo with typical cuban spices with onions no wine or anything and does need long marination time as well. She told me how that chicken recipe reminded her of her grandmother's "Pollo Asado en Cazuela" and she gave me a brief on what it had and how it's done. Other Cuban recipes are online just like this one to (well with different ratio's and the addition of black pepper) so I'm guessing this recipe is something fairly common that everyone prepares more or less the same way... although I've seen Spaniard make dishes with that name and it's slightly different.

I also saw this recipe on line and am not sure who's the source since it's all over the net and all sorts of sites. One of them cited as being from "Andy Natal from Torrance, California" so maybe she's the source of all those online recipes of it, or all CUban make it the same, idk.

Ingredients:
-1 whole chicken (cleaned, cut into segments)
-3-6 cloves garlic (3 if you want it real mild for you know... the "American pallet"...)
-1/2 cup sour orange or lemon or lime (your preference)
-salt to taste
-lard or oil
-1 large onion thickly julienned
-1/2 cup white wine
-1 bay leaf

Directions:
(1) Marinade chicken with salt, garlic, and sour orange juice. Let marinade 1 hour to over night if you have time.
(2) Afterwards, heat lard or oil on really high heat, and brown chicken all over, set aside.
(3) Sautee onions, de-glaze with white wine.
(4) Throw chicken and bay leaf and simmer 25- 35 minutes.
(3) It's done simple. Serve with white rice and a salad.
Please Note:
*If you want to you don't have to marinade the chicken just season it, and straight into the pan to brown and continue the recipe, of course it won't be as good.

*Also you can do this with the whole chicken without cutting it, just brown the whole chicken all over nad throw wine and cover to simmer for a while. but I don't like it like that.

*Some people like to add potatoes. In that case I highly recommend adding 1 cup water. Or instead fry some potatoes to serve on the side.