Friday, August 15, 2014

This is a twist on an old fashioned Creamy Rice Pudding recipe. Instead of raisins, try it with Craisins.

Traducción española sigue por debajo del Inglés

Rice Pudding

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked rice
2½ cups milk, divided
¼ teaspoon salt
Generous dash of cinnamon
¾ cup Craisins (dried sweetened cranberries) or raisins (optional)
1 egg, beaten
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter
½ teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Mix the cooked rice with 2 cups of milk, salt and cinnamon in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy. Stir frequently to prevent the milk from scorching. This will take about 15 to 20 minutes.

Add the rest of the milk, the sweetened cranberries or raisins, the beaten egg, and sugar into the rice mixture; stirring continually. Continue to cook until the the egg sets up, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat; stir the butter and vanilla extract into the pudding.

Yield: 6 servings


Arroz con Leche

Ingredientes:
2 tazas de arroz cocido
2 ½ tazas de leche, dividido
¼ de cucharadita de sal
generosa pizca de canela
¾ taza de arándanos secos endulzados o pasas (opcional)
1 huevo batido
½ taza de azúcar
1 cucharada de mantequilla
½ cucharadita de vainilla

Preparación:
Mezcla el arroz cocido con 2 tazas de leche, la sal y la canela en una olla. Cocine a fuego medio hasta que esté espeso y cremoso. Revuelva con frecuencia para evitar que la leche se queme. Esto tomará alrededor de unos 15 a 20 minutos.

Añadir el resto de la leche (½ taza), los arándanos azucaradas o las pasas, el huevo batido y el azúcar a la mezcla de arroz; revolviendo constantemente. Continúe cocinando hasta que el huevo establece, unos 2 a 3 minutos. Quite la olla del fuego; revuelva la mantequilla y el extracto de vainilla en el arroz con leche.

Rinde: 6 porciones
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Tuesday, August 5, 2014

This past month we spent a week in Texas visiting friends and family. The friends we stayed with offered us some of the new Flour & Corn Tortillas that are now being sold at our favorite grocery store chain, H.E.B. Wow, this blends the best of the soft flour tortillas with the great corn taste found in a corn masa tortilla!

One of my kitchen challenges in Costa Rica has been to make decent Enchiladas without breaking the corn tortillas sold here. This would be the ultimate solution, a tortilla that tastes just like corn tortilla, yet it is moist and soft enough to roll without breaking. Thus began my quest to develop the perfect recipe for my own Flour & Corn Tortillas.

I began reviewing the basic recipe for corn tortillas and decided it probably needed a mixture of 1½ cups of white flour and 2 cups of the corn masa harina (corn flour) to start. After just a few tweaks , I now have a recipe to share with you.

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups all-purpose white flour
2 cups corn flour (masa harina, maseca)
1 ¾ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable shortening (manteca vegetal in Costa Rica, not oil, think Crisco)
1 ½ cups lukewarm water approximately

Directions:
Combine the flours and salt in a medium sized bowl. I use a fork to thoroughly mix the flours. Cut in the shortening with a pastry cutter until the masa is well blended and resembles damp sand. Now, gradually add the water, starting with about a half a cup. Stir it with a spoon or fork, and keep adding a little more water. At this point you will need to start kneading the masa by hand. Keep adding small amounts of water and kneading until the masa is pliable, about the consistency of Play-Doh clay, but not too wet.
Cover the bowl of masa with a damp towel and let it rest for about 20 minutes. After the masa has rested, sprinkle a little flour over the surface and knead the masa for a minute or so. Now, divide the masa into 16 small ball of dough, about an 1¼ in diameter. The easy way is to divide the large ball of masa in half, then divide each of these into 2 more balls, then divide the 4 balls into 8, and finally divide the 8 in half to give you 16.

I have a cast iron griddle that stretches across two burners on my stove, so I can fry 2 tortillas at once. Set your temperature to medium/high heat (if you don’t have cast iron, use a skillet that can take the high heat with NO oil.)

Take a large plastic food storage bag and cut off the top section with the zipper/closer, and discard it. Slit it along both sides, leaving the fold at the bottom intact. The plastic will need to measure about 7” inches from the fold to the top and the width need to be at least the same, or greater.

Add a heaping tablespoon of flour to a small bowl for dusting each ball of masa.

If you have a tortilla press, place the folded edge of the plastic next to the hinge when you are ready to press. Now lightly dust a ball of masa in the flour and place it between the plastic, about an inch from the hinge, close the tortilla press, and push down on the handle until you have a nice thin rounded tortilla.

Gently peel the tortilla off the plastic and fry it on the hot griddle, or hot skillet, for 35-45 seconds on each side. As you are frying one tortilla, you can dust the next ball of masa and press it. Stack the finished tortillas onto a platter, or covered tortilla dish, to keep them warm.

Note: If you don’t have a tortilla press you can still press out the balls of masa between the plastic by hand, or by using a rolling pin. It will be a little harder to keep them round, but it is a technique Latin women have mastered for generations.

Servings: 16 tortillas

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
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