Stuffed French Toast, Cuban Style - A Love Story and A Giveaway

Breakfast is my very favorite meal.

There. I said it.

I love eggs and bacon and toast and orange juice and anything with maple syrup on it. I love my hot coffee. And I love crispy sausage. Dutch babies? Love them. And don't even get me started on my love for hash browns and homestyle potatoes!

In fact, if left to my own devices, I would find a way to have breakfast for every meal of the day, but that's not important right now. (Well, breakfast food...oh, you know what I mean.)

A couple of years ago I was messing with an idea to make stuffed french toast. Then I remembered Cuban torrejas (TOH-RAY-HAAS), which are basically a form of pain perdu, only I stuffed them with guava and cream cheese. (Oh, yes, I did.)

Then I got an email from my friend, Ana Quincoces Rodriguez. She was working on a cookbook and she saw my recipe for torrejas on Babalú. She wanted to know if it was my own recipe (Yes!) and could she include it in her new cookbook? (Umm....YES!)

The only stipulation I had was that she give me credit in her new book and she did just that. We decided that instead of calling it Torrejas a lo Refugiado, which is what I originally called my creation, that she would call it (appropriately) My Big, Fat, Cuban Torrejas. (Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?)

Her Cuban cookbook is called Sabor! and every single recipe I've tried totally tastes as it should. (Thank you, Ana!) It's destined to become a classic in the Cuban Cookbook World.

And when you get your hands on this fabulous cookbook, please turn to page 204 - 205, where you'll find this:

My Big, Fat, Cuban Torrejas

• 4 egg yolks
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 Tbsp. Sugar
• 1 tsp. Cinnamon
• 1 tsp. Vanilla extract
• 3 whole eggs, beaten
• Vegetable oil (for frying)
• Guava paste cut into (about 20) slices
• 12 oz. tub of cream cheese
• 8 slices of thick bread. (I found something called Texas Toast – extra thick bread, but pan Cubano works well too)
• Powdered sugar

1) Whisk together: the egg yolks, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly and set aside.

2) In a separate bowl, whisk together the 3 whole eggs.

3) Spread each slice of bread generously with the cream cheese.

4) Place about 4 or 5 slices of the guava paste on the bread to make a sandwich.

5) Heat the oil in a large frying pan or griddle. (use enough to just cover the surface)

6) Create an “assembly line” – quickly dip the sandwiches in the egg/milk/cinnamon mixture.

7) Take the soaked sandwich and dip into the beaten egg mixture.

8) Fry these in the hot oil – just until brown, turning once.

9) Place the fried sandwiches in a baking dish and place in a hot oven 400° for about 10 minutes, or just until the guava melts.

10) Dust with powdered sugar and slice into quarters. (Or halves if you think you can handle it. =D)

The Torrejas can be eaten hot or cold. I prefer the hot, fresh taste of melted guava. Serve with a sweet, hot cafecito.

“De aqui pa’l cielo.”

Thanks for that, Marta. But what's your point?

The good folks at Running Press Cooks! (the publishers of Ana's fabulous cookbook) sent me a copy that I'm going to giveaway. I know. Shut up.

Trust me, YOU. WANT. THIS. COOKBOOK.

So, to enter this comment drawing, answer the following question:

• What's your favorite breakfast food?

Leave a comment on this post and I'll choose a winner on Monday, August 2nd at 11:00 am.

Can you guess what my answer would be? =D

Thankful - November 19

Today I am thankful for... Guava Cheesecake. (I know. Shut up.)

 

In keeping with my personal celebration of National Guava Month, (it's kind of lonely out here on this limb - *crickets chirp*) I made this to-die-for Guava Cheesecake.

And because I'm generous and cool that way, my recipe for this guavalicious wonder is posted today over on Babalú.

And furthermore, because the main ingredients in this guava-fest are guava and cream cheese, I happen to think this dessert goes particularly well with Kaña Cuban Coffee Roasters' Hialeah Blend.

(I guess it's a Cuban thing.)  =D

Celebrating National Guava Month (Oh, yes I am.)

It's a special Monday, Pre-Thanksgiving Edition of Marta's Cuban American Kitchen.

I have been trying, without much success, to declare November "National Guava Month." Sadly, no one seems to take me seriously about this, but that's not important right now.

I've taken up the cause on my own. And today I'm all over the place, both on Babalú and on the Tiki Tiki with the delicious marriage of turkey, port, and guava. 

Because today, I, Marta, hereby declare November to be "National Guava Month."

In honor of National Guava Month, (<--it's got a nice ring to it, don't you think?) I'll be sharing two guava recipes in the next two weeks.

Today to kick off the Guava Celebration, I'm making a Turkey with a Port Wine Guava Glaze. (You just drooled on yourself. Admit it.)

Next week I'll be sharing a Guava Cheesecake (because of a previous request from my friend, Cigar Mike).

Happy National Guava Month! (I cannot think of one downside to this. It's going to be epic.) =D

Who's in?

How to be a good Cuban woman in order to marry well.

I had some company over the weekend. My mom and my oldest daughter.

And if Luza (my 95 year old mom) is here, that means I'm cooking. Or, in this case, baking. 

And then, of course, there's Amy (my first-born), who is 26 years old, which, in Old-School-Cuban-Grandma-Land is code for "Old Maid" (or "solterona").

Of course, in Old-School-Cuban-Grandma-Land the fault for having a 26 year old who is still (!) unmarried rests squarely on my shoulders. (Bad mother, what?)

Apparently, I didn't teach Amy to cook well enough. Because if she could cook, Luza reasons, she would quickly be snapped up and out of the single woman's ranks just like that! *snaps fingers*

I surreptitiously roll my eyes at this point of the conversation, "Ay, Mami..." I can't even finish with an articulate response.

So I invite Amy to come and bake with me and Luza. The truth is that she (Amy) had found this fabulous recipe for Flan Cake (Flan Cake, people!) on blog-friend, Anne Marie's What's Cookin? Blog and she knew I'd totally be into it.  And I totally was. I did tweak it some, but the inspiration came directly from Anne Marie. (Thanks again, Anne Maroo!)

This was Amy's Facebook status on Friday night:

Amy Kikita Hohneker is on her way to her mother's house to learn how to be a good Cuban woman in order to marry well.

All that to say this:

These forces converged on Friday night and together we - Luza, Amy and I... well, technically, Amy and I - made it. My mom sat there and made critical helpful suggestions. The final product was a gorgeous, delicious, amazing, there-are-not-enough-superlatives-in-the-world Flan Cake.

Luza sticks her nose into the flan and declares it "perfecto," and concedes that Amy now has a fighting chance at becoming marriage-able. ;-)

 

The recipe is posted today over at the Tiki Tiki.

By the way, Amy's a fabulous cook in her own right and she would totally make a wonderful Cuban wife. (I'm just saying...)

I do not think it means what you think it means...

Adam was looking pretty great the other day.

But there was some confusion over a conversation he had with my mom.

We had a good laugh over it. But we also had a great meal.

Click on over to Babalú today and see the most gorgeous Roast Chicken ever - Pollo Asado.

That's where you'll find the whole crazy-mixed-up story.

Totally worthy to be put on a platter. Yes, and the chicken too. ;-)

Go check it out today. You won't be sorry.

Mas café, por favor.

My mom is back from Miami.

She spent the entire summer there and she has stories.

Lots of stories.

A plethora of stories. (I know. The acorn does not fall far from the tree. Shut up.)

So we've been talking.

Or should I say, she's been talking. And talking. And talking.

My job is to keep food and drink on the table in between stories.

My mom, like any good Cuban, tells a great story.

And because she's 95, she tends to repeat her stories at times. ;-)

I'm a little burned out on my-summer-with-Fernando-in-Miami stories.

But she's here for the entire weekend.

So now, it's Sunday morning and I have another full day of we-went-to-the-Palacio-de-Los-Jugos-a-few-times stories to look forward to today.

There's only one way to get through this. Happy Sunday, people! =D

H/T Mica. Thanks, amiga!

Cooking with The Boy

I have to admit that my kids (all four of them) are usually great sports when it comes to any projects I ask them to get involved with.

(Eric would most likely insert the term "harebrained" somewhere in here, but that's not important right now. =D)

I especially love when they show enthusiasm in spite of not having all the details.

Me: "Adam, I need a mandolin to slice stuff. Will you come with me to the store?"

Adam (who has no idea what a mandolin is or what it's used for): "Absolutely!"

For the uninformed, a mandolin is a sleek device for slicing food quickly, expertly and uniformly. (This is the one I got - here's a link in case you're interested in getting your own.)

 

After the run to the cooking store and the mandolin purchase. . .

Adam: "What are we making this week, Mom?"

Me: "A tortilla. Not a 'tortilla,' but a 'tortilla.'"

Adam (who has no idea what I'm talking about or why): "Umm . . . well then, do I get to use the new mandolin??"  

I love that boy.

=D

Adam and I are cooking over at Babalú today while simultaneously addressing that age-old cooking conundrum:

"When is a Tortilla NOT a Tortilla?"

If you know the answer, please leave a comment. ;-)

"Great taste!" "Less filling!"

Cooking and blogging over at Babalú today.

You are sooo going to want to get involved with this recipe for Beer Can Chicken!

It was a comedy of errors that finally turned out to be a good thing.

Here's what I made:

If you like, we can play the write-a-caption-for-this-photo game...  =D

Café con Leche y Pan Tostado - Breakfast of Champions

Growing up in a Cuban household means drinking coffee. A lot of coffee. And it means learning how to make coffee at an early age.

For most of us Cuban kids our first words were, “Mami. Papi. Café.”

We’re not just talking about any coffee here. We’re talking super-sweet and tasty espresso. In fact, recalling my early childhood, I think Cuban parents added coffee and sugar to our milk just to get us kids to drink it every day. It totally worked. =D

One of the biggest cultural shocks when we landed on American soil was finding out that American kids did not drink espresso in their milk for breakfast. (I felt sorry for them. I know. Shut up.)

Café con Leche. Warm milk with espresso. That was our breakfast of choice. With hot, buttered (technically grilled!) Cuban bread. Let’s just have a holy moment of silence here… Ay, Dios mio.

Could there be a better way to start the day??

Fast forward to the 90’s with the green-logo’d coffee houses (or Four-bucks as we affectionately called them) popping up on every corner. They were serving something they called “lattes” to caffeine-thirsty consumers for about $4 a serving. I remember reading the description and watched them make one. “Hey! That’s a Café con Leche! I’ve been drinking those since birth!”  (Okay, so I never actually said that out loud because then there would be a grumbling in the line of people needing their caffeine fix and who needs that kind of grief?)

If you do the math, that’s like over $100 dollars a month spent for something that you can make for pennies at home! Besides, no one makes a Café con leche better than a Cuban mami (or tia or abuela….).

The lovely people from the got milk? campaign are sooo on the ball here.  They know what Cuban mothers have known for years – the marriage of milk and coffee are an ideal way to get your share of calcium each day.  How cool is this mug?? 

This has become Adam’s favorite morning ritual. “Mom, make me a café con leche.”
I used to make these for my brother in order to wake him up each day (so I can practically make a café con leche in my sleep, probably because I was always barely awake when making them, but that's not important right now).

Nothing says “Buenos dias” like a sweet, homemade café con leche in the morning.

Café con Leche

6 to 8 oz. milk
3 oz. espresso
1 or 2 tsp. sugar (to taste)

1) Make your Cuban coffee (espresso).
2) Heat the milk in a saucepan over high heat (I suppose you could also zap your milk in the microwave, but we’re talking “old school” here) until it barely starts to foam.
3) Pour the espresso into the bottom of the cup. Pour the hot milk on top.
4) Stir in a couple of teaspoons of sugar to taste.

Serve with Pan Tostado…

Pan Tostado

1 – 6 inch piece of Cuban bread
Butter

Spread butter on both sides of bread and grill in a sandwich press, George Forman grill, or even on the stovetop in a skillet. The idea is to get the bread buttery and flat and toasted. The seriously awesome smell of the grilled toast and hot milk with coffee will make you very popular. It's easy to make friends if you're willing to share. ;-)

Serve the Pan Tostado with your Café con Leche. Talk loudly and gesture a lot while you’re eating in order to experience a truly Cuban breakfast. ;-)

So because the genius got milk? people were so generous to send me an extra….I’m going to share the love. =D

Let’s do a comment giveaway. Tell me about growing up drinking café con leche. Or the best place to get one if I was in Miami. Or just tell me how much you love Cuban coffee. (I’m easy that way. =D)

Leave me a comment and I’ll do a random drawing on Wednesday at 3 pm Pacific time to pick a winner for this cool goodie bag which includes the following:

• A fabulous got milk? mug.
• A cool milk-frothing-device-thingy.
• A packet of caramel iced-coffee mix.
• A bunch of fabulous coffee and milk recipes.

So let’s go….let’s talk latte…..

Me on Twitter: making coffee for the 4th time today. Does this qualify me as a "barista?"

My friend Srcohiba:  just makes you Cuban. :-)))

Papas Asadas Recipe - You say potato. I say papa.

When you think of Cuban food and side dishes, you're probably going to think of white rice and black beans right off the bat.  And you'd be absolutely right. Black beans and rice are totally the quintessential Cuban side dish.

But we Cubans eat potatoes. We eat lots of potatoes. In fact, we love potatoes.
Only we call them papas.

As in Papa Rellenas Recipe or Carne con Papas Recipe. We even put papas on our Cuban sliders which we call Fritas Recipe.

Seriously. We Cubans love us some papas!

Here's my recipe for Roasted Potatoes or Papas Asadas.  (Ah-SAH-Dahs - Isn't that just fun to say?)

Papas Asadas Recipe
(Roasted Potatoes)

• 6-7 Yukon Gold Potatoes (coarsely chopped into medium pieces - you can use any kind of potatoes. I like the Yukon Gold because a: they have a wonderful texture and flavor and b: I recently bought a 20 lb. bag at Costco, but that's not important right now.)
• 1/4 cup olive oil (okay, so I don't really measure, but it's a really good educated guess. =D)
• 1 tsp. Pimentón (which adds both color and flavor - you can substitute paprika if you like)
• 3 cloves garlic - crushed
• 1/2 tsp. ground thyme
• Fresh Rosemary (you can use dried, of course. I have lots of wild rosemary growing in my garden. I'm cool that way.)
• Sea salt
• Coarse ground pepper

1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2) Mix all ingredients in a large (quart size) ziplock.

3) Smoosh everything together. (Yes, smoosh is the technical term. =D)

4) Pour coated potatoes into a 9x13 inch Pyrex baking dish.

5) Bake in a hot (425 degree) oven for 20 minutes.
6) Stir the potatoes and put back in oven for another 20 minutes. (Total cooking time is 40 minutes.)
7) Serve HOT!

Goes great with anything, but especially Pescado a la Plancha (Cuban-style Sauteed Fish Fillets). 

You can find that recipe over at Babalú blog around lunchtime today. (Yes, I do that on purpose. =D)