From Argentina With Love

Heart-shaped Alfajores for Valentine's Day--Alfajores en forma de Corazon por el Dia de San Valentin

Valentine's Day--you can love it or hate it.  We've all gone through Valentine's Days alone or heart-broken, Valentine's Day days head-over-heels, Valentine's Days spent with girlfriends on the couch watching a weeper or out to dinner ignoring the holiday.  Even earlier, most of us suffered the unforgettable heady yet awkward exchange of Valentines in class. (The one when you're hoping that your crush returns your feelings as you slip your Strawberry Shortcake/StarWars card into the paper bag decorated in class).

In our household, Valentine's Day is always a mixed bag.  One year it was celebrated with a heart-shaped diamond necklace (before marriage and kids), the next it was forgotten altogether.  It's been quasi-celebrated with a quick dinner out while leaving the (then) baby with a sitter, and spent apart while one of us was on a business trip.  And it has also been celebrated with kids--not an over-done, romantic dinner, mind you, but a fun, family celebration, demonstrating as we do in a thousand small ways daily, our love for each other.  We light candles and use little Valentine's napkins, and eat these for dessert.  Esteban loves any occasion to celebrate!

This heart-shaped alfajor is just perfect for that type of casual dinner, whether your sweetheart is 4 or 40 (or 4 months old, as it were).  

I made these to share this weekend with friends for dinner (actually, in a romantic and uncharacteristic moment, the men did the assembly.  It was made with a jar of homemade dulce de leche from our hosts, another American/Argentinean couple, the van Halls.) Esteban's pre-school teachers are also getting a couple, in a decorative bag tied with a red bow.  

So whether you are celebrating the day of 'Amor y Amistad' in grand style, or at home with the family, we wish you the best the day can bring!

Alfajores

This recipe for alfajores is adapted from the book, Argentina Cooks! by Shirley Lomax Brooks

1 3/4 cups flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 pound butter (1 stick) at room temperature

1 teaspoon lemon zest (optional)

4 egg yolks, lightly beaten

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 recipe for dulce de leche (or one jar of it)

1 cup grated and sweetened coconut (optional)

Combine flour, salt, sugar and baking soda in a bowl. Cut the butter in with two knives, then mix by hand until well incorporated. Work in the lemon zest and then mix in the egg yolks, egg and vanilla. (Alternatively, you can do this in a food processor, fitted with the dough blade.) The dough will be soft and slightly sticky.  Shape the dough into 2 balls, wrap in plastic, and chill for 2 hours. 

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. On a floured work surface, roll out each ball of dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch.  ( I used lots of extra flour to get the dough to be pliable, not too sticky, and easy to cut.) Cut into 2-inch rounds (or use a heart-shaped cutter) and transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until done. The cookies will be dry but not brown. 

When the cookies are cool, spread a generous spoonful of dulce de leche in one cookie and top it with another. Press together gently and smooth any squished-out dulce de leche with a pastry knife, or add a bit of extra so the  coconut will have a good smooth surface to adhere to. Roll the seam of each sandwiched cookie in shredded coconut. (I used Bob's Red Mill shredded unsweetened coconut, purchased from Whole Foods.)

 

Candied Orange and Lemon Peel--Cáscara de Naranja y Limón Azucarada

 

 

 

Every family has its own special holiday traditions.  Those rituals that bind us together during this festive season, whether trimming the tree with a collection of special ornaments gathered over the years, reading holiday stories while nestled in flannel sheets, or cooking cherished family specialties to share with family and friends.  Maybe it's the excitement children feel putting out their shoes for Los Reyes, or the family 'asador' putting on an unbeatable grill-fest.

Whether in the sizzling heat of the southern hemisphere's summer or the bone cold frost of the northern winter, the season brings us closer together, and wherever and whenever we gather, we are bound to break bread.

This is the first holiday season that our son, Esteban, almost five, is really 'into' Christmas.  So as we get into the rhythm of having a new addition to the family, I've been trying to solidify those favorite traditions from last year, to create the holiday memories that will be with them a lifetime.

Eating Pan Dulce (aka Panettone) is one of the traditions we most enjoy and hope to pass on--nothing says holiday to me like the smell of fresh pan dulce in the oven, its yeasty, sweet smell mingling with the orange and lemon peel studding the bread.  Cutting into one on Christmas morning is a special treat, a gift of its own. The first piece is eaten with a cup of coffee, as we sit bleary-eyed, around the tree opening gifts. 

This year, I decided to make my own candied orange and lemon peel for the pan dulce--a simple recipe that can be made up to two months in advance if you're one of those uber-organized folks, or the day before you make the pan dulce if you're not.  The flavor is much better in the DIY peel than the store-bought version, plus free of the preservatives and what have you that we would rather avoid.

Candied peel makes a wonderful homemade holiday gift, and can be dipped in dark chocolate, too.  It would be a great hostess gift, along with a tag attached with the recipe for pan dulce on it. Pan Dulce is sure to become one of your family's treasured holiday favorites, and even more so with the addition of your own handmade candied peel!

Candied Orange and Lemon Peel

Cáscara de Naranja y Limón Azucarada

This recipe makes enough for 2 panettone, about a cup each of orange and lemon rind, but this recipe is easily doubled or halved as needed.  I combined lemon and orange for convenience sake, but they can be made separately if that is your preference. The peel can be made up to 2 months in advance and stored in the freezer, or can be made one week in advance and stored in the refrigerator.  For the pan dulce, simply chop the strips of candied rind into small pieces.

5 lemons

5 oranges

3 cups water

4 cups sugar

Using a sharp knife, cut off the ends of each lemon and orange. Score the rind of the fruit in quarters, slicing just through the rind and not into the fruit.  Peel off the quarters of rind carefully, then slice into strips about 1/4 inch wide. Put all the peel into a medium sized saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and boil for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain the water and replace it with fresh water, and bring to a boil again. Repeat this blanching process two more times to remove any bitterness from the peel. (A total of 3 times.) Drain the water and reserve the peel.

In the same saucepan, combine the water and 3 cups of the sugar and heat over medium heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.  Add in the rind into the sugar and water mixture and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and let simmer until the rind is translucent, about 45 minutes. Drain the rind, reserving the simple syrup, if desired, as a citrus simple syrup for cocktails and such.

Remove the rind and spread out evenly on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.  Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the remaining sugar. Turn the rind over and sprinkle with the other 1/2 cup of sugar.  To dry, either leave the rind in a cool, dry place in the kitchen overnight or bake for one to two hours in a 200 degree oven (checking frequently to be sure that the rind is not cooking, but just drying out).

Celebrating Día del Niño--Dulce de Leche Donuts

The second Sunday in August is a special day in Argentina--it's Día del Niño, or Children's Day.  (This year it was postponed for elections, and was on Sunday the 21st.)

Día del Niño is a day celebrating the fleeting and wonder-filled years of childhood.  I suppose adults on this day may reflect on their own fond memories of youth, but really the day is to celebrate the children in our lives--our own or even someone else's.  On this day of honoring children, kids get a small gift and are told 'Feliz Día!'--they feel important, special and loved just for being themselves!

Esteban woke up to balloons on his chair at breakfast, a little metal lunch box from the Cars 2 movie with a t-shirt inside, and these dulce de leche-filled donuts to eat.  A special boy on this special day deserves a treat for breakfast, don't you think?  (Although in all truth, Papí ate many more of these donuts than Esteban did!)  

These would be wonderful for breakfast not only Día del Niño, but on any day when a little celebration is in order--the first day of school, or a birthday, or to celebrate any kind of pint-sized accomplishment--the winning goal, memorizing that challenging piano piece, or making the grade.  

I adapted the recipe from one for filled donuts I found on my friend Jen's blog, Use Real Butter. Since we live near each other at high altitude I knew this recipe would be a good one for making at a mile high, and it worked out perfectly--thanks Jen!  They were delicious! 

The rest of the day was spent playing--something we all need to slow down and do--young or old.  Even if for a day, we got to celebrate our son and be kids again, ourselves.

 
Dulce de Leche-Filled Donuts

Donas Rellenas de  Dulce de Leche (Rosquillas Rellenas de Dulce de Leche)

 These donuts are wonderful served with coffee for grownups or warm milk for little ones.  They are best when fresh, but will last a day or so in an air-tight container--at least long enought to enjoy as a midnight snack!  They can also be filled with jelly, custard or frosting.

makes a baker's dozen

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/8 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit)

3/4 cup warm milk (scalded and then cooled) 

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

heaping 1/4 cup shortening 

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

cooking spray (or butter or vegetable oil, for greasing bowl)

vegetable oil (about 2 cups, for frying)

1 cup dulce de leche

confectioner's sugar, for dusting

 

In a small saucepan, heat the milk just until the boiling point and then remove from heat.  Let the milk cool to lukewarm. Rinse the metal bowl of your stand mixer with warm water (so that when you add in the warm water for the recipe, it doesn't cool the water down).  Add the 1/8 cup warm water to the mixer bowl and dissolve the yeast into the warm water.  Add in the milk, sugar, salt, egg, shortening and 1 cup of the  flour, and then beat on medium speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go, for about 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining flour.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until a smooth dough forms, about two minutes.  Put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, and let rise for about an hour, covered, in a warm place, until the dough has doubled in size.

Flour 2 baking sheets.  (Rub with butter or spray with cooking spray, dust with flour and discard the extra flour.) Turn the risen dough out onto a floured surface and roll it out to 1/2 inch thickness. Using a round cookie cutter or the rim of a sturdy juice glass, cut the dough.  Place the cut dough onto the cookie sheets, and repeat the process with the remaining dough.  Let the donuts rise on the floured cookie sheets, covered, until doubled in size, about a half hour or so.

Heat the oil in a fryer, dutch oven or frying pan (if using a frying pan, use about 3/4 cup to start) and prepare a plate lined with paper towels.  Heat the oil to about 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Slide the donuts a few at a time (I did batches of 4) into the hot oil, and fry until golden on one side (about one minute) before turning over with a spatula.  Fry for about one minute more, and then carefully remove the donuts to the plate to drain.

Once the donuts are fried and cooled, fill a pastry bag with a wider tip with dulce de leche.  Make a small hole in each donut with a sharp, narrow knife, and then use the knife to make a cavity inside the donut to fill with dulce de leche.  Fill the cavity with the dulce de leche, and then dust with confectioner's sugar before serving.  

Fresh Herb Gnocchi--Ñoquis de Hierbas Frescas

Today in Argentina people from coast to coast are meeting friends and family over plates of gnocchi (or ñoquis, if you're in Argentina) to celebrate one of my most favorite time-honored Argentinean food traditions--the habit of eating gnocchi on the 29th day of each month.

I recently got an email from reader Socorro in Miami, who reminded me that it's been a long while since I wrote about the traditions of this holiday.

While gnocchi came to Argentina along with the influx of Italians who immigrated to their new home in the early 20th century, the tradition of eating this dish is distinctly Argentinean.  Newly arrived Italians ate gnocchi on the 29th of each month to honor the saint day of San Pantaleon, a Venetian patron saint who healed the ailing and would only take a simple meal (such as gnocchi) for payment.  

Ñoquis del 29--Gnocchi for the 29th

 

This is why we pinch pennies all year long, spend our limited vacation time from work to visit family on the other side of the planet instead of go to Disney World, and travel from Denver to Dallas to Santiago to Mendoza and then drive three hours to Bowen; transit time: about 24 hours each way.

It's so Esteban can make gnocchi with his abuela, and it's totally worth every sacrifice we make the other 364 days of the year.  Those moments are priceless to us.

On our last visit, we happened to be at my in-laws' house on the 29th--which Argentinaphiles will recognize as 'Ñoqui Day'--the day each month in Argentina that everyone eats gnocchi. 

Florencia, my mother-in-law, cooks in a humble kitchen--no high-tech gadgets (not even a microwave), the same pots and pans and dishes--featuring a ring of interlocking pink roses around the rim--they've always used.  It's not fancy or glamorous, (in fact, I'm always reminded of how well we can live while 'doing without') but the best tasting food is created in that kitchen.  Is love the secret ingredient? 

Maybe.  And a good measure of simplicity--wholesome ingredients, food mixed and made by hand, the recipes made from memory--from years of cooking every day.  But the essence of what makes the meals we eat at my inlaws' house taste so different--tastier--is conviviality--that spirit of sharing a meal--that we miss when we eat a breakfast burrito behind the wheel of our car.  What makes the meals we eat together so special is the time taken, with hands weathered alongside hands small, to make that meal.

And to sit down around the table--Ñoquis, a carafe of table wine, a siphon of seltzer, and literally break bread. 

There's a proverb in Argentina that goes "Panza llena, corazón contento." Or, 'a full belly makes a happy heart'--which to me encompasses just what it is to see my son rolling out gnocchi dough with his grandma, and then sit down, family style--to enjoy the delicious results.  My heart sings, and my belly is full.

 

Make some gnocchi on Sunday the 29th!  Following is the recipe I posted some time ago (at the link above) and here is a link to a recipe for both tomato and pesto sauce.  This recipe makes a plenty of gnocchi--enough for a group (we served 3 hungry men, plus myself last week and still had leftovers) or to freeze.  The freezing process will change the texture of the gnocchi slightly, it's a bit mushier.  The dough can also be frozen, defrosted and rolled out; if you do this, err on the side of less flour in the dough so you can add some more to firm up the texture when you are rolling it out.

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Ñoquis del 29

Gnocchi for the 29th

2 lbs. baking potatoes (about 6)

salt

2 eggs

1 cup fresh, good quality ricotta cheese

2-3 cups flour, plus more for dusting

Peel and quarter the potatoes, putting them in a medium stock pot with enough water to cover the potatoes with one inch of water.  Add a scant handful of salt.  Put the potatoes to boil until they are tender when pierced with a fork , but not mushy. Drain the potatoes.

Put the potatoes through a food mill or potato ricer.  In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, eggs, and ricotta, and mix well using your hands or a fork until a consistent dough is formed.  Be careful not to overmix. 

Add the flour a half cup at a time, mixing each time by hand until there is a soft, pliable dough.  The dough should not be sticky, and it should not be hard.  If it's too sticky or soft, the gnocchi will be mushy, but if there's too much flour, the gnocchi will be chewy and tough.  (This is the challenging part!)

Knead the dough a few times until uniform, and divide the dough in half .  Flour a work area, and roll the dough out into a long thin roll about 3/4 inch thick.  Cut these tubes of dough into sections about 1 inch long.  Meanwhile, bring a stock pot of water to a boil. 

There are a variety of ways to 'mark' the gnocchi-all just a style choice, since at this point, they are more or less done.  Here are some suggestions:  Mark an indentation in the center of each gnocchi with your index finger; or roll over the side of a cheese grater to make patterned indentations; or roll over the backside of a fork, or roll over the center of a wooden gnocchi tool.

At this point, the gnocchi can be frozen laid out on a baking sheet lined with wax paper.  After they are frozen, they can be stored in a freezer bag.   Frozen gnocchi are just put into the boiling water like the unfrozen ones.

Drop the gnocchi one at a time into the boiling water. They are cooked when they rise to the top.  Collect with a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate.  Serve with the sauce of your choice.  (Some nice choices are walnut Gorgonzola, tomato or white sauce.)