Alton Brown’s Homemade Soft Pretzels

September 22, 2008 | Filed Under Guest Bloggers, Pastries, From Argentina with Love, Bread, Fellow Bloggers, Baking | 22 Comments 

Please help me introduce this week’s guest blogger, Rebecca of From Argentina with Love.  Welcome, Rebecca!  So happy you’re here!

Paz 

2008 © From Argentina with Love - All Rights Reserved

One of the things I enjoy most about Paz’s blog is her New York Mondays.  It shows me unique viewpoints of New York, and reminds me of my own New York.  I was so honored when she invited me to guest blog, so that I could share a few of my own New York memories. experiences.

My family is a New York family.  My paternal great-grandparents arrived from Ireland as teenagers to seek the American dream, working as a maid and NYC Firefighter.  Later, their daughter, my grandmother, met her sweetheart while walking through the streets of New York City. The man who would be my grandfather was on leave during WWII–he saw her walking with some friends and invited her to the Marine Corps Ball.  What an era!

On my mother’s side, my great-grandparents emigrated from Sicily.  They opened a floral shop in Brooklyn called Vaccarino Florists, which my grandfather and his brothers ran after their father’s untimely death.  My grandfather also met his true love in WWII–   my grandmother was a US Army officer and nurse.  To woo her, he brought her red roses from the flower shop.  Only, he brought red roses to all the other nurses, too—she out-ranked him, and so their relationship was a war-time secret! 

The two families moved to Long Island in the 1950s, and the kids grew up together.  My mom and dad were childhood playmates!  Many years later, they reunited.  My mom, like her own, was a nurse, my dad, recently returned from a tour in Vietnam, a Marine like his own dad.  They married and moved west, to 50 acres near Durango, Colorado, where they were hippie homesteaders, and where I was born.

Growing up in the west was a vastly different landscape than the bustle of New York City.  When we would fly from the rural west to New York City to spend Christmas, my eyes were opened to a landscape of steel, asphalt, people, and cars.  I loved the excitement of the city!

One of my very fondest memories of New York is the year we went for Christmas when I was 9 years old.  We walked up 5^th Ave. and looked at all the holiday window displays.  If you’ve ever been to New York in December, you know this is every child’s dream! Each and every window holds a fantasy behind glass–I was mesmerized.

We were going to see the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall.  It was bitter cold, winter air cutting through my coat and blowing up under my dress.  But the smell in the air was warm and rich and delicious…soft pretzels and roasted chestnuts.  My parents were struck with a homesickness for this long-forgotten comfort food.  They bought some chestnuts, along with a couple of giant soft pretzels.  My mother stuck them into her purse and brought them into the theater.

The show really was spectacular.  And so are these soft pretzels.  One taste, and I was 9 years old, sitting in the darkened theater at the Radio City Music Hall, wearing nubbly cable-knit tights and my fanciest dress and eating hot soft pretzels.  Doughy and salty, I savored each bite as they defrosted my chill, my eyes feasting on the magnificent sight of the Rockettes, legs moving in cadence to the music, which was spectacular indeed. 

Thanks, Paz, for letting me take a trip down memory lane—and eat some really good pretzels!!

 

Alton Brown’s Homemade Soft Pretzels

Food Network 

1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast
22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil, for pan
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Pretzel salt 

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.
In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pollo con Papas a la Florencia/Florencia’s Chicken and Potatoes

June 16, 2008 | Filed Under Argentinean Cuisine, Potatoes, South American Cuisine, From Argentina with Love, Christine Cooks, Poultry, Fellow Bloggers, Cuisines | 13 Comments 

 

 

I’ve written about how  Christine’s Sunday Night Whole Roasted Chicken tastes so good that I’m unable to spare a few minutes to take a photo for the blog.  I’ve made the roasted chicken several times since writing about it on the blog, and each time, I want to eat it immediately!  No time to stop and take photos.  Forget that.

Well, I’ve found another winning roasted chicken recipe that Rebecca of From Argentina with Love shares with her readers — Chicken and Potatoes.  When I finished making the Chicken and Potatoes, I mustered all my human strength not to eat the chicken immediately.  This time I was able to spare a few seconds to photograph the Chicken and Potatoes.  Just barely.  This simple Roasted Chicken dish was soooo tasty.  As Rebecca described, the potatoes did have an extra tang, which made it extra special.  She shares the secret to the delicious potatoes in the recipe below. 

So… Now, I have two AWESOME roasted chicken recipes.  Yay for me!

Paz  *excited*

 

 
 

Pollo con Papas a la Florencia/Florencia’s Chicken and Potatoes

From Argentina with Love

 

Rebecca’s note:

Florencia made this for me as one of my first meals the first time I met her, and I had never tasted anything like it!  Since then, it’s one she knows will be a hit, and she makes it anytime we visit.  It’s one of the most satisfying meals I can think of–and the simplest to prepare!  The secret is the white wine–it gives the potatoes an extra tang.

 

one whole chicken, cleaned

coarse salt

pepper

one lemon

olive oil

1 cup dry white wine

5 cloves garlic, peeled but still whole

5 russet potatoes, peeled and sliced into ‘fries’

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Rinse the chicken and remove the packet inside.  Put the chicken in a baking pan, and drizzle olive oil over the chicken, rubbing it into the skin.  Squeeze the juice of  the lemon over the chicken, and stuff the lemon halves into the cavity.  Salt and pepper the chicken to taste. 

Meanwhile, put the cut potatoes in a bowl and drizzle in olive oil, using your hands to mix them around so that they are lightly coated in oil.  Salt liberally.

Put the potatoes around the chicken in the casserole dish.  Place the garlic cloves around in the potatoes.  Bake for about 40 minutes.  After this time, pull the chicken out, and pour the wine over the potatoes.  Increase the oven temperature to 450 degrees.  Return the chicken to the oven, rotating the pan, for about 30 minutes more, testing for doneness using a meat thermometer, 170 degrees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Empanadas of the Month! Empanadas Mendocinas (Mendoza-Style Empanadas)

June 8, 2008 | Filed Under Empanada of the Month, South American Cuisine, Argentinean Cuisine, From Argentina with Love, Food Blogging Events, Cuisines | 22 Comments 

 

 

 

I’ve always had a challenging time making empanadas.  So far, I’ve made them a total of three times.  The dough I make from scratch is always thick because I have a problem rolling it out properly.  One time, I tried to make a dessert empanada.  I had a different kind of problem with the dough.  Instead of too thick, it was too sticky.  Ugh!  My empanadas tasted good but not very good-looking.  Since I always seemed to have a challenging time making the empanada shell, I stopped making them, even though I love to eat them. 

When Rebecca of From Argentina with Love announced a food  blogging event called Empanadas of the Month, which she was hosting, I decided to rise to the challenge again.   In this monthly event, Rebecca provides a new empanada recipe for us to make.  The first recipe is for a classic Mendoza-style empanada.  Rebecca’s husband and friend, Carina, are from Mendoza, Argentina.

According to Rebecca, Mendoza-style empanadas are baked, instead of fried.  They are filled with seasoned ground beef, green olives and a slice of egg.  Then the empanada is sealed with a special technique called ‘repulgue’, where the edges of the empanada are folded and pressed repeatedly until they create a decorative pattern. 

Rebecca provided a video with her friend Carina narrating, in Spanish, how to seal the empanadas using the repulgue technique. 

"¡Perfecto!"  (Perfect!),  "¡Muy bien!"  (Very good!),  "¡Eso!" (That’s it!), Carina would encourage as Rebecca performed a perfect repulgue style technique on the empanadas.  At the end, Carina and the video guy applauded Rebecca for her excellent work. 

I would have loved my own cheering empanado-making team with me.  With that in mind, I tried to recreate what I saw on the video.  I even imagined that Carina encouraged me. "Perfecto, Paz!"  "¡Muy bien, Paz!"  "¡Eso, Paz!"  "Applause!"

*sigh*  It didn’t quite work out well.   You should have seen me trying to do the repulgue technique.  It was quite hilarious, actually.   I think the technique I performed was something that could only be called the ‘Paz Pathetic’ technique.   I think I’ll have to go to Carina’s kitchen for a personal lesson.  In the meantime, I did the best I could.

So, here are my humble empanadas Mendocinas.  They didn’t turn out bad at all. 

Oh!  By the way, I used the ready made, store-bought dough for the empanadas.  Interesting note:  Rebecca calls them ‘tapas’ but when I went to the store asking for ‘tapas’, everyone gave me a strange look and one store employee flat out told me he didn’t know what I was talking about before turning his back on me.  After searching on my own, I found the dough, which was called ‘discos’ (para empanadas)/disks (for empanadas).  Ahhh!  Interesting!  I suppose they have different names for the dough in different places.

The dough tasted fine but I like the idea of making my own, which I think would tasted much better.  So, I’ll start practicing how to make it again, one of these days. 

All in all, I’m happy about my Mendoza-style empanadas.  I’m ready for my applause.

Thanks Rebecca.  This was fun. 

Paz

 

Ed. Note:  Rebecca has posted a roundup of the works of those who participated.  You can find delicious-looking empanadas here.

 

 

 

 

Receta por Empanadas Medocinas de la familia Oliva-Quiroz

Mendocino Empanadas from the Oliva-Quiroz family

From Argentina with Love

 

For the filling:

2 lbs. ground beef

1 cup shortening or lard (you can add less or omit this if necessary)

2 lbs. onion

3 Tablespoons smoked paprika

4 teaspoons cumin

green olives, pitted and cut into slices, as many as is necessary

3 hard-boiled eggs, cut into rounds

salt and pepper to taste

crushed red pepper, to taste

For the construction: A glass of water 1 egg, beaten flour for the pan The meat can be made a day in advance. Put the onions, sliced finely in rounds, in a frying pan and salt them. Add the ground beef and cook, then add salt and pepper to taste. Next add the lard and mix well, so that it’s incorporated-the lard, the meat and the onion together. when it’s all cooked, add the crushed red pepper (to taste) and the cumin and mix well. When the mix is ready, let cook and add the paprika and stir well.

The assembly: Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Put the tapas on a flat surface, lightly floured. With a tablespoon, put a little of the meat filling in the center of the dough round. Add a slice of the olive and a piece of the hard boiled egg.

Then moisten the edge on the top half of the round with a little water on your finger. Fold the bottom half of the dough up until the edges meet and seal with your fingers by pressing down. The empanada should have a half-moon shape.

Use the palms of the hands to pack the filling firmly in the center. Next, fold the edges with the Repulgue: using your fingertip, fold one corner of the empanada over, pressing down firmly. Go to the edge again and repeat, pressing firmly each time. Go around the edge of the empanada and you’ll get a spiral pattern.

Beat an egg in a shallow dish and paint the top of each sealed empanada so that when they bake, they have a shiny, golden shell. Spread flour lightly over several cookie sheets, and place the finished empanadas on top. Put the empanadas in to bake for 12 to 15 minutes-they should be sizzling and very golden brown on top. Take out and eat very carefully while hot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Berenjena Asada/Grilled Eggplant

June 2, 2008 | Filed Under From Argentina with Love, Argentinean Cuisine, South American Cuisine, Eggplant, Foods I Never Liked Before Until I Started to Cook, Vegetables, Fellow Bloggers, Cuisines | 12 Comments