Cue the Spanish guitars.

Watch out - I'm going to get ethnic!

As a general rule, I don't like Mexican desserts [castanets snap angrily in the background]. With the exception of my maternal grandmother's rice pudding (more on this in a later post) and flan made by certain people, Mexican sweet stuff is usually that: too sweet, too sugary, too doughy, too too. I hate Mexican chocolate. I'm very sorry, but the desserts and pastry of my cultural antecedents usually leave me cold [mournful Herb Alpert-ish trumpet solo wails overhead].

Take capirotada, for instance. This Mexican bread pudding is full of things I just don't like: piloncillo, the hard brown cone sugar that is, to put it mildly, a bitch to work with; canela, the flaky weird faux-cinnamon dear to the hearts of Mexican cooks everywhere; peanuts (although sometimes almonds are substituted, an even more irritating old world ingredient) and Colby cheese. In big horrible lumps! Gross. Sometimes apples are tossed in as well, but by then it's too late.

But I've been thinking -- what if I made a variation on all this, but using indigenous-y ingredients I actually like? Say, swapping the piloncillo for regular brown sugar, or using pecans (which are native to northern Mexico and Texas, lands of my forebears) instead of peanuts? What if I steal an idea from the late, lamented City Restaurant and use cream cheese instead of the Colby? It actually started to sound good [poignant guitar strumming].

So here it the result. Capirotada is actually more of a bread-based charlotte than an actual bread pudding made with an egg custard, which to my mind makes it all the more interesting. I love apple charlotte, and I can never eat it again (too much butter - this has too much butter too, but you can't have everything). Remember to bake it until it gets crusty. And the beauty part is, it has no eggs and so can be converted easily to a vegan dessert [mariachi band and salsa combo duke it out until fadeout] !

Capirotada, retooled (Mexican-ish bread pudding)

Makes about 8 servings.

2 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar

1 cup water

1 1/2 sticks or 3/4 cup (6 oz.) unsalted butter (or stick soy margarine), cut into chunks

1/2 teaspoon sea salt (omit if using margarine)

3 (2 1/2" or 3") cinnamon sticks

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (or one large pinch)

7 cups lightly packed cubed day-old, dryish French or Italian bread, not sourdough, hard crusts removed (3/4 of a huge Italian loaf was enough for this)

1 cup toasted pecan pieces

1/2 cup golden raisins (you can use dark raisins if you want)

6 oz. (2 x 3 oz. packages) cream cheese (or soy cream cheese)

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons butter (or soy margarine), chopped into bits

For the sugar syrup: combine brown sugar, water, butter, cinnamon sticks and cloves in a 2 quart saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat and then boil for 2 minutes (don't let it go any longer than this or you'll end up with caramel). Remove from heat and let steep for at least 15 minutes (preferably 30 minutes).

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350°F. Whisk together the softened cream cheese with powdered sugar and vanilla extract until smooth. Spray a 8" by 3-1/2" deep ceramic souffle dish (or another similar deep casserole) with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

Place bread cubes in a large bowl. Remove cinnamon sticks from the steeped syrup and pour about two thirds 0f it over the bread cubes, tossing lightly with a spoon to mix. Add pecans and raisins. Place about half this mixture into the prepared dish and dollop 3/4 of the cream cheese mixture over it. Cover with the remaining bread cubes, nuts and raisins. Dollop the remaining cream cheese mixure over the pudding and scatter the sugar/cinnamon mixture over the top. Dot with butter (or soy margarine) bits.

Bake the pudding for 25 minutes, then pull out from oven and pour the remaining syrup over the top and down the sides. Return to oven and bake again until browned and a bit crunchy on top, about 15 to 20 minutes more. Remove from heat and let cool for at least 15 minutes. Serve warm with barely sweetened whipped cream [final flourish of maracas].

© 2008 Sandy Soto Teich

All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced anywhere without the author's express permission.

Restorative (sort of).

Blueberries CAN float.

Spring is here (all 88 degrees of it, yecch), our winter diseases are past (well, except for a lingering post nasal drip), and the time has come for health food. Well, not really health food, but healthier food. Healthy-ish food? Whatever.

This is based on a breakfast bread my husband ordered at Herbivore, a vegan restaurant in San Francisco. Don't sneer; although the service there is predictably spacey and glacial, the food is surprisingly thoughtful and good, and the branch we go to (there are others in the Mission and in Berkeley) is situated in one of the still-irredeemably funky neighborhoods of the city - on Divisidero, a couple of blocks from both the Panhandle and Alamo Square. It's nice to go there when you want to pretend you live in SF, something I've been doing since I was six.

Anyway. They serve a toasted blueberry cornbread loaf there which defies all preconceptions about vegan food: it is luscious, full of fruit, sweet, crunchy when toasted -- in other words, it feels bad. But it is good! And not full of animal products or saturated fat! It does, however, contain gluten, but nothing is perfect. It is also ridiculously easy to make. Oh, and PS: this is my version of the cornbread, not Herbivore's. Theirs is a bit rougher in texture, probably due to the use of whole wheat flour.

Blueberry Corn Bread Loaf

Makes one gigantically hefty loaf, which will serve eight normal people or two gluttons.

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup yellow corn meal

2/3 cup granulated evaporated cane juice (you can get this easily at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, natural foods markets and some very complete supermarkets)

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups unsweetened plain soy milk

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons tasteless vegetable oil (like peanut, canola, safflower, etc.)

1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest (optional; I don't use it because I love the pure taste of corn)

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (if you use frozen, keep them in the freezer until the batter is made and you're ready to add them in)

1 extra teaspoon all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a deep 5"x9" loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. I usually line the bottom with parchment paper cut to fit, but if you use a nonstick pan this isn't necessary.

In a large bowl, stir all purpose flour, corn meal, evaporated cane juice, baking powder, baking soda and salt together with a wire whisk. In another bowl or large measuring cup, stir together the soy milk, oil, vinegar, vanilla and lemon peel (if used). Pour the soy milk mixture into the dry ingredients and stir only to combine. The batter will be a little lumpy - do not overmix.

Now comes the best part, a technique for using blueberries in baked goods that is so simple it's amazing no one thought of it before the folks at Cook's Illustrated, who in turn stole it themselves from a very old New England recipe for a coffee cake called "Boy Bait." This method will keep them from sinking to the bottom of the loaf AND prevent that horrible grey-green color which occurs when you mix the berries in the batter: In a small bowl, toss the blueberries with the 1 teaspoon of flour (if you're using frozen berries, work fast). Pour roughly half the batter into the prepared loaf pan, and then scatter half of the prepared blueberries over the batter. Pour the rest of the batter over them and then scatter the remaining blueberries on top. At this point I usually sprinkle a bit of sugar on top to make a crunchier crust, but this is entirely optional.

Bake the loaf for about 45 to 55 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean and the loaf is golden brown. Remove from oven and cool the loaf on a wire rack for about 15 to 20 minutes. Loosen the sides of the loaf with a small sharp knife and tip out, inverting onto a serving plate. Cool for a bit longer, but this is spectacular served warm, although it will be quite crumbly. When cool, it can be sliced and toasted in the toaster, which is almost as good. When well wrapped in plastic wrap, this loaf will stay fresh for two or three days, but it's never around that long at our house.

Really, this will change your mind totally about vegan food.

© 2008 Sandy Soto Teich

All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced anywhere without the author's express permission..