Caray, Caray!

Urban:

What a most excellent topic for a weekend discussion!

I love to cook, all kinds of cuisines. My Mother was German and I have old family recipes I use. My Uncle was an Italian chef and taught me a lot of things, especially how to make homemade pasta and sauces.

My favorite food scenes from the novelas so far are the ones from QBA last night, the way Dona Magda and Dona Paz cooked in Un Refugio and the food the way food is grown and processed like in LFDD and Abismo de Pasion.

I have a couple of signature dishes I take with me to parties or when I have people over for dinner. I am a big fan of Food Network and the PBS cooking shows and also the Cooking Channel. I really like Alton Brown. I have learned some neat tricks watching his show.
 

Well, when my kids were at home, I did all the grocery shopping and cooking. I made dinner every weekday , and we gathered around the dining room table every evening for simple homecooked meals that I tried to make nutritious. My sister and I had a big garden at the family farm, so we froze lots of freash vegetables to last throughout the winter....corn, green beans, peas, tomatoes, onions, etc. On weekends, I got a break from cooking because we ate at my family's farm where my mother always cooked, and we also ate at my inlaws' house where my mother-in-law cooked. Both my mother and mother-in-law were good, simple cooks. My mother never taught me to cook because my job was doing the dishes. I learned to cook from my roomate in college, but I really never enjoyed cooking. Now, hub does most of the cooking. We have very simple meals. I do enjoy going out to dinner or breakfast. I don't eat beef and love vegetables and fruits. Let's not forget Nikki's bulimia in Amores Veraderos. That is really hard to watch. Also, I have vivid memories of the fabulous baking brothers rolling out dough in a novela of the past...Fuego en la Sangra.
 

I have several signature dishes for different occasions. My boeuf bourgignon was very popular in the SCA when I was active, my pasta and veggie salad is a potluck hit, and I make pretty good chicken vindaloo.

On St Patrick's Day my friend and I made a baked potato bar which was a hit. We've decided that this will be the cold weather option for that holiday and we still did my signature deviled eggs.

My mother taught me how to cook when I was 9. Nothing too detailed, but how long you need to cook X as opposed to Y and that if you want to make good meat gravy you must have onions and bay leaves.
 

great theme, UA.
I loved the stuffed peppers they showed at Santos eating in Puebla last night. Have to try that. seems pretty simple...
stuffing peppers with ground beef, seasoning, creme sauce, some parsley and pommegranate seeds... yum!! sounds great.
I too loved the table of Dona Paz and Magda at Refugio.
I usually cook typical stuff from puerto rico, but sometimes feel creative... i seldom use a cookbook, more like go with my own 'come up with' recipes like searing chicken breast then covering with mushroom sauce with sliced fresh mushrooms in it with some herb rice.

But back to the subject line...
For potlucks i diversify myself. i have made from rice with chicken to pasta salad, corn and bean salad mexican style, and stuff i have made so many times i made with blindfold like guava pastries and flan
 

I actually almost prefer winter because you can cook anything! In the summer I often don't feel like it.

My split pea soup is legendary and I love making onion tarts. I also do an oven fried chicken that is amazingly simple:

1 jar Goya Recaito*
1 jar Goya Salsa Verde (medium)
plain bread crumbs
Adobo
Olive oil
chicken pieces (drumsticks are best)

Mix the sauces and marinate the chicken for an hour. Mix bread crumbs and adobo.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees with oven pans inside so the olive oil is heated. Remove chicken pieces from marinade one at a time, being sure each is well-coated before dredging in the bread crumb/adobo mix. Place coated chicken in oven pans. Turn carefully every 15-20 minutes until skin is crisp. Drumsticks will take 60-75 minutes; wings longer because of the thickness of the skin.

Serve with salsa and guacamole on the side. Will do about 12 drumsticks.

*Do not use the frozen version; texture is not the same.
 

This recipe people ask me to make whenever they come for dinner. It is a simple recipe done on the grill.

London Broil on the Grill

One 3 to 5 lb London Broil

Marinade:

1 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 to 3/4 cup Kikkoman Soy Sauce, (You can use the reduced Sodium Variety also)
Juice of one large lemon
2 large onions, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
Fresh ground black pepper

Put London Broil in container that will close tightly. Prepare marinade by mixing all ingredients. Pour marinade over the London Broil and close container tightly. Let sit in the fridge for one week.* (See note) Turn the London Broil every day.


The day you make the London Broil, while your coals or grill is getting ready, take London Broil out of fridge and let sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes. When your grill is ready put London Broil on the grill and cook according to how you like it. Medium Rare is about 25 minutes or so depending on heat of your grill. When London Broil is done, let rest for 15 to 20 minutes. Slice thinly and serve.

***Note: London Broil is a tough cut of meat, the longer you marinade this cut the more tender it becomes. Also when you refrigerate extra virgin olive oil, it becomes semi solid. Don't worry about that, just turn once every day.



 

UA, I LOVE pea soup. I never make it the same way twice. (Actually, I never make anything the same way twice, which can sometimes be a problem...)

My specialty is cole slaw. Most people love my cole slaw more than I do!

My favorite TN food scene was the rent party they had near the beginning of UFCS. There were many slow, lingering shots of all the food.

My favorite TN *cooking* scenes were in Querida Enemiga, where everybody was a chef!
 

I make a mean lasagna and the kids ask for chicken enchiladas or shepherd's pie. Or Derby pie, yum.
Julie, I love Cole slaw. Are you willing to share your recipe? My neighbor makes coleslaw with ramen noodles in it. Most excellent.
 

Martaivett- Sounds like Chiles en Nogada, made esp. around Mexican Independence Day because the colors (green chilis, white sauce, red pomegranates) represent the Mexican flag. Yum!

But let's not forget the ever present Tostitos! Really if you want mexican junk food, try potato chips with a little lime juice and hot sauce squirted in the bag. It's good. It's no fish tacos or anything that the women in these kitchens make, but still better than Tostitos.

Kelly
 

Emilia, I can sort of share my recipe, but since I never make it quite the same way twice, I can't guarantee anything!

I'll post it this weekend when I find my sort-of recipe.
 

Madelaine, that london broil sounds yummy! i will have to try that this week with my girls.
 

My library is full of Cookbooks. They're like a Bible. I often read them but seldom do anything that's in them. But I like to read them though.
For me, reading all those recipes, even when I never get the chance to make them, is wonderful.
Now I am moving on to other kind of Cookbooks, since I got today, my first book about cooking for pets.
I always make my dogs cookies, but I am going to start giving them something else, healthier, I think.

Most of the cooking I do I know it from heart and I do it from scratch. I grew up under my grandmother's skirt and I have been always very curious, so adding up, I learned to love the kitchen as a place to mix the same ingredients in order to make hundreds of possible combinations.

I was thinking about this every since we talked about the aubergine, but being a little OT I didn't dare. Thanks for allowing us to discuss and share family recipes and/or questions. Anything you wanna ask, go ahead...
 

Love to cook, love interior Mexican cuisine (as opposed to US-Mex), and the kitchen in La Que No Podia Amar was my favorite. There was a lot of "food porn" in that TN. My favorite kitchen scene was when Maria and Ana Paula were making the traditional Chiles Rellenos en Nogada, and Rogelio came in to criticize and the "adjust" the walnut sauce. Also adored the kitchen scenes in Cuando Me Enamoro.
 

Mexico has an extraordinary cuisine, and I love how the TNs really show it off.

What's really funny is that they'll have the poor folks in the vecindad putting on a tremendous group taco feast with all the sides and trimmings, and then they'll show the rich folks at home making a ham sandwich on Bimbo bread. I guess that means the rich folks eat boring "gringo-like" food, LOL!
 

I'm from a generation with a lot of immigrant parents and one of the projects we did as kids in school was to bring in recipes from our mothers and grandmothers. They were typed up by our teachers, copied, and put together as a cookbook for Mother's Day. My classmates' elders were from various countries and their food was very interesting.

It shocks me when interesting food is swapped for the mundane, as in that example.

My mother was from Germany and her best dishes were goulash and saurbraten. She used so little garlic you'd think it didn't exist in her pantry. However, German cuisine loves onions and she would never have gone without them.
 

This part is somewhat OT because it is not so much about telenovela food or kitchens, but of some Uruguayan food memories. Hope you don't mind.

My earliest memory of food was when I was about 3, sitting in Mercedes' kitchen in her apartment (above ours) and watching her make buñuelos de acelga (swiss chard fritters). She made them on a one-burner primus, like a camp stove. They were the porters for the apartment building we lived in and I spent a lot of time with them. For some reason, her apartment didn't have a stove. She made puchero, tallarines con tuco, sopa de pollo con fideos and just about anything you could cook on the top of a burner, eggs, steak, fried chicken etc. And she used plenty of garlic, too--which my mother disliked to the point of gagging at the odor (she didn't know what she was missing). They ate a lot of cold cuts and cheese in sandwiches and of course, my favorite was french bread spread with butter AND dulce de leche or membrillo (closer to quince than to guava).

Our kitchen was mostly Anglo, but we did enjoy and appreciate the great asados out in the country that took all day to roast over a pit of coals and a big grate, the big chunks of grass-fed beef, blood sausage, ribs and organ meats.

They weren't as big on beans as further north in Central America and the Caribbean. Uruguayans were real meat and potatoes kind of people, in addition to salads, vegetables, fruits, eggs, cheese and of course, with a nod to their large influx of Italian immigrants in the 19th & early 20th C., pastas, pizza and something called faina--which I have yet to see anywhere here. It's made with chick pea flour, water, salt and olive oil and baked like a pizza, best when it's a wood-fired oven. Sadly, I haven't been able to master the technique. It comes out tasting like I think wall-paper paste does. Of course I don't have a wood-fired oven.

My favorite Uruguayan dessert was called Postre Chajá de Paysandu. It was a frozen confection packed in individual square boxes. It was sold out of carts pushed by vendors who plied the streets of Montevideo. It was some sort of layering, or wrapping Chantilly cream, dulce de leche, broken pieces of meringue and a dense yellow pound cake. Mmmmmm. I'm hungry. There are recipes galore on the internet for family-sized Postre Chajá, with pictures, if you care to search.

A second favorite dessert was alfajores. They are thin cookies made into a sandwich with dulce de leche in between and dusted liberally with powdered sugar. These, yes, are available in the States now, or at least in the DC Metropolitan region.

Susanlynn--I sympathize with you. My mother never taught me to cook either. She thought it was more important for me to learn to sew (how wrong she was--I still can't put in a zipper or make buttonholes).

Part of that decision was probably attributed to the fact that my mother didn't *like* to spend too much time in the kitchen (she worked outside the home full-time after we came back from Uruguay), so her cooking was quick, simple and healthy. But we did have our meals out on the patio, picnic style, just about every night during the summer with cold salads, hamburgers, or hot tamale pie (a picadillo filling in between two layers of cooked corn meal mush), canelones (a type of crepe filled with chicken, corn, tuna, whatever was on hand, topped with cream and baked), waffles topped with creamed tuna, shepherd's pie, but not very heavy on the seafood in those days.

I improved on my mother's cooking and got a little more adventuresome, but it's the third generation that really shines. My daughter has become quite the gourmand and enjoys trying anything new--and invariably is successful. Her last offerings when she was here were Vaca Frita and Black Beans and Rice--how much more south of the border can you get and she's in Western Canada now!

 

Back On Topic, I loved the kitchens in my first two tns, ENDA and Sortilegio--although we did all get a laugh out of the graphics on the refrigerator in Sorti's kitchen. Felipa was always chopping vegetables. So were our cooks in CME & LQNPA. Maria was probably ridding herself of some emotional frustration with her chopping.

I often wondered if all those fresh vegetables were ever cooked for the cast and crew for their meals on the sets. We have seen plenty of the cast eating. Who was it that ate all the time, was it Renata in CME? Camila did her share of eating in AB, too. It must be a Silvia thing. I'd like her secret for staying in shape--especially when Silvia has her own restaurant.
 

UA--What a great idea to make a cookbook. Do you still have it? I found my mother's handwritten cookbook-notebook. What a surprise to find out that some of what I thought were recipes handed down from her mother, like coconut dream squares, were from magazines or newspapers.
 

No; I don't have it. My mother must have tossed it many years ago. She was not an adventurous cook. With all the emphasis schools are not putting on computers I wonder if they bother doing things like this anymore.
 

Having a computer makes it *easier* to put a cookbook together.

Madelaine, I put a (much smaller) London Broil in your marinade last night to grill tomorrow night. (I know you do yours for a week, but mine's only one pound, so hopefully two days will be enough!)

I also neglected to mention that I am the self-proclaimed Queen of Meatloaf. I make my favorite with ground turkey, grated onion, cornbread stuffing mix, and cranberries. It's funny-lookin', but it tastes good. I also do a Greek-style one with ground lamb, mint, lemon juice, etc.

OK, so, the coleslaw. Mix this together (I'm sorry I literally cannot give amounts - I just eyeball it) in a bowl:

Miracle Whip
A little malt vinegar
Maybe some lemon juice
A lot of onion powder
Paprika & black pepper
A little bit of sugar
Celery powder or flakes (but NOT celery salt)
Parsley
Just enough lemongrass (SECRET INGREDIENT) to make people say "hmmmm, what's that?" but not enough to make them say "ew, what IS that??"
More onion powder

All herbs (including the lemongrass) are dried. You can try with fresh, but the flavor will be very different.

After it's all mixed together, toss it with some shredded cabbage and whatever else you like in your slaw (maybe a little shredded carrot). I don't like purple cabbage much, but some people do and it's fine with this. Little bits of oranges aren't bad. And some people like broccoli slaw. I don't, but I think this would be okay on that. But I can tell you it's not so great with spinach.

You can eat it right away if you're having a cole slaw emergency, but it really is much better the next day. If you've never made slaw before, you may be surprised at how much a heap of shredded cabbage shrinks overnight when you mix it with this stuff.

I love it on pulled pork sandwiches or hot dogs.
 

Julie~~~When I learned to cook from my roomie in college, we had meatloaf once a week. She taught me to make it with hamburger, oatmeal, ketchup, a teaspoon of dry onion soup mix, and one egg. At Christmas, we shaped it into a tree, and at Easter, we made it eggshaped. That's the recipe I used for family dinners, and it's the recipe my daughters still use. Now, I don't eat red meat, so I tried making it with ground turkey, but Hub didn't like it. If I have a recipe I'm known for , it's my Choclate Eclair Cake. I am always asked to bring it to Pot Lucks. Here's my recipe for coleslaw : Buy a bag of shredded cabbage and carrots...add some coleslaw dressing...Voila !!! Coleslaw. [I just ''made it last week. The cabbage stays very crispy because I do one serving at a time.
 

Julie:

The two days should be plenty for your London Broil. Let me know how it turns out.

Marta:

You too, let me know how it turns out!
 

Urban:

Did your Mom ever make Rouladen? That is another favorite people like me to make.

SusanLynn:

Chocolate Éclair Cake??? Can you please share that one? Mr. Mads is a Chocolate Éclair fanatic! Thanks : )
 

UA--We should invite folks to keep on adding to this thread and share recipes. Maybe a mention across all the current tags?
 

I would like to know more about that rouladen and the chocolate eclair cake, please.
 

Madelaine~~~I almost gave up, but I finally found the recipe for eclair cake. My mother got the recipe from her friend Arlene . It was always a big hit when she made it for Sunday dinners at the farm with perhaps 12 of us around the diningroom table. I made it every year for my friend Genieve's annual Christmas party. T he year I made a different dessert, I made my friend Cthi's 2 teenege sons and her hub very unhappy. Ingrdients : two 3 oz. French vanilla instant puddings...one 8 oz. Cool Whip....3 cups of milk...one box of Graham crackers ....Mix pudding and milk until thick...fold in Cool Whip....put a layer of crackers on bottom of 9x11 pan..spread half pudding mixture over crackers...add another layer of crackers....add another layer of pudding...end with a layer of crackers....now make the icing....mix these ingredients in a small saucepan: 2 tablespoons oleo [or butter]...6 tablespoons cocoa...2 teaspoons Karo syrup...1 teaspoon vanilla...1 and 1/2 cups confectionary sugar...3 tablespoons milk....heat and stir carefully until just dissolved over simmer...do not cook [the sauce will get hard....pour overcake...refrigerate overnight...serve cold.
 

Does anyone have a good simple recipe for shepperds pie? i just feel that would be devoured by my girls and grandson...
 

Marta, basic Shepherd's Pie should be very simple to make because it's intended to be made from leftovers. The reason shepherd's pie recipes often look complicated is because they're made with the assumption that you don't have any leftovers, which in my case is usually true. But the truth is that you should just make the ground meat, vegetables, and mashed potatoes whatever way you like them, ahead of time, then layer them in the casserole dish and bake till they're hot.

So you want a layer of cooked ground beef (or whatever) in a casserole dish, add a layer of any kind of cooked or ready-to-eat canned vegetables (peas and carrots, mixed veggies, etc), add some gravy, and top with (storebought or instant if necessary). Stick it in the oven and bake it until it's all hot. Serve with more gravy.

For a twist, use spaghetti sauce instead of gravy. Or make like you're preparing sloppy joes, or use taco sauce and have corn as your vegetable... I like the Ortega chipotle taco mix, I think that's what it's called.

You CAN get more complicated if you like, but you don't have to.
 

Telenovela cooking makes me think back to La Fea mas Bella and Lety's kitchen at home. Her mother was always cooking, even the large amounts for that one catering gig. The family and Tomas Mora were always sitting down to eat and deal with situations.

Loved the kitchen in LQNPA and Maria's dishes cooked there.

La Paloma, La Reina de los Libros
 

Pablo:

Rouladen is easy but time intensive I think. I will give you the recipe I have:

6 pieces of very thin beef, Milanese cut
6 pieces of bacon, cut in half
6 dill pickles, cut length wise
marjoram
Grey Poupon Country Dijon Mustard
1 small onion thinly sliced
1 1/2 cup of beef broth or beef stock
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons of flour

To Assemble the Rouladen:

Take 1 piece of beef and smear with Grey Poupon Country Dijon Mustard, sprinkle with some marjoram, put bacon piece down, top with pickle and onion slice. Roll beef up and either secure with two toothpicks or tie with kitchen twine.

When the assembly of all the beef pieces are done, heat a skillet, preferably cast iron. When skillet is warm, not completely steaming hot, add oil and allow oil to heat about a minute. Dredge rouladen in flour and place in skillet, browning all sides. When browned remove rouladen and place in Dutch Oven. When all rouladen are done, add remaining flour to cast iron skillet and brown for about a minute or two, till flour is brown, then slowly add beef broth and stir with wire whisk until smooth and no lumps. Let cook till thickened and then add to rouladen in Dutch Oven. Cover Dutch Oven and put on stove top, and bring to a boil and then lower the heat to a slow simmer and cook for an hour and a half. Meat will be very tender and moist. Serve with mashed potatoes and a side of red cabbage. This dish is a true German Classic.

Susan Lynn:

Thank you so much for the Chocolate Éclair cake recipe. Mr Mads is very grateful : )
 

Julie:

I am going to try your coleslaw recipe. I so like the lemon grass ingredient.
 

Thanks! I will try the cake first and then the Rouladen.
 

Madelaine: I overcooked the london broil (grilling with gas for the very first time - I'm used to charcoal) and despite being almost medium-well, it was STILL deeeluscious. I should have had it for dessert. I am definitely adding this to my repertoire. :-)

I have a new question: what is the deal with pigs' feet? I stewed some, but they were mostly bones and cartilage and not much meat. Do people eat the cartilage? Because it was a lot of work to get to the very small amount of meat.
 

Paloma, I immediately thought of LFMB and doña Julieta's kitchen that was always such a warm and welcoming place where the food was always plentiful and looked so good. Also, there was always pan dulce waiting for a cup of coffee.

Julie, I grew up with pork hocks. I presume the hock is part of the leg and not the feet themselves. These had lots of bone and fat but also meat that was so delicious: some of the most tender and juicy pork I have ever had.

Jarifa
 

Yes, I use hocks a lot with beans and such. Hocks are much more straightforward than the feet!
 

Good to know, not to buy the little trotters themselves!

Jarifa
 

Anyone have the guts to try this?
Seems to big at fairs.

Deep Fried Coca Cola:

Mix funnel-cake batter with Coke instead of water. Pour the batter into the fryer and cook up a mass of doughy strands. Stuff into a Coca Cola cup, sprinkle with powdered sugar and douse with pure Coke syrup. Top it with whipped cream and a cherry.
 

Vario--Sounds like something a shuggaholic would get off on! I like my funnel cakes just plain with a little powdered sugar on them. Once a year I indulge at our local Labor Day Festival & Parade.

All kinds of street food are available and more and more we're getting Hispanic and Caribbean cuisine (curried beef, chicken or vegetables and rice), in addition to crepes, BBQ ribs or sandwiches, corn dogs, bloomin' onions and other common carnival foods.

Most of the proceeds go to raise money for our local non-profit organizations, while a certain portion is used to pay for the carnival rides the next year. Pretty self-sustaining after doing it for 60 years or so.
 

UA, a belated thank you for posting this most excellent topic. I have really enjoyed reading everyone's comments and the passion and enthusiasm about food.

I do recall (with a smile on my face) some times when our telenovela comments and discussions strayed to the topic of food and recipes, and some commenters actually became irritated when some of us went off-topic to share recipes. Can you imagine? I remember one time in particular when someone lambasted Carlos for sharing some delicious recipe; was it Lovely Linda's Corn Relish?

Thanks to the Caray Caray family I have some terrific tried-and-true recipes, such as Green Chili Stew from Mike and Emilia, Marta's Puerto Rican Seafood and Avocado Salad, UA's Stuffed Grape Leaves, Vivi's Caramel Rum Bread Pudding, Lovely Linda's Corn Relish from Carlos, and a bunch of other early recipes where I failed to note who provided them such as Posole, Coctel de Camarones, Eggs in Salsa Verde, and a few others. I've also got a few favorite recipes, such as Cochinita Pibil, that were refined during some of our discussions. Remember those, Anita and Carlos?

In Querida Enemiga the sweet mom was always making her specialty Pastel Azteca. Thanks to QE I had a great time researching it and coming up with a truly wonderful pot-luck dish. This was a great food telenovela as they were always going on about their special, traditional dishes.

I also very much enjoyed the kitchen scenes in Cuando Me Enamoro, and I LOVED the kitchen.

Great comments everyone, and huge thanks to those of you who shared recipes and descriptions.

I was also raised on hamhocks and can't imagine making beans or split peas without one or two hocks thrown in. I can make a tasty vegetarian version, but for myself I prefer a nice meaty hock.