Rice Krispie Treats

For us in North America, most of us grew up on Rice Krispie® Treats and often it is one of the first things kids learn to make on their own. Here in Argentina, Rice Krispies® are not on the market (but they do have something similar available in some health food stores, nor were the gigantic bags of plain white marshmallows, until very recently). After gifts of the two main ingredients; a ginormous bag of miniature marshmallows from Canada, and a box of Rice Krispies® from Boston, I was able to concoct a batch of my favourite childhood treat last night. Señor Capone shared one with a colleague this morning, and said colleague now thinks I am this amazing chef and my website should be highly promoted (imagine my mother keeling over with laughter rolling on the floor here.)


Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter
6 cups marshmallows
8 cups Rice Krispies®
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract


Directions:


Melt the butter in a large pot over low-medium heat, and add the marshmallows, stirring the mixture until the marshmallows soften then melt. Add the vanilla stirring it in well. Turn off the heat and add the Rice Krispies® stirring until the cereal is well coated with marshmallow goo. Pour into a lightly greased pan or tray and pat down gently with hands. Let set for a few minutes, cut and eat!

Matambre a la Pizza

Often when I read the menu, the way something is described can be a turn off, but if you do see Matambre a la Pizza on the menu I would recommend it. I tried it for the first time this year as part of our New Years Celebrations. Señor Capone´s mamá brought it over as her contribution. Matambre is a cut of meat either beef or pork, it is a tough cut, so it is softend by boiling in milk for 40 minutes or so. I had my first attempt at making it a couple nights ago following my brother-in-law´s directions below:


hervir el matambre en leche tapando con la leche el matambre sin que se pegue a la olla durante 45 minutos. Llevar al horno con la grasa para abajo a fuego moderado, ni fuerte ni bajo, durante 30 minutos, darlo vuelta poner la grasa para arriba ponerlo en el horno durante 20 minutos a fuego bajo sacarlo y prepararlo como una pizza llevar al horno nuevamente hasta que derrita la muzzarella y si sos pobre porsalú (jajajaja)

My translation:

Matambre either beef or pork

enough full fat milk to cover the meat ( I used a litre for about 1/2 kilo of meat)



Put the meat in a pot and cover with milk. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat, but keep a boil. The milk will curdle. Turn the meat, during this time to make sure all the meat is softened with the milk. Boil for about 45 minutes.

Put the meat in the oven on medium heat. Fat side down. Put the remaining milk fat and water on top of the meat. Cook for about 15 minutes on each side. Prepare the pizza sauce while the meat cooks.

Once the meat is browned, spoon the pizza sauce on top of the meat and add cheese. Cook for another 20 minutes or so and serve.

Tiramisu

I recently decided to attempt to make Tiramisu for the first time as the second cake for my stepson´s birthday party with the family. Tiramisu always seemed like a mystery, and in my mind difficult to make. But I could not believe how easy it was while researching the recipes. I modified the recipe from Gourmet Magazine, and substituted Ricotta for Mascarpone, and used the remaining Tia María for the espresso syrup.


This recipe makes 8 to 10 servings.

Ingredients

Espresso Syrup

80ml water
125ml sugar
185ml Espresso strongly brewed
100ml Tia María

Ricotta Filling

375ml heavy cream
80ml sugar
10ml vanilla extract
500g Ricotta con crema
250g about 24 Ladyfingers called Vainillas in Argentina
Cocoa Powder

Directions


Syrup

Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat, cool. Add coffee and Tia María.



Filling

Whip cream with sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form. Fold cream into Ricotta.


Assembly

Dip Vainillas quickly into the syrup mixture. Placing dipped vainilla into a shallow 2L baking dish. (I used a large pyrex bowl), creating a layer.
Spread half the filling ontop of the vainillas. Repeat the layering process a second time.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours before serving.
Immediately before serving place cocoa in a fine strainer and shake a light coating on surface.

Mustard Curry Encrusted Brotóla

For this recipe I just eyeball the amount of ingredients, to top the fish with. Brotóla is a white fish that we enjoy eating, but any fish will do.

Ingredients:

400 to 500 g Brotóla
75 g Reggiatano cheese, grated
75 g Bread crumbs
Olive oil
20 ml Powdered Curry
Salt
Whole Mustard Seeds

Directions:

Rinse the fish under cold water and place on a baking tray. Rub the mustard seeds on the fish, be generous!

In a small bowl mix the curry, salt, bread crumbs and cheese, then add the olive oil. Spoon this mixture on top of the fish encrusted with mustard.

Bake in a medium temperature oven. 10 to 15 minutes.

Wheat Tortillas - Tortillas de harina

I have never made any sort of flat bread before. I have been researching the internet for tortilla recipes for over a year, but became a little overwhelmed thinking I needed a special tortilla maker to shape the darn things.

Over at Orangette, my prayers were answered. The recipe is simple, although I find it is a little easier to shape the tortillas into closer to perfect circles using a little more dough, dividing it into 12 or 10 rather than the recommended 18.

Wheat Tortillas

Ingredients:

4 cups of flour
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
6 Tablespoons Vegetable Shortening (Vegetalina in Argentina)
2 cups boiling water

Directions:

Mix flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the Vegetalina, using your hands rub into the flour mixture until it becomes like cornmeal. Make a well in the center add about 1 1/2 cups of the water, stir in with a wooden spoon. Ojo! It is quite hot, when it starts to form, you can start to use your hands. Knead for 2 to 5 minutes. Let rest for 30 minutes.

Cut ball into 2, and further divide each of these balls into 6 or 9, whatever. Roll out each of these into a thin circle, using a little flour to prevent sticking.

In a pan, cook for about a minute on each side until lightly golden on a medium heat.

Pomodoro Sauce

Sunday is the traditional day for Pasta in Argentina. Today Mr. T took over the cooking duties, and he certainly out did himself with this deceivingly simple and insanely delicious Pomodoro Sauce, for our Ravioli.

Ingredients:
1 fresh and very ripe tomato
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. sugar
salt
pepper
pimentón
1 cup tomato puree
1 olive
2 cloves of garlic
2 laurel leaves
basil leaves chopped
splash of red wine

Directions:
- Put to boil some water. Score a cross with a knife at the end of the tomato (not the stem side). Blanche the tomato for 30 seconds. Now the skin can be removed easily.

- Finely chop the tomato to a puree consistency. Put into a sauce pan.

- Add olive oil, sugar and splash of red wine. Let is simmer for 5 minutes. Add salt to taste.

- Add tomato puree and the laurel leaves to the mix. Let it simmer for another 5 minutes.

- Remove the pan from the heat and add the chopped olive and garlic, pepper, pimentón and basil.

Enjoy with two plates of pasta cooked al dente.

* Recommended to have some fresh bread on hand to clean the plate of the sauce after eating all the pasta.

Finally! I lost my virginity!

The virginity of using yeast in baking. I have been very intimidated forever, but after reading Orangette´s blog and following her recipe to a T, the Cinnamon Buns turned out perfectly, well except the first batch burned slightly, as we only have two temperatures on an Argentine Stove, Hot and Hotter!

Also, I do not have any fancy kitchen equipment, and a simple tablespoon sufficed in place of the stand mixer. We even had Philadelphia Cream Cheese in the refrigerator, so having the Cream Cheese Glaze ending made losing my baking with yeast virginity complete.

Dough:
1 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 1/2 cups (or more) unbleached all purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 1/4 teaspoons rapid-rise yeast (from 2 envelopes yeast)
1 teaspoon salt
Nonstick vegetable oil spray

Filling:
3/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

Glaze:
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

For dough:
Combine milk and butter in glass measuring cup. Microwave on high until butter melts and mixture is just warmed to 120°F to 130°F, 30 to 45 seconds. Pour into bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Add 1 cup flour, sugar, egg, yeast, and salt. Beat on low speed 3 minutes, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl. Add 21/2 cups flour. Beat on low until flour is absorbed and dough is sticky, scraping down sides of bowl. If dough is very sticky, add more flour by tablespoonfuls until dough begins to form ball and pulls away from sides of bowl. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if sticky, about 8 minutes. Form into ball.

Lightly oil large bowl with nonstick spray. Transfer dough to bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.

For filling:
Mix brown sugar and cinnamon in medium bowl.

Punch down dough. Transfer to floured work surface. Roll out to 15x11-inch rectangle. Spread butter over dough, leaving 1/2-inch border. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar evenly over butter. Starting at 1 long side, roll dough into log, pinching gently to keep it rolled up. With seam side down, cut dough crosswise with thin sharp knife into 18 equal slices (each about 1/2 to 3/4 inch wide).

Spray two 9-inch square glass baking dishes with nonstick spray. Divide rolls between baking dishes, arranging cut side up (there will be almost no space between rolls). Cover baking dishes with plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until almost doubled in volume, 40 to 45 minutes.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375°F. Bake rolls until tops are golden, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and invert immediately onto rack. Cool 10 minutes. Turn rolls right side up.

For glaze:
Combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat until smooth. Spread glaze on rolls. Serve warm or at room temperature.