Doña Lupe’s Kitchen

So there was this chocolate sauce just sitting in my fridge, left over from the eclairs.  The chocolate glaze was in there too.  Seriously, they were calling me, begging not to be left in there on their own.  Several times, i walked over and thought maybe I should make more eclairs.  Maybe creampuffs.  No, it’s too hot. Then today it got to be too much.  I finished the chapter in the book I was reading and headed for the kitchen .  I sat at the table with the recipe and my cup of coffee and decided to go for it.

The chocolate glaze had hardened so I set it in simmering water.  I decided to do the same lavender-orange pastry cream since it turned out so delicious and decided at the last moment to pour a little lavender into the chocolate glaze.  I love lavender chocolate.

The pâte à choux was easier to do work with this time.  I’m not sure why but it was.  In fact, the whole thing was so simple, I am worried for my hips.  I could easily make these all the time.

I piped big fat circles onto parchment paper covered baking sheets and set them to bake.  I know!  Baking again in August.  Crazy I tell you.  Estoy pero bien loca.  That means I’m pretty crazy in Spanish.

The circles puffed beautifully, everything went like clockwork.  I decided to scoop the remaining chocolate sauce on the bottom of each cream puff, then load it with the cream and top with glaze.  They were delicious, rich and sinfully decadent.

I think I’m going to live to regret having these in my repertoire…you see my dilemna.

One of the simple things that I make and my grown children go absolutely nuts over and always ask for is my tostadas de atún or tuna tosadas. It’s super simple, but so good and perfect for hot weather when you just don’t want to cook at all. It also a good recipe to make when you have little, hungry kids in the house and they want to help cook. Jasmine and Aiden like helping cook a lot so I chop everything up for them, open cans and then just let them add everything to a mixing bowl and stir. It makes them happy and they get a decent meal in the heat. The recipe also allows for a lot of creativity. It’s pretty flexible. When my kids were growing up, each one had their own spin on it. Albert always wanted me to add canned corn to it, lots of it and no mayo. Bernadette wanted pickles, cucumber and chopped celery. Phillip was the one who drowned it in so much lemon that we made him make his own and Bobby loved it with canned jalapenos and plenty of avocado.

Last Saturday, it was typical L.A. July weather, hot and nasty. We had gone over to Read Books for story time and Jasmine invited her friend Velouria over for an impromptu kiddie pool play date (for all my Twitter friends who commiserated and suggested help for the drowned Blackberry, yes that’s when I dropped it into the pool and thanks to all my Twitterfriend’s advice, it survived and is working).

After some fun time out back with Velouria’s mom Monica and the kids, Aiden and I went inside to fix lunch for everyone. I quickly decided on Tostadas de atún, because it was fast, easy and perfect for the day. I also decided I’d make my Grandma Lupe’s horchata de melon or agua de melon, a very cool and refreshing drink made of cantaloupe seeds. It was always my favorite agua fresca in the summertime and my grandkids love it just as much as I did.

While Aiden and I were working on lunch Monica and the girls came in from outside and Monica very kindly offered to take pictures since my camera is broken and I am not so patiently waiting for my new one to arrive. Thanks Monica!

Tostadas de atún

Tostada shells (store bought like we use or you can make your own)
Canned tuna (we use albacore in spring water)
Mayonnaise (optional)
Lettuce or other green leafy (on this day we used Mache)
Fresh lime or lemon juice to taste
Chopped tomato
Chopped green onions
Chopped cilantro
Finely chopped fresh jalapeno peppers (optional)
Avocado chopped for the tuna and some slices for garnish
Powdered chile limon, sometimes called pico de gallo (optional)
Canned corn, chopped celery, chopped cucumbers, pickles, canned jalapenos (all optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
Tapatio or other chile sauce to taste

Add tuna to a mixing bowl and add the chopped tomato, avocado, cilantro and green onion along with any thing else you want to toss in. Add about a quarter cup of mayonnaise if you want it creamy or just add the juice of one squeezed lemon or lime if you want it plain. I use both.

Scoop it onto a tostada shell and garnish with avocado slices. Add Tapatio sauce if desired and a squirt of fresh lime.

Horchata de melon/Cantaloupe orchata

The seeds of one cantaloupe
Sugar or honey to taste
Ice
Water

Slice a chilled cantaloupe and scoop out the seeds and put into a blender.
Add about a cup of ice and water to almost fill the blender.
Puree for about five minutes, then strain through a sieve lined with cheesecloth to get all the seeds out.
Add sugar or honey to taste and more ice if desired. Serve.

One of the things I love most about the cold weather celebrations in Mexican households is the traditional ponche (hot fruit punch). There is nothing like it. The smell is incredible, it’s packed with stewed fruit and has an unbelievable flavor. You can add a dash of tequila for someone who wants an extra kick to hit, but I love it just as it is. It’s one of my favorite things and I look forward to it every year. I knew I just had to make some for my guests at the tamalada.

In ponche, there are some hard-to-find ingredients but they are absolutely necessary or it just won’t be the same. Fortunately, the ingredients are getting easier to find here in L.A. One of the main ingredients, tejocotes, used to be virtually impossible to get unless you went to Mexico and brought them over canned since you can’t bring fresh fruit across the border.

I found fresh ones!

The tejocote is what gives the ponche it’s unusually delicious flavor and without it, it’s just so-so. I’ve been lucky in the past few years being able to find them (at somewhat high prices) frozen. This year, I hit the tejocote lottery and found them fresh! I paid a high price per pound, but the ponche was amazing and it was worth it.

The fruit about to cook

I’m using my grandmother Lupe’s recipe, originally written in Spanish so the measurements may be a little off. I never measure and I never could translate grams and litres into cups and teaspoons.

Some of my guests came in cold from the weather and a hot cup of ponche was just the thing to warm hands and tummies.

Ponche (Mexican Hot Fruit Punch)

1 ½ pounds Tejocotes
1 ½ pounds Guayabas (guavas), not very ripe
1 pound of apples (I used Gala) sliced into rings so that the star in the middle shows
1 pound of Caña (sugar cane) – you can get it frozen in Mexican specialty stores if you can’t find it fresh. If fresh, chop into 2-inch sections and peel. If frozen you can add it right in, it’s already sectioned and peeled.
10 prunes
1 piece of piloncillo (Mexican brown sugar cone)
1 handful of flor de Jamaica (hibiscus flowers, dried)
1 cup of pineapple chunks or rings (optional)
1 dried piece of tamarindo (tamarind), peeled (optional)
Tequila or rum (optional)

Wash all the fruit, peel the sugar cane and slice the apples.
Soak the hibiscus flowers in cold water for about five minutes and strain.
Put a big pot on the stove half filled with cold water and add the tejocotes and cinnamon sticks. Let come to a boil, then add all the fruit and piloncillo. Make sure that the water covers all the fruit. Cook on a medium heat, covered till all the fruit is soft.

Serve hot with some of the cooked fruit in the cup. Add a dash of tequila or rum if desired.