Showing posts with label fruit. Show all posts
Can you believe that it's already September?  Where did August go?  And more importantly, where did summer disappear to?  I know "technically" summer starts June 20th/21st and usually ends on my birthday (Sept. 22nd).  But for those of us with kiddies, summer is that long vacation when the kiddies are out of school.

Here in Mexico, we definitely get the short end of the stick.  Hope (my eldest) only had five weeks of summer vacation, while the other kiddies got six.  Sure we enjoyed our summer vacation and all, but five or six weeks is not nearly enough time to do all of the fun things we wanted to do this summer.  And I didn't even have time to make my favorite summer pie...Fresh Mango Pie with Maseca Crumb Topping.

I've been making this pie every summer for as long as Hubby and I have been married.  (We'll be celebrating our 18th anniversary in October!)  So for us, it really isn't summer without this pie.  And what better time to make it than right before Labor Day, the US's unofficial end of summer?  You can take the girl out of the US, but you can't take away her love of American holidays.  (FYI: Labor Day in Mexico is May 1st.)

If you're a fan of peach pie, then you're going to love Fresh Mango Pie.

*When choosing your mangoes, you want them more unripened than ripened.  Because the riper the mango, the greater chance of your mango filling turning to mush.


Fresh Mango Pie w/ Maseca Crumb Topping

Maseca (Masa Harina) Pie Crust: 
  • 1-1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup masa harina (I used Maseca)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt 
  • 2/3 cup cold butter 
  • 2 tablespoons very cold water
Mango Filling: 
  • 6 mangoes (slightly unripened), peeled and sliced
  • 1 lime, juice only
  • 1-1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 to 2/3 cup cornstarch* (I used unflavored Maizena) 
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 2 tablespoons cold butter, cut up in small pieces
Crumb Topping: 
  • 4 to 6 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:
Let's start with the pie crust.  Combine the flour, masa harina, and salt in a medium mixing bowl.  Using a potato masher, mash the butter into the flour mixture until most of the flour has been incorporated and no large pieces of butter are visible.


Using a wooden spoon, stir in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough forms a ball.  Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.


Preheat oven to 350F.  Between 2 sheets of plastic wrap roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness.  Carefully transfer the dough to a pie plate.  Trim off excess pie dough.  With a fork, pork holes in the pie crust to prevent the dough from rising during baking.  Reserve the dough scraps for later use.  (You should have enough dough leftover to almost fill a one-cup measuring cup.)

In a large bowl, combine the mango slices and lime juice.  Stir in the sugar, cornstarch, ground cinnamon, and ground ginger.  Pour mango filling into pastry-lined pie plate.  Dot with the 2 tablespoons of butter.  *The riper your mangoes, the more cornstarch you'll need.  Since half of my mangoes were kind of ripe, I used 2/3 cup of cornstarch.

To make the crumb topping, combine the leftover dough with brown sugar, ground cinnamon, and finely chopped pecans.  (I like to use my potato masher to mix my crumb topping.)  Crumble pieces of the crumb topping on top of the mango filling.


Place pie plate on top of a larger cookie sheet, in case some of the filling bubbles over.  Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.  If crust and topping is browning too fast, cover lightly with aluminum foil and continue baking for another 20 minutes.  Let cool to room temperature.


Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Enjoy!!!


You might also like my Creamy Mango Pie.

For more delicious ideas to help you celebrate Labor Day and the end of summer, be sure to check out these #SundaySupper recipes: 

Starters & Snacks

Main Dishes

Salads & Sides

Drinks

Desserts

Wine Pairings

  • Labor Day Cookout Food And Wine Pairings by ENOFYLZ
Please be sure you join us on Twitter throughout the day during #SundaySupper. We’ll be meeting up at 7:00 p.m. EST for our weekly #SundaySupper  live chat where we’ll talk about our favorite cookout recipes!
All you have to do is follow the #SundaySupper hashtag, or you can follow us throughTweetChat!
We’d also love to feature your Cookout recipes on our #SundaySupper Pinterest board and share them with all of our followers!

Photobucket


Fresh Mango Pie w/ Maseca Crumb Topping #SundaySupper

Read more »
Today is the last day of May and that can only mean two things:
  1. The sticky, stuffy, can't breathe, eat or sleep heatwave is down to its last weeks.  Rain season should be here soon, offering relief from the unbearable, mid-90 degree temperatures that are the highest temps my small town has seen in 50 years (or so I'm told). 
  2. Pitaya season is also coming to an end.  (Hangs head in extreme sadness)   

What is a pitaya? 
For those of you that are unfamiliar with Pitayas, they are a delicious cactus fruit only available during the hottest month of the year, which happens to be May, where I live. 

Not to be confused with tunas (prickly pears), Pitayas are the sweet, sometimes sour, fruit of the organ pipe cactus, also known as a pitayo.   
 
A Pitayo Cactus

This particular pitayo is located at El Rancho and is at least 100 years old.  During our Semana Santa camping trip, you could already see the pitayas starting to bloom.

Pitayo in bloom


Pitaya Picking 101
Now that you know what pitayas are, you may be wondering how the pitaya gets from the cactus to the market or in my case, my front door. 

Campesinos (farmers/farm workers), wake up before dawn to start picking pitayas.  You see, as the sun rises, the ripe pitayas open up, attracting the attention of the early birds looking for the proverbial worm.  But that old saying has it all wrong.  It should be, "The early bird catches the pitaya."

Pitayas are covered with hundreds of thin, little needles that serve to protect the fruit from birds and animals.  These espinas can make pitaya picking rather difficult.  Most campesinos use a rustic tool that they fashion out of dried reeds.  Locally this tool is called a chicole. 

Chicole hanging on the wall at El Rancho

Since pitayos can grow to be several meters high, most chicoles are very long.  The tip of the chicole is separated into three or four sections, creating a sort of nest or basket for a single pitaya to fit into snuggly.



Again, organ pipe cacti are very tall and it's darn near impossible for the campesinos who are standing underneath the cactus to see whether or not a certain pitaya is ripe.  A ripe pitaya can be easily plucked from the cactus when touched with the chicole.  Unripe pitayas can't be budged. 

The pitayas are then placed in a large basket and the small group of campesinos head to town in the back of a pick-up truck.  During the drive in to town, the campesinos remove all of the needles from the pitayas.

Basket full of freshly picked pitayas

The pitayas are then carefully stacked inside a large basket called a quilihua and are now ready to be sold to the public.

Quilihua filled with pitayas

Prices vary from town to town.  The average price here is about 5 or 6 pesos per pitaya, which isn't expensive considering all of the hard work involved.  Some pitayeros (pitaya vendors) prefer to sell door to door.  If you happen to be a preferred customer who buys large quantities of pitayas, like 30 to 40 at a time, the price drops down to 3 pesos per pitaya.  Not bad considering that they are delivered right to  my  your front door.   


How to eat a pitaya 
Underneath the hundreds of needles, pitayas are also protected by their cascara (peel).  To eat your pitaya, one must carefully remove the peel.  I say "carefully", because many times you'll find a stray needle or two in each pitaya.

Pitaya con cascara

Removing the cascara is our favorite part of sitting down to enjoy a pitaya.  We are always amazed to see the assortment of brightly colored fruits.  Pitayas come in various shades of yellow, orange, red, purple and pink.  The rarest of all is the white pitaya. 



As for texture, I liken pitayas to kiwis.  Maybe it's because of the tiny black seeds. 



Pitayas for the most part are sweet.  The first pitayas of the season tend to be more sour, as are the white ones.   It is this blogger's opinion that the yellow and orange pitayas are the sweetest and best tasting pitayas of all.


Pitayas are one of the rare fruits that are eaten without salt and lime juice.  Pitayas can also be used to make agua fresca, sorbet or almibar (syrup) for nieve raspada (snow cones).

And now you know just about everything there is to know about pitayas.






*Note: A very special Thank You to my Hubby, my suegro and my brother-in-law Gerry for sharing this valuable information that they learned from first-hand experience about pitayas.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Pitayas

Read more »


It's time, once again, to play your favorite game and mine...NAME THAT FOOD!  (Applause!)

Today's mystery food is a fruit called Guamuchiles.  They grow on thorny trees also called Guamuchiles.  The fruit pods resemble very plump green beans.  The fruit itself is very firm and can be white or pink in color.  And each guamuchil has a black seed inside.


To eat the guamuchiles, you must remove the outer green layer and the black seeds, leaving the white or pink fruit to be eaten raw.  This is one of the few fruits that aren't eaten with salt, chile and lime juice.

As for it's flavor, let me just say that it's an acquired taste.  When I first tried guamuchiles, I didn't care for them much.  They tasted like grass or leaves and left a bitter taste in my mouth.  I later learned that the pink guamuchiles are much sweeter than the white.  I'm still not a big fan of guamuchiles, but I can eat a couple every once and a while.  Hubby and his family are crazy about them. 

If you're in Mexico and you happen upon Guamuchiles in the market, buy a few and taste them for yourself.  But be warned, don't eat too many, because they produce a lot of gas.   

Photobucket

Guamuchiles

Read more »
Pastel de Guayaba (Guava Cake) is a moist and delicious cake that I love to make for the holidays.  From the moment you start making the Guava-sauce up until you take this cake out the oven, your house will smell SO unbelievably delicious.  I just love the combination of cinnamon and guavas.  To me, that is what Christmas should smell like.  It's amazing.

The taste is similar to a spice cake.  The first time my sister-in-law tried this cake, she said it was like biting into a guava. 

Pastel de Guayaba

Ingredients:

  • 2-1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cups Guava-sauce
  • 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (optional)


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease and flour a 10-inch round pan.



In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda and baking powder; set aside.



In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the oil and sugar.



Add the eggs, one at a time, until well combined.



Whisk in the guava-sauce.



Add one third of the flour mixture, stirring well until the flour disappears.  Repeat with the remaining flour.



Stir in the chopped pecans.



Pour batter into the prepared cake pan.



Bake at 350F for  or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 to 55 minutes.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes.  Remove cake from pan and place on a wire rack to cool until room temperature.

Place cake on serving platter and top with powdered sugar.  Enjoy!!!


Wrap any leftover cake in aluminum foil.  This cake tastes even better the next day!

Photobucket

Pastel de Guayaba {Guava Cake}

Read more »
Another one of my favorite Fall fruits are guayabas (guavas).  Guavas are a delicious fruit with an intense aroma.  Just having them in my kitchen makes the whole house smell absolutely yummy.

But if you really want your house to smell good, especially for the holidays, then I recommend making guava-sauce.  It's like applesauce, but made with guavas instead.   You can use guava-sauce in cakes, muffins, danishes and empanadas. 

*Guavas are rich in Vitamin C.  One guava contains 4 times the amount of Vitamin C as an orange.  (Thank you, Wikipedia!)

Guavasauce

Ingredients:
  • 2 pounds guavas
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon


Directions:
Cut guavas in half cross-wise.






With a small spoon or melon baller, scoop out the guava seeds.  Don't throw them away!  Store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator to use in another recipe, I will share in the next couple of days.  (Guava seeds are edible, but I prefer my guavasauce without seeds.)



 
Place the guavas in a 2qt. saucepan.  Add the sugar, cinnamon and water.  (The cinnamon really enhances the guava flavor.) 





Cook the guavas over medium heat for 20 minutes, or until the guavas are very tender.  Use a potato masher to break up the guayaba into little pieces.  If you don't like a chunky guava-sauce, puree with an immersion blender, food processor or blender.






Enjoy!!!



Photobucket

Guavasauce

Read more »

We received a large bag of granadas (pomegranates) today from one of my Hubby's cousins.  My kiddies love granadas and have been eating them ALL afternoon. 

A lot of people like to eat pomegranates, but they don't like to peel them because they think it's too much of a hassle and too messy.  But I'm here to tell you that pomegranates are very easy to peel, with very little mess.

The first messy mistake many make is cutting the pomegranate into wedges with a knife.  Don't do it!  By cutting the pomegranate, you're also cutting the arils (seed), causing them to release their bright red juices.  Juice equals mess.  Only use the knife to make a 1/4-inch incision down the side of the pomegranate.



Using the cut as your guide, break open the pomegranate with your hands like you would break off a piece of bread.



Use your fingertips to loosen the arils.  *Keep a damp washcloth nearby to wipe your hands every once and awhile, as well as a lime wedge.  The lime will come in handy to eliminate any accidental stains on your clothes.


Pomegranate seeds can be eaten plain or topped with salt and lime juice.  Enjoy!!!



Photobucket

How to peel a pomegranate

Read more »
A couple of months ago, the beginning of Summer to be exact, I had a sumptuous recipe to share with all of you.  It was THE perfect recipe to use all of the wonderful Summer fruits available at the market. As I was writing the recipe and uploading the pics, my internet connection went out.  I didn't think that it was going to be a problem, because Blogger automatically saves your drafts every couple of minutes. While I waited for my internet connection to return, I decided to do a little Spring Cleaning with the pics on my computer.  I copied my favorite pics to a disc and deleted the rest, including my food pics that I had already used on this blog.  And being ever-so-slightly OCD, I even deleted everything in my recycling bin.

When my internet connection finally returned, I immediately went back to finish the recipe I had been working on.  Well...imagine my surprise when I saw that none of what I had written had been saved, nor had the pics. Noooooo! That really is one of the worst things that could happen to a food blogger.  I was devastated.

Fast forward to today...
I was working on the my recipe index and was looking through my Picassa Web Albums for pics.  Now imagine what a surprise it was to find the pics of the Summer Fruit recipe I had wanted to post months ago!  Woo-hoo!  I am so happy and excited that I just have to share the recipe before I lose the pics again.

The actual name of this fruit dish is Bionico, but here in town we also call it a Preparado.  It's a very popular breakfast at the town's market.  It's a fruit salad make with a mixture of your favorite fruits, Mexican crema sweetened with honey and ground cinnamon and topped with your choice of granola, strawberry jam and/or shredded coconut.

If you want a lighter, healthier Bionico, substitute plain yogurt for the Mexican crema.  This is a great fruit salad to make all year long, using whatever fruits are in season at the moment.

Bionicos (Mexican Fruit Salad) - lacocinadeleslie.com

 Bionicos (Mexican Fruit Salad)
lacocinadeleslie.com

Ingredients:
  • 2 cups Mexican crema or plain yogurt
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • Apple
  • Papaya
  • Banana
  • Strawberries
  • Mango
  • Guavas
  • Granola (for garnish)
  • Strawberry jam (for garnish)
  • Shredded coconut (for garnish)

Directions:
In a medium bowl, mix together the Mexican crema, honey, sugar and ground cinnamon until the sugar dissolves; refrigerate until ready to use.

Peel and chop your favorite fruits into bite-sized pieces. (I used banana, strawberries, apples, papaya, guavas, and mango.)  You need about 1 cup of fruit per serving. Pour the crema mixture over the fruit; stir gently to combine.

Spoon the fruit mixture into individual bowls or cups.  Top with a dollop of strawberry jam, and sprinkle top with shredded coconut and granola. Enjoy!

Breakfast Bionico (Mexican Fruit Salad) - lacocinadeleslie.com











Happy Lil' Surprise: Bionicos (Mexican Fruit Salad)

Read more »
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)