Flan de Mango

Omigod. This year’s weather has sucked. We’ve had -17F one day, then just 2 days later it was close to 60F, and now again the temps dipped into the single digits and windchills bellow 0F. That’s it people. The time has come for me to start writing a blog on cooking seals and decorating your igloos. It’s time I let my inner Eskimo-Martha Stewart loose! It’s too bad I don’t eat fish because I would totally try to make a mockumentary of “My life as an Eskimo in Cleveland”.  Maybe a network would see me and offer me my own TV series “Breaking Eskimo” or “The Real Eskimo guys of Cuyahoga County”. 

At least this year promises to be a bit more “social” for me. During the last 2 years I’ve barely had time to see my friends and to do fun stuff. Really, I’ve barely seen anyone. Obviously, it wasn’t on purpose, but it happened regardless. Well, it’s over now. Maybe it’s because I have finally achieved some kind of balance between work and my so-called social life. Seriously, you can only work so much before you are burned out, and totally exhausted. Or maybe it is because I’ve been watching way too many episodes of Super Fun Night. Let’s get real; there’s nothing that can happen to Kimmie that can’t happen, or hasn’t happened to me. Well, except for the girls-only issues. All I’m trying to say is that weird things happen to me when I’m in public places. Let’s leave it at that. But in a surprisingly incident-free season, we’ve been to cool bars and restaurants, to movies and to concerts. All fun!

Well, maybe I should add the disclaimer stating that not all things meant to be enjoyed were actually enjoyed. Some were not fun at all. Let’s say that I went on a 15 minute rant about how much I hated a particular piece of music (Yes, they had the nerve to call it music, I called it total CRAP) performed by the Cleveland Orchestra. Everything else was fine, but I really felt insulted by that garbage they played. Really insulted. Enough to make me go on a 15 minute rant-kind of insulted. But that’s in the past, and we just have to let it go. I did really enjoy the other 2/3 of the concert, though.

Anyway, it’s been fun, and it’s been cold. That’s the bottom line. Besides that, or maybe because of that, I’ve been craving desserts for a few days now. I’ve made ice cream recently (eggnog flavored) but it did not satisfy my cravings. I’ve been thinking on making a mango upside-down cake for a while now, but when I had the chance, I decided to teach myself how to make mug cakes instead. Oh, Angel. I did make a good “yellow cake” mug cake and served it with custard instead of frosting (or instead of crème anglaise). Still, I had enough of my cravings and I did what any other good Latino would: I made a flan to get it over with. 

Well, it wasn’t just a flan. I took the mangoes that had been waiting for the cake, and used it to make a Flan de Mango. I dropped the caramel part and used the mangoes and their “light syrup” as my substitute. I used their syrup only because they were organic mangoes and the syrup was made of only water and sugar, not a single ingredient more. The Flan de Mango turned out very, very good. However, even though I tried, the pictures I took did not make my flan justice (as we say); my bad. Just take my word for it: It was so good! 

The custard part of the flan was awesome. But the real happiness it brought came from the mangoes. I grew up with a big, badass Mango Tree in my backyard. Sometimes mangoes would literally fall from the tree and get into my bedroom by themselves. So by mid-February the tree starts its mango production and lasts about a month and a half. Some years my parents manage to send me some of those amazing mangoes, and they bring me a little bit of the tropics with them. In Puerto Rico, we don’t have groundhogs and by extension no Groundhog Day (or winter to be predicted, I should say). But to me, nothing says “spring will come” like eating mangoes. And this flan was like my own personal Groundhog Day, and it told me to hold on, Spring is near!

On the road shortcut

Nutritional info per serving (4 servings)

267 calories, 45 g carbs, 6 g fat, 8 g protein

Ingredients

1 can mangoes in light syrup

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon (plus more to sprinkle – optional)

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg (plus more to sprinkle – optional)

4 large eggs

1 cup 2% Milk

½ cup granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the mangoes with their syrup, the cinnamon and the nutmeg in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil. Simmer until most of the syrup has evaporated. Pour into a large sized soufflé dish (1 ½ quart), set it aside and let it cool.

Mix the eggs, milk, sugar and vanilla extract. Strain the mix through a sieve over the cooled mangoes. They will float (I bet fresh ones wouldn’t). Bake in a water bath at 350F between 65 to 85 minutes. Insert a toothpick and if it comes clean, it’s done. Let it cool, and refrigerate for at least 4 hrs (I do overnight) before serving. 

(Optional- Dust some more cinnamon and nutmeg for decoration.)

Orange Ice Cream

Summer is almost (and practically) over. For the most part, it was a short, hot, rainy summer, and just when it finally started behaving like a good summer should, it was over. But there's no point in dwelling on it anymore. After all, life is all about endings and new beginnings. Gone with the summer are friends who officially said farewell to the city and moved on to new lives and new adventures. In fact, for the second time this summer, I had to say goodbye to a cherished friend. I had planned to stop by the airport last Sunday afternoon to say farewell to our friend. But before that I had to buy groceries for the week. As if it wasn't an emotionally charged day, I came to the sad realization that gone were the days when cherries and berries popped at every corner of the market, and that soon many more would follow. There you go Ángel; you've got your memo: "summer was over". 

I managed to finish my groceries without falling victim of depression, but I was hungry. Sweetie, hungry is an understatement. I was starving. The only logical thing for me to do was to stop at the ice cream parlor next door, and get me some ice cream. (Just for the record I was hungry, not stress eating...) Oh, was I disappointed with my ice cream? I won't go into details of why, but I wasn't too happy. So now summer was over, ice cream was bad, and my friend was leaving. I've just had it. It was about time for me to take matters in my own (brown) hands. Of course, I could do nothing to extend the summer (since I'm not that good at the whole messing with the weather with magic - a la "The craft") and I wasn't about to tie our friend to the city so she wouldn't fly away. But I could do something about the ice cream situation, and as God is my witness, I did. 

 I decided to make an orange ice cream, which is the simplest thing in the world, but the reward is completely out of this world. Sometimes I make low fat ice cream and frozen yogurt, but there is nothing like the real thing. I decided to just go all Paula Deen (minus the butter, y'all) and get a great ice cream that will 1, make me forget about that other ice cream, 2, make me feel better after the farewell and 3, help me extend that summery feeling for just a bit longer. 

Normally I would squeeze oranges for their juice, but I still had store-bought 100% orange juice from the farewell party we had a weekend ago, so I used that instead. To add some complexity, and more of a natural taste, I decided to  incorporate the zest of an orange. I started by adding the zest to the sugar. Then, I added orange juice, heavy cream, and half and half. That's all it takes.

I mixed everything and transferred the mix to the ice cream maker, and after 25 minutes, it was ready. I transferred the content to an air-tight container, and froze it. (Don't have an ice cream machine? Check these machine-free ice cream making techniques:  5 ways of making ice cream-no machine required, Custard-style ice cream making-machine free.) I transferred the content to an air-tight container, and froze it. A few hours of freezing (3-4) gave good results in terms of consistency, but it was PERFECT after freezing overnight.

Oh, I have to say this is one of my favorite ice creams. I love the flavor, because the OJ and the orange zest give it great aroma and a somewhat sweet, yet delicate flavor. All that heavy cream made the ice cream, well, creamy. It had a perfect consistency so it scooped beautifully.

I usually don't care too much about calories in ice cream (as long as it's simple and not filled with brownies, moose tracks, and such) because the serving sizes are not that big. They are usually less than 400 calories (this one has 389 calories for a generous 1/2 cup). It's not bad for such an indulgence! Just like with booze consume responsably. 

On the road shortcut

2 cups sugar

Zest of an orange

1 cup orange juice

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups half and half

Combine all the ingredients, and mix well. Transfer to an ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

Nutritional info:

Serving size: 1/2 cup (10 servings): 389 calories, 45g carbs, 22g fat, 2g protein. 

Blondies

It’s almost Halloween. I’m not sure why, but I’m excited. To be honest, as a kid I didn’t really care for Halloween; I didn’t get excited about wearing costumes and I didn’t really like candy that much either. Now that I think about it, I’m quite surprised that my parents didn’t take me to a psychiatrist or to some sort of counseling service during my childhood. A kid who doesn’t like candy? We’ve all seen Dexter; there's only so many ways this story can end… Just when you thought I couldn’t be any weirder, I feel compelled to confess I hated birthday cake too. People get a bit touchy when it comes to celebrating life events so I had to bite the bullet and eat the damned cakes, but every time I had to, I thought of how annoying it was the fact that there was always a cake. I would do my best to get rid of most of the frosting, “the worst part of the cake”, and I’d dig in. So I guess it won’t be hard to understand that I never insisted in getting the sugar flower either.

I’m glad to say that somehow I didn't grow up to be a psycho (although I can be very mean, especially when I’m hungry). Although I never developed a sweet tooth per se, I do enjoy deserts now. A few years back I visited our neighborhood’s bakery in Cleveland Heights and I discovered a simple dessert that stole my heart, the blondie. I am not a brownie person (no racism implied) so I was eager to try this “alternative”, but I did not expect to get hooked. Blondies are dense, flavorful, and you can whip them up faster than what it takes Cleveland to get cold (BTW, it’s still October and we already had at least 3 inches of snow, just saying).

I decided to make a special Halloween treat and share it with y’all in advance, hoping I can inspire you to make a special something for the grownups to enjoy on October 31st. In the spirit of Halloween, I’m somewhat ignoring the calorie aspect of these blondies and calling for moderation instead, although with these, it's a hard thing to ask for. I made two batches of blondies: M&M blondies, and Butterfinger blondies. They turned out so delicious and I must admit it is quite hard to eat just one.  I’m planning on making them again to eat while we hand out candy to the neighborhood kids . Enjoy, and Happy Halloween!

On the road shortcut

Recipe adapted from the Smitten Kitchen blog

Nutritional info per serving (9 servings):
M&M blondies:
240 calories,  30 g carbs, 13 g fat, 2 g protein

Butterfinger blondies:
251 calories, 33 g carbs, 13 g fat, 2 g protein

1 stick of butter, melted

1 cup of brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

A pinch of salt

1 cup of flour

A package of M&M (peanut M&Ms, about ½ cup, but it’s better if you use 1 cup, though), or 2 packages of Butterfingers (about ¾ cups), roughly chopped

Using an electric mixer beat the butter and the brown sugar until they are smooth. Add the egg and the vanilla extract and keep mixing. Stir in the salt and the flour. Pour the batter into a greased 8”x 8" baking dish and bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes (the M&M ones were done in less than 25, but the Butterfingers took close to 30 minutes).

Note: I've had great success mixing the ingredients by hand, so the electric mixer is not absolutely necessary.