Capirotada 10-20-10

8/8/2019 Capirotada 10-20-10

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8/8/2019 Capirotada 10-20-10


dissertation on the difference between Cassia and Ceylon cinnamon. You'd fall

asleep before I'd finish. Suffice it to say that they are radically different. Ceylon

(Mexican) cinnamon is highly floral and deliciously different. You can find out

more about it at Penzeys Spices' website http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-

bin/penzeys/p-penzeyscinnamon.html

4. The last difference is the addition of, are you ready for this? Hold on. Before I tell

you, you need to open your mind. Take a second and open your mind. Okay, you

ready now? Capirotada has cheese in it. Give me a second here. “Your Honor, I

would like to submit into evidence people's exhibit one--cheese danishes, and

people's exhibit two--New England apple pie (which frequently contains cheddar

cheese). Lastly Judge, I would like to submit exhibit three: CHEESECAKE! :-)

Thank you your Honor.” :-)

Okay, more on the variations. I know that all dishes have variations, but capirotada has

more than the average bear. In fact, I grew up thinking the word meant hodgepodge.

People prepare it with a plethora of ingredients. So many that my grandfather Papa Julio

once told me you could even put bologna in it. You should have seen my face, four-year-

old mouth wide open, in shock. I couldn't believe it. Turns out he was pulling my leg.He was quite amused. He said, “No mijo, I'm just kidding. You wouldn’t want to put

bologna in it, but you could use pretty much anything else you wanted. People put all

kinds of things in capirotada.” My papa Julio was a great cook so I'm going to go with

what he said. Well you know, minus the bologna. Enough yapping. Let's get to the

recipe.

Capirotada aka Mexican Bread Pudding Recipe:

Ingredients:

Sufficient bread to fill a 13x9x2 baking pan, cubed

2½ Cups Water

2 Cups light brown sugar

2 Ceylon cinnamon sticks

http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeyscinnamon.html




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1 Teaspoon anise seed in a tea ball or wrapped tightly in a coffee filter.

1 Cup total mix of raisins, currants and dried cherries plumped in triple sec or orange

juice. (you should start plumping the dried fruit half hour or more before you plan

on making the capirotada)

2 apples peeled, cored and chopped

1 cup chopped pecans

2 cups Mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Plump the raisins if you haven't started that already.

To plump the raisins, place them in a clear measuring cup add triple sec or orange

juice till it's ¾ covered in liquid. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave on high

for one minute. Let them sit preferably at least 30 minutes to get fat and happy.

2. Toast the bread in the pan uncovered for 10 minutes. Take it out of the oven. Toss

it around a bit to make sure it is toasting evenly. Put it back in the oven and toast

another 10 minutes or until it is nice and happy (happy means it's nice and

brown). Start making your syrup while the bread is in the oven.

3. Add Water, and brown sugar into a saucepan, stir till the sugar is dissolved. Addthe cinnamon and optional anise seeds. Bring the syrup to a boil and then slow it

down to a nice slow simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes. Get ready to get impressed

by the smell :-) Remove the cinnamon and anise seeds after ten minutes. Make

sure there are not little slivers of cinnamon swimming around in the water. Btw

the cinnamon sticks can be used several times.

4. In a large bowl, toss the toasted bread with the cinnamon syrup. Add the cheese

and pecans mix well till evenly distributed. DON'T worry if there is a lot of extra

syrup floating around. It will get absorbed by the bread and or evaporate in the

oven.

5. Place all the ingredients in a GREASED 13x9x2 baking pan (that is standard sized

baking dish. I'm sure you have one in your kitchen) and bake for 20 minutes at

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350 degrees covered with aluminum foil. Make sure you spray the foil with

vegetable oil or it will stick to the pudding. Remove the foil after the first 20

minutes and bake another 15 minutes uncovered.

6. You are done. Kick back and enjoy your capirotada. Speaking of YOUR, check

out the Make It Your Own section to truly make it your own.

Make It Your Own: Variations- just remember, the better your ingredients the better

your end product.

1. Basically, you can use any bread you want to. Cinnamon raisin bread, sourdough,

French bread, Italian bread, Whole Wheat (I like whole wheat). It's your kitchen

use what you like :-)

2. You want to go totally authentic? Use 16 ounces piloncillo instead of the light

brown sugar. You could also use dark brown sugar. Dark brown sugar is actually

much closer to the authentic piloncillo. However, I realize most of you aren't

going to want to hunt down piloncillo in a Mexican grocer. Therefore, feel free to

use what you likely do have i.e. light brown sugar.

3. You can substitute 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon for the cinnamon sticks.4. You could put a whole clove or two in the syrup. That would be totally authentic.

5. You could also add a ¼ to ½ teaspoon of nutmeg into the syrup. That would also

be totally legit.

6. You could add a teaspoon of vanilla, almond, orange, or lemon extract to the

syrup after it has simmered.

7. You may use any dried fruit that flips your switch, dried apricots, pineapples,

mangoes, peaches, bananas, papaya, you get the point.

8. Instead of fresh apples you could use one cup of fresh peaches, mangoes, pears,

passion fruit or whatever fruit floats your boat.

9. For the nuts you could use a mixture of nuts or use walnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts,

almonds... You could even add jelly beans.

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Articles/Ethnic-Unique-Foods-Ingredients-645/piloncillo.aspx




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10.Instead of mozzarella you could go authentic and use 2 Cups White “Asadero,” or

“Chihuahua,” (it's not made with Chihuahua dog milk silly :-) or “Queso Blanco.”

You could definitely use Fontina cheese. Use any good melting cheese.

Here are some more Fall pictures of my hometown

Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

By The creek

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The Creek

Beauty Under Your Nose/Right Off the Highway

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The whole town is a big “Maple Maze”

Arms Outstretched

Capirotada 10-20-10

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