Now, you might be asking: what does this have to do with the Farmers’ Market? Everything.  The secret ingredient:   L A R D .  That’s right;  lard, from none other than our local meatsmith, the Rib King.  You see, a good Pan Sobao’s soft texture and indomitable moistness is achieved by a nearly scientific application of 100% organic, farm raised pig lard (or “Lard Almighty” as they like to call it).

Pan Sobao For Bread Machines

Set your machine on its dough (non-baking) setting and add each ingredient in the following order:

1 3/4 cup warm water

1 Tbsp sugar (I use organic granulated cane sugar)

1 Tbsp farm-raised lard

1 tsp salt

4 cups bread flour

1 Tbsp active dry yeast

Set the machine and go go go!  My machine has a second kneading cycle – at this point I add another 2 teaspoons of sugar to sweeten the dough.  This is to avoid any potential over-leavening that might occur if I add it in the beginning.   When the dough is ready, quickly divide it between four greased 8″ long bread pans.  You can really use any size you want, just make sure they’re bread pans because otherwise you might end up with a dry bread – this would be a very sad Pan Sobao!

As the dough is settling and beginning to rise again, preheat your oven to 400 degrees and prepare the glaze in  a small bowl:

1 Tbsp warm water

1 Tsp sugar

Allow the dough to rise for about 10-15 minutes, then brush on the glaze and put the pans in the oven immediately.   Bake for 10-20 minutes, or until the top of the bread is just turning a golden brown color.

Enjoy your fabulous Pan Sobao alone, or with a nice café con leche!  Que Rico!

Happy Girl Kitchen Co ketchup

Ok so I’ve never had homemade or organic ketchup before. It was always Heinz for me but when I came across Happy Girl Kitchen Co with their beautiful tent at the downtown Farmer’s Market I had to give in and spend more money than I’m used to for this ketchup. I’m glad I did. It’s soo good we actually say “what can we make to put this delicious ketchup on?”. If you ever see them stop by and say hello. The guy that helped me was great and very helpful.

You can buy some of their goods online too. Check them out at http://happygirlkitchen.com/

We topped our cupcakes with our farmercooker.com logo and we where ready to go!

For CupCake Camp we took our delicious Almond Yoshimis. A recipe derived from the puertorrican bizcocho borracho and redvelvet cake. The CupCakes where a success at the Camp and at home with the fam. I’m posting the recipe today so you can have a chance to try it at home and let us know what you think!

Cake Recipe

3 1/2 cups of flour (cake flour is best)

12 egg yolks (yep, 12)

8 egg whites

2 1/2 cups of white sugar

4 bars of unsalted butter (1lb)

1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

1 tsp of red food coloring

Syrup

2 cups of white sugar

3 cups of water

Brandy (for every cup of syrup add 1 tbsp)

Frosting

2 packages of cream cheese (1lb)

1/2 cup of butter

2 cups of confectionar’s sugar (sifted)

1 1/2 tsp of almond extract

1/4 cup Almond shavings

Crumbs from one of the cupcakes (for show)

Now, how to make it

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Let’s start with the cake. Beat the sugar and the butter until they’re creamy, and I mean creamy. Beat it for at least 3 minutes at high speed. Add the 12 egg yolks one by one. Add the tsp of vanilla and red food coloring into the mix (You can also add some Almond extract in addition to the vanilla). Once all these wet ingredients are mixed, start adding the 3 1/2 cups of flour slowly at low speed, towards the end don’t over-beat it.

In a separate bowl beat the 8 egg whites until they’re at meringue consistency. You’ll know they’re ready if it leaves a peak as you lift the mixer up. Now take the meringue and with a wooden spoon fold it in to the cake mixture slowly and gently.

Pour the mixture into your container. (I’m sure you have you oven preheated by now at 350*) If it’s a big pan then I recommend around 45 minutes in the oven but for the cupcakes I’d say somewhere around 20 to 30 minutes depending on your oven. Just remember the rule: if you poke your cake and the knife or toothpick comes out clean, it’s ready.

This is the batter before the egg whites.

While the cake is brewing start making the Syrup

Bring the 3 cups of water to a boil. Add the sugar slowly and let it boil until the water gets a soft caramel color. Move it around constantly with a wooden spoon so the sugar doesn’t stick to the bottom. Later let the syrup stand at room temperature and once it’s not hot anymore add the Brandy.

Remember

Both the cake and syrup must be cold before you combine them and then wait a little more before you put the frosting on.

Since the top of the cake is a little caramelized the syrup was just falling down the sides so we came up with this idea to make the syrup go into the cupcake.

When the cupcakes came out we poked them with holes so they could absorb the syrup. If you’re making a cake you don’t need to do this because once you turn the cake around the porous part is exposed and it absorbs the syrup without a problem(Spray bottles work great for this).

Frosting

Mix the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Pour the tsp of almond extract and slowly add the confectioner’s sugar.  Put the frosting on the cake however you want; we sort of sculpted a mountain with a spatula.

Finally decorate you Almond Yoshimis with the almonds and crumbs!

Enjoy, Buen Provecho!!

Our Batallion of Almond Yoshimis patiently waited for deployment!

CupCake Camp was so much fun!  In fact it was such a success that the volunteers could barely keep up with demand!  Sadly this meant that actually eating a dozen or so cupcakes (as I’d planned) wasn’t possible – still, the four or five cupcakes that I was able to steal a bite of were great; my favorite was chocolate with mint buttercream, proving once again that you can’t go wrong with chocolate. Our time to shine was 3:15, with the introduction of our Almond Yoshimi cupcake, a variation of Bizcocho Borracho, a Puerto Rican wedding favorite!

Go Farmer Cooker, go! Pretty ladies and yummy cupcakes - what could possibly be better?

Our jumbo-sized cupcakes were a hit with the crowd – surprisingly one of the few sweet varieties available at Cupcake Camp.  Many bakers brought some very yummy bacon-topped and mushroom-filled options, so we were very happy to offer lucky tasters a fluffy, sweet bite (or three!) of our very own almond-infused creation.  Naturally the tasters swelled at our table until *zoom!* every last cupcake was gone.

And the crowd went wild! Lines formed instantly and many people were sadly turned away - nonetheless 36 lucky visitors (and their closest friends) got a taste of Almond Yoshimi!

In all a great event, thanks so much to Ariel Waldman & company for providing an opportunity for everyone at pier 38 to enjoy and share cupcake creations!  Need the recipe for Almond Yoshimi?  It’s coming soon!

Mmmm mouthwatering turkey sliders...

This simple summertime recipe is perfect for sliders (mini burgers) – it makes about eight small (2.5 oz) burgers.  For buns I like to cut hot dog buns into thirds but you can also slice and toast a baguette for a continental feeling!

1 pound lean ground turkey
1/2 small white onion, chopped
1/2 red or yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 jalepeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp soy sauce

Break up the turkey into small clumps in a large bowl.  Add the peppers, oninon and garlic and carefully fold the ingedients by hand – just until they are evenly mixed.  Sprinkle salt and soy sauce evenly and fold a few more times.  Cover and refrigerate 10-20* minutes to allow the mixture to marinate.  When finished marinating, fire up your grill and shape the patties into 2-inch balls (roughy between a tennis ball and golf ball), then squash slightly – you don’t want them rolling out of the buns later!  Grill away!  Top with some Savory Carrot Garnish and Homemade Mayonnaise.

*This is a minimum – you can always marinate more, though more than 12 hours isn’t recommended.