pupusas con curdito (stuffed tortillas with slaw)

Pupusa is a really fun word to say, and an even more delicious meal to eat! I absolutely love these pockets of joy hailing from El Salvador.

I started making pupusas back in my days as an after school program cooking teacher - picky middle schoolers would never complain about something stuffed with cheese, and making ethnic food provides a great opportunity to have a conversation about the amazing diversity of cultures living in our world! 

Pupusas come in many forms, the most basic of which is just masa (what is used to make corn tortillas) stuffed with grated cheese, but you can make them with anything you please! Other favorites of mine include black beans and cheese, refried beans, or pork carnitas. 

So here it goes, simple as can be! 

First, you take a ball of masa in your hand. 

Then, you flatten that ball out into a rough disk using your hands. 

Pile in some cheese, and anything else you want to stuff in there! 

Then carefully close in the filling and flatten the masa, keeping the filling inside! 

I have to say, I got SO excited to make pupusas a few weeks ago when my babes and I first discovered that Three Sisters Nixtamal sells their fresh masa all over the city. We've been making the dried masa harina version of these and homemade corn tortillas for years, but fresh masa opens a whole new world of delicious! If you can get your hands on some, I highly recommend you make these with fresh masa. If you cannot, still make them... because they'll be delicious no matter what! 

I'm also including my favorite (and super easy) slaw to serve with these pupusas as well as stuffed in tacos and plenty of other places!  The slaw is really simple to make, but super fresh with purple cabbage, carrots, and an apple cider vinegar and lime juice dressing. I like to pile a massive heap of this goodness on top of my pupusas (then usually, pile on even more as I make my way through the meal). What can I say, I'm a big fan of purple cabbage! 

Of course, pupusas' simplicity makes them great for all sorts of added toppings. Avocados, salsa, and black beans are always good options! 

Simple Cheese Pupusas 

Ingredients: 

fresh masa  or 3 cups masa harina (I like Bob's Red Mill!) 

grated cheddar cheese

high heat oil (like canola) 

Instructions: 

• If using masa harina, you'll start by making your dough. In a medium bowl, stir masa harina with 1 3/4 cups warm water until all of the flour has been absorbed. You may need to use your hands to finish it off. The masa will be the texture of play-dough. Let sit for about 30 minutes before making your pupusas. 
• To make the pupusas, make a ball of masa in your hands about the size of a golf ball. Flatten it down as much as you can with your hands, until you have a rough disk of dough. Place as much cheese as you can and any other fillings you want to use on top of your disk. Squeeze the top together to seal in the fillings, and flatten the dough back into a disk making sure to keep the fillings sealed in! 
• Repeat the above step until you've used all of your masa (or made as many pupusas as you want to eat!). 
• Place a medium frying pan over medium heat, allowing it to warm for a few minutes. When the pan is hot, pour in enough oil to create a 1/8 inch of so layer at the bottom of the pan. Fry pupusas for a few minutes on each side, until they reach a golden brown.
• Serve immediately with my purple cabbage slaw, avocados, beans, or anything else you wish! 

Purple Cabbage and Carrot Slaw 

Ingredients: 

1/2 small head of purple cabbage, shredded 

2 medium carrots, grated or julienned. 

1/2 small red onion, sliced thinly 

1/2 tsp cayenne 

1 tsp dried oregano 

2 Tbsp olive oil 

1 tsp salt 

2 tsp brown sugar 

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 

2 Tbsp fresh lime juice 

Instructions: 

• Simply stir together all ingredients in a medium bowl, and let sit for about 30 minutes before eating. 
• Enjoy! 

irish brown bread

Each year for St. Patrick's Day, I like to make a loaf of Irish brown bread to share with friends in celebration of my Irish heritage. I learned this little tradition from my mother, who also makes a loaf each year. Every year when I make it, I can't help but revel in how simple this bread is to make and delicious it is to eat! It deserves a place on our tables all year round, so here it is - Irish brown bread in September! 

Irish brown bread requires no yeast, and no waiting. It's a quick bread that relies heavily on the rising powers of baking soda, so you can have it on your table in about an hour! It is dense and wheaty, and will form an amazing crust if you bake it in a cast iron pan instead of on a baking sheet. 

So please, take a little break from your busy life to make this beautiful bread, and enjoy it warm with a table of your favorite people. Or standing in the kitchen just as soon as it's cool enough to cut, as I've been known to do! 

Now, for the biggest secret of all! My mother has long been lauded for her brown bread, rightfully so as it is quite phenomenal. Her secret? Bob's Red Mill Irish soda bread mix. It comes out so beautifully, there was never any reason to search for the best recipe to make from scratch. For a long time, I too swore by the "family recipe" whenever I was craving a loaf. But no longer do I rely on that trusty crutch! 

This past March, I searched the stores of Traverse City high and low, but couldn't find the mix anywhere... leaving me to my own devices. I couldn't be more thankful for this problem of small town life, because now I can always rely on this amazing from scratch recipe any time the hankering comes - no frantic shopping required! 

I recommend eating this bread warm, slathered generously with butter. It's perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack, and goes wonderfully with a bowl of hearty soup. Here's to the arrival of fall and the return to our ovens! 

This recipe has been slightly adapted from The Cook's Illustrated (my bible of cooking). 

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cup all purpose white flour

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup cake flour (use all purpose if you don't have cake flour) 

1/2 cup wheat germ or oat bran 

2 Tbsp cane sugar 

1 1/2 tsp baking soda 

1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar 

1 1/2 tsp salt 

2 Tbsp butter, softened

1 1/2 cup buttermilk

Instructions:  

• Place flours, wheat germ, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt in a large bowl and whisk until fully combined. 
• Using fingers, rub softened butter into the flour mixture until completely incorporated. 
• Create a well by pushing some of the flour to the sides of the bowl, and pour in 1 1/2 cups of the buttermilk. 
• Using a fork, stir the mixture gently to incorporate the buttermilk into the dry ingredients. The dough will come together in large clumps. 
• Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and use your hands to bring it together to form a 6 inch round. It will be a little uneven, don't worry! 
• Place the dough in a 12 inch cast iron, or on a baking sheet, and score a deep cross into the top of the bread, nearly reaching each edge, and about half an inch deep. 
• Bake bread at 400 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for about 20 minutes, then dig in! 

sungold tomato ice cream

Holy tomatoes, batman! The tomatoes are piling high in the Portland markets, with endless varieties to choose from. So... one might go so far as to say that this is toot sweet's official tomato week. On Saturday, my monthly Awesome Mitten post went live, featuring none other than tomatoes! Three simple recipes for easy tomato-centric dishes, and a bonus recipe for basil oil... because, well, you can't have tomatoes without basil! 

After all those savory tomato dishes, I couldn't help but work some of these beauties into a little something sweet. Hence, the ice cream! 

Now, I feel I have to admit a little something about myself here. I don't actually like tomatoes that much... there. I said it! I used to really dislike them, but as I'm growing up a bit I'm learning to like them much more than I ever did before. Heck, I've even been eating them raw on the occasion (as long as they're paired with some cheese, of course)! 

Thankfully, tomatoes are just so awesomely beautiful, I'm always tempted to buy them and find something tasty to do with them. Year by year, I'll become more of a tomato fan! 

Of course ice cream surely isn't the first place you expect to see tomatoes, but they are a fruit ya know! Sweet and flavorful sungold cherry tomatoes cook down into a simple jam to swirl through a vanilla ice cream base studded with fresh tarragon. It might sound a little crazy, but I promise you - there's nothing but amazing flavors here! 

sungold tomato jam: 

This simple jam is going to be swirled throughout the ice cream to give it it's tomatoey flavor. I've included some optional spices in the ingredient list - they balance nicely with the tarragon and give the ice cream a really complex flavor. That said, they will mask a bit of the tomato flavor, so if you really want to focus on tomatoes - leave the spices out. 

ingredients: 

1 pound sungold tomatoes 

3 Tbsp lemon juice 

2 tsp apple cider vinegar 

1/4 cup brown sugar 

1/3 cup cane sugar 

1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional) 

1/2 tsp nutmeg (optional) 

instructions: 

• Puree tomatoes in a blender until mostly smooth, then pour into a pot. Add all remaining ingredients, and simmer over medium heat for about an hour, until the jam thickens. The jam should easily mound on the back of a spoon when it's ready.
• Once the jam is fully cooked, puree again with an immersion blender (or put it back into a regular blender), until nice and smooth! 

ice cream base: 

ingredients: 

6 egg yolks 

2 cups heavy cream 

2 cups whole milk 

3/4 cup cane sugar 

1/2 tsp ground vanilla, 1/2 a vanilla bean (scraped) or 1 tsp vanilla extract 

1/4 cup fresh tarragon, chopped finely 

instructions: 

•  Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, a hand mixer, or a really super strong arm - whisk together the egg yolks and 1/2 cup of the sugar until it doubles in size, lightens to a pale yellow, and gains a silky ribbony texture. This should take a few minutes. 

• Heat the cream, milk, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and ground or bean vanilla (wait until later in the process if you're using the extract) to a scald, which is before a simmer but nice and steamy. 

• With the mixer running, slowly pour the cream mixture into the yolks until fully combined to temper your eggs. Then pour the mixture back into the pot and heat over medium heat until your custard has formed (if you don't feel comfortable knowing when that is, use a thermometer and look for 180 degrees). While it's heating, use a silicone spatula to gently scrape the bottom of the pan and stir slowly. 

• When you've reached 180 degrees, strain the custard through a fine mesh sieve into a medium bowl, and set that bowl into a larger one with a bit of ice and water in it to create a cooling water bath. Spin the inner bowl with one hand, while holding your spatula in the custard like a rudder to help the mixture cool evenly. 

• Chill custard fully in the refrigerator before churning, at least a few hours. Add the tarragon when the ice cream is just about finished churning, letting it churn for long enough to mix it in evenly. 

churning and swirling: 

Once you're jam and ice cream base are made and chilled, you're just a few quick steps from ice cream heaven! Work through this as fast as you possibly can, to protect your precious ice cream! 

• Put the container you're planning to freeze the ice cream in into the freezer, to prevent melting while your swirl. A wide dish works best, I use a rectangular pyrex container with a lid.
• Churn the ice cream per you machine's instructions, until it's nice and thick. With the ice cream churned, you're going to layer and swirl the ice cream and jam into a container and let it freeze. This is the best way to get a nice swirl into your scoops! 
• Layer about one third of the ice cream into the bottom of your dish. Spoon a few thick lines of jam across the layer of ice cream. 
• Layer on the next third of your ice cream, and create those lines of jam again. 
• Finally, layer on the rest of your ice cream, and another few lines of jam. Using a chop stick or skewer and give the ice cream and little swirl to make sure every scoop will have a good bit of jam in it!