TODAY's CASES:

• Mexican Sweet Bread
• Cabbage Stuffed Bell Peppers
• Kudzu Cafe Penne Pasta

Mexican Sweet Bread From: Rosie Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2015 6:57 PM To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com Subject: Mexican Delight While visiting the blow hole (?) about 9 miles outside of beautiful downtown Ensenada I tried a bread that was sold by a street vendor. I have tried every avenue that I could think of to find the recipe or even the name. Only dead ends. These breads were sweet and about the size of a medium size pancake. Subtly sweet. May have contained sweetened condensed milk. They were very inexpensive. May have been grilled but not greasy so they also may have been baked. I have been assuming that they are native to the Mexican food culture but after looking through Mexican cookbooks and speaking with Mexican friends, I have no results. Can you help? Rosie Hello Rosie, Well, the lack of detail makes it difficult to determine exactly what this is. I read a lot of material about Ensenada Street vendors, but I had no success finding lists and/or photos of their wares other than “churros”. The most often mentioned items that they sell are “churros”, which are a sweet bread that is coated with sugar and cinnamon. However, these are usually elongated, not shaped like a pancake. There is a Mexican term - “pan dulce” – “Mexican sweet bread”, which would apply, but “pan dulce” is a very general term and covers a wide variety of sweet breads of all shapes and sizes and flavors. There is a photo here of one sometimes called “crispies” that looks a bit like a pancake: Crispies There is a diagram here of a few of the different pan dulce shapes and names: Pan Dulce Until we can determine exactly which Mexican sweet bread you had from the street vendor, it would be useless for me to try to find a recipe. I will post this. Perhaps a reader has been to Ensenada and knows first hand what this bread is called. Phaed Gwen adds: Gorditas de nata are a popular street snack in the Ensenada area and fit the description of size, and would account for the requestor being unsure as to whether they are baked or grilled. They are similar to english muffins. Other traditional round, sweet yeast breads about the size of a pancake often have fillings, distinct flavors or designs, or toppings, which the requestor did not describe. There are hundreds of varieties of Mexican sweet and enriched breads. For future reference, here is a very helpful blog dedicated to Mexican sweet breads: Nuestro Pan Dulce Cabbage Stuffed Bell Peppers From: Margaret Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2015 11:16 PM To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com Subject: Re: Cabbage stuffed bell peppers. What i am looking for is a recipe that starts with bell green peppers. They are stuffed with cabbage that is similar to a kind of cole slaw. Then the green peppers are placed in a brine in a glass jar. A plate or something heavy is placed on the top of the peppers to hold them under the brine. They are kept in the refrigerator a few days before eating. Thanks!!! Margaret Hi Margaret, There are recipes like that below and here: 10-30-2006 The recipes on these sites may be closest to your description: Slaw Filled Pickled Peppers Briny Peppers Stuffed with Cabbage Phaed Stuffed Sweet Peppers 3 dozen red and green bell peppers 9 cups sugar 10 1/2 cups water 3 cups vinegar 2 tablespoons salt Slaw for Peppers 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 cup vinegar 1/2 cup water 1 tablespoon salt 10 cups chopped or shredded cabbage Cut tops from peppers; remove membranes and seeds. Combine sugar, water, vinegar and salt (remember do not use iodized salt for canning) in a large mixing bowl; stir until sugar is dissolved. Set aside. Slaw: Combine sugar, ,vinegar,water and salt in a large mixing bowl; stir until sugar is dissolved. Stir cabbage into liquid mixture. Spoon slaw into peppers. Pack peppers tightly into sterilized wide-mouth quart jars. Pour syrup over peppers leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Cover with sterile lids and screw on lids tight. Process in boiling water bath for 20 minutes. Yields about 5 quarts. Note: Amount of syrup needed will vary, depending on how tightly peppers are packed and type of peppers. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stuffed Sweet Peppers With Shredded Cabbage Seed peppers and save top. Soak overnight in salt solution of 1/2 cup salt to gallon of water until they are covered. Next day, shred cabbage, sprinkle with salt, let set 1 hour. Squeeze out juice. Pack in peppers, put the lid on and secure with toothpicks. Place in stone jar. --Solution:-- sweet peppers 1 qt. sugar 1 qt. vinegar 2 c. water 1 tbsp. mustard seed cabbage Boil and pour peppers, cover with plate and weigh down. After about 2 weeks, you can pack in wide mouth jars and cold pack 5 minutes. -------------------------------------------------------------- Stuffed Bell Peppers Medium size peppers Salt Green cabbage 3 c. vinegar 2 c. water Cut tops nearly off peppers; remove seeds and pulp. Soak in strong salt water overnight. Grind cabbage and salt to taste, pack cabbage firmly in peppers and fasten tops with toothpicks. Put stuffed peppers in glass jars. Heat vinegar and water, salt to taste. Pour hot mixture on peppers and soak for 2 weeks. Kudzu Cafe -----Original Message----- From: Marianna Sent: Friday, January 23, 2015 11:19 AM To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com Subject: Recipe Request - I am in search of a recipe from a restaurant in Atlanta. GA, that closed around 15 years ago. The dish I am in looking for is Penne Pasta with Smoked Gouda and Chicken and the restaurant was Kudzu Cafe in Atlanta, GA. The owners of the Kudzu Cafe, Susan DeRose & Richard Lewis, still own 3 other restaurants in Atlanta - Bones, OK Cafe and Blue Ridge Grill, under Liberty House Restaurant Corporation. Any help you can give me in locating this recipe would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Marianna Hello Marianna, I have searched everywhere that I can think of, but I cannot find any recipe, copycat, or even a mention of this dish from the Kudzu Café. I was unable to locate a menu from Kudzu Café. I checked the menus of the three restaurants that are owned by Susan DeRose & Richard Lewis, but there is no dish like that on any of them. I could not find a Facebook page for Susan DeRose or Richard Lewis. I searched for any recipes for penne pasta with smoked Gouda and chicken without much success. The closest one that I found was one with artichokes. See: Roasted Chicken and Artichoke Penne with Creamy Gouda Sauce I'll post this request on my site. Phaed