RECIPES FOR THE
ROMANTIC SOUL
A Collection of Recipes
and Free Reads from
NY Times and USA Today Bestseller
Caridad Pineiro
Tasty recipes and engaging reads sure to satisfy your heart and your stomach.
NY Times and USA Today Bestseller Caridad Pieiro shares some of her favorite recipes and excerpts from her critically acclaimed novels. From sweet and caramel flan to heart-healthy soups and casseroles, Caridads recipes will inspire you to fire up the stove. Her free reads, a mix of edgy paranormals, thrilling suspense, and both sweet and sexy contemporary romances will create a different kind of heat in the kitchen.
Table of Contents
Introduction
I love to write, but I also love to cook. There is something about the process of creating a meal that leaves me with a wonderful feeling. Its no wonder that I often include special foods and meals in many of the novels that Ive written.
Food helps set a mood. It can be sexy or fun or even a challenge, like in DARKNESS CALLS when vampire Ryder Latimer braves a piece of garlic toast to impress FBI Agent Diana Reyes.
In some cases, food helps you understand more about the characters and their stories. I remember a famous television chef once saying that it was possible for you to keep your culture so long as you kept your food.
The meals eaten by the characters in my novels hopefully help share their culture with you as well as tell you something about who they are or where they are in life. In some stories, I include some of my favorite places also so that you, too, can be transported to a new place and experience something different.
This recipe book is filled with foods from the novels or ones which the characters might make for themselves. Other recipes are family favorites that are special to me.
I hope you will try out some of the recipes for yourself and share them with your friends and family.
Thats another good thing about food: It brings people together.
Flan from DARKNESS CALLS
S o why is the first entry in this recipe book a Cuban flan?
Well, first, because Im Cuban-American. Second, I have the worlds worst sweet tooth. I think meals should begin with dessert and only then proceed to anything else. Unfortunately, I havent been able to convince others of that.
I learned to make flan from my grandmother and my sister learned from my mom. We both use different methods for making the caramel that is essential to a sweet flan. My mom and sister start with just sugar and melt the sugar sans water which produces a darker and slightly bitter tasting caramel. My grandma would dissolve the sugar in water first and then boil it down, like when you are making candy. The caramel this way is sweeter and lighter in color actually clear if you dont want to push the cooking.
Basic Ingredients:
For the baking process:
One large baking pan. A 1-1/2 to 2-quart ovenproof baking dish that fits in the large baking pan. I use the same pan to make the caramel and then put the custard. Why wash two dishes? Corningware is great for this.
For the caramel:
1 cup plain white sugar
For the custard:
6 whole eggs
6 egg yolks
1 cup whole milk
1 can Condensed Milk (Not evaporated but Sweetened Condensed Milk. Magnolia or Eagle Brand are favorites.)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place a large baking pan in the oven with hot, but not boiling water about halfway up the side of the pan. This is to create what is called a Bain Marie aka a hot water bath. The Bain Marie will help keep the flan from drying out and will allow it to cook evenly. This process is used with many custard recipes that are baked in the oven.
Time to make the caramel!
Mamis Caramel:
Start with 1 cup of sugar. Set it over medium heat in a heavy medium/small saucepan or preferably, an ovenproof 1-1/2 to 2-quart dish. Use a wooden spoon to stir until the sugar is melted and begins to turn golden. Keep on going until it is a dark brown. Be very careful! The melted sugar syrup is extremely hot and can create serious burns if it spatters onto your skin.
Abuelitas Caramel:
Start with 1/2 cup of sugar and dissolve it in 1/2 cup to 1 cup water. Make sure the sugar is fully dissolved before you begin to heat it. If you have any sugar left, it will form crystals and be gritty. Once the sugar is dissolved, set the pan with the sugar over medium heat in a heavy medium/small saucepan or preferably, an ovenproof dish. Use a wooden spoon to stir until the sugar water is reduced. It should get thicker as it cooks. Grandma liked it light, but you can let it get golden and keep on going until it is a dark brown. Again, be very careful! The melted sugar syrup is extremely hot and can create serious burns if it spatters onto your skin.
Time to make the custard for the flan.
If you did not use an ovenproof pan/dish, quickly pour the hot caramel syrup into a baking dish (DO NOT GREASE THE PAN).
If you did use the ovenproof pan/dish MAKE SURE TO PUT ON OVEN MITTS before proceeding.
Swirl the pan until the sugar coats the bottom and sides of the pan/dish. The caramel will start to harden at this point. When you cook the flan in the oven, the caramel will melt and make a delicious syrup that the flan will swim in. Again, be very careful. A sugar burn is quite painful!
Gently mix together the eggs and egg yolks. Do not create too much froth or bubbles as these will linger and ruin the texture of the flan. Add the condensed milk and gently mix a little more. Then finally add the rest of the regular whole milk. I always put the whole milk into the condensed milk can to get out all the condensed milk. Again, gently mix until the mixture is smooth.
Add the vanilla.
Make sure the caramel has set against the sides and bottom of your caramel pan and if so, pour this egg/milk custard mixture into the pan.
Set this caramel pan with custard into the larger baking pan with the hot water. Fill the large baking pan with hot water until it is about halfway up the sides of the baking dish with the flan. Bake until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 35 to 45 minutes or so. If its a little soft (but not runny), thats okay as it will continue to cook for a bit. Be careful with the hot water in the bain marie (baking pan with water), but then let the flan cool in the water. After half an hour or so, remove the flan from the bain marie and refrigerate for at least an hour or more.
Its actually preferable to make the flan and let it sit overnight so the caramel soaks into the outermost layer. Yum!
Before serving, run a sharp knife around the edge of the flan to release it from the baking dish. Place a larger serving plate (preferably with a small lip to keep the caramel liquid from spilling) over the baking dish and, invert the flan onto the serving platter.
Keep refrigerated until its time to serve.
For simple variations, you can add a little Amaretto or Grand Marnier to both the caramel and the custard mix. For more complex variations, try a chocolate flan.
One thing that is delicious is to increase the number of egg yolks and eliminate the egg whites entirely. This will make a very thick rich egg custard called Tocinillo de Cielo .
