Year-End Picadillo

2009 seems like a blur now that it is coming to a close. When in doubt over how I spent the year, I can go back to old posts and reminisce about the guavas I steamed in vain one cold January evening or the ridiculous amount of brain power I devoted to how to make the perfect lentil puree for a nine-month-old. It’s funny to think I used to set Malanga Baby on the kitchen floor on a Mexican blanket with some toys spread around her while I did my thing. Now, she runs all over the house while I cook, so there’s no time to meditate over perfecting the process. In fact, there has been many a night on which I have burnt rice or undercooked soba noodles as a result of trying to be in three rooms at once while the stove is going. (The woman who cooked all of Julia Child’s recipes in a year certainly did not have a toddler to distract her.)

If anything is clear, however, it’s that I still subscribe to the not-so-original idea that food is a kind of home. I began my foray into off-the-beaten path baby foods with malanga, the taste of which practically brings my grandmother Aya back into the room with me when it hits my tongue. Every time I feed my daughter, I hope her palate is archiving these moments and that one day, she’ll be who-knows-where and have a big plate of, say, picadillo, and think of home.

Picadillo is a basic Cuban dish that probably varies a little from family to family. Sadly, in modern Cuba, it’s very hard to come by beef, so it’s often made with chicken or soy beef. You could try substituting ground turkey if you like. Malanga Baby enjoyed her picadillo tonight with a side of carrots and brown rice for dinner. (That’s the tomato sauce from the picadillo all over her face and hands in the picture.) In honor of Malanga Baby’s aversion to olives, I left them out of her plate.

Picadillo (Malanga Mama’s home recipe)

Ingredients

1 lb. ground beef (lean is best)- seasoned with black pepper, cumin &
salt OR with Goya brand Adobo (a ready made seasoning)
¼ to half of 1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small can Goya tomato sauce
Approx. 1/4 cup dry wine
Green olives stuffed with red pimentos
Raisins
Vegetable or olive oil for frying the onion & garlic

Optional ingredients-
Goya brand "sofrito" (it's an orangey mixture sold in the Hispanic
foods aisle of major grocery stores)
Capers

METHOD

1. Season the beef, set aside.

2. Chop the onion and garlic (or use garlic press). Fry the onion in a
large skillet with oil until translucent. Add the garlic and a heaping
spoonful of sofrito (if using) and cook, careful not to burn the
garlic.

3. Add the beef, breaking it up well with a wooden spoon. Turn heat down
a bit. Stir beef often.

4. When the beef is nearly cooked, drain the fat from
the pan and stir in the dry wine (you may use a little less or more
than a 1/4 cup, eyeball this, the mixture should not be too watery),
cook for a couple of minutes more (if you put too much wine in, allow
it to evaporate a bit) and add the tomato sauce, stirring everything
together. Cook for a few more minutes and add the olives and raisins
at the end (and capers, if using). Taste to see if it needs more salt
or seasoning.

SERVE WITH

Rice (cook this separately)

Plantains in any form (maduros or tostones) make a nice side dish

The Great Croissant Meltdown of 2009

We have a VERY independent toddler on our hands, the kind who insists on wielding her own spoon even if holding it upside down means the food won’t make it into her mouth, the kind who pushes the booster seat away and sits directly on the chair even if she doesn’t quite reach the table and, in her most recent manifestation of independence, the kind who will not let you break her food into manageable pieces. This means that pancakes, turkey burgers, and slices of toast must all be left perfectly intact , no matter what. Malanga Mama has to control her impulses when she sees Malanga Toddler shove entire pieces into her little mouth.

Sadly, Malanga Papi didn’t understand the importance of food integrity until we took a family trip in the snow yesterday to our favorite neighborhood patisserie. We bought Malanga Toddler a croissant, one of her favorite “special occasion” foods ever since she had her first taste of one in Paris in August. She took a few licks of the croissant, shoved it around her paper plate and seemed generally happy just contemplating it until Malanga Papi picked up the croissant and broke a piece off to feed to her.

HE BROKE HER CROISSANT!

An immediate meltdown ensued. Malanga Toddler cried her eyes out as if Malanga Papi had just murdered her favorite doll. She shoved the plate away and yelled. Not only was she not going to eat the piece of croissant Malanga Papi offered her, she wasn’t going to eat any of the remaining croissant and she was going to cry and cry instead.

Malanga Papi made a quick dash to the counter and bought another croissant. Then, taking advantage of Malanga Toddler’s continued tantrum, he switched the plates on the table, putting the broken croissant on his lap. She took a break from crying to inspect the new croissant, very, very carefully. Then she deemed it acceptable. In the meantime, in a stroke of brilliance, Malanga Papi offered her a piece of croissant from the one he had on his lap, without letting Malanga Toddler see the source of the piece. She took the piece, compared it to the croissant on the table, convinced herself that her croissant was not ruined, and popped the piece in her mouth.

She ate the entire croissant this way, while croissant #2 remained pristine on the table, a comforting sight to her eyes.

Superkickin' with her "papos"

It's still 19 days away, but winter is setting in already. The early darkness is depressing enough without an active toddler who yearns to be out of doors until dinner time. What's a mother to do when her girl wakes up from a nap around 3:30 and the sun starts going down just after 4?

Well, there's the play area at the Queens Mall, as well as the two-story H&M there with the central staircase and the huge purse/accessories section (Malanga Baby loves her accessories). There's the occasional playdate, but it's so hard to plan around different toddlers' afternoon nap schedules. And, there's hanging out at the playground way past the point that the fluorescent lights come on. This last one can feel kind of mystical as the orange light shines off of the slide, but it's hard to stay outside when the temperature suddenly makes a very noticeable dip from one minute to the next.

Enter our evening soccer class! It's called "Superkickers" and it's the most fun I can find for Malanga Baby from 5:30-6pm. She gets to sing songs, run around a gym and do Karate-Kid-like exercises (you know, the kind that build all the muscles required by soccer but don't necessarily seem related to soccer at first) with kids from all over the neighborhood. She even gets covered in stickers at the end of every class. Now, if we could just get her to pay attention to the Brazilian soccer teachers instead of running around to her own beat, then I could tell you if I have a future futbolista on our hands or not.

"Papos" is Malanga Baby's new word for shoes, it's short for zapatos. After months of this Malanga Mama enduring nothing but the sounds of English-language words (hi, bye, puppy, baby), I finally heard the sweet sound of "agua" a few weeks ago. Now so many more variations of Spanish words are following. I love it!

¿Que pasa, calabaza?

Malanga Baby had a great day at the neighborhood Halloween parade with many of her friends. To make the day extra sweet, I baked some pumpkin cupcakes with this recipe by Kate Merker from Real Simple magazine.

Ingredients

1 18.5-ounce box yellow cake mix (plus the ingredients called for in the package directions)
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
2 8-ounce bars cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
24 pieces candy corn

Directions
- Heat oven to 350° F. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners. Prepare the cake mix as directed but with the following change: Add the pumpkin pie spice and substitute the can of pumpkin puree for the water called for in the package directions.

- Divide the batter among the prepared muffin tins and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 18 to 22 minutes. Let cool.

- Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar until creamy. Spread on the cupcakes and top each with a piece of candy corn.

Fisher Price en español & other "hot" additions to Malanga Casa

Last month, Malanga Baby became quite enamored of the plastic Fisher Price counting pig that belongs to my friend in England's children. While the pig's British accent was cute, I am glad that I held off on purchasing it until we returned home. I was able to find the Spanish version on Amazon. !Arriba el cochinito!

(And yes, that's my vintage Fisher Price barn behind the pig, which I retrieved from my older brother's basement this summer. While FP gets big kudos for their "en español" offerings, their new barn is not nearly as fun as the original version.)

In food news, I've been trying to up the ante and gave the babe spicy Red Lentils the other day. She loved them. Verdict: the turmeric is the winning ingredient since she went gaga for another recipe I made using turmeric a few weeks ago. These lentils were super easy and made a nice, cool fall day meal for Malanga Mama and Malanga Papi, too. Here's the recipe.

Red Lentil Puree (from the book "The Best Recipe")

Ingredients

1 & 1/2 cups red lentils, picked over and rinsed
1 & 1/2 tablespoons fresh minced gingerroot
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (I actually used powdered cumin and it turned out ok)
1/2 teaspoon anise seeds (I accidentally skipped these)
3 tablespoons juice from 1 lemon (it was basically all the juice from a small lemon)
Ground white pepper, to taste

1. Bring first five ingredients plus 4 cups water to boil in a medium saucepan: boil for 5 minutes. Reduce heat, simmer until lentils lose their shape, 15-20 minutes. Whisk lentils to make a puree, set aside.

2. Heat butter in a small saute pan. Add cumin and anise seeds; saute until butter is nutty brown. Remove from heat, add lemon juice. Stir mixture into lentil puree. Season with pepper, adjust other seasonings and serve immediately.

On the road with Malanga Baby

I always thought that living in New York was my way of bringing the world to Malanga Baby, but it turns out that I couldn't resist the travel bug and just had to bring Malanga Baby to the world. So off we went to Horsham, England and Paris, France, where I conveniently have friends with small children. That means I was able to get out of here with just our passports, some clothes, an Ergo (especially useful for the airtrain ride to Kennedy airport and for the Metro in Paris), a lightweight stroller and enough diapers and wipes for the plane ride. Really, that's it! I carried it all myself to the airport on public transportation.

Malanga Baby had a fabulous time exploring the sand pit at a local park in England, cooing over my friend's two-month old baby and playing on the trampoline in my friend's backyard. She also adapted very well to the demands of Parisian life- lots of crowded subway riding (the NY subway is a haven of wide open spaces in comparison, even during rush hour), lots of croissant-eating (I believe she may have ingested her weight in butter- oops) and some stroller napping while Malanga Mama shopped. Malanga Baby also thoroughly enjoyed the communal bath experience with my Parisian friend's 5-year-old and 8-month-old.

The only thing I didn't get to do enough on this trip was write down all of my thoughts, but I'll try to give the highlights of what I learned along the way here:

- Sainsbury Grocery Store chain in England has a fantastic Eco-Friendly diaper line. I wish I could find these in the US!

- Boots Pharmacy in Horsham has an entire floor dedicated to baby products- cute clothes, Fisher Price toys with a British accent, not just one, but TWO lines of organic baby snacks (including Minky Moon Crescents, which Malanga Baby gobbled up) and more stuff than I could ever successfully cram into my tiny suitcase.

- If you're ever planning to take your child to Paris's Jardin de Luxembourg, make sure your pockets are heavy with Euros because it all comes at a cost. The children's park has an entrance fee. If I remember correctly, it's 2,60 euros for children and 1,60 for adults. There's a separate set of swings that cost 1,40 euro per 5-minute ride. Neither of these attractions is particularly noteworthy, but the Guignol (puppet show) was worth every penny. The shows are currently at 4pm every day and cost 4,50 euros per person, large or small. Malanga Baby was positively charmed by the show and by all the children sitting around her on the low benches.

- If shopping for the little one is your thing, head to the Rue Vavin, not far from the Jardin de Luxembourg in Paris's 6th Arrondissement. Sweet Petite Bateau onesies and pajamas are much more affordable than they are States-side. There's also a fantastic toy shop right across the street from the Petite Bateau store and lots of other baby stores up and down the same street.

- Petite Pan is another children's store not to be missed in Paris.

- Above all, children are more flexible and resilient than you think!!!

Malanga had a little lamb

Have I mentioned that I just discovered Malanga Baby loves lamb? She can't get enough of it. The first time she ate it, I fed her a pretty basic dish that I like to make when we're having guests over. (Perhaps I should say when we used to have guests over since I haven't had any dinner parties since I gave birth to Malanga Baby.) You just fry up an onion and some garlic in about 3 tablespoons of olive oil, throw in some strips of lamb (I buy the kind for lamb stew, but you could use any boneless cut), brown the lamb pieces, then add about 1 cup water of vegetable broth, sprinkle a little bit of paprika over it and let it simmer for about 30 minutes or so. 5 minutes before taking it off the stove, add the juice of 1 lemon and some chopped parsley. The lamb gets nice and soft for little mouths and is quite flavorful, too. You could serve some couscous or a lentil salad on the side for adults, but beware that the grains or lentils will end up absolutely everywhere if fed to a baby/toddler.

Encouraged by my little girl's enthusiasm for lamb, I broke out a recipe book last week that I bought in France in 2007 and had never used. (Shamefully, I buy lots of books on vacation that I somehow never get around to reading.) The book is called "Tajines & Couscous" and the name says it all. A sure place to find a good lamb recipe, and I did. So, since the lamb meatballs were also a hit, I am posting my translation of the French language recipe here, with some thoughts.

*Minty Lamb Meatballs* (Laurence du Tilly)

Ingredients
6 dried apricots
1 bunch of mint
1 egg
1 lb. of ground lamb meat
2 teaspoons cumin
1 clove of garlic
1 eggplant
1 tablespoon golden raisins
olive oil
salt
pepper
1 box couscous

Method

- Cut the dried apricot into small pieces. Throw them in a bowl and add the mint, finely chopped, the egg and the meat. Add the cumin, salt and pepper. (Note from Malanga Mama: DON'T skip the salt, like I did.) Knead it with your fingers until everything is evenly mixed. Make small balls about the size of a large nut. Put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

- Place the olive oil in a pan and brown the meatballs on all sides. Set aside.

- Chop the garlic. Cut the eggplant in cubes. (Malanga Mama says you might want to cut the eggplant and let it "breathe" for about 30 minutes to reduce any bitterness.) Put two tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy-bottom pot and add the eggplant and garlic. Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add a little bit of salt then add the meatballs on top, cover, and leave cooking over a low flame for about 15 minutes.

- Prepare the couscous while the above cooks.

- Serve everything together with a little bit of fresh mint and the raisins.

Notes from Malanga Mama

The eggplant releases a lot of water while cooking everything together, this is what finishes cooking the meatballs through. If you choose to skip the eggplant portion of this dish and want to just make the meatballs on their own, try frying them in more oil like in the recipe below
.
I also found that the eggplant absorbed a lot of the olive oil at the beginning, so keep an eye on it.

While the meatballs were fabulous, I found the overall taste of this dish a little bland. That could be because I skipped the salt (oops!), but I think a little chopped onion tossed in with the eggplant and garlic would liven this up a little.