Bake squash face down in baking
dish for one hour at 400 degrees.Let cool.
Meanwhile, sauté curry powder, ginger, cumin and red pepper flakes until
fragrant. Add garlic and sauté until it begins to color.Remove from heat.
Scoop flesh from squash, discarding seeds, and put ½ in
blender with ½ broth and ½ spices.Process until smooth and transfer into soup pot. Repeat with remaining
squash, broth and spices.
Add coconut milk, lime juice, salt and pepper to taste and
heat through.Add cilantro just
before serving.
Allow me to share with you this Bread Pudding with a
Caribbean twist, and bring you back to Nydia’s Miami Kitchen for a rich holiday
treat. How could I not? Only a few short weeks ago I found myself in Miami,
standing with my daughter, Lorena (Italian for Lauren) in this Priestess’s Kitchen
while her husband, Ernesto, served us a visually sensual and intoxicatingly
aromatic, sweet dessert worthy of the Goddess, her-self.
Nydia was born and raised in Puerto Rico, so naturally she
prefers good Puerto Rican Rum in her budin
de piña y coco en salsa de ron.To this I have added an organic, gluten free twist by replacing the coconut
extract with virgin coconut oil, and the salted butter with a re-mineralizing
sea salt.
The first place my mind wants to go with a dish like this
is, “oh it’s sooo bad!” Why
is it
that we have become such a guilty food culture? As I thoroughly enjoy
this rare
treat my mind goes back to my Grandmother's days when eggs were farm
fresh, free range
and fertile (she owned a chicken farm) and milk was fresh and raw. Sugar
is sugar, so there is no getting
away from that one. But did you know that sugar in the time of our
grandmothers was
used mostly as a preservative and for special and rare occasions like
this one?
It is the daily consumption of large amounts of sugar that robs us of
the enjoyment,
as is true for any addiction. So, I recommend moderation and the use of
natural,
raw and organic ingredients whenever possible. Sweet also happens to be
the flavor that corresponds with the Earth Element in Chinese Five
Element Theory and you can learn the difference between full-sweet and
empty-sweet, and more in my online class: Indian Summer: Nourishing the Earth Element.
1 large loaf gluten free bread from organic, non-GMO
flours (may be sliced)
• Grease one deep dish baking pan with coconut oil
• Cut bread into 1 inch squares and place in large mixing
bowl.
• To make custard: beat eggs well, add one at a time
beating well after each addition; evaporated milk, coconut milk, and whole. Add
vanilla, sugar and melted butter beating well after each addition. Once custard
is ready stir in pineapple juice. Mix well. Pour custard over bread in large mixing
bowl and let soak for 5 minutes. Pour mixture into previously greased baking
dish and press pineapple chunks into batter. Bake on a bain-marie (water bath:
line cookie sheet with aluminum foil and fill with water for a more delicate
texture.)
• Bake at 350 degrees for 1 ½ hours.
• To make sauce: Add flour to melted butter and stir
well with wooden spoon* to make a roux. Once thickened add one cup whole milk
and mix well. Stir while adding 1 cup whipping cream, ½ cup sugar. Cook at
medium heat for a few minutes stirring until it thickens to same consistency of
gravy. Drizzle rum while continuing to stir.
• Serve warm with warm rum sauce and coconut icecream.
* I prefer to use wooden spoons to plastic or metal. The
spirit of a wooden spoon adds tree medicine to food. I honor these tree ancestors
by keeping my wooden spoons well oiled as I do my wooden cutting boards.These simple things bring life to my
kitchen and to my food.
Be sure to watch Nydia making Coconut Pineapple Bread Pudding in her now famous
kitchen and learn more about a bain-marie
(bagnomaria in Italian!) on her
YouTube Channel, Nydia’s Miami Kitchen.
