tasting memories

Follow this basic method for making scones:

1. Cut butter into dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.


2. Make a well in the center of these ingredients.


3. Add liquids with a few swift strokes (6 - 10 strokes).


4. Gather the dough with your hands and shape into a loose, crumbly ball.


5. Flatten dough into a 3/4 inch disk, cut into wedges.


6. Bake in a cookie sheet according to recipe.

Tips:

• Work quickly.


• Keep the butter cold.


• The less you touch the dough, the better it will be.


• About cutting the butter into the dry ingredients: I cheat here - it's much easier to incorporate the butter into the flour with your hands (instead of using a pastry cutter or knifes) but the heat from your hands will melt the butter, so work quickly and freeze the mixture for a few minutes when you are done to keep the butter hard.


• Pour the liquids into the flour mixture, not the other way around.


• Stir the liquid into the flour mixture with as few swift strokes as possible. The dough will still have dry spots and crumble, that's okay.


• Pat the dough gently into a disk, don't compress the dough.

Try these scone recipes:
Raspberry Almond Scones
Spiced Pumpkin Scones

Photo by Tony Cenicola, The New York Times.

Saying goodbye to the Meatpacking District after 23 years, Florent's colorful history is remembered in the New York Times article, Genre-Bending Hangout Takes Its Final Bows. Yet another casualty of the neighborhood's transformation from gritty to glitzy.

A moving article. Check out the multimedia feature Florent on Florent.

Photo by Marta Bartolomei Edmonds.

Adobo is the secret behind all flavorful Puerto Rican meat dishes. The seasoning is simple, consisting of garlic, oregano, cumin, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. It's deeply rich and great on meats, particularly as a marinade for roasted meats like chicken and pork.

I like my adobo made fresh with a wooden mortar and pestle like my grandmother Mima taught me when I was a child. Add salt to the garlic to prevent the garlic from flying out of the mortar as you pound it into a paste. You can also wrap your free hand around the opening to keep the garlic down. If you don't have a mortar and pestle, you can either chop the ingredients or place them in a food processor or blender to a paste consistency.

Note: Check out Adobo Chicken and Pernil for recipes using adobo.

Adobo
6 - 8 large garlic cloves (about 1/2 a head), peeled
1 teaspoon salt
1 sprig fresh oregano, rinsed and finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
a pinch of ground black pepper (optional)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1. Place peeled garlic cloves and salt in the mortar and pestle. Pound to a smooth paste. Add oregano, black pepper, olive oil and vinegar and stir to incorporate.

Makes 1/4 cup.

Photo by Marta Bartolomei Edmonds.

Being born Puerto Rican means that I was born with an innate need to supercook meats until they are hard and dry. Us Puerto Ricans love to bite into an almost jerky-like pork chop. So, when you ask us to try a medium steak, a salmon tartare or sushi, we will probably look at you like you've just offered us live insects. Learning to enjoy a steak that is pink in the center, fish that is raw or chicken that is juicy is something I'm still learning about. At first I started trying these things with an almost irrational hesitation and now I am learning how to cook them with great willingness, thanks primarily to having enjoyed so many delightful meals here in the city. I now order my steaks medium or medium-well and about two years ago, I even indulged in raw oysters and have loved them since. Don't get me wrong, I still love pork chops cooked to a dry crisp like my grandma Mima makes them, but I am making an effort to pay more attention to meat preparation.

Last week I made a roasted chicken with an adobo garlic-oregano seasoning that is traditional to my island. The result was a juicy, moist and flavor infused chicken. In Puerto Rico a roasted chicken seasoned with adobo is often called pollochón. Why this funny name? Take a chicken (pollo) prepared like roasted pork (lechón) and you have pollo+chón.

This meal will take some thinking ahead, but overall it's a very low-maintenance dish to prepare. You will simply season the chicken (marinade time optional), place it in a hot oven, and then check for doneness in an hour. There is very little work involved with the exception of carving the chicken. For easy instructions on how to carve a chicken, watch Marc Murphy's How to Carve a Chicken Howcast video. For a more rich and intense flavor, I suggest seasoning the chicken with adobo up to six hours before cooking to allow the flavors to develop. The results are a succulent, juicy and flavorful roasted chicken.

Note: Check out my grandfather Pito's version of adobo in this pernil (roasted pork shoulder) recipe.

Pollochón
1/4 cup fresh Adobo
1 3-pound Whole Chicken, raised right
Salt and Pepper

1. Rinse the chicken and dry it very well with paper towels, inside and out. Using your hands, gently separate the skin from the chicken, while leaving the skin intact. Introduce the adobo (in small handfuls) under the skin, distributing along the breasts thigh and leg to evenly cover the chicken. Do not apply the adobo to the surface of the skin as the garlic will burn loosing its flavor while roasting. Salt and pepper the cavity. Cover the chicken with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to marinade up to 6 hours (marinade time is optional).

2. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Truss the bird by tucking the tip section of the wing under the top section of the wing and tying the legs with string.

3. Generously salt the chicken and season to taste with pepper.

4. Place the chicken in a roasting pan and roast for 50 to 60 minutes until done. When done, remove it from the oven and let it rest for 15 minutes on a cutting board.

5. Remove the twine, cut the chicken and serve.

Makes 4 servings.