• Submitted by: manso
• Travel and Tourism
• 08 / 25 / 2011

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08/24/11 9:49 am. Raquel Rabade Roque is the first to admit she’s no seasoned chef. She’s been known to burn meals and, like most working mothers, has mastered the art of slap-dash dinners. Pressed to describe her culinary talents, the longtime bookseller calls herself “the accidental cook.”

CARL JUSTE/ MIAMI HERALD. Bookstore owner and cookbook author Raquel Roque included her Maxima’s Plantain Soup in her latest book of Cuban recipes.

That might prove to be a good thing for the harried home cook or novice who wants to master the art of mojitos, sofritos, fritas and picadillo pie. Roque’s “The Cuban Kitchen” (Knopf, $20) is a cookbook that, despite its formidable size (432 pages, more than 500 recipes), is accessible and homey, written in a breezy, familial style.

As Roque put it: “You’re not afraid to get a stain on it.”

Its easy-to-follow instructions serve up a helping of culture and a side dish of history. Part food memoir, part manual (there’s an explanation of how to clean pig’s feet), it blends the culinary traditions of 1950s Cuba with updated versions of favorite recipes from restaurants and from exiles who have settled abroad.

“Encyclopedic,” she says proudly. “I wrote it for people like me, people who are not really cooks. They’re not chefs, but they want to preserve the culture and the memories. And also for the people who eat a Cuban dish in a restaurant and then want to make it at home.”

“The Cuban Kitchen” is an expanded version of “Cocina Cubana: 350 Recetas Criollas,” the Spanish-language cookbook Roque published in 2007. It strives to appeal to a broader audience and contains, as she writes in the introduction, “the recipes that shaped me through childhood and adulthood.”

Though published this month, the cookbook is actually a decades-old idea. Roque, 55, began collecting recipes at 19, when she was a student majoring in hospitality management at Florida International University. She and her father, Jose Rabade, also self-published a cookbook in Spanish about 20 years ago.

“I got the idea because people were constantly coming into the store and asking for Nitza Villapol’s book,” “Cocina al Minuto,” considered the bible of Cuban cooking, recalls Roque, whose parents owned the Downtown Book Center on Southeast First Street. “It happened at least once a week.”

Roque grew up surrounded by books and good food. Her father was born in the coastal town of La Coruna in northern Spain. After studying in Richmond, Va., and fighting in World War II, he fell in love with Roque’s Cuban mother. They settled on the island and established a bookstore in Havana, where the family spoke English, celebrated Halloween, watched Jerry Lewis films — but ate and drank Cuban-style.

That open, cosmopolitan flavor is evident in “The Cuban Kitchen,” where traditional recipes – for croquetas and arroz con pollo, for example – share space with dishes some might not consider Cuban enough. Take the Classically Cuban Onion Soup, which uses less cheese than its French counterpart. Or the English Sponge Rusks, a favored teatime treat at some private schools and clubs in Havana.

“People don’t normally think of these as Cuban,” Roque said. “But they’re very much part of some Cubans’ tradition.”

Though she worked briefly in hospitality management after graduation, Roque was destined to run her father’s store. She took it over while still in her 20s and over the years expanded its offerings, moved two blocks to 247 S.E. First St. from the original location her father had bought for $700 in 1965. Along the way she helped found the Miami Book Fair International and partnered with Mitchell Kaplan of Books & Books to open a shop at Miami International Airport.

Kaplan, she adds, was both her mentor and her cheerleader. He was the first to encourage her to publish her recipe collection in English.

“What Raquel has been able to achieve is to give people a cookbook that has all the basics plus the bells and whistles in a straightforward approach,” Kaplan said. “The market needs that.”

“The Cuban Kitchen” also has its idiosyncrasies. One chapter is devoted to plantains, another to Cuban baby food. In the latter, she gives each recipe a Cuban child’s name, so there is Barbarita’s Malanga Purée and Clarita’s Sweet Potato and Tomato Purée.

“I had a lot of fun kitchen testing these recipes,” she said. “I ended up going to people’s houses and making different dishes in friends’ kitchens. Everybody was so open. They wanted to share their memories and stories.”

Pat Martinez, a high school friend and self-described foodie, opened her home to Roque during the research. The two women whipped up everything from enchilada de camarones (shrimp in a sofrito-seasoned tomato sauce) to arroz con pollo (chicken with rice), Martinez’s favorite.

Roque, Martinez said, “feels Cuban food has gotten a bad rap. People think it’s only about rice and beans, and there’s so much more.”

Recipes came from a wide range of sources. There’s a plantain soup from the grandmother of her husband, Rogelio, and a tartar soup from her Aunt Lucila. Spanish poet Federico Garcia-Lorca’s favorite Codfish Vizcaya-style is included, as is the famous Cuban lollipop sold on the street and known as a piruli.

Maxima’s Plantain Soup

Serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion, peeled and chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

5 cups chicken consommé

2 green plantains, peeled and diced

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cups fried green plantain chips for garnish

1 lemon, cut in wedges

In a large, heavy saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat, and saute the onion and garlic. Cook until the onion is translucent and tender.

Add the consommé, and bring to a boil. Add the green plantains and bay leaf. Season with the salt and pepper. When the soup begins to boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer over medium-low heat for about 35 minutes, until the plantains are tender and fully cooked.

Remove from heat, pour into a food-processor bowl or blender and process to make a smooth purée. If needed, add more consommé or other liquid.

Return to heat for 2 or 3 minutes. Top with green plantain chips and add a squirt of lemon juice to each bowl as you serve.

Adapted from “The Cuban Kitchen” by Raquel Rabade Roque (Knopf).

Per serving: 282 calories (36 percent calories from fat), 11.4 g fat (2 g saturated fat, 5.4 g monounsaturated fat), 3.1 mg cholesterol, 4.1 g protein, 40.8 g carbohydrates, 3.9 g fiber, 966 mg sodium.

Tropical Tiramisu

Serves 8

3 cups sugar

3/4 cup light rum

5 eggs

2 cups mascarpone cheese

2 cups heavy cream

20 ladyfingers

3 cups diced mixed fresh fruit (papaya, mango, pineapple, strawberries)

1 cup shredded coconut, toasted

In a large saucepan, combine 2 cups water, 2 cups of the sugar and rum, and boil over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat, cool to room temperature and set aside.

In a bowl, mix the eggs, the remaining 1 cup sugar, mascarpone cheese and heavy cream. Beat with electric mixer at medium-high speed until mixture thickens. Be careful not to overbeat it.

Dip each ladyfinger in the rum syrup and set aside.

In a 9-inch square glass pan, spread a layer of the cream mixture, then a layer of dipped ladyfingers, and follow with a layer of the diced fruit. Repeat the process twice so you have three layers of each, then top off with an extra layer of the cream mixture. Refrigerate, covered, overnight. Before serving sprinkle with toasted, shredded coconut.

Source: Adapted from “The Cuban Kitchen” by Raquel Rabade Roque (Knopf). Roque attributes this recipe to a favorite downtown Miami restaurant, Fratelli Milano, and its Milanese chef-owners, brothers Roberto and Emanuele Bearzi.

Per serving: 1,002 calories (50 percent from fat), 57.3 g fat (32.5 g saturated fat, 8.8 g monounsaturated fat), 347 mg cholesterol, 12.7 g protein, 104 g carbohydrates, 2.2 g fiber, 143 mg sodium.

Cuban Chicken Salad

Serves 10-12

2 (2- to 3-pound) chickens, quartered

1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter

1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

2 pounds potatoes, peeled and diced

1 large apple, peeled, cored and diced

2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup pitted and chopped Spanish green olives

2 cups mayonnaise

1 (8-ounce) can or jar asparagus for garnish, liquid reserved

1 (8-ounce) jar roasted sweet red peppers, cut into julienne strips, for garnish, liquid reserved

1 (8-ounce) can peas for garnish

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Arrange the chicken in a single layer in a large, shallow baking pan, and spread the butter on top. Bake 1 hour. Baste with butter often to avoid drying out.

Meanwhile, put the potatoes in a large saucepan, and cover with 6 cups cold, salted water. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain.

When chicken is fully baked, allow to cool to room temperature and shred into bite-size pieces, making sure to remove all bones. If you like, you can leave some bits of skin for extra flavor.

Combine the chicken and potatoes in a large bowl, and add the rest of the ingredients except garnishes. For extra-moist chicken salad, add the liquid from the asparagus and from the roasted sweet pepper.

Toss well, and refrigerate, covered, for at least 4 hours. Taste, and correct seasoning before garnishing.

For a gathering or for a special family meal, arrange the salad on a bed of lettuce on a large serving platter, and garnish with the peas, asparagus and roasted peppers in a pleasing design.

Source: Adapted from “The Cuban Kitchen” by Raquel Rabade Roque (Knopf).

Per serving (based on 10): 788 calories (65 percent calories from fat), 57 g fat (16 g saturated fat, 15.4 g monounsaturated fat), 210 mg cholesterol, 40.8 g protein, 29.3 g of carbohydrates, 4.9 g of fiber, 923 mg sodium.

Source: //www.thenewstribune.com/2011/08/24/1793544/the-accidental-cuban-cook.html#ixzz1VyU7KaKD