Mariana Velasquez — THE DEN by Big Leo

Posts by Mariana Velasquez

Summer Snow

One of my favorite things is raspado – shaved ice with fruit syrup and drizzled with sweetened condensed milk. To be honest, raspado is really just an excuse: the condensed milk is the best part.

Growing up in Colombia, raspado in a paper cone was perfect for hot days on the beach. It would quickly begin to melt and dissolve, trails of bright colors dripping down our arms… perhaps once upon a time the syrups were natural fruit juice (I think only the tamarind might still be the real thing) but as kids the flavors we wanted were the bright red and blue!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lfcastro/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Last Saturday strolling around the Brooklyn Flea market under the beating sun, carrying the heaviest most beautiful white Danish pan I had just found, I saw a sign for “People’s Pops.” I immediately got in line and once closer to the stand realized there was a guy shaving ice off a large shiny sloping block. I was so excited!!!

The flavors were more refined, with no dyes: Rhubarb mint, blueberry, lemon ginger etc…. When my friend Suzanne and I had our turn she asked the guy shaving the ice where he had found the metal tool for making the perfect snow. “They don’t make them anymore,” he said. “I got it from some obscure shop in the Bowery, they told me that they were only made in Colombia.”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lfcastro/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

I had the rhubarb mint and then had to come back for a lemon ginger. The only thing missing was the sweetened and condensed milk, but maybe the perfect raspado doesn’t really need it…

Posted June 30, 2009 by Mariana Velasquez |
Filed Under: Pisces

Crispy Rhubarb Sauce

April and May are tricky months when trying to stick to the philosophy of buying and eating seasonal and local fruit. Strawberries are not quite ready in the northeast and the citrus are past their prime. However, Rhubarb is available… but who really wants to eat rhubarb? I really didn’t understand this vegetable –because it is in fact a vegetable, with poisonous leaves I may add- before making this sauce. I love how by “pickling” thin slices of the stalk you maintain the bright pink/ reddish color.

For Easter I served it spooned on top of home made ricotta over toasted country bread.

3 stalks rhubarb, thinly sliced diagonally (about 3 cups)
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
1 cup white wine
3 crushed black pepper corns
1 bag earl gray tea
1 bag mixed berries tea

Place cut rhubarb in a deep heat resistant bowl. In a small pot bring sugar, wine, water and pepper to a boil. Remove for the heat and add tea bags, cover and allow tea to infuse the liquid for about 3 minutes covered. Remove tea bags and return pot to the heat; bring infused liquid back to a boil and carefully pour over cut rhubarb. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for about 10 minutes. Remove plastic and serve. Spoon warm over vanilla ice cream if desired.

The sauce will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

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Posted May 11, 2009 by Mariana Velasquez |
Filed Under: Pisces

Lomo al Trapo

Last February I was invited to a Fazenda three hours away from Sao Paulo to a beautiful house in the mountains with a Spanish tile roof, thick wooden beams across the ceiling, and most of all silence – lots of silence. Unfortunately, due to the constant drizzling rain, we opted to staying indoors for most of the 3-day visit. The fireplace became the center of the house as it often does when it is damp and chilly out, and so each day revolved around the next meal. I thought to make my new Argentine beau a Colombian specialty – tenderloin wrapped in cloth and salt cooked in the embers of the fireplace: Lomo al Trapo.

Since eating equals cleaning, I made the full meal in the fireplace: fire-roasted eggplant, corn pudding and a local-blooming broccoli rabe. At first, he was a bit ambivalent about the cooking technique, but our plates were quickly cleaned.

Ingredients

1 – 20×20 inch cotton cloth
2 cups coarse sea salt
1- 5 pound beef tenderloin, cleaned
Kitchen twine

Preparing the tenderloin:

Wet cotton cloth completely – you can also use wine or sherry to dampen the cloth but I prefer water. Squeeze excess liquid and spread cloth over the counter. Spread salt all around the cloth leaving a 1-inch margin. Place the meat perpendicular to you on the lower third of the salt covered cloth. Tightly roll the tenderloin with the cloth. You will want to tuck the ends as you would a burrito about half way. Tie tightly with twine.

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