JennyChef

About me....

 

I was born and raised in Chihuahua Mexico. Cooking in my family has always been the way to express our love and care for others so it was no surprise that I quickly picked an interest and passion for it at an early age. 

 

My mother used to prepare weekly feasts where family would gather for hours over delicious food. She never liked making desserts, so it became my area of opportunity to learn and explore the joy of cooking for others. As I grew up I expanded my interests and started to experiment with a full range of traditional dishes under my mother’s direction, progressing to the point of creating my own original food. 

 

I moved to Michigan 10 years ago and it was then when I discovered a new set of challenges. Being a mom of two young girls and having a full time job, I had to create dishes that would fit my busy lifestyle as well incorporate fresh local ingredients that were different in flavor and texture from the ones I was familiar with in Mexico.  I adopted my favorite traditional recipes that I’ve grown up with in my homeland without compromising flavor by streamlining many of the time-consuming techniques of Mexican cookery.

 

My reputation as a good cook started to spread in the community, when I was approached by the Whirlpool Hispanic Network to present a cooking class during the Hispanic Heritage month to help raise funds for the migrant families of southwest Michigan. The event was so successful that the KitchenAid Culinary Center had asked me to come back and teach more classes.  I accepted the invitation and discovered how much I enjoyed sharing with others the dishes that I grew up with and also making them easy enough to prepare so the class participants feel comfortable trying them at home.

 

I have been teaching cooking classes for 8 years and I am fortunate to always share my food with a full audience. I prepare my classes based on themes and my students’ interest and/or curiosity for dishes, ingredients and flavors. I take pride in my heritage and feel is important to help others find a comfortable way to share their love and care for others through food.  My classes introduce the audience to a cultural experience in a relaxed and interactive atmosphere where students learn and take a “something with them”; something that will enable them to enjoy cooking and share their care and love through new flavors.

 

Over those years and lots of cooking while living in Michigan, I stepped down from the corporate world to dedicate myself to my family and my community. My cooking took a new direction on my passion and began to donate dinners for local fundraisers such as LMC, Curious Kids Museum, Lory’s place and Brookview Montessori school. My dinners have not only been a great experience for the winners but also a perfect way to get involved with the community raising funds for great causes and sharing my heritage and what I love doing the most: COOK.

 

Our family moved from Michigan to Chicago almost 10 years ago. I put then my blogging and most of my cooking into a pause as I had to fight breast cancer along the surgeries and treatments involved. As I recovered from it, we had to embark a new journey overseas and we were relocated to London for almost 3 years. Over there, I was able to experience so many cultures and flavors around me that shaped my cooking into a very unique way. I learned cuisines that allowed me to create fusions with my Mexican background. I was also lucky enough to experience and immerse myself into the amazing flavors of the Mediterranean food of Croatia where we continue to spend our summers with family and as in Mexico, everybody enjoys cooking and eating together.

 

We are back in Chicago now where we consider home. We frequently travel to both Mexico and Croatia to see family but we also indulge to culinary experiences in between that continue to bring perspective to my cooking. My girls are now older and certainly taking on the love for cooking so I try to feed that passion as much as possible.

 

Please join me on this wonderful journey to discover new flavors and tradition behind Mexican cuisine through my own experiences and the way I view and interpret my heritage that now mingles with new flavors and cuisines to create one flavorful experience......

 

 

 

BIENVENIDOS!

Carrot Cake (pastel de zanahoria)

 

Today we celebrate in Mexico childhood.I always have had this great memory of having this special day as a kid and be celebrated (besides your birthday, this is a pretty sweet thing!). So speaking of childhood memories, carrot cake has been my absolutely favorite cake ever; the sweetness and textures of this cake always make my heart sing. As I've evolved with my cooking and baking, I've tweaked this recipe to be gluten and dairy free but the flavor and texture is still just scrumptious. To add some nuttiness and more layers of flavor, I've added some roasted macadamia nuts but feel free to use raisins (quite popular with carrot cake) hazelnuts or walnuts. Typically carrot cake is served with cream cheese frosting which I had to eliminate for myself but still made some for my family; a hint of maple syrup gives a really nice flavor to the frosting and compliments the  cake quite well.

When we lived in Michigan and my daughters were at Brookview Montessori school, I was in charge of the "slow snack" program for the entire school. Several parents would join me daily to cook a snack made from scratch and seasonal fruits and/or vegetables either purchased but often donated by the families at the school. I brought to the menu a recipe very similar to this for carrot cake but we renamed it "chameleon bread" because we would replace the carrots with produce available that week and still have a wonderful cake for the kids. So go ahead and experiment with this cake too! try zucchini, apples, sweet potato... endless possibilities!

 

Provecho!

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups of shredded carrots

1 cup of coconut flakes (I used unsweetened)

1 cup of roasted macadamia nuts (optional)

1 cup of vegetable oil

2 cups of sugar (may replace with agave)

2 large eggs - separated

3 cups all purpose gluten free flour (or regular flour if is your liking)

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 ½ tsp. ground cinnamon (I love cinnamon and it's great anti-inflammatory but you can reduce the amount if you'd like)

½ tsp. salt

zest and juice of one orange (about ½ cup of orange juice)

 

If you want the frosting: take 10 oz. of cream cheese with about 2 tbsp. of maple syrup and 1 tbsp. heavy cream. Cream until blended and top the cake with it.

 

Directions:

• Preheat the oven at 325F
• In a food processor, finely chop the macadamia nuts. Set aside
• Shred the carrots and measure in a bowl, add orange juice, orange zest, and the chopped macadamia nuts. Blend in with a spatula.
• In a bowl put the sugar, vegetable oil and yolks and blend in the stand mixer until thoroughly combined and pale. Sift aside the baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and flour and slowly add them while blending until fully incorporated. Pour the mix into the carrot/nut mix and blend well with a spatula. Set aside.
• In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks start to develop. Gradually add the sugar and salt while you keep whisking until the egg whites become stiff and glossy. Set aside.
• Take a big spoon of the egg white mix and gently fold it into the carrot batter making sure not to blend hard or over doing it. Slowly keep adding big spoonfuls of the egg white into the batter until is all incorporated and fluffy (should gain volume with the egg whites).
• Prepare a pan (greased and floured) and bake for about 45 minutes or until you insert a toothpick the middle of the cake and comes out clean. Make sure not to overflow the pan with the batter and if necessary, split it in more than one mold before baking.
• Remove from oven, let it cool and then frost with the maple cheesecake frosting.

Blueberry scones

 

As the #stayathome efforts continue, we also have kept with our #teatime at our household. I am trying to experiment with different sweets that we can savor daily but trying to keep them as healthy as possible; at the end of the day they are home made and that already counts for something, right? One of our best memories from London is #teatime and eating scones with clotted cream. Unfortunately, we cannot find clotted cream in the US (or perhaps it is a good thing for us) but here is the scones recipe we've enjoyed; I paired it with honeycomb butter which is quite popular in Europe and that you can easily make here.

Provecho!

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups gluten free flour (or regular flour if you desire)

3 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1 stick of butter, chilled and cut into squares (I used coconut butter instead and it will make it into a vegan dessert)

⅓ granulated sugar

¾ almond milk plus 1 tbsp. white vinegar (or whole milk or any dairy free milk of your choice) to make buttermilk (you can also use buttermilk itself)

1- 1 ¼ cups of blueberries

2 tbsp. of almond milk (or whole milk or any dairy free milk of your choice)

Granulated sugar for coating

 

Directions:

• Preheat the oven at 400F
• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Add the butter and blend in the ingredients with your hands until it looks coarse and very small pieces of butter are remaining. Add the sugar
• Make a well in the middle of the mixture and add the "buttermilk". Stir to combine with a spatula. When it starts to come together, add the blueberries but make sure to gently incorporate so they don't get the dough mushy. Form a ball with the dough over a floured surface but being very gentle.
• Cut the ball in half and flattened into a disc of about 6 inches in diameter.
• Using a sharp knife, cut the disc into eight equal pieces.
• Arrange the pieces on a prepared baking sheet and brush the tops with some milk and sprinkle some sugar on top.
• Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.
• Cook on wire rack and enjoy!

Gluten Free chocolate fudge brownies

 

Happy Passover or Easter if you celebrate either. I am overdue on posting this recipe but with Easter and this #stayathome , I've been a bit busy with other things (believe it or not). This recipe is quite easy and it's one of my "to go's" desserts when I have to quickly improvise something yummy for friends to come over or for my family to enjoy. Quarantine and #teatime has been keeping me busy and I am trying to post things so you can enjoy them at your home as well. What I like about these brownies, is how chewy they get with the extra chocolate chips (nothing wrong with that!!) so they are fudgy and chewy. Because we have extra time, we worked on home made ice cream but feel free to use store bought ice cream; we love Jenni's ice cream any time!

Provecho

 

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups of sugar

½ cup coconut oil (butter flavor)

½ tsp. salt

1 ½   teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

¾ cup good quality cocoa powder

3 eggs

1 tsp. baking powder

1 ½ cups of semi sweet chocolate chips (I like to make 1 cup of semi sweet and ½  cup of dark or cocoa nibbles)

Coarse salt (sel de mer) to sprinkle on top when done

 

Directions:

• Preheat the oven at 350F
• Place sugar and coconut oil (you can always use butter if you prefer not use a dairy free alternative) in a bowl for about 3 minutes or until the oil is melted and sugar incorporated into the oil (stir as necessary)
• In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
• Add vanilla and cocoa powder, mix well then incorporate the eggs (previously beaten and at room temperature) and stir until blended.
• Add the flour mixture little by little until blended and no flour lumps are found in the mix. Add the chocolate chips and incorporate
• Pour over a prepared pan (greased and floured) and bake for about 35 minutes. Make sure you do not bake them too long or they will dry out. Toothpick may seem moist if inserted when you add plenty of chocolate chips (my problem quite often). Brownies need to be firm to gentle touch but not dry/hard
• Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15-20 minutes
• Enjoy them while warm if possible!

 

 

 

Old fashioned blueberry cake (pastel rústico de moras)

 

It is true that our eyes love to eat pretty things but sometimes, the most simple appearance can deliver an explosion of flavors and textures. This is one of our family's comfort cakes. It is the perfect cake for tea time or breakfast although girls would even eat it as a snack. With very simple ingredients that you most likely have in your pantry, you can create a cake with layers of flavor and texture that promise to please even a picky palate (and we have plenty of those in our household). I've been tweaking and working on this recipe for quite a long time. One of the first times I made this cake was for one of my dearest friends of many years who moved to Seattle. I went to visit her for a short weekend and as the old times, we talked and cooked non stop; it was one of the most perfect and comforting weekends I ever had. Instead of making one big cakes, we made small individual cakes for each of us and topped them with home made vanilla heavy cream.

With my new dietary restrictions, I've modified the recipe but you can always stick to the original one and keep the dairy and gluten ingredients if your body tolerates them. One trick that I've learned over the years, is that if you don't have buttermilk (in my case I don't eat dairy), then measure the same amount of milk (or almond, coconut, other non dairy milk) and add 1 tbsp. white vinegar, stir and let it set for about 15 minutes; you will have buttermilk!. The cake is perfect year round, if you can't find fresh berries, you can certainly replace them with frozen ones. I always use organic ingredients with my recipes.

Provecho!

 

Ingredients:

FOR THE CRUMB TOPPING:

½ cup gluten free flour

⅓ cup packed brown sugar

Pinch of salt

½ cup toasted nuts (pecans go lovely with this recipe, if you have nut allergies, omit)

½ cup gluten free granola

3 tbsp. "butter" coconut oil

 

CAKE:

1 ½ cups of gluten free flour

1 tbsp. polenta 

½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 cup of sugar

6 tbsp. "butter" coconut oil

½ tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 tbsp. ground cinnamon

2 cups fresh blueberries

 

Instructions:

• To make the crumb, mix all ingredients and keep it chilled (freezer preferably)
• Preheat the oven at 350F
• Whisk all dry ingredients in a bowl: flour, polenta, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 
• In a separate bowl, beat the butter with ¾ of the sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly add the vanilla and eggs, one at the time until well incorporated.
• Begin to add the dry mixed ingredients and the buttermilk to the egg mixture, alternate. Continue to beat at medium speed until batter is fluffy and fully incorporated.
• In a springform mold previously greased, add half of the batter. In a small bowl mix the remaining sugar and the cinnamon. Sprinkle the mix evenly on top of the batter. Pour the rest of the batter on top. 
• Put the fresh berries on top of the cake and top with the crumb.
• Bake for about an hour. Cool completely before removing from mold.

 

Lemon pudding cakes (pastelitos de limón con budín)

Well I must admit that is has been way too long since my last post. Many things have happened and in a way, I wish that I would have continued to post here over the years during my wonderful adventures around Europe tasting and cooking so many new things. As usual, everything I cook, must have my very own and personal Mexican touch. Today we are living very different times from when I posted last. We are living challenging times and there is a pandemic affecting our entire world. We have been forced to stay home so we can do our part and slow the virus that is affecting many, and as part of being home together, cooking of course has been one of our daily activities. My girls are now much older but still very enthusiastic about cooking so we've been doing "tea time" every day between 4pm-6pm and use this time to spend time as a family talking and enjoying each others' company. Living in London for a while made us appreciate this tradition and we have totally embrace it. Last week I made these lemon pudding cakes and they were a delight. The cake came up spongy and fluffy while the bottom was filled with lemon pudding; made a mixed berry compote and just brought all those flavors to the next level. It is a bit time consuming but I can assure you, it is worth it. The baking process is very similar to making a flan so you can achieve the fluffy and velvety texture in the same bite. Just so you know, over the years I've turned to be #gluenfree and #dairyfree so while I still cook and bake as usual, I've been slowly moving my recipes to fit my new dietary needs. You can always substitute ingredients to gluten and dairy as you desire.

Provecho!

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut and almond milk

½ cup heavy whipping coconut cream

3 tablespoons of grated lemon zest

½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

½ tsp. baking powder

1 cup sugar

¼ cup gluten free flour

Pinch of salt

2 eggs separated, plus 2 egg whites

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

 

 For the compote:

1 tbsp. coconut oil (butter flavor)

2 cups of mixed berries (make sure they are small pieces to avoid large chunks in the sauce)

2 tbsp. sugar

½ tsp. fresh lemon juice

 

Instructions:

 

• Preheat the oven at 325F
• Bring the milk and cream to simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat. When the cream starts reaching boiling point (see small bubbles around the inside rim of the pan), add the lemon zest and stir. Turn the heat off, cover the saucepan and let it rest for 15-20 minutes.
• In the meantime, damp a thin kitchen towel and place it at the bottom of a large sauce pan. Place the ramekins on top and fill the roast pan with water until the ramekins are submerged about half way. Set aside.
• Using the stand mixer fitter with whisk attachment, whip all the egg whites on medium-low speed until foamy (about a minute). Increase the speed to medium as you continue to whip whites to soft and lightly firm peaks. Gradually add ¼ cup of sugar and whip until glossy, soft peaks form. Set aside.
• In a bowl, strain the milk through a fine mesh strainer pressing the lemon zest to extract any liquid left. Discard the lemon zest. 
• Whisk ¾ cups of sugar, the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Add the egg yolks, vanilla, lemon juice. Once incorporated, at very low speed, whisk the batter and slowly add the lemon milk until fully incorporated. Be careful not to add it too soon or the batter will curd, must temper the batter slowly. 
• Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the batter until no clumps or streaks remain.
• Divide batter evenly among ramekins (ramekins should be nearly full). Bake until cake is set and pale golden brown and pudding layer registers 175F center, about 55 minutes (insert the thermometer but make sure you pull it out about ¼ of an inch of the ramekin so you get an accurate reading).
• Remove pan from oven and let ramekins Stan in the water bath  for 10 minutes. Transfer ramekins to a wire rack and let them cool completely.
• While the ramekins cool, melt the coconut butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add the berries, sugar and salt, bring to a boil.
• Reduce to simmer stirring occasionally. Allow to thicken (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Check tasting (sometimes a bit of salt will improve flavoring without needing to add more sugar)

 

Enjoy! 

Twitter: #jennychef

Instagram: #instajennychef

 

 

 

Red pepper and leek quiche with cheese crust ( Quiche de pimento y poro en costra de queso)

Last night I had a group of friends over for apps, drinks and jewerly! I made this recipe but in small bites to make them easy to eat and serve when you have large crowds... I can't tell you  how amazing these flavors are! Give it a try.. perfect for an entertaining night with good company. I removed the chopped jalapeno peppers in the recipe to be conscious about larger crowds that don't always eat spicy food but if you know your group and they love spicy, then add 1-2 finely chopped jalapenos (with or without seeds depending how much heat you want on the dish!)

Provecho!

 

Ingredients:

1/4 lb. white cheddar

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup chilled butter- cut into pieces

1 egg - lightly beaten

3-4 tbsp iced water

1 1/2 tbsp butter

2 leeks

1 small red bell pepper

1/4 dry white cheddar (parmesan cheese consistency)

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

3/4 tsp dijon mustard (or use a mustard with “heat” for a variation such as horseradish, habanero, etc)

Salt to taste

 

Directions:

 

to make the crust, place the white cheddar cheese in the food processor or blender (whatever you prefer or have) and cut in chunks and pulse until crumbly. 

Add the flour and salt and pulse until finely crumbled. Add the butter then when incorporated, add the lightly beaten egg over the mixture. Scrape down bold and add about 2 tbsp of water (iced) until forms a rough mass, if it still not coming together add a bit more water but being careful not get it too sticky and runny. Set aside

Preheat the oven at 400F

Place the cheddar dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll out into a thick circle and place in a spring form mold. Keep refrigerated until ready to use

Clean and slice the leeks into small pieces. In a small saute pan over medium heat, melt the remaining butter. Add the leeks and saute until soft but not browned. Remove from heat

In a bowl combine the cooled leeks, bell pepper and cheese (grated)

In the stand mixer, whisk the cream, eggs, mustard and a pinch of salt. When fluffy, incorporate all ingredients together without mixing too hard to keep the creamed ingredients as intact as possible.

Pour egg and vegetables mixture into the chilled crust and bake for 30-40 minutes until puffy and golden brown.

Apple almond tart for dessert tonight... a real indulgence!

My first private cooking class in the city.. what a wonderful beginning in this new chapter doing what I love the most: cooking for others... Menu and recipes coming up!

Fall calls for harvest recipes... Upside down Toffee apple brownies

Ropa vieja (Latin style shredded beef)

I think that this dish is one of the most classic ones in latin culture; every single country in Latin America has its own interpretation of how this dish is made, eaten, prepared and enjoyed. For people who live in the United States I think that their first contact with this dish is through Cuban food but as I said, everybody has its own version.

For me this dish brings me memories of my aunt, one of the most important and relevant women in my life who I love like my own mother and even call her as such. She is my mother's sister and raised me for a few years when I was little so I became extremely close to her. As I was growing up, part of the highlights of my summers was going to spend it with my aunt who lives in a different city from the rest of my family. When I was there, it was about enjoying what she liked to cook and prepare and living in a southern city (Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara) the flavors were different yet familiar with a similar flavor that my mother had. She would prepare this dish and serve them in tostadas but what it was the star of the dish was that she would make a spicy salsa with the broth of the meat and put it on top of each tostada when serving.... I can't tell you how watery my mouth is getting just of thinking of those flavors and the great memories along with it.

 

Taking inspiration from that dish I want to share with some tweaks because I've been editing the recipe a few times and now even my older daughter (who is an extreme picky eater!) is now enjoying this dish and asking for MORE! that is priceless for me! As a good Mexican I would serve this dish with rice and beans on the side but if you want to go the European route (like my husband) creamy polenta with roasted garlic makes an outstanding bed for this dish to enjoy.

Provecho!!!

 

Ingredients:

2 large organic carrots

2 organic celery stalks

1 big shallot ,peeled and roughly chopped

4 cloves of garlic

1 medium white onion roughly chopped

3 roma tomatoes roughly chopped

1 cup (or maybe more if needed) of red wine (not sweet.. prefer to use cabernet, chianti)

1-2 cups beef broth

1 tbsp freshly ground Mexican oregano

1 tsp black malabar pepper

Salt to taste

1 red bell pepper

1 green bell pepper

1 tsp cumin (optional for enhanched Latin flare)

2-3 lb. beef roast with some fat (not much) for flavor

 

Directions:

• One thing before you start is that as I said, my older daughter is an extreme picky eater and when chop the vegetables and leave them on the meat like that she would not even try them. My trick to sneak veggies on her food is I liquefy all ingredients making a sauce and that way she eats them with no problem.. even compliments how great the meat taste!! so chopped or liquefied is your choice!
• In the blender put 1/2 of the wine, 1/2 of the beef broth, the tomatoes, garlic, shallot, onion, celery and bell peppers. Liquiefy at high speed to make a sauce. Add more beef broth if needed.
• In a big pot (I use my Le Creuset largest one) place the roast, add the sauce and the remaining wine/broth making sure it gets cover with liquid for the most part. 
• Add the dry spices and bring to a boil.
• Simmer for about 2-3 hours on the stove or if prefer, in the oven at 350F until the meat is fully cooked, extra tender that falls apart when you press with a fork.
• Remove from heat and take the piece of meat out to allow cooling.
• Using two forks shred the meat into smaller pieces then put it back to the broth in the pot you still have. Simmer for additonal 20-30 minutes
• If you want to serve this the latin way you may do it with refried beans, tostadas and rice or going the European fusion of it... make roasted garlic polenta and serve it on top.. it is an outstanding dish!
• If you want to make the spicy broth reserve about 1 cup of the broth before putting the meat back to the pot. Take 1-2 del arbol peppers previously rehydrated in hot water for about 15-20 minutes and liquefy to a "hot broth" this sauce must be hot when pouring on top of the meat as ir or in the tostadas for better taste

Enjoy!!!