Showing posts with label sour orange. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sour orange. Show all posts

Monday, February 17, 2014

Cuban Mojo Marinade Recipes and Cooking Tips for Mojo



One of my greatest blessings is the kitchen aroma in my house growing up and the associated memories.

We were what is considered a "multi-ethnic european/latin family" . . . yes, ethnic groups have subgroups.  Back in the day, the mixing of those groups was frowned upon, but my generation in my part of the world seems to be one of the first to have embraced the mingling of those ethnic groups. 

Cuban cigar factories sprung up in Tampa, Florida that employed so many of the european latino and cuban immigrants that flooded the area and many grew up in the same neighborhoods and their children went to the same schools.

With the blending of those families came a blending of cooking techniques and customs.  The food that came from my childhood kitchen was italian, cuban and spanish in origin.  What a delicious combination!

In doing research for some local dishes I grew up with, I have come to realize that many are unique to this area of the world!

It is delightfully odd how writing a post about cuban mojo conjured up so many memories.  My fondest memories come from the smell of a roast pork in the oven marinaded and basted with cuban mojo and tons of onion and garlic as a bed for the pork.  Black beans served on garlicky white rice usually accompanied the roast.  When we make a roast pork, the aroma takes me back to Christmas Eve at my Godmother's house and the best black beans and rice with roast pork I have ever had! 

Ditto for the preparation of a roasted whole chicken, although the family had a strong preference for pork.


In Cuban cooking, mojo is a sauce/marinade that is made with garlic, olive oil and a citrus juice, traditionally sour orange juice.  Orange and lime juice can be used as a substitute if sour oranges are not available.

In my area, sour orange trees are prevalent since we live right on the line of the subtropical gardening zone.  When the sweet juicing orange trees would die from an occasional freeze, what grew back from the trunk was not a sweet orange, but a sour orange, much like a lemon, but sweeter.  Our house sits on a former orange grove, so the sour orange trees are still popping up from the birds scattering the seeds.  What a blessing!  I'm not even sure if they are locally sold in stores since I have never had to buy them.  I do know that you can buy bottled mojo in the ethnic section of the grocery store.

The Captain has developed quite a fondness for this concoction we call cuban mojo since we married and he was introduced to a whole new world of food and cooking.  He has become the official mojo maker, storing the mojo in old wine bottles that accompany all his other concoctions and sauces in the fridge.  He continues to experiment with the basic recipe by adding some form of hot pepper to the mix with some delicious results.

Honestly, all you need is a great mojo sauce to flavor your pork roast or whole chicken in a quick and easy prep . . . marinated and/or basted . . . cooked in the oven, grill/smoker or slow cooker does all the work.   For us, it is the most economical way for us to prepare them since we don't have to buy fancy, expensive sauces.


Some ideas for the use of mojo that we love:



Mojo is also used on seafood and beef. 



Add a splash of mojo to a shrimp scampi type of dish or baked fish with onions.


 Shrimp is awesome marinaded in mojo and grilled for a few minutes for a tasty appetizer. 



 Palomilla (a thin steak cut from the round) or cubed steak marinated in mojo and pan fried with grilled onions is awesome . . . put that steak and onions in some hot crusty bread for a sandwich that is to die for. 

 I love putting some mojo on black beans and rice for extra flavor! 

 It is one of those concoctions that can go a long way with a little imagination and creativity in your cooking.




Basic Cuban Mojo Recipe

½ cup of olive oil
10 garlic cloves, minced, but best processed in a blender with the juices  (You could use as few as 6 or 8, but in my opinion, the more garlic, the better!)
¼ cup orange juice
¼ cup lime juice
¾ tsp ground cumin
¾ tsp oregano
½ tsp salt (or to taste)



Process the garlic cloves with the juices until garlic is minced super fine if a blender is available.
Stir in the olive oil and spices.
You can use bottled sour orange juice available in the Hispanic foods/ethnic section of most grocery stores, however, lime juice and orange juice work just as well in a 1 to 1 formula.
The mojo can be kept in the refrigerator for three days to a week, if it lasts that long!
If you don't want to mess with making your own mojo, there are some very good varieties available in the ethnic section of the grocery store.


Sunday, January 19, 2014

Key Lime Pound Cake



Pound cake is my favorite type of cake.  What follows is the original recipe from one of my favorite websites, Southern Living, but we made a few changes.

This recipe can be adapted to another citrus fruit as we did . . . that was a big change!

We had already picked the key lime tree clean, and our sour oranges usually go to waste for the most part, so we made the substitution.  Our quest has been to find recipes that would adapt to sour oranges so we don't let so many go to waste this year.

I don't know if it is because we used sour oranges, but I would have liked more taste of sour orange in the cake itself and the next time we make it, the amount will be doubled.  The glaze came out to what was our perfect as we could taste it before putting it on the cake.  We doubled the amount of sour orange juice and added a bit of zest and it was perfect.  I suggest tasting both the batter and the glaze to make sure it is to your taste.

A minor change was the substitution of low fat half and half instead of milk simply because we were out of milk.  It doesn't seem to have made a difference in the outcome.

The Captain and I usually cook and bake together.  For some reason, we had a miscommunication about the oven temperature and the cake was baked at 425 degrees instead of 325 degrees.  It baked for an hour before we realized it (a burning smell in the kitchen will get your attention).  It came out burned along the top and side!  Oh the disappointment!!!! 

After trimming the top and sides off, it was ugly, but still moist and delicious! Mishaps in the kitchen can be funny after the initial shock and the solution :)

We will make this cake again with the noted changes and of course, we will make sure to use the correct baking temperature!




Ingredients:
1 cup butter (softened)
1/2 cup shortening 
3 cups granulated sugar
6 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon key lime zest
1/4 cup key lime juice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 F.  Beat butter and shortening at medium speed, or until creamy.  Gradually add sugar, beating at medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add eggs 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.
Stir together flour, baking powder and salt.  Add to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.  Beat at low-speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla, key lime zest and key lime juice.  Pour batter into a greased and floured 10-inch (12-cup) tube pan.
Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until a long wooded pick inserted in the center of cake comes out clean.  Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 to 15 minutes, remove from pan to a wire rack.
Prepare Key Lime Glace, and immediately brush over top and sides of cake.  Cool completely (about 1 hour).

Key Lime Glaze
1 cup confectioner sugar
2 Tablespoons key lime juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Mix all ingredients together and brush over top and sides of cake.

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