Capirotada

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Mexican capriotada is an interesting combination of bread, nuts, fruits, cheese and cinnamon syrup with a history rooted back to the Spanish inquisition. Click here, for a revealing historical recap about how capirotada links to the Jewish Passover.

If you are Mexican and Catholic you will be familiar with this understated bed-rock dish of Mexican cuisine. It’s become a somewhat archaic dish, partly because the emerging secular culture and decline of the 40 day lenten observance. I hope not; cook-up some capirotada and discover the multiple layers of flavors and complex tastes and it will become part of your food repertoire. It’s not an overly sweet dish and because contains cheese some don’t considered it a dessert. Recipes for Capirotada mostly conform to the base ingredients mentioned above, but vary by the selection of nuts, bread, cheese, spices, fruits and region. Here is my version, make and enjoy this savory dish.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

8 – 10 ¾ inch slices of french bread, toasted

1 cup mixture of peanuts, almonds, pecans, walnuts ( peanuts are standard)

½ cup raisins

¼ cup candied dry fruit, small cubes – optional

(Mexican crystalized fruits preferred – see notes )

6 oz monterey jack cheese, grated

Syrup Ingredients

8 oz piloncillo

2 whole cloves

4 juniper or allspice berries

2 star anise or ½ teaspoon anise seeds

1 cinnamon stick

Orange peel from a small orange.

4 cups water

Syrup Preparation

Add all syrup ingredients in a saucepan, and simmer at medium high heat until the piloncillo is dissolved and the syrup is reduced by one-quarter the original volume. Remove from the heat to cool, then discard the cinnamon stick and pour the syrup through a sieve. Set aside.

Preparation

In an 9 inch diameter casserole or deep baking dish, arrange a layer of bread and distribute ½ of the nuts, raisins, fruit and cheese. Evenly cover this layer of bread with ½ the syrup. Repeat these steps for a 2nd layer of bread. Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees and bake for 30 minutes.

Serve warm or cold.

Notes

Piloncillo is made from pure, unrefined sugar that is pressed into a cone shape. It tastes very similar to brown sugar with a molasses flavor (even though it does not contain molasses). You can use it for anything that calls for brown sugar. It’s name means “little pylon” because of it’s shape. The smaller cones are usually around 1 ounce and the larger ones around 8 ounces and can be found in your Mexican markets or purchased from the internet.

Typical Mexican candied fruits include Acitron (Lemon or Lime), Camote (sweet potato), Calabaza (Squash), Piña (Pineapple) and my favorite Biznaga (Cactus). Can be purchased in Mexican markets.

Buen Provecho

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