Food Friday and Easter is just around the corner!

Spring has announced its imminent arrival in full force in the Southwest.  How do I know this, you might ask, since it is only the beginning of March?  Easy, darling.  The plants and fruit trees are blooming, my roses hold distinct promise, I'm already shooing wild rabbits out of my yard, and the wind gusts have hit 45 m.p.h.  I was once asked to describe what a wind gust was like, out in this portion of Texas, and I could only come up with one description.

Have you ever seen the bit in the movie, The Mummy, where Imhotep summons the forces of the desert winds to kill the hero, Rick?  A towering mountain of thick sand rises on the horizon, choking the air from the atmosphere and shrouding everything in a sandblast of torrential earth.  Well, dear, that's the best way to describe our winds.  As my son says, 'if it ain't bolted down, it'll be in Houston by the end of the evening.'  He's probably right, as I watch plastic bags fly high in our gray/brown sky.

Anyways, while I'm stuck indoors, I'm considering my up-coming Easter Menu.  The usual will decorate the table–ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, chile con queso, tostadas, corn, fried sweet potatoes, deviled and pickled eggs, and this little delight.  Capirotada is a staple for Lent and is similar to the American Version of Bread Pudding, with slight alterations.

                        MEXICAN BREAD PUDDING (CAPIROTADA)

To my standards, I have found this to be a very strange version of bread pudding.  Many Latinos, as well, find it an odd dessert and prefer the American styled bread pudding.  We all have a food like this in each and every one of our cultures.  You know, the food that we really don't care for but when homesickness hits, we're are all on the phone with grandma and begging for the recipe.  I had lapsed over the last few years, and had skipped over making this for the holidays.  Last week, my mother-in-law invited up over for a freshly baked Capirotada and I felt as if the angel's had begun to sing a glorious choir as I took my first bite.  The dish was a steaming concoction that brought tears to my eyes and pleasure to my taste buds!

This is usually served over the Easter season.

3 teaspoons of cloves

Butter

1 cup of raisins (golden and regular)

1 loaf of stale bread

1/2 cup of chopped almonds, pinon nuts, or walnuts

2 1/2 cups of shredded Monterey Jack cheese

3 tablespoons ground cinnamon

3 cups of brown sugar

1 quart of water

7 ounces of shredded coconut

1 cup of peeled, chopped fresh apple

Non-pariels for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a large 2-quart pan, on low, bring to a low boil the water.  Add the cinnamon, cloves and brown sugar to the slowly boiling water.

Simmer the sugar mixture for 15 minutes, continuously stirring, until the brown sugar mix becomes the consistency of syrup.  Remove the sugar syrup from the heat.

Butter a 9×13 baking dish.  Tear the bread into bite size pieces and spread evenly into the greased casserole dish.  Pour 3 tablespoons of the melted butter over the torn bread pieces.  Sprinkle the torn bread evenly with the nuts, the chopped apple, the shredded coconut, and the raisins.

Stir the cooled sugar syrup.  Pour roughly 4 cups of the cooled sugar syrup over the torn bread, or until the bread is soaked but not drowning in syrup.  Top the torn bread and syrup concoction evenly with the shredded cheese.  Sprinkle with non-pariels.

Cover the casserole dish with aluminum foil.

Place casserole dish on a baking sheet.  Bake casserole for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  Cool for 15 minutes and serve with whipped cream.

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