The Capirotada

No, it’s not a Brazilian martial art. But like Capoeria, this sexy dessert has all the rhythm, flare and pow of its South American counterpart. It’s not surprising really; harking from New Mexico, it’s that full flavoured Latin blood - figuratively speaking, of course!

So what is a capirotada then? It certainly brought a blank stare to my guests’ faces at my recent 8-course dessert degustation dinner party when they scanned the menu. And who can blame them? I’d never even heard of it until I stumbled upon it in a dusty book in the library. But like Bastian’s discovery of his enchanted book in A Neverending Story, what a magical find…

Best described, a capirotada is a bread and butter pudding… of sorts. Minus the cream and whiskey, replace with a light yet intensely fragrant cinnamon sugar syrup, and lace with cheddar and studded walnuts. Oh dear me, just talking about it makes me giddy.

I often like to test run my recipes before a big debut, but I had a very good feeling about this one. A child of the Philippines, I know instinctively the balance and beauty a salty-sweet combination can bring to food, and in particular cheese and sugar. We see it daily on our cheese plates, but throw it into a pudding and we’re a little thrown off track. Having grown up eating similarly flavoured ensaymadas, a sweet, soft bun topped with salted butter and finely grated cheese, I knew how my palate would take it, but I wondered at my market…

I don’t often do it, but I’ve overshot my market once before, so I can be forgiven for having my concerns. But flavours, they will be flavours, and outside of its name, the capirotada was also the most talked about dish of the evening… and there were some fine standouts in the running. There were, however, those 15 seconds as spoons first cracked the crisp, crusty layer of melted cheese and mouths took their first mouthfuls of warm, soft, cinnamony bread, when I wondered why I hadn’t done a damn brulee instead.

But as good as brulees are, they don’t have an exciting martial arts moniker and they don’t pack a powerful Latin-American punch.

Pow!

Capirotada

This recipe has been adapted from a cookbook collection produced by Gourmet Magazine. The original recipe called for the use of raisins and did not include walnuts. But, as I’m a fan of the latter, and not so much the former, I decided to change things up a little. The walnuts add another wonderful dimension of earthy, savoury flavour which, when paired with the sweet cinnamon syrup, is like absolute heaven.

1 cup caster sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon cinnamon
8 slices white bread
3 tablespoons butter
250g cheddar or tasty cheese
½ cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Butter a 20×20cm baking pan or ovenproof dish.

In a heavy saucepan, melt the sugar over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar has turned a deep caramel colour and all the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat. Slowly add 1½ cups water, stirring whilst pouring. The sugar will harden initially but it will dissolve as the mixture is stirred. Cook the mixture over medium-low heat and continue to stir until all the sugar is dissolved. Add the vanilla and cinnamon and simmer the syrup for another minute. Remove from heat.

Butter the slices of bread on one side and arrange one layer butter side down in the prepared dish. Sprinkle with cheese and walnuts. Repeat with subsequent layers. Pour the syrup over the pudding, making sure the bread and cheese is moistened. Bake the pudding for 30 minutes. Serve warm.