Capirotada de Vigilia
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Given that it was Easter, I felt it necessary to try and create somthing relevant to the occasion. There's a lot of traditional foods that get eaten at Easter, such as ham and lamb, but simply slapping one of those between two pieces of bread with a slice of cheese seemed lazy. There were a few obvious bread options (hot cross buns anyone), but nothing that gave me any brilliant ideas. Cheese options were quite sparse, with only sirek/hrudka from the Slovak regions coming to mind; certainly not a cheese I could find at short notice.
This is when I discovered Capirotada.
Capirotada de Vigilia is a Mexican dessert traditionally served on Good Friday, and crucially, it contains both bread and cheese in its basic composition. I believe traditionally Queso Añejo is used for the cheese, but this has an easy substition for Monetery Jack; readily available at all stores here.
As a dessert, it is tied to Good Friday through the symbolism represented by its core ingredients: the bread is Christ's body, and the syrup his blood; the cinnamon sticks combine to form a cross, with the raisins acting as the nails; finally, the cheese is symbolic of the Holy Shroud. Together these form a representation of the suffering Christ endured on Good Friday. These core ingredients are often surrounded by a combination of both fruits and nuts, though in my variation I've gone for a more fruit heavy approach.
Note that despite the religious connotations, this is a dessert that can be enjoyed all year around.
Capirotada de Vigilia
Serves: 2-3 People
Traditional Mexican dish commonly served at Easter. Cinnamon sweetened bread pudding with raisins and Monterey Jack, furnished with a bevy of dried fruits: banana, cranberry, mango and pineapple.
Ingredients
- 4 Slices of Raisin Bread
- 100g Monterey Jack Cheese
- 200g Dark Cane Sugar
- 200ml Water
- 2 Cinnamon Sticks
- 25g Raisins
- 25g Dried Mango
- 25g Dried Banana Slices
- 25g Dried Pineapple
- 25g Dried Cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 180c/360f.
- Mix the sugar, water and cinnamon sticks in a jug until the sugar begins to dissolve.
- Transfer the sugar/water mix to a saucepan, and heat at a low to medium level for approximately 10 minutes. You will want to stir this occasionally to ensure that the sugar completely dissolves, creating a syrup.
- Tear the raisin bread into small pieces approximately one half to one full inch across.
- Finely grate all of the Monterey Jack cheese.
- If any of the dried mango or pineapple pieces are greater than about one half inch across, tear these up also.
- Place the bread, two thirds of the cheese and all fruits into a large mixing bowl
- Remove the cinnamon sticks from the sugar/water syrup, and pour into the mixing bowl
- Mix everything together, then transfer to a dish
- Use the remaining cheese to create a top layer, then bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes, until the cheese melts
- Serve, with a grin. :)
Notes & Tips
If raisin bread isn't available, you can simply substitute any bread of your choice and add a few more raisins instead. On the fruit side of things, feel free to go with your own combination; many versions of this dish use just raisins and a variety of nuts, such as pecans, walnuts and slivered almonds.
