READ UP, CHOW DOWN
La Cocina De Abuela FLAN INGREDIENTS • • • • • •
A pan with a lid Half a cup of sugar (this is used for the coating and does not go in the blender One can of condensed milk One can of evaporated milk Four eggs Vanilla (to your taste)
And speaking of the meats, don’t bother grabbing a knife on your way to your seat. Any meat entree you pick is most likely so juicy and tender, you could slice it with a spoon. Puyana smiled as she recalled that at the restaurant’s opening, they had invited a Catholic priest to bless the new establishment. “We had a whole clergy in here,” she said, her hands waving towards one side of the dining room, then to the other. “There was holy water over here, over there, everywhere.” And much like an after-Mass congregation, Abuela’s customers may recognize each other and extend their arms in greeting, joining each other for lunch despite arriving separately. Puyana herself waits on patrons and friends, skillfully plating their meals as they tell her about their lives since she saw them last. “The experience is as if a friend invited you to their home, and the parents cooked up an authentic meal for you to try,” Puyana said. At this point, Puyana has spent more time in Gainesville than her hometown of Miami, and touches of this city shine through from the quiet surrounding neighborhood to the homemade kombucha station. On Saturdays, local band Latin Sound Machine performs upbeat Latin tunes, covering classics like “Oye Como Va” and soulful ballads, which reverberate from the glass windows to the kitchen and back. In the future, Puyana says customers can expect outdoor seating (currently under construction), as well as a new drink: in-house cider. Between running three restaurants and being a full-time mom, Puyana says she can’t always be around. “But rest assured,” she said, “Abuela is back there in the kitchen, making sure everything is just right.” •
DIRECTIONS 1. Blend everything, then set it down while you coat the lidded pan in melted sugar (leave time for bubbles to go away). You have to be very careful making the sugar coat. It's very hot and hurts a lot if you get any on your skin. 2. Next, you take a sauce pan and melt half a cup of sugar at a low heat. You want a clear caramel, not a dark caramel as that will burn and make your flan taste burnt. 3. Take the clear caramel and cover the pan with it (like you would do with butter if you were making a cake). All the sides and bottom must be covered. 4. Then, pour the blender ingredients in the pan and cover. 5. Now, take a bigger pan and place the lidded pan in it. Add water to the bigger pan so the lidded pan is a little less than half-covered in water. This is called a "baño de Maria." 6. Cook the flan for in an oven for 35 minutes at 350 degrees.
125 NW 23 Avenue Gainesville, FL, 32609 Open 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday
IN SEASON AND FRESH
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