Puerto Rico from Mallorca, in the Balearic Islands (Spain) in the late 1800’s. In short, he went back, got married, had his children and they returned to Puerto Rico due to the Spanish Civil War during the 1930’s. We are a large group! (one of my great-uncles had 10 children, they all had children and their children have children, etc.). In honor of this gathering, I got inspired to publish my recipe for Ensaimada Mallorquina.

To give you a little background, Ensaimada is a typical sweet bread from the island of Mallorca . They are usually large (about 12 inches in diameter) and sometimes filled with fruit preserves, “angel hair” (pumpkin confit), sobreasada, almond puree, cream or apricots. For hundreds of years, like many countries in South America, Puertoand cooked delicately or with special techniques like “sous-vide” (sealed in a vacuum in low heat for a long period), the meat cuts will become as smooth as tenderloin. Whatever cut it was, it was tender indeed and full of flavor served with morel mushrooms, asparagus, fiddlehead ferns, red vein sorrel, chives and chickpeas with a sultry butter-wine sauce. Finally, for dessert I was served a chocolate-hazelnut crunch bar with ice cream, cocoa nib and caramel. Presentation and service was superb. The creativity and quality of the food was exquisite.

Bar at Blue Hill Restaurant at Stone Barns

After some tea and almost 2 hours of delectable dining and wonderful company, we headed back to the Tarrytown train station. On our way to the station, we passed the Union Church