The tourist always asks for “those little pillows” with their order. Sopapilla is a challenging word but give it your best attempt, I say! Growing up sopapillas was a treat. They weren’t made daily or even weekly. It was when mom was missing home and we all benefited from her homesickness. As a child I learned to cook at an early age from my aunt Lenore and one of my favorite yet challenging items we made were her famous sopapillas. I knew it was like the batter for tortillas but she added milk instead of water and then she would also add a healthy pinch of corn meal for texture. The oil had to be the right heat to get the cut dough to brown with out burning and rise without breaking. Oh the challenge! Now a days, I just hop in the truck and head up north to Española to eat at Angelina’s to enjoy a treat that takes me back and taste like my childhood growing up at my grandma Lupita’s house in Mora.
The minute the sopapillas came with my dad’s bowl of posole with carne adovada today at lunch, I immediately reached for the honey and dug right in. Yes, they may not be the healthiest things on earth to eat but neither is that snickers or mars bar! This dessert wasn’t made in a factory, hands with generations of experience made it and they are American made. Usually served with honey, syrup or powdered sugar with cinnamon however you like to sweeten this amazing fried bread pastry is your choice. I prefer the good old-fashioned honey on mine.
This pastry isn’t just for dessert. Many of my family and friends like to cut one open and stuff the sopapilla with the traditional stuffing’s of most Northern New Mexican cuisine like beef, pork or chicken or chicharrones, beans and chili and cheese, whatever your favorite thing to eat will make for a delicious meal. I prefer my stuffed sopapilla smothered in Chimayo Red Chili sauce.
However you enjoy eating sopapillas, just eat more sopapillas and eat them at Angelina’s!
