Name: Clara Gonzalez
Blog: Dominican Cooking
Location: Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
What’s the first meal you ever made?
Oh dear, that was so long ago. I learned how to cook at a very early
age. The first memory I have of being in the kitchen involves
Dominican white rice,
possibly because it went very disastrously. Making this deceptively
simple dish is 50 percent art and 50 percent science, and it took me a while to master it.
If you had to blog about one ingredient every day, what would it be?
Coconut. No doubt. It’s an important part of my culinary heritage. We use it in stews, desserts, rice, fish and well, you get the idea. I’m not likely to run out of all the possible dishes I can make with coconut.
What’s your go-to quick and easy dinner?
Soups. Which soup depends on the seasons, availability of ingredients, and my mood. Lately Cream of Celeriac and Ginger
is my favorite.
Who would you love to have over for dinner?
My late grandmother. She passed when I was eight but she was my first influence in the kitchen. Her storytelling and sense of humor left an
imprint on my style, too. I have many questions that she left
unanswered, the most important being the secret of her coconut fudge.
