By QCC Board Members
The holidays are just around the corner! Holiday’s equal food, family, more food, fellowship, and fun! Back by popular demand, Flavio Cisneros with the Questa Creative Council-offering a free traditional food’s cooking class this fall. Come learn Flavio’s recipes and techniques 10 a.m. – noon, Saturday, Nov. 14 at Living Word Ministries’ event building.
An active board member of the QCC, Flavio helped found the Questa History Trail, and during the Questa Art Tour he provided information, history, art, and restoration, which he helped with on site (by cooking for the workers) at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church.
Cooking Class Menu:
EMPANADITAS: These little deep-fried meat pies use lean pork ground together with seasonings and fruit sealed into a flaky crust. Flavio will have some already made, so you don’t have to wait for a taste, and he will then demo their creation. “It’s very hands-on, grinding the meat and gathering and mixing everything for the filling,” says Flavio.
BISCOCHITOS: Flavio’s famous biscochitos have received many compliments, both locally and in other parts of New Mexico. He has made hundreds of them for many different functions and events. They always disappear fast and get a big thumbs-up.
PRUNE PIE: Flavio will demo pitting, cooking, and mashing the filling and adding cinnamon and sugar. A flaky crust, too, yum! There will be already cooked prune pies to sample while you learn.
Flavio says, “When both my parents passed away I realized I had a craving for these foods. I started making them by experimenting to figure out the recipes, as I did not write them down while mom was still alive. My own taste buds told me if things were right or wrong.”
What makes these traditional dishes so special? They are about family but also about this place. This place was a crossroads, explains Flavio, for Comanche, Kiowa, Apache, and Plains natives, on their way to Taos Pueblo to trade. Crops and animals that were local lay the foundations for a regional cuisine born of necessity, which then became tradition.
“All is not lost… We can still share these things that are part of our past and teach others,” says Flavio.
Come be part of continuing our community’s traditions, on Nov. 14, 10 a.m. – Noon. Living Word Ministry’s event room is adjacent to the church at #12 Llano Rd., on the north side of Questa. Find more info at QuestaCreative.org or leave a message at (575) 586-5658.