Louise Pena-Candelaria
Dish: Arroz con Gandules (Rice with Pigeon Peas)
Shillington artist Louise Pena-Candelaria’s vivacious smile and personality light up the room as she talks about food and culture. Her Puerto Rican and Cuban heritage was part and parcel of growing up in a food-centered family.
“You usually have the matriarch of the family that is in charge of the kitchen, and she is usually kicking you out,” Candelaria says with an experienced laugh.
Her Puerto Rican mother, Sylvia Mercado, had a big influence at home, with a hands-off approach to meal cooking. “We watched her cook, but we didn’t get in her way,” she says.
Cooking is still very much a part of the fiber of who Candelaria’s mother is. It’s like a mission that keeps her going, explains Candelaria. Despite heart problems, “she still gets up and cooks for everybody.”
A passionate cook herself (in addition to being a mom and sought-after portraitist), Candelaria worries that modern-day habits of dining out threaten to undo the ties of the past. So she’s devoted herself to mastering the art of favorite dishes, and she’s frequently asked to create them for friends and family. The appetite to cook “is being lost now in the new generation,” she claims, “but in our family, there are certain recipes that are being passed along, and hopefully the younger people will be interested in knowing what those are, so they’re not lost. That’s important in our history – or for any family – knowing about their food and their culture.”
What makes Arroz con Gandules special?
Both her daughters have learned to cook her version of Arroz con Gandules, a traditional rice and peas dish. “It’s a common Puerto Rican recipe that is usually for special occasions” but can be done as an “everyday kind of meal.” Arroz con Gandules involves an innovative recipe, which the highly creative “Chef Lulu” adores. There’s freedom to use either long-grain or short-grain rice, but Candelaria warns that the two require different cooking times. Likewise, the gandules, which Candelaria describes as a “fun pea,” can be green or brown and roasted. The dish is commonly paired with meat, usually pork or sometimes tocino, “a special bacon similar to pancetta but not quite as salty.” Of course, Arroz con Gandules can also be prepared vegetarian style.
Is there a secret behind that amazing flavor?
Whether teeming with meat or full-blown vegetarian, it’s the seasoning that “hooks you in there,” Candelaria believes. Annatto is one essential seasoning, which gives the rice its distinct sunny color. Although Candelaria reminisces about a time when the annatto had to be ground up at home, she happily reports that it can now be purchased in packets at most grocery stores, as is the case for the rest of the ingredients needed to make this traditional recipe. For a finishing touch, Candelaria recommends pairing the dish with Pernil, roasted pork marinated in spice, and salad. “We also love avocados on the side with fried plantain slices called tostones,” she suggests.
Elena Lawrick, Ph.D.
Dish: Crepes Stuffed with Ricotta, Flaked Coconut, & Berries
Elena Lawrick is a dynamo of energy and intelligence — and she loves cooking. The smiling, exceedingly busy ESL Program Coordinator at Reading Area Community College first came to the States in 2003, earning a doctoral degree from Purdue. A little over three years ago, she moved to Berks, where she fell in love with the beautiful parks and the Fairgrounds Farmer’s Market. With its numerous stands of fresh fruits, vegetables and meats directly from the farm, “it brings all the memories back” from her roots in the far eastern region of Russia, near Vladivostok, she says.
How did you start cooking?
“I was raised in the Soviet Union, so you want to imagine a country where you don’t go to the grocery store for anything,” Lawrick explains. Food came from gardens and farms. “I learned to cook from my mom. For some reason, my mom believed that a woman should be able to do everything,” she laughs. She cooked every day while managing a professional career. “And she didn’t measure anything!” Lawrick’s mom still cooks — only in Muhlenberg now, where she resides with Lawrick.
“I grew up with my mom believing firmly that a person has to eat soup every day,” says Lawrick. “Borscht is actually a cabbage soup,” she says.” But another variety is cooked with beets, known as svekla in Russian. A third variety is made of pickles.” Since her mother moved in, Lawrick has been “back to eating Russian soups almost every day.” They’re “very light and a lot healthier” than thick American soups. “I don’t eat healthy because it’s a good thing. I really like it.”
“My earliest memory is of my mom’s parents’ house,” says Lawrick. “It was a huge extended family that had a big table... the whole family gathering was very noisy,” she smiles, recalling the fusion of food and family. “I was very little, playing under the table.”
Why Russian crepes?
“When I moved here, I found it interesting that pancakes are really popular — and crepes are like that in Russia,” says Lawrick. “We eat them for breakfast, lunch or dinner. They’re very thin, eaten plain or with sour cream.” The tradition of blini (crepes) goes back to pre-Christianity, says Lawrick. “There’s a week in Russian culture, sometime at the end of winter and approaching spring, where we eat blini. It has the shape of the approaching sun, so we feast.”
In the recipe online, Lawrick uses ricotta cheese and flaked coconut: “I think it gives texture and is very healthy,” she explains. The ricotta substitutes for a dairy product called tvrog, which is “finer than cottage cheese.” Traditionally, melted butter should be placed on each crepe after it is fried. Instead, Lawrick uses coconut oil and suggests drizzling Greek yogurt onto the crepes.
Why this recipe?
“It reminds me not just of my mom but my aunt,” Lawrick says. “She was super, super good at making these, so they were super thin but oily and very, very tasty.” She added, “And now my son makes them!” In fact, she claims Maxim, age 26, “makes them better.”
Steve Elmarzouky
Dish: Bamya (Meat and Okra Stew)
Steve (Elsayed) Elmarzouky, restaurateur of the Queen City Restaurant Group, moved to Berks County from Egypt with his family. A community leader in many arenas, he serves on the Board of Trustees at Alvernia University and is President of the Islamic Center. Never content to simply enjoy success, he’s widely known for opening Reading’s Queen City Family Restaurant once a year to feed the homeless and less fortunate, treating all to classic American fare.
At home, the whole family enjoys many Egyptian dishes made by his wife, including rice and salads such as fattoush, made with parsley, dried pita chips, lettuce, tomato and cucumbers. But one of the family’s favorite dishes is Bamya (pronounced bem’ ya), a stew that Elmarzouky describes as “an authentic dish.”
“It’s an okra recipe,” Elmarzouky explains, “and if you can’t find okra in the market, you can buy it frozen.” Typically, Bamya is made with meat such as lamb or beef. “In our family we like it with oxtail beef.”
How important are traditional foods in your family?
“I have four children: Sabrena, Zienah, Nora and Zach,” says Elmarzouky, and clearly food, family and culture are tightly intertwined in their lives. His daughter Sabrena, manager of Queen City and a big fan of international travel — she holds a degree in Anthropology from Kutztown University — adores traditional Egyptian food. Looking at her father, she says, “It’s the best food I ever tried. I think it’s in my blood.” Also, “we cook for a lot of people; it’s not just family. It’s friends, too, and very festive.” The cooking takes a long time, since every dish is made from scratch. “There are no shortcuts,” she says.
Meat is not always on the menu, though, says Elmarzouky. “My wife serves up vegetables with sauce and rice. Sometimes we have meat but not all the time. Potatoes, peas, green beans — all with a basic sauce.” Common spices for salads include cumin, lemon, salt, pepper and olive oil. Ingredients are highly nutritional and as fresh as possible.
What’s so special about Bamya?
“My wife cooks Bamya when we ask for it, and when she puts out the whole pot, it’s gone right away,” says Elmarzouky. Father and daughter both agree that it’s the stew’s flavor that makes it so beloved. “It’s savory. It’s mouthwatering. And it smells so good. You just want to eat it forever,” says Sabrena, holding her hands to her heart and smiling. “And it’s one of the easiest recipes to make.”
Elmarzouky thinks “the oxtail gives flavor because of the fat,” contributing to its unique appeal. “The oxtail is cooked separately,” says Sabrena, and then “it’s mixed in at the end,” as the stew thickens.
For dessert, Egyptian delicacies include baklava, basbousa (sweet cake), and a pastry called konafa.
Louise Pena-Candelaria
Dish: Arroz con Gandules (Rice with Pigeon Peas)
Shillington artist Louise Pena-Candelaria’s vivacious smile and personality light up the room as she talks about food and culture. Her Puerto Rican and Cuban heritage was part and parcel of growing up in a food-centered family.
“You usually have the matriarch of the family that is in charge of the kitchen, and she is usually kicking you out,” Candelaria says with an experienced laugh.
Her Puerto Rican mother, Sylvia Mercado, had a big influence at home, with a hands-off approach to meal cooking. “We watched her cook, but we didn’t get in her way,” she says.
Cooking is still very much a part of the fiber of who Candelaria’s mother is. It’s like a mission that keeps her going, explains Candelaria. Despite heart problems, “she still gets up and cooks for everybody.”
A passionate cook herself (in addition to being a mom and sought-after portraitist), Candelaria worries that modern-day habits of dining out threaten to undo the ties of the past. So she’s devoted herself to mastering the art of favorite dishes, and she’s frequently asked to create them for friends and family. The appetite to cook “is being lost now in the new generation,” she claims, “but in our family, there are certain recipes that are being passed along, and hopefully the younger people will be interested in knowing what those are, so they’re not lost. That’s important in our history – or for any family – knowing about their food and their culture.”
What makes Arroz con Gandules special?
Both her daughters have learned to cook her version of Arroz con Gandules, a traditional rice and peas dish. “It’s a common Puerto Rican recipe that is usually for special occasions” but can be done as an “everyday kind of meal.” Arroz con Gandules involves an innovative recipe, which the highly creative “Chef Lulu” adores. There’s freedom to use either long-grain or short-grain rice, but Candelaria warns that the two require different cooking times. Likewise, the gandules, which Candelaria describes as a “fun pea,” can be green or brown and roasted. The dish is commonly paired with meat, usually pork or sometimes tocino, “a special bacon similar to pancetta but not quite as salty.” Of course, Arroz con Gandules can also be prepared vegetarian style.
Is there a secret behind that amazing flavor?
Whether teeming with meat or full-blown vegetarian, it’s the seasoning that “hooks you in there,” Candelaria believes. Annatto is one essential seasoning, which gives the rice its distinct sunny color. Although Candelaria reminisces about a time when the annatto had to be ground up at home, she happily reports that it can now be purchased in packets at most grocery stores, as is the case for the rest of the ingredients needed to make this traditional recipe. For a finishing touch, Candelaria recommends pairing the dish with Pernil, roasted pork marinated in spice, and salad. “We also love avocados on the side with fried plantain slices called tostones,” she suggests.
Elena Lawrick, Ph.D.
Dish: Crepes Stuffed with Ricotta, Flaked Coconut, & Berries
Elena Lawrick is a dynamo of energy and intelligence — and she loves cooking. The smiling, exceedingly busy ESL Program Coordinator at Reading Area Community College first came to the States in 2003, earning a doctoral degree from Purdue. A little over three years ago, she moved to Berks, where she fell in love with the beautiful parks and the Fairgrounds Farmer’s Market. With its numerous stands of fresh fruits, vegetables and meats directly from the farm, “it brings all the memories back” from her roots in the far eastern region of Russia, near Vladivostok, she says.
How did you start cooking?
“I was raised in the Soviet Union, so you want to imagine a country where you don’t go to the grocery store for anything,” Lawrick explains. Food came from gardens and farms. “I learned to cook from my mom. For some reason, my mom believed that a woman should be able to do everything,” she laughs. She cooked every day while managing a professional career. “And she didn’t measure anything!” Lawrick’s mom still cooks — only in Muhlenberg now, where she resides with Lawrick.
“I grew up with my mom believing firmly that a person has to eat soup every day,” says Lawrick. “Borscht is actually a cabbage soup,” she says.” But another variety is cooked with beets, known as svekla in Russian. A third variety is made of pickles.” Since her mother moved in, Lawrick has been “back to eating Russian soups almost every day.” They’re “very light and a lot healthier” than thick American soups. “I don’t eat healthy because it’s a good thing. I really like it.”
“My earliest memory is of my mom’s parents’ house,” says Lawrick. “It was a huge extended family that had a big table... the whole family gathering was very noisy,” she smiles, recalling the fusion of food and family. “I was very little, playing under the table.”
Why Russian crepes?
“When I moved here, I found it interesting that pancakes are really popular — and crepes are like that in Russia,” says Lawrick. “We eat them for breakfast, lunch or dinner. They’re very thin, eaten plain or with sour cream.” The tradition of blini (crepes) goes back to pre-Christianity, says Lawrick. “There’s a week in Russian culture, sometime at the end of winter and approaching spring, where we eat blini. It has the shape of the approaching sun, so we feast.”
In the recipe online, Lawrick uses ricotta cheese and flaked coconut: “I think it gives texture and is very healthy,” she explains. The ricotta substitutes for a dairy product called tvrog, which is “finer than cottage cheese.” Traditionally, melted butter should be placed on each crepe after it is fried. Instead, Lawrick uses coconut oil and suggests drizzling Greek yogurt onto the crepes.
Why this recipe?
“It reminds me not just of my mom but my aunt,” Lawrick says. “She was super, super good at making these, so they were super thin but oily and very, very tasty.” She added, “And now my son makes them!” In fact, she claims Maxim, age 26, “makes them better.”
Steve Elmarzouky
Dish: Bamya (Meat and Okra Stew)
Steve (Elsayed) Elmarzouky, restaurateur of the Queen City Restaurant Group, moved to Berks County from Egypt with his family. A community leader in many arenas, he serves on the Board of Trustees at Alvernia University and is President of the Islamic Center. Never content to simply enjoy success, he’s widely known for opening Reading’s Queen City Family Restaurant once a year to feed the homeless and less fortunate, treating all to classic American fare.
At home, the whole family enjoys many Egyptian dishes made by his wife, including rice and salads such as fattoush, made with parsley, dried pita chips, lettuce, tomato and cucumbers. But one of the family’s favorite dishes is Bamya (pronounced bem’ ya), a stew that Elmarzouky describes as “an authentic dish.”
“It’s an okra recipe,” Elmarzouky explains, “and if you can’t find okra in the market, you can buy it frozen.” Typically, Bamya is made with meat such as lamb or beef. “In our family we like it with oxtail beef.”
How important are traditional foods in your family?
“I have four children: Sabrena, Zienah, Nora and Zach,” says Elmarzouky, and clearly food, family and culture are tightly intertwined in their lives. His daughter Sabrena, manager of Queen City and a big fan of international travel — she holds a degree in Anthropology from Kutztown University — adores traditional Egyptian food. Looking at her father, she says, “It’s the best food I ever tried. I think it’s in my blood.” Also, “we cook for a lot of people; it’s not just family. It’s friends, too, and very festive.” The cooking takes a long time, since every dish is made from scratch. “There are no shortcuts,” she says.
Meat is not always on the menu, though, says Elmarzouky. “My wife serves up vegetables with sauce and rice. Sometimes we have meat but not all the time. Potatoes, peas, green beans — all with a basic sauce.” Common spices for salads include cumin, lemon, salt, pepper and olive oil. Ingredients are highly nutritional and as fresh as possible.
What’s so special about Bamya?
“My wife cooks Bamya when we ask for it, and when she puts out the whole pot, it’s gone right away,” says Elmarzouky. Father and daughter both agree that it’s the stew’s flavor that makes it so beloved. “It’s savory. It’s mouthwatering. And it smells so good. You just want to eat it forever,” says Sabrena, holding her hands to her heart and smiling. “And it’s one of the easiest recipes to make.”
Elmarzouky thinks “the oxtail gives flavor because of the fat,” contributing to its unique appeal. “The oxtail is cooked separately,” says Sabrena, and then “it’s mixed in at the end,” as the stew thickens.
For dessert, Egyptian delicacies include baklava, basbousa (sweet cake), and a pastry called konafa.
By Angela Cremer & Marian Frances Wolbers | Photos by Tania Colamarino, Ama Photography
