Meet the team
Amateur cook and full-time Internet junkie, Aunt Clara was not really anyone’s aunt at the time, but she needed a catchy name for a website about cooking. She is Dominican and lives in the Independent Republic of PuntaCana, where after a run through the corporate mill (which started in Industrial Design and ended in International Commerce) she now spends her days as a freelance slacker, semi-devoted wife to Bo, her golf-obsessed Danish husband, and being Nadia’s Doting Mom®. You can read here how our site started.
Originally from Gibraltar, Aunt Ilana studied and lived in England for the best part of two decades, mostly managing to avoid the local cuisine. After graduating in Politics and Social Anthropology from the University of Kent at Canterbury, she tried her hand at journalism and travel, finally finding a niche of sorts in international development. Her work at Oxfam’s HQ in Oxford took her to more countries than she could have dared to dream of, including the Dominican Republic which she first visited in 1996. She settled here in 1999, married Dominican photographer Pedro Guzmán, and they now live in Punta Cana with their son Lucas. 12 years later she is still struggling to master the art of cooking rice Dominican-style. Besides our cookbooks, Aunt Ilana has also authored Expat FAQs: Moving to and Living in the Dominican Republic
It is a certainty that these sites would not exist without a tremendous support from Uncle Rob, somebody that, although not officially a member of our team, has put many hours and effort into our project. He is a partner and webmaster at DR1. We forgive him his unsatisfactory culinary skills because he makes up for them with incredible patience and geek wizardry.
Aunt Clara's Kitchen is a collection of traditional Dominican recipes, recipes inspired by Dominican flavors, as well as the chronicles of the Aunties' adventures in the kitchen and outside.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi, I came across your website and read the post about The Ginger Trail, which I found very interesting. Do you have any information about who to contact for guided tours? Thank you and I hope to hear from you soon.
Best regards,
Rawnie
Reply sent to your email.
Hola Aunt Clara!
I am so glad that I have discovered this website! I was actually looking on google a recipe on how to make mofongo and luckily came across your recipe!
I am of Colombian, Irish and German family decent but have been raised with many Dominicans. I love the culture and food and not to mention the men (my fiance is Dominican). I have been able to learn a few Dominican recipes from mi suegras, but I want to learn more recipes like my favorite the sancocho! Thank you for having this website this is where I will be learning many more recipes! Ya ud sabe que mi comprometido le va encantar!
Gracias una vez mas!
Hi Diane. We are also happy that you found us, and we hope that you have a lot of fun cooking our recipes.
I love this website. I’m originally from the DR, but left when I was really young, never went back until 6 years ago and had been gone for over 25yrs. I discovered the Dominican cuisine once again and I love it. I joke around that my kids are true Dominicans at heart because they love their rice and beans. Thank you for so many wonderful recipes and bringing me back to my childhood memories.
Thanks for the nice words, we love hearing stories like this.
Hello, Can you please give me the recipe for Pilones. I want to make them for my kids. The candy red lollipops.
hi i been following u for a lil while now. i want to thnk you i am a horrible cook and with your website i have done miracles. it hasnt always come out how i would picture it but something is better than burning lol. i was over someones house n they made a rice with pulpo n some other seafood things in the rice the rice came out almost black. is there anyway you can post the recipe if you figure out what im talking about pls.
Hi!
I am a college student, my family is from the Dominican Republic and as you may know Aunt Clara being Dominican my family expresses how important it is for me to learn to cook. I also agree with them I love Dominican food and thanks to your site I can have the recipes since my mother does not like people in the kitchen when she is cooking! Tomorrow is new years eve and I going to try your lasagna a la Dominicana dish I’m so excited!
Muchísima gracias por todas las recetas! Soy muy orgullosa de ser dominicana y ahora lo puedo demostrar en otra forma.. En la cocina! Haha Alante aunt clara!!!
Hello!
We are featuring the DR in a story for our next issue, on newsstands from February through April throughout New England. Most of my stay was in Las Terrenas which seem to have lots of European restaurants, but I’d like to include a few more traditional recipes. Could we have permission to use one or two and credit them to you (or course).We can also mention the book and the good work you are doing with the proceeds. Love the web site!
With best regards-Jean Kerr, Editor-in-Chief, Northeast FLAVOR magazine
Hello THere,
I am looking for a recipe that my mom once did! She made; old school donuts with sprinkled sugar! they were delicious! but She doesn’t remember the recipe. I wonder if you can help me.
You mean “roscones”. I remember those. I will put it in my list.
Hello,
I just wanted to say that this site is seriously amazing, love the vibe and good heart-felt information, and the food pictures are gorgeous! I’ve been to Cabarete and had some great food and enjoyed dancing of course. I look forward to trying some more of your amazing recipes. This is way off topic, but if there is any way you can tell me which camera and lens were used for these pictures, that would be huge. I’m passionate about food photogprahy and that would be of great help to me. It’s not very often that I am so impressed with food pictures.
Thanks again!
Nicole
Thanks for the nice words, Nicole, we love doing this and we hope it shows.
The most recent pictures come from a Nikon D700 DSLR, and although I have quite a few lenses most of my food pictures are shot with either a 50 mm 1.8 or an 85 mm 2.8. I mostly shoot with natural light and a Manfrotto tripod. On rare occasions I use Nikon’s native lighting system with a few softboxes and umbrellas.
I hope this answered your question. Let me know.
Hola tia Clara!
I am so happy I found your blog, with a VEGAN section, and also Spanish option! I work for The Cancer Project/Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, as a Food for Life Instructor, serving the Greater Los Angeles community. We are going to be launching a 21 Day Vegan Kickstart Spanish program to offer education to the Latino community in transitioning to a plant-based, whole food lifestyle. We are interested in rounding up vegan recipes from the different Hispanic communities. Please let me know if you are interested and I can have someone from the corporate office in Washington, DC contact you. Blessings!
WOw! Que bueno que encontré esta página, me ha encantado todo! Mil gracias! Ahora caigo en cuenta que la mayoría de nuestros platos con algunos cambios sencillísimos, serían “vegan”!
Hola,
. I have meat eaters as well as one vegetarian! Gracias!
Looking to prepare a traditional easter dinner this sunday and while my parents were dominican, I just can’t remember what was typically on our table…well except for the habichuelas con dulce
Just like you I traveled away from the foods I grew up with, and miss it dearly. Thanks you for your website. The recipes bring back so much memories…
Hey, I don’t remember seeing any “Morir Sonando” recipes. Do you have any plans to adding it to your desert. I was a common recipe from Santo Domingo.
Francisco