La Cocina De Nathan: Cuban, Spanish, Mexican Cooking & More

Huevos Con Chile (Eggs in Spicy Sauce)

2011-11-11T11:51:00.000-08:00

Huevos con Chile, is usually scrambled eggs simmered in any type of spicy sauce that's based on chile peppers. (The sauce can vary greatly just use your favorite smooth spicy red or green or whatever salsa) my mother usually always has a glass bowl, or glass container filled with some sort of spicy salsa (usually tomato or tomatillo based, blended with certain types of chiles, garlic, onion etc.) we use this to prepare eggs in the morning, or to cook meats, etc. or as a condiment.

In Mexican Cuisine there's TONS of ways to prepare eggs. A lot of variations on scrambled eggs, different style's to serve them, etc. breakfast is typically some preparation of scrambled and or sauteed eggs that can be combined with an array of things, served on it's own with tortillas is the simplest way to serve. They can be accompanied by any combination of certain cheeses, creams, salsas or other sauces, refried beans, boiled beans, etc. and any beverage can be enjoyed (usually milk, coffee, shakes)

But that's not to say that's the only way breakfast is enjoyed, American style breakfast are popular (cereal, pancakes, waffles, etc.) or even more Spanish/ European style of breakfast as well (pastries and other sweets) served with coffee. It really all depends on preferance. It can be very varied.

At home I pretty much grew up eating all of the mentioned above, as well as the simple "fried eggs with rice", or Spanish potato omelettes (Tortilla Espanola) very common among Cubans.

Anyways back to this, my mother would usually make breakfast, so the breakfast I'm more used to is the typical Mexican breakfast of eggs prepared in a variety of ways with all the mentioned above. I tend to eat beans, eggs prepared someway, and tortilla in the morning, not only because it's delicious, but because it's super filling, nutritious, and on day's that I'm busy it's the only big strong meal I'll get (specially those day's that I'm in school all day)

Ingredients:
-1/4 of a big onion, finely minced
-4 eggs
-dash of milk
-salt to taste
-fresh ground black pepper
-1 cup homemade spicy salsa (see posts for some of these recipe click on link for Salsa de Chile Habanero, Salsa de Chile de Arbol, Salsa de Chile Verde, or any other spicy smooth thick salsa you like)

Directions:
(1) Heat oil in a medium sized pan (about 2 tablespoons more or less) over medium high heat, when oil is hot add minced onions, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and sautee until slightly browned on the edges and caramelized)
(2) Meanwhile beat eggs with a dash or milk, and a couple pinches of salt, set aside.

(3) When onions have become slightly browned on the edges (not all of them just you know cooked),
add beaten eggs, stir in, and allow to cook (like making scrambled eggs)
(4) When eggs are cooked, add the salsa,
bring to a boil, gently fold or destribute it, if it seems too thick add a little bit of water (I usually add 1/2 cup depending how thick or thin you want the sauce). Bring to a boil for 3-5 minutes to allow flavors to infuse.
(5) Turn off heat, if you want to add some freshness add minced cilantro if not that's okay.
(6) You can serve it with corn tortillas, in a shallow bowl and it's ready to eat. You can enjoy it with other sides if you want to, like beans, or refried beans, sour cream, sometype of cheese it's up to you. Any beverage works too, coffee, milk, tea, shakes whatever you like in the morning.
PLEASE NOTE:
*This can be extremely spicy for some people if your not used to eating chile peppers and stuff like that. So prepare with caution ha ha.
*For those who know what "Salsa Pato" is (it's a type of canned spicy chile sauce sold in a can, think of it as spicy canned tomato sauce), if you'd like you could use 1 can of salsa pato, with 1 can of water to prepare it, it will be very very delicious like that as well.

Flan de Leche (Caramel Milk Custard)

2011-11-09T15:47:00.001-08:00

This is a different style of making the famous "Flan" the caramel custard of the Spanish speaking world (I think every spanish speaking country has some version of flan).

Now growing up I ate A LOT of flan (different flavors and textures) there's generally two types. Those that are very rich, creamy and dense, similar to a cheesecake texture I would say. Those are typically made with condensed milk, evaporated milk, and eggs sometimes with the addition of cream cheese for extra richness. Usually always full proof.

However today I go into the pantry having flan on my mind... and GASP I had NO EVAPORATED MILK!!! I did have a can of condensed though... and I thought to myself, "Eh if I don't have both cans I'm not making it... well now is a perfect time to experiment and make the one's that are made from scratch using just cow's milk" and so I did :D I've had the one's made with just milk before, and the difference is these are in my opinion a whole different type of flan on their own... NOT IN A BAD WAY... just depends your likes. The one's that are made with just milk have a more "jello" like texture, they are generally lighter in texture, and slightly more eggy (more eggs are used to stabilize)... umm I would describe it as sweet milk jello LOL. my household loves this type of flan too though, it had been forever since I had (literally forever last time I had this type of flan was when I lived in LA back in mid 90's when I was still in elementary school)

So if your interested in a different type of flan give this one a go-go :)

Ingredients for custard:
-4 cups milk
-1 small lime peel (optional)
-1 large or 2 tiny sticks of cinnamon (optional)
-1 cup sugar (you can add wayyyyy more sugar if you'd like LOL. but my mom doesn't like it too sweet)
-1 tsp. vanilla extract
-8 whole eggs

For the caramel:
-1/2 cup sugar
-1/4 cup water

Directions:
(1) Heat milk in a deep sauce-pan, add sugar, together with lime peel and cinnamon sticks (optional I like the hint they add, it's a typical combination in cuban or spanish cuisine to fuse cinnamon and citrus flavors) but it will be just as good with vanilla as flavoring.
(2) Allow to simmer about 10 minutes to really infuse, then cool, also the purpose of heating the milk isn't only to infuse it with other flavors, it's also done to make the flan more smooth, so the sugar becomes smooth. Remove lime peel, and cinnamon when cooled enough to handle

(3) Now beat 8 eggs with vanilla extract,
and slowly stream in milk mixture until fully incorporated
(4) Set aside mixture, now the caramel part, I personally make the caramel using water and let it reduce out, this let's me do it quick (using super high heat without worrying about burning or clumping while stirring vigorously, the water kinda stabalizes it, won't let it burn right away if you pay attention to it)
Once it starts becoming a dark amber color, pour the caramel into a mold carefully grabbing the edges of the vessel your using coat it, it will seem like it's too much caramel sometimes but keep rotating and spreading the caramel on the vessel until it hardens and coats everything... isn't beautiful :D
(5) Now strain the milk mixture in
(6) Cover it with aluminum foil (or leave it un-covered your choice I just think it's better covered), and place it in a water bath (that just means in another container with some water) in the oven at 350 degrees
(7) Should be done anywhere from 1-2 hours just check it after one hour, if it's too jiggly and looks like it's liquidy too much still then leave it longer, if not then take it out, you can test it with a knife, if the knife comes out clean your good :)
(8) Allow to cool completely, (ideally in the fridge, for several hours and or over night to allow it to set well) however I was in a hurry so I put it in a ice water bath hehe, and then vigorously flipped it our (by putting a plate on the vessel then flipping it out), thus it broke, also when done with just milk the custard is more sensetive and breaks easily

Not my prettiest flan :-/

If interested in other Flan recipes check out:
(1) Flan de Queso (Cheese Flan the riches flan you'll ever HAVE!)

(2) Flan de Coco (rich coconut flan, made using thick coconut milk)

(3) Eggnog Flan (this one will get you in the Christmas mood ha ha)

(4) Pastel Impossible (Moist chocolate cake layered with flan)

Chayote Sancochado (Steamed Chayote)

2011-10-03T15:53:00.000-07:00

I haven't been blogging much, doesn't mean I haven't cooked, but it's because well my camera is busted still like doesn't work for sh#t, and I haven't made time to buy a new one :/ (anyone wanna mail me one for free hehe just kidding... well not really lol.)

Well I took my Dad's camera yesterday when I was making this very simple vegetable side dish. I wasn't sure to post it because it is so simple, but sometimes people want to know the simple things, or simply know them but never think about it. It's essentially Chayote, steamed in a pot with a little water, you can serve it with squeeze of lime and salt if your on a diet LOL. or if not with a couple pats of butter and some salt. For Cubans it would be best enjoyed with"Mojo de Ajo" (Cuban garlic sauce) but the other two ways mentioned would also be good. This can be a side to just about anything atleast it would fit into any Latin or Spanish meal as a vegetable side no matter the time of the day.

To those that don't know what "Chayote" is it is also known in english as "Alligator Pear", when raw it's texture is hard and crisp yet somewhat slippery? THe taste I can describe it as a cross between a cucumber and Italian or Mexican squash, I've never consumed it raw however. It can be peeled, the center core removed, cut into chunks or however and added to soups or stews. It can be sauteed on it's own,with meat, used in stir-fried, or steamed it is truly very very versatile.

Ingredients:
-3 large Chayotes
-water (enough to fill the pot about 1 inch or 2)

To serve once cooked:
-some butter and salt OR a squeeze of lime and salt OR Mojo de Ajo (Cuban Garlic Sauce)

Directions:
(1) Wash really well, cut in half, then wash again, drain.
(2) Place in a pot with enough water to cover one inch, bring to a boil on high heat, cover, and lower heat to medium.
(3) Steam for 30 minutes until tender.
Here's 4 segments left, my mom was quick to grab some for herself before i was able to even take pictures hehe(4) Serve with a squeeze of lime and salt, or some butter and sprinkle or salt OR if your used to/ or love the pungent Cuban garlic sauce and don't mind the dragon breath feel free to smother it with "Mojo de Ajo"
PLEASE NOTE... the Chayote you can remove the center core if you want, my mom likes to eat it so I leave it, because it will turn tender if cooked long enough, the skin of the chayote for this recipe I leave it on since after steaming a long time it also turns tender. However the front tip and back tip for sometimes will not turn tender and are often cut off after steaming, it's up to you :)

P.S.
I'm labeling this as both Mexican and Cuban because pretty much I've seen Cubans cook it and also Mexicans enjoy it. However serving certain steamed or boiled vegetables (usually root vegetables) with Mojo/ garlic sauce is a Cuban thing :)

If interested in other recipe check out my post for "Guiso de Chayote" (sauteed Chayote squash, I cooked it with pork)

Also it's used in 3 different vegetable soups I've posted check out:
(1) Cocido de Res (Mexican Vegetable and Beef Soup)
(2) Cocido Salvadoreno (Salvadorian Vegetable and Beef Soup)
(3) Caldo de Albondigas (Mexican Meatball Stew)

Paella de Mariscos (Seafood Paella)

2011-08-28T22:13:00.000-07:00

Paella de Mariscos/ Seafood Paella is typically short grain rice cooked with well a mixture of seafood. In my family it's well the only thing they consider "Paella" Now variations with sausage, pork, chicken etc. combined with seafood we call it "Paella Mixta"/ Mixed Paella (mixed Paella because well it mixes meat and seafood)

Now to all those purist who argue on how a Paella is made, just so you know the AUTHENTIC Paella from VALENCIA Spain resembles nothing of what a Paella is thought of around the world. The AUTHENTIC PAELLA called "Paella Valenciana" it is made with olive oil, rabbit, snails, some type of broad beans, grated tomato, garlic, smoked paprika, rosemary, a good stock and short-grain rice. Nothing more nothing less. How Paella evolved into many, many other variations I don't know hehe, but hey the more the merrier right? and for those that say you can only make it using "Saffron" and otherwise it's taboo I wanna say bull $h!t, yes saffron has a nice fragrance but many people in Spain use "Colorante Alimentario" when makiing Paella which is a powdered coloring that makes rices yellow, when I use that I use a brand called "Bijol" which is available in most Latin stores in the states. In my opinion the key to a good Paella is cooking down the aromatics (garlic, tomato, onion whatever you used) and having a very good flavorful stock, also water to rice ratio.

Now that I got that out of the way MY VERSION of Paella, my version of Paella is made with only seafood shrimp, mussels/ clams, calamari, scallops or fish chunks cooked in a seafood stock with spices and a good sofrito of onions, garlic, and bell peppers. Garnished with fire roasted red bell peppers and peas. This recipe is a combination of my 86 year old grandmothers recipe well what I know works in the kitchen (she insisted the one her father made had cumin and sweet smoked spanish paprika so I used them in this Paella, and she didn't want any tomato in the sofrito so that's what I went with and after all today when I made this Paella I made it for her, and my goal was well to make her happy so what she said goes :)

Ingredients for stock:
-water (enough to fill a large pot half way)
-shrimp shells (reserved from peeling shrimp)
-mussel or clam broth (reserved from opening the clams or mussels)
-salt to taste

Main Ingredients:
-1 lbs. short grain rice (3 cups)
-1 large squid (cleaned, gutted, skin removed, cut into rings, or squares)
-1 lbs. shrimp, cleaned, de-veined, shells removed and reserved to make stock
-1 lbs. mussels or clams (or a mix of both I used just mussels this time)
-1/2 lbs. firm white fish filets cut into chunks or scallops (optional your choice I like em in there I used scallops this time)
-1 onion minced
-1 green or red bell pepper minced
-4-6 cloves garlic finely minced
-1/2-1 cup dry white wine or 1 can of a light colored beer
-1 tablespoon "Pimenton" (sweet smoked Spanish paprika)
-1/2 tsp. ground cumin -1- 2 bay leaves
-powdered saffron or "colorante alimentario" or "bijol" to give the rice it's yellow color
-6 cups of a good seafood stock (see recipe)

Ingredients for garnishes
-1 fire roasted red bell pepper (cut into strips)
-1 handful of peas

Directions for stock:
(1) Grab the reserved shrimp shells, throw in pot with water, bring to a boil and leave alone for about 10- 15 minutes then turn off heat, and strain. Set aside.

(2) Meanwhile get mussels or clams, scrub them well, and put in a small pot with oil heat stirring occasionally until they open. They will release juice, strain the juices through a very fine strainer, reserve them and add it to your shrimp stock.

(3) Very simple right that's the stock you will use to cook your rice :) NOW PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING I understand some will buy pre-cooked frozen mussels or clams, and their shrimp will already be peeled thus not being able to make the stock from scratch, that is OK don't freak out, instead of making the stock use water but be sure to boil the water and add 2 cubes of shrimp bouillon and set it aside, it's not EXACTLY the same but it will work, or buy a good quality seafood stock.

Directions for making the Paella:
(1) Heat a very generous amount of olive oil over high heat in a large wide pan (preferably a Paellera) if you don't have one use a gigantic non-stick pan, or large wide round metal pan either will work. Add your calamari/ squid to the oil and stir, it will release juices allow it to reduce until it's just oil.

(2) Now add your garlic, onions, bell pepper and bay leaves stir occasionally and lower heat to medium high. Allow this mixture to cook 5-8 minutes until fragrant and translucent.

(3) Add your rice, sweet smoked spanish paprika & cumin and give it a good stir so everything get's mixed, well.
(4) Add your boiling/ hot seafood stock (that you either made yourself, or used bouillon cube, or bought pre-made). Add your saffron (I grinded about 1 tsp. in a mortar) or you can use about 1/2 - 1 tsp bijol or other substance that will color the rice yellow. Allow everything to come to a boil over high heat, give a good stir and allow to boil over high heat uncovered approximately 10 minutes, then lower heat to medium high and allow to boil uncovered another 8 minutes,

(5) Add your raw shrimp, scallops or fish filets and press into the Paella lightly, insert the mussels and clams and allow to cook uncovered an additional 4 minutes or so. Remove from heat, cover with a cloth, and allow to rest 5- 10 minutes

Directions for garnish (optional)
(1) Arrange fire roasted red bell peppers cut into strips and scatter peas over the paella just for some eye appeal I guess :) To make your own fire roasted red bell pepper, simply put the red bell pepper fresh over a flame on your stove and move around with tongs until charred all over, wrap in plastic bag and allow to sweat for about 5-10 minutes, then peel off skin and slice into long strips :)

P.S.
Yeah sorry I didn't take so many pictures, but I still havent gotten a new camera, bummed one of my dad for the day, and got lost having conversations with the family and socializing while being in the kitchen that I forgot to take pictures of every step. I will re-blog this again but just wanted to share :)
Also if you guys want to see some interesting variations of Paella type dishes check out my post for "Paella de Nabo Con Costilla de Cerdo y Coliflor" (mixed rice dish of turnip, cauliflower and pork ribs) that dish is a family favorite. Also for something American that is just as delicious check out my post for "Jambalaya" (which is another one of my favorite rice dishes) can't forget the "Arroz Con Pollo" (yellow rice and chicken) I also make a pretty killer "soupy rice with chicken" we call "Arroz Caldoso Con Pollo" some Cubans call it "Arroz Con Pollo a la Chorrera"
NOTE:
I didn't do it this time, but I would've loved to add fresh grated tomato to the "sofrito" or prepared tomato sauce but I didn't because I know my grandmother doesn't like it when people add tomato to mixed yellow rice dishes. Also I like to serve mine with lime or lemon wedges because well in my opinion it brightens it up however my parents and grandmother do not eat it that way they :)

Tamal en Cazuela (Cuban Polenta w/ Pork)

2011-07-20T22:14:00.000-07:00

For those not familiar with Cuban cuisine, or those not exposed to the really down home, not in Cuban restaurant type dishes or the more rarily occasionally prepared dishes let me introduce you to "Tamal en Cazuela" it is essentially polenta/ a creamy corn porridge made from either course or fine cornmeal or freshly ground corn stewed with generous fried pork pieces and a sofrito (the base of Cuban cooking onion, garlic, bell pepper sometimes tomato) kissed with cumin and oregano.

Of course there are tons of variations, but I think mine kicks ass he he and is pretty simple and awesome (I've tried other Cubans "Tamal en Cazuela" and find it to acidic I really don't think it needs wine, or vinegar, or sour citrus as many Cubans like to add, or an excessive amount of canned tomato which I feel is what makes it too acidic...) the name of the recipe literally translates to "Tamale in a Pot/ stew" and Cuban tamales aren't sour so my tamale in a pot won't be either...

Anyways so I prepared this yesterday not really using a recipe but just what I believe would make it taste good or how it should be he he. Like I prepared it the same way my grandmother explains Cuban tamales to me except it was in the form of a corn porridge/ stew and it was a big hit, my family went gaga for it, and my Spaniard/ Cuban grandmother whom is hard to please or never really compliments food unless it's amazing let out a approving "mmmmmmmm quedo muy bueno mijito" which she rarily does (translates to "mmmmmmm came out real good son") lol. and her approval is all that matters in the dinner table when she's with us anyways lol. (I love my Tata/ Abuela :)

At the same time I wasn't really surprised she likes it because my grandmother is a sucker for any type of Cuban style polenta dishes, or puddings.

Ingredients:
-2 lbs. well marbled pork meat (from the leg or thigh often sold as pork butt) cut into small cubes
-1 onion minced
-1 bell pepper minced
-6 cloves garlic finely minced or through a garlic press
-1/2- 1 cup tomato sauce or 3 fresh grated or pureed tomatoes
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-1 fat pinch ground oregano
-ground black pepper to taste
-salt to taste
-1 1/2 cups coarse or finely ground cornmeal
-10- 12 cups water
-1 can of creamed corn

Directions:
(1) First thing you want to do is wash your cut pork, put it in a deep-pan cover with water not alot just enough to barely cover, add 2 tsp. salt, black pepper to taste, and a fat pinch of cumin. To this add 2 tablespoonfuls of lard or olive oil. Bring to a boil on high, stir and leave uncovered
(2) Meanwhile chop all the stuff for your sofrito (the onion, garlic, bell pepper) and prep everything. Then get a large pot and add your 1 1/2 cups of cornmeal, cover with water generously (don't measure at this point we are just washing it) give it a good stir, and wait 3 minutes or less for the cornmeal to settle at the bottom, then slowly and carefully pour most of the water out, repeat this once or twice. This is just a habit my grandmother taught me, she likes to wash the cormeal.
(3) Now after doing that add about 10- 12 cups water, 1 tablespoon salt, and I like to add 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar so it has the sweetness of fresh corn (really depends how thick or thin you want your stew), and put on the stove over high heat, stirring constantly until it comes to a boil (this takes awhile) then lower heat to low and stir occasionally scraping bottom while you do other stuff.
(4) At this point like seen above the water you covered the pork with should evaporate or is close to and allow meat to brown all over, and add you onion, garlic, and bell pepper, allow to cook down and stir the pork occasionally for about 8 minutes on medium high heat til onions are translucent and garlic very fragrant stir in ground cumin, then add tomato and stir let cook an additional 2 minutes. Meanwhile stir your cornmeal to make sure it doesn't stick to bottom of pot while you were doing all that.
(5) Now add your pork, onion, garlic, bell pepper, tomato and spice mixture you had all frying up together in the seperate pan to the cornmeal, along with the can of creamed corn. Raise heat to medium and stir constantly for about 5 minutes, add salt to taste (I added about 1 teaspoon more) if needed.
(6) Turn off heat and ready to serve
I served it with a nice salad of thinly sliced tomato, lettuce, onion, tossed in lime, olive oil, and salt.

P.S.
Yeah I know the pictures look "shitty" it's because I just moved, have no "real camera" and yeah, but just wanted to share anyways for those who wanna enjoy it anyways :)

Also for those interested in another type cuban polenta type dish check out my post for "Harina de Maiz Con Pata de Cangrejo" (Cuban Polenta with Crab legs) by clicking the link below

http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2009/02/harina-de-maiz-con-patas-de-cangrejo.html

Tamales Salvadoreños de Pollo (Salvadorian Chicken Tamales)

2011-07-06T15:47:00.000-07:00

Tamales are typically a type of hmmm you could consider it a steamed meat pie or something of that sort, a starchy dough typically made of corn, filled with anything (most commonly some protien) wrapped in a "leaf wrapper" and steamed or boiled. Every Latin/ spanish speaking country in general has their own version/ variation, and even within a particular country recipes and styles of preparation abound.

Growing up I grew up on Mexican Tamales, and occasionally would enjoy a store bought Cuban Tamal from Portos (which is probably a joke I seriously need to learn and make Cuban tamales one of these days), anyways one day when I was about 6 years old I'll never forget I had my first Salvadorian tamale and I fell in love with it, bit into it, it was different, it was very moist, and had a brothy savoriness, like a congealed thick rich corn pudding, filled with chicken, potatoes, chickpeas, and green olives with a distinct scent from the banana leaves. I fell in love :) I use to eat them every other Saturday when we'd go out and we would buy them from the "Tamalera" in the "barrio" haha (Tamalera are woman who usually sell tamales in street cars). Now that I cook and have observed family and friends whom cook as well, the thing that made these Salvadorian tamales so different was that unlike the Mexican one's which are prepared from a raw corn dough made of corn treated with lime, lots of delicious pork fat and leavening and tpyically wrapped in corn husks, the Salvadorian one's are prepared with a dough that is pre-cooked, with a type of sofrito they call "recaudo", and generous amounts of oil (use a heart healthy oil and this will not be sinful) and wrapped in pre-cooked banana leave.

The recipe I present to you today is a combination of two of our family friends recipes, the filling is shredded chicken stewed with potatoes, olives, and chickpeas wrapped in banana leaf and boiled/ steamed. Now I broke down the recipe into several parts, it looks over whelming but really isn't, you jus need time and patience, together with my mother I was able to complete the wrapping of the tamales and everything within 2 hrs, then I sat back 1 hr and relaxed while they steamed/ boiled. Now I also wanna say I don't use just banana leaf to wrap them, I learned to wrap them using banana leaf for flavor and the aluminum to completely seal. It's also cheaper that way since the banana leaf is expensive and it also DOESN'T compromise taste by doing the aluminum with banana leaf method.

*Ingredients for stock:
-1 whole chicken (skinned and well rinsed/ washed, I rub it with lime and salt and rinse several times)
-1/2 onion whole, peeled
-2 cloves garlic
-2 teaspoons chicken bouillon powder
-1-2 teaspoons salt (to taste)
-water (enough to completely submerge chicken)

*Ingredients for "Recaudo" (sauce):
-1/2 cup oil (typically they use vegetable oil for this since it's similar to the sofrito I'm used to I used extra-virgin olive oil)
-1 onion chopped
-1/2 green bell pepper chopped
-1/2 red bell pepper chopped
-3 cloves garlic minced
-8- 10 roma tomatoes chopped
-1 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
-salt (just sprinkled over chopped veggies when frying them)
-4 freshly ground cloves, or 1 very small teaspoon ground cloves (optional)

*Ingredients for "Masa"/ dough
-5 cups dry"masa harina" (MASECA brand preferably it's the one everyone down here uses down here/ I grew up with)
-water (as needed)
-about 10 cups chicken stock (the reserved liquid from cooking the chicken)
-1 cup oil (I used canola oil because of it's neutral taste)
-salt to taste (about 2 tsp. or more to taste)
-1/2 of the recaudo (instructions to make this in recipe directions)

*Ingredients for filling:
-1 whole chicken shredded (the chicken leftover from making the stock)
-1/2 of the recaudo
-4 potatoes (previously boiled, peeled and cut into cubes)
-1 cup cooked chickpeas/ garbanzos (they can be from a can, I boiled a huge batch and used the rest for cooking other stuff)
-8 green pimiento stuffed olives thinly sliced
-salt to taste
-2 cups of the prepared dough/ masa to thicken the stew

*Ingredients for wrapping:
-1 1/2 lbs. banana leaf
-1 container aluminum foil

Directions for chicken stock and cooking chicken:
(1) Bring water to a boil in a pot with 1/2 onion, 2 garlic cloves, 2 teaspoons bouillon powder, and salt to taste. When water boils add cleaned, and skinned chicken, cover and boil for 45 minutes- 1 hour until tender.
(2) When chicken is tender, strain broth, pull chicken out, shred and set aside,
reserve the leftover stock which will be used to prepare the rest of the dish.

Directions for RECAUDO:
(1) Heat a pot with generous amounts of oil on medium high heat, sautee the onion, garlic, and bell peppers about 5- 10 minutes also sprinkle salt on them until very fragrant, and tender (this is the secret to making the tamales good in my opinion),
now add the chopped tomatoes and continue cooking about 5- 10 more minutes also sprinkle a little salt, until they reduce and fry in the oil, now add 1 teaspoon bouillon powder, and the ground cloves (if using/ available).
(2) Turn off heat, take the mixture to a blender or food processor, add a little bit of the chicken stock to help puree it to a smooth sauce. Set this mixture aside, it will be used for preparing the filling and dough. Divide the mixture into 2 portions, half will be used for the filling, the other half for the dough.

Directions for dough:
(1) Put the 5 cups of masa harina in a LARGE and DEEP pot (trust me it will grow alot once cooking starts and absorbs ALOT of liquid),
so slowly add cold water and mix the mixture until you get a smooth pancake batter consistency (I used a hand blender and did it in 5 minutes, other people do it by hand and it will take awhile to get rid of clumps.) you may think "why can't I use the chicken stock" chances are the stock is real hot, and if u try to dissolve it in the hot stock it will cook into clumps... SO USE COLD WATER once diluted then you can add the stock... just keep reading lol.

(2) Now add chicken stock about 10 cups or so, and stir over medium high heat on stove top until it starts boiling, when it starts boiling/ thickening, add the oil, 1/2 of the RECAUDO (blended cooked onion, garlic, bell pepper, tomato, spice mixture), salt to taste and continue to stir. Stir in once motion scraping bottom eventually the mixture will start thickening and cook stirring constantly (don't leave it alone!) this takes about 30 minutes.
MAKE SURE it taste good and has enough salt/ flavor.

(3) Turn off heat and DO NOT stir the mixture anymore once it thickens and cooks through DO NOT I repeat DO NOT stir it let it cool a bit for 30 minutes or so before working with it, if you stir once it's cooling it will clump up... trust me! Set is aside.

Directions for filling:
(1) Here comes the directions for filling :) Heat a pot with a drizzle of oil, when hot add the blended RECAUDO (the other half you had reserved, the other half should have been used for the dough), when the recaudo comes to a boil, add shredded chicken, garbanzos, olives, already cooked diced potato and bring to a boil, add some chicken stock to this to make a sauce, about 1-2 cups. Taste if it has enough salt, and scoop out about 2 cups of the prepared masa and use it to thicken the stew.
Set it aside.

Directions for prepping the banana leaves and wrapping:
(1) Cut the banana leaves into rectangles, remove any ugly edges, submerge them in water to clean and drain, pat- dry and pass each leaf through fire until it turns a darker green (like have your burner and set it on the burner carefully pass it through the fire til it tunrs a brighter green and set aside, this is done to clean the leaves and also makes them flexible/ won't allow them to break apart. Another option is to set them on a very hot skillet or griddle flipping them a couple times til they turn a darker brighter green and are heated through.
(2) Now cut the aluminum into large squares/ rectangles and place a piece of the leaf on it as shown below.
(3) Continue to pile them up (this will be your wrapping) set this pile aside. You should have about 35- 36 of them for this recipe.

Directions for wrapping:
(1) Place the wrapper like so. Spoon with a large ladel some of the cooked masa mixture
(2) Spoon over that the chicken filling
(3) Fold the leaf like a taco,
then quickly fold aluminum over it, and press sides into the shape of a tamal,
fold over and press into shape of tamal, making sure to press inwards so non of the dough runs out,
repeat the fold over, and press sides again,
then fold the sides in to seal twice
repeat for the rest of the tamales, and pile them up.
Directions for finishing off/ cooking the formed tamales:
(1) Get a large deep-pot, line the bottom with banana leaves, pile the tamales one on top of another, and add enough water so that only 1 layer of the tamale stack isn't covered in water (the rest of them will be submerged.
(2) Cover the pile with banana leaves, put lid on pot and bring to a rolling boil, then let boil/ steam on medium for 60 minutes.

(3) Turn off heat, drain out as much water as possible, by carefully lifting pot, and lifting part of lid, and tipping over the sink to drain out the hot water. Now remove the one's you want to eat and let them slightly cool and chow down.
PLEASE NOTE that when just barely made they will be extremely hot, and tender, they actually in my opinion taste better the next day/ have better texture. You can serve them with anything you'd like or eat them alone. They're very good with refried black beans, and sour cream :)

P.S.
Salvadorian means from "El Salvador" a country located in central America, I really love & appreciate their varied cuisine (my half- sister is Salvadorian) and I hope if any of you ever try these tamales you'll enjoy them as much as I do :)

Also I used cloves in here because one of my family friends does it that way and it gives it a nice sweet note without being sweet like it adds a little something to it, I have friends that don't use cloves and it still comes out good, some people like to spice it by adding about 1 teaspoon of ground cumin into the the filling mixture or recaudo.

ALSO... for those interested in the Mexican Tamales click the link below I have a recipe for the green chicken one's and red pork one's :)

http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2010/01/tamales-mexicanos-de-puerco-en-chile.html

and for a sweet dessert version of the mexican one's that are pineapple flavored click link below:

http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2010/03/tamales-de-pina-pineapple-tamales.html

Corunda (Michoacan steamed corn tamales?)

2011-06-07T17:51:00.001-07:00

"Corunda" are steamed tamales from Michoacan, that usually contain no filling, they are rectangular in shape and small and typically wrapped in a type of fresh corn leaf that's really long (it's the long green leaves from the stalk of corn, NOT the corn leaves incasing the corn but the one's that come out of stalk).

These tamales are steamed plain with no filling and used to accompany any meal, it replaces the tortillas and rice at the dinner table when cooked. It can accompany stews of meats cooked in red sauce or green sauce, with sour cream (preferably Mexican cream which can be looser, less sour, and unsalted) some people will eat it with beans on the side as well. The simples way to eat them is with a red spicy sauce ladled over them and sour cream. In my house they are served to accompany main dishes.

I've never had em in like my whole life lol. my mother told me she hasn't had them since she moved from Michoacan (she was 17 at the time and now well she's in her early 40's so it's been a long time) she had no clue how to make them either since she say's usually it was street food and vendors who sell them were plentiful, typically prepared by the more indiginous groups in those area's my mom calls em "Guaresitas" (it's stereotypically short dark woman who were known for making delicious street foods, sell very fresh produce, and known for selling complex spice mixtures for preparing things like mole and stuff like that) but since my mother had been craving them for awhile and my other grandmother from my Mexican side came from Texas, I set out to find a recipe.

The recipe I used was found on yahoo answers in a Spanish forum. I chose it because the recipe seemed very authentic and logical, not too complicated. The recipe didn't really have measurements, pictures, or the procedure for the wrapping, it was one of those recipes that's word of mouth where someone just writes it out, I found it awhile back, and the lady said it was the recipe her parents use whom are vendors, so I trusted it. If I find the page again, I will link it.

HOWEVER I wanna let you all know that down here I was NOT able to find the long, fresh corn leaves from the corn stalk known as "hoja de milpa" so the closest substitute to form these after asking around is using banana leaves, I've heard some do this. So please don't kill me if your a purist and talk shit cuz I used banana leaves, instead send me the fresh corn leaves, or tell me where I can buy them in Los Angeles area or Valley LOL. nonetheless they were still delicious :)

Ingredients for liquid used to form dough:
-8 cleaned tomatillo leaves (a type of green mexican tomato incased in a husk type leaf)
-water to boil them (use like 6-7 cups you won't use it all but just to be safe)

Ingredients:
-2 cups of lard (1/2 a kilo)
-2 tablespoons baking powder
-4 1/2 cups masa harina/ maseca (that is about 1 kilo)
-2 heaping teaspoons salt
-reserved tomatillo water
Ingredients for wrapping:
-30- 40 fresh corn leaves (soaked overnight, drained, then pat dried)
OR
as I did about 2 lbs banana leaves (cut into long squares, lengh wise, and ugly edges, cut off, soak them in water briefly, drain, and pass through fire, or a dry hot skillet to make them pliable)
Directions for dough:
(1) Start by boiling the cleaned tomatillo leaves in water, for about 20 minutes to really infuse it, it's what gives it that special taste. Add salt, and set aside.
incase anyone is curious this is the tomatillo that was inside the leaf
(2) Now get 2 cups lard and cream it with the baking powder using a hand beater about 10 minutes until real creamy and fluffy then add salt and beat a bit.
(3) Slowly incorporate the 4 1/2 cups of masa harina until real incorporated (this process takes another 5-10 minutes) you will get a crumbly mixture/ lumpy
(4) 1 cup at a time slowly add the tomatillo water, I used a total of 4 cups, maybe 4 1/2. The mixture will look crumbly but it won't be, it'll be moist when you touch it and soft, some of it will seperate from the edges. Set this masa aside you are done.
Directions for wrapping (I took pictures)
(1) If using banana leaves hold it like so

Place 2 tablespoonfuls of dough, make it a rectangular shape, fold a piece of the edge towards it, then fold a traingle shape over it, and wrap

then tie it with kitchen string
IF using fresh corn leaves, you need to wrap it like a cone shape, add filling into the cone, and use the remainder of the long leaf to seal it, and tie it with string if needed.

Directions for steaming and finishing cooking:
(1) Get a large "tamalera" or steamer, and steam on medium high heat for about 1 1/2 hours. I covered it with more leaves since i had a few leftover.
(2) They are ready to serve we served it with "Pollo en Chile Verde "(chicken in green sauce), "Frijoles de la Olla" (Mexican, Pinto Beans boiled with onion, garlic, and salt), a very spicy "salsa" and fresh Mexican unsalted cream :) This is my lil sister's plate she wanted no beans (she only eats beans like when it's cooked in "Moros", "Congri" or the Salvadorian "Casamiento" the other way she eats them is if they are liquified and refried preferably black beans, or in a Potaje with lots of chorizo and stuff)
here's mine well I had it for lunch the next day with black beans instead of pintos :)
PLEASE NOTE:
*I broke it down into lots of steps, but like it is real simple, just sounds complicated but very do- able if your up for it.

*My mom say's they taste just like the one's she's had in Michoacan, EXCEPT that they were more fluffy/ less dense (she prefers them more dense) I'm guessing less baking powder in the future for denser results. But overall very good :)

*The recipe for the meats cooked in red or green sauce can be found on my post for "Tamales Mexicanos" like the traditional Mexican tamales I have the recipe for both there check it out and click link below:

http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2010/01/tamales-mexicanos-de-puerco-en-chile.html

*If interested in a dessert variation called "Tamales de Pina" (Pineapple tamales) click the link below too:

http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2010/03/tamales-de-pina-pineapple-tamales.html

Pollo al Vino de Ivonne (Ivonne's Cuban Chicken in Wine Sauce)

2011-05-24T20:29:00.001-07:00

"Pollo al Vino" translates to "Chicken in Wine" I learned this recipe through my blog buddy/ friend Ivonne from her blog Cuban in the Midwest (which is one of the must check blogs along with mine if you like Cuban Cuisine, besides my blog her's is the most complete I've seen dedicated to the Cuisine of Cuba, so like I said a must check if your trying to explore Cuban culture through a culinary perspective)

Anyways back to the recipe, this stew is a nice change from the other typical Cuban stews in that it contains NO TOMATO products in any form (no tomato sauce, or paste, ketchup or fresh tomatoes) most Cuban meat stews are stewed in a red tomato based sauce with wine, and this one offer's a nice change. It does have a reddish color, but that color is achieved from using paprika in the dish, the sauce is simply formed by stewing meat in very low heat with simply wine, and the Cuban holy trinity (onion, garlic, bell pepper) with spices, the meat will release it's own juices when simmered for awhile and the steam and stuff will cook everything perfectly and all everything just marry's well. It was a hit in my house :)

Growing up my grandmother always talked about Cuban meat stews that her father used that were made without tomato, they were used to stew meats like goat, lamb, duck, rabbit, and chicken, however my grandma never really made them so I never had the opportunity to try it, so when I saw a recipe that resembled what my grandma had spoken about I was like "I need to try it!" my grandma has shared a recipe with me from what she remembers, but I was doubtful of them because I was like "well if it has no water just wine and stuff won't it evaporate and the meat kinda burns idk) but it turns out it didn't lol. from trying Ivonne's recipe that technique works, but yeah i have never gotten to making it. (it's similar to Ivonne's but spiced different and the result seems to give you a dark brown sauce I will share it someday)

I did modify the recipe a bit but overall it's the same way she made it, only difference, I stewed the potatoes and carrots from the very beginning with the meat, and browned the meat prior to stewing it and sauteeing aromatics :) I recommend this dish to anyone ya'll need to try it! :)

Ingredients:
-1 whole chicken (cut into segments, remove skin, wash, drain and rinse several times, I have hte habit of cleaning it like 2 times, then giving it a last wash with vinegar, salt, nad water then drain and pat-dry. I do this because I like getting rid of the little taste some meats may have...)
-ground black pepper to taste (I used about 1 tsp.)
-sweet smoked Spanish paprika (1 1/2 teaspoons)
-salt to taste (I used 2 teaspoons to rub all over the chicken)
-1 green bell pepper chopped
-1 onion chopped
-6-8 cloves garlic minced
-1 cup dry white wine or dry sherry
-2 bay leaves
-3 large potatoes, peeled cut into 3 sections or cut in two
-3 carrots, peeled and cut horizontally, or in rounds your choice
-6 large Pimiento stuffed green olives cut into 3 sections, or 12 small one (I think canned black one's seedless would work too)

Directions:
(1) Place cleaned chicken in a bowl and run in/ toss well and coat well with salt, pepper, and paprika.
(2) Brown it in batches in olive oil, over high or medium high heat. Afterwards i set it aside in a deep pot
(3) In the same pan you browned the chicken sautee onions, garlic, bell pepper over medium high stirring occasionally making sure to scrape any browned bits, de-glaze with 1 cup of wine, and bring to a rolling boil
(4) Toss the sauteed onion, garlic, bell pepper and wine mixture into the pot with the chicken, throw in potatoes, carrots and olives. I added 1/2 cup water to this just incase it needed more liquid to cook. Bring to a rolling boil covered, for about 1 minute or 2. Then lower heat to low and simmer covered for about 45 minutes. And ta-daaa you should end up with this

Menudo Rojo (Red Mexican Tripe Stew)

2011-05-09T19:39:00.000-07:00

Menudo in Mexican Cuisine is a soup made primarily of beef tripe (cows stomach) and beef foot or pork feet (depending on preferance) boiled with garlic, onion, spices and herbs which vary from cook to cook. There are two versions one in a rich red broth (which is what my mother makes) and a white one in a rich clear broth. Some versions include hominy in the stew other's completely omit it. (This depends on what part of Mexico you are at) it truly is a dish that varies a lot whether clear or red, or seasoned very simply with just salt, onion, garlic or versions with an array of spice blends and herbs.

The way it is served also varies from region to region, some serve it with flour tortillas, others with corn tortillas, some even with Bolillo (Mexican version of french bread/ rolls) garnishes, etc. can vary.

Anyways the version I grew up eating was ALWAYS in a red broth, made from dried chiles and tomatoes, and spices down here in Southern California at Restaurants, stores, family friends only twice in my lifetime have I had it with Hominy (once in a household in Texas that hosted a "Posada" and another time my mother's friend Carmen who asked for Hominy in it) The version my mom grew up on though was always red as well, and excluded the hominy and was served with corn tortillas.

Though growing up enjoying this soup occasionally we never prepared it at home ha ha, but over time asking around we got a real good recipe, and got around to making it, the recipe came from a family friend who's originally from Sinaloa, Mexico.

One day my mother was at her friend Carmen's house and Carmen's son delivered the most delicious Menudo my mom claims she has had, it was very fragrant, didn't have any gamey smell from the tripe or beef foot, and has a very complex taste that married well with everything she demanded to learn the recipe, and from that day fourth she's been making Menudo (it's only been about 2 years hehe) what makes this version of Menudo so special I think is the fresh mint in combination with the bay leaves which helps kill any off taste the Menudo may have, and the mint makes it more soothing to the stomach, it's also spiced with a combination of coriander seeds, cumin, and pepper which gives it a taste that's hard to describe but I'll tell you it's amazing. Then finished off by stirring in a strong red sauce of dried chile California which are actually very mild. The broth is always rich from the bones and cartilage in the pig feet, and the gelatine as well which is present in the stomach, the pectin in the chilies and tomato contribute to it's richness as well.

I also wanted to add that this soup is often used as a hangover cure too hehe, and is seen as very nutritious and healthy. Also very good for bone health. Enjoy the recipe is as follows :)

Ingredients:
-4 lbs. beef tripe
-4 lbs. pork feet or beef foot (well cleaned ask butcher to remove toes, and slice down the center)
-1 whole large onion (outer skin peeled off)
-1 head of garlic (peel outer skin, leave whole)
-3 bay leaves
-1 bunch of fresh mint leaves and stems well washed
-1 tablespoon coriander seeds
-1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
-1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
-1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
-2 tablespoons salt (more to taste)
-16 dried "Chile California" (California chiles or New Mexico Chiles)
-2 large ripe tomatoes or 4 small roma tomatoes

Ingredients to serve:
-Finely minced onion (to serve in individual bowls)
-fresh limes (to squeeze over, the amount you add is to taste)
-dried oregano (to crumble over)
-fresh corn tortillas (you can roll them up and dip them in the hot broth as you eat and take a bite)

Directions to clean tripe and pigs feet:
(1) It is very important to clean the tripe real well, you buy it already cut up and cleaned, but afterwards remove any excess fat (like huge chunks of fat that maybe attached), rinse them in cold water several times, along with the big feets, and soak them in cold water, vinegar, and salt, swoosh them around and let them rest a bit like 10 minutes.
Then drain and wash well again, and drain using cold water. Set aside. At this point the tripe is ready to use.
(2) Get those pig feets you have to get each individual one, and this sounds gross but get a clean razor and remove any hair you may feel it still has (the stores usually shave the feet real well and stuff but sometimes there's some they miss). Now add the feet in a large pot with enough water to barely cover
and bring to a boil 10- 15 minutes, then drain (this is done to remove all impurities from it) Set aside they are ready to use.
Directions for boiling tripe and pigs feet:
(1) Heat a very large pot (VERY LARGE) half-way with water, add your garlic, onion, bay leaves, mint leaves, coriander seeds, ground cumin, ground black pepper, and salt.
When this comes to a boil, add the cleaned pigs feet and the tripe.

and the tripe.

(2) Cover and allow to simmer for about 3 hours until tender (you don't want to over cook it or let it get too tender it's nice to have that chew and not just jello)

(3) Meanwhile prepare the red sauce that you will add to the stew towards the last 30 minutes- 1 hour of cooking, made from the dried "Chile California's" and tomatoes along with garlic and onion
you remove the stems and seeds from the chiles, and cut the large tomatoes in half then cover with enough water to boil and allow to simmer about 10- 15 minutes. Then blend in small batches with 1/2 a raw onion and 2 raw garlic cloves peeled.
strain the mixture and set aside
(4) After 3 hours check your tripe and feet, if they are as tender as you'd like (seriously a long time ago my mom cooked this for like 5-6 hours and the texture was just too soft for our liking so 3 hours was good) it should look like below
At this point remove the onion, garlic, bay leaves, and any big pieces of whatever you stewed the meat with and add the strained red sauce
stir and the broth should turn a rich red color
simmer an additional 30 minutes
when done serve in bowls with minced onion, oregano, lime and fresh corn tortillas :)
I like to serve mine with lots of fresh minced onion, oregano, and freshly squeezed lime juice.
PLEASE NOTE:
(1) For my readers in Spain who may not have access to these dried chiles you can use a combination of "Pimientos Choriceros secos" and "Nora Peppers" and access to corn tortillas is probably scarce so good crusty bread would do. I'm sure you'd still get a wonderful dish substituting those :)

(2) For any Mexicans that want this broth to be spicy substitute dried Guajillos for some of the Chile California. Maybe about 6.

(3) For those that like to add Hominy you can add 1 large can of Hominy (it's pre-cooked whole corn kernels but it's a different type of corn like the one used for Pozole) it has to be added 1 hour prior to turning the stew off, because they aren't completely cooked. My mother however omits it.

Salpicón (Mini Cuban Meatloaf )

2011-04-28T13:13:00.000-07:00

I first heard of Salpicón which is another variety of Cuban Meat loaf at one of my favorite Cuban blogs called "Cuban in the Midwest" it was 2 small meat loafs, simmered in a typical cuban style tomato based sauce (you the know the drill the sofrito of onion, garlic, bell peppers, lots of olive oil, tomato, etc.) Growing up my Tata/ grandma NEVER made "Cuban" style meat loaf, so it has always been something unknown to me until I started reading other Cuban blogs.

My first introduction to Cuban-style meat loaf was Marta Darby from the blog "My Big Fat Cuban Family" she posted a large fried meat loaf, that was simmered in another variation of the cuban tomato based sauces, except it wasn't called "Salpicon" it was called "Pulpeta" it seems Salpicon and "Pulpeta" are cousins ha ha both seem to be loafs of meat that fried and simmered in those cuban creole sauces on stove top.

The main difference is that "Salpicon" are little loafs, and the Pulpeta are huge meat loafs usually with hard boiled eggs in the center. (Btw I've already cooked my own version of Pulpeta if anyone cares to see the post here's the link: http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2009/11/pulpeta-cuban-meatloaf.html) my Pulpeta is awesome ;)

Anyways back to the Salpicon, these small fried loafs, reminded me of a large sausage in a savory creole sauce (don't thing wrong perverts ha ha) and so the recipe I came up with was inspired by the recipe I saw in the blog "Cuban in the Midwest" but this is my version/ variation. The way I made it was I wanted these fried meat loafs to taste like a spicy version smokey Spanish chorizo (like the Spanish chorizo's from La Rioja region of Spain) who's main elements are hot smoked spanish paprika and lots of garlic, thus I seasoned my ground meat mixture like that, and the ground ham in the meat mixture I used gives it that cured salty taste in addition the sauce I wanted it to accent the flavors of the loaf so I added to the sauce oregano because oregano and smoked spanish paprika really get along well together, not to mention I've noticed ground meat goes very well with oregano (of course this is just my opinion from messing around in the kitchen)

So here's my recipe hope you guys enjoy it :)

Main Ingredients:
-1 lbs. ground beef
-1 lbs. ground pork
-1/2 lbs. ground sweet ham
-5 eggs
-1 1/2 cups bread crumbs or cracker meal
-1/2 head garlic (peeled, through a garlic pressed or mashed to a paste in a mortar)
-1 tablespoon 1/2 hot or sweet smoked spanish paprika
-salt to taste (I used 2 teaspoons depends how salty your ham or bread or cracker meal is)

Ingredients for Sauce:
-1/4- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
-2 large onion julienned
-2 large green or red bell pepper julienned
-1/2 head of garlic finely minced, or through a garlic press or mortar
-2 can 8 oz. tomato sauce
-2 cup of water
-1 cup dry white wine or red wine
-1 tablespoon ground oregano
-salt to taste (about 1 1/2 teaspoon)

Directions for loafs:
(1) Mix all the main ingredients together, but do not over mix the mixture or it will be tough.

(2) Mold into 3-4 small loaves like picture below. Allow loaves to rest in fridge about 1 hour in a container, or plate with plastic wrap, so they marinade, and firm up.

(3) Pass the loafs through beaten egg, then bread crumbs. Pat the loaves so the bread crumb mixture sticks.

(4) Heat a large frying pan with about 1/4- 1/3 cup olive oil and carefully fry the loaves on all sides til browned.
Set aside in a large deep pot.
Directions for sauce:
(1) In the pan where you fried the loafs, sautee julienned onions and bell peppers until translucent, add the garlic and stir a addition 2 minutes until fragrant.
(2) Add dry white wine or red and de-glaze, and tomato sauce, and thin out the sauce with some water (I use about 1 cup) stir in oregano and bring to rolling boil.
(3) Add the sauce to the pot where you have the fried loafs.
Put that pot over high heat and when everything comes to a boil,
cover and simmer on medium low for about 25- 30 minutes, then flip the loafs carefully and simmer an additional 25- 30 minutes.

(4) Turn off heat, and garnish with finely minced parsley or cilantro if you have it.
(5) To serve remove loafs, when serving serve a 1 inch thick slice of the loaf, and spoon sauce over it. Goes very well with white or yellow rice or mashed potatoes and a salad of your choice

PLEASE NOTE:
(1)Yeah camera is still messed up, I can't see what I'm taking a picture of ha ha... anyone wanna buy me a new one?
(2) I made a lot as you can see I used a real large pan to braise all of meat loafs. You can cut the recipe in half. This recipe made like 16 servings. 4 of us ate one of the loafs (my Dad was missing otherwise it would've been 5) but it makes great leftovers, one day eat it with rice, other day eat it with mashed potatoes, and it would be great cold inbetween some french or cuban bread or simply sliced and inside whatever sandwich or cold with crackers.

Ga Kho Gung (Chicken Braised in Caramel Sauce with Ginger)

2011-04-11T21:23:00.000-07:00

I saw a wonderful recipe that appealed to me on the blog "Wandering Chopsticks" (this blog has some delicious Vietnamese recipes, she cooks other stuff too, and I love the background stories she shares. It's just a real honest genuine blog I enjoy) scrolling through her recipes I bumped into a recipe for "Ga Kho Gung" (Chicken braised in caramel sauce with ginger) I was a little unclear on how to make the caramel sauce and work with it so I saw a video on youtube that was helpful and prepared the chicken in a very similar way (practically same recipe different ratios) here's the video for those interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPP_e2qE32Q

Do not be intimidated by the caramel sauce, it's rather simply, some people buy it pre-made but it's not hard. There's different methods, I've seen some that melt the sugar directly into the pan, others add a little oil then the sugar into the pan, and other's add sugar and water to a cold pan then bring it to boil on high til water evaporates. I use that method (the water with sugar) because it's the same way I make my caramel for Flan (a type of spanish dessert) and I feel comfortable doing it that way.

Anyways in Vietnamese cuisine caramel sauce is used as a base for many braised meats or fish (any protien seems to be feautured in some form of caramel sauce) it really is comfort food, these sauces are not overly sweet they just have like I don't know hard to describe, it's like this strong savory caramel taste, slightly salty and isn't overly sugary. My favorite of these dishes in caramel sauce is "Thit Heo Kho Trung" (Vietnamese Caramelized Pork and Egg) everyone seems to have a different version of this dish but my favorite version regardless of how simple or whatever is the one my ex's mother use to prepare which had only garlic as it's aromatic (I loved it!) I'll share my attempt to recreate that dish another time. (I believe his mother would marinade pork belly cubes with fish sauce, brown sugar, tons of garlic then quickly brown it maybe, add coconut juice, some water. add hard boiled eggs and more fish sauce to taste) that's another story though.

If you learn to make the caramel sauce this may become one of your favorite quick go to dishes, it is EXTREMELY quick to prepare, you will have it ready within 30- 40 minutes no joke.

The version I'm presenting today is with onion, garlic and strongly flavored with ginger. But there is variations that omit the ginger and onion and just use a lot of finely minced lemongrass and red thai chilies (I love the latter) anyways well here goes. The recipe I'm sharing is from both the video and Wandering Chopsticks blog. Stuff like fish sauce, salt, and sugar can always be adjusted to taste, as well as teh amount of onion, garlic, ginger (however know that ginger is a main element of this recipe so don't skimp on it) These are the ratios I used and I loved it.

Ingredients for Caramel Sauce:
-3 tablespoons white sugar
-1/3 cup water

Main Ingredients:
-3 1/2 lbs. chicken bone in, washed, cut into bite size pieces, patted dry
-1 onion finely chopped
-6 cloves garlic finely chopped
-2 1/2 inches ginger root, peeled, cut into rounds then thinly julienned
-1 1/2 cups water
-3 tablespoons fish sauce (a good quality like 3 Crabs or Flying Lion)
-2 teaspoons salt (more to taste)
-3 tsp. white sugar
Ingredients for garnish (optional)
-1 large sprig of green onion/ scallion washed and chopped into small pieces

Directions:
(1) Have all your ingredients ready and on hand you DO NOT want to burn or ruin your caramel sauce, don't worry it is relatively simple not hard at all just be attentive. Put 3 tablespoons sugar in a pot, and add 1/3 cup water, bring to high heat and stir well with chop stick or sometype of stick it'll start bubbling vigorously
(2) Eventually the water will evaporate and it'll start darkening when it turns a dark golden brown (NOT BLACK) Keep an eye on it do not leave it alone during the whole process, if you burn your caramel sauce you ruin your dish (I've practiced a bit with Vietnamese dishes that use caramel sauce and have learned through trial and error) anyways when your caramel turns a golden dark brown like this
add your chicken all at once, ginger, garlic, onions, fish sauce, additional sugar and salt.
(3) Stir to coat everything in caramel, keep stirring about 2-4 minutes until chicken is no longer pink (just make sure it changed color like opaque)

(4) Add water 1 1/2 cups and bring to a strong boil, add black pepper, cover and simmer on medium low for atleast 20 minutes. I like to simmer it 40 minutes and get the meat real tender and infused with the flavors.
(5) Turn off heat and serve with steamed white rice. You may garnish with chopped scallions.

I don't know if this is authentic or not but I like to serve it with like any plain boiled vegetable or a simple sautee of leafy greens sauteed with a little oil, garlic, and a bit of salt.

P.S. You guys need to try her "Bo Kho" it is very well spiced and rich!

PLEASE NOTE:
(1) Be sure once the chicken comes to a boil in the beginning you taste for salt, like atleast add 3 tbsp. fish sauce and 2 tsp salt if your using 3 1/2 lbs chicken from the very beginning because since the chicken wasn't marinaded or anything you want to boil it with enough well sodium to make sure it penetrates it right from the beginning to ensure flavorful results :)

(2) I'm not an expert or anything in Vietnamese food, it is a little out of my comfort zone, so any form of constructive criticism, and suggestions are more than welcomed :)

*Yeah the pictures look kinda retarded :/ haven't gotten a new camera, and like my camera is pretty broken and like the screen doesn't display what I am taking a picture of so yeah.... but heck I'm still bloggin. Just bare with me and if you can't well too bad LOL. but hey much love and peace ha ha

Pollo en Salsa Barbacoa (Chicken in Cuban-style BBQ sauce)

2011-04-09T13:51:00.000-07:00

Pollo in spanish is chicken (well most know this) and "Salsa Barbacoa" means "BBQ sauce". Literal translation for this dish is "Chicken in BBQ Sauce" This chicken is tangy, sweet, salty, and smokey. The chicken is marinaded in something called "mojo" pronounced "mo-ho" which is a mixture of lime or lemon or sour orange with garlic, and salt sometimes other spices are added, it is often used to marinade meats in Cuban Cuisine, then the chicken is floured, browned in butter and baked or stewed in a homemade BBQ sauce which has ingredients common in the cuban kitchen (wine, sugar, lime, ketchup, butter, onion, and soy sauce) yes soy sauce, stuff like fried rice and Chinese fast food was always popular in Cuba due to Chinese migration.

Anyways, this recipe I saw it in a Cuban group called "Comida Cubana" on facebook (it's a wonderful group dedicated to the Cuban kitchen, unfortunately it's all in Spanish for those who don't understand the language). I had never cooked this dish before but saw it posted on that group, and on a few Cuban sites, some say it's from Nitza Villapol's cookbook called "Cocina al Minuto " (for those that don't know Nitza Villapol is what many consider the Cuban Julia child and many Cuban woman who had never been in the kitchen learned from this book, however I will add I never learned Cuban food through her, nor prepare everything the same way she does or always agree with her way of doing things lol. but I do like her recipes for idea's or inspiration.)

According to some people who commented the recipe it's apparently a party food for some, made on special occasions, and is held in high esteem, the recipe is also an attempt to reproduce a delicious BBQ chicken popular in the 80's from a restaurant called "Polinesio Restaurant del Hotel Habana Libre" in well Havana, Cuba. Formally known from word of mouth as "Trader Vicks" in 1958 Cuba.

I do re-call my grandmother making a Cubanized BBQ chicken which was chicken marinaded in Mojo then deep-fried til cooked through then tossed it in BBQ sauce and served. Maybe this was her version of the dish? I've also seen in several Spanish blogs dedicated to well Spanish Cuisine dishes called "Pollo en Salsa Barbacoa" which braise/ stew chicken in other homemade variations of BBQ sauce. Anyways well here's the recipe I found and let me tell you it was delicious and a hit in my house, served with white rice, black beans, and a salad :) Give it a try you'll be pleasantly surprised, and it isn't overly sweet either. I'm glad I tried it :)

Main Ingredients:
-3-4 lbs. chicken cut into sections (cleaned)
-1/2 cup sour orange juice (you can sub for 1/2 orange 1/2 lemon or lime juice)
-1/2 head garlic finely minced preferably mashed to paste
-1 teaspoon salt
-ground black pepper to taste (about 1 tsp.)

Ingredients to dust chicken:
-1/2 cup flour
-2 tsp. sweet smoked Spanish paprika (I used Pimenton Picante which is a hotter version but in my opinion it isn't spicy)
-1 tsp. salt

Ingredients for sauce:
-1 cup ketchup (I used a brand with no High-Fructose Corn syrup you don't have to)
-1/2 cup dry white wine (red will work too)
-1 tablespoon soy sauce
-1 tablespoon sugar
-juice of 1 small lime
-1 grated or finely chopped onion
-1/3 cup water
-2 tablespoons melted butter

Directions:
(1) Marinade the chicken in a large bowl with salt, pepper, sour orange juice, and garlic for atleast 30 minutes, preferably 2 hrs or over night. Set aside in fridge.

(2) Mix all the sauce ingredients (ketchup, wine, soy sauce, sugar, lime, onion, water, butter), in a small pot, and bring to a boil, then remove from heat, and set aside.

(3) When ready to prepare your chicken pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

(4) Mix your flour, paprika, and salt in a large plate set aside.

(5) Heat a large frying pan with about 1 stick butter (if you must margarine I suppose) and dust the chicken in flour and shake off excess then brown on both sides, in batches.
When all your chicken is browned, throw your BBQ sauce in the pan and de-glaze with the sauce,
coat the chicken in the sauce.

(6) Transfer to a baking dish, pour any leftover sauce over,
and cover with aluminum foil, bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes in oven at 325 degrees, then uncover and raise heat to 400 and cook an additional 10- 15 minutes until a browned color is achieved on top :) Remove from oven and serve.
PLEASE NOTE:
(1) If done in the oven like how I mentioned you get a thick glaze on it, however if you do not want to use the oven and still get delicious results your other option is to after browning the chicken in batches, throw it all in a pot, along with the sauce, add a bit more water, bring to a boil and cover to simmer on low for about 45 minutes until tender :)
(2) There is another dish many Cubans call "Pollo en Salsa Barbacoa" but it is prepared completely different and does have a different taste. And is extremely quick, simple, and is done stove-top. Only has 3 ingredients including the chicken LOL. if you don't count some water, I'll share it next time. Stay tuned, never have made it before but from the list of ingredients it's bound to be delicious :)

(3) Still no new camera so sorry for the photos

Empanadas de Platano (Plantain Empanadas)

2011-03-30T20:54:00.000-07:00

These are delicious it's mashed sweet plantain, stuffed with a milk custard, and deep-fried then rolled in sugar. These treats are popular in Salvadorian Cuisine, another variation is a version of it stuffed with a thick savory paste of re-fried black beans (which I've only had once)

Anyways so today my mom's friend "Gomez" (did I mention I love her well I said it now :) who is from El Salvador came over and taught us how to make these delicious treats. She told me that she likes her's best because she uses rice flour to make the custard as opposed to corn starch which is what many places that sell them too use because it's cheaper though I don't frown on it at all it's just a different style, she say's it makes it denser, and taste like a delicious rice pudding. Truth be told it does, the rice flour makes it rich, and it tastes like a creamy, thick, rich smooth rice pudding :)

By the way if your Cuban and haven't tried this you gotta try it, it has elements of SOME of the main stuff we love lol. fried sweet plantains, rolled in sugar, stuffed with a creamy custard that reminds us of a cross between arroz con leche (rice pudding) and "natilla" (spanish vanilla cinnamon pudding) and heck it's deep-fried what's better than that ay!

Ingredients for dough:
-3 lbs. ripe yellow plantain with black blotches
Ingredients for filling (this is called "Manjar" pronounced man-haar in Spanish)
-8 cups milk
-3 sticks of cinnamon
-1 fat pinch salt (optional)
-2 cups rice flour
-2 cups white sugar
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Additional Ingredients:
-oil to deep-fry (I personally use canola oil to deep-fry it has a clean taste, high smoking point, and things don't seem to absorb it, however in Latin cooking like Mexico and Central America corn oil is very popular but I do not like it because it has a lot of omega-6 fatty acids, and leaves a heavy taste, oxidizes quicker too.)

Directions for dough:
(1) Wash plantains real well, remove ends and cut them into 3 sections. Place in a pot with enough water to barely cover and bring to a boil on high heat, then leave in medium heat until tender, they will be tender when they swell, and the peels crack open. Atleast 30 minutes you want them tender.
(2) Drain them well while hot, carefully remove the peels, while still hot mash to a paste with a potato masher like real well until you obtain a dough, it doesn't have to be a super smooth paste, just get rid of most lumps and mash well. You have to do it while hot to really make it mash up.
(3) Set aside and allow to cool to room temperature.
Directions for filling:
(1) Heat a large pot with milk, sugar and cinnamon stick. Allow to come to a bubble, then reduce heat to super low simmer 5-10 minutes to infuse with cinnamon. Do this uncovered.
(2) Put the rice flour in a large bowl and dilute/ whisk it with milk, to form a smooth loose paste with no lumps.
(3) Add the rice flour mixture pouring in a stream to the pot of milk, sugar, and cinnamon, and whisk it while you pour it in so it doesn't lump. Raise heat to medium high heat, whisk continuosly 5- 10 minutes until it thickens. Taste it and add more sugar if you would like to, and stir in vanilla.
(4) Turn off heat, and allow it to cool and come to room temperature, or cool in fridge.

Directions to make Empanadas:
(1) Have a large pan or several plates, ready and the surface rubbed with oil (because you will place the empanadas you make on these and don't want them to stick)

(2) Have another tiny bowl or whatever with oil to grease your hands so dough doesn't stick.

(3) Grab a ball of cooled plantain dough, flatten into a round flat not to thin disk,
spoon a tablespoon or teaspoonful of the filling (Manjar).
Close it my making all the ends meat,
like close it try to seal it,
if u don't have enough dough to close add a little patch to close it up. Roll gently into a round oval shape.
Place them on the oiled pans or plates.
Directions to finish off the dish:
(1) Heat a frying pan in my case i use a wok with generous amounts of oil (I'd say about 2 cups atleast) over medium high heat, when oil is hot slide the empanadas into the hot oil
and fry about 5-7 minutes on one side, and carefully flip them over (I use a spoon and fork you can use a ladel whatever, just be careful not to break them they are sensetive when hot) once you flip it fry another 5-7 minutes until browned.
(2) Drain on paper towels,
and while warm roll them in sugar.
(3) Allow to cool a bit and enjoy, you can eat them as snack, breakfast, dessert whatever you'd like :) If you have leftovers simply re-heat them.

This is the inside of it :)
PLEASE NOTE:
(1) The filling called "Manjar" for these empanadas is actually a dessert on it's own, it's a type of milk custard, you can actually eat this on it's own in bowls dusted with cinnamon powder. They can also be cooled in individual serving paper cups dusted with cinnamon and enjoyed cold :)

(2) The portions can be adjusted, you want less dough use less plantains, you want more use more plantains, etc.

(3) It does take some skill to work with the dough of mashed plantains and everything but hopefully these pictures will be helpful and you can always see videos on youtube on how other people work the dough or techniques they may use. This is how I learned to make them :)

(4) Yeah I haven't bought a new camera so bare with me and if you don't want to then oh wellz toodles :-P ha ha <3 ya

Vietnamese Chicken Curry (Cà Ri Gà)

2011-03-11T12:51:00.000-08:00

I've been craving Vietnamese Curry since I haven't had it in several months maybe even a year I've lost track of time. However it is one of my favorite dishes in Vietnamese cuisine.

So what makes Vietnamese curry "Vietnamese" and different from other cultures curries? In my opinion and from observing several cooks Vietnamese curries it's that they use a type of curry powder known as "Madras Curry Powder" they use a good quality fish sauce in their curries, as well as lemongrass in combination with onion, garlic, and ginger. And bring it all together with a touch of either half and half cream or coconut milk or whole milk. (I'm assuming using half and half cream or whole milk as an alternative to coconut milk sometimes is a french influence)

I am not an expert in Vietnamese cooking or anything, but have been exposed to a lot of it. The recipe I present today is a combination of Travis's aunts recipe (whom is Vietnamese) she made one of the best curries I had ever tasted using bone-in turkey meat I asked her for the recipe and she would grind all the aromatics (garlic, ginger, onion) and combine it with other stuff and use that paste to marinade meat, etc. and would use milk instead of coconut milk. The other influence in this recipe is his grandfather a wonderful humble cook, although he never shared his recipe when I would eat his curry I noticed a sweeter note in his (thus I added more sugar because I liked the sweeter note in his) and also added turmeric powder (because I noticed his curry had a stronger yellow tinge than other's and would even leave a yellow golden tinge on the serving bowl which I assume is the addition of turmeric) and the other influence was my taste, I love the fragrance of coconut milk so I used that, and although Travis's aunt uses sweet potato, and his grandpa uses a large taro I used potato and carrot in my curry because it's what I had and I assume it's not sacrilegious because I've seen it in some restaurants and in his mother's curry (I think)

So here's my recipe for it, give it a try, it turned out delicious, and as good as my fond memories of those awesome curries :D

Ingredients:
-3- 4 lbs. whole chicken
-2- 4 tablespoons fish sauce (see note at end of recipe for this)
-salt to taste
-2 tablespoons sugar
-1 teaspoon ground black pepper
-3 tablespoons Madras Curry Powder
-2 teaspoons turmeric powder (gives nice color and touch in my opinion)
-1 whole onion chopped
-2 inches, peeled finely chopped fresh ginger root
-1/2 head garlic, peeled and chopped
-2 stalks lemongrass (you have two options you can either tie them or cut them in 3 large sections and add em to the stew I chose to finely mince the lower stalks, peeled first layer and finely chopped)
-1-4 thai chilies or other smaller spicy pepper minced (optional only if you like heat)
-4 regular potatoes (peeled cut into chunks)
-4 medium carrots (peeled cut into chunks)
-1 can good quality coconut milk or coconut cream (such as Chao Kho, or Mae Ploy or the first press of coconut milk that you make yourself at home about 2-3 cups) OR 2-3 cups half and half or whole milk

Garnish: -You may garnish with fresh cilantro or scallions

Directions:
(1) Clean chicken well, rinse well, several times, and then submerge in water with salt and vinegar or lime and rub well then rinse off twice (this is just how we clean it at home you don't have to but I recommend it) take to chopping board and cut into 2 inch pieces (yeah cut through bone too)
(2) Mix chicken well with fish sauce to taste, salt to taste (if needed), sugar, curry powder, and turmeric. Set aside wash hands.
(3) In food processor add chopped onion, garlic, ginger, and very very very finely minced lemon grass and process to a paste. Mix seasoned chicken with this paste, cover with plastic wrap and allow to marinade in refrigerator at least 2 hours (preferably over night)
(4) When ready to cook, heat a large pot over high heat, add oil, and quickly sear chicken all over (making sure to remove any excess marinade/ paste before throwing in hot oil) in batches if necessary when meat is browned all over remove and quickly add other batch of meat to brown (if you werent able to brown it all in one batch)

(5) Add more oil to pot and add the marinade paste leftover and cook scraping any brown bits (those lend flavor) until raw smell is gone/ fragrant. Toss chicken pack in,
add enough water to cover meat barely, bring to a boil, taste if it needs more salt, add salt to taste, remove any foam, and cover to simmer 25 minutes.

Taste again and add more sugar or curry powder to taste (I added 1 more tablespoon in addition to the three I used to marinade chicken) and 1 extra tablespoon of sugar.

(6) After 25 minutes add carrot and potatoes
and simmer an additional 15- 20 minutes until carrot and potatoes are tender. Stir in coconut milk or whole milk or half and half cream (your choice, I like coconut milk because it's more fragrant. My ex's grandfather likes half and half cream, and one of his aunts used cow's milk so it's preference and personal taste at this point) WHen it comes back to a boil, turn off heat.

(7) Enjoy in a shallow bowl with some good french bread :)

PLEASE NOTE:
(1) Use a good quality fish sauce, like a Thai or Vietnamese fish sauce. not a Filipino kind (which is good for Filipino food but it has a very harsh sharp taste) good brand of Thai opr Veitnamese fish sauce tend to have more complex taste, and lend a seafood taste like closer to shrimp or crab tasting, you can think of it as liquid crab, shrimp, and fish bouillon but it's tasty when used in moderation in a dish.

(2) Again if you do not want to finely chop lemongrass or buy it finely chopped, you can tie it a certain way or cut it into sections and boil it in the curry together with everything, then remov
it or leave it.

(3) You DO NOT have to use carrot and potatoes. Travis's grandpa uses a fragrant large taro root that comes vacuum packed and slightly freckled with purple, those taro roots are very fragrant and delicious. Another alternative is using a large orange fleshed sweet potato, which you cut into large chunks and sear in oil all over (not cooking it through) and adding it to stew to finish cooking. The searing is done to prevent it from falling apart or melting into stew, even if it's slightly. My favorite is using sweet potato but I only had potatoes and carrots on hand, I've seen versions at some potlucks using a combination of cassava, potato and large carrot which was interesting :)

(4) These curry recipes work well with goat, mutton, lamb, beef, and even rabbit any gamey meat lends itself well to this dish. Just adjust cooking times accordingly.

Lastly... I apologize for the terrible pictures (heck not really it's my blog :-P) but yeah the photos are kinda funky because my camera is so broken and busted (still I haven't bought a new one) so I can't even see what I'm taking a picture of I just have to guess and hope I got a snap-shot of what I'm suppose to (since the display screen is all cracked)

Potaje de Frijoles Canarios (Mayacoba Bean Stew)

2011-02-24T18:36:00.001-08:00

Frijol Canario translates to "Canarian bean" as in Canary Islands, but it also commonly known down here by people from Latin America as "Frijol Peruano" in engish some call it "Mayacoba beans" in English. This bean is EXTREMELY popular among the Mexican community down here in Southern California and Mexico, because it has an unsurpassed buttery and creamy texture, these beans hold their shape when cooking, but when you bite into them they are large, starchy, and creamy. The cooking liquid used to cook this bean becomes like a thick gravy when these beans are stewed it gives body to whatever it's cooked in as well. They just have a nice richness which is why they are popular and have replaced Pinto beans in some Mexican homes.

My mother LOVES this type of bean, it's her overall favorite and since the weather was cold I was craving a heavy Cuban/ Spanish bean stew, I thought "Why not make a Cuban or Spanish bean stew using these beans, my mother would love it" and so this recipe came to be. I decided to cook these delicious beans with Calabaza and potatoes typical of a Cuban bean stew, but sort of a fusion with Galician stew because I wanted to add some greens, but not collards or chard I chose Spinach. All this married with a delicious sofrito and smokey hints of paprika and cumin. Plus I had a wonderful ham bone and some ham steaks laying around :)

Ingredients:
-1 lbs./ 2 cups frijoles peruanos (Mayacoba beans)
-1 ham bone
-1 lbs. ham cut into chunks
-2 smoked sausages (preferably Spanish Sausage as in Spain)
-1/4 cup extra- virgin olive oil
-1 bell pepper minced
-1 onion minced
-6 cloves garlic finely minced
-1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce (or 3 fresh grated tomatoes or finely diced)
-1 heaping teaspoonful sweet smoked spanish paprika
-1/2 heaping teaspoonful ground cumin
-2-3 bay leaves
-1 lbs. butternut squash cut into peeled, cut into 1 inch chunks
-3 small potatoes, peeled washed, cut into 1 inch chunks
-1 lbs. spinach (cleaned well, washed several times, drained, and coarsely chopped or use frozen)

Directions:
(1) In a large (I really do mean large) wash the beans several times, pick through them to see if there are any stones, and drain well, then add ham bone and ham chunks into the pot with beans and cover with enough water to barely cover ham bone and beat (you want the beans to be covered 2-3 inches in water) bring to a boil,
cover and simmer over low until very tender (about 1 1/2- 2 hrs)
(2) In the mean time prep all your vegetables, and make a sofrito (this is what flavors most Cuban dishes) start by heating olive oil over medium high, brown your sliced sausages and set aside, to that same oil add onion and bell pepper when translucent about 5 minutes, add garlic and cook down another 2 minutes, then stir in the paprika, cumin, and bay leaves about 30 seconds, then tomato sauce, give another good stir and let it reduce to a thick paste about 10 minutes over medium heat. This base will make everything taste amazing!
(3) When beans are tender, add your sofrito to the beans
here are all my veggies prepped (the spinach was frozen, we actually bought a lot of spinach when it was on special and cleaned, blanched it and stored it in container in freezer to have it ready for whenever we needed, you may use fresh)
(4) Add your potatoes, squash and sausage to the stew, and bring to a boil then simmer about 15- 20 minutes until tender (to test for tenderness check with a fork, if you can pierce it it's good) the last 5-7 minutes add your spinach and bring to a boil. Give a good stir. Then when everything is cooked turn off heat :)
here's another snap shot. Serve with bread or rice :D
PLEASE NOTE:
*I highly suggest anyone to give this bean stew a try, if your kosher or can't eat pork products use some cubed beef meat and some beef bones to substitute the ham products. Oh and also you can use an all beef smoked sausage :)
*You can make this stew using chickpeas/ garbanzo beans, white northern beans, or lentils which was what I was going to do today, but I felt like cooking it with these creamy beans. If using lentils remember they cook quick so please adjust cooking times and such. Like for lentils I would cook them 30 minutes, then start adding everything and not let them cook longer than an hour.

Sad Update/ Broken Camera

2011-02-22T21:25:00.000-08:00

OK so my wrist is finally healed after breaking it when I went snowboarding with some friends at Big Bear (well the healing part is wonderful news) however I know it's caused me to neglect my blog for sometime and not really post much because I haven't been cooking much (mom's been in charge of the kitchen and the food is just as delicious lol.)

However my camera is pretty much broken :/ I took it out last week a night on the town, and well someone in the car must've somehow stepped on it or sat on it because the screen is completely messed up, like the display is all warped up and cracked... it can still take photos and upload them but I can't see what I'm taking a photo of, and yeah.

I'll buy a new one when I have time, and my dad isn't letting me borrow his...

Anyways luckily I have some old photos of stuff I cooked previously that never made it here :) One of them the Canary Islands version of "Ropa Vieja" (shredded meat stew) which is different than the Cuban version, and the other is a short-cut improvised "Potaje de Garbanzos" (Chickpea Stew) I made with my grandma that was very delicious, oooh and another "Empanada Gallega" (Galician Meat Pie) :)

So stay tuned, and those will have to do until I have time to buy a new camera :)

Castañeta (Palometa) Frita de Mi Madre (Mom's Fried Golden Pompano)

2011-02-04T21:46:00.000-08:00

At home we eat fish occasionally Golden Pompano is one of my favorite fish, it is meaty, sturdy, moist (has enough fat), and best of all doesn't have a lot of bones, most of the bones are large and in the center body not embedded through-out it's flesh.

It is very similar to white Pomfret and Black Pomfret (which are also one of my favorite fish, when I want fish steaks, medallions, rounds, whole fried fish, or a fish that can hold it's own in stewing)

This is how my mother prepares it she simply puts generous salt, pepper, mashed garlic, and lime. Then flours and pan or deep-fries. The results, a slightly crisp exterior, moist interior, and garlicky, flavorful fried fish.

With my wrist broken and unable to cook much, I decided to take pictures of what my mom was cooking and share the recipe :)

Main Ingredients:
-2 Golden Pompano's (cut into steak rounds)
-6-8 cloves garlic, mashed to a paste
-juice of 1 lime or 1/2 lemon (she used a lemon)
-salt to taste (salt generously all over)
-ground black pepper to taste
-flour as needed to coat fish

Ingredients To fry the fish:
-enough oil to deep-fry fish, or almost completely submerge (2-3 cups?)
-3 whole garlic cloves, skin on, slightly bruised

Directions:
(1) Tell your fish market guy to cut it into steaks, wash the fish real well, rinsing in cold water several times and pat-dry, make slits on the steaks skin with a knife about 2 inches apart, sprinkle salt and pepper all over, rub garlic, and lemon or lime juice all over.
(2) Allow to marinade atleast 2 hours or over night
(3) After 2 hours or marinading longer, lightly flour all the fish pieces
Directions to fry:
(1) Heat your oil over medium high heat, add your bruised garlic cloves (this will help your house not smell like a bunch of fish) add your floured fish when hot, in batches fry 5-6 minutes without touching
then turn over and allow to continue frying.
(2) Drain and remove from oil, put on paper towels to drain further or o n whatever you'd like
(3) Do the same with the second batch :) When done it should look like this. We ate it with rice and salad :D
PLEASE NOTE:
(1) Notice the fish is a golden reddish, my mom used an oil she had previously infused with sweet smoked Spanish paprika, you can also just mix the flour with some paprika for the color.

(2) This recipe can work for Tilapia/ Mojarra, Catfish, Redsnapper, or Seabass. any fresh white fleshed whole fish, even fish fillets :)

(3) If you like this recipe you'll like my mother's Salmon, with generous garlic, pan-fried in butter and olive oil see post for "Salmon de mi Mama" or her "Mojarra Frita a la Mexicana" (Tilapia Mexican style)

(4) I have a feeling I have the wrong Spanish name... I think "Castañeta" or Palometa is actually referring to "Pomfret" though Pomfret and Pompano look so similar....

Guiso de Carne de Puerco (Cuban Pork and Potato Stew)

2011-01-26T17:26:00.000-08:00

A simple, comforting, cuban tomato based stew of pork and potatoes hot n smokey from the cumin and pepper. I prepare it the same way as my grandmother's "Carne Con Papa" (beef n potato), a good way to switch it up when you don't feel like eating beef :)

Some Cubans will call this dish "Fricase de Puerco" (Pork Fricase) but when I make the pork fricasse, the pork meat is marinaded in sour orange, garlic, and salt and all this is planned ahead, etc. whatever you want to label it as it's damn delicious lol.

Ingredients:
-1 1/2 - 2 lbs pork meat I like like to use pork spareribs cut into chunks
-1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil or pork lard
-1 green bell pepper finely chopped
-1 onion finely chopped
-4 cloves garlic minced
-1 can 8 oz tomato sauce
-1/2 cup dry white wine
-1 cups water
-3 potatoes peeled, washed and halved
-salt to taste
-black pepper to taste
-1 tsp. ground cumin
-1/2 tsp. bijol or ground achiote (optional we do this at home when we want to give the potatoes a golden yellow color, and the meat a glossy orangish tinge)

Directions:
(1)Wash your pork well, pat dry and season with salt and pepper, anyways now heat olive oil or pork fat in a large deep pan or pot, over medium high heat, when hot add your pork meat seasoned with salt and pepper, allow meat to brown all over
(2) When pork is browned add onion and bell peppers cook down 5 minutes, add garlic and stir 1-2 minutes just until fragrant, then add tomato sauce when it bubbles add the wine and let it reduce
(3) Now add water, cumin, bijol, more salt n black pepper to taste, and potatoes.
Bring to a boil on high, give a good stir cover and lower heat to medium low for 40 minutes- 1 hour until meat is tender. When tender it's done turn off heat :)
(4) Serve with rice and any sides you'd like, my mother sauteed some delicious spinach with onion, garlic, olive oil, and lightly seasoned it with salt served with a lemon wedge

Potaje de Colorados #7 Con Malanga, Calabaza y Maiz (Cuban Red Bean Stew with Malanga, Calabaza, and Corn)

2011-01-18T21:01:00.000-08:00

Ha ha yes sorry yet another red bean stew. Thing is I just love making hardy Cuban and Spanish bean stews (which are typically in my house made w/ meat, sometimes sausage, potatoes, and Calabaza married with a sofrito and spices) and since red beans weren't a family favorite I loved messing around with them and preparing them in different ways my family would enjoy them. Plus overtime just grew on me ha ha, now my family loves it when I cook a pot of red beans.

Ok so all that said and done this isn't your "typical" Cuban red bean stew with potatoes and calabaza. My grandmother (Tata) told me her step mother use to make bean stews using "Malanga" (a type of Caribbean taro) in combination with Calabaza back in Cuba. Also friends from "Oriente" (Eastern Cuba) makes Potajes with Malanga usually, and something that I found surprising was one of my readers Mamey told me he had a red bean stew with rounds of cobbed corn in Oriente. So pretty much from hearing all this I was like "Mmmm sounds yummy and a nice alternative to the typical Cuban bean stews. Ooooh have some cobs in the freezer... then I open the bottom drawer and some Malanga yummy all that was left was to buy some Calabaza" and that's how this recipe came to be :)

Try it, the results were silky smooth beans, a rich stock from the ham bone, and chunks of ham, hints of sweetness from the Calabaza and Corn, and everybody trying to find and gorge down those delicious chunks of Malanga, which are rich, starchy, and have a slight nutty taste. My Tata whom came to visit said it reminded her of Ajiaco (a rich stew/ soup made with meat and just about every tuber n delicious starchy veggies found in Cuban cooking something I will share in the future)

ok... ok... so before I begin I gotta tell you guys I recently broke my wrist and a small area below it when I went snowboarding... but yeah live n learn I guess. So I'm not able to cook as often or maneuver a bunch and was at the hospital most of my day. So I made this stew with the help of my mom, she chopped all the veggies for me and I did it "a la Crockpot" lol. but you can adjust the recipe to stove top. I'm going to need her when I make "Empanada Gallega" (a huge Galician meat pie) with chicken something I'll post later :)

Ingredients:
-1 lbs. small or large red beans (washed and drained twice, then cover with 2 inches water bring to a boil 20 minutes, then turn off and soak at least 4-6 hours or overnight)
-1 ham bone
-1 lbs. ham steak or chunk cubed
-5-6 small "aji cachucha" peppers minced
-1 green bell pepper chopped
-1 onion chopped
-6 cloves garlic chopped
-1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce (or fresh chopped tomato)
-1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
-3 small or 2 medium or 1 large bay leaf
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-1/2 teaspoon dried crumbled oregano
-6-7 freshly ground allspice berries or 1/2 tsp. ground allspice
-1 lbs. Calabaza cut into 1 inch pieces (butternut or kabucha squash are good alternatives since carribean squash isn't available here easily)
-2 medium malangas cut into 1 inch chunks (taro root)
-2 ears of corn sliced into 1 inch rounds
Directions ( now I'm going to include directions for both crockpot and stove top it's similar procedure for this recipe):
(1) Do not drain the red beans or you'll lose color, throw the already pre-soaked beans in a large pot on stove-top, or throw in crockpot, add ham bone, ham chunks, cachucha peppers, bell pepper, onion, garlic, tomato sauce, olive oil, bay leaves and corn, if using crockpot add calabaza and malanga if using stove- top don't add it yet. If using crockpot set on low for 8-12 hrs. or high for 6 hrs insuring you added enough water to cover all ingredients. If using stove top, bring to boil, cover and simmer about 1 1/2- 2 hours checking occasionally until beans are tender.

(2) When beans are tender add salt to taste about 2-3 tsp, the cumin, dried oregano, ground allspice if using crockpot allow to cook an additional 30 minutes with spices, if you made the stove-top version when beans are tender add salt, spices, and cubed malanga and calabaza to the stew and cook 30 minutes, add more water if necessary.
(3) When calabaza and malanga is tender remove one cup of calabaza and mash it to a paste, stir it back in, this will make the stew have a delicious sweet hint and thicken it. Turn off-heat, and serve over white rice :)
this was all that was leftover from that huge pot :)
P.S.
I'ma say it again... and again hehe if you'd like to help me out please vote for me to win a chance to have my own recording and be feautured on the cooking show Delicioso on "Univision" by voting for me in the below link. It is one of my dreams to be in something like that :)

http://cocina.univision.com/delicioso/episodios/article/2011-01-05/el-bloggero-delicioso

Mole Verde de Carmen (Carmen's Green Mexican Curry)

2011-01-14T00:07:00.000-08:00

Mole (pronounced Mole-ay) is a term used to describe complex Mexican sauces that usually have a variety of dried chilies, chocolate, nuts, and spices used to cook turkey, chicken or pork depending. The best way I can think of to describe it to people not familiar with Mexican Cuisine is that "Mole" is a type of Mexican "curry" with tons of variations, some are almond based, some yellow from using corn masa, different shades of red depending on the peppers, some dark shades of brown of black, etc. and one of the very unique one's that deviate from the typical is "Mole Verde" a.k.a. green mole, which is based on a variety of leafy greens, green tomatillos, and sometimes green pumpkin seeds.

The recipe I share with you today is Mole Verde, and it is by far my favorite recipe for Mole Verde. This recipe has been passed to my mother by her dear friend Carmen, whom is a 96 year old Mexican woman originally from Guadalajara, Mexico who learned this recipe from her mother so it dates back at least 100+ years, she like me and my mother has much love for the kitchen, and has taught my mother a thing or two about Mexican Cuisine. Her recipe for "Mole Verde" is by far the most healthiest, simple, and delicious version I have had.

The sauce unlike some Mole Verde's I've tried is extremely smooth, because the greens are cooked prior to blending as well as the tomatillos, recipes that blend everything raw then simmer tend to not produce smooth sauces, they tend to be grainy to some extent. Also it isn't heavily spiced, it's the natural flavor of the different greens and vegetables that give this sauce it's flavor which are pre-dominantly mostly from the smokey taste from the poblano peppers, peppery tones from the radish leaves, it get's slight citrus taste from the cilantro, and the special green/ herb in here is "Epazote" which has a very strong taste and flavor, I can describe it as earthy, strong pungent smell? It's very hard to describe the taste, extremely unique. Like maybe "brothy"? So I guess I can describe it as smokey and peppery without being spicy, as well as an acidic fresh bite from the cilantro to balance the earthiness and brothiness of the Epazote, then I forgot to mention the meaty citrus taste of tomatillos, and we all know how good onions and garlic are too, all this is just married the right way together to produce a healthful, flavorful and savory green sauce that is stewed with meat. It's just one of those things you gotta try.

And just a heads up for all those having all these healthful New Years resolutions or who need a break from the sugary, rich and fatty diet of the new years and Christmas (although sugary, rich, and fatty is me almost every day) this is a real healthy great recipe to try because for one in this version of Mole Verde everything is boiled nothing is fried or has fat added to it, it incorporates tons of healthful greens, and can be made with chicken which is generally accepted to be a more "diet" conscience alternative for many (when the skin is removed) I however just eat everything in moderation but just a heads up for those who aren't like that ha ha.

Ingredients for the stock:
-1 whole chicken 3-4 lbs., cleaned, washed, cut into sections (I wash it several times after cutting in sections, then the last wash I submerge it in water with a lot of salt, and either vinegar or lime and swoosh and drain then rinse with water again. I'm just real picky about chicken and pork don't like the after taste if it's not well cleaned)
-3-4 bay leaves
-1 tsp whole black peppercorns (or black pepper to taste)
-4 cloves garlic
-1/2 onion
-2 tsp. chicken bouillon
-2 tsp. salt (or more to taste)

Ingredients to finish the dish:
-1 head of Romaine lettuce washed and roughly chopped
-1 handful of fresh Epazote about 1/2 of a large bunch washed.. for some reason this herb just reminded me of weed... though it does look sorta different ha ha

-1 bunch of Cilantro
-2 small bunches of Radish Leaves washed (removed from two small store bought bunches of radish) this is what they look like
-2 fresh Poblano Peppers washed and seeded
-2 cups "tomatillo milpero" or regular tomatillos outer husk removed
-1/2 onion
-2 cloves garlic
-salt to taste

Directions for the chicken stock:
(1) Fill a large pot half- way with water, add peppercorns, bay leaves, garlic, onion, bouillon, and salt bring to a rolling boil.

(2) Add CLEANED and already cut into sections chicken to the pot. Wait for it to come to a rolling boil, skim off any impurities and boil for about 30- 35 minutes. (You do not want to overcook the chicken to the point that it falls apart becuase you will cook it longer when you stew it in the green sauce and use the stock to form the sauce)
(3) After chicken has been cooked, remove from stock, strain the stock to get rid of the pieces of things used to make it. So you just get a golden clear stock. Set aside.

Directions for the rest of the dish:
(1) Get all your cleaned vegetables and throw them in a large pot EXCEPT the garlic and onion, add about 5 cups of the reserved chicken stock, you don't need to submerge them just add about 5 cups trust me, you just want to cook em down and wilt, you can thin the sauce out later as needed, cover and bring to a boil about 10- 15 minutes
When the tomatillos change color, and sorta pop then you can stop simmering it
(2) Blend all your boiled vegetables in small batches, adding more chicken stock if necessary to blend BUT don't add to much or it will be to liquidy I did it in two batches along with garlic and onion. Here's the first batch
then adding it to the pot that I set my chicken aside in, no need to strain just blend it until real smooth
and here's my second batch which I added the chopped onion and garlic to
same thing pour it into the pot with chicken
(3) Now put the pot back on the stove, and set heat to high and bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer on medium low uncovered, stirring occasionally for about 20- 25 more minutes, if the sauce is to thick, add more reserved chicken stock about 1/2 cup at a time until it's as thick as you want it or as thin. REMEMBER it thickens as it cools, and also REMEMBER YOU DO NOT WANT THIS TO BE SOUP either, it's a stew. After boiling 10 minutes, check and see if you want to add more salt to taste. When it's done cooking it should look like this :)
(4) You will have leftover chicken stock, you can save it for other dishes, for making soups, rices, etc. my mom used some of the leftover chicken stock to make Arroz Rojo (Mexican red rice), and some to use to make a very spicy salsa in which she used the stock instead of water, you can try and make the "Salsa de Chile de Arbol". This mole can be served in a large bowl with tortillas, and if you'd like a side of red rice, and for those who want to get super full a side of "Frijoles de le Olla" (Mexican boiled beans) or even refried beans.
PLEASE NOTE:
*This green Mole sauce is NOT spicy at all, just smokey and peppery. So for those who don't like spicy, you should try it out. We make a separate hot sauce at home to serve it with for those who love the heat. Now for the home cooks who want to make this spicy, you may add maybe 3-6 Serrano chilies depending on how hot you want it....... also I just want to add I've seen pre-made green pastes to make like "instant" mole verde at the Mexican stores... I'm sure they are good... but something about using a pre-made paste of old preserved greens makes me feel eh when I have the option to make it fresh at home, and it isn't so difficult to make at home or any harder.

P.S. Ima say it again... hehe if you'd like to help me out please vote for me to win a chance to have my own recording and be feautured on the cooking show Delicioso on "Univision" by voting for me in the below link. It is one of my dreams to be in something like that :)

http://cocina.univision.com/delicioso/episodios/article/2011-01-05/el-bloggero-delicioso

Carne Con Papa (Cuban Beef and Potato Stew)

2011-01-09T22:03:00.001-08:00

Carne Con Papa literally translates to "Meat and Potatoes" is a very typical and common Cuban beef dish, it's one of those that are up there along the "Picadillo" (ground beef hash), "Ropa Vieja" (stewed shredded beef), "Rabo Encendido" (oxtail stew)

So what makes it Cuban you may ask? The answer is that the beef is cooked with a combination of onions, green bell peppers, and garlic cooked down in olive oil or lard which is the base for most Cuban dishes we call this "sofrito", and it is stewed with tomato and wine a very common thing that is present in almost all of our meat stews. In addition it is married with potatoes a starchy tuber we all know (and starchy veggies are very much appreciated in Cuban cuisine taro, yuca, calabaza, etc.) and the final thing that makes this stew Cuban is that it is spiced with cumin, which was introduced by the Spanish and Portuguese during colonizations and became popular in Cuba. However it is also identical or similar to many of the meat stews made by the Spanish (specially those from Canary Islands and some parts of Northern Spain to no surprise, being that a lot of Cuban cooking specially that of my family and other white or Spanish Cubans is very intertwined with the Cuisine of Spain and share many dishes)

Anyways :D today I present my Tata's version (my grandma's) :) it is very rustic, simple, authentic, typical, straight forward and delicious just the way Carne Con Papa should be. You end up with chunks of beef and potato in a smokey savory tomato based sauce. The sauce get's the smoked flavor from the browning of the meat that is de-glazed using tomato and wine, and kissed with a touch of cumin which gives it that extra oomph and depth but without over powering the dish, just subtle and marries well. This goes perfect over white rice :)

Ingredients:
-2 lbs. beef stew meat cut into 1 inch chunks
-1/2 large green bell pepper chopped
-1 onion chopped
-5 cloves garlic (mashed to a paste mortar or garlic press)
-1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce
-1 cup water
-1/2 cup dry white wine (optional)
-salt to taste (about 2 tsp.)
-1 tsp. ground cumin
-4 regular potatoes peeled, cut in half

Directions:
(1) Heat olive oil on medium high heat, add the cubed beef lightly seasoned with salt, stir. The beef will release a lot of liquid usually do not freak out just raise the heat to high and stir occasionally and let it reduce at some point everything will evaporate and lower heat to medium high and it will start browning.
(2) When meat is browned add diced onions, bell peppers and stir let cook down about 5 minutes. Add minced garlic cook another 1-2 minutes until garlic is fragrant.
(3) Stir in tomato sauce, water, dry white wine, ground cumin, and bring to a rolling boil, taste it if it needs more salt or not. Cover and simmer on medium low for about 1 hour or until meat is as tender as you'd like.
(4) Uncover and when meat is tender add potatoes,
cover an additional 20- 30 minutes until potato is fully cooked.
(5) Turn off heat, enjoy with some fluffy white rice, and a side of black beans if you'd like and salad.
P.S.
If you liked this recipe, you may also want to check out my grandmother's alternative to this "Carne Con Papa" which she calls the same as this one, the only difference is she cooks a whole, un-cut, well cleaned, boneless chuck steak that is about 2 1/2 lbs. in the same fashion but uses red wine, a mix of red and green peppers, and large chunks of potatoes and carrot. It is worth checking out see the post for it below:

http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2008/10/carne-con-papas-meat-and-potatoes.html

Also if you'd like to help me out please vote for me to win a chance to have my own recording and be feautured on the cooking show Delicioso on "Univision" by voting for me in the below link. It is one of my dreams to be in something like that :)

http://cocina.univision.com/delicioso/episodios/article/2011-01-05/el-bloggero-delicioso

VOTEN POR MI!!!! (VOTE FOR ME!!!!!!)

2011-01-06T17:14:00.000-08:00

Fellow food bloggers, and my people LOL. I have been chosen to participate in a contest called "El Blogerro Delicisioso" (the delicious blogger). The contest is to be able to have a recording and be featured on the cooking show "Delicioso" on Univision.

PLEASE SUPPORT ME and vote for me! I would really appreciate it :D Maybe my dream will come true :D

I started this blog about 2 years ago, going into my 3rd to share my culture through a culinary perspective. Because I believe that the best way to learn about a culture is through it's food, and of course I wanted to also share the food I enjoy and my knowledge about it with other's.

Growing up I grew up in a very "food oriented" family, I quickly learned to appreciate and love the preparation of food. My Tata (grandma) making the rich Spanish and Cuban bean stews in the kitchen, the cured meats, the pork, the golden rice dishes, and rich tomato based stews, the fragrance of sofritos cooked in generous olive oil illuminating through the house, and of course the smell of fried pork. My mother (mom) making her Tamales, spicy flavorful stews of all kinds with an array of all sorts of peppers and sweet spices, enjoyed w/ fresh made corn tortillas, the humble dishes of vegetables simply sauteed with onions, tomatoes and garlic served almost daily. All these memories I wanted to share.

When my Tata moved, it made me get even closer to my culinary heritage it was a way to stay close to her, and in touch with my roots. Through out this time, I learned more through friends, and other foodies I met, and still keep learning to this day.

Currently I am still a student at Cal State Northridge majoring in Dietetics/ Nutritional Science to which I am adding a Food Science minor too. I don't know where this road will take me exactly whether working in a hospital as a RD helping other's, or formulating some wacky stuff ha ha. Who knows maybe culinary school after wards. Regardless though being on a cooking show or even having my own some day, maybe a restaurant is also one of my many dreams :)

So if I'm one of your favorite food bloggers or you wanna support me I would really appreciate it and it would mean a lot to me if you guys voted for me at Univision's website :)

http://cocina.univision.com/delicioso/episodios/article/2011-01-05/el-bloggero-delicioso

or click on this link:

Vote for me

Eggnog Flan

2010-12-31T16:41:00.000-08:00

As I was flipping through one of my mother's "Foodnetwork" magazines (Vol. 3 number 10) I bumped into a recipe for "Eggnog Flan" on page 102. There was a whole section of cooking with eggnog (because people tend to have leftover eggnog from holidays or it sits in the fridge because "it's too fattening" for the weight conscience hehe... i'm one of them, will have a small glass then ignore it forever)

Anyways, the recipe called for only eggs, the eggnog, and caramelized mold. I started preping my flan, and then tasted the batter I was like "it's kinda bland" so I added 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and then added some extra-sugar to taste it needed it, to mask the "egginess?". I made the caramel the way I always make it. And saw the instructions for the baking and was like "uummm I'll just do it my way 325 is too low I've made flan probably more times that the woman who wrote this has in her lifetime... n' I don't do it that way..." so pretty much I made the recipe my way and my own lolz.

The results... a rich, creamy, and dense eggnog custard, with hints of cinnamon, and exploding with that strong nutmeg fragrance and taste common in eggnog. Coated in the sinful caramel syrup that had adopted the taste of the eggnog. I will be making this again, not now, but next year ha ha. (I love flan, but my favorite is a version made with cream cheese which is what I almost always make, this adds a nice change or variety :)

Main Ingredients:
-5 large eggs
-3 heaping tablespoonfuls sugar
-4 cups eggnog (store bought, it can be spiked with rum, brandy, whiskey whatever you'd like that's optional, for my Mexican readers you can use "Rompope" and for my Cuban reader's you can use leftover "Creme de Vie" as an alternative)
-1 tsp. vanilla extract
-1/2 tsp. cinnamon powder (optional)
For the caramel:
-1/2 cup sugar
-3 tablespoons water

(1) Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees with a oven pan/ mold bigger than the mold/ pan your gonna use for your flan. Add water enough to fill 1/2 way. Forget about it while making your flan.
(2) First thing is first, in a sauce pan put 2 tablespoons water and 1/2 cup sugar. Bring to a boil on high heat, mixing well, stir constantly, keeping an eye on it so it doesn't burn completely.

(3) When it turns into a golden color, pour into a mold, and move around in a motion that will make most of the bottom and surrounding area of the mold get covered with caramel. BE CAREFUL it is VERY HOT, and if you burn yourself with it... good luck... do not let your skin make contact with the caramel. Set aside.

Directions for the rest:
(1) Beat eggs with sugar and vanilla using whisk, until well incorporated, slowly stream in eggnog until everything is very well mixed and incorporated or your second option throw everything in the blender and blend on low then high for about 30 seconds.

(2) Pour into a mold, passing through a strainer (if you have one, but if you have one use it, I believe it get's rid of air bubbles and makes it more smooth). Sprinkle all over with cinnamon powder. Cover the mold tightly with aluminum foil or some type of lid. This is your "flan mold" you can call it with the "flan" inside.

(3) Place the flan mold in a bigger pan that has been heating in the oven with hot water, in the center of the oven. Cook for about 1 1/2 hours covered. This procedure of cooking we call it "baño maria" (in which something is placed in a hot water bath to cook),
uncover after 1 1/2 hrs. and let cook uncovered an additional20- 30 minutes. It should be completely set by now (I cooked this longer than some flans because it just took longer to set since I didn't use real thick condensed milk)

(4) Take out flan, allow to cool down, then let cool in fridge,
when ready to serve invert it onto a plate, and slice and serve, btw the brown specks aren't dirty stuff it's just specs from ground nutmeg that come already in the eggnog, I also cooked my syrup to a light brown as opposed to dark amber so that's why my flan came out real light. Just preference for this one time, I usually make it dark amber though, but I was craving a caramel sauce similar to my grand-aunts which is usually light :)

For some other flan recipes you might like check out the following:
(1) Chocoflan (Flan with a layer of Chocolate Cake)
(2) Flan de Queso (Cream Cheese Flan a mix of Cheese cake and Flan).... this one is my favorite flan...
(3) Flan de Coco (Coconut Flan)

Jambalaya

2010-12-23T14:56:00.001-08:00

Jambalaya is a mixed rice dish, of meats usually chicken, sausage and sometimes seafood (shrimp, crawfish, etc.) this dish is featured in the Cuisine of the state of Louisiana (a state that is well known for it's food their cuisine is a blend of Spaniard, French, African, and Caribbean influences with American in the mix as well)

The dish is thought to have originated/ be related to the Spanish Paella, so what I understood it's a bunch of Spaniards trying to make Paella with what they could find in Louisiana he he. I can see the influence in the use of onions, garlic, bell peppers, tomato, smoked sausages, and in some recipes a combination of thyme, bay leaves, and paprika (very typical of Canary Islands)

However Jambalaya is it's own thing, some versions are soupy and sloppy, some the rice is cooked separate then mixed into the meats and cooked aromatics, etc.

So anyways now that you have a general idea, I researched the rice dish a bit (because I had chicken, sausages and shrimp in the fridge and was like hhmmm maybe I should try to make Jambalaya or gumbo) and came up with this recipe, I already have a lot of experience making mixed rice dishes (mostly Spaniard and Cuban yellow rice dishes) so I've come up with my own version of Jambalaya with the elements I've seen repeated in several recipes and what I think would taste awesome. I invited my bestie John to help me make it, and my whole family was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it :)

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil or butter
-1 1/2 lbs. chicken meat (any breasts, thighs, bone in, skinless etc.) cut into bite size
-1/2 lbs shell on shrimp (you will use the shells and heads to make the stock)
-2 large smoked sausages cut into 1/4 inch rounds
-1/4 lbs. smoked ham (optional)
-1 onion minced
-1 green bell pepper minced
-2 stalks celery minced
-1/2 head garlic minced
-1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce
-4 1/2 cups shrimp stock (you will make it from the shells see directions)
-3 cups long grain rice (washed well, and drained, I used Mahatma brand)
-salt to taste
-black pepper to taste
-2 bay leaves
-1 tsp. dried thyme
-1 tsp. smoked paprika (I use bittersweet smoked Spanish paprika)
-1/2 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
-orange juice of the shrimp heads (optional)

Directions to make stock:
(1) Remove shell and de-vein shrimp, use the shells and heads to make a stock, add water in a pot enough to submerge shells well and bring to a boil for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile prep everything else.
Directions for the rest of the dish:
(1) Heat large pot or paella pan on medium high heat, when pan is hot add olive oil or butter,
and brown the sliced smoked sausage all over, then remove and set aside, sautee shrimp seasoned with salt and pepper in same pan then set aside in same pan add chicken seasoned with salt and black pepper to taste brown all over, remove and set aside, now add diced ham and brown it and set aside.

(2) In same pot add minced onion, bell pepper and celery cook down 5-7 minutes until fragrant, add garlic and sautee another 2-3 minutes until fragrant, stir in thyme, bay leaves, paprika, and cayenne stir for about 30 seconds. Add shrimp head juice reduce it to nothing.
(3) Add in tomato sauce, cook it until it bubbles,
stir in chicken, sausage, and ham when coated add stock bring to a boil on high heat,
and add rice. Give a good stir cover and cook on low heat for 20 minutes.

(4) After 20- 25 minutes, add the cooked shrimp. Turn off heat, sprinkle all over with finely minced parsley and garnish with a lemon rose in the center.
(5) Enjoy as a stand alone dish, or serve with a nice salad and some fresh cornbread.

PLEASE NOTE:
From experience of cooking mixed rice dishes for many years, I highly advice you to be careful with the amount of salt you add, too much can ruin a perfectly delicious rice dish, and too little will give you the blandest crap you've ever eaten. My suggestion is add about 2 tsp. salt, then taste it, if it tastes like... ocean water like... salt water... from ocean then it'll probably be ok... ha ha :)

Potaje de Frijoles Colorados #5 (Red Bean Stew #5)

2010-12-14T20:03:00.000-08:00

Yes this is another recipe for a Cuban style red bean stew ha ha. I wasn't gonna post it because I've already posted 4 different Cuban red bean stews, but when I cooked this variation my family LOVED IT!!! I got a lot of praises. One of my best friends Shantall came over that same day and had a bowl of this piping hot and was like "OMG I want you to share the recipe it's different from the usual stews you make" so this post is for her.

Smoked pork neck bones in combination with pork spareribs made a very flavorful stock, and... I do not know if for some Cubans this is "sacrilegious" but what made this one different and added a really nice touch was using smoked hot Louisiana hotlinks, a type of beef sausage that was flavored with spicy chili peppers, they come in hot and mild. They are very popular in Mexican stores down here in which the Spanish label for them is "Salchichas Picantes Ahumadas" which I used because they are inexpensive and readily available in any latin store I go to here, as opposed to having to drive a little further to the "Bodeguita" or ordering online and always having to pay a hefty price for smoked Spanish chorizo which isn't close to as good to what's available in Spain...

One of the things you guys might like about it, is that everything is thrown in one pot, and cooked together you won't have to cook the sautee the sofrito in a separate pan, and brown the chorizo's, everything in one pot with very good flavorful results here goes

Ingredients:
-1 lb. dried red kidney beans
-water (enough to submerge beans 1 inch)
-1 lb. smoked pork neck bones (wash em under running water)
-1 1/2 lbs. pork spareribs (wash real well under running water, cut the meat you can into 1 1/2 inch chunks and the ribs seperate them into segments with a knife)
-1/2 red bell pepper minced
-1/2 green bell pepper minced
-1 onion minced
-1/2 head of garlic minced
-1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce
-1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
-3 small bay leaves
-2 tsp salt (atleast more to taste)
-1/2 tsp dried oregano
-1/2 tsp ground black pepper
-1 tsp ground cumin
-1 tsp. sweet smoked spanish paprika
-1 lb. banana squash or butternut or kabucha squash cut into 2 inch pieces
-3 potatoes cut into large 2 inch chunks
-3 medium louisiana hotlinks (smoked hot sausage/ salchichas ahumadas picantes) or spanish chorizo
-2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

Directions:
(1) In a large pot throw red kidney beans, wash them twice in running cold water, then cover them with water about 1-2 inches submerged. The next day they should have swelled and look like this
and you need to drain them and cover them with new water enough to submerge 1 inch.

(2) Bring the pot with the red kidney beans and water to a boil on high heat, skim off the white foam if it forms, add pork spare ribs, smoked pork neck bones, bring back to a boil and skim off any impurities that might form (don't stress just skim off what you can) add minced onion, garlic, bell pepper, tomato sauce, extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and bay leaves and bring back to a boil. Cover and lower heat to medium low. After 1 hour it should look like this.
(3) While waiting for that 1 hour, you can use this time to prep your potatoes and calabaza, check your beans after 1 hour to see if they are tender, add oregano, black pepper, cumin, Sweet smoked Spanish paprika along with your calabaza, potatoes, and the whole lousiana sausages or spanish chorizo. Give a good shake or stir, bring to a boil on high, cover then lower to medium low to simmer 15- 20 minutes.
(4) After 15-20 minutes stab your calabaza and potatoes with a knife or fork to see if they are tender if it goes through, stir in vinegar, if you feel it's too water for your liking remove some calabaza like 2 pieces and a piece of potato mash it, and stir back in. (I like to mash 2 pieces of the sweet calabaza because it balances out the the vinegar). Remove sausages, slice them and add it back to the pot.
(5) Serve over white rice or bread in a bowl. Taste better after sitting a couple hours or the next day :)

NOTE:
Here's a link to other posts of red bean stews I've done and other's have made. I remember for a long time my family hated this musty hint they had, and I've experimented many ways with them and learned to make them pretty well :)

http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2010/09/potaje-de-frijoles-colorados-que.html

Arroz Caldoso Con Costilla (Soupy Rice with Pork Ribs)

2010-11-24T00:06:00.000-08:00

I've been craving this dish for awhile, with the weather getting chillier, soups and stews are what we crave the most this time of year.

This is a very comforting hardy thick rice porridge with pork spareribs, guaranteed to warm you up, leftovers taste even better!

Like I've said in previous posts these type of soupy rice dishes in Spanish cuisine rice dishes like this can be cooked with almost anything pork ribs, chicken, seafood, etc. it's essentially in it's most basic form rice with a sofrito (sautee of onion, garlic, bell pepper sometime tomato) with a lot of liquid and some spices married with your choice of protein. However in typical Cuban cuisine I only see this done with chicken however, and other Caribbean countries with either chicken or shrimp. I do love all the other Spanish variations though :)

Ingredients:
-1 1/2 lbs. pork spare ribs
-extra-virgin olive oil
-1 onion minced
-1 green or red bell pepper minced
-1/2 head garlic minced
-1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce or 3 grated fresh tomatoes
-1/2 cup dry white wine
-1 tsp. sweet smoked spanish paprika (for a different taste/ more Cuban flavor as opposed to Spanish substitute the sweet smoked spanish paprika for ground cumin)
-2-3 bay leaves
-12 cups water or meat stock (any chicken, beef, pork, mine looked real red because I actually had a lot of leftover stock from when my mother made Pozole a type of Mexican Hominy and Pork stew which is the reason I made this)
-salt to taste
-2 cups short-grain rice (calrose, bomba, arborio, whatever you can get ahold of)
-saffron or annato seed powder/ bijol or what they call in Spain "colorante"
-parsley or cilantro minced to garnish (optional)

Directions:
(1) Heat a real deep-pot over medium high heat, add olive oil and when it's hot sautee onion, bell pepper, and garlic together for about 7-10 minutes stirring occasionally, add pork spareribs stir til they lose raw color, then stir in sweet smoked Spanish paprika and tomato sauce, let reduce a bit.
(2) Add hot boiling stock or water and boil meat until tender about 40 minutes.
(3) When meat is tender add your rice (I premixed the raw rice with the bijol powder if using saffron you can add the saffron threads to the boiling stock and let it all infuse)
(4) Let simmer on medium low, give a stir every 10 minutes,
after 30 minutes, remove from heat and serve in large shallow bowls, you can accompany it with a salad or whatever other vegetable sides, or simply eat alone
P.S.
For a chicken version of these types of porridges see my post for "Arroz Caldoso Con Pollo" for a shrimp variation see my "Arroz Con Camarones a la Chorrera" :)

Calamares en Su Tinta (Squid in Ink Sauce)

2010-11-12T15:04:00.001-08:00

This dish I believe originated somewhere in Northern Spain the Basque name for it is "Txipiroiak bere tintan", squid is stewed in a rich savory black sauce until very tender and often served over white rice with some fried potatoes or salad.

My version of the sauce has the holy trinity of Cuban cooking/ what we call "sofrito" which is also shared with Spanish Cuisine it's onion, garlic, bell pepper sometimes with the addition of tomato all cooked down in olive oil and some dry white wine.

Cuban cuisine also shares this dish, however to most Cubans squid in ink sauce is usually bought canned already prepared, eaten straight with rice, but very often the canned squid in ink is used to make a mixed rice dish in which you cook and steam rice together with a sofrito to kick it up, some spices and add teh cans of squid in ink sauce, resulting in a black to dark grey mixed rice dish.

This is the first time I make the dish from scratch, I usually just buy it canned, and I have had many failed attempts but have now been successful after watching many videos on extracting the squid ink, however many people usually have packets or jars of squid ink that are sold at some specialty stores, they just add a couple tablespoonfuls to the sauce and it's done, however be warned when doing from scratch it isn't hard but is very time consuming.

Ingredients:
-1 1/2 lbs of whole fresh small squid
-1/2 onion minced
-1/2 green bell pepper minced
-2 cloves garlic finely minced
-1/2 cup tomato sauce or 1 fresh grated tomato
-1/4 cup dry white wine
-water (enough to barely cover the squid)
-salt to taste
-ground black pepper to taste (optional)
Directions:
(1) To extract the ink there is a ink sac inside the body when you yank out the internal part of the body by pulling it down from it's head, it's a silver sac, remove it with your hand gently, and place it in a bowl intact, then to extract more ink this sounds gross but carefully stab the baby squid in the eye and drain the black ink from it's eye. Repeat the process, set aside in a small bowl, add a little salt, a good drizzle of olive oil, and mash with a fork, spoon or mortar to a thick black sauce. Set aside
(2) Now finish cleaning your squid, remove the see-through bone from it, the outer skin, cut into rings and wash several times, discard the heads and save the tentacles wash well too. Then pat- dry and set aside.

(3) Heat extra- virgin olive oil on medium high heat, add you squid, stir it will release a lot of liquid crank the heat up to high and stir occasionally until all the water evaporates.
(4) Meanwhile chop your onion, bell pepper, and garlic, and have your tomato ready. When all the water evaporates lower heat to medium high and add onion, bell pepper, and garlic cook down for about 5-7 minutes stirring occasionally, add tomato and cook down 5 minutes.
(5) Add the squid ink stir well, when it comes to a bubble add dry white wine, bring to a boil, add enough water to barely cover, taste it and add salt and pepper to taste bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer on low heat covered for about 45 minutes to 1 hour until very tender.
Serve over rice
PLEASE NOTE:
*This doesn't make a very large portion once you have cleaned all the squid and everything you end up with about 4 small to medium portions I recommend you make 3 lbs. next time I make this I will use 3 lbs./ double the recipe

Helpful tips:
I learned to extract the ink watchin this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY9izB2vLMk

and also the technique for using it in cooking from "El Cocinero Andaluz"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne0fG04Py-o

and for those unclear about cleaning squid you may benefit from watching this video with "Maangchi" :)

http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/ojingeojeot

Manitas de Cerdo en Salsa (Pigs Feet In Sauce)

2010-11-09T17:56:00.001-08:00

Pigs feet are simmered until tender, creating a rich stock used to make a rich smooth sauce that's slightly sweet from cooking down sweet yellow onions, garlic, leek, sweet carrots and tomato, and also has hints of spicy from the black pepper and for those that can handle more heat some dried chili peppers can be added to kick it up.

Served hot smothered in sauce, it's simply comfort food with rice or bread :)

I learned this recipe from "El Cocinero Andaluz" (The Andalusian Cook) he has a video blog dedicated to his home cooking and has an array of Andalusian recipes at his blog:

http://cocineroandaluz.blogspot.com/

For those that don't know Andalusia is in Southern Spain and is well known for their fried foods, especially fish and using a variety of herbs and spices (due to Moorish influence). His blog is a treasure chest for anyone interested in this Cuisine, however it is in Spanish and so are the videos, but the videos are usually silent and if your familiar with the kitchen you can just watch what he is using and how he does things for those who don't know Spanish and are still interested.

I did however adjust his recipe a bit, first by blanching the pigs feet first which is something I always do out of habit, second I added garlic to the aromatics and dried chili peppers as he suggested since he said it was "missing something" and made the sauce more smooth and abundant (because in my house we love having lots of sauce to soak up with rice)

Ingredients for the stock:
-4 lbs. pigs feet
-water (enough to completely cover pigs feet)
-2 bay leaves
-1 tsp. whole black peppercorns
-2 whole cloves
-salt to taste

Sauce Ingredients:
-1/4- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
-1 leek (discard green leaves, and the bottom tip area use only the body, cut in half and rinse well then slice thin)
-1 large onion julienned
-2 carrots peeled cut into thin rounds
-3 cloves garlic minced
-2-3 small dried red chile peppers (cayenne, guindillas, or chile japones or chile de arbol this is optional only if you want a spicy kick to it)
-2 large fresh ripe tomatoes quartered
-1/2- 1 cup tomato sauce
-pork feet stock (reserved)
-salt to taste
-ground black pepper to taste
-finely chopped flat-leaf parsley or cilantro to garnish

Directions for pig feet/ stock:
(1) First we start by cleaning the pigs feet by blanching, wash them well, drain, bring water to a boil in a pot enough to cover the pigs feet and boil them 10 minutes,
all the scum will rise, skim it off, after 10 minutes,
drain the water out and wash the pigs feet again.
Now they are ready to use, this step is always done in my house when we cook pigs feet, it get's rid of any impurities or bad taste from the meat.

(2) Now bring a pot with enough water to cover pigs feet to a boil again, add the cleaned pigs feet, bay leaves, peppercorns, cloves, and salt to taste when it boils strong, cover and lower heat to medium low simmer about 2 1/2 hours until very tender.
(3) When pork feet are tender, remove from pot, and you will have a rich flavorful stock, strain the stock to remove bay leaves, cloves, peppercorns and set aside. You will use this stock to make your sauce. Don't be alarmed if you get a white stock it doesn't mean it's dirty, what it means is that the meat has released a lot of it's minerals, and gelatine which is a good thing makes the stock very rich.

Directions for sauce and finishing dish:
(1) In a deep-pot heat olive oil on medium high heat, when hot add garlic, onions, leeks, and carrot until translucent about 5-7 minutes,
add chopped tomato and when tomato is tender stir in tomato sauce let this cook down 3-5 minutes.
(2) Add some of the stock enough to cover all the veggies, and let boil about 5 minutes, turn heat to low,
and use a hand blender to blend the sauce until smooth,
or remove the sauce in batches and blend in a blender (be careful hot liquids burst and jump in blenders or food processors, I use a hand blender for this dish)

(3) When sauce is smooth, add pigs feet, and enough stock to barely cover the feet, bring to a boil, add ground black pepper to taste and more salt if necessary, cover and allow to simmer 25- 30 minutes.
(4) Turn off give a gentle stir, and garnish with parsley or cilantro.
(5) Serve in a deep bowl with lots of sauce, some bread and a salad....
or like I did today for leftovers I had it Cuban style ha ha, with some white rice, sliced avocado, and fried plantains.
P.S.
If you don't like pigs feet then you simply don't like them end of story I'm not here to convince you ha ha, but for those that do, give this recipe a try, you'll be pleasantly surprised :D don't forget pigs feet are messy to eat hehe., Don't be afraid to grab with your hands and chomp down on these morsels.

If interested in other recipes using pigs feet check out my Tata's / Grandmas Spanish "Potaje de Garbanzos Con Pata de Puerco" (Chickpea and Pigs feet stew) you can also use them in her "Potaje de Pata y Panza" in place of the beef foot called for, or my mother's Mexican "Patas de Puerco Cocidas" (boiled pork feet) served with lime, salt, and hot sauce. Another dish the pork feet are feautured in is in my mother's "Pozole Rojo" (Hominy and Pork Stew) and the pork feet can also be used in my grandma's "Potaje de Pata y Panza"

Fricase de Puerco (Pork Fricase)

2010-11-01T15:11:00.001-07:00

I had a good chunk of pork meat, well marbled good for stewing so I was planning on
making a stew with it, but not sure how I wanted to make the stew

I wanted a Cuban or Spaniard tomato based stew, and I knew the variations were endless.

However I remembered that some Cuban restaurants have something they call "Fricase de Puerco" which is a pork version of the Cuban "Fricase de Pollo/ Chicken Fricase" (which is chicken stewed in a tomato based sauce, traditionally/ typically chicken is marinaded in garlic and citrus first, browned, cooked in sauce and is somewhat sour with olives sometimes some capers but often balanced by stewing with the addition of raisins or sometimes instead of raisins some people add sliced carrot or leave it as is without the sweetness)

So here's my way of preparing a cuban-style "Pork Fricase" and let me tell you it came out delicious!!!! What made it special was marinading the pork in sour orange and garlic giving it that special cuban garlic sauce taste, but it married into the typical tomato based sauce made with the holy trinity of Cuban cooking (onion, bell pepper, garlic) the two married and gave birth to this, it was just amazing :D

-Ingredients to marinade pork-
-3 lbs. boneless pork shoulder cut into 1 inch cubes
-3/4 cups sour orange juice (you can substitute with 1/2 cup orange juice, 1/4 white vinegar or a mixture of 1/2 lime and 1/2 orange juice)
-1/2 head of garlic, peeled, mashed to a paste in a mortar or through a press
-2 tsp. salt

-Ingredients for for the rest-
1/2 cup lard or extra-virgin olive oil (I use lard for this)
-1 onion chopped
-1 bell pepper (red or green or both) chopped
-1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce
-1/2 cup dry white wine
-3 cups water
-2 bay leaves
-1 tsp. whole black peppercorns (or black pepper to taste)
-1 tsp. ground cumin
-4 potatoes, peeled, cut into chunks
-7-8 olives cut in half (black or green spanish olives)
-4 tablespoons capers (optional)
-1/4 cup raisins (optional)
-salt to taste (towards the end because the olives and capers tend to be very salty, also the wine depending what you use, like if you use a typical cuban cooking wine like Goya or Edmundo it also has salt)

Directions:
(1) Mix pork with all marinade ingredients allow to marinade at least 2 hours. When done marinading drain it BUT reserve the marinade, pat the meat dry.

(2) In a large pot, heat lard on very high heat, when it's real hot, add pork and brown on all sides (do not panic if the pork releases some juices and everything starts boiling, leave it uncovered and stir occasionally until everything reduces and it starts browning)

(3) When browned add bell peppers and onion and cook until translucent, add tomato sauce stir well and when the tomato sauce bubbles throw in bay leaves, peppercorns, and cumin, along with wine, and water. Bring everything to a boil and simmer for about 1 hour.

(4) When pork meat is tender (to check doneness pierce with a fork) add your potatoes, olives and the optional capers and raisins bring back to a boil on high, and cover simmer on medium low until potatoes are tender (about 20 - 30 minutes) turn off heat and it's ready to serve over rice :)

PLEASE NOTE:
(1) For a very delicious variation, cut your potatoes into large cubes, and deep-fry them on medium high heat until inside is tender, and then crank the heat up and get them all well browned, drain and set aside. When the meat is fully tender, turn off stew and toss it with the deep-fried potatoes.

I learned that technique/ variation in these type of stews from "Maruxa Moíño" a wonderful home cook originally from Galicia, Spain now residing in Catalunya region of Spain. Her son created a blog documenting and making videos of her home cooking. So a big thanks and shout to them :)

http://www.enezeta.com/lacocinademispapis/?p=6

Estofado de Pollo Con Patatas (Chicken and Potato Stew)

2010-10-25T22:50:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year I made a delicious Catalan style beef and potato stew , I had learned from Nuria's blog "Spanish Recipes" called "Estofado de Ternera Con Patatas", one of my readers "Fernando" commented asking me if he could substitute chicken for the beef, I thought a chicken variation of this would be delicious and so with the weather slowly cooling I decided to make it. It was different, but equally delicious :)

Like I said in the post for the beef version, if you love gravy, potatoes, and chicken this dish is for you. Served over a mountain of steaming white rice this dish is another one of those comfort foods.

Ingredients:
-1 whole chicken cut into segments (your choice how you want to cut it, I cut it into bite sizes)
-salt to taste
-ground black pepper to taste
-flour to dust chicken
-extra-virgin olive oil (about 1/4- 1/2 cup)
-1 onion minced
-4 cloves garlic minced
-1 carrot, peeled, minced
-1 large ripe tomato very finely minced or grated
-1/2 cup dry white wine
-2 bay leaves
-1 tsp dried thyme (or 3 fresh sprigs)
-1/2 tsp dried oregano (or 1-2 fresh sprigs)
-4 large potatoes peeled, cut into large chunks
-2 tsp chicken bouillon powder (optional)
-water enough to cover all ingredients
-1/2 cup frozen peas (you can use fresh too)

Directions:
(1) Like always don't forget, clean/ wash your chicken well, cut into segments, season it with salt and pepper (I used about 2 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp ground black pepper), coat the chicken in flour and shake off excess.
(2) In a large deep- pan heat generous amount of extra-virgin olive oil over medium high heat, brown the chicken on all sides (be patient you can chop everything while doing this), set chicken aside.

(3) In same pan add onion, carrot, garlic and sautee for 5-7 minutes until translucent,
add grated tomato, bay leaves, thyme, and oregano allow everything to cook together until the tomato is reduced and loses it's liquid it'll start frying in the oil about 5-7 more minutes.
(4) Add wine raise heat stir well and reduce it by about half. Now throw your chicken, add water enough to cover all ingredients (you may want to have your water already heated up and boiling in a seperate pot to speed things up), bring to a boil, add potatoes, chicken bouillon, taste for salt and add more if needed.
(5) Allow everything to cook together 30 minutes, on medium low heat, after 30 minutes, stir in your peas, let it come to a boil then turn off. Ready to serve :)
PLEASE NOTE:
So after making the chicken variation I had an idea, this dish would also be delicious if you omitted the potatoes and instead added some sliced button mushrooms towards the last 5 minutes of cooking... mmmmm.... next time I'll do it... wait sounds like "Chicken in Mushroom Sauce" to me :D ... wait there's a beef dish called "Fricando" (Catalan beef and mushrooms) maybe I'm on to something ha ha yeah I'm a dork sorry lolz. well more future posts to come :D

Jarritos Soda Review

2010-10-23T18:39:00.001-07:00

"Jarritos" is a brand of soda's very popular in Mexico and among the Mexican community both in Mexico and in Southern California.

Awhile back I was contacted by Jarritos and asked if I could review, and sample some of their flavors and let my readers know what I thought about them, and honestly I was kinda honored and happy, and decided to give an honest review. I was sent a package of 11 flavors Mango, Strawberry, Guava, Grapefruit, Lemon Lime, Fruit Punch, Hibiscus, Pineapple, Tamarind, Mandarin, and Lime. Along with a cute little shirt, and a paisa music CD ha ha (thanks :)

My mother remembers growing up with these, and so do I. What sets Jarritos aside from typical American soda's? For starters they come in a very very wide array of flavors, sweetened with 100% natural white cane sugar/ no HFCS/ High Fructose Corn Syrup, they aren't overly sweet, usually more mild and light tasting, and often times taste very close to the flavor they are representing
Mango- this was a favorite! EVERYONE LOVED IT! It tasted just like a large, fresh, sweet, ripe, fragrant, juicy mango. It felt so natural, everything was just perfect. If you've never tasted a mango before this is what it taste like :) LOVE IT! and this is coming from someone who isn't a fan of soda.
Strawberry- tastes like Shasta strawberry soda, except it's made with real 100% cane sugar
Guava/ Guayaba- I was shocked that this wasn't my favorite, so was my grandmother/ Tata (I split it with her) because being of Cuban descent like we say "nos corre la guayaba por la sangre" (guava runs through our veins) we love almost EVERYTHING GUAVA, juices, shakes, sweets, cakes, cookies, pastries, marmalade's even fresh EVERYTHING guava we usually like. However the problem we had is we felt it wasn't sweet enough, it lacked sweetness in our opinion, but then again we are used to consuming Guava usually saturated in sugar (syrups, preserves, marmalade's, pastes, and incorporated in sweets, and when fresh very ripe and red) We felt the Guava taste was just too light for our liking.
Grapefruit/ Toronja- think of carbonated grape fruit juice, sweetened but still kept it's bitterness (which for me is a good thing because I love grape fruit it's tart, bitter, and sweet all at once) if you love grape fruits you'll enjoy this :)
Lima Limon- it tastes more like 7-up. It isn't as acidic as 7-up, it's more sweet, not overly sweetened however and it just captures the sweetness a lemon has, any hints of sweetness one would experience from a lemon has been isolated here. (I actually used another bottle of this to make a Vietnamese dish called "Thit Kho Tau" (Caramelized Pork and Egg) substituted the coconut soda for the Lima Limon soda, great results)
Fruit Punch- tasted like carbonated American Fruit Punch/ Koo laid, not overly sweet. If you like Koo laid, and not to sweetened you'll be a fan of this one.
Hibiscus/ Jamaica- my older sister said it tasted like "something rotted inside of it" she wasn't a fan of it. And we've tried real Jamaica/ Hibiscus, and my younger 11 year old sister said it tasted like sweet and sour water not so sweet though. I tried it myself, there was a hint of sourness but nothing strong, the taste was a very light hibiscus taste almost watered down, light hints of sweetness but some acidity and an off taste resembling Durian.
Pineapple/ Pina- it's my younger sister's second favorite, it doesnt really taste like pineapple, just floral fragrant hints of pineapple.

Tamarind/ Tamarindo - this is my mother's favorite, it has all of the elements of tamarind, pungent, sour, puckery but balanced with just the right amount of sugar. If your Mexican/ Hispanic and you love Tamarind, or the "Agua Frescas" made from Tamarind, if your in the mood for a soda grab this one you won't be disappointed

Mandarin- doesn't really taste like mandarin, tastes more like an orange.
Lime- tastes like a sweeter version of sprite.
Last Minute Note:
We don't drink all of the Jarritos soda's but the one's that we usually and almost always buy is the Tamarind one, it's my mother's favorite and everyone enjoys it.

Arroz Caldoso Con Pollo (Soupy Rice with Chicken)

2010-10-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

In Spanish "Arroz" means rice, and "Caldoso" means soupy, so direct translation would be "Soupy Rice" "con" means with and "pollo" well everyone knows this it's chicken :D

In Spanish cuisine as in Spain soupy rice dishes like this can be cooked with almost anything pork ribs, chicken, seafood, etc. it's essentially in it's most basic form rice with a sofrito (sautee of onion, garlic, bell pepper sometime tomato) with a lot of liquid and some spices married with your choice of protien.

Cuban Cuisine shares the same type of dish except it's called "a la Chorrera" (see my post for "Arroz Amarillo Con Camarones a la Chorrera" for explanation ha ha) and can be thicker reason it's shared is because back before the communist pigs took over Cuba in 1959 a large proportion of Cuba's population were "Criollos" and Spaniards (meaning Cubans born of almost pure Spanish ancestry, example my grandmother is from Spain and my grandpa is Cuban born of Spaniard parents)

So here's my recipe similar to my Tata's (see note below)

Ingredients:
-1 whole chicken, cut into segments, cleaned/ rinsed well, skin on, bone in
-1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
-1 onion chopped
-1 green or red bell pepper chopped
-1/2 head garlic minced
-1 carrot, peeled cut into rounds (optional I use it to add some sweetness and more color)
-2 large tomatoes finely chopped or grated
-12 cups water
-2 cups short-grain rice
-2 bay leaves
-1 teaspoon cumin
-2 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder (optional but makes it more savory/ adds umami)
-salt to taste
-colorante/ bijol, or saffron your choice (to make the porridge a golden yellow)

Optional for garnishing purposes:
-handful or peas for garnish
-fire roasted red bell pepper strips for garnish

Directions:
(1) Heat extra-virgin olive oil on medium high, add onion, bell pepper, garlic, and carrot sautee until translucent, add tomato stir well,

(2) Throw water, bay leaves, cumin, salt, the saffron or bijol, and the optional chicken bouillon powder. Bring to a boil, throw your chicken cut in segments and cleaned in and let boil on medium low for 20 minutes covered.

(3) After 20 minutes, add your short- grain rice, bring to a rolling boil, give a good stir, and simmer on medium low for 30 minutes, giving a good stir and scraping the bottom so it doesn't stick every 10 minutes.

(4) It's done as it cools it thickens, don't expect it to be real real soupy it's more like a thick porridge,
Garnish if you'd like I only had peas on hand no fire roasted red bell pepper
Remove from heat, serve with a salad and if your not watching your carbs or weight some good crusty bread, this picture was me and my Tata enjoying lunch :)

PLEASE NOTE:
-Using skin-on bone in chicken makes a world of a difference for these types of dishes.

Grandmother's Variation:
-My Tata does this slightly different, she simply throws everything in the pot minus the olive and rice, boils everything together 20 then she adds the rice gives it a good stir and let's it cook an additional 30 minutes turns off another good stir and it's ready. Most people however I've seen sautee the aromatics I do too. My grandma's logic "Asi lo hacia mi papa a lo gallego, y tambien el pollo con piel y todo ya tiene bastante grasa igual si lo aces con costilla no tienes que acer sofrito asi queda bien y igual de rico" translates to "That's how my dad did it the care free simple way, the chicken already has plenty of fat and same thing if you make it with pork ribs, you don't have to sautee in aromatics it comes out just fine"

P.S.
From now on every time I want thick porridge like rice and chicken I will make it this same exact way because it was the best "a la Chorrera" type of rice and chicken dish I've had! Trust me it's simple but something about boiling the chicken for a while in the water forming a stock, and everything just simmering together for an appropriate amount of time gave a WOW flavor.

For the dry version see "Arroz Con Pollo en forma de Paella"

Escabeche na Galunggong (Pinoy Redtail Scadfish in Sweet and Sour Sauce)

2010-10-03T01:06:00.000-07:00

The first time I had this dish was at my Pinoy friends house Shantall :) she made a delicious Escabeche using a delicious Silver Pomfret. So let me explain what it is in the first place.To Filipinos (this is just based on my observation) "Escabeche" is a deep-fried fish, in a sweet and sour sauce that can be either thin like a water consistency or thick like gravy with colorful strips of vegetables.

The fish can either be simmered in the sauce with no thickener in which it will lose it's crisp but absorb it really well, and the other is have a crispy fried fish and pour a thickened version of the sauce so you have a crispy fried fish glazed and coated in a sweet and sour sauce. (see the notes at the end of this for details) I however chose to make it with thickener this time. I got the idea from "Overseas Pinoy" (I love that blog) however the recipe I'm using is Shantalls recipe I simply used the technique I saw at overseas pinoy's which was to pour a thickened version of the sauce over fried fish and served immediately

Ingredients:
-2-3 lbs Redtail Scad fish (deep-fried or pan-fried)
-salt to season fish
-1/2 red bell pepper thinly sliced
-1/2 green bell pepper thinly sliced
-1 carrot cut into match sticks
-2 stalks celery cut thin diagnolly into thin strips (optional)
-1/2 onion thinly sliced
-2 inches of peeled ginger root cut into thin rounds or thinly julienned (if you like to eat the ginger root thinly julienne it if not then cut it into rounds)
-4 cloves garlic minced
-1/4 cup soy sauce (more or less to taste)
-1/4 cup white vinegar (more or less to taste)
-1/2 cup dark brown sugar (more or less to taste)
-salt to taste
-1 1/2 cups water
-1- 2 tablespoons cornstarch diluted in 1/4- 1/2 cup water
-chopped cilantro or scallions to garnish (optional)

Directions:
(1) Have your fish well cleaned (scaled, gutted, black layer of inside skin removed, wash well pat dry), season both the inside and outside liberally with salt, set aside for 15 minutes.

(2) Meanwhile in a bowl, combine soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and 1 1/2 cups water set aside. Chop all your vegetables and set aside your garlic, ginger, and onion seperately.
(3) Set wok to high heat, when it smokes add your oil, and heat it until a chop-stick or piece wooden utinsil bubbles when dipped into it. Add your fish in batches and deep-fry your red tail scad fish, on one side 5 minutes then flip on the other side 5 minutes (please be careful it will splatter)
drain out and set aside in paper towels, when done with all the batches transfer to a deep dish.
(4) Carefully pour oil out of wok into a large bowl to cool, or strain it into a glass jar (be careful I am impatients and do it while hot, however you can leave the oil there to cool and then discard it I honestly re-use it to fry fish after straining)

(5) Now heat oil in a large deep- pan or wok, sautee ginger, garlic, and onion.
add soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar mixture bring to a rolling boil, add veggies let it break into a rolling boil again, then add cornstarch solution when thickened
pour over the fried fish the whole sauce and veggies and garnish with fresh chopped cilantro
(6) Ready to serve with rice. Serve immediately if you like it crispy :)
VERY IMPORTANT PLEASE NOTE:
This can be done with any fish you like, it goes especially well with any variety of Pomfret (black or silver pomfret), Grouper (called Lapu-lapu sometimes), Redsnapper, Tilapia, almost any large white fleshed fish deep-fried whole or meaty medium sized fish (in this case I used six scadfish) to make your life easier you can buy a fish and have the store deep-fry it for you then bring it home and whip up the sauce, it is also good for leftover fried fish. Also in addition this may not be very traditional or how it's normally done but one could use fish filets, salt & pepper them, flour them and deep-fry arrange them in a platter and pour this delicious sauce over them :)

NOTES ON OPTIONS (I'm repeating myself but this is for those who didn't read it in the intro) :
My Pinoy bestie Shantall makes this dish with Silver Pomfret (also called Pompano), when she makes "Escabeche" she uses no thickener, the sauce is runny and light, and she adds the fish into the boiling sauce and let's it cook an additional 5 minutes in the sauce, 3 minutes into cooking the fried fish in the sauce she adds the vegetables 2 minutes then turns off. This produces a more flavorful fish but get's rid of the crunchy texture of the fried fish. Both are good the choices :)

Also another note (yes I haven't shut up yet lol) in my Spaniard/ Cuban culture side for us fish cooked in "Escabeche" means the fish is salted, floured and fried in olive oil, then preserved in a mixture of the oil, vinegar, herbs, salt and spices. Usually sardines and smaller fish are prepared this way. See my post for "Sardinas en Escabeche" if interested :)

Potaje de Frijoles Colorados Que Levanta Muertos (Red Bean Stew that Raises the Dead)

2010-09-26T22:48:00.000-07:00

Seriously ever since my Tata (grandma) moved back into the house she sometimes get's back into her cooking mode. Lately for myself having to work a job, school, exercise, social life/ partying, friends and everything though I still cook it is hard to do so many times, and I end up being very exhausted, but luckily I have a wonderful mom who cooks, and a grandma that has some killer stuff up her sleeve.

Anyways Tata saw I was really weak and drained from everything, and nothing picks you up or makes you stronger than a strong Potaje so the nights before having to go to school or work my grandmother took out an array of hardy ingredients a large ham bone, some stewing beef, and smokey spanish chorizo, along with some Potatoes, orange fleshed squash, etc. (I was like this is another Potaje) she told me "Voy acer un Potaje fuerte pa'que te alimentes bien, y te sientas mas fuerte, y pa'que yo me mantenga bien." (translates to "Im making a bean stew so you can get nourished and feel strong, and so I can maintain myself well too")

Luckily we almost always eat these types of stews. They are healthy, nutritious and filling, all the minerals released from the bones, protein from the meat, heart healthy fiber from the beans, vitamins and antioxidants from the peppers, orange fleshed squash, potatoes, lots of olive oil, spices it's real good for you a medley of everything you need in one. Yes it has animal products but honestly for a stew this large you end up eating a few pieces of meat and sausage with tons of beans, pumpkin, potatoes, etc. it's pretty well balanced. When I asked a bunch of 77- 90 something year old Cubans what they thought kept them strong and old they were like "eat your Potaje's they keep you strong" I'll take their word and my common sense for this one :)

So yup yup I didn't cook it or was around for the whole cooking process but I caught the picture of the ingredients when she took out the stuff a night before
Here was the soaking of the beans the night before as well
Again I wasn't around for the whole process HOWEVER I have the recipe for those interested and was able to enjoy it when I got home :)

Ingredients:
-2 cups red beans (washed several times, then soaked over night submerged in 3 inches of water do not discard soaking water or you won't get a nice strong red color)
-1 large ham bone cracked or cut in half
-2 lbs. beef stew meat
-2 large spanish chorizos
-8 "aji cachucha" peppers
-about 1/4- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
-1 onion chopped
-6 cloves of garlic pressed through a garlic press or mortar
-1 cup tomato sauce (she prefers "Ragu" from a bottle but had canned only)
-1 teaspoonful of cumin
-salt to taste
-1-2 lbs. butternut, carribean or banana squash cut into large chunks
-3 large potatoes peeled and cut in large chunks

Directions:
(1) Bring soaked beans to a boil, add ham bone and beef stew meat along with the "aji cachucha" peppers. Simmer for about 2 hours or until beans and meat are tender.

(2) Meanwhile heat olive oil, sautee onions until translucent, then add garlic stir and cook until fragrant, add tomato sauce stir well, when it bubbles remove from heat, set it aside.

(3) Add the contents you sauteed to the beans when they are tender, along with cumin, salt to taste (atleast 2-3 teaspoons you may need more taste it as you add if you aren't experienced in cooking or salting food), when it comes to a boil, add Spanish Chorizo whole, and squash with potatoes.

(4) Simmer an additional 30 minutes until potatoes and squash are tender. Turn it off

(5) Remove sausage cut into large chunks and throw it back in the pot stir and your done.

(6) Tastes better the next day :) serve in a large bowl with rice or bread and if you wish a salad.

Here is the piping hot bowl I had when I got home at night :)
served over rice and then I mixed it all up

PLEASE NOTE:
You can substitute the "Aji Cachucha" peppers from 1/2 of a large green bell pepper left whole then discarded at the end of cooking. An "aji cachucha" pepper is like a habanero pepper but with no hint of burning or spiciness just the pure taste.

I also have other versions/ variations of this red bean stew for this recipe, all also delicious, my grandmother has a preference for using beef over pork in Cuban style bean stews and so do many of her friends because they say it's more "nutritious" here's some other variations I've posted if interested :)

We honestly don't prepare red bean stews exactly the same every time because we like variety or it depends on what looks good at the store or is in our house at the time.

Sonia's Potaje de Frijoles Colorados (Sonias Red Bean Stew) just pork or ham or beef with sausage what makes this one special is the dry white wine, and vinegar
http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2010/04/sonias-potaje-de-frijoles-colorados.html
Sopa de Frijoles Colorados (red bean soup) this one is good to make when you want something vegetarian with no meat. Or to just serve over rice with other sides and meats.
http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2009/10/sopa-de-frijoles-colorados.html
This other one is Marilyn's Potaje de Frijoles Colorados, she only uses smoked ham hock for flavoring and puts calabaza and potato she likes to make like this because since it has no chunks of meat she can serve it as a simple soup over rice and with other sides as well.
http://mycubantraumas.blogspot.com/2008/11/colores-de-otoo-y-frijoles-colorados.html
Potaje de Frijoles Colorados (Red Bean Stew my Grandmas Pork version)
http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2008/09/potaje-de-frijoles-colorados-cuban-red.html
Here's another one I make that I haven't posted made with red kidney beans and everything is boiled from the blog "Cuban Homecooking Keeping the Tradition" alive (this is their picture) it's "Mery's Potaje de Frijoles Colorados" (Mery's version) her's uses lots of smoked meats and sausage, no sofrito but everything in one pot. A good one to make when your feeling lazy or for the Cubans too lazy to make a "sofrito" (haha no offense I do the same sometimes)

http://cubanfood.blogspot.com/2008/06/merys-potaje-de-frijoles-colorados-red.html

Caldo Gallego a Mi Manera (Galician Stew Nathan's Way)

2010-09-17T22:15:00.000-07:00

This is my version of "Caldo Gallego" (Galician Stew) which is a popular bean stew cooked in the Northwestern region of Spain called "Galicia" It's not the authentic stew, but it's the version that I like best (and yes I will say for me it tastes better than the authentic ha ha sorry for any fellow Spaniards who are Galician reading this lol)

What makes my version different? Mine is a bowl of steaming hot beans with shredded beef, smokey dry cured slices of Spanish chorizo, and thin sliced savory salt pork pieces married with swiss chard and spiced with the fragrance and taste of sweet smoked Spanish paprika the signature spice of Spain :) and yes I just couldn't help but make a Cuban sofrito, minus the tomato (I don't know just felt like leaving it out)

I have already posted my grandmother's version which is similar to mine as well
check out "Caldo Gallego de mi Tata" except her's is very Cubanized and uses a combination of typical Cuban spices (earthy smokey cumin, and it's colored with annato seed powder/ achiote)

If interested in cooking the authentic traditional one check out "Pilar Lechuza's" blog post for "Pilar Lechuza's Caldo Gallego" which is very very simple, basically it's just white beans boiled with meat usually salt pork, pork ribs whatever), spanish sausage, cooked with a chunk of preserved salted pork fat (I have no idea where to buy that here) then when everything is tender you add potatoes and turnip greens then salt to taste. Nothing more nothing less, very tasty and simple.

But I prefer mine :) I love the shredded beef in it, and boiling the flank steak for a long time with the beans it gives it a real good taste

Ingredients:
-2 cups dried large white beans (like cannelloni)
-1 1/2-2 lbs flank steak
-1/2 of a square of salt pork
-1 smoked ham hock
-1 large dried Spanish Chorizo (cut in half, or 4 small dried ones like "El Mino")
-2 large bunches of swiss chard stems removed, washed well, and stack and roll them then cut them into strips or pieces
-1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
-1 large yellow onion finely chopped
-1 large green bell pepper finely chopped
-8 cloves of garlic finely minced
-1 tablespoon sweet smoked spanish paprika (Pimenton dulce de la Vera)
-salt to taste

Directions:
(1) In a really large pot, add your white beans, with the smoked ham hock, spanish chorizo, salt pork, and flank steak,
bring to a rolling boil uncovered and skim off any scum.
(2) Cover and allow to simmer 2 hours maybe up to 3, it depends on how fast your beans cook (time varies based on how old the beans are or where you bought them) When tender and everything your pot will look like this. The red oil that forms on the top is from the Spanish Chorizo that was heavily infused with sweet smoked spanish paprika.
(3) Start making your sofrito, heat a frying pan with extra virgin olive oil on medium high, and sautee the onions and green bell peppers until translucent, add garlic and cook until fragrant, lower heat to low stir in 1 tablespoon of sweet smoked spanish paprika, and remove from heat. Add this sautee to your pot of beans and stir.

(4) Remove all the meats and sausage from the beans, and add your potatoes and swiss chard cook an additional 20-30 minutes until potatoes are tender together with swiss chard.

(5) Meanwhile the flank steak you removed, shred it by hand or with a fork when cool enough to handle, slice the spanish chorizo, slice your salt pork, remove meat from ham hock and you can even keep the skin if you like it.
(6) When potatoes are tender, add all the cut meats back to the pot of beans, taste for salt, add some if necessary, bring to a rolling boil and turn of heat you are done :) Serve with rice or bread.
P.S.

I didn't cook this today but I was inspired to post it because I was reading one of my favorite blogs lately "Cuban in the Midwest" (seriously she posted some amazing stuff she posted some wicked good stuff this week, her version of "Potaje de Garbanzos" which I approve lol. and some "Mejillones al Ajillo" and these fried pork chops that have a type of "rosemary mojo sauce" which is like a cuban garlic citrus sauce she infused with rosemary.) all of which I will cook eventually.) anyways what inspired me to post this was her blog post titled "Posts that Never Made It" I have plenty of those, just pictures of recipes you've cooked and food you make but somehow they get lost or you forget and I remembered I had some pictures of my version of "Caldo Gallego" and so here it is today, I also posted it because "I.M." requested it, so this is for you girl :)

Cough cough please note if you have not tried sweet smoked Spanish paprika before you are truly missing out, you need to try it. And any Cuban who's NEVER had it, you are truly truly missing out, I guarantee if your Cuban this will become your favorite spice, you know how most of us love Spanish Chorizo... well the reason we love it is because it's heavily spiced with sweet smoked Spanish paprika, it's what makes Spanish Chorizo taste like Spanish chorizo, and anything you add this too will remind you of it, and give it that special taste. I know it use to be real hard to get a hold of, but lately I've seen it at Costco under the McCormick brand and some specialty stores. You can order it online from "La Tienda" as well (see the banner on top of my blog you can buy it from them, click on it and purchase lol) I however am lucky enough to have a good blogging buddy from Spain send me bags of the sweet smoked Spanish paprika straight from Spain and straight from "La Vera" region at that :)

Mole de Vaso (Cup Mole)

2010-09-06T16:15:00.000-07:00

Like I've said in previous "Mole" (pronounced "mol- eh") posts. Mole can be considered a type of complex Mexican curry made with a combination of spices (cloves, cinnamon, pepper, etc.) dried chile's, nuts/ seeds, chocolate, and some unsuspected ingredients (bread, corn tortillas as a thickener, and stuff like plantains as a sweetener) however their are Mole's that use different ingredients and don't include chocolate (for example "Mole Verde"/ green mole, some versions of "Mole Almendrado"/ almond mole, etc.) but the commonly and well known one's do.

In the USA and even in Mexico when people think of Mole they will think of the one I described, and the Mole that comes to mind is the popular "Mole Poblano" which is a dark to redish brown color. HOWEVER almost no one makes it from scratch in general because it is very labour intensive, the long list of ingredients, and amount of time it consumes (yes it can take 5 hours sometimes longer maybe all day) if prepared from scratch.

The solution, well in Mexico a lot of people buy pre-made concentrated wet pastes which have all the ingredients and spices ground up to a thick paste, taking out a lot of the hard work, all the chilies, spices, and most everything already in the paste. Same goes for here in the USA, a popular brand of Mole paste is "Dona Maria" it is what most people here use, or imported mole pastes from Mexico or fresh one's made here are sometimes available.

So today I want to show people how to prepare the short-cut version of Mole using the Mole paste for the typical mole "Poblano" I do have the scratch version on my blog, but I know many probably won't make it so I want to share the convenient one :) and I personally only make Mole from scratch once a year and it's easy to mess up, when it's from scratch if you over toast or fry the chilies it may turn to bitter or burnt (it happened to me last year because i wasn't watching the time and heat) From my mother's side I am known for my "Mole Negro Oaxaceno" I will prepare it sometime this year (I usually make it around November and December) so stay tuned :)

So without further chit chat I present to you my "Abuelita Leonor's" recipe for short cut Mole which is amazingly delicious give it a try, :) (Abuelita Leonor is my grandmother from my mother's side and is originally from Guadalajara, Mexico) my grandmother calls the short cut version "Mole de Vaso"

Ingredients for boiling meat:
-5- 6 lbs of chicken or turkey (1 chicken and about 2 lbs of drumsticks or thigh and leg meat if using turkey, you can use a whole one, or buy legs & wings, etc)
-1/2 medium onion
-2-3 cloves garlic whole
-2 bay leaves
-1 tsp. ground cumin (optional)
-salt to taste
-1 teaspoonful chicken bouillon
-water (about 9 cups? 2 liters just enough to submerge you chicken or turkey)

Ingredients for the rest of the dish :)
-1 container 8. 5 oz. of "Dona Maria Mole"
-chicken or turkey stock (from boiling the meat reserved as needed)
-1 onion minced
-1 can 8 oz/ 1 cup of tomato sauce
-1/2 cup of tomato ketchup
-1/4 cup of oil or lard (any oil will do in Mexican cooking usually lard is used or corn oil)
-1 whole tablet of Mexican Chocolate (popular one's are "Chocolate Abuelita" and "Ibarra")

Optional Ingredients (depends on how sweet you like it like how much chocolate taste you like or sweetness keep in mind the sauce will get sweet and stronger in taste as it cools and time goes by, the next day it will be stronger):
-1/2 tablet of Mexican Chocolate (in addition to the chocolate you already used)
-sugar to taste (add it in tablespoon increments, this is also optional)

Directions for boiling meat and making stock:
(1) Wash chicken or turkey really well, in my house we like to wash it once with water, drain, then wash it again in the sink sumberging it, adding a couple palmfulls of salt and rubbing it well, along with some cut limes nad their juice to get rid of any bad odor and taste, we then rinse once more and drain, then pat-dry. Cut your meat into sections.

(2) Bring water to a boil, add your chicken or turkey and the onion, garlic, bay leaves, bouillon powder, and salt to taste, cover and boil on medium low 35 minutes if using chicken and 2-3 hours if using turkey.

(3) When meat is tender and cooked it should look like this, take out the meat, set it aside, and strain the broth/ stock. Reserve and set aside.

Directions for forming the sauce:
(1) Open your mole paste container, add it to the blender, and blend it with enough chicken stock to liquify it. Set aside.

(2) Heat a large deep-pot on medium high, add oil or lard, when hot add onions and sautee until translucent and golden about 5-7 minutes,
add in tomato ketchup, give a good stir,
when it bubbles add tomato sauce,
when it bubbles again add in the blended mole paste that you liquified with chicken stock
(3) Bring it to a rolling boil, then lower heat to medium so the botttom doesn't stick, add your chocolate, and stir occasionally so it doesn't stick until chocolate melts, as your sauce boils you will notice that it starts to thicken up, add more reserved chicken stock a little at a time in about 1/2 cup increments, until it is as thick or thin as you like it, the thickness is to your personal preference in my house we like it the consistency of gravy, like just thick enough to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon. After it's as thick as you'd like taste to adjust salt, and see if you wanna add the other 1/2 tablet of chocolate and if you desire additional sugar to taste. However my mother doesn't like it on the sweet side so we left it as is at this point.
(4) After it boils 10 minutes, add your chicken and boil an additional 5 minutes. Turn off heat and you can serve with "Arroz Mexicano Rojo" (Mexican red rice) and warm tortillas if you'd like "Frijoles de la Olla" (pinto beans boiled with garlic and onion) goes well with this too.
Now my post isn't over for those of you interested in the from scratch version of this dish check out my post for "Mole Poblano" and if interested in other types of Mole's I also have the recipe for my version of "Mole Almendrado" (almond based mole) and "Mole Verde" (green mole)

PLEASE NOTE:
-You may or may not have leftover sauce after eating all the meat with the delicious Mole sauce, if you have leftover sauce, it's great in the morning with some eggs, you can make some sunny side up eggs, serve it over rice, then pour mole sauce mmmmm... or add it to a bowl of boiled pinto beans and enjoy with warm tortillas, even scrample some eggs, throw hot mole sauce over it and enjoy with tortillas as well, just whatever you so don't throw away any leftover Mole sauce :)

If your truely in a hurry as well there is a pork version that is faster, get pork spare ribs or pork shoulder meat, cut into chunks about 1 or 2 inch chunks, brown in lard or oil, add minced onion when translucent add ketchup, then tomato, and dilute the mole paste with water or store-bought chicken or beef stock/ broth, add it to the pork, bring to a boil, add more water or chicken or beef stock to thin out the sauce while it boils to your liking, along with the chocolate taste for salt. If you used water you'll have to add 1 beef bouillon cube or 2 teaspoons of chicken bouillon cube then salt to taste. Simmer until everything is tender. (I will do a detailed post for this in the future for those that might be interested :)

P.S.

This post was made for and dedicated to Travis, who although I really don't have him in my life anymore or talk to him and honestly still have no desire to... but when I went to the DMV I saw his brothers and we hanged out and talked for awhile, they told me that Travis made Mole... but since he's creative which can be good or bad, he made this type of Mole with beer and I don't know what else, but I'm sure he used some Dona Maria mole paste, any who well from his brother's perspective (because I didn't try his Mole) they told me it didn't taste good and wasn't successful and in addition that he spent nearly 2-3 hours making it... Maybe he referenced my blog, but I had no post for the short-cut Mole, so here it is, in case he wants to try a successful attempt at making it again and for anyone else who would like to try this version of Mole

Estofado de Puerco Con Chocolate (Spanish Pork Stew with Chocolate)

2010-08-25T20:46:00.000-07:00

Growing up the only meat dishes I had that had chocolate in them was the Mexican "Mole Poblano" and other dark colored "Mole" sauces my mother would prepare (whom is Mexican) which are like a type of Mexican curry (it has an array of spices, dried chiles, and includes chocolate as well, sounds odd but is a must try)

Anyways, I also grew up on Spanish and Cuban food prepared by my grandmother and honestly never had choclate in any of those dishes, but I did notice in many of the Spanish blogs I read that braised meat dishes cooked in wine, etc. sometimes included chocolate or atleast some cooks liked to do this. I thought it was very odd, but was familiar with the idea because of my mother. I always wanted to try it and during my summer break was finally able to. I originally learned this recipe from Maria's blog "Las Hambres" (the Hungers) but adjusted it to suit the ingredients more readily available to me and in my pantry as well as my families tastes. Her version is made with wild pork, and dark chocolate, etc. here is my variation :)

Ingredients:
-1 giant onion or 2 medium ones or 3-4 small ones thickly chopped
-2-3 lbs pork shoulder meat or pork spare ribs
-1 head of garlic cloves (cloves seperated but left whole)
-4 small or 2 large bay leaves
-1 teaspoonful of black peppercorns
-3 cups water
-1/4 cup vinegar
-1 cup dry white wine
-salt to taste (use about 2 tsp.)
-1/2 tablet of "Mexican Chocolate" (like Abuelita or Ibarra brand)

Directions:
(1) Get a large deep pot or pan and add the onions in one layer
(2) Add the pork meat in an even layer over the onions, season liberally with salt. Now add the garlic, black peppercorns and bay leaves in one layer
(3 ) Pour your vinegar, wine, water and olive oil. Bring to a rolling boil on high heat, cover and simmer for about 3 hours until meat is extremely tender.
(5) When meat is tender after about 3 hours. At this point add your chocolate pieces and allow to melt into the dish,
shake the pan while cooking but in a circular motion gently to make everything incorporate (just make the sauce gently swoosh and shake to emulsify sorta).
(6) Turn off heat and serve, you can enjoy it with a simple salad and some good crusty bread. Or like most things I eat over a bed of fluffy white rice enjoy!
PLEASE NOTE:
The amount of chocolate you use is to your taste, the original recipe uses 1 square of dark chocolate, I prefer Mexican chocolate such as "Chocolate Abuelita" I just like the taste, you can honestly use whatever chocolate you prefer for this, and as much as you want to your taste, just don't it over power the dish.... although honestly I used 1 whole tablet cut in 6 which is about 4 squares... it was real rich and delicious but I tasted the dish as I added, I suggest using only 1/2 a tablet. My father felt like I added to much, however my mother, little sister, and myself loved it with a whole tablet. I suggest adding 1 square at a time, like add a square or piece and let it melt into the sauce, taste it, if your satisfied don't add more, if your not then keep adding until you feel the chocolate taste or hint is just right for your preference :)

Soooo a little update about my life (you may skip):
I just started school again (yes I know early) for me it started on August 23rd, and this year seems like it's more book heavy for me than the other's and am taking a little bit more challenging courses. So I'm finding myself a little over loaded and it's barely the first week. So I may be absent from my blog for a long time, or just post less frequently or very irregularly/ at random.

I just felt like posting a recipe for my first week of school in case I don't in a very long time :)

I also wanted to share this recipe because for me it's a great dish to cook when going to school because if I'm home, this dish is pretty much just throwing everything in the pot, covering and forgetting about for 3 hours, and you can steam rice in the rice cooker while it cooks. So in between you can just leave and study in the comfort of your home and have this wonderful meal cooking for you, honestly during school I still cook, I just don't have time to blog about it always. I usually cook stuff I can throw together and leave alone while I study, or put together very quick sauteed or pan-fried dishes I can eat with rice or alone :) Honestly even if I go to school I usually never rely on fast food and quick junk snacks, I almost always take prepared meals, and if I can't cook my mother does (I live relatively close to campus) and am lucky enough to know my way in the kitchen and cook a variety because when I can't spend hours in the kitchen, I can whip up more simple stuff that can be just as satisfying as those labour intensive dishes in a short amount of time. (recently this week I've been eating a lot of mixed vegetable, meat, and rice or noodle dishes) the time consuming part is blogging which however I love :D

Potaje de Frijol de Carita Con Calabaza y Col (Black Eyed Peas Stewed w/ Vegetables)

2010-08-13T13:57:00.000-07:00

This a very simple vegetarian/ vegan friendly black eyed pea stew. I make this when I want something really filling and satisfying but somehow not harsh on the stomach if you know what I mean, like when I want a bean stew that's real hardy and can stand alone as a dish but without all the pork and sausage (which I have nothing against, honestly if you'd like you can boil some Spanish chorizo together with the beans then slice it and add it back to the pot)

For those that want a super filling, heavy, hardy black eyed pea stew with lots of yummy pork products and meat check out my post for "Potaje de Frijol de Carita"

Ingredients:
-1 lbs. black eyed peas (soaked over night, drained)
-water (enough to submerge black eyed peas 1 1/2 inches)
-1/4- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
-1 onion finely chopped
-3 cloves garlic minced
-1 large tomato grated
-1 tablespoon sweet smoked spanish paprika (Pimenton Dulce de la Vera)
-1 lbs. calabaza cut into 1 inch cubes (carribean, banana, butternut, Hubbard, or kabucha squash work well)
-1/2 small head of savoy, nappa, or regular green cabbage, thinly sliced into small strips (this dish is best with savoy cabbage but I only had regular green cabbage on hand)
-salt to taste

Directions:
(1) Drain black eyed peas that have been soaked over night. Cover with fresh water about 1 1/2 inches, bring to a boil on high and cover to simmer until tender about 40 minutes is what it took for me.
(2) Meanwhile, heat a medium frying pan with olive oil on medium high heat, when oil is hot add onions and sautee until onions are translucent about 5-7 minutes, add garlic and sautee an additional 3 minutes until fragrant, add grated tomato and cook down 5-7 more minutes until tomato looses all it's moisture, quickly add 1 tablespoon of sweet smoked spanish paprika stir 1 minute until fragrant and remove from heat set aside.
While you were preparing the spanish "sofrito" you can prep all your vegetables, here's a picture of everything ready to just add to the pot
(3) When black eyed peas are tender, add the "sofrito" (sauteed contents), and the calabaza. Let boil about 15 minutes until squash is tender,
then add shredded cabbage and cook an additional 5 minutes.
(4) Turn off heat and enjoy :) you can serve it as a vegetable soup with any meal (though it's heavy) or eat it on it's own with rice or bread for a light lunch if you'd like a nice raw salad of tomato, cucumber, maybe avocado served over watercress or any lettuce dressed with olive oil, lime, and salt.
PLEASE NOTE:
I was inspired to make this when I saw a post in another Spanish blog called "Amarillo Azafran" her post for "Alubias Carillas Con Verdura" (black eyed peas with vegetables) I thought it was a great idea, and I was already familiar with marrying cabbage with calabaza in bean stews (my grandmother/ Tata would always do this for her signature dish "Potaje de Garbanzos" a.k.a. Garbanzo Stew)

Chicken Afritada with Pineapple

2010-08-11T19:18:00.001-07:00

In Filipino cooking there is a variety of tomato based stews heavily influenced by Spanish Cuisine. Chicken Afritada is one of them, simply chicken stewed in tomato sauce with garlic, onion, and bell pepper, salt, pepper and whatever spices/ herbs the cook prefers. Pretty similar to the tomato Spaniard and Cuban tomato based dishes I grew up with, however I'm also familiar with the Filipino variations of those stews since one of my aunts through marriage is Filipino and so is one of my best girlfriends Shantall :) however their stews have their own twist and a little change here and there makes a difference in taste and makes them unique.

I've been meaning to try a version of Chicken Afritada prepared with pineapples, giving it a sweet and sour type contrast, kinda reminds me of the Chinese-American sweet n sour chicken or pork as well :)

So without further chit chat this is my version of the Pineapple Chicken Afritada from observing other's prepare it and what I think works best for it :)

Ingredients:
-1 whole chicken cut into 12 pieces (washed/ cleaned well, drained)
-1 onion chopped
-4 cloves garlic minced
-1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce
-1 can 20 oz. of pineapple chunks (reserve juice)
-1/2- 1 cup pineapple juice (from a can of pineapple chunks)
-4 medium carrots peeled cut thinly diagonally
-1/2 a large red bell pepper cut into large squares
-1/2 a large green bell pepper cut into large squares

Directions:
(1) Season chicken with salt and pepper, marinade for 15- 20 minutes. Now heat a real large pan or deep-pot on very high heat, add oil and let it heat up, and brown chicken all over, if your using a smaller deep pan or pot you will need to do this in batches. Add garlic and onion and stir for about 5-7 minutes until onion is translucent
(2) Add tomato sauce, pineapple juice and bring to a rolling boil, cover and let it simmer 25 minutes on medium low heat.
(3) Uncover and add carrot bring to a rolling boil on high, cover then simmer again on medium low for 5 minutes, uncover add bell peppers let it simmer 2-3 minutes
(4) Add pineapple chunks stir well and let simmer an additional 1-2 minutes
(5) Enjoy serve with lots of hot steamy white rice :)
P.S.

For my Cuban readers or Spaniard readers we can think of this as "Fricase de Pollo con Piña" or "Estofado de Pollo Con Piña" give it a try :)

Estofado de Lentejas Con Chorizo (Lentil and Sausage Stew)

2010-08-07T18:31:00.001-07:00

Surfing the web I recently discovered a blog named "Las Hambres" (translates to "The Hungers") by Maria as soon as I saw this lentil stew in her blog I knew it was something I had to try, looked real comforting, simple and familiar. I grew up eating Spanish and Cuban bean stews and still do to this day so this diffidently hit home.

So anyways, yesterday I finally had the opportunity to cook this lentil stew, because there was nothing in the fridge I wanted to eat for lunch, so while the lentil stew cooked I multi-tasked, prepared some white rice, and made a salad I wrapped up everything in under 45 minutes and had a wonderful lunch & was able to also prepare a meat stew which I left simmering to be ready for dinner time so my family could eat it with the leftover white rice and salad I made for lunch (I'll blog about the meat stew sometime this month =)

So I'm blogging about it because well duh I wanna share the love with all of you and also because I prepared it somewhat differently, but it was inspired by her recipe and is very very similar. From now on when I want a simple Spaniard lentil stew with just chorizo this will be my go to way of preparing it :)

Ingredients to boil lentils with:
-2 cups (1 lbs.) dried lentils (rinsed and drained)
-water (enough to submerge lentils 2 inches in water)
-2 medium carrots, peeled cut into rounds
-1/2 onion left intact
-1/2 a small green or red bell pepper or 1/4 of a large one left intact uncut
-3 cloves garlic unpeeled and whole
-2 bay leaves
-1 teaspoon black peppercons
-2 Spanish Chorizos (I used "Chorizo de Bilbao)

Ingredients for the sofrito:
-1/4- 1/2 cup olive oil
-1/2 onion finely chopped/ minced
-3 cloves of garlic finely minced
-1 large ripe tomato grated
-1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
-1 tablespoon sweet smoked Spanish paprika
-salt to taste (I used about 2 teaspoons but it really is to taste)

Directions:
(1) Throw lentils in a pot, add carrot, onion, bell pepper, garlic, bay leaves, and black peppercorns and spanish chorizo. Bring to a boil on high heat and cover, lower heat to medium and cook until lentils are tender (about 35- 40 minutes)

(2) While lentils are simmering heat a large pan with a generous amount of olive oil on medium high heat to start your "sofrito", add the onion and cook until translucent and caramelized about 7- 10 minutes, add garlic and cook down until fragrant about 3 minutes, add grated tomato and cook until the tomato has no liquid left about an additional 10 minutes, finally add balsamic vinegar give it a good stir, and then the sweet smoked paprika stir for about 1 minute constantly so it doesn't burn and get's fragrant. Turn off and set aside.
and then the sweet smoked paprika stir for about 1 minute constantly so it doesn't burn and get's fragrant. Turn off and set aside.

(3) When lentils are tender add about 30- 35 minutes, add the sofrito mixture, stir, taste for salt and adjust it to taste and let it simmer an additional 5 minutes, turn off heat,
remove the chorizo's, take the casing off if necessary and slice it into 1/4- 1/2 inch rounds, stir it back into the stew.
(4) Serve on it's own with over white rice or in a deep bowl with bread. A salad would go nicely with it too.

Horchata de Avena (Cold Oatmeal & Cinnamon Milk Drink)

2010-08-05T17:36:00.001-07:00

So before I start just wanna give a quick brief, from my observations for those not familiar the term "Horchata" is basically a chilled beverage made from either grains, seeds, or nuts that are grounded up with spices (almost always cinnamon from what I've seen), and then strained with water to create a milky chilled drink that is sometimes combined with milk to make it richer and sugar to taste.

The most common one here where I'm from in Southern California is the Mexican Horchata, which is like a cinnamon infused rice milk, the second most common one is the typical Salvadorian one made from some type of nut and cinnamon. I know in Spain it is made from "Tigernuts" however many versions and variations exist all great in their own way :)

If you want a more detailed explanation check out wikipedia's entry for "Horchata"

So today I present to you a version made from ground toasted oatmeal and cinnamon I learned from my mother's Salvadoran friend we all just call her "Gomez". It is truely out of this world delicious and EXTREMELY refreshing in the summer, a glass of this cold will make you feel in heaven. The best part is that it is ridiculously easy to make (well at least for me)

Ingredients:
-1 large cinnamon stick (real cinnamon like Mexican cinnamon not "Saigon Cinnamon"/ Cassia Bark I'll explain it at the end of the post under "PLEASE NOTE")
-1 cup plain uncooked oatmeal (it can be quick cooking oats or the regular oats as long as it's uncooked and plain)
-water (as needed enough to fill a pitcher or to keep diluting you'll see)
-white cane sugar to taste (depends how sweet you like it, my family uses up to 1 cup)

Directions:
(1) Heat a pan on medium high heat, break the cinnamon stick and toast it, takes about 5 minutes stirring occasionally don't burn it.
(2) When fragrant add the oatmeal and stir frequently until it changed color, turns into a golden beige color, and it will also release a fragrance
(3) At this point throw all the toasted oatmeal and cinnamon into the blender and blend with water (enough to liquify it), then strain it into a large pitcher
(4) Now to extract more from the ground mixture, in the strainer where all the ground stuff is left add more water gently scraping and swishing it with your hand, until the pitcher is full
(5) Add generous amounts of ice, or cool it in the fridge and it'll be ready to serve :)
PLEASE NOTE:

About the cinnamon you see there are two types of cinnamon like the "REAL" cinnamon, which is the one cultivated in Mexico it looks different, is tender, dry, and breaks easily, it is usually like a fat log, really light brown, has a very light wood color. In large quantities it exposes no toxicity so it's pretty safe for anyone who uses cinnamon real often.

Then there is "Cassia Bark" sold in the USA as "Cinnamon" sometimes as "Saigon" cinnamon, this one has a slightly spicy taste, sort of reddish, and is often sold as cinnamon. The sticks are also smaller and it is much firmer and hard it has great flavor. In large amounts it can toxic and harmful. However I'll be honest I prefer this one, but when making the drink it doesn't get ground up as easily because it is harder, and sometimes you'll get hard bits of it in the drink, nothing straining multiple times won't fix, but yeah that's my reason for using real cinnamon when making this drink.

If interested in more just google about it ha ha, I don't want to write a bunch of paragraphs about Cassia vs. true cinnamon he he.

Arroz Blanco Con Vegetales (White Rice w/ Vegetables)

2010-07-27T19:10:00.000-07:00

Every time I go to gatherings, birthdays or parties where food is involved and where the majority of people are Mexican or Salvadoran I always see this mixed white rice and vegetable dish as a side. I've never really made it, nor does my mother but we love it, just never really knew how it was prepared.

It seems everyone makes it slightly different and there are variations, but the common elements is all of use chicken bouillon or powder as flavoring and onion. The rest can sort of vary.

This is the version that I am very satisfied with, the rice is slightly toasted in butter with onions giving it a toasty buttery slightly sweet taste I love it :D

Ingredients:
-2 cups long-grain white rice
-1/2 cup butter
-1/2 onion minced
-4 cups water
-2 heaping teaspoons chicken bouillon
-1 cup mixed small mixed frozen vegetables (carrots, peas, corn, and green beans)

Directions:
(1) Heat a pot or deep-pan on medium high heat, add the butter, when butter melts, add your rice and minced onion. Stir constantly or you'll get burned pieces of rice keep stirring until rice is slightly golden and onions are transparent.
(2) At this point, add your water, raise heat to real high, stir in chicken bouillon, taste for salt the chicken powder or bouillon is pretty salty.

(3) When it comes to a rolling boil add vegetables, wait for it to boil again, give it a quick stir, cover then lower heat to low. Do not uncover for 25 minutes, uncover, check your rice it should be done now.
(4) Serve as a side to any meal, any meat stew, pan-fried or grilled meats, fried fish, beans, salad or sauteed vegetables anything it goes pretty well :)

P.S.
I know it's a lot of butter, you can reduce the amount if you'd like, but it makes it taste sooo good, oil can be used in place of the butter as well but it won't be the same :) just be sure you have enough oil or butter to be able to toast and coat the rice well.