Pasta with Eggplant Puree November 2, 2009

We are in eggplant season, and I wanted to share an easy recipe I adapted a long while ago from Giada DeLaurentiis.  As usual, I use whatever I have handy in my pantry, fridge and what I believe my taste buds will prefer.

It’s easy to make, and the leftovers keep very well.

 

 

PASTA WITH EGGPLANT PUREE

1 medium eggplant, peeled and cut into small cubes

½ pint of cherry tomatoes or 2 small tomatoes

2 garlic cloves

Salt and pepper to taste

½ cup of walnuts, toasted

½ bag of whole-wheat penne pasta

2 tbs Olive Oil

½ cup Parmesan Cheese, grated

½ cup flat leaf parsley, chopped finely – optional

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. While the oven is heating, place walnuts on a baking sheet with lined with parchment paper.  Toast in the oven until you get a first whiff of walnut smell, about 5-8 minutes.  Remove from baking sheet and let cool on a separate plate.
3. Line the baking sheet with new parchment paper.  Place the eggplant, cherry tomatoes, garlic on baking sheet.  Drizzle with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread them evenly on the baking sheet. Roast in the oven until the vegetables are tender and the eggplant is golden, about 35 minutes.
4. While we wait for the vegetables to cool of a bit, bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta and reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water.  Return pasta to the same pot where you cooked it.
5. While the pasta is cooking, transfer the roasted vegetables to a food processor and puree to form a chunky paste.
6. Transfer the pureed vegetables to the pot with the pasta, add the Parmesan.  Stir to combine, adding the pasta cooking liquid 1/4 cup at a time until the pasta is saucy. Add the walnuts and chopped parsley, if using, and toss again. 

Pumpkin Polenta October 30, 2009

I am a fan of Italian flavors… and this recipe fits very well with the flavors of autumn.   We do not have autumn here in Puerto Rico, but pumpkin is a favorite of mine and I wanted to do something that would highlight the flavor and nutrition of the pumpkin.  Plus, I still had some pumpkin seeds in my fridge I wanted to use up…

 

 

PUMPKIN POLENTA

1 ½ cups of pumpkin, peeled and cubed

4 tbs quick cooking polenta

½ cup of water

½ cup of milk

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

½ cup Pecorino Romano cheese, grated

¼ cup pumpkin seeds, toasted – as garnish

 

1. First we steam the pumpkin… place in a steamer for about 10-15 minutes to cook thoroughly.  After the pumpkin is done, mash it well and place it in a colander lined with a coffee filter or a paper towel and let the moisture of the pumpkin drain out a bit.  This can be done well in advance before moving on to the rest of the steps.
2. Then we make the polenta… I heat the water, milk and salt in a medium pot and bring to a boil.  Add the polenta while stirring to avoid getting lumps.  Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue stirring until the desired consistency, which is like a smooth cream of wheat.  I’ll be honest; I follow the instructions on the polenta package I buy.  If the instructions on your package are different, follow the instructions on your package, but what I do is to replace ½ the water the recipe calls for milk – makes a creamier polenta, in my opinion.
3. When the polenta reached the desired consistency, add the drained pumpkin puree, the grated cheese and season with pepper.  Stir well for the cheese to melt and the pumpkin to combine well with the polenta cream.
4. Serve warm and sprinkle with the toasted pumpkin seeds.

 

Great vegetarian alternative for Thanksgiving lunch or dinner… don’t you think?

Provençal Rice September 21, 2009

With my stove out of commission for a few weeks, I resorted to my trusted friend the rice cooker to help me out in the kitchen.

This is a dish I used to order a lot as accompaniment when I used to eat at La Parrilla Argentina, a “fast food” joint found here in PR in mall food courts.  Never been to Argentina, it’s still in my to-travel list, but apparently this is a popular side dish too.  The name is “french” but that’s the way the named it at La Parrilla, I guess because it uses parsley and garlic.

It’s easy to make, delicious and you don’t need to occupy a stove range when making it.  I usually set the rice cooker and then go off to take a shower, meditate, and do other stuff without having to tend to the food itself.  Rice cookers are the best invention ever…

 

PROVENÇAL RICE

1 cup of whole grain, brown Texmati rice (I use the measure in my rice cooker… so I am not completely sure if my “cup” is the same size as yours)

1 tbs sofrito or  2 cloves of garlic, chopped

¼ cup minced flat leaf Italian parsley

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Water

Salt

Olive oil

 

1. Measure rice and wash well.
2. Place in the rice cooker and fill with rice with about ¼ more than the rice cooker lines say.  Brown Texmati rice needs a bit more water than regular white rice.
3. Add the sofrito, salt and olive oil to taste. Mix it all in a bit.  I usually pour about 1 tsp to 2 tsp of oil.  I learned to do this by “eyeballing” it.  Cover and turn the rice cooker on.
4. In my rice cooker, when the chime goes off, I still need to let it rest for about 10-15 more minutes to make sure the steam finish cooking the rice.  After this time has passed, fluff the rice with a fork and stir in the parsley and the parmesan cheese.
5. Let the flavors meld for about 5-10 minutes more and serve.

 

I had this rice with a tomato and avocado salad and french fries.  YUM!!

KarmaFreeCooking is getting some publicity… September 14, 2009

Hey guys…  KarmaFree Cooking has been getting some exposure on the web.

My friend Silka, from Siembra 3 Vidas CSA Farm is featuring in her blog a series of interviews with the supporters of the CSA project.  An interview about me was featured last August 24.  I know the text is in Spanish, but I promise to edit this post with the translation into English.

Click here to read the full interview…

 

Monday, August 24, 2009

MADELYN RODRIGUEZ/Serie Entrevistas Auspiciadores

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I promised I would provide you with the translation to my interview… here it is.   Please feel free to comment on it, as always.

 

1) What motivates you to support ecological agriculture in Puerto Rico?

 

 

For a lot of years now I have been exposed to organic agriculture.  Since my days in college in the early 90’s when I had the chance to work on a project to promote the consumption of organic fruits and vegetables in PR.  Back then, organic produce was not readily available in supermarkets like today. Also, there wasn’t a consciousness about the damages pesticides and other chemicals in our food stream have on our health.

And given the last 10 years I’ve been exposed to a vegetarian lifestyle and knowing how a healthier lifestyle leads to better health, I wanted to integrate more organic produce into my diet, even if it meant paying a bit more to acquire them.

About 3 years ago I started reading about CSA farms on the internet, where people contributed to their local farmers in exchange for fresh seasonal crops.  It sounded very appealing to me how I could contribute to small business owners in my area and at the same time have fresh organic produce readily available.  The pictures and stories I read on the internet were fascinating and reeled me into the idea.

Being an entrepreneur myself, I understand it’s my responsibility to contribute and support other small business owners in PR.  If I don’t support the small business industry, then who will?  I would like to believe this support and contribution will translate into benefits to my own business somehow.  That’s the law of karma in action…

2) Do you believe the opportunity to support S3V contributes to your interests in this topic?  How?

I believe supporting the local organic agriculture contributes to the collective consciousness of PR, demonstrating the importance of eating more naturally and steering away from chemicals, preservatives, colorings and additives, which produce so many ailments.  Lack of knowledge is our own worst enemy… and helping to promote in some way the availability of more natural and organic food sources promotes that eating more healthfully is not necessarily more difficult or inaccessible as people might think.  The more we know about where our food comes from, the more awareness we have about taking care of it, not harming it and the benefits it provides us everyday.

3) What other activities you share regarding this same topic?

By being vegetarian and simultaneously developing a love for cooking, I have noticed how people are intrigued and curious about the vegetarian lifestyle.  In PR we are not known for a plant or grain-based diet.  We have been raised that if you do not have a piece of meat on your plate, you’re not eating at all.  But it’s incredible the amount of interest and questions people have when they learn you are vegetarian…  people think you only eat salad.

That’s why I decided to share my vegetarian lifestyle and many of the recipes I have developed over the years thru my blog KarmaFree Cooking – to educate my community and the public at large how easy it is to follow a vegetarian lifestyle –  that it’s simple, varied and promotes health and well-being.  Also, my recipes have been tried and tested on all my non-vegetarian friends, which validates them even more in the eyes of the incredulous.  Thanks to the public’s acceptance to KarmaFree Cooking, I also started a Spanish version, KarmaFree Cooking en Español. 

Participating in S3V has helped me to have more topics to share in KarmaFree Cooking – letting the PR community know that organic agriculture is alive and well here, challenging me to cook and prepare dishes with seasonal ingredients that possibly I have never cooked with.  It’s a challenge when you do not have a large family to cook for every night, but I enjoy it anyhow.  If you click on the section From my CSA Box or Desde mi cajita CSA you’ll find a collection of recipes and comments developed based on the contents of my weekly CSA box from S3V.

4) What other benefit you enjoy by being a S3V sponsor?  What do you do with the vegetables you receive?

 My mom and I belong to a yoga center – Centro Cultural Yoga Devanand in Caparra Terrace – and people in the Center cook daily for all the hatha yoga students, partly to educate them on how delicious and accessible vegetarian cooking is.  Weekly, we use the vegetables in the S3V box to prepare lunches and dinners at the Center, specially the great variety of lettuces.  The center is managed thanks to the donations and contributions of the hatha yoga students and initiated members.  So the S3V box helps us cook more frequently with organic produce than we would be able to without it.

 5) Do you have a certain ideal for PR in regards to ecological agriculture/the environment and/or health?

 I would like for the PR community to discover the vegetarian lifestyle as one that will bring long-lasting health benefits to our community in general.  And if someone is not ready to make the “leap” into a full-fledged vegetarian lifestyle, to at least commit to consuming less animal products, to consume more fruits and vegetables on a regular basis, to consume less refined flours, less products with added chemicals and colorants we can’t even pronounce, to consume less soft-drinks and less alcohol.    Doing all of this will most certainly lead to have a healthier and more prosperous life.  I am certain of that.  To gain understanding that real health does not come from taking pills from a bottle, it comes from prevention – understanding our health comes from what we actually place in our mouths and by making small changes everyday, we can evolve into a more healthful and more harmonious society.

 I wish Puerto Ricans would develop a consciousness of the union and dependence we have on nature and that preserving our natural interests is as important as taking care of our own families.  We should respect more our trees, our rivers, our beaches, our mountains… we would recycle more and waste less.  We should realize when we leave trash on the streets leaves a lot to be desired of and it does not communicate the true quality of people we are.

 And even if not a lot of people share this same ideal, we need to start with ourselves and be the example.  That if we want our surroundings to be better, we need to set the example and be agents of change.  We can’t be complacent and think we can’t have some positive effects in our society, because if we all thought that way, nobody would do anything different.  In the words of one of the philosophers of our time, Michael Jackson, “If you want to make a world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change”.

 6) What do you do for a living?

 Currently I have my own marketing consulting business, helping small and medium-sized companies without a marketing staff with their marketing functions.  I also have a small artisanal “gig” selling a few vegetarian goodies and dips – like hummus, veggie dips, tomato sauces for pastas, stewed soy crumbles, cakes, etc. 

 

You can read more about Madelyn and her recipes in KarmaFree Cooking.

 

Grilled Eggplant and Zucchini Sandwich September 12, 2009

In my CSA box we’ve been receiving many eggplants and zucchini… why not combine them both in one of my favorite applications? A SANDWICH!!!

Super simple, super tasty and travels really well…

  

GRILLED EGGPLANT AND ZUCCHINI SANDWICH

1 small Japanese or Italian eggplant

1 small zucchini or summer squash

2 oz of goat cheese, at room temperature works best

A handful of arugula lettuce – washed well and pat dry

Extra virgin Olive oil

Sea salt and Freshly Cracked Black Pepper

1 whole-wheat whole grain demi baguette

 

1. Preheat your grill – I use my George Foreman grill for this…
2. Slice the eggplant and the zucchini in ¼ inch slices.  Brush with olive oil and season liberally with salt and pepper.  Place on the grill for about 4-5 minutes to cook and get pretty grill marks.
3. In the meantime, slice the baguette in top and bottom halves and toast in a toaster oven.  Slather both sides of bread with goat cheese.  Drizzle a bit of olive oil and sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper to season cheese.
4. Remove the eggplant and zucchini slices from grill and let cool down a bit.  Place on bottom half of bread.  Add lettuce on top of grilled veggies.  Season lettuce with a bit of sea salt and a drizzle of olive oil.  Top with top half of bread.

 

Simple, yet very tasty and nutritious.   You could add some tomatoes or even some roasted red peppers or roasted piquillo peppers too.

Asturian Tomato Salad August 3, 2009

This is another recipe I learned from chef José Andrés from his show Made in Spain.  This is one of my Spanish Delicacies series…  we started by celebrating San Fermín, but there are so many Spanish recipes I love that we’ll continue building this catalog for you all to enjoy.

I guess this is a tribute to Doña Tina… my friend Angie’s mom.  She’s a sweetheart and she’s currently visiting her native Asturias.  She is bringing some equipment for Angie and me to try some recipes for the blog, so in appreciation I dedicate this recipe to her. 

It originally includes Afuega’l Pitu cheese, but I have never seen that cheese here in Puerto Rico.  I’ll include it in my TO EAT list when I return to Spain to do the Camino de Santiago.

 

ASTURIAN TOMATO SALAD

6-7 cherry tomatoes, washed and cut into quarters

1 tbs apple cider vinegar

2-3 tbs Spanish olive oil

A drizzle of honey

2 small sprigs of thyme leaves

About 1/8 tsp of salt

About 1 cup of arugula lettuce – optional

 

1. In a measuring cup, mix together the vinegar, honey, olive oil, and thyme leaves.
2. Place tomatoes in plate, alone or over a bed of arugula lettuce if using, and sprinkle with salt.  Drizzle dressing over the tomatoes.   

 

The sweetness of the honey plays super well with the thyme flavor.   Really nice refreshing dressing…

Mini Tomatoes July 28, 2009

I’ve always thought of eating tomatoes just like eating an apple…  but for some reason I have never done it.

But with these mini tomatoes from my CSA box, I’ve been eating tomatoes just like I eat candy…  they’re so small and so cute, the only thing you really want to do is pop them in your mouth.  It’s nature’s candy…

Caprese Pasta Salad July 23, 2009

A while ago, I was shopping in Plaza las Américas with my friend Annie Mariel.  We decided to grab something light to eat at a restaurant there called La Patisserie.  She had her usual salmon fillet over lentils and I decided to have a pasta salad with tomatoes, pesto and fresh mozzarella.  That’s what the menu said – FRESH MOZZARELLA.

When I received my pasta salad… it was nothing like I had expected.  The pasta was overcooked, the mozzarella was certainly not fresh, the pesto tasted from a bottle and the cheese was added when the pasta was hot, so the pieces had melted into a strange goo.  Yuck…  I was not a happy camper.

 When I started making strange faces about my dissatisfaction with my entrée, Annie Mariel said:  “I am sure you can make a 200% better version of that pasta salad.  Go for it.” 

So this is it… my better version of a Caprese Pasta Salad… let me know if you like it too.

 

 

CAPRESE PASTA SALAD

½ pound of whole grain pasta – brown rice or whole wheat spirals, macaroni or penne will all do

1 cup of tomatoes, diced

¼ cup of sun dried or oven roasted tomatoes, diced or sliced

About 1/3 cup of olive oil, plus more to dress the salad

Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper to taste

1 clove of garlic, smashed once

3-4 large fresh basil leaves

3-4 thick slices of fresh mozzarella cheese, cubed

 

1. In a large bowl marinate the tomatoes – add the fresh tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, basil, garlic, salt and pepper.  Mix well all the ingredients together and let the fresh tomatoes break down and the dried ones plump up with the juices released from the fresh ones.  Let it sit for about 30 minutes mixing it well a few times throughout.
2. In a medium pot filled with boiling salted water, cook the pasta about 3 minutes shy of what the package directions say.  You want them a bit undercooked from al dente… 
3. Drain the pasta, rinse a bit with filtered cold water and add to the marinated tomatoes. Mix it all well carefully so you don’t break the pasta.   Make sure you remove the garlic clove before mixing the pasta… nobody will like to bite into a raw piece of garlic.  The pasta will absorb the juices of the tomatoes while it cools off.  Add more olive oil if you feel the pasta is too dry.
4. After the pasta has cooled off, add the mozzarella cubes and mix well again.  You can serve room temperature or place it in the cooler before serving.

Babaga-hummus July 21, 2009

I am not a bean lover, but funny enough I love hummus.  I have shared with you already my basic hummus recipe when I shared my Hummus Sandwich recipe.  I love that it’s lemonier than versions you usually get in a Middle Eastern restaurant.

When we go to these Middle Eastern restaurants people assume that if you like hummus, you must like babaganoush too.  NOT!!!  I like eggplant, but I have given babaganoush many, many, many tries and I just can’t seem to enjoy it.  I have learned with time that I need to be in the mood to eat eggplant and babaganoush is simply not my thing.

So, apparently we are in eggplant season.  I’ve been receiving baby Japanese eggplants in my CSA box for weeks now.  I had 2 great specimens in my fridge before my retreat and I was afraid they would spoil before I would get back… so I decided to mix it in with my traditional (which is really non-traditional in the middle Eastern sense) and see how that played up.

The result??? 

  

BABAGA-HUMMUS

2 small Japanese eggplants, halved

1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

About ¼ cup of parmesan cheese, grated

1 tsp paprika

The juice of 1 lime or criollo lemon – but if it’s not lemony enough I sometimes use 2

About 1 tsp salt – but I really eye-ball it…

About 5 cranks of the pepper mill

About ½ cup of olive oil

 

1. Brush the eggplant halves with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place in a grill (I use my George Foreman grill) for about 10 minutes until you get nice grilled marks and the eggplants begins to soften.  Take the out of the grill and set aside for a little while.  The eggplant will continue to cook and soften somewhat.
2. 
3. In a large food processor mix the hummus ingredients – the chickpeas, parmesan cheese, paprika, lime juice, salt, and pepper.
4. Scrape the flesh of the eggplant and add that to the hummus mixture… leave the eggplant skin behind.
5. Process the whole mix and thru the cover chute, drizzle the olive oil until the mixture gains a creamy consistency.  Check for seasonings and pulse a few times more if you need to add anything else.

 

Serve this with whole grain pita bread or pita chips. 

 

I brought this to a pool party at my friend’s Ana Yolanda and everyone loved it, especially Valerie who’s only 3 years old.  Which proves my point that if you expose kids to different flavors early on, they’ll grow to develop great eating habits.

I’ve been receiving so many eggplants in my CSA box, that this has become my new version of hummus for picnics or get-togethers…  it’s a nice twist on my original recipe, with a tad of smokiness from the grilled eggplants.  I did it recently to participate in the Serious Eats Picnic Food roundup… 

Hope you enjoy it as much as Valerie did…

Oven-Roasted Tomatoes July 18, 2009

With the plethora of tomatoes I’ve been receiving from my CSA box, I needed a way to use them up in quantities before they went bad – because in a week’s time I would be receiving another huge batch.

I have been a fan of sun-dried tomatoes for a while now… it was my first “foodie” grocery purchase about 10 yrs ago.  I remember we went to this gourmet store called Domenico’s, which is no longer in operation.  I went to buy sun-dried tomatoes, but left with my first piece of Gruyere cheese too.  It was a good day.

So I decided how it would be if I made my very own version of sun-dried tomatoes… they’ll not completely dry, but the flavor is definitely intensified by roasting them low and slow. 

 

       

OVEN-ROASTED TOMATOES

As many tomatoes as you can fit in a baking sheet – halved and seeded

A drizzle of olive oil – about 1 tbs for the whole thing

A sprinkling of Kosher Salt and Pepper to taste

About ½ tbs of balsamic vinegar

A few leaves of thyme – optional

                                      

1. Place the halved and seeded tomatoes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Sprinkle the salt, pepper and thyme leaves if using.  Drizzle a very small amount of olive oil and the balsamic vinegar.
2. 
3. Mix all the tomatoes to make sure they’re evenly coated with all the ingredients we added.  Make sure they’re all cut side up before placing them in the oven.
4. Roast slowly in a 250F oven for about 1 ½ to 2 hours.  Don’t let the tomatoes burn too much or they’ll taste bitter.

 

Use them in your favorite tomato application… they’ll impart an intense tomato flavor to pastas, salads and sandwiches.

Green Goddess Dressing July 16, 2009

This is a dressing I have been making for the Yoga Center Saturday buffets for a while now…  And a new resurgence of retro recipes has made it popular and chic once again…

I make several different version of this dressing, with the pale green color being the common denominator.

 

 

GREEN GODDESS DRESSING

½ cup buttermilk

½ cup plain yogurt

3 tbs of white wine vinegar

2 tsp honey

¼ cup fresh spinach leaves

¼ cup fresh basil leaves

2 scallions, chopped

A handful of fresh parsley, chopped a bit

2 tsp mustard – Dijon or grain mustard will do

¼ tsp salt

A few grinds of black pepper

1 cup canola or olive oil

 

1. In a blender, mix all the ingredients except the oil.  Blend well and add the oil thru the blender cap while the blender is still running in a thin stream.

 

Use it to dress your salad or as a dip for crudités…  if you’re using specifically for crudités, I may blend also 4oz of cream cheese to make it thicker.

Tomato Bread / Pan Con Tomate July 7, 2009

I am a bread lover… I inherited that from my dad.  And I already established I am also a tomato lover…  so what would be best than to put those two loves together??

Pa amb tomàquet, as it is called in Catalan, is the official bread tapa of choice in Barcelona and all of Cataluña.  You get a plate of it as soon as you sit down in any restaurant.  And it’s also used as the bread of choice in a bocadillo or sandwich in that area.

It’s a true testament of how great ingredients come together in a beautiful harmony…

 

 PAN CON TOMATE

1 demi baguette whole grain bread

2 ripe tomatoes, organic preferably

Spanish olive oil – Spanish oil made from arbequina olives from the Penedés region would be extremely appropriate in this application

Salt and Pepper to taste

 

1. Slice the baguette into 2 halves.  Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place bread in a grill pan or pannini grill to toast.  I use my George Foreman grill…
2. Meanwhile, take 1 tomato and chop it into small pieces.  Set aside.  The other tomato, slice it in half and set aside as well.
3. When the bread is toasted to your satisfaction, take one of the tomato halves and rub the flesh against the bread.  The tomato flesh will kind of disintegrate and soak the bread with its juices and goodness.  You’ll be left with just the skin of the tomato in your hand.  Use one tomato half for each half of bread.
4. Sprinkle some of the chopped tomato on top of the bread halves and a bit more salt and finish with a final drizzle of olive oil. 

Cut into pieces and serve as an appetizer or tapa.

 

Potato Zucchini Gratin July 4, 2009

I got the inspiration for this dish by a recent post from Heidi from 101 Cookbooks.  When I read her recipe I realized I had most the necessary ingredients waiting for me in my kitchen.  And what I didn’t have, I would substitute and improvise…

I had received a couple of great zucchinis from my CSA box that I was wondering how to cook…  Heidi and her recipe came to the rescue.  Thanks a lot.

 

 

POTATO ZUCHINNI GRATIN

3 medium russet potatoes, washed well and peeled

1 medium sized zucchini

¼ teaspoon of sea salt

About 1 ½ tbs of basil/parsley oil

About ¼ cup of grated parmesan cheese

About ¼ cup of freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Canola Oil Spray

About 2 tbs of fresh whole wheat breadcrumbs

Some additional sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

 

1. Spray a medium-sized pyrex dish with canola oil spray and sprinkle with about 1 tbs of breadcrumbs.  Shake the pyrex so the breadcrumbs coat the dish as much as possible… just as if you were flouring a pan to bake a cake…  Set aside.
2. Using a mandoline, slice as thinly as possible the zucchini.  Place in a colander and sprinkle about ¼ teaspoon of sea salt and let them drain some if its moisture out. 
3. 
4. Using the same mandoline, slice as thinly as possible the potatoes. 
5. 
6. Place in a bowl and add the basil/parsley oil, the grated parmesan cheese, the Pecorino Romano, some salt and pepper.  
7.  After about 5 minutes after salting the zucchini, squeeze them to release as much moisture as possible.  Using a paper towel pat them dry.  And add them to the bowl with the potatoes.  Toss well to combine potatoes, zucchini and seasonings.
8. Place the seasoned veggies into the breaded pyrex dish.  Place them with your hands trying to create layers after layers of potato and zucchini.  It does not need to be perfect, but try to lay them all flat.
9. 
10. Sprinkle some added breadcrumbs over the top and add a bit more parmesan and Pecorino Romano cheese to create a nice crust on top.
11. Because I do this in a toaster oven, I never preheat… but place it in a 400F oven for about 30-45 minutes – the perfect amount of time to allow you to take a shower and meditate.

 

I had this with some goat cheese toasts on the side… The potatoes cook well and the zucchini tastes perfect in it.  It was super good. 

Thanks again to Heidi at 101 Cookbooks… this will definitely be a go-to recipe from now on…

               

Basil Parsley Oil July 2, 2009

I did this flavored oil to season a nice Tomato Salad with Goat Cheese Toasts… but I was surprised how versatile the oil has proven to dress and season many other recipes.

 

 

BASIL PARSLEY OIL

A small handful of parsley – mostly leaves

A small handful of basil leaves

About 1/3 cup of olive oil

Sea Salt – 1 turn around the food processor bowl

About 4 turns of the pepper grinder

 

1. In a food processor mix together all the ingredients and process until the herbs are chopped super fine.
2. Let it rest room temperature for about 1 hour so the flavors mix well together before using.

 

If you’d like, you could strain it… but I like it chunky.

Tomato Salad with Goat Cheese Toasts July 1, 2009

I LOVE tomatoes!!!!  I just love them immensely… they might well be my favorite vegetable.  I am stuck between potatoes and tomatoes as my favorite, and I am just realizing that possibly neither of them is actually a vegetable.

Oh well, vegetable or not, I have been receiving way too many tomatoes in my weekly CSA box that I have been finding creative ways to have them.  Although growing up I used to just slice a tomato as a way to add “a salad” to my plate and, to this day, I still do it when I am too lazy to wash lettuces and cut up other salad components.

Something I recently started doing (or stopped doing would be a more accurate expression) is to not place tomatoes in the fridge.  With the temperatures being so hot here in PR, I always believed tomatoes would spoil way too quickly if they were left sitting on a counter.  Well, they eventually can spoil, but you can safely leave them there for a good week and they will be perfect.  The taste of a tomato is definitely better and more intense if it’s left at room temperature.  Apparently there is a component in the tomato that is shuts down its flavor permanently if the tomato is kept in the fridge.

This is a tomato salad made to celebrate the lusciousness of tomatoes… 

 

TOMATO SALAD WTH GOAT CHEESE TOASTS

Tomatoes – organic and local preferably to ensure their freshness and flavor

1 whole-grain demi-baguette, sliced on a bias

Salt/Pepper to taste

Drizzle of olive oil

About 2 oz of goat cheese – left at room temperature for a few minutes

About 1 tbs of Basil/Parsley oil

 

1. Slice tomatoes as you wish – in slices across its equator, pole to pole… however you prefer.
2. Drizzle baguette slices with olive oil, some salt and pepper and toast in a toaster oven until they’re golden around the edges.  Slather them with goat cheese
3. Place sliced/cut tomatoes on a plate.  Drizzle basil/parsley oil and sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper.  Place goat cheese toasts on the side…

Steamed Veggies with Horseradish Vinaigrette June 29, 2009

A few weeks ago I received a bunch of green beans in my CSA box…  but not the regular green beans, the haricot vert French-kind green beans…  thinner and crisper than the regular ones.

As you may have read here already, I am not a bean fan.  But green beans are a completely different thing.  I grew up eating French-style green beans from a can.  It was one of the choices of ready-to-eat veggies we were given – green beans, canned corn or sliced tomatoes…  and they had to be the thin french ones, because the fat, stubby regular ones were not the same… you could see the little beans inside and that would be a no-no for me.

But evolving into fresh green beans is something much more recent… as I was explaining to a friend the other day, canned and fresh greens beans are two completely different things.  And after you’ve tried the fresh kind, you’ll never go back to canned, ever.

To me the easiest way to prepare them is steaming them…  and I top them with some sort of olive oil-based dressing.  This time around was with prepared horseradish.  Check it out…

 

 

STEAMED VEGGIES WITH HORSERADISH VINAIGRETTE

About 4-5 baby red bliss potatoes, washed and cut in half

A small handful of haricots verts or french-style green beans, trimmed

The juice of 1 lemon

1 tbs of prepared horseradish

Salt and Pepper to taste

About 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

 

1. In a medium pot, I cook some potatoes in a little bit of salted water.  I boil/steam them over medium heat in the covered pot for about 15 minutes.
2. 
3. When the potatoes are about to be done, I place the trimmed green beans on top of the potatoes, cover the pot again and let them steam  about 2-3 minutes.  After that,  I turn the stove off and leave them there for about 5 minutes more until the green color in the beans is super bright.  Super easy.   
4. 
5. While the beans steam, prepare the dressing…
6. In a measuring cup whisk together the lemon juice, horseradish, olive oil, salt and pepper.   Drizzle over veggie and enjoy.

                   

Watch out…  make sure the horseradish you use does not contain egg or egg yolks in it.  I bought mine at Whole Foods and as you can see by the labeling, it does not contain any egg.  Just be careful if you’re traveling with it, because airport security might consider it a liquid and might take it away.  I was LUCKY I got a nice security person and let it slide…

                           

Broccoli and Cauliflower Stuffed Shells June 24, 2009

  A few weeks back I was figuring out what to do with the broccoli I had gotten in my CSA box…  I like it steamed or as part of a salad… but the farmer had told me the leaves are really good and I just was not sure how to cook them.  In Puerto Rico, or maybe it’s just me, we are not too fond of cooked leafy greens.  It’s just not part of our regular culinary vernacular.  But lucky enough, I saw this recipe for stuffed cannelloni from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie at Home.  It was just the recipe I needed to use up a lot of broccoli in one single recipe.

The broccoli I get in my CSA box is small… sometimes I questioned if it was really broccolini or even broccoli rabe.  So that’s why I used a few bunches of my CSA broccoli, but the recipe calls for ½ a broccoli stalk.  I guess you could use it all if you wanted.  This CSA broccoli came with lots of leaves, so that’s why I really wanted to use up and not waste.

When I am trying out new recipes, I rarely like to cook them just for myself.  Some people call me brave because I am willing to test and try out things I have never cooked before on my friends.  So I invited my friends Annie Mariel and Laura to try out this recipe with me… these were the brave and lucky two who got to try this one first.  Since then, I have made this recipe a bunch if times… they loved it!!!  When my mom tried it she thought the filling had cheese in it…   it’s so creamy.

But don’t be intimidated by the ingredient’s list…  I looks like there are too many ingredients, but if you think of it in components in the dish, it’s neither that long nor very difficult.  You’ll see…

  

BROCCOLI AND CAULIFLOWER STUFFED SHELLS

½ of a large head of broccoli, chopped into medium sized pieces, including the stem and leaves

½ head of cauliflower, chopped into medium sized pieces too

2 tbs olive oil, divided for the filling and the tomato sauce

6-7 garlic cloves, sliced thinly

A pinch of Red pepper flakes – you can add more if you like the heat

About 12 -16 brown-rice pasta shells – I use the Tinkyáda brand

½ cup sour cream

½ cup Devon double cream – it’s a Jamie Oliver-inspired recipe, I had to use English cream…

¼ cup parmesan cheese

1/3 cup fried tomato sauce or pureed tomatoes

About 1 tbs vinegar – I’ve used white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

3 slices of fresh mozzarella cheese

Basil leaves – optional

 

1. Bring a large pot filled with salted water to a boil. 
2. While the water boils, chop the cauliflower and broccoli.  Make sure you peel the outer skin of the broccoli stalks and chop the leaves as small as possible.  Do not use the stems of the leaves, just the leaves.  The stems will never puree well… I tried. 
3. 
4. Add the chopped broccoli and cauliflower to the salted boiling water and cook for about 10 -15 minutes.
5. When the broccoli and cauliflower have been for about 5 minutes already in the pot of water, heat 1 tbs of olive oil in a medium sized pan with tall sides.  Add the garlic slices and the red pepper flakes and cook until the garlic is golden, but not browned or bitter.
6. Very carefully pass the broccoli and the cauliflower to the pan where the garlic and pepper flakes are.  Drain the vegetables as much as you can before placing in the oil, because the oil WILL SPLATTER.  I usually have a splatter guard in hand to make sure the oil does not catch me.  Mix the veggies with the garlic and pepper. 
7. 
8. Add some salt and pepper to season and cook covered for about 30 mins, until the vegetables turn into an unrecognizable mass where they no longer retain their vegetable shape.  The leaves will not disintegrate…
9. While the veggies cook, let’s prepare the sauces…
10. For the tomato sauce, mix together the tomato puree, salt, pepper, vinegar and a small drizzle of olive oil.  Set aside. 
11. For the white sauce, mix together the double cream, sour cream, most of the parmesan cheese and season with some salt and pepper.  Set aside.
12. Also, bring again the large pot of water (with new water please…) to a boil.  Add salt and add the pasta shells.  Cook for about 5-7 minutes until they have grown in size a bit, are flexible to the touch, but still not fully cooked.  Drain the pasta shells and rinse with cold filtered water to stop the cooking process and cool them enough to handle.  Set aside.
13. 
14. After the veggies are cooked, use an immersion blender to turn the veggies into a puree.  Make sure all the leaves are pureed and remove any stringy parts that may be around…
15. Now we assemble… in your baking dish pour the tomato sauce on the bottom.  Using a small spoon, fill each shell with the broccoli/cauliflower puree and place in the baking dish. 
16. 
17. After all the shells are filled and placed on the baking dish, spoon the white sauce over the shells.  If you want, now is the time to add some basil leaves, put I have made it without and the dish doesn’t need it…  now sprinkle some additional parmesan cheese on top of the white sauce and finish with pieces of fresh mozzarella on top.
18. Now we assemble25-30 minutes, or until the top crust is golden brown.  As always… when the time is up, just turn the oven off and leave it there for about 10-15 more so it finishes cooking.

  

I served this with a very simple tossed salad and sweet baked plantains.  We had mango sorbet with kiwi pieces for dessert…

Spearmint Infusion June 18, 2009

I learned to drink herbal teas when I was living in NYC… I started making myself chamomile and linden teas to help me go to sleep.  Chamomile and linden are both commonly used as relaxers.   Later on, I also started to drink teas as part of natural treatments – that’s how I got to know lemongrass tea, peppermint tea, Siberian ginseng tea, cold care mixes, etc.  

But I have never been too fond of hot beverages while living in Puerto Rico… I just start sweating after drinking any hot tea, for a treatment or not.   But, when I visited Israel in 2000 , ittle did I know I would fall in love with a tea… or an infusion, I should really say.  At the end of each meal we would be offered a mint tea – a handful of spearmint leaves in hot water; mix the water up with brown sugar or honey and you have the loveliest after dinner drink.  It helps in digestion and tastes awesome.  During our visit to Israel, I would finish all our meals with a few cups of that…

But since then I have learned to be very careful when asking for a mint tea… in a Middle Eastern restaurant or otherwise.  Because tea is really a specific plant that’s dried or cured and commercial teas out there mix that plant with other herbs to make flavored teas…  Tea usually has caffeine, the main reason I do not drink coffee or chocolate.  So every time I get the craving of mint tea after eating falafels, etc.  I am usually left with the unfulfilled desire for one…  And since that trip I remember with fondness those spearmint infusions. 

Spearmint is not as widely available here in Puerto Rico and when I tried to grow it here next the beach, the leaves get too bruised by the constant heat. But now, with my CSA box, I get spearmint grown in Aibonito on a weekly basis. So I can enjoy my spearmint tea while watching my TiVo…

 

 

 SPEARMINT INFUSION

2 sprigs of spearmint

About 1 ½ cups of water

Honey or Brown Sugar to taste

 

1. In a small saucepan with a cover, bring the water to a boil.  When water is boiling (or at least shows little bubbles in the bottom of the pan), turn the stove off.  Place the spearmint sprigs in the water and cover.
2. Wait for at least 15-20 minutes for the leaves to steep in the hot water.
3. Strain the leaves from the water into a mug and season with honey, brown sugar or even agave nectar…. your preference.

 

This is great as an after-dinner drink… they serve it at Le Bernadin in NYC.  They use French presses used to make coffee to present the spearmint leaves and water… when you press on the lever, then you’re left with the liquid infused with spearmint flavor.  Yummy…

Orange’d Roasted Carrots June 11, 2009

My CSA box has graced me with so many carrots this season that I’ve had to look for new ways to make them … they’re super cute, because they’re mini carrots.  But I, my mom and the yoga center have been blessed with so many carrots this year.   And they keep coming each week.

Roasting is a great and easy way to enjoy carrots.  Just drizzle them with seasonings and leave them in a toaster oven for about 30 minutes, enough time for me to do my daily meditation. 

This is how I made them the last time…

 

 

ORANGE’D ROASTED CARROTS

3-4 mini carrots, washed and peeled

The juice of one orange

About ½ tbs of Olive oil

A sprig of fresh thyme

Kosher salt and Freshly cracked pepper

 

1. I wash well and peel the carrots… if you don’t peel them, they show this darker skin on top after you cook them that is not very appealing to me.
2. Place carrots in a roasting dish, squeeze the orange juice over them, add the olive oil, and season with salt, pepper and thyme.  Make sure the carrots are well coated with everything.
3. Place in a 400F oven for about 30 mins.  The juice will reduce quite a bit…

 

Enjoy as a side dish…

Cook with your Kids… June 8, 2009

I have 2 “nieces” I have told you about… Mariana and Natalia.  “Nieces” is in quotations because they’re actually the daughters of my best friends – but to them I am their Titi Madelyn.

Fortunately and very grateful, they’re two very lucky girls whose parents can provide anything and everything to them.  So it became a challenge for me to choose a birthday gift for them every year.  Since last year, Titi Madelyn decided she would only provide experiences as gifts.  They do not need one more toy or one more t-shirt…  really.

Natalia turned 7 last month and as a birthday gift she got a cooking class by yours truly…  She had the choice of learning to make a cheesy lasagna, “pastelillitos de Shrek” or Italian Quesadillas.  She chose the cheesy lasagna, because I think in another life we were both mice…

I truly believe that when you get kids involved in preparing what they’ll eat, they’ll be more inclined to try new things and to eat whatever is on their plate.  I always tell Natalia and Mariana that if it wasn’t good tasting or good for them I would not even offer it.  They get it…

Natalia had to make several decisions to make her Cheesy Lasagna.  She had to choose between:

1. Small or Large pyrex mold – she chose the larger one
2. What ingredients to include in it – her choices were spinach, oven roasted tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, almonds and button mushrooms

She finally chose spinach, fresh tomatoes, mushrooms and skinned almonds.  She wanted it all…   She squeezed dry the spinach and I explained to her how all that green water would not be helpful for a cheesy lasagna.  She skinned almonds with me.  She arranged the almonds on a sheet to toast in the toaster oven.  She cleaned and sliced very carefully the button mushrooms and the organic heirloom tomatoes and placed it in separate dishes for the upcoming assembly.  She loved that the mushrooms looked like little trees.

                                 

I explained to her we would make a cheese sauce to pour in between the layers we were going to assemble.  The cheese sauce was a mixture of every cheese I had in the fridge at the moment… I assure you I did not buy one cheese for this project.  We used cream cheese, ricotta, parmesan, shredded mozzarella, fresh mozzarella and goat cheese.  She tasted each cheese individually before adding them to the milk seasoned with sofrito, salt and pepper.  She already knew the cream cheese, parmesan and shredded mozzarella from making pita pizzas with me.   But she tasted ricotta and goat cheese for the first time. She LOVED the goat cheese… and ate 2 goat cheese toasts while we were making dinner.  Titi Madelyn tasted goat cheese for the first time about 7 yrs ago… figure that one out.

Natalia added each cheese to the cheese sauce pot and stirred it carefully to help the cheeses combine and melt together.  I was in charge of boiling the water for the Jerusalem artichoke pasta.  I just set some water to boil, turned the stove off and let the noodles soften in that water.  The cheese sauce would continue to cook the pasta perfectly when the lasagna is assembled and in the oven.

This is more a method of making lasagna more than a recipe per se… but if you would like to replicate what Natalia and I did, here’s the ingredient list:

NATALIA’S CHEESY SPINACH, ALMOND, MUSHROOM AND TOMATO LASAGNA

½ package of DeBoles Jerusalem artichoke lasagna noodles

½ cup defrosted cut leaf spinach

6-7 button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

3 small organic tomatoes, washed and sliced

a handful of almonds, peeled and toasted

1 tbs olive oil

1 tsp of sofrito

About 1 ½ cups of milk – I really used what was left in the carton so I didn’t measure it

½ brick of cream cheese

¼ tub of ricotta cheese

1 cup shredded mozzarella – the one you use for pizzas…

½ log of goat cheese

About ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese – but you could also use pecorino romano, asiago, grana padano, etc.

Salt and Pepper to taste

3 slices of fresh mozzarella – to top the lasagna only

 

Natalia then assembled the lasagna.  She decided in which order she would add the filling components:

1. We started with a layer of sauce, then noodles, then more sauce. 
2. Now goes the filling layer – spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and almonds. 
3. Add a sprinkling of more parmesan cheese before adding the next layer of sauce, pasta and more sauce. 
4. Repeat until you create 3 layers of filling. 
5. Then finish off of with the fourth and last layer of pasta covered with the remaining sauce you have and topped with pieces of fresh mozzarella. 
6. I helped out with the hot noodles and the hot sauce, but Natalia did all the rest. 
7. I baked the lasagna at 400F for about 25 minutes in my toaster oven.   We basically waited until the top got a nice brown color.  

Natalia was super hungry by the time the lasagna was in the oven and I was in a hurry to feed her…We served her a nice piece with a side salad dressed with my Left-Over Dressing.  She ate so much; I had to give her a few papaya enzyme chewables to help her with her digestion and overfull tummy.  Her mom loved it too and took a great big piece home with her so daddy would also get a chance to try it.

The moral of the story…   Cook with your kids OFTEN.  Allow them to make decisions into what they’ll have for dinner, as long as they’re within what you believe is good for them.  Let them feel they’re part of the process and they will in turn reward you with the satisfaction of enjoying what they eat, enjoying foods good for them, raving all about it and asking you for more.  Natalia already wants us to schedule another “cooking class” when her Summer Camp ends.