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.

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.

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.

 

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…

Left –Over Salad Dressing June 20, 2009

This is a concept I learned from Katy at the Yoga Center… 

When we cook at the yoga center, salad is a big part of each menu and we do a home-made salad dressing to go along with it.  The first time I was “in charge” of the salad dressing I did not know what to do.  I have never made salad dressings in such bug quantities or know how to season it.  One rule we have at the yoga center is that we do not taste food before it is finished and “offered” to the Supreme Being.

Here comes Katy to the rescue…  She told me to check if there was any salad left over from the lunch service and to start from there.  What!?!?!?  Well, this is how left-over dressing came about.  The SALAD in the name is two-fold – it’s a salad dressing and it’s made from left-over salad…  The concept is to take what you have in the fridge, particularly a little bit of lettuce or a little piece of onion to season the dressing.  You season it and voila – salad dressing that’s natural and free of preservatives…

Because this is a concept made to use up any leftovers you might have in your fridge before they go bad, this is more a method than it is a recipe… so bear with me in regards to the ingredients list.

 

 

LEFT-OVER SALAD DRESSING

A handful of whatever salad greens you might have… I have even used a bit if shredded cabbage for coleslaw, red cabbage, mesclun, arugula, icebrg lettuce, you name it…

½ carrot – if the salad already has carrots, you don’t need to add more

1 tomato – again, if the salad you have left over has tomatoes, no need to add more…

¼ onion

½ cubanelle pepper

1 tbs salt

1 tbs garlic and herbs seasoning

3 tbs vinegar or the juice of 2 lemons/limes

About ½ cup olive oil – I rarely measure this…

About ¼ cup water – to thin it out a bit… it may end up being too chunky

Optional add-ins:

1/3 cup yogurt

4 oz cream cheese

 ¼ cup egg-less mayonnaise

 

1. In a blender add the salad, onion, carrot, pepper, tomato, vinegar or lemon juice and seasonings.  Add the olive oil and blend together well.  If you feel the mixture is too thick, add the water in little increments until it reaches your desired consistency. 

I sometimes add all the ingredients except the olive oil and drizzle it slowly through the chute on the blender cover to make sure the oil emulsifies and that it does not separate afterwards.

 

You can use this as a sald dressing over greens or sometimes I also like to drizzle on top of steamed/boiled veggies, like potatoes, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, etc.

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.

Fresh Fettuccini with Barely-Cooked Fresh Tomato Sauce June 3, 2009

This was an exercise in maximizing the concept of fresh, seasonal and local cooking…  even though the dish initially looks more Italian, but this is Puerto Rican cooking at its utmost expression. Why?

Because the main components of this meal were grown or produced right here in Puerto Rico:

• The pasta is freshly made here in San Juan by my friend Karla from nudi pasta…
• The tomatoes and basil for the sauce came from my CSA box… as did the mesclun greens and the cucumber for the salad
• The green peppers in the sofrito came from the CSA box too and the “ají dulces” came from my aunt’s backyard

I have made marinated/un-cooked tomato sauce before, but I just wanted to see if I could pull-off a sauce that did not need to be on the stove for hours to achieve a deep flavor.  I believe we have reached success here.  Also, fresh fettuccini is super delicate… I am not used to cooking pasta so little. So a friend gave me the idea to cook the pasta in the same sauce, instead of boiling it first.  It actually turned out really nice… even though I feel I have not yet mastered the art of cooking fresh pasta to perfection.

 

FRESH FETTUCCINI WITH BARELY-COOKED FRESH TOMATO SAUCE

3 small organic tomatoes, chopped

2 sprigs of fresh basil, leaves and stems separated

1 tsp sofrito

1 tsp tomato paste

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 tbs balsamic vinegar

1 tbs olive oil

½ package of whole-wheat fresh fettuccini

 

1. In a medium skillet with tall sides over medium heat, pour the olive oil and the sofrito. Cook for a few minutes while you chop the tomatoes.
2. Add the basil sprigs and leaves.  Cook for a minute and add the tomato paste.  Stir to combine.  Add the chopped tomatoes with all its juice… make sure you have all the seeds and juice to make the sauce liquidy. 
3. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add the balsamic vinegar.  Cook for about 5 minutes so the flavors combine.
4. 
5. Add the fresh fettuccini to the sauce and toss to combine well.  After a few minutes, turn the stove off and cover to allow the pasta to cook with the steam and heat of the sauce.

 

Enjoy with a nice tossed salad using any seasonal vegetables you might have on hand.  I used mesclun greens and cucumbers with a light lemon vinaigrette.

If you would like to see other recipes of Seasonal Pastas… visit the Serious Eats website were a round up of various recipes are featured as part of the weekly feature Cook and Tell.

Salade des Haricots Verts May 13, 2009

Last week, the Serious Eats site released the challenge of making a great weekend meal by cleaning out your pantry.  I was so inspired by the idea I made two… well, it was really a whole meal composed of the main course, Spinach Puffed Empanadas, and this side salad with French green beans and lettuce, directly from by CSA basket.

  

SALADE DES HARICOTS VERTS

a handful of French green beans or haricots verts, trimmed of the stem end

5-6 leaves of lettuce, I used a local “del país” lettuce, but any buttery lettuce will do

½ tomato, chopped

½ cucumber, peeled if it’s not organic and chopped

The juice of ½ a lemon

Extra-virgin olive oil                                                                                                                    

Salt and pepper to taste

 

1. In a small to medium covered sauce pan, bring about ½ inch of water to a boil.  Salt the water with about ½ tsp of salt and place the green beans.  Cover the saucepan again and wait about 1 minute.  Turn the heat off and let the green beans steam for about 4-5 minutes.
2. Mix together in a salad bowl the lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and cooked green beans.  Pour over it the lemon juice and olive oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste and toss to combine.

 

 

Serve alongside a Spinach Puffed Empanada or the main course of your choice…

Chunky Tomato Sauce May 1, 2009

I started making this sauce because I wanted to try some techniques I learned from one of my favorite chefs, Jamie Oliver.  When I was at London’s Heathrow Airport doing a stop over a few years ago, I bought this cooking magazine with a small booklet inside with various Jamie Oliver recipes. 

Jamie talked about frying the basil and adding balsamic vinegar to the sauce to give it a special kick…  I have always seen chefs add wine to sauces and it was very welcoming to me to know I could also do it with vinegar and get a similar result.   BTW – This was the same magazine where my favorite whisk came with…

This is also one of the recipes made with basil from my CSA box…

 

 

CHUNKY TOMATO SAUCE

1 jar of whole peeled tomatoes

1 jar of fire-roasted tomatoes

1 tbs olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced thin

1 handful of basil, washed well and leaves removed from the stems

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

Salt and Freshly cracked pepper

 

1. In a tall skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add the garlic slices and the basil stems.  Sauté for a few minutes to infuse the oil with garlic and basil taste.  Add the basil leaves and sauté a bit.
2. Add the tomatoes to the skillet.  Stir to combine well.  Season with salt and pepper, and add the balsamic vinegar. 
3. When the sauce starts to boil, lower the heat to medium low and cook uncovered for about 25-30 minutes, until the sauce reaches your desired consistency.  I like it chunky…  If you prefer it more liquidy, cook for less time.
4. Remove the basil stems before serving.

 

Toss with your favorite noodle pasta or use it in a Pita Pizza Margherita.

Chickpea Cocido April 1, 2009

I’ve been meaning to eat more beans… because to me beans are an acquired taste.

Rice and beans is a staple in most Puerto Rican meals, except in mine.  My mom eats them but never cooked them at home. My grandma would make rice and beans almost every day… and for the first 17 years of my life I got offered rice and beans everyday to eat and every day I would say no, thanks.  I would only eat the rice and the sauce of the beans. The actual beans… never.

I truly do not know what happened about 10 years ago, but I saw this nice plate of garbanzos and I not only had the sauce, I actually put some garbanzos in my plate.  I liked them.  I still do not crave them, but I can enjoy them up to a point. 

Because my mom never made beans at home, I never learned to make them from her.  And when my grandma was making beans each day, I was not interested in learning how to make them.  So this recipe is my way to learning how to make beans in a way I would enjoy eating them the most.  This recipe had several incarnations… but by far this is the best one so far.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

 

 

 

CHICKPEA COCIDO

1 tsp olive oil

½ vegetable bouillon cube

2 tbs sofrito

1 small onion, chopped

½ green bell pepper, chopped

1 small carrot, peeled and sliced thin

½ can stewed tomatoes

½ chopped tomato

1 small can garbanzo beans

1 roasted red pepper

5 manzanilla olives, chopped

2 tbs tomato sauce

1 bay leaf

½ tsp Herbamare

Salt and freshly cracked pepper

 

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the olive oil, ½ bouillon cube, sofrito, onion and pepper. Sautee everything for about 5-6 minutes until onions start to get translucent.
2. Add the carrots, the tomatoes and the garbanzo beans.  Now add the red peppers, olives, tomato sauce, bay leaf and season with salt, pepper and Herbamare seasoning.  If you would like more sauce… add about ¼ cup of water.
3. Simmer over medium/low heat for about 20 minutes.  Turn the stove off and let it continue cooking for about 10-15 minutes.

 

Serve over whole grain rice or over steamed potatoes.

Vegetable Tian March 9, 2009

I think we have established already I love anything French…  so every time we have a get-together with my French-speaking friends, we try to create French recipes to keep the theme intact.

I first made this recipe for the Yoga Center – back when I was more consistent cooking at least once a month.  It was a way to introduce cooked vegetables in a different way than how they make them week in week out. 

Most recently, I shared the recipe with my friend Annie Mariel and she was the one who actually made the version photographed here.  It is cheesy yet tastes very light.   She created it as an example of Parisian cooking…  bon appétit.

 

VEGETABLE TIAN

2 large onions, sliced in half

2 garlic cloves, minced

5-6 potatoes – I used russet potatoes, but Ina Garten says that Yukon Golds are a particularly good choice

2 medium zucchini

4 medium sized tomatoes – I used plum tomatoes

1 tsp kosher salt

½ tsp black pepper

1 tbs thyme leaves or 1 tsp Italian Seasonings blend

2 ounces gruyere cheese, grated

Olive oil

 

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 F
2. Brush a rectangular baking dish with olive oil.
3. In a medium sauté pan, heat a drizzle of olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onions and cook for about 8 minutes until they’ve beginning to soften.  Add the garlic and cook for a few additional minutes.  Spread this onion mixture on the bottom of the baking dish you oiled.
4. Wash well and dry the potatoes.  Slice them in thin slices, about ¼” thick.  Slice the zucchini, tomatoes too the same thickness.  Layer them alternatively on top of the onions.  I placed them slightly at an angle one on top the other like shingles. Place a potato, zucchini, tomato, potato, zucchini, tomato, and so on…
5. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, thyme leaves or Italian Seasonings and drizzle a bit more of olive oil.
6. Cover the dish with a parchment paper and then aluminum foil.  Place in oven and bake for 30-40 minutes until the potatoes are tender and cooked. 
7. Remove the covering, add the grated cheese and bake for another 30 minutes until the vegetables are browned nicely on top.

Veggie Cuban Sandwich March 5, 2009

I grew up eating Cuban Sandwiches… being the daughter of a Cuban, it was something I ate at least a few times a month.  My dad would take us to La España or La Ceiba – two bakeries here in Puerto Rico where the best Cuban sandwiches were made back then… now the same can be said for Kasalta too. 

Cuban sandwiches are now becoming very popular among US chefs – Bobby Flay, Tyler Florence, among others have all sung the praises of the Cuban sandwiches.  Traditionally they’re made with roasted pork, sliced cooked ham, crusty white criollo bread, mustard, pickles and Swiss cheese.  There is a smaller version called Media Noche – same ingredients as the Cuban, but in a smaller sweet bread.  This is the kind my sister and I had when we were growing up… and when the Media Noche is too small for your more adult appetite, you graduate to the Cuban.

Now that I am vegetarian, traditional Cuban sandwiches are not an option… so I have come up with my veggie version.  I order these at any panadería in PR or Miami.  And even though I prefer whole wheat, whole grain breads in my sandwiches, Cubans traditional or veggie versions taste better in regular white criollo bread.  The crunch it has compared to a whole wheat version can’t be beat.

 

VEGGIE CUBAN SANDWICH

Criollo Bread

Swiss Cheese

Lettuce and Tomato

Pickles

Mustard

1.  When you go out an order, say you want a grilled cheese on criollo bread with lettuce, tomato, pickles and mustard.

If you want to prepare it yourself…

1. Slice a 1/3 pound of criollo bread “baguette”.  Slather the insides with yellow mustard.  Place Swiss cheese on one side, lettuce, tomatoes and pickles on the other.
2. Place in a pannini press or a George Foreman grill and press the sandwich so the bread toasts and the sandwich flattens a bit. 
3. You could press without the lettuce sand tomato and add them afterwards, but sometimes the cheese melts so much that it’s difficult to reopen to add the salad.

 

To me, the best way to wash down your Veggie Cuban sandwich is with a malta or a batido de mamey.  No other drink makes it justice…

One final note… be weary of Cuban breads out there (Pan Cubano – as they are called in Miami) you need to order Puerto Rican bread.  Why??? Cuban bread usually is made with lard.  You run no such risk in PR as “pan de agua” or “pan criollo” is made with vegetable shortening.  Something to watch out…

Pita Pizzas with Arugula Salad March 3, 2009

I just came back from a skiing holiday in Vermont with my little “nieces” Mariana and Natalia – they’re the daughters of my 2 best friends.

We stay at a slope-side apartment with a fully equipment kitchen.  We love to buy stuff for breakfasts, dinners, and the much needed après ski break.  Mariana and Natalia specially requested this time around for me to make them pizzas.  And my kind of pizzas is Pita Pizzas – especially because I was not going to “bake” any crust in an unknown kitchen.

This is what we came up with to satisfy the kids and adult tastes alike…

 

PITA PIZZAS with ARUGULA SALAD

Serves 4

 

4 whole-grain pita breads – about 6″ in diameter

1 cup of your favorite jarred tomato sauce – you may not need as much but I did not measure the sauce after I already placed it on the pizzas.  You can also make your own… mixing crushed tomatoes and seasoning them with some garlic salt, pepper and Italian seasonings.

Shredded cheese – I like the Italian Blend type, but you can certainly go as fancy as you want … using fresh mozzarella, Fontina, gruyere, etc.

1 tomato, sliced thin

1 small onion, sliced thin

About 1 cup of Parmesan cheese, grated or shredded

Arugula Salad – click for recipe here

 

 

1. Pre-heat oven or toaster oven to 400 F
2. Take the pita bread and smear some tomato sauce leaving a ¼” border.  Not too much so they do not turn soggy.  
3. Top each with pita a few slices of fresh tomatoes and onions.  Sprinkle some parmesan cheese and top with the Italian-blend shredded cheese mix.
4. Place in oven for about 10 minutes until the cheese melts and turns a nice bubbly golden brown in sections.
5. Top each pizza with a handful of arugula salad for a nice contrast of freshness and tang.
6. Sprinkle with additional shaved parmesan cheese on top of salad.

 

Have to admit, the girls ate the pizzas on their own and left the salad to the side, but the adults loved it.

Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart February 27, 2009

I’m sorry for leaving you a bit in the dark for a few weeks…

I was just away on back-to-back trips – one for business to Houston and one for a skiing vacation in Vermont.  During both trips and also the time in between I was so busy I just was not inspired to write…  but I was inspired to eat and cook.  So I collected and photographed a bunch of recipes I made or ate during that period and here you’ll have them all.

This is something I made for lunch a few weeks back.  You know when you learn about a new recipe, something that just entices you in such a way that your mouth salivates… and then you realize that you have ALL the ingredients available at home.  It was a beautiful moment…    This is based on Ina Garten’s recipe for Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts.  I saw it on Food Network and the next day I had it for lunch.

But I have to be completely honest; this recipe has a little bit of not-so-good karma attached to it…  It’s made with refrigerated puff pastry, something I do not use often, but I do from time-to-time and I have never been able to find it in a whole-grain or whole-wheat version.  So, this is a sporadic treat… if any of you is able to find whole wheat puff pastry – let me know where I can get it…

 

TOMATO AND GOAT CHEESE TARTS

1 sheet of puff pastry, defrosted

1 onion, sliced

A drizzle of olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, minced

A squirt of apple cider vinegar

The leaves of 2 small sprigs of thyme

3 tbs of Parmesan Cheese, grated

2 ounces of garlic and herb soft goat cheese, crumbled into small pieces

2 slices of the best tomato you can find, the larger the tomato the better

8-10 slivers of Pecorino Romano cheese

Salt and Freshly Cracked Black Pepper to taste

 

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 F.  I use my toaster oven for this…
2. Heat a small drizzle of olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion and garlic.  Cook for about 10-12 minutes until the onions are soft and cooked, but not browned.  Add salt, pepper the apple cider vinegar, thyme and cook for a few minutes longer until the onions have absorbed the vinegar.
3. While the onions are cooking, prepare the puff pastry.  You need to leave it defrosting in your fridge overnight to be able to handle it now.  Unfold one of the two sheets that come in the package – do this carefully as the pastry can tear easily.  Unfold it onto a lightly floured surface.  With a rolling pin, roll the pastry so yo can fit 2 saucer plates inside it. Using the saucer plate, cut out 2 rounds of pastry, and set onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  I can fit these two in the baking tray of my toaster oven.
4. Using a small paring knife, score the puff pastry rounds with a 1/4″ border.  Prick the inside of the circle border with a fork.  Sprinkle the grated Parmesan cheese within the scored circle. 
5. 
6. You will now divide all the remaining ingredients and place within the scored circle of each tart shell…  Place the cooked onions on top of the Parmesan cheese, add the crumbled goat cheese on top of the onions and then place the tomato slice on top of the goat cheese.  Now drizzle a bit of olive oil on top of the tomato and sprinkle with salt, pepper and a few extra thyme leaves.  Using a vegetable peeler, slice a few thin slices of Pecorino Romano cheese and place on top of the tomato slice.
7. 
8. Bake in the oven for about 18 minutes.  When you see the puff pastry has a nice, golden color just turn off the oven and leave it inside there for a few minutes.

 

Serve this with a nice green salad for a spectacular, very Provençal  lunch.  This would work great for a gathering with friends because it’s so simple and quick to make. And not to mention DELICIOUS!!!

Arugula Pasta Salad February 11, 2009

Because eating more salads is one of my New Year’s resolutions… this is one of the versions I came up with.  They not all have to be with only fresh vegetables, you know.

 

ARUGULA PASTA SALAD

¼ pound of whole wheat pasta – I used penne, but any short tubular pasta will do

1 fresh tomato, peeled and diced small

5-6 sun-dried tomatoes, sliced

5-6 fresh basil leaves, torn small or cut thinly

About 3 tbs of Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

1 tsp of fresh lemon juice

1 garlic clove, smashed

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

2 handfuls of arugula leaves, washed well and dried

½  cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced small

1. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the fresh tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic clove, salt and pepper.  Mix well together and let the mixture marinate while you set up the rest of the ingredients.  While you’re preparing the rest of the ingredients, toss the mixture every so often to mix well.  You can do this a bit in advance if you want to let the mixture marinate more time… that’s up to you.
2. Set water to boil pasta.  Boil pasta in plenty of salted water according to package directions.
3. While pasta cooks, wash arugula lettuce well and spin dry.  Set aside.
4. When pasta is ready, drain well and return to pot where you boiled it.  Add the tomato mixture, removing the smashed garlic clove, and coat well.  Add the parmesan cheese and toss together.
5. Serve the lettuce in a salad bowl and place desired amount of pasta on top of the lettuce.  The olive oil in the marinated tomatoes will be your salad dressing.  Add the cucumber and sprinkle more Parmesan cheese on top if you’d like.

Roasted Garlic and Tomato Pasta November 20, 2008

When November comes around, it’s birthday time!!!!  My aunt’s, my dad’s and mine… so I decided to host a lunch to celebrate all our birthdays.  And to top it all, my sister came in from Miami to visit too, so the family was complete.

Everyone invited was not vegetarian, but because the lunch was hosted at my house, vegetarian fare was a MUST.  I had planned to make pasta – it’s the safe and easy choice; Non-threatening to the skeptical.  I was originally planning on making a pasta with gorgonzola – a dish inspired by a dinner I had in Old San Juan a couple of weeks ago.  Then, I saw 30-Minute Meals and was totally inspired by a dish Rachael Ray made…   I do not recall how she called it, but my version is called Roasted Garlic and Tomato Pasta…

 

ROASTED GARLIC AND TOMATO PASTA

1 pound of short whole-wheat tubular pasta, penne rigate or rigatoni works well

3 handfuls of grape tomatoes, about 2 pints

1 whole head of garlic, roasted

2 handfuls of a shredded 4 cheese blend – Fontina, Parmesan, Asiago and Pecorino

1/2 cup basil leaves

3 generous handfuls of fresh baby spinach leaves

¼ cup of grated Pecorino Romano

Drizzle of olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1. I roasted the head of garlic the night before…  Just take the head of garlic, cut the top off and place inside a sheet of aluminum foil.  Drizzle with a bit of olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle a bit of water.  Close the aluminum foil to form a packet and roast in a toaster oven at 350F for 30-40 minutes.
2. If you do not have time or just did not plan ahead… just open up the head of garlic into cloves, smash them all individually with the side of a knife.  Place them together with the grape tomatoes on a baking sheet to roast side-by-side.  Drizzle the tomatoes and smashed garlic cloves with olive oil, salt and pepper liberally.  Roast in a 350F oven for about 20-25 minutes.  The garlic smell will tell you when it’s done.
3. When the tomatoes/garlic are about to be done, set a large pot filled with water to boil.  Salt the water as soon as it comes to a boil and drop the pasta.  Stir well to avoid the pasta sticks.  Because we’re using whole-wheat pasta, it’ll take a little longer to cook… about 12-15 minutes.
4. In a large bowl, place all the roasted garlic cloves with the skins removed.  Smash them into a paste with a large fork. 
5. As soon as pasta is about to be done, turn the stove off.  Take about 1 ½ cups of water and pour on top of the roasted garlic.  Mix the garlic and water and create like a “tea” of roasted garlic.  Add the roasted tomatoes and smash them together with the garlic tea. 
6. Drain the pasta.  I always drain the pasta over a Pyrex glass bowl to reserve some of the pasta water, just in case I need some more.  Return the pasta to the pot and pour the tomato/garlic tea over it.  Mix together well so the pasta absorbs the roasted garlic liquid.  While the pot is still hot/warm, add the basil leaves and baby spinach leaves.  Mix together well so the heat of the pasta will wilt them nicely.  Add the shredded 4 cheese blend and mix well.  Cover pot for about 5 minutes to help the spinach wilt.
7. After the 5 minutes have elapsed, serve in a beautiful pasta bowl and sprinkle with the grated Pecorino Romano.

We had a great time… everyone loved the food, specially my dad, who served himself 3 helpings.  And he’s one of the biggest skeptics of vegetarian food.  Hope you like it too… This is a very easy and delicious pasta that will feed a crowd.  It took almost no-time to make – Very care-free and perfect for entertaining.

Hope you try it and like it too…

Tomato Mozz Salad October 19, 2008

This salad is a way to rearrange the same ingredients found in a Caprese Salad, plus adding some greens in the form of lettuce to increase the nutrition and the volume.

I first did this salad in this way when visiting my sister when she was living back in Indiana.  She had all the ingredients for a caprese salad – tomato, fresh mozzarella, great olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  The only thing was that the size of the ingredients were not the traditional ones to fix a traditional caprese… we had delicious grape tomatoes and bocconcini mozzarella.  So this is how I rearranged the ingredients to make it work for us…

 

TOMATO MOZZ SALAD

10 – 12 grape tomatoes, sliced in half

4 thick slices of fresh mozzarella or 6-8 bocconcini balls, cubed

6-8 romaine lettuce leaves, sliced and hard core pieces removed

Drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil

Drizzle of balsamic vinegar

Salt and Freshly Cracked Black Pepper

2-3 fresh basil leaves – optional

 

1. In a small bowl, mix together the tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.  Add now also the basil leaves, if using.  Marinate tomatoes and cheese for about 20-30 minutes.  You can do this first and they can marinate while you prepare the rest of your meal.
2. In a salad bowl, add the lettuce leaves and mix together with the tomato/cheese marinated mixture.  Toss to combine.  The extra mix of oil/vinegar will dress your salad beautifully.

 

The balsamic vinegar kind of “stains” the mozzarella and it looks “dirty”.  Even if the looks are not the best, the flavors are.  My sister called me once after I had left to remind her of the ingredients because she wanted to make it for company.  That’s how tasty this is…

Easy Breezy Salad October 5, 2008

Not all salads must include lettuce… especially during avocado season.

Growing up, a few slices of tomato or opening a can of corn were considered a salad side dish.  Nowadays, when I am running all over the place, and have little time to prepare a full-on meal, I usually go to my quickie salad fixes – very similar, but very different from what I used to do.

 This is a quickie and easy salad at its best…

 

EASY BREEZY SALAD

2-3 slices of avocado, chopped

½ a tomato, chopped

¼ cucumber, sliced and quartered

Extra-virgin olive oil

A sprinkle of Kosher salt

 

1. Place all the avocado, tomato and cucumber pieces on the side of the plate.  Drizzle with a bit of the olive oil and sprinkle some salt over them.  Done!!!

 

It’s refreshing, crispy and delicious.  No need to bother with a dressing, but if you want, you can drizzle any vinaigrette you might have on hand.  It’s up to you…