The Heart Of Puerto Rican Cooking

 Puerto Rican cooking is island cooking, It's a mix of European and indigenous ingredients, blended together to form a unique cuisine. Most of all it's home cooking - the comforting hug needed during hard times and hurricanes, holiday and happy times.

Von Diaz,food professor. author of several cookbooks and articles seen in Bon Appetit, Eater and Epicurious magazines wrote this interesting article along with recipes in today's New York Times Food section.  She is Puerto Rican herself, however being raised in the States, namely Atlanta Georgia, but her heart and cooking belong to this complex tropical island. Its' cooking is a blend of Taino, the original culture of the island along with African and Spanish. Even modern American cooking has lent a hand - thanks to the introduction of canned food. There is also a nouvelle cuisine vibe with pastellos de guyaba, a mix of cheese queso en hoja and guava paste.Of course the backbone of Puerto Rican cooking is sofrito, a cooked mix of garlic , onions and peppers and spiked with culantro - cilantro's cousin. This is in many dishes. such as arroz mamposteao, a rice dish also made with beans and veggie or chicken broth.  Sofrito is in other dishes too, like sancocho, a stew that combines, beef, pork and chicken with the indigenous roots  like white yautia and yucca.

Of course the highlight of any Puerto Rican holiday dinner is pernil.This is a pork shoulder marinated in garlic, citrus and herbs and then roasted for an hour in a 400 degree Farenheit oven . The marinade is a flavorful combo of sour orange juice, garlic cloves, and oregano. (Professor DIaz also offers a tip for cleaning the roast pan too because the skin will stick). Another delicious main course is pescado frito, fried snapper. Again, the marinade is the same as the pernil, except with the addition of sazon - a mix of coriander,garlic cumin and annatto - seeds from the achiote tree. This gives color and flavor to the fish which is cut in three places, better for the marinade to soak in. It's then fried, whole, head an tail in vegetable oil. The fried fish is served with lime. What can end all these dishes? Those pastillos de guyaba, easily made with puff pastry dough. Farmer's cheese can be used in place  of fresco en hoja.  They should be left to cool because the guava gets molten hot and will badly burn your mouth.) Once cool, sprinkle confectioner's sugar over them  and store in an airtight container. Stale ones can be refreshed in a 350 degree Fareneheit oven for five minutes before eating.

Puerto Rican cooking is rich and complex. It's a mix of all sorts of flavors , indigenous, Spanish and African.  This is a perfect blend of deliciousness, pride and history.

Mini D'Ouevres

 Making and serving hors d'ouevres may be a bit too much especially before a dinner or Sunday lunch. However shrink them down a few sizes and you have a fun change that everyone will like. Mini d'ouevres can be as simple or as complicated as you want.

Creating these little bites is easy, especially nowadays. I've recently discovered Keebler''s Club minis. These are fun little crackers with the original's big buttery taste. Imagine pairing them with any filling, from egg salad to cheese. I thought of Miyoko's Vegan Road House Spread a sharp vegan cheddar.

 

It's a fun way to intro soup or a chicken with any kind of veggies dinner. They're sooooo tiny!!!!! Yet they were a snap to make and fun to eat.

You can get creative with any kind of mini d'ouevres. Try making mini meatballs to be dipped into warmed tomato sauce. Another fun bite is Lilliputian pizzas made with slices of Italian bread topped with sauce and cheese. Both of these would be perfect before pasta aglia olio or cavatelli with broccoli. 

If you just want to only serve mini appetizers or apps, then think about cutting up Eggo waffles and putting half a chicken nugget on them. Serve with a drop of maple syrup. Another hearty one is stuffed baby bellas heaped with crumbled sausage bread crumbs and Parmesan. A more elegant bite is shrimp on polenta rounds or  smoked salmon on mini Triscuits.

Mini d'ouevres is a fun way to start a meal. Think tiny for a tasty bite. They may be little but they're packed with big punch of flavor.

Passover Sweets

 Passover starts this coming Saturday and with it special dishes and holiday restrictions. One of the highlights of the Seder table is dessert. It can be quite a challenge to home bakers because of the no flour or yeast rule. Yet there are some interesting sweets that are easy to whip up.

Luckily there are other flours other than wheat or chametz to use. Almond flour is perfectly acceptable as is matzoh meal. You can easily make a flourless chocolate cake using almond flour. It produces a dense , packed crumb, perfect for the other ingredients which are chocolate , butter,eggs yolks and sugar to shine. Orange zest and egg whites are added later, the whites to give the cake some lift. It's baked for thirty to forty minutes in a 350 degree Farenheit  oven. It can be served with candied orange zest or whipped cream if you'd like. Almond flour can also go into making blondies, a fun treat for the kids. This again is ground almonds (which you can make yourself using a food processor),l sugar, vegetable oil and eggs. Chocolate chips can be added for more flavor. The batter is poured into a parchment lined pan and baked at 350 degrees Farenheit for half an hour. Keep in mind you can also use the almond flour for cookies. These are almost like a macaroon  in that they use only egg whites and not the yolks along with a cup of sugar. Of course if you want totally vegan you can sub in the egg white with aqua faba, the brine from chickpeas. These make for excellent meringues and macaroons, the last more in the French style.

Matzoh meal can also be used to make an array of delicious Passover cakes. Remember that you may have to buy matzoh meal because the homemade kind is a lot crumbier and grainier than the finely processed store bought one.,Yet, you can use the first if you have a very strong, almost industrial strength food processor. There are a number of different sweets you can bake. Try an apple cake that's more like a fruit filled coffee cake with a walnut streusel topping. The topping has a refreshing blend of cinnamon, ginger,  mace and nutmeg. to keep the cake interesting. You could also make just a simple vanilla cake and top it with frosting made from heavy cream and confectioner's sugar. Matzoh meal can also be used to make cookie dough too. whip up a couple of batches of chocolate chip cookies using it for the week ahead. This is the basic chocolate chip cookie recipe  that has the usual brown sugar, butter, eggs, and chocolate chips for that classic flavor. Yet instead of wheat flour , there's matzoh meal and honey to sweeten it. You could also bake chocolate cookies too with it, using melted bittersweet chocolate and chocolate chips along with egg whites for  a more meringue like texture.

The seder meal and the week following can end with delicious cakes and cookies. Use either almond flour or matzoh meal for the recipes. They'll give you an array of tasty  sweets , perfect for the holiday and beyond.

Kilwin's -An Old Fashioned Candy Store

 Easter is coming up and that means all things candy. Yet where to get good old fashioned chocolate bunnies and treats. Look no further than Kilwin's a national chain with a small town candy shop vibe.

I recently discovered the store on a trip to Westfield ,New Jersey, a picturesque town in Middlesex County (it's also known for its' most celebrated resident Charles Addams, creator of the Addams Family cartoons for The New Yorker Magazine). Kilwin's sells everything from ice cream to all sorts of old fashioned bonbons. It's a franchise originating from the Midwest. Couple  Don and Katy Kilwins started the company in 1947 with the freshest ingredients. from cacao to fruits and nuts. Ice cream was added in 1985 and the company is also known for its' ice cream cakes too.They also sell a variety of caramel apples and homemade fudge.,Right now they're big on Easter candy.

I couldn't resist these small white chocolate bunny ears. They were only $5.50 for three ounces . They have larger sizes in dark and milk chocolate for $32.00 for twenty-four ounces. Kilwins also is selling chocolate crosses and bunnies as well as  cream and peanut butter eggs.kids will love their chocolate Easter bunny pops, along with the traditional foil eggs. Of course there are jelly beans along with sour chicks and bunnies. For a different spin of Easter candy there's bunny tails along with an Easter decorated  chocolate dipped Rice Krispie treat on a stick.

Check out the Kilwins nearest you for freshly made Easter candy. They have excellent choices for making the holiday special. All make for a sweet holiday.

My Allium Garden

 Spring is here and with it gardening. It's going to be exciting for me because I'm planning on planting an allium garden. These are leeks, garlic and onions, the ingredients I use the most, especially garlic.

Here are the leeks that I cut from the leeks I used from my celery soup and leeks on toast.

As you can see , there are little shoots coming up. In another week there should be about an inch of leek coming up.

The other one is really thriving. as you can see from the pale green sprout coming up. 

This is the garden I want along with tomatoes. I want to plant what I need the most. Leeks are wonderful and just great with butter and Parmesan cheese on toast. Onions and garlic are ingredients I frequently use and love . I can try out variations of French onion soup with just picked from the garden ones. I can slice, batter and air fry them  creating my version of the Blooming Onion. Garlic is my number one flavoring and I cook a lot with it. Young or green garlic can be made into so many different dishes. One recipe on my radar is Alice Waters'  green garlic and pasta recipe, a take on pasta aglia e olio. There's also a green garlic soup with the tender green stems or scapes that sounds delicious.It also has vinegar for zing and heavy cream which can be switched out with silken tofu and soy milk for a vegan version. As for the tomatoes, , I will be growing some form, whether beefsteak or cherry which will be highlighted with the garlic. I'm not one for making sauces, preferring the fresher salsa crudo for summertime spaghetti.

It is planting season. I am planting what I know I'll need the most - alliums. They're going to be a fun and exciting addition to my kitchen this late Spring and summer!!!

New Recipes For A Traditional Seder

 Passover will be coming up soon and with it a new kind of Seder. Families will be gathering but it won't be like the large groups of years past. There still will be traditions but updated ones. It's time to update the age old dishes as well.

Susan Spungen , chef,cookbook author, food stylist and food consultant (she was vital to such moves as Julie & Julia, It's Complicated and Eat,Pray, Love , wrote about five new recipes to add to the Passover table in yesterday's New York Times Food section. These are dishes for a new type of holy day  and Seder meal. Some dishes like haroset , matzoh ball soup and gefilte fish cannot be changed. Others though, can be tweaked.For the main meal, think  about serving chicken with apricots and olives. It's festive to be made for birthdays too. The chicken can be marinated for anywhere from two hours to overnight with a blend of different spices.Ground sumac (the same used in za'atar) gives the tang as well as a pinkness to the meat. Apricots and olives are also added to the marinade for a combination of sweetness and saltiness along with dried thyme. Fresh squeezed lemon and oranges juices give it more fruitiness as well. Or course there has to be matzoh at the table, but try a matzoh frittata instead of a matzoh brei. This is combining the traditional egg and matzoh with caramelized onions, button mushrooms and rosemary.The mushrooms and onions are cooked first and then added to the egg and matzoh mixture.

Chef Spungen also offers a yummy whole roasted cauliflower with pistachio pesto. The pesto is a mix of pistachios and cilantro along with flat leaf parsley leaves for the traditional  green  pesto color and texture.Lemon zest is added for tartness and color The cauliflower itself is roasted with two small yellow onions and olive oil. The pesto is spooned on top of it along with additional zest and parsley. Many home chefs serve tsimmes or the traditional Ashkenazi stew of carrots, prunes and raisins. Chef Spungen offers something slightly different with no prep work and very little time. Hers is sweet potatoes with a tsimmes glaze. The sweet potatoes are first cut and halved lengthwise and then rubbed with olive oil . After they're  roasted in a 400 degree Farenheit oven for thirty to forty minutes. The glaze is a blend of either the juice of navel or Cara Cara oranges along honey cinnamon and ginger. Cut prunes, vital in the original tsimmes recipe, are also added. The glaze is first boiled them simmered until it becomes thick and syrupy. It's then poured over the sweet potatoes. Orange zest is put on top for decoration and to counteract the sweetness

Again ,Passover will be different this year. Have dishes celebrating the difference. Try these recipes for a spin on the traditional  flavors and tastes.

The Baby Restaurant Boom

 Everyone thought there would be a Covid baby boom. That didn't happen but another baby boom of sorts did occur. It seems the pandemic allowed little eateries to sprout and even flourish during the past year.

Pete Wells, Food critic for the New York Times Food section wrote about this phenomena in today's section.It seems strange this happened since mostly everyone stayed home and cooked. Paradoxically the challenges that killed so many existing businesses fueled the fires for food trucks and pop up to flourish. There are advantages to opening up now, especially the agility to change with the times.They also may have lower overhead costs too which help.One restaurant, Kasama opened last March right around the time of the mass closings., Chef Genie Kwon and her husband Tim Flores adapted to this with an incredible flexibility. They offered breakfasts at their traditional Filipino restaurant. They made steaming lattes for customers who weren't away they were the restaurant's chefs.They postponed making lumpia and fried fish until they 're able to open their dining room. The couple turned to take out , offering duck dumplings like Chef Flores. mother made. These are in a mushroom broth that keeps them hot on the ride home.

Other eateries around the country also thrived and adapted to this new normal. Leah and Louise, a fancily redone juke joint in Charlotte North Carolina did just that. The restaurant's original theme was "small plates, Southern food by way of Mississippi River Valley" as per Chef Greg Collier. However that didn't fly. His chicken sandwiches did , however. It wasn't on his original menu yet he had to come up with something that was affordable to people now on budgets. He sold seven hundred the first month they were out. It kept the business above water. Yet it wasn't what he wanted.He wanted customers to savor his other dishes. He and his wife, Sabrina came up with another dish  a popular rice bowl with veggies. Yet it's the customer that now decides what a restaurant serves. Ni Hao in Baltimore offers meal sets that came about from what customers wanted. Comments were absorbed on the Chinese language app WE Chat. Dishes were tweaked to what they felt was acceptable. Some new restaurant owners like Andreas Koutsoudakis Junior, a hospitality lawyer inherited his from his father who unfortunately died from Covid 19. He redid the place and serves only dishes that customers can come to eat. There is little take out.

The baby restaurant boom is taking hold despite the pandemic. It's not luck but flexibility and good cooking that's making this happen. It's a good sign of life coming back.