Archive | February, 2009

Green Salad with Meyer Lemon Dressing

28 Feb

Ever since I went to Miami for Xmas, I have been hypnotized by Meyer Lemons…  a friend of mine brought them to our yoga retreat and never used them.  I looked at them everyday – how yellow they were, their soft skins in contrast with regular yellow lemons or limes.   We do not have Meyer lemons in Puerto Rico, so I was mostly intrigued by how they would taste.

meyer-lemons

According to most chefs on the Food Network, Meyer lemons are like a cross between a lemon and an orange, because they taste that much sweeter than a regular lemon.  I have substituted Meyer lemon juice in recipes my mixing lemon and orange juices.  But I had never actually tasted one in real life.  So after a little asking, she gave me some lemons and brought them home…

Meyer Lemons taste a tad bit different than regular yellow lemons – their juice is not as tart, but is not necessarily sweeter.  But now that I have these beautiful lemons, what do I do with them…  let’s see how a vinaigrette will taste like…

 green-salad-w-meyer-lemon-dressing

GREEN SALAD WITH MEYER LEMON DRESSING

The juice of 1 Meyer lemon
2 tsp of mustard with horseradish
About double of the amount of lemon juice you have
Salt and Pepper to taste
5-6 lettuce leaves
½ cucumber, peeled and sliced

 

  1. In a small glass jar mix together the lemon juice, mustard, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Shake well or whisk together all the ingredients until an emulsion forms.
  2. Wash the lettuce well and dry.  Combine with the cucumber slices.  Add a drizzle of the dressing and toss to coat.

 

Enjoy as a side salad with a delicious Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart.

Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart

27 Feb

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-tart

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. preparing-tomato-tart
  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. preparing-tomato-tart-2
  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!!!

tomato-and-goat-cheese-tart-2

Arugula Pasta Salad

11 Feb

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-salad1

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.

Garlic-infused Mashed Potatoes

8 Feb

I once saw Tyler Florence do mashed potatoes boiled in a mixture of cream and milk.  He infused the liquid with lots of flavors – bay leaves, garlic and salt, among others.  This is my rendition of those potatoes…

I used half and half – partly because I already had it in my fridge, partly because that’s exactly same thing as mixing equal parts of milk and cream…  why buy two things if you can buy only one.  What I liked about adding the garlic whole and letting it cook with the half and half is that it mellows the strong taste of garlic…  giving it a smoother, almost roasted, taste to the mashed potatoes.

  garlic-infused-mashed-potatoes-2

GARLIC-INFUSED MASHED POTATOES

About 10-12 fingerling potatoes – I would also use Yukon Gold or Red Bliss Potatoes, which are my favorites
About 2 cups of half and half – enough that would cover most of the potatoes
1 bay leaf – fresh or dry
2 medium garlic cloves – smashed and with the peel removed
Salt to taste – I used about 1 tsp
Freshly Cracked Black Pepper – optional
 
  1. Wash well the potatoes  - It is very important to wash well the potatoes because we will not discard the liquid they’re being boiled in.  Cut them in half or even thirds if the potatoes are a bit large. I usually do not cut my potatoes too small, but because we’re boiling them with the same liquid we’re mashing them in, none of the nutrition will be “drained away”. 
  2. Add the potatoes, half and half, salt, bay leaf and garlic to a large pot.  You might think the pot is too large, but this is to prevent any spillovers.  I tend to cover my pots when I boil potatoes, but because we’re doing it in a dairy product, only half-cover the pot for now.  This will help bring the liquid to a nice simmer/ light boil.
  3. Boil the potatoes for about 30 minutes, until they’re fork tender.  Fingerlings tend to be a bit tougher than Yukon Gold’s or Red potatoes… just so you know.
  4. When the potatoes are done, cover the pot and let them be for about 10-15 minutes.  The steam inside the pot will ensure they’ll be thoroughly cooked and the liquid will not be as hot for you to handle the mashing…  this is experience talking here.
  5. When the time has elapsed, discard the bay leaf, drain some of the liquid out (this will make the mashing a bit easier) and mash potatoes with remaining liquid with a potato masher.  Add more of the boiling liquid if you see they’re not as creamy as you would like them to be.  I use most of the half and half when I make them.   As you’ll see, the garlic is soft enough and mashes easily into the potatoes.
  6. Check for seasonings.  Add more salt if needed.  Add cracked pepper is using.

 

garlic-infused-mashed-potatoes

Mami’s Tembleque

6 Feb

My mom is not one of those moms that slaved over the stove when we were growing up.  That was my grandma… my grandma would offer you food from the moment you stepped into her house, until the moment you left.  My mom would take home bowls of food my grandma had made and served it to us after we had returned from ballet classes and done our homework.

She taught us how to cook a few survival dishes so we would not “starve to death” when we went to live by ourselves when we left for school.  She did many dips and salads for parties… hey, she even once made a Friendship Cake where she had to macerate fruit for almost a month.  But in general, desserts were not her thing.  That’s why it surprised me when for Three Kings Day (Día de Reyes) she made Tembleque.

I asked my aunt to come to my grandma’s house to have lunch for Día de Reyes… I wanted to eat her Arroz con Maíz and Ensalada de Papas.  But my mom surprised me the most when she said she had made a tembleque from scratch and even more so that my dad had found her the recipe in the Internet!!!  My dad – the least online-friendly person I know!!!  This will be a 2009 full of surprises if this is the way the year is starting…

Like me, my mom almost follows recipes… so even though she got a recipe off the Internet , that was not what she did…

 tembleque-mami

 

 

MAMI’S TEMBLEQUE

1 can cream of coconut – Coco Lopez or any other brand, this is what you use to make Piña Coladas
1 can coconut milk
Water
2 cinnamon sticks
A pinch of salt
½ cup + 1/3 cup cornstarch
Ground Cinnamon to taste

 

  1. Take the 2 cans of cream of coconut and coconut milk and add enough water to make 5 cups of liquid all together.  Reserve 1 cup of liquid and pour the rest in a large pot to cook over medium-high heat.  Add the salt and cinnamon sticks to the pot.
  2. Mix the cornstarch to the liquid you reserved.  Mix well and add to the pot when the mixture starts to simmer.  The coconut mixture will start to thicken a bit as it simmers/boils.
  3. Take it off the heat and pour into the container you want to serve it in.  You can do it in a square pyrex dish or even individual demit asses or ramekins.  Place it in the refrigerator to set.  It will set just like gelatin does.
  4. Sprinkle the top with ground cinnamon just before serving.

Fresh Baby Spinach Pasta

4 Feb

I’ve had this recipe in my Food Network Recipe box for the longest time…  Penne with Spinach Sauce  is a recipe from Giada DeLaurentiis that I have found fascinating since I first saw it on TV.

I did this recipe off the top of my head for my French conversation class group, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that I actually made it almost the same as the original.  Two of my friends asked me for dish using spinach… so I knew they would enjoy it.  But Katherine is not a spinach fan, and she loved this dish.  She said the goat cheese in the sauce made it for her.  So this can be something to try on your little ones…  Call it Shrek’s pasta.

I used local fresh spinach, with a somewhat larger leaf than the one you get at the supermarket.  Remember to wash your spinach well before using it in this recipe…

 

fresh-spinach-penne

 

FRESH BABY SPINACH PASTA

¾ pound of whole-wheat pasta – I used penne, but any tubular pasta would do
2 cups of fresh baby spinach leaves, loosely packed, divided
3 ounces of goat cheese
3 ounces of cream cheese
1 small garlic clove, cut in small pieces
2 turns of the food processor of Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
¼ cup Parmesan Cheese, plus more to sprinkle on top to taste
 
  1. Boil the pasta in salted boiling water according to packaging directions.
  2. Wash and dry well the spinach leaves.  Set aside a small bunch aside and chop.
  3. Meanwhile, in the bowl of a food processor, add most of the spinach leaves you have not chopped, goat cheese, cream cheese, garlic clove, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Pulse a few times until the mixture becomes a light green paste.
  4. When pasta is done, drain well while reserving about 1 cup of the cooking water.
  5. Return the pasta to the pot and add the spinach mixture.  Mix well so the sauce loosens with the heat of the pasta and pot.  Add pasta water little by little to loosen the sauce to a creamy consistency.  Add the chopped spinach leaves and the Parmesan cheese and mix well.
  6. Sprinkle more Parmesan cheese on top.

 

To reheat this pasta, I added a small amount of milk to a small pot together with the left-over pasta.  I also added a bit of cream cheese and more Parmesan cheese.  The sauce was creamy and delicious again as it was when done originally.

Sad News…

3 Feb

I just learned that Joe Ades… a very quirky, but very charismatic vegetable peeler sales man died in NYC at the age of 75.

During my last visit to NYC, I went to Union Square Farmer’s Market and bought 2 of his vegetable peelers.  This was exactly the same day as he was featured in the TODAY SHOW. 

<div><iframe height=”339″ width=”425″ src=”http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/27007104#27007104” frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”></iframe><style type=”text/css”>.msnbcLinks {font-size:11px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #999; margin-top: 5px; background: transparent; text-align: center; width: 425px;} .msnbcLinks a {text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px;} .msnbcLinks a:link, .msnbcLinks a:visited {color: #5799db !important;} .msnbcLinks a:hover, .msnbcLinks a:active {color:#CC0000 !important;} </style><p class=”msnbcLinks”>Visit msnbc.com for <a href=”http://www.msnbc.msn.com”>Breaking News</a>, <a href=”http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507″>World News</a>, and <a href=”http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072″>News about the Economy</a></p></div>

His sales pitch was superb.  My mom and I were enthraled for the better part of 5 minutes.  I remember trying to ask him questions and he just would not stop his sales speech for me… he just kept going and going like the Energizer bunny.  At the end and only at the end he answered my questions and I surely bought one peeler for myself and one for my mom.

Believe it or not, I used mine for the first time last week…   I tend to save things “for a special ocassion”, something I am erradicating this year as part of my new year’s resolutions.  Now thinking about it, I should have bought the 5 for $20. 

This is very sad news.  Hope his soul rest in peace. 

Hope someone will continue to sell these and continue the tradition… even thou it will never be the same again.

Arugula Salad

2 Feb

One of my new year’s resolutions is to eat more salads. 

I went to our local Organic Farmer’s Market and met a friend I knew only via e-mails.  She’s Silka and she runs the only CSA farm that I know of in Puerto Rico, Siembra Tres Vidas.  I want to join, but she’s so busy with her current shareholders she still can’t create a route for San Juan customers.  But, fortunately for me and all my neighbors in San Juan, she’s attending the Organic Farmer’s Market at la Placita Roosevelt every other Sunday.

The last time I visited, she had the most wonderful arugula lettuce.  Arugula is my new favorite lettuce.  Romaine, Green Leaf, Red Leaf and the local variety of lettuce are staples in my grocery shopping, but Arugula has a special place in my heart.  I first learned about Arugula’s existence when I moved to NYC over 15yrs ago when I ordered a tri-color salad – one with Arugula, Radicchio and Endive – thinking it was a tri-color pasta salad.  Then, my palate was not ready for the flavors of that salad.  But nowadays, I love it.

Arugula is a peppery lettuce with a similar taste to watercress.  It’s great in a salad, in a sandwich, mixed in with pasta.  Here, we celebrate arugula’s flavor and tenderness in a salad all on its own…

 arugula-salad

ARUGULA SALAD

2 big handfuls of arugula leaves, well washed and dried
Extra-Virgin Olive Oil – about 2 turns of the salad bowl
The juice of ½ a lemon
Salt and Freshly Cracked Pepper to taste

 

  1. In a salad bowl, add the arugula leaves.  Drizzle some olive oil, the lemon juice, salt and pepper.  I do this all without measuring.
  2. Toss well so the arugula is well coated with the dressing.

 

Serve alongside Fettuccini Alfredo or any pasta you desire.

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