Archive | April, 2011

La Placita de Plaza

30 Apr

If you live in or near San Juan, this weekend you can enjoy visiting a real modern Plaza de Mercado, La Placita de Plaza… It’s inside Plaza las Américas, with all the comforts of Plaza – air conditioning, easy parking, plus the advantages of trying and sponsoring small local business owners selling their goods and produce.  It’s usually the LAST WEEKEND of every month…

I went with Annie Mariel a few months ago and it was just lovely.

We enjoyed it very much. You can find a great variety of goods such as…

Artisanal Pique – our very own answer to Hot sauce… We must ask Annie Mariel how good this one is because she bought a few bottles herself.  I am not a pique lover, we have already established I am a pepper/spiciness wimp, no??

 

Local Candy like Dulce de Coco, these are made with goat’s milk… 

Natural Remedies like Alcoholado, perfect for a good rub when your body aches…

Loose Tea Mixes… this one has Jamaica, or Hibiscus… we call it locally AMAPOLA too

And every local fruit and vegetable in season

Even ornamental plants and orchids…

 

La Placita de Plaza is a really great idea from Plaza las Américas and the Department of Agriculture to add variety and a sense of local flair to our fanciest San Juan Mall…

SCLT Sandwich

25 Apr

This is grilled cheese sandwich to the MAX… or Panini, however you want to call it.

Trying to capture the flavors and essence of the BLT in a vegetarian, pressed form, I substituted Smoked Cheddar cheese for the Bacon. I learned that melting smoked cheddar cheese in the oven would taste just like bacon. I have not tried it the way dmcavanagh suggested in this thread, but let me tell you, this combination really works.

SCLT SANDWICH

2 ounces of smoked cheddar cheese
About 2 ounces of cream cheese
1 tbs of butter
A handful of arugula lettuce
3-4 tomato slices
Multi-Grain demi baguette
  1. In a food processor or a Magic Bullet… mix together the cheeses, butter and arugula. Mix together until it becomes a puree.
  2. Slather the cheese puree onto both sides of the bread. Layer the tomato slices in the bottom half and top with the other bread half.
  3. Press in a Panini press or a George Foreman grill for about 5 minutes until the cheese is melted.

I hope you enjoy this sandwich as much as I do…

Vegetarian Cooking Class… in Puerto Rico

12 Apr

If you live in Puerto Rico and what to learn some hands-on vegetarian cooking skills…  this coming Sunday, April 17, Centro Cultural Yoga Devanand will be holding a Vegetarian Cooking Seminar open to the general public.

This is how I started my vegetarian culinary steps…  You’ll learn from the same people who taught me how to make textured soy protein, brown rice and tofu scramble.  I still do not know the menu of this workshop, but I can assure you, you’ll learn tons and will have lots of fun in the process.

Hope you can join us. 

For more information, you can call the Centro Yoga at 787-273-0236.  Or email me at karmafreecooking{at}yahoo{dot}com.

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Italian Night @ Devanand Yoga Center

10 Apr

Last night we had our Italian Night @ the Yoga Center… part of our International Night Series to educate people that vegetarian food is tasty and varied.

The night belonged to my mom’s cooking team, usually featured by Rosani, Angie and her. But on Friday afternoon they officially recruited me to join the team in charge of “appetizers” and desserts. I say “appetizers” because in our Devanand dinners, we serve buffet-style, so everything is served at once and people pick and choose what they prefer.

Even though I was officially recruited on Friday, I have been part of the creative engine behind the menu since the team selected Italian as their featured cuisine. Welcome or not, I had forwarded Rosani and my mom a few ideas I had up my sleeve… Mami told me they wanted to avoid pasta and pizza at all costs and she wanted me to supply a few wisps of inspiration…

Among the original ideas I shared were – a Caprese salad presented in a different way, making the tomatoes, pesto and mozzarella bocconcini kind of like the “dressing” for the lettuce. Another idea was to make polenta with a mushroom ragú… something quite different from the typical expected Italian treats. I also suggested they could make a Minestrone Soup or Ribollita, which integrates bread into the brothy soup. My guess is that this idea was avoided due to the wheat-avoiders we have in the Center. You want to offer something most people can enjoy without having to make double batches.

Finally, the menu consisted of the following:

Tomato Basil Bruschetta with 2 choices of crostini – Whole Wheat or GlutenFree

With WholeWheat Crostini

 

with GlutenFree Crostini

 

Pesto Rice – This was MY FAVORITE for the night… The flavors were awesome and fresh… I’ll share Rosani’s recipe with you soon…

Baby Red Potatoes and SnowPeas with a Rosemary, Parsley and Garlic Seasoning

Pasta Vegetali – brown rice penne pasta with broccoli, cauliflower and other veggies in a tomato basil sauce with plenty of cheese. Even though the team wanted to avoid pasta… it crept back into the menu.

Eggplant Parmesan – This version was fully baked, not fried prior, but still very delicious. Here are 2 versions of Eggplant Parmesan if you would like to try one out soon enough…  Version 1 and Version 2.

Vegetable Pizzas in Whole Wheat and Gluten-Free versions – Our GuruJi wanted pizza, so we made him pizza…

Green Salad with a Red Bell Pepper and Parsley Dressing

And the runaway hit of the night… Strawberry Sorbeto. Just like the Very Berry Sorbet I have already shared with you, but made only with strawberries. People were asking for seconds and thirds. We also planned on a second dessert – a Mango Ginger Granita, but because this was a recipe I was trying out for the first time, I realized I did not allow enough time for the juice mixture to become a granita. As soon as I perfect the recipe and have all the times down pat, I will certainly share with you all.

 

We had a lot of visitors last night… most of them impressed with the variety and deliciousness of the menu. Rosani, Angie and Mami were very happy too… Vishnu, one of our littlest members of the Center was super pleased with both the bruschetta and the sorbeto.  And when I told him I could turn that bruschetta into Shrek’s Spaghetti his eyes lit up. I see some spinach pasta in his future…

I hope you enjoyed this latest Devanand International Menu… which other cuisine do you think our cooking team should tackle?? Middle Eastern? Greek? Any suggestions??

If you’re based in Puerto Rico, hope you can join us for our next International Night. If you’re interested in receiving an invitation, just visit our page on FaceBook or send me an email to karmafreecooking{at}yahoo{dot}com and I will certainly keep you posted on all the upcoming International Dinners.

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Creamy Sour Cream Stuffed Mushrooms

4 Apr

I love to buy produce at Costco… but lately I’ve discovered “el pulguero”… yeah, the Flea Market. It doesn’t sound like the name of the place you would like to buy produce. And produce is only about 10% of what they sell there, but the prices and the bargaining power is amazing. Go with $10 bucks on hand, and you’ll fill a few canvas bags full of produce.

I learned about El Pulguero through Tania… she lives around the same area. She started going there to buy produce for the Yoga Center. You find bags of anything and everything for $1. It’s similar to The Boys Farmer’s Market near my sister’s house with their $1 bags.

The catch… most of the produce is ready to be used RIGHT NOW. Some things may have little blemishes or have a few leaves that need to be thrown out. This is usually not produce that you can allow to hang in your fridge or pantry for a long time. But the price is exceptional… way better than any grocery store. It’s like going to Marshall’s. You need to see what’s there and allow the produce “speak to you”.

My mom found the other day some great looking mushrooms, and coming from El Pulguero I didn’t want them to linger too much. That’s when I came across this stuffed mushroom recipe from Alex Guarnaschelli. Of course, I changed it up a bit to make it easier on me to make and to dirty less pots and pans.

CREAMY SOUR CREAM STUFFED MUSHROOMS

10 white button mushrooms stemmed, reserving the stems
3-4 additional mushrooms to use for the filling, chopped finely
¼ cup sour cream
¼ cup savory béchamel sauce, recipe here
½ onion, chopped finely
2-3 sprigs of thyme
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Handful of shredded parmesan cheese
2 handfuls of whole-wheat panko breadcrumbs
Aged balsamic vinegar – optional, but highly recommended
  1. Clean the mushrooms well using a damp paper towel. Remove the stems and chop them into small pieces and set aside. Reserve the caps for later use.
  2. In a medium skillet, pour a little olive oil and sauté the onions and the mushrooms stems you already chopped. Cook until the mushrooms are browned. Season with the thyme, stripping the leaves from the stems, salt and pepper. Add the béchamel and sour cream. Remove from pan into a bowl and allow cooling a bit.
  3. Mix together the cooled mushroom stem/onion/creamy mix with the parmesan and panko breadcrumbs.
  4. Preheat oven to 425F.
  5. Place all stuffed mushrooms in a large baking dish drizzled with a bit of olive oil. Don’t push the stuffing too much into the mushrooms cavity, but do heap any additional stuffing generously on top of mushrooms.
  6. I usually drizzle a a bit of olive oil and sprinkle some additional salt and pepper to season the raw mushrooms themselves.
  7. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the mushrooms are cooked and the top is golden brown.

Serve immediately…

A drizzle of balsamic vinegar at the table. It adds a really nice tang that finishes the dish.

I served this with Spinach Polenta and a side avocado salad…  Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

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