Archive | 2008

Malanga Chips

18 Jun

Tonight is the Top Chef Chicago reunion show…  I will tune-in because I want to see who wins Fan Favorite.  I would like to see Richard win.  He was a great chef, competitor and human being all around.   I already told you some about it here.  Stephanie got the grand prize, and I am super glad for it, so I think Richard should get Fan Favorite and get that $10,000 prize…

Because the show is at 10PM, and I usually watch it a bit later (thanks to TiVo) I usually get the munchies… so for a late-night snack, I want to make something that is a little homage to this season finale in Puerto Rico, but also to Season 2 finale in Hawaii…  Malanga Chips, or as the Hawaiians might call them, Taro Chips.

This is what a Malanga or Taro looks like at the grocery store or farmer’s market.  Its sort-of oval in shape and the flesh is lilac and speckled.

                                  

               www.khiewchanta.com                                 www.gourmetsleuth.com

I’ve never been to Hawaii – at least not yet… but I learned in the Top Chef Season 2 finale that Taro, or Malanga as we call it here in Puerto Rico, is very widely used, particularly in a typical dish they have called poi.  In Puerto Rico, we mostly boil them in salted water and eat them cut in pieces or mashed drizzled with olive oil. 

But just like any other root vegetable we can make chips… here’s how.

 

 

MALANGA CHIPS

1 small malanga, washed and peeled
1 cup of canola oil to fry
Garlic Salt to sprinkle liberally

 

  1. In a large skillet, heat up canola oil until it is hot enough to fry.  Use the back side of a wooden spoon to know when the oil is ready.
  2. Using a mandolin, slice the malanga in slices as thinly as possible.
  3. Drop the malanga slices onto the oil to fry.  They’ll take about 10 minutes.  Flip them over to make sure the chips fry evenly on both sides.
  4. When the edges start to turn a light golden color, remove them from oil.  Drain them on a paper towel and sprinkle with garlic salt.

 

I also did a test BAKING the chips instead of frying them.  They actually turned out OK.  Here’s what I did:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 400 F.
  2. Place the malanga slices side-by-side on a baking sheet.  They can touch, but try that they are not on top of each other so they can cook evenly.
  3. Brush each slice on both sides with canola or olive oil.
  4. Bake for about 10-15 minutes.  After the first 10 minutes watch them a bit, and when the edges start turning golden brown, take them out.  They can burn really easily.
  5. Transfer them onto a paper towel to drain any excess oil and sprinkle them with garlic salt.

 

You can find these in bags already made in health foods or street vendors around Puerto Rico…

Nice and crispy home-made snack for any occasion.  This would be a perfect substitute for any potato chip occasion.  Try it… and let me know if you love them too.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A bit of nomenclature housekeeping here… and I say this in no way to confuse you.  Just in the interest of being helpful in understanding my post and the main ingredient.

Malanga is the Puerto Rican word used for a Taro root vegetable.  Cubans use the word malanga to refer to a different kind of root vegetable – the one we call yautía in Puerto Rico, which there are 2 kinds – yautía blanca/malanga blanca and yautía lila/malanga lila .  Yautía or Cuban malanga looks like this…

www.gothamstudio.com

Just wanted to you that I know there is a difference in how you call these depending on where you live or how your parents call it.

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Tomato Salad

17 Jun

This is sooooooo simple, that I don’t really know it if warrants a post of its own…

This is one of my go-to “salads” of all time.  When I was growing up, to slice a few tomatoes and serve it on the side was a perfectly good “salad” in my mom’s opinion.  Quick, simple and no need to dirty a salad plate for it…

Nowadays, I embellish it a bit with the drizzle of olive oil and the addition of salt to season.  And because there’s hardly any ingredients in this, the quality of the tomatoes will dictate how good this salad will turn out.  I prefer using sweet beautiful grape tomatoes.  But lately, my aunt is bringing us organic heirloom tomatoes her neighbor is growing and they’re absolutely fabulous.  Please use organic tomatoes if you can find them near you…

I have this Tomato Salad all the time to accompany pasta, rice and particularly loved it as a garnish for the Florentine Mac & Cheese, but it was more than just a garnish, it was the perfect flavor complement….

 

TOMATO SALAD

10-12 grape tomatoes, washed well with a veggie rinse and sliced in half
About 1 tbs of olive oil
3 dashes of kosher salt

 

  1. Mix together well to combine.  Let it sit for 5-10 minutes to allow the flavors to marry.

 

Can this be any simpler???

Serve as a side dish or on top of your favorite pasta or rice dish.  Here it is as a side dish for our Blue Cheese Polenta and Roasted Mushrooms.

 

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Florentine Mac & Cheese

16 Jun

I’ve already shared with you my passion for Mac & Cheese.  It’s a paradox… because when someone is feeling down and out, people usually seek their comfort foods to make themselves feel better.  But here’s the thing… when I am feeling “under the weather” I crave cheese like there’s no tomorrow, but cheese and wheat products are the least I should have during that time…

So lately I have been trying my best to stay away from cheeses – trying to make other types of food…  rices, stews, etc.  But I could not hold-off any longer.  That tub of ricotta cheese was calling me every time I opened up the fridge…  so without further ado, here’s my version of a quick stove-top white mac and chesse with fresh baby spinach…

 

 

FLORENTINE MAC & CHEESE

¼ pack of whole-wheat macaroni pasta – although any short tubular pasta will do
1 tsp olive oil
1 tbs sofrito
1 cup half-and-half
½ cup ricotta cheese
¼ cup Parmesan
2 oz cream cheese
¼ cup vegetable stock
1 tbs cornstarch
Kosher Salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
3 – 4 handfuls of fresh baby spinach – this would also work with about 1 cup of thawed and squeezed-dry frozen spinach
  1. Bring to a boil a large pot of water, season liberally with salt.  Add macaroni and cook for about 10 minutes, until al dente.
  2. Meanwhile, we make the sauce…   In a medium sauce pan, heat olive oil and sofrito and sauté for about 2-3 minutes.
  3. Add the half and half and heat for a few minutes.   Add the ricotta, cream cheese and Parmesan.  Let the cheeses melt into the sauce.
  4. Add the fresh spinach.  Stir every so often to wilt the spinach into the cheese mixture.  Cover for a few minutes so the steam helps in the wilting process.
  5. In a small dish, mix together the vegetable stock and cornstarch to make a slurry.  Add to the cheese mixture to thicken.  Stir a few times to ensure everything is well incorporated.  The sauce will start to thicken as it comes to a soft boil.
  6. When the sauce has reached your desired consistency, which to me is that it looks creamy enough to coat the macaroni, turn it off and keep covered.  The spinach will fully wilt with the remaining heat in the pot.
  7. Drain the cooked macaroni and return to the hot pot.  Add the cheese mixture and combine well.  Let the macaroni with cheese sauce stand for 5-10 minutes… the sauce will thicken a bit upon standing.

 

Serve with a nice Tomato Salad on top… super comfort food in my book.

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Roasted Mushrooms

15 Jun

I made these originally as part of my Comme Çi Comme Ça Salade Niçoise… but when I make them by themselves, I like to do something nice to them that the former recipe does not includes.

Lately something has been bothering me about how I named my version of Salade Niçoise.  In my conversational French class we discussed how real French people do not say the phrase “comme çi comme ça” to refer to the English phrase “more or less”.  Apparently they use more commonly “plus ou moin”, which is literally, “more or less”.  Apparently only people who learn French use the phrase “comme çi comme ça”.  Should I change the name of the recipe?  Discuss amongst yourselves and let me know your POV.

Revenons nos muttons…

More recently, I made these mushrooms to accompany my Blue Cheese Polenta and the combination was nothing short of amazing!!! 

 

 

ROASTED MUSHROOMS with Lemon Juice

½ packet of button mushrooms, sliced in half
2 tbs Olive oil
Kosher salt to taste
Freshly Cracked Black Pepper to taste
The juice of ½ lemon

 

  1. Pre-heat oven to 350° F.
  2. Clean and wipe well the mushrooms.  Slice them in half.
  3. On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, toss the mushroom halves with olive oil, salt and pepper.   Super simple.
  4. Roast in the oven for about 20 -25 minutes.
  5. Serve them while they’re still warm and drizzle the lemon juice on top of mushrooms.

 

 The tanginess of the lemon juice pairs very well with the earthiness of the mushrooms.  I started doing this after I tasted the stuffed mushrooms at Magianno’s once.  I loved the flavor combination.  These are great for a quick supper any day of the week, but still, easy and flavorful enough for company.

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Don’t inhibit yourself!!! – Part 3

14 Jun

Ok – how much vegetarian junk food there is?!?!?  Lots. 

This is part 3 on a series on Vegetarian Junk Food…  check out the previous installments – Part 1 and Part 2.

Gelatin

Back in the day I was a Jello junkie.  My favorite flavor is orange, but I would make them in all flavors.  One large package a day sometimes, especially when I was home on vacation.   Ever since I learned gelatin comes from the bone marrow of animals, I had to say goodbye to Jello and to many other sweets and goodies made with gelatin.

But last year I discovered these Natural Desserts Jel desserts in a Whole Foods in one of my many business trips to the US.  I bought a few flavors to try.  I was skeptic at first, but believe me… these ROCK!!!!  After not having a gelatin for so long, these taste pretty similar to the original.  Because they are natural and do not contain artificial colorings, the colors are not as intense, but the flavors are.  You make them exactly as you would regular gelatin.  I still prefer the orange flavor, but the strawberry and raspberry ones are pretty good too.

 

It also comes in unflavored version to use in other savory applications… I have not tried it yet, but I am confident that it’ll be as awesome as the flavored ones.

 

Chocolate substitutes

I am a chocolate girl.  And when I had to give up chocolate I thought my world would end…  But then Carob entered my life.  I will be honest with you, even though my mom now kills for a piece of carob bar candy, I personally don’t go for the stuff.  If it doesn’t taste like or better than the real thing, I don’t eat it.   There are good brands out there, but I do not know them by heart because I usually buy them only when I am traveling and if I can’t see the packaging I am lost.

But let me tell you… I use carob chips in my regular chocolate chip cookie recipe and I can’t tell the difference.  I have drank hot chocolate made with carob powder and evaporated milk and it’s to die for.  I have worked with the carob powder on cake and brownie recipes and it’s amazing.

                                                                                                      

My point being… not need to deprive yourself totally of chocolate-like desserts when there’s carob around…  even if you still dream of a piece of Hershey’s Kisses in your lips.  I know the feeling…

 

Candy

And to conclude this series, candy…  who doesn’t love a gummy bear or a jelly bean?  I was never crazy about them, but these Surf Sweets are a good compromise for the Skittles and Starburst I used to eat at the movies.  The bag is small, so it fits in any decent purse when going to the movies.  I particularly like the Fruity Bears because they have a sugary coating on top of the gumminess… they’re like those orange slices, but in various other flavors.  If they would make them only in orange flavor, I would buy several every week…

 

Marshmallows…  I never ate a ton of marshmallows, but how much you miss them when you hear about smores, the topping over a sweet potato dish on Thanksgiving and several other seventies delicacies my mom used to make with tinned fruit salad.  Ohhhh, and the rice krispies treats we all love so much…  we already found a way to make these treats without the need of marshmallows.  But once in a while, if you do crave something sweet and mellow you can go online and get them.  They might be available at a Whole Foods, but because we do not have one in Puerto Rico, the ones I get are online…  check these out.  These are vegan so they’re super safe to eat.

 

 

 

 

I hope you have enjoyed my series on vegetarian junk food…  it’s been really nice to share with my friends at the Yoga Center and with you all too.

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