Archive | June, 2009

Tarragon Almonds

4 Jun

This is another recipe I made for my college get-together using ingredients from my CSA box, tarragon.

Tarragon is a new herb for me.  It’s not something you use in Latin cooking at all.  But it’s “licorice-y” taste gave me the idea to pair it up with something sweet and salty at the same time.  I already showed you my Rosemary Almonds, so I decided to give it a go with tarragon to see how people would receive them.

The test was a success… people were asking me what was in them.  Hold on… not just anyone was asking – my friend Mariví, the most finicky eater of all my friends, and Alejandro, the husband of my friend Angie, who always comes to my dinner parties after eating something before.   They were all over the bowl of almonds… 

I guess they don’t serve these at the Argentinean restaurant next door to my house…

 

 Tarragon Almonds

TARRAGON ALMONDS

1 cup of raw almonds
2 tbs maple syrup
2 tbs maple sugar
½ tsp kosher salt
A few grinds of the peppermill
1 tbs fresh tarragon, chopped finely

 

  1. I prefer to skin the almonds… so you need to do this in advance using the method I show you here.
  2. After the almonds are skinned and dry, toast them in a 350F oven for about 15-20 minutes.  Keep an eye on them… they will take a bit longer than skinned almonds because we’ve soaked them in water, but they could burn if left completely unattended.  The idea is to toast them a bit before you add the sugars because if not, the sugars will burn before the almonds get toasted…
  3. Take them out of the oven and let them cool a bit. 
  4. In a medium bowl mix together the maple sugar, syrup, salt, pepper and tarragon.  Add the almonds and toss to combine.
  5. Return them to the oven for about 10-15 minutes until the sugar and syrup dissolves and forms a caramel on top of the almonds.
  6. Take the out of the oven and immediately but very carefully place them in a shallow dish to cool.  BE CAREFUL THE SUGAR BURNS!!!

After they’ve cooled, you can separate them with your hands.  If you live in a hot humid climate like Puerto Rico, you might need to place them in the fridge so they do not get sticky…

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Fresh Fettuccini with Barely-Cooked Fresh Tomato Sauce

3 Jun

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.

 Fett w- BC Tom Sauce

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. Barely-cooked Tomato Sauce
  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.

 BC Tomato 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.

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Spinach Pinwheels

2 Jun

Originally this was going to be one of the dishes I was going to prepare for my goddaughter and our little experiment.  However, I forgot completely to defrost the puffed pastry and, by the time I remembered, it was too late… and I did not want the kids to arrive and see evidence of spinach before they had to actually taste them.

So, I made them a week later in a get-together I hosted for my bunch from college.  It had been almost a year since our last get-together and we needed to get up to speed with all our lives.  So my friend Aniette and I decided, democratically we needed to get-together NOW!

I liked these because they were easy to make, you can prepare them ahead of time before your guests arrive and bake while people are talking so you have something hot to pass out.   Kind of felt like a short order cook because I would make them, put a plate on a table and by the time I turned around the plate was empty.  So I went back and did some more… and I went back and did some more… and some more… maybe the plate was too little??

 

 Spinach Pinwheels

 

SPINACH PINWHEELS

2 sheets of puffed pastry, defrosted in the refrigerator overnight – I just buy it and place it in the fridge…
1 heaping cup of frozen spinach, it will become about ½ cup defrosted and squeeze it dry
1 tbs butter, melted
About 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated
About ½ cup gruyere cheese, grated
A little whole-wheat flour so the pastry doesn’t stick when we roll it

 

  1. Open the puffed pastry (which comes folded in three).  Place some flour onto a clean surface and flour the rolling pin too.  Roll out the pastry so that it loses the creases where the folds were.
  2. Cut the pastry in half.  Set one half aside and work with the first one.
  3. Spread some melted butter on top of the pastry, sprinkle some parmesan cheese, spread an even layer of spinach leaving a border on one edge and sprinkle the grated gruyere on top of the spinach.
  4. Start rolling from the farthest edge from the border you left without spinach.  Roll the pastry onto itself until you create a log. 
  5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 with the second half of pastry.  Place both logs in the fridge covered with a moist paper towel for about 10-15 minutes or until you’re ready to bake them.  This is important for the pastry to harden a bit again.  It’ll be easier to cut if the pastry is cold than if it is at room temp.
  6. Slice the logs into ½ inch pieces. Place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake in a 425F oven for about 10-12 minutes, until the cheeses smell great and the pastry is puffed and golden delicious.

Transfer them to a cool plate and serve them immediately.

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