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A Spanish Super Bowl???

1 Feb

Why not?? I know Spaniards are really into soccer… American Football is only a US novelty. A big one, I should say.

I am not into American Football at all… but I am into watching all the TV commercials. The only thing I have been a bit into are the players.  I am dating myself here but I used to like to watch the Chicago Bears a bit when Jim Harbaugh was quarterback.  I even went to a game in Soldier Field – Thanks John and Dave!!!

(Believe it or not, I didn’t know until finding links for this post that Jim Harbaugh is currently the head coach for the San Francisco 49ers, who almost went to the SBowl this year!!!  I told you I wasn’t into it…  but he still looks as cute as ever!!!)

Last year, I hosted my friends Dan and Yvonne (who are really into football, I might add) with a Puerto Rican inspired snacking spread. Well, this year I want to do it with a Spanish/Mediterranean menu.  Why??  Because even though I am not into soccer either, I have now a big crush on Real Madrid’s goalie Iker Casillas…  and besides, why not???

You’ll see this is a celebration of Tomato, Spinach and Bread… Here are the options:

Spinach Croquetas

Sun-dried Tomatoes Stuffed Mushrooms

Warm Goat Cheese tapa

Queso de Cabra Tapa - KFC

Empanada Gallega

Empanada Gallega

Pan con Tomate

Pan con Tomate

And 2 Sangrias to wash it down – regular red sangría and a White Sangría

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Soyrizo Apricot Quesadilla

24 Oct

My dear friends Angie and Ana are taking these cooking classes on Wednesday nights… I am not participating because these classes are not vegetarian and I would not be able to cook or actually taste almost anything they make. But the ideas their teacher shares are quite good sometimes and I like to vegetarianize them to be able to enjoy them.

Such is the case with a croissant idea filled with chorizo and apricot jam… Refrigerated croissant dough does not come in whole wheat form, unfortunately. So I decided to make-over the recipe given to me by Angie into a quesadilla.

Never been too fond of Mexican chorizo… I much preferred Spanish chorizo. But this Soyrizo tastes like the Mexican version with strong cumin notes. I take it easy with this soyrizo because after my first trip to India, I developed a strong aversion to cumin. For years I was not able to taste cumin or even smell it up close. Now I’m better, but I am still not a cumin fan.

What I do love about this recipe is the salty/sweet combination… and it has a very rich flavor, so be prudent and don’t over stuff your quesadilla.

SOYRIZO APRICOT QUESADILLA

1 FlatOut flatbread or whole wheat tortilla
2 handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese
1 ½ tbs of apricot jam
About 2 inches of soyrizo
2 large scallion, chopped finely
2 tbs softened butter
2 tsps brown sugar
Butter-flavored spray
Olive oil
  1. In a small non-stick skillet over medium high heat, with a tad bit of olive oil, cook the soyrizo. Start moving it around allowing it to brown on one side before mixing it up and moving it around. It will cook and brown until it turns into crumbles. Set aside.
  3. Pre-heat toaster oven to 425F.
  4. In a baking sheet, spray butter-flavored oil to make sure your tortilla or flatbread does not stick. Place your flatbread halfway in the pan.
  5. Start mounting the fillings… spread most of the apricot jam on the bottom half of your quesadilla. Add the cheese, the crumbled cooked soyrizo, the scallions and a tad bit additional apricot jam if you wish. Fold the tortilla to create a half moon. Press it lightly to make it all “stick together”.
  7. Spread some softened butter on top of tortilla or flatbread and sprinkle some brown sugar on top.
  8. Place in oven for about 5-7 minutes. The cheese will melt, the fillings will fuse together and the top will get brown and crunchy. Take it out if the oven and allow a few minutes for the cheese to cool down.
  9. Cut into wedges and enjoy…

I did this with 2 tortillas and the flavor was too rich for me. But I encourage making it with two tortillas if you are sharing.

The scallions are my addition to this recipe and I feel they help cut a bit of the oiliness of the cheese and soyrizo plus it adds some freshness.

Try it… and tell me if you like it or not. What are your favorite quesadilla ideas???

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Frozen Grapes

3 Oct

The best things in life are simple… The best food is the simplest…

With the heat rising close to 100F every day here in PR (yes, even in early October…) sometimes all you crave are liquids and fruits. Sometimes all you want is to drink your way through the day to avoid heat exhaustion. Sad to say… I know about heat exhaustion and it’s the WORST feeling in the world.

Something I learned about many years ago at one of the fanciest weddings I’ve been to is the goodness of freezing grapes. I had them first as a palate cleanser in between courses. The presentation was spectacular in a bowl made from ice and everything. Too bad I was not into this blogging thing then or I would certainly have pictures for you to also admire. But those grapes stayed in my mind, waiting for a good time to re-appear in my life.

I’ve told you how in Costco you need to buy fruits in BULK. Or at least it seems like that for someone without a hug family to feed every night. So I decided I would freeze half of the green seedless grapes I bought for a future use because I was afraid they would spoil if I left them all in the fridge. Besides, my fridge can’t hold that many huge containers of food at once…

One stifling night… I was soooo “salapastrosa”… those days you need to shower about 4-5 times to feel more comfortable. I felt like snacking… but what???? And I remembered those grapes in the fridge!!!!!! They’re amazing!!!!

It’s like a very natural ice pop or bom bom. Just serve yourself a few grapes in a plate and munch the heat away…

Hope you like this idea as much as I do every night it’s too hot to snack on a pizza…

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Guacamole Agrandado

15 Aug

We’re in avocado season… and there’s no way I can eat a whole avocado in slices in one sitting. Unless… It’s converted into guacamole!!!!!

My new thing with guacamole… eating it with BBQ potato chips instead of tortilla chips!!! These are the genius ideas one comes up in serendipity – when a natural doctor tells you to stay away from corn for a whole month.

And where does the “agrandado” comes from?? Agrandado in Spanish means “supersized”, like the combos in fast foods joints. We recently went to a Mexican restaurant and we wanted a small batch of pica de gallo and there were 2 options – regular and “agrandado”. I immediately though the agrandado version was simply… more quantity. But nooooooo… Agrandado meant it has pieces of queso fresco inside.

So for my sister’s recent visit, I decided to make my guacamole even BIGGER and BETTER with pieces of queso blanco del país inside… making it a Guacamole Agrandado!!!!

GUACAMOLE AGRANDADO

1 avocado, cut into small pieces
½ large tomato, peeled and finely diced
¼ medium onion, finely diced
The juice of 1 criollo lemon or lime
A drizzle of olive oil – about 1 tbs
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/3 cup of pieces of Queso Blanco del País or Mexican Queso Fresco or a mild Feta
2 tbs of fresh parsley (optional)
  1. Mix everything in a medium sized bowl.
  2. Let it stand in the fridge for a few hours so the flavors meld together.

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Goat Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

12 Aug

My sister came for a quickie visit to Puerto Rico… And to make things easier on her and my BIL, we decided to cook up some appetizer-type food and tell everyone if they wanted to see baby Ale, all they needed to do was to stop by my mom’s house.

I didn’t want to cook something and have it re-heated… I though stuffed mushrooms would be perfect because I could stuff them at home and cook them in batches as people would visit and decided they wanted something to nibble on.

The idea worked out perfectly because I did way too many… and we ended up dividing the leftovers between my mom and I for lunch the next day. Great make ahead idea…

 

 

GOAT CHEESE STUFFED MUSHROOMS

1 large package of white stuffing mushrooms
1/2 medium onion, chopped finely
2 garlic cloves, minced or grated on a microplane
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
5 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped in small pieces – make sure they’re made without sulfites as a preservative
1/4 cup of vegetable broth
½ cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
1 cup of shredded parmesan cheese, organic preferably- divided
½ cup crumbled goat cheese
1/2 cup of loosely-packed fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped finely
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil
  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 small saucepan, heat the vegetable broth to a simmer and add the sundried tomatoes. Turn off the stove and let the tomatoes just sit in the hot broth for a few minutes to help them reconstitute a bit.
  3. Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, pour a little olive oil and sauté the onions, garlic 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. Allow the mixture to cook some more to evaporate a bit, about 5 more minutes. Remove from pan into a bowl and allow cooling a bit.
  4. In a separate bowl, mix together the cooled mushroom stem/onion mixture with the sun-dried tomatoes, breadcrumbs, goat cheese, ½ the parmesan cheese, and chopped fresh parsley. Drizzle some olive oil if you see the mix a bit dry… but chances are it’s not.
  5. Preheat oven to 425F.
  6. In a large baking dish drizzled with a bit of olive oil, place all the mushrooms stuffed with the mixture we just made. Don’t push the stuffing too much into the mushrooms cavity, but do heap any additional stuffing generously on top of mushrooms. No need to discard or leave any stuffing for future use.
  7. Take the extra parmesan we saved and add a small mound on top of each mushrooms. I usually drizzle a bit of olive oil and sprinkle some additional salt and pepper to season the mushrooms themselves.
  8. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the mushrooms looked cooked and cheese on top is golden brown.

Serve immediately…

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