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The Best Spanish Olive Oil

This past Summer I spent a little over 2 weeks in Spain. I visited Madrid, Pamplona, Zaragoza, San Sebastian, Barcelona, among others. Near Barcelona, we visited this little town called Villafranca del Penedés. It was a must we visited this town, as my friend Walter’s family is originally from there. The proof – there was a street named after him… it was amazing.

But what I never thought I would find in Villafranca was one of the best extra virgin olive oils I have ever tasted. As part of a tour to Villafranca and Montserrat, we visited the Bodegas Torres. I was afraid this was going to be one of those tourist traps… but the local winery, well known for their Sangre de Toro wine and one of my dad’s favorite red wines, as a real surprising treat. Besides the winery, Bodegas Torres has a gastronomy division named Torre Real which, among other things, makes olive oil made from Arbequina olives. According to information I have read since then… Arbequina olives are the “crème de la crème” as Spanish olives is concerned.

I brought back a bottle of this wonderful olive oil… and now, no other olive oil stands next to it. I ration it so that I can enjoy it as long as I can…

To me, it’s the perfect olive oil to dress a salad, to dip great crusty bread or to drizzle over a soup or pasta as a finishing touch. And the most amazing thing – this olive oil only cost me 5 Euros. Not bad for such high quality. They also make white and red wine vinegars. I have not tried the vinegar yet – I have like 7 open vinegar bottles, so I would like to decrease that inventory before I open a new now.

I good friend from high school lives in Barcelona now and I have asked her to please bring me 3-4 bottles of the Arbequina olive oil when she comes to Puerto Rico in the next few weeks. If you have access to this wonderful product, I urge you to try it.

Do you have any favorite olive oil?? Tell me all about it.

Tags: olive oil, spanish

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Categories MY EDITORIAL, Travel

2008 – Year of the Potato

27 Jan

I love potatoes. If I had to eat only one food, I think potatoes would be it. They’re soooo versatile – you can fry, boil, roast, broil, bake, stew, mash, smash, and basically do anything to them and potatoes will reward you with a delicious and nutritious treat every time.

Potatoes are so important in the world’s culinary and nutritional environments the United Nations named 2008 the year of the Potato, based on the role the potato can play in providing food security, eradicating poverty and achieving development goals – WOW!!

There’s one more reason why I love potatoes – my grandfather in Cuba was a well-known potato grower. He was known by everyone in his town in the southern part of the Havana province simply as “Neno, el papero” – papero being roughly translated to “potatoer”. My grandfather’s potatoes were consumed locally in Cuba, but mainly exported to the US. When my good friend Angie learned about this, she lovingly nicknamed me – the Cuban Potato Queen. To tell you the truth, this has stuck a bit and I even have artwork made by a good friend and artist as homage to this nickname.

I never got to meet my grandfather Neno. He left his physical body a few years before my mom and dad met here in Puerto Rico… So in honor of my grandfather’s potato heritage, I have decided to create in my blog a POTATO FESTIVAL. A collection of potato dishes made to highlight all the goodness and versatility of this discreet tuber. Some are side dishes, some are main dishes… we might even find some appetizers and desserts in this collection… however, I will assure you, they will all be incredibly delicious.

Hope you like them as much as I will like preparing them…

Herb Roasted Potatoes

Mustard Roasted Potatoes

Potato and Fried Eggplant Pastelón

Creamy Potatoes

Sweet Potato Pastelón

Tags: potato

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Categories MY EDITORIAL, Potato Festival

Agave Nectar

23 Jan

I learned about Agave nectar when I attended the Conscious Gourmet cooking seminar this past April. I am sure I walked past it a million times in many health food stores, but I usually consume honey or brown sugar to sweeten things and have not had the need to use anything else…

At the seminar we discussed refined sugars and all the potential health conditions it’s associated with, such as:

Candida

Depression

Crohn’s Disease/Colitis

Ulcers

Hypertension

Gallstones

Kidney-stones

Even, Cancer

So based on this information, why not use and consume a more natural and non-processed form of sweetener?

Agave nectar is made from the same plant Tequila is made. Cool, huh? So because it’s a plant-based sweetener, it’s also vegan. Another cool thing about agave nectar is it has a very low glycemic index. This means that when you consume it, it will barely increase the glucose levels in your blood, therefore not increasing the production of insulin nor activating the fat storage system. Hey, I learned this from my sister who is a diabetic from the age of 15 and an endocrinologist.

Just to give you an idea of the glycemic index of different foods:

Corn Flakes         119

White Bread       112

Rice                        83

Honey                   83

Apple                    54

Peas                      32

Agave nectar     27

Agave nectar then is great for those people who are diabetic, are watching their carbohydrate intake or blood glucose levels or even watching their weight. You can see how my friend Kathleen lost about 45lbs. this last year and agave nectar is one of the few sweeteners she now uses.

And don’t underestimate its sweetness. Agave nectar is sweeter than table sugar, but it’s not processed or contains any chemicals. Actually, you should use about ¼ to 1/3 less amount of agave than you would sugar or honey. You use it the same way you would use honey – to sweeten beverages, desserts, hot cereals, smoothies, yogurts, etc. I even use it to sweeten my Spinach Crepes recipe.

Check out agave nectar the next time you go to your local health food store. Try it, you’ll not be disappointed…

Tags: agave nectar, low glycemic index, natural sweetener, Vegan

Comments 8 Comments
Categories basics, MY EDITORIAL

Clementines – My favorite winter citrus

20 Jan

Citrus are mainly in season during winter-time. I read somewhere the season starts in November. I know we have lemons here all year round… but when I visit Costco, it’s near the December/January time-frame where I see and can purchase one of my favorite citrus fruits… CLEMENTINES!!!!!!!

I learned about these delicious and cute Clementines about 10 years ago, but was not able to get them here in PR… and when Costco opened their doors about 6 years ago, they started bringing them. I love them because they’re petite, mostly seedless, super sweet and their membranes are really thin, so they’re easy to eat in segments.

I regularly do not eat regular oranges in segments… I learned this when I was in school in Chicago and we had to do a project about the introduction to market of an Orange. People would talk about eating them without a knife and I was – hello!!! speak for yourself!!! I have to peel an orange with a knife and cut them in half … just like you would if you were using a juicer to make fresh squeezed juice. I eat oranges like this because i can’t stand the bitterness of the membranes around the segments.

So for those of us who do not like orange membranes, Clementines are the perfect orange for you… as they are for me. And the cute wooden crate is just an added plus.

Try some soon and tell me all about it…

http://www.producepete.com/shows/clementines.html

Tags: clementines, orange

Comments 4 Comments
Categories basics, MY EDITORIAL

Freezing Berries

20 Jan

I guess I am in a very fruity mode these days… but I indeed mentioned that one of my new year’s resolutions were to eat more fruit and vegetables. I am taking you along for the ride…

I love making myself fruit smoothies in the mornings. Particularly, I LOOOOOVE adding fresh berries to them. Unfortunately, in a way, is that berries are pretty expensive… I am paying these days between $7 and $8 for a pound of strawberries. I guess they’re not in season in the US and they’re bringing them from God-knows-where. And there’s little I can do to reduce my carbon footprint in regards to this… because we don’t grow berries in Puerto Rico, I either buy them imported, frozen, or not eat them at all.

What I want to share with you is about freezing berries… this is a trick I learned, again, from my good friend Martha Stewart (she does not know how good friends we are…) With the price I pay for berries, I can’t eat them all at once and they’re prone to spoil fast. To avoid this when I purchase these beautiful strawberries, raspberries, blueberries or any other berry… is to freeze them individually on a baking sheet and then store them.

I wash the berries, remove any stems, dry them as well as I can and place them without touching on a baking sheet. Place the baking sheet on the freezer overnight and then store the berries in a freezer plastic storage bag. Never freeze them all clumped up in a bag, because then you’ll have a tough time separating them if you need just a small amount at a time.