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Blue Cheese Dressing

8 May

In the past few years I’ve taken an appreciation for blue cheese.  This has not always been the case, as I always thought blue cheeses were too salty for my taste.  And on top of that, the blue veins did not appeal to me in the least…

But watching Food Network and being more exposed to “haute cuisine”, I have grown to appreciate more and more blue cheeses.  It all started with a visit to the restaurant Mark’s at the Meliá in Ponce.  There I tasted the most wonderful butter lettuce salad with walnuts and crumbled Point Reyes blue cheese.  It was salty but mild at the same time… delicious.

Now, I regularly have a wedge of Danish blue cheese in my fridge.  I use it in desserts, in white sauces for pasta, to flavor polentas… and the newest addition to my repertoire is in a salad dressing.  Check it out…

BLUE CHEESE DRESSING

2 ounces of blue cheese – I use Danish or gorgonzola cheese crumbles
2 tbs of plain low-fat yogurt
A squirt of lemon juice
About 1 tbs of olive oil

 

  1. Mix all the ingredients with a whisk in a small bowl. 

 

Drizzle over your favorite salad greens…  it’s creamy and salty delicious.  Don’t be discouraged by the grayish color, it’s just the blue veins dispersed in the dressing.


Blue Cheese Dressing

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Watercress Salad with Creamy Horseradish Dressing

29 Dec

My dad always loved to buy watercress when we would go to the Plaza del Mercado in Río Piedras.  We would go almost every Sunday, right after mass.  I hated and loved going to the Plaza, all at the same time.  I hated the smells around where we would park our car… the smell of rotten produce.  But I also loved we would get a lot of fruits that I loved, like Platanitos Manzanos, my favorite type of banana BY FAR.

I guess my dad loved to take us there because my grandfather was a farmer.  My Cuban grandfather was a potato farmer and my dad looked up to him a lot, being the oldest son and the heir apparent to the family business.  However all that changed when a certain rebel named Fidel decided to take over the country my father’s side of the family loved so much.

As part of the Sunday morning ritual at the Plaza del Mercado, we would search for the freshest salad greens – lettuces, tomatoes, carrots, “viandas” and among them was the watercress, which we call “berro” in Spanish.  When I was little I did not like the taste very much, finding it a bit bitter.  That’s why my mom always mixed it up with regular lettuce to cut down on the bitterness.  But now, my palate has certainly changed and now I crave bitter greens all on their own, like arugula.

In Spanish there’s a saying, that may lose somewhat in translation, which says “What you inherit, you don’t need to steal” (El que lo hereda, no lo hurta.)  So in true Cuban farmer fashion and true to my family heritage, now I love to go to Farmers Markets, not only in PR, but I particularly love them when I travel abroad – here I am in NYC, Guadalajara, and even searched many street markets in Paris… – but I also love to taste those bitter flavors of watercress which take me directly to my childhood and to those Sunday mornings after mass…  Gracias papi.

 

WATERCRESS SALAD WITH CREAMY HORSERADISH DRESSING

1 tbs eggless mayonnaise
2 tbs plain yogurt
2 tbs prepared horseradish – try to find a brand without eggs
A drizzle of Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to Taste
A handful of watercress – well washed, because they can contain small insects
2-4 sun-dried tomatoes – cut into slivers (optional, but highly recommended)

 

  1. Mix the first 5 ingredients in a measuring cup.                            
  2. Place watercress and sun-dried tomatoes in a salad bowl and drizzle the dressing on top.  Toss to coat.

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Red Pepper Dressing

6 Aug

This is a dressing I’ve done mainly for the Yoga Center dinners… they love their roasted red peppers.  I’ve done it so many times without a recipe, so the last time around I decided to write it down to share it with all of you…

 

 Roasted Red Pepper Dressing

ROASTED RED PEPPER DRESSING

2 roasted red peppers
1 cup of eggless mayonnaise
3 garlic cloves
¼ red onion
6-10 olives
½ cup apple cider vinegar
2 tbs garlic and herbs seasoning
1 tbs fresh parsley – you could use the dried kind in a pinch
1 tbs salt
1 tsp black pepper
¼ cup of water
½ cup canola oil

 

 

  1. Mix all the ingredients in a blender.
  2.  I add the canola oil last thru the hole on the blender cover to make sure the oil mixes well and will not separate afterwards.

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Asturian Tomato Salad

3 Aug

This is another recipe I learned from chef José Andrés from his show Made in Spain.  This is one of my Spanish Delicacies series…  we started by celebrating San Fermín, but there are so many Spanish recipes I love that we’ll continue building this catalog for you all to enjoy.

I guess this is a tribute to Doña Tina… my friend Angie’s mom.  She’s a sweetheart and she’s currently visiting her native Asturias.  She is bringing some equipment for Angie and me to try some recipes for the blog, so in appreciation I dedicate this recipe to her. 

It originally includes Afuega’l Pitu cheese, but I have never seen that cheese here in Puerto Rico.  I’ll include it in my TO EAT list when I return to Spain to do the Camino de Santiago.

 Ensalada Tomates Asturiana - KFC

ASTURIAN TOMATO SALAD

6-7 cherry tomatoes, washed and cut into quarters
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
2-3 tbs Spanish olive oil
A drizzle of honey
2 small sprigs of thyme leaves
About 1/8 tsp of salt
About 1 cup of arugula lettuce – optional

 

  1. In a measuring cup, mix together the vinegar, honey, olive oil, and thyme leaves.
  2. Place tomatoes in plate, alone or over a bed of arugula lettuce if using, and sprinkle with salt.  Drizzle dressing over the tomatoes.   

 

The sweetness of the honey plays super well with the thyme flavor.   Really nice refreshing dressing…

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Caprese Pasta Salad

23 Jul

A while ago, I was shopping in Plaza las Américas with my friend Annie Mariel.  We decided to grab something light to eat at a restaurant there called La Patisserie.  She had her usual salmon fillet over lentils and I decided to have a pasta salad with tomatoes, pesto and fresh mozzarella.  That’s what the menu said – FRESH MOZZARELLA.

When I received my pasta salad… it was nothing like I had expected.  The pasta was overcooked, the mozzarella was certainly not fresh, the pesto tasted from a bottle and the cheese was added when the pasta was hot, so the pieces had melted into a strange goo.  Yuck…  I was not a happy camper.

 When I started making strange faces about my dissatisfaction with my entrée, Annie Mariel said:  “I am sure you can make a 200% better version of that pasta salad.  Go for it.” 

So this is it… my better version of a Caprese Pasta Salad… let me know if you like it too.

 

 Caprese Pasta Salad

CAPRESE PASTA SALAD

½ pound of whole grain pasta – brown rice or whole wheat spirals, macaroni or penne will all do
1 cup of tomatoes, diced
¼ cup of sun dried or oven roasted tomatoes, diced or sliced
About 1/3 cup of olive oil, plus more to dress the salad
Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper to taste
1 clove of garlic, smashed once
3-4 large fresh basil leaves
3-4 thick slices of fresh mozzarella cheese, cubed
 
  1. In a large bowl marinate the tomatoes – add the fresh tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, basil, garlic, salt and pepper.  Mix well all the ingredients together and let the fresh tomatoes break down and the dried ones plump up with the juices released from the fresh ones.  Let it sit for about 30 minutes mixing it well a few times throughout.
  2. In a medium pot filled with boiling salted water, cook the pasta about 3 minutes shy of what the package directions say.  You want them a bit undercooked from al dente… 
  3. Drain the pasta, rinse a bit with filtered cold water and add to the marinated tomatoes. Mix it all well carefully so you don’t break the pasta.   Make sure you remove the garlic clove before mixing the pasta… nobody will like to bite into a raw piece of garlic.  The pasta will absorb the juices of the tomatoes while it cools off.  Add more olive oil if you feel the pasta is too dry.
  4. After the pasta has cooled off, add the mozzarella cubes and mix well again.  You can serve room temperature or place it in the cooler before serving.

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