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Annie Mariel’s Composed Salad

18 Jan

I firmly believe that God or the Universe, however you prefer to say it, puts the right people in our path for us to learn and grow… And Annie Mariel has been a real blessing in my life. It’s as if God, in his all-knowingness, understands and knows exactly the type of person you need in your life at a certain time in your life.

We got along almost immediately since we met each other about 5 yrs ago in a conversational French class. We have lots of things in common – we’re both consultants, we both enjoy anything French, we both enjoy to travel, we follow yoga and spiritual practices, we are both vegetarians… bueno, almost vegetarians because Annie Mariel still eats seafood and shellfish on occasion. But she gets my idiosyncrasies of being vegetarian. She has passed on to me her love of running and we even applied to run the Amazing Race together… (oh boy!!!)

Annie Mariel is a great supporter and fan of KarmaFree Cooking… and for my last supper of 2012 she wanted to contribute by bringing a salad. She knew I was going to cook pasta. She asked me to make it as light as possible, so I pleased her by making the sauce all tomato, instead of mixing it with some cream or half and half, like I like to do on other recipes. She told me she would surprise me with the salad… and that she did.

cooking 4 - salad

 

This salad had a little bit of everything… and it was delicious! I asked Annie Mariel if I could feature her salad in KarmaFree Cooking and she agreed. I hope I make her proud. Try it for yourself…

annie Mariels Salad 2 finished

ANNIE MARIEL’S COMPOSED SALAD

Baby Spinach
Arugula
Grape Tomatoes
Sliced Red Onions
Avocado
Crumbled Blue Cheese
Toasted Almond Slices
Dried Cranberries
Crispy Fried Onions
Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing

 

  1. In a large bowl add all the ingredients. Toss lightly to combine
  2. Dress the salad with vinaigrette.

 

 

Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing

¼ cup balsamic vinegar
½ cup extra virgin Olive Oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Sal and Freshly Ground Black Pepper

 

  1. Place all the ingredients in a empty glass or mason jar. Shake well to combine. Let rest for 10-15 minutes to allow the flavors to combine well.
  2. Serve on top of your favorite salad.

 

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Plantain Little Spiders – Arañitas

10 Dec

This was supposed to be a recipe for Halloween… you know, the play on words – arañitas means “little spiders” in Spanish. Their name is mainly due to their scraggly shape, because they’re fully vegetarian and have nothing to do with the little arachnid creatures. But maybe they’re more appropriately called in English, Plantain Nests, making them a very nice option for Easter too.

This is yet another way Puerto Ricans love to eat green plantain. Variety is the spice of life and there are 1,001 ways we can cook a plantain. Tostones are most popular because they can be prepared in advance. Arañitas is something you need to grate, season and cook immediately. Not for the prep-ahead cook.

You can fry them in oil, just like you do with platanutres or chicharritas de pátano. But I have devised a way to enjoy the goodness of this Puerto Rican favorite without the need to get the deep fryer out. I am Latin, but I do not enjoy having to clean the splatter of a frying pan filled with oil.

Here is how I make arañitas…

PLANTAIN LITTLE SPIDERS – ARAÑITAS

1 green plantain, peeled
1 tbs canola oil
Garlic Salt

 

  1. After you peel the green plantain, grate it in as long strips as possible. I try to grate it on the long side to get longer strips of plantain.
  2. In a medium bowl, add the grated plantain, season with garlic salt and add the canola oil. Mix it all well to ensure the plantain is oiled and well-seasoned all over.

3.  In a non-stick skillet over low-medium heat, place little mounds of plantain. The low heat will allow the plantain mounds to cook on the inside. After a few minutes, you’ll see the outside plantain will start to stiffen and crisp up. Flip when you notice the center of the mound is turning yellow.

see why they could certainly be called nests????

4.  Keep the heat at medium-low. The arañitas will eventually crisp up on the outside and start turning golden brown.

5.  Take them out of the skillet and allow them to drain a bit on a paper towel. They may not drip any oil, but any excess oil is better left on a paper towel.

Serve alongside your favorite Puerto Rican dish – like macarrones with soy picadillo, arroz con gandules or as croutons for a delicious salad.

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Grilled Asparagus

11 Oct

It might seem weird to you that I am posting an asparagus recipe in the Fall… but I had these pictures taken for a few months now, but never got around to write a post about it. And given I have noticed how many readers we have from the Southern Hemisphere, then it should be just as appropriate to post something that goes with their Spring season starting just now.

oooooooooooooooooooooo

The asparagus I grew up with were canned and I usually ate them almost exclusively in a party sandwich like these…

But I have come to develop a great love for asparagus, especially when they’re abundant and fresh in season in every farmer’s market near you.  This is an easy delicious recipe to snack on or as a side dish…

GRILLED ASPARAGUS

½ a bunch of asparagus
Salt and Pepper to taste
The juice of ½ lemon or lime
Olive oil
Parmesan cheese

I like to use a grill pan for this… and I like pencil-thin asparagus.

  1. Clean the asparagus by trimming the end where the asparagus breaks on its own when you bend the stalk. That end will be stringy and not pleasant to eat anyway. You can keep it to flavor some vegetable stock if you want. Season with olive oil, salt and pepper and massage the asparagus to make sure they’re all coated and seasoned.
  2. Heat grill pan over medium-high heat. Place your asparagus as flat as possible on top of grill pan. Allow them to cook for a few minutes. Turn them around by rolling them on their side so they get grill marks on various sides.
  3. When they turn bright green, about 4-5 minutes, they’re most probably done. Turn off the stove and squirt some lemon juice on top. Take them off the grill pan and serve, sprinkling some grated parmesan cheese on top to season.

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3 Herbs Roasted Potatoes

8 Oct

I am FaceBook friends with Top Chef Master Suvir Saran… I think I shared a little bit of how we became friends before.

I love he keeps sharing pictures  in his profile of his farm in Vermont, his pets, his travels and the dishes he creates. Among one of those dishes are his Farmhouse Crispy-Creamy Potatoes. This was one of the first recipes he posted from his Masala Farm book when we first became “friends”. The pics he shared just looked utterly divine.

Photo Courtesy of Masala Farm Cookbook by Chef Suvir Saran

Suvir is a fan of people making his recipes and telling him all about our experience making them and eating them… So here’s my experience with his recipe.

I’ll start with the caveat that I try to follow recipes as much as I can but I then start changing things here and there to make it easier on me, trying to sacrifice the least possible in flavor or texture. Suvir’s original recipe calls for par-boiling the potatoes before roasting them. I am guessing this is what gives the potatoes the “creamy” part in the title. I debated… but I just could not spend almost 2 hours making this dish. I was getting hungry… and time was of the essence.

Another thing… The original recipe also calls for roasting these potatoes on a cast-iron skillet in the oven. The exact same cast-iron skillet I do not own. And even though I do have skillets with metal handles that can go into the oven, when making this for one, the skillet would not fit my toaster oven, so that part of the recipe had to also be modified.

I am sure by now Suvir is probably saying – “Madelyn dear… this is no longer my recipe!” But I can tell you, the mixture of herbs, spices and roasting time makes for a delectable and mind-blowing dish!!!!! And you’ll even have left-over oil and garlic to make other dishes. And I have Suvir to thank for showing me how to combine ingredients and technique. That’s what a true Top Chef Master is all about. Thanks Suvir!!!!

Follow me into my interpretation of Suvir Saran’s Farmhouse Crispy-Creamy Potatoes …

3 HERBS ROASTED POTATOES

3 medium red potatoes
½ tsp Herbes de Provence
2 tbs butter
2 tbs canola oil
1 tbs olive oil
10-12 sage leaves
1 ½ sprig of rosemary
1 ½ sprig of thyme
1 head of garlic, with the top cut-off so the cloves are exposed
Salt and Freshly Cracked Black Pepper

 

  1. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
  2. In a skillet over medium heat on the stove, melt the butter with the oils. Add 5-6 sage leaves and one sprig of rosemary and thyme, each. Reserve the rest of the herbs… they’ll come into play a little later. Allow the butter and oils to get infused with the flavors of the herbs.
  3. Meanwhile, cut the potatoes into 1 – 1 ½ inch cubes and place in a roasting pan or pyrex dish. Season with salt, pepper and Herbes de Provence. Massage the potatoes to make sure they’re all covered with the seasoning.
  4. Carefully, remove the larger sprigs of herbs from the skillet and place them snuggly amongst the potatoes. Transfer the infused oil/butter mixture with all the sage leaves to coat the potatoes in the roasting dish. If possible, turn the potatoes a few times to make sure they’re all coated with the butter/oil mixture.
  5. Place roasting pan in oven for 30 minutes.
  6. After 30 minutes have elapsed, remove roasting pan from oven and add the garlic head. I divided it in two so the garlic love could be spread more evenly thru the dish. Snuggle the garlic amongst the potatoes. Add also the remaining sage leaves, rosemary and thyme. I removed the rosemary and thyme from the stem and cut them a bit to help me spread the love as well.
  7. Return the pan to the oven and continue to roast until the potatoes are golden brown and crisp and the garlic is tender, for another 30 minutes. The original recipe calls for 30-45 additional minutes in the oven but I found that 30 minutes in the oven and turning it off after those 30 minutes and leaving the potatoes there to rest was good enough for me.
  8. What I did… I turned the oven off and went off to meditate for 30minutes and the potatoes were ready and not too hot and ready to eat. Remove from the oven and serve immediately. As per Suvir’s recommendation, make sure you serve a few roasted garlic cloves along with each serving of potatoes.

 

These potatoes are AMAZING!!!! They are real show-stoppers!!!!! I had them with a side salad and the potatoes were the star of my plate. I can also see making these with some sautéed mushrooms or warm succotash vegetable salad.

I know I cut some corners in the preparation by not pre-boiling the potatoes, but red potatoes are still creamy and tender on the inside when roasted. They crisped up… maybe not the same way as in a cast-iron skillet, but the look and texture were incredible. A true restaurant-quality dish.

And the left-over oil, herbs and roasted garlic are incredible to sauté mushrooms the next day… a recipe that keeps on giving!!!! What else could we ask for???

 

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Purple Potato Mash

26 Sep

I am a potato lover!!!!! So let’s show some love to the purple potato too…

Nothing to be afraid of. It tastes just as delicious as any waxy potato.

Here’s how I make them…

PURPLE POTATO MASH

3-4 baby purple potatoes, quartered
1 tbs of butter
¼ cup of blue cheese crumbles
½ cup of pickled red onions, drained
1 handful of shredded 6 cheese blend
1 tbs toasted sliced almonds
Salt and Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
  1. Boil the potatoes just like any other potato… placing them in a medium pot with water almost covering the potatoes. Salt liberally. Place over medium-high heat. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. When the water is boiling and steam is starting to escape the lid, turn the heat to medium low and boil/steam until the potatoes are tender for about 10-15 minutes.
  2. When the potatoes are tender, drain all the water and in that same pot you cooked the potatoes in, leave the potatoes and add the butter and blue cheese crumbles. Mash them well.
  3. When the potato mixture looks homogeneous, add in the pickled red onions and stir them in. Season with freshly cracked pepper.
  4. Transfer mash to a large ramekin or oven-safe dish. Sprinkle with shredded cheese and the toasted almonds. Bake in a 350F oven until the cheese on top melts and gets golden brown.

Great and unexpected potato side dish… or as a main dish casserole with a nice green salad.

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