TuNofish Salad Sandwich

1 Feb

I am a sandwich person at heart… I love sandwiches for lunch or even dinner.  Heck, I love sandwiches for breakfast and snacks as well.  I bought these nice whole wheat hoagie rolls this last week and I have just been making sandwiches away… 

One of my favorite ones is TuNofish Salad – pay attention to the spelling, because it’s made with Tuno, the soy protein flavored with seaweed to taste like regular tuna.  It’s light and makes a great lunch.  My friend Jesiel would say it makes a great breakfast… because she only has tuna sandwiches as breakfast, ever since she was a little kid… 

It’s super simple…

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TuNofish SALAD SANDWICH

1/3 cup Tuno soy protein, defrosted and squeezed as dry as possible
3 tbs egg-free mayonnaise, such as Vegenaise
1 tbs finely chopped onion
juice of 1/2 lemon or lime
Garlic salt and pepper to taste
Choice of bread – I used a whole wheat hoagie roll
Lettuce – romaine or arugula works great
3 tomato slices
Extra mayo to spread
  1. Mix together in a bowl the Tuno, mayo, onion, lemon juice, garlic salt and pepper. 
  2. Toast bread to your liking.
  3. Spread mayo on both sides.
  4. Place TuNo salad on bottom bread.  Top with lettuce and tomatoes.  Sprinkle some salt and pepper on top of tomatoes.

Enjoy with your favorite kind of natural potato chips or plantain chips.

Just to give you an idea that if you enjoy tunafish sandwiches and you decide to go veggie, you will not have to give the experience or the flavor.  Believe me, these taste just as good as the real thing used to taste to me.

Try it…

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Pink Mac & Cheese

1 Feb

A good friend of mine reminded me I always talked to him about my blog and my recipes, but that I had NEVER cooked for him.  So I immediately invited him to lunch and made this impromptu comforting pasta dish.

I love pink pasta sauces… I think they’re super tasty and combine the best of both worlds – cheese sauce and tomatoes. 

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PINK MAC & CHEESE

1/4 pound whole wheat pasta – penne, rigatoni, macaroni would all work
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs sofrito
8oz heavy cream
4 oz cottage cheese
3/4 cup shredded Italian cheese mix, divided
2 oz. Laughing Cow cheese or 1/3 less fat cream cheese
1/4 cup crushed tomatoes
5 or 6 sun dried tomatoes, chopped
10-12 basil leaves
Salt, Garlic salt and Pepper to taste
  1. In a medium pot, boil water, season with salt liberally and cook pasta until al dente… approximately 10-12 minutes.  While pasta cooks, make the sauce. 
  2. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
  3. In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil.  Add sofrito and saute for a few minutes.
  4. Add cream cheese and whisk together with sofrito until it melts.  Add heavy cream, cottage cheese, cream cheese and 1/2 cup of the Italian cheese blend.  Whisk together until all cheeses are melted and well blended.
  5.  Add crushed tomatoes and season with garlic salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Add sun-dried tomatoes and basil leaves.
  7. Drain cooked pasta and add to saucepan with sauce.
  8. Transfer pasta and sauce to a baking dish.  Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup shredded cheese blend.
  9. Bake in oven for about 20 minutes until the cheese on top is melted and creates a golden crust.

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Not too light, but delicious and comforting… my friend is a convert and now he wants me to cook for him all the time.  I should have taken a photo of his amazed face. 

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Roasted Mustard Potatoes

27 Jan

I love making this dish!!!  The smell of the mustard when it’s in the oven is divine…

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ROASTED MUSTARD POTATOES

2 lbs red-skinned baby potatoes, cut in quarters or halved
6 tbs mustard – dijon, grain or spicy mustards will all work great here
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp Italian seasonings
2 tbs olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
Canola oil spray
  1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F.
  2. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the mustard, garlic, Italian seasonings, olive oil, salt and pepper. 
  3. Place cut potatoes in the same bowl with the mustard mixture and toss to fully coat all the potatoes.
  4. Move the mustard-coated potatoes into a  baking sheet sprayed with canola oil spray.
  5. Roast in oven for 40-45 minutes until potatoes are tender when speared with a fork.

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Herbed Roasted Potatoes

27 Jan

This is one of the easiest and nicest side dishes you can create.  I make it in a toaster oven while I prepare the main dish.

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HERBED ROASTED POTATOES

2 lbs of red skin or other waxy potatoes, washed and cut into 1 inch cubes
2 tbs garlic salt
2 tbs Italian seasonings 
2 tbs white pepper
2 tbs parsley – dried or fresh
2 tbs kosher salt
2 tbs lemon zest
2 tbs paprika (optional)
4 tbs Liquid soy margarine – I eye-ball this usually… enough to coat the potatoes.
  1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. 
  2. In a medium sized bowl, mix together all the herbs and spices – garlic salt, Italian seasonings, white pepper, parsley, kosher salt, lemon zest and paprika, if using.
  3. Drizzle a small amount of the liquid margarine and “butter” the baking dish or roasting pan you’ll be using to roast these potatoes.  This way you’ll ensure the potatoes will not stick to the bottom. 
  4. Place cubed potatoes in the roasting pan or dish in a single layer.  Drizzle liquid margarine on top of potatoes and sprinkle the herb mixture.  Using your clean hands, massage the potatoes with the margarine and the herb mixture until the potato cubes are all slathered with margarine and herbs.
  5. Roast in oven for about 30-35 minutes – until potatoes are golden brown and soft when you pierce them with a knife.  Move them around the half-time mark if you want.  I sometimes forget and they usually turn out OK.

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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. 

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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

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