Tag Archives: queso blanco

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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Fried Cheese

5 Aug

I laughed super hard last week when I was watching some recorded Rocco’s Dinner Party episodes I had on TIVO. In one of the dinner parties, the chefs were presented with a variety of cheeses from around the world… or maybe just France, can’t remember. Well, they needed to pick and serve a cheese course with their suggested party menus.

Rocco was impressed… shall I say very impressed with a FRIED CHEESE bite he was served by one of the chefs. So impressed, he still was bragging about it yesterday during a Twitter thing we had where the viewers/fans can ask him all sorts of questions directly. I laughed all over again yesterday because I replied to him that fried cheese is wonderful… and I knew I had this “recipe”, if we could call it that, in my Pending To Post file. So… let’s Post it along…

I told you about Queso del País… so this is what you do it – you FRY it!!!

Queso Blanco is mild in flavor because it contains still water, or better said, the whey. But as soon as you fry it, the water evaporates, the flavors concentrate and it becomes a salty, delicious bite that can be enjoyed alone as an appetizer or to complement a variety of recipes…

FRIED CHEESE

There’s not a lot of science involved in the frying of Queso Blanco… but here are my pointers:

  • Use a non-stick skillet preferably.
  • You can fry it dry or you can use a bit of canola oil spray. I do not find it makes that much of a difference.
  • For some reason I have not figured out, my fried cheeses always deflate… but when you order fried cheese at a restaurant as an appetizer or at a party, they’re always breaded and still square. Maybe they freeze them before frying to hold their shape… I do not know because I have not tried it. But, the flavor is there even if the shape changes. And I do not think you need to bread it to get a nice color/presentation either…
  1. Just cut your pieces of cheese and place in a medium-hot skillet. The cheese will start of ooze some water/whey… let it. Leave it there for about 4-5 minutes until the cheese starts to get a brown, caramelized color.
  2. Flip over and brown the other side. It’ll take less time because most of the water in the cheese has evaporated already.

 

 

Enjoy it in various ways:

Today I am enjoying it with corn tortilla chips…

You could also place a few slices of fried cheese inside a tostón sandwich. Actually that’s the original way I was taught to make it and eat it. The tofu solution came afterwards when we had to go dairy-free for a while.

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It’s the best topping for Mangú… a Dominican dish made from mashed boiled plantains with lots of onions. I will have to make that one for you sometime soon.

Also, you can add pieces to some stewed peas and convert this to a Guiso Ananda or Mattar Paneer, an Indian dish made with paneer.

Any other ways you like to eat fried cheese??? Any other ways you like to eat it??? Please share all in the COMMENTS section… we love to hear from you.

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