My entry for edible books festival —The “Tail” of Peter Rabbit.
Malta float
I’m not sure if I just discovered the malta float or if this is a well known treat that I’ve just never known about, but one thing is for sure… it’s darn tasty! Pour an 8 oz. bottle of malta (I use Goya because it’s the easiest to find) into a glass and drop two heaping scoops of vanilla ice cream in. Delicious!
The only thing I would change about this recipe is that I would add more of the pineapple juice and less of the water for more sweetness in the dish.
Homemade fish sticks with a side of broccoli. Yum. This is a good meal for kids and adults alike. Click here for the recipe from Martha Stewart.
Celebrating the end of the semester at Rutgers with a veggie fat cat from the grease trucks on College Ave.
La Viuda (the widow)
The widow as in meal with no meat. I first encountered this term on the menu of one of my all time favorite restaurants, Martino’s Cuban Restaurant in Somerville, NJ. I had an interesting conversation with a good friend of mine the other day who recently turned to veganism. My first question was “Is it hard to find recipes?” She assured me that it wasn’t difficult and in fact veganism had inspired her to cook more. Although I don’t want to give up animal protein completely, I was motivated to find ways to make the food I love with little or no meat. Well, as it turns out it wasn’t too difficult. Here’s my recipe for “la viuda” with the addition of fried plantains (not pictured above).
Black Beans
I’m not even going to pretend that I made this up, I just use the recipe in the back of the can of Goya black beans. No shame.
4 tbsps olive oil
1 cup onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup green pepper chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1lb. 13 oz. can of black beans, undrained
1 1/2 cups water
1 tbsp. oregano
2 packets Sazon Goya w/out annatto
2 tbsps. white wine or cider vinegar
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, pepper, garlic; cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients. Reduce heat and simmer 5-10 minutes. Serves 8.
Plantains
2 very ripe (lots of black spots) plantains
vegetable oil (enough to be about an inch high in a saucepan)
Peel plantains and cut on a bias about 1/2 inch thick. Heat oil in a sauce pan and make sure it’s hot enough that the plantains will sizzle when dropped in the oil. Drop plantains in oil until golden on both sides. Don’t overcrowd the pan; make two batches if you have to. Before putting in a second batch wait a minute or two to make sure the oil is hot enough for another round. Place the fried plantains on a plate lined with paper towels to soak up the oil. Let cool slightly and serve.
Serve beans and plantains with white rice and avocado.
Happy 2nd Birthday Juliette!
Menu:
Chorizo stuffed pork tenderloin
Mom’s red beans
Arroz con Coca Cola (rice in coke w/ raisins)
Mixed greens salad w/ dried cherries and granny smith apples
The pork tenderloin and salad came from Pam Anderson’s (no, not THAT Pam Anderson) Perfect One-Dish Dinners cook book. Here are the recipes for my mom’s red beans and arroz con Coca Cola.
Arroz con Coca Cola
1 cup of white rice like Canilla
3 cups of Coca-Cola
1/3 cup of raisins
1/4 tsp. of salt
In a sauce pan add rice, Coca-Cola, and raisins and bring to a boil. Once boiling bring down to a simmer and cover until rice is done and fluffy.
Red Beans
1/2 lb. of dried red kidney beans
1 envelope of Sazon Goya
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 beef bullion cube
1 cup of cilantro chopped
1 medium sized tomato chopped
1 medium sized onion chopped
2 or 3 scallions chopped
Rinse the beans and leave soaking overnight (water should cover the beans). In a pot, add beans with water, olive oil, Sazon Goya, beef bullion, and about handful of the chopped cilantro. Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer until beans are tender. Add tomato, onion, scallion, and remainder of cilantro just before serving.
Note: I had to translate these recipes from Spanish and convert it to measurements since my mom doesn’t cook with measuring cups and spoons.
Spinach & mushroom tart with caramelized onions and goat cheese.
This post is way overdue, but I just had to post pictures of a wonderful meal that we had at my home back in early December. Our Uncle Donnie (Stilo), whom we just adore prepared a traditional Stilo Sunday night dinner, like the ones his mom Julia used to make when he was a kid. Talk about a production! From purchasing just the right ingredients (thanks Giacomo’s on the Hill) to making sure that the tomato sauce or “gravy” slow cooked for the right amount of time (24 hours if I recall correctly), this was so much fun! Along with the cooking lessons came some wonderful stories about the Stilo family and their traditions. We chopped, rolled, simmered, and washed MANY dishes, but in the end it was an experience we will NEVER forget. If you’ve ever seen the movie “Big Night”, this is kind of what it felt like, complete with Louie Prima and Frankie crooning in the background!
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But I like to think I am.
