Sunday, December 28, 2008

Eric's studio Art


renesaince drowning
Originally uploaded by chuborupert
These are all originals by Eric Monasterio, as seen in his own apt/studio

star

escamas

fuego

figures

mountain

rough sea

juxtaposition

sunburst

color

bird on a wire

sun

giant lady

the one we want

light

renesaince drowning

rider

Eric's art

Pernil


pernil
Originally uploaded by chuborupert
I bought half a ham (11 lb) I scored the skin and fat on top then marinated it overnight in a rub of:

8 tbsp salt
10 peppercorns
10 cloves of garlic
6 tbsp oregano
the juice of one lime
1/2 cup olive oil
2 roasted red peppers

and put it on a roasting pan

ahi va el pernil

listo para el horno

I chopped some onion carrot and peppers hoping for a sauce, but with that much salt load it's probably not really worth it.

pernil adobado

I roasted it at 350 deg farenheit for 3 hours then turned the oven off for another half hour then removed and covered with foil to rest.
It looked like this prior to carving:

chicharron

pernil

Tasted great, moist and flavorful. In the future I would try to get a cut with more skin on it as the skin turned out crispy and perfect.

We served it with arroz con gandules, unfortunately no pics of that.

2 cans gandules undrained(pigeon peas)
2 cups sofrito (onion, cilantro, cumin, tomato paste, garlic, celery, carrot, salt, pepper, bell pepper)
2 tbsp achiote oil
http://eatingvideogames.blogspot.com/2008/07/achiote.html
6 cups of water
Salt to taste

4 cups of rice
roasted red bell pepper julienned

place first five ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil, add rice and cover turn to low heat for 20 minutes, distribute ingredients and serve with roasted pepper as garnish.

(usually one should add some of the fatty portions of the pernil to this dish, but my timing was off)

feliz navidad!

Monday, December 1, 2008

A Boy Tries Escargot


Escargot
Originally uploaded by chuborupert
As documented by his younger sister, my son perused then menu and emerged with a sly grin.

perusing the menu

His Choice of appetizer... Escargot

fancy dinner for a kid

I later asked him if he knew what he was ordering and he nodded and confirmed that yes, he knew they were snails. Upon receiving them he inspected them.

looking it over

Going back for more snails

And he went with it.

Eat the snails

The reaction casual, he said he loved them, he ate them all and I guess I'm going to have to learn to make them.

Escargot gets a thumbs up

Sunday, November 30, 2008

chicken red curry dish


chicken red curry dish
Originally uploaded by chuborupert
very similar ingredients to the green curry, but cooked in the rice cooker instead. Browned the chicken and onions, added the coconut puree till it thickened then added it all to the rice cooker with rice and water and some fish sauce.

chicken red curry

The red curry paste

red curry paste

The rice cooker

rice cooker

and the finished product

chicken red curry in the rice cooker

chicken red curry dish

Friday, November 28, 2008

chicken curry with Palak Paneer

I had a lot of leftove coconut after making coconut milk so I decided to use if for dinner. I browned some chicken thighs in butter then added the shredded coconut with a some of the milk mixed with thai green curry paste.

chicken curry

I let it simmer for 10-15 min while I made rice and served it with palak paneer from an instant bag (spinach with cheese). It was outstanding.

chicken curry with Palak Paneer

Coquito


cocos
Originally uploaded by chuborupert
Coquito is the puertorican equivalent of eggnog. It is generally drunk around the holidays. Tradicionally it is made with eggs (like eggnog) but I grew up making it this way. At my parents house I would have harvested and peeled the coconut myself. These I bought at the supermarket. Cracked and cleaned them.

Microplane and coconut

I used to clean the meat with a knife and a lot of patience but I discovered that a microplane works great. It is reccomended that you bake the coconut at 350 or 400 deg F for 5-10 minutes to make it easier to remove the meat. I tried but maybe I left it in too short of time, as I was afraid the meat would brown. Anyways cleaning the coconut meat off the shell is the most time consuming part of the deal.

The work area

I then grated the coconut in the food processor

Rallado

I had reserved the coconut water and made a simple syrup with it adding nutmeg, cinamon and clove

agua de coco

I added the coconut to this

coconut in the coconut

I then added water to cover and brought it to a boil.

creamy

From here I strained it, and put the coconut in a rag to press it. the remaining coconut milk I mixed half and half with rum and set to chill. Will drink later.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Pork Ribs


Pork Ribs
Originally uploaded by chuborupert
Picked up some ribs from Buz and Neds ( http://www.buzandneds.com/ ) on the way home. It is excellent. Smokey tender and fatty. I'll leave you with some more pictures, (Boy barbecue and blogging don't go together, I need to wipe down my keyboard.)
Ribs

Barbecue Ribs

Nice pink and smokey


Buz and Ned's Real Barbeque on Urbanspoon