Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Cuchifritos y Chinchorros (gracias a Jeannette)


la 8
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo
This post is in part a response to Jeannette's post on her more than excellent blog Sazon Boricua.

http://www.sazonboricua.com/

Where she posts recipes of great puertorican dishes. In her last post she covers some of the street/beach/neighborhood food a lot of us grew up with. I took my kids over xmas and we hit some of the highlights.

fiao

That would be the ubiquitous sign that precludes running a tab.
One of the great street foods in PR are pinchos, which are seasoned pork or beef skewers cooked over charcoal and served with bread and a beer.

pinchos

These were awesome

super pinchos

pinchos

Another great place to eat in PR towns is in the local panaderia or bread/pastry/deli

lunch

where you can go for a sandwich or more fancy fair, such as white asparagus

asparagus

Flan

flan

or octopus salad

ensalada de pulpo

Along the beach in Luquillo there are some very well known stops for a quick or not so quick meal. We sampled a few such as pionono
(plantain stuffed with beef)

pionono

Lobster empanada

taquito de langosta

alcapurrias (see Jeannette's post for recipe)

alcapurrias

and empanadilla (empanada) of chapin (which is a coral reef fish)

empanadilla de chapin

Please check out the Sazon Boricua post for excellent recipes.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Bread crumb and crab pasta "Cangrejo con migas"


Crab pasta
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo
This is a very quick and easy dish. It is a variation of a dish found in the mediterranean certainly Italy and Spain. Where day old bread is cooked in oil till crisp and combined either with sausage or vegetables or both.
I boiled some pasta till done, drained it and added two taplespoons of crabmeat and set aside.
I grated some day old bread with a large bore grater
I then pan fried the bread with one tablespoon of butter and one tablespoon of olive oil, two cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of ground parmesan and 3 tablespoons of fresh parsley chopped. I tossed it till the bread was brown and crisp. and then seasoned with salt and pepper.
I then combined the bread with the pasta and immediately served it.

Crab pasta

The contrast of textures works very well, with the crisp bread and the soft pasta. The crab worked well giving the dish an interesting sweetness. Took less than 25 minutes start to finish.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Tortilla de patata


Tortilla
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo
cooked and diced potato (I used 4 small russet and yukon)
1/4 cup of chorizo (I used cantimpalo)
half an onion diced and sauteed
fistfull of fresh parsley
2 cloves of garlic
teaspoon of pimenton
salt and pepper
6 eggs

warm the onion and potato in olive oil, add parlsey and garlic then the chorizo
don't let the chorizo burn, but render it a bit then add the beaten eggs and mix till it begins to set. then let come together,
flip and finish in the oven for 5-10 minutes around 300 deg

Tortilla de patata

Tortilla

let cool and serve with bread

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Home made Bagels


hunger
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo
I read a great blog and recipe for making bagels, I will post the link here in lieu of the recipe.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/bagels

I followed the recipe almost to the point. I didn't quite use the last 3/4 cup of flour and used molasses instead of malt or sugar. I probably should have used the cornmeal on the pan may have cut down on the char a bit. Otherwise the turned out great.

Here they are after kneading resting and shaping.

formed

I put them in the fridge overnight. In the morning I was a bit dissapointed as they had not risen much that I could tell. I let them come to room temp and tried to convince myself that they were fatter although I don't think they were. Having said that they definitely plumped up during the boil in alkalinized water.

boiled

The kids helped to top them

topped

I should have incorporated the chocolate and raisins into the dough prior but I didn't think about it. You can see in the next picture how much bigger they look before baking.

ready for the oven

They baked at 500 deg for 5 minutes then at 450 till they were brown on top (very brown on the bottom)

everything

sesame

Here are all the topped/flavored ones

topped ones

and the plain ones

plain bagels

They ended up very tasty, with a crisp outer layer and soft crumb

bagel crumb

They take some prep, but it's not terrible and the payoff is great. I was amazed at how much flour went into the mix, I ended up with 16 bagels.
Will probably make again but next time will flavor the dough for some of them.