Vacation cooking...

Here's one from last year that I forgot to enter. Since I'm going to try to get back on the blog again, I might as well post this.

Andrea and I had a quick getaway holiday to Naples, Florida with our friends and neighbors, Anne and Dan. We preceded them by a couple of days and instead of our usual dining out every evening, we decided to take advantage of the great outdoor cooking facilities.

Our first meal was a shared dish. A grilled 16 oz.bone in rib-eye steak and a 6oz. lobster tail. The steak marinated for a couple of hours in fresh garlic, lemon, pepper and salt. The lobster roasted right along side the steak, which was allowed to reach room temp before grilling to a perfect medium rare.  A little butter, lemon zest and fresh chopped parsley were simmered in the gas grill's side burner, and drizzled atop the tail for service. Sauteed zucchini, onion, crimini mushroom and garlic was our vegetable side dish, along with salad, there was no room for dessert.

Night two we did not share. We each had 4 wild caught, Jumbo Gulf Shrimp, grilled and served with a chimichuri sauce. Sides were a yellow saffron infused rice with grilled vegetables, onion, red pepper zucchini, and tomato. And a salad with blue cheese dressing, again dessert was not needed.


After Anne and Dan arrived we dined out, except for one night when we reprised both our previous meals adding a nice chunk of halibut to make a really nice feast of it.  The girls had a few cosmopolitans and the boys took on screwdrivers and hand rolled cigars.   Halibut, steak, lobster, shrimp... cosmos, screwdrivers, stogies... that's good stuff!  

KISS THE COOK!

Comfort Food III, Cuban Edition....

Picadillo and Rice (with Cuban Black Beans)

I love this dish. When I want comfort food, I want something from my youth, Mom used to cook this dish she learned from her Cuban mother-in-law, my Grandma Filomena.  Filomena Macias Cata was born in the Key West Cuban community.  Sometime around 1910 she married my Grandfather Domingo Soler y Galvan, who was from Cuba, my dad was born in Chicago in 1915. I never met "Nena," nor "Mindo," as my siblings called them, but I'll bet they would recognize this legacy dish from her repertoire. I serve it with the black beans, but it works well with rice alone. Without the beans it is an easy, delicious, last minute meal. With the beans it is even better..

Picadillo

This should take about 5 minutes of prep work, 20 minutes to cook.
1 lb. ground beef
1 onion diced
1  bell pepper diced
2 cloves garlic mashed and chopped
1  teaspoon cumin
1 12ounce can, peeled plum tomatoes and juice
1T Wochestershire
1 ounce dry sherry
1/2 cup chopped green olives
1/2 cup raisins
3 dashes Tabasco
1 T olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Saute and drain 1 lb. ground beef, add onions, peppers and garlic, cook on medium heat until onions are translucent. Add the plum tomatoes and the juice, break up the tomato and continue cooking. Add the rest of the ingredients and turn heat to low stirring occasionally until the liquid in the mixture begins to thicken. Serve over cooked white rice.

Cuban Black Beans (Frijoles Negros)

Cooking beans takes a bit more time and care, but if you want to talk about Cuban cooking, you are certainly going to want to master this recipe. Some like their beans soupy, mine are a little more thick, if you want soupier beans add more liquid after the beans begin to soften. I think that no matter what style of beans you like, the taste of this dish says Cuban Cuisine. My Italian Mom makes a really great pot of black beans. Another item she picked up from her Cuban in-laws. This is my interpretation of her recipe.

16 ounces dry black beans (Picked over to remove any stones or dirt.)
Enough water to cover beans in a large stockpot by 2 inches 
1 bay leaf
1/2  green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
salt and pepper to taste 
(DO NOT ADD SALT UNTIL END OF COOKING TIME! Adding salt will inhibit softening of your beans. they will need salt, but in this case, we DO NOT salt until cooking is finished.) 


Rinse and soak the beans in water overnight. If beans have soaked up all of the water, add enough to cover by about 2 inches, add bay leaf and green pepper, cook over high heat until water boils,  turn to low, stir occasionally and add water if necessary. and cook uncovered until beans begin to soften, around 2 hours.  At this point you will add your Sofrito.

Sofrito

3 or 4 Tablespoons olive oil
1  chopped onion
3 cloves garlic mashed and chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1 serrano chile pepper chopped, seeds and membrane removed
1/2 t ground black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon cumin, ground
1 teaspoon Smoked Spanish Paprika
1 small Spanish Chorizo, sliced (optional)(this is not the soft Mexican Chorizo, but a hard, cured sausage.)
2 envelopes Sazon con Asafran seasoning (optional)
1/4 cup liquid for deglazing pan, water, red wine, white wine, cider vinegar, or chicken stock (Any of these will work, the flavor won't change too much, whichever you use.)

Heat oil until smoking hot, turn heat to medium, add onions, garlic and peppers cook, stirring, until onions are translucent. Add the rest of the ingredients, except liquid. Cook another 2 minutes, add and mash a ladle of the beans in the sofrito, tranfer the contents of the pan into the bean pot. Return the saute pan, turn up the heat and add the liquid to deglaze pan, add to beans. 


Cook beans covered an additional half hour or until beans are truly soft, add salt and pepper at this point. Serve over white rice, garnish with a teaspoon or 2 of diced raw onion.

By the way, I might as well give my recipe for cooking plain white rice. This is for regular rice, not sticky rice or sushi rice.  I use Basamati, it is a long grain rice, but you could cook any rice this way.  it does not matter if you want to use 1, 2, 3 or 4 cups of rice, this recipe will work for all amounts.

I put rice in a sauce pan that has a tight fitting lid, rinse the rice, add a dash of salt, a drizzle of olive oil, ADD ENOUGH WATER TO COVER RICE BY ONE INCH, (I use the first knuckle of my index finger to measure,) put sauce pan over high heat until it boils, set heat to low, stir rice once, put the lid on the sauce pan  cook, covered for 20 minutes. DO NOT lift that lid to look at the rice for 20 minutes!  Fluff the rice with a fork before you serve.

Some cooks don't rinse the rice before cooking, I think it comes out better my way, each grain of rice is separate and distinct. 

Go cook something!

Basque Dinner

One of the last things Kathleen and I did on our trip delivering her out west was to go to one of Bakersfield's Basque restaurants, Wool Growers. Basque restaurants serve "family style" and two of you can order one entree and one without for a few dollars less and share. We were among the first seated on this evening's meal service so we could not see what the rest of the dining room was ordering. Being really unfamiliar with the details, we both ordered an entree. Kathleen the roast lamb and I, the oxtail stew.

We sipped our cocktails and watched as large groups of extended families came in and sat at long tables. Soon we were served an assortment of dishes,

 A big pot of cabbage soup, a bowl of beans, a slightly piquant tomato "salsa," a bowl of rice pilaf, corn shucked fresh off the cob, a platter of spaghetti with meat sauce, a tomato salad, bread, butter and last but not least...

...a platter of sliced pickled beef tongue.

All of this is prior to the arrival of our entrees.  

Here is my Oxtail Stew...

Fantastic!

Back in the saddle again...

Haven't been blogging for awhile. It is time to get back on that horse and ride. Kathleen has an Internship with the Bureau of Land Management, in Bakersfield California, and last week I drove out there with her to help her get settled.

We had a wonderful trip driving along the old US Route 66 trail, called the Mother Road by some. It is mostly Interstate Highway now, but there are stops along the way that bring you back to the feel of the old route west taken by the Oakies displaced by the Dust Bowl in the 1930s, and the road of  OnThe Road of Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady and countless othersback in the day. But it isn't the road that makes the trip great it is mostly who you are with on the trip.

We camped in the Ozarks, in Mark Twain National Forest on the first night. We made a pot of Beans and rice with wild onions and herbs that Kathleen found growing about the campgrounds.

We cooked the rice and beans over our campfire and it turned out pretty awesome. Just like my trip west with my Kathleen.

We saw some beautiful sights and I recommend this road trip for everyone.

Sexy Pear Poached in Wine with Sugar Spice Glaze

Fellas, you want to start a romantic evening? End your dinner by serving this dessert to your lady fair.

1 Bosch pear
1/2 cup red wine (White wine would work too.)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons butter
dash salt
1 scoop vanilla ice cream

  Cut the pear so it will stand up erect. peel away the pear's clothes, er, uh...  peel.

Now let's heat things up! Melt some butter

in a pot over medium heat.

place the pear upright in the pot. 

Sprinkle the granulated sugar and brown sugar over and around the pear, add a dash of salt to the pot and dust the pear gently with the cinnamon.

Raise the heat to high and after a minute slowly add the wine. Bring the liquid to a boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer and cover the pot with a lid. Simmer, simmer simmer...

Let the pear poach gently, giving up it's juices to the sauce.Simmer and spoon the sauce over the naked pear this way for about 10 minutes, checking every so often to make sure there is enough liquid in the pot. Everything should be juicy and sticky by now...

When the pear is just soft enough to pierce with a gentle stab of your paring knife, the dessert is ready to come off the stove to serve. Serve the pear with the ice cream and drizzle the syrupy, caramel sauce over the unctuous, delicious fruit.  Sharing it is a very sensual experience...

This dessert works such wonders that I forgot to take photos of the dish as it was served....     

 Tio     ;-)

Glazed Ham Cuba Libre

Ever have a Cuba Libre? It is a rum and Coca-Cola with lime, and they make a great taste combination. So, why not use those flavors in cooking? Okay here we go, I have a Bacardi and Coke glaze that I think tastes great.  I've used Coke in cooking brisket and that turns out a really tasty dish.  So, I'm not too surprised to find that cola as a base for this glaze is an awesome flavoring ingredient.

Ham is a holiday treat for us. We usually serve ham about 3 times a year,  At least once during the Christmas season, again at Easter, and occasionally as non-holiday party fare.  I sometimes cook lamb at Easter, but more often than not, on Easter Sunday, it's ham.  I love ham, I think we will start having it more often.

I start with a large butt end 1/2 ham, or a whole ham and it should say something on the package like, "cured ham with water added," do not get a ham with "ham product added," that's like the nefarious "cheese food product" or "milk solids" that you see in some ingredient labels.  I prefer a whole ham rather than the spiral cut hams, because the pre-cut hams that I have made tend to be dry by the time they get heated through.  But YOU could use a spiral ham if that is your preference, just adjust the cooking time according to the directions on the package and use this glaze instead.

Ingredients:

2 cans Coca-Cola (regular, not diet)

1/4 cup dark rum (I like Bacardi)

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup yellow mustard

1 tablespoon dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon salt

10 -15 whole cloves

Score the ham in cross hatches and stud each intersection with cloves.















Cook the ham, on a rack, covered, in a 350° oven for an hour. You can pour 2 cans of coke into the bottom of the pan or you can use water or stock.

Meanwhile, bring 2 cans of Coke to a simmer in a saucepan and reduce to 1/2 cup.

Add the remaining ingredients and simmer, stirring until smooth, remove from heat.

Remove ham from oven, uncover and begin to glaze the ham.  Return to the oven and cook for another hour or until the proper internal temperature is reached.

Glaze the ham every 15 minutes until the ham has reached the proper temp. If you are using a "cured ham" 160º, if you are using a "fully cooked" or smoked ham 120º.

Let the ham rest for 10 - 15 minute before carving. Brush slices with remaining glaze and serve with whatever sides float your boat. That's Glazed Ham Cuba Libre! 

Paella for Mike's birthday...

Saffron

Paella is a Spanish dish that is infused with he delicious but expensive, hand picked stamen of a flower, saffron. Smoked sweet Spanish paprika also adds to the aroma and is also found in the Spanish chorizo that I use in this recipe. Wonderful flavors of  woods and sea are blended to make this a very special one pan meal. The word paella has origins in the Latin word for pan, patella. Today the paella pan is a distinctive shaped cooking vessel that is used to make the dish, Paella.  You could buy the special paella pan, but  just I use my 16 inch saute pan as my paella pan and it works just fine, thank you.


The kids usually get a special dinner for their birthday. This year we are doing "paella mixta" a combo of chicken and seafood. Paella was originally a rice dish from Valencia, Spain made with rabbit, chicken and snails. A seafood paella eventually came about along with a clam, mussels and shrimp base. The "mixed paella" is a combination of proteins, mine is mostly seafood with some chicken. I use skinless thighs cut into chunks.

The rice used for making paella is distinctive as well. A more round shape distinguishes "Bomba" rice from other types. Arborio rice, the Italian rice we use for risotto, will work just as well as the Valenciana Bomba variety, which is harder to find unless you go to ethnic grocery stores. The variety I
used in this recipe is labeled "Valencia style".

Valencia rice, Spanish chorizo and the most expensive ingredient, Saffron.

Fresh seafood rules the day with this dish, if you are going to put in he effort, you should try for the freshest ingredients, the only thing I use that is frozen is the peas.

Gather your ingredients:

5 cups simmering chicken stock
1 large onion diced
4 cloves garlic, mashed
Fresh rosemary
2 plum tomatoes, diced 
1/2 teaspoon saffron
2 teaspoons smoked sweet Spanish paprika
5 strips roasted red pepper
1 Spanish chorizo large diced (Spanish, not Mexican, there's a big difference!)
4 chicken thighs cut into chunks
1 lb. cod, cut into 2" portions
6 live clams, scrubbed
12 live mussels scrubbed and de-bearded
6 to 12 shrimp or prawns deveined
6 - 2" pieces of firm white fleshed fish (cod)
4 small lobster tails split lengthwise
4 cups bomba rice
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper


Put your saffron in the simmering stock to steep, it will turn the stock a rich yellow tint..

Heat the olive oil, salt and pepper the chicken, add your chicken to the pan to brown. When chicken is browned, remove from pan and set aside.



Add onions, tomato and garlic and saute until onion is opaque, around 5 minutes.






Add the chorizo, cook for another 3 minutes, add the stock and saffron, bring to a simmer.







Return the chicken to the pan and stir in the smoked Spanish paprika
and add the rice. 

Valencian tradition calls for making a cross with the rice in a tribute to Christ.
 

Stir the rice into the stock and add the cod...

...Add the mussels and clams...

 Add the prawns...

...The peas and sprig of rosemary...

...And the roasted red pepper...

,,,And finally, the lobster tails!

Cook uncovered, gently for about 20 minutes more until clams are open the lobster meat is cooked and the liquid is absorbed by he rice.

You could put the paella in a pre-heated 350° oven for the final cooking. Tradition minded Spaniards cook paella over a wood fire, I use the stove top, but a hot oven will also do the job..

¡Delicioso!