Steak and Onions Boricua style

     Most everyday type of puertorican meals are some type of rice as the side. Sometimes we put the protein in the rice and cook it For puertoricans, rice is a staple like italians have their pasta, and americans favor potato dishes. Rice and beans is technically a complete meal. The rice is the carb and the beans are the protein, but most puertoricans treat it like a side dish. We need a meat with our rice!

     Bistec encebollado is our version of steak and onions. We use vinegar to tenderize the meat and  cook it over low heat. There are two versions of this dish, with and without tomato sauce. I prefer without tomato sauce. 

Now watch the video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3cziYS7hnM 

Red velvet Goodness

Ok….Here goes….my first cupcake recipe post!!!! Living in the south, I always hear red velvet is one of the staples in southern desserts. I personally have never been a fan of red velvet. I can actually taste the food color or dye in the cake and it’s not pleasant. I didn’t know what the flavor was supposed to be other than “red”.
On my weekly trip to Ross(brand names for less type of store), I saw in their fancy food and spice area a little bottle from Lorann Oils that said Red Velvet emulsion. I have used Lorann Oils alot with my lollipop/hard candy phase. I can do a post on how to make Jolly Rancher flavored hard candy lollipops too They had several different flavored emulsions too. I bought them all! Cream cheese, orange, butter vanilla, butter, lemon, almond, coconut, rum ( I am starting a cupcake business lol)
This is from the LorAnn Oils website:

https://www.lorannoils.com/c-10-bakery-emulsions.aspx

LorAnn Oils – Baking & Flavoring Emulsions

What is a bakery “emulsion”?
Emulsions are water-based, alternatives to extracts. The flavor is micro encapsulated in natural stabilizers and suspended in water. This encapsulation enables the flavor to not lose its integrity when exposed to high heat.
Which means….Use baking emulsions instead of extracts with better results!

When it comes to flavoring, professional bakers almost exclusively use emulsions over alcohol-based extracts.
•Emulsions have a more potent, robust flavor.
•Won’t “bake-out” when exposed to heat
•Water-based
•Gluten Free & Sugar Free
Use emulsions to flavor:
•Cookies
•Cakes
•Sweet breads & pastries
•Frostings & glazes
•Fondants, fillings & cream centers
If your recipe calls for 1 tsp. extract, substitute 1 tsp. emulsion.
Based on all that who would use regular old extracts anymore???
So I decided to try red velvet cupcakes. I didn’t want to be too traditional with the mandatory cream cheese frosting. So I decided on a chocolate marshmallow frosting.

Red Velvet Cupcakes
Makes 12 standard cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
• 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup (57 g) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons canola oil (you can use vegetable)
• 2 tablespoons Lorann Oil Red Velvet bakery emulsion **
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 1-1/4 cups cake flour
• 1 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons dark Dutch-process cocoa powder(I used Hershey’s special dark)
• 1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F . Line a cupcake tin with 12 standard cupcake liners.
2.In an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or paddle, if necessary), mix the sugar, butter, oil, Lorann Oil red velvet emulsion, vanilla, and salt on medium speed until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
3.Add the egg and mix on medium speed until just incorporated.
4.In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour and cocoa powder.
5.Add 1/3 dry ingredients to the mixer and blend until just combined, then add 1/2 of the buttermilk. Alternate until all of the dry ingredients and buttermilk have been added.
6.In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine the vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix until incorporated.
7.Divide batter among the cupcake liners and bake until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs only, about 22 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. Frost cupcakes when cooled with frosting.
**If you can’t find the Lorann Emulsions, you can substitute with 1 oz red food color, or 1 tblspoon red gel paste

Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting:
2 sticks salted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons milk
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder(I used Hershey’s Special Dark)
2 Tablespoons chocolate syrup
7 oz jar marshmallow creme (or fluff)
In the bowl of a mixer, beat butter, vanilla, and milk on medium-low speed until smooth and combined. Add powdered sugar and cocoa powder and beat on low until just combined. Add chocolate syrup and increase speed to high. Beat for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.

The result! I am in love! it has no after taste of coloring or dye at all! The marshmallow chocolate is perfect for the cake! My daughter microwaved it about 10 seconds so the marshmallow melted and was ooey gooey goodness!
Enjoy!

Picadillo, Little bits of comfort

Everyone has an easy dinner using ground beef. Whether it be sloppy joe’s, meatloaf, chili, meatballs, or even a simple Hamburger Helper ( 3 cheese shells is my favorite). I try to cook healthy meals, or as healthy as I can, but once in a while you just need some comfort food. Yummy, no restriction food. That’s where Picadillo comes in.

The name picadillo means little bits or pieces in spanish. It’s the hispanic version of sloppy joe’s, or a chili without beans. Almost all Latin American countries have a version of picadillo.

Some put raisins in it (***shudder*** they freak me out) or make it very spicy. It’s basically ground beef with tomato sauce, sofrito and spices.
When my daughter sees ground beef defrosting and asks what’s for dinner, I know she is hoping for picadillo. She may have been born in Florida, but she is a boricua at heart (or stomach). It’s so easy to make and versatile. It can be part of the main meal, accompanied with white rice, or as a filling for other dishes like empanadas, potato balls and other fritters. You can also use ground turkey or chicken to make it with less fat and calories. I like to use 90% lean ground beef for my picadillo. Here is the cooking video! Buen provecho!

Puertorican Pollo Guisado (Chicken Stew)

What’s for dinner they ask? The answer will probably be chicken. It’s my go-to protein. I usually buy a big family pack of boneless breasts and divide them in dinner portions, which is usually 3 to 4 breasts, lay them flat in a freezer bag and store them in the freezer.
My goal in the kitchen is to spend as little time as possible cooking a healthy meal. Most of the dishes I cook are under 30 minutes, I guess I’m trying to be the hispanic Rachael Ray lol. Pollo guisado(chicken stew) is one of my favorite dishes to cook. It has tons of veggies,on the healthier side, it’s bright and very flavorful. It can also cook in under 30 minutes if you use boneless chicken breast. If you use other chicken parts, it may take longer to cook.

Here are the ingredients for the Pollo Guisado (Chicken stew):

1-2 lbs of chicken breasts( I used 3 large bone in breasts, cut up in chunks)
5 tbsp sofrito ( Check out my prior post on how to make sofrito)
1/4 cup canola oil
Garlic
Tomato sauce
1 packet Sazon Knorr
Adobo Goya
Cumin
Oregano
3 potatoes, cubed
3 large carrots, sliced
Olives
Cilantro

Now that you have all the ingredients, watch the video to learn how to make it!
Please like and share the video.
Buen Provecho!

Green and yellow total opposites?

     When you go to the market and pick your fruits and veggies, do you know if they are going to be sweet, tangy, sour or tart by just looking at them? I wish we could have that ability! At least with a Plantain you can.

They are a close cousin of bananas.They are a fruit, but it’s considered a vegetable. Plantains are bigger and firmer than bananas, their peel is thicker and they are lower in sugar content. Plantains are a staple food in the tropical regions and can be eaten at different stages of ripeness.From green and firm to yellow with black spots and soft.When green. they are tough and starchy, similar to a potato or a yucca root.When yellow with black spots, they turn a little bit soft and midly sweet. When almost black, they are soft, sweet and with a unique flavor. The most important difference between a plantain and a yellow sweet banana is that you can’t eat plantains RAW. The plantain has to be cooked first!  
Plantains are available in most U.S supermarketsand are found in the produce section of your local supermarket. Look for firm plantains and avoid shriveled, squishy, or moldy fruit. You can ripen plantains by storing them at room temperature and out of direct sunlight, turning them every day. It will take at least 1 week for green plantains to fully ripen.
So what to do with them??
In Puerto Rico, alot of restaurants feature a classic dish called Mofongo. It’s a terrible name for something that is borderline heavenly. It’s the perfect mix of fried, crunchy, salty and over all AMAZING!
It was featured in an episode of “The Best thing I ever ate”. Guy Fieri was amazed on how these few ingredients could make such a flavorful dish!
Here are the ingredients to make mofongo:
2 or 3 large green plantains
Salt to taste
Black pepper
Canola oil for frying
Olive oil
Garlic

And now watch my video on how to make it

Buen Provecho!!

Authentic Puerto Rican Cooking

I love to cook and try to as much as I can. Seriously. I enjoy preparing meals for my family to enjoy. So in 2013 I decided to try to cook as much as possible and I am posting on my Facebook what I cook for dinner every day. I try to cook fast, easy and healthy (sort of) meals. I just want to look back and see how much I have throughout the year. Some people think that Hispanic cooking is not healthy, full of fat and sodium. I try to use canola or olive oil and use as little as possible (except every once in a while when I fry chicken or pork)
Most of my cooking is Puerto Rican (duh! born and raised in P.R.) There are a few things that almost every Puerto Rican kitchen has.

A caldero is an aluminum pot with a tight fitting lid. They are relatively inexpensive; they come in different sizes and you can easily find them in stores. This 3 piece set is online at Target for $20.99

They are great for stews, rice and for frying. The trick to great rice in a caldero is that you have to season it. When new, pour enough oil in the caldero and heat it for several minutes. And NEVER EVER place your caldero in the dishwasher!! You will strip all the seasoning off of it.

Another must have is Sazon Knorr with Coriander and Annatto. It comes in little packets and we use it to flavor and color a lot of our dishes, like yellow rice.
This is my favorite sazon, Knorr.
It’s not easy to find, but the Sazon Goya is available in most stores.

One of the most important condiments in our cooking is adobo. Adobo is a blend of salt, pepper, garlic onion and other spices. We use it to season EVERYTHING. Honest!

Next is a Pilon or a mortar and pestle. It’s traditionally made out of wood and used to make sofrito, mash garlic and other spices and to mash plantains for mofongo. In front Is a rectangular wood block which is used to flatten fried plantains to make tostones (tostonera)

Since some of my friends on Facebook love the What’s for Dinner posts, I decided to make a cooking video. I made rice and beans with fried pork chunks. I use long grain rice and just bought pork chunks for stew at the supermarket. I use a caldero, sazon and sofrito. You will be surprised on how easy it is to make. You don’t need a lot of fancy ingredients. In my prior post I show you how to make sofrito. It can also feed a small army. We are only 3, but hubby loves leftovers for lunch the next day.
Here are the ingredients for the Rice and Beans. Watch the video for the instructions!
2 cups long grain rice
1 can (16 oz) beans, any except black beans
2 heaping tbs sofrito
1 tsp ground cumin
1tsp dried oregano
1 packet Sazon Knorr (or Goya)
2 tbs canola oil
Salt to taste.
For the Fried Pork Chunks:
2lbs cut up pork meat for stew
Adobo Goya to taste
Unseasoned meat tenderizer

Like and share the video!

Sofrito for the Hispanic Soul

I haven’t posted in a while and for that I apologize
I have been pretty busy these past few weeks. I made a New Years goal of cooking every day ( or almost every day) and I am posting my culinary concoctions on my personal fb page. I have been receiving a lot of compliments which is good.
I started making cooking videos for Youtube. I cook and the hubby takes and edits the video. My first video had to be of the base of most Puerto Rican cooking: Sofrito.
Sofrito is usually in most of my recipes. From rice, stews and even spagetti sauce! It’s very easy to make and it freezes beautifully. I use onions, cubanelle peppers, aji dulce, cilantro, culantro and lots of garlic.
Culantro is a completely different plant from cilantro. Although the two are cousins, they look nothing alike and are quite easy to differentiate by appearance.Culantro is also often called spiny cilantro and is not as widely available as cilantro. Check with your market’s produce manager if you do not see any in with other fresh herbs. It really makes a difference in the flavor of the sofrito.
Cubanelle peppers are long slender banana-shaped pepper that is considered to be a sweet pepper. Ranging in color from green to yellow or red, this pepper has a glossy outer skin that is smooth and firm in texture. Also known as Italian frying pepper, this pepper is mildly hot and very similar to an Anaheim pepper. If you can’t find cubanelle peppers, you can use bell peppers.
Ají dulce (Capsicum chinense) is a small, light green pepper that turns red if left long enough on the plant. In Puerto Rico, it is known as ají dulce or ajicito (sweet pepper and small pepper, respectively, in Spanish). In the Dominican Republic, it is also known as ají gustoso or ají cachucha (tasty pepper, and cap-shaped pepper, respectively, in Spanish). It has the shape and size of a habanero pepper without the intense heat. Unlike many other countries in Latin America, hot peppers are not commonly used in the cuisine of Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, or Cuba. If you can’t find aji dulces, you can use mini sweet peppers, like these:

Ok done with all the scientific and technical stuff
Here’s the sofrito video.

Please like and share it!