Saturday, December 09, 2006

Tomato salad for steak dinners

I make this salad more as a topping than a salad but I often place on the side of the plate as well. Goes incredibly well with steaks but other red meats also.


Ingredients:

1 bunch of cherry tomatoes
1/2 bunch of parsley leafs
2 small shallots
1/2 lemon
salt & pepper
olive oil

cut the cherry tomatoes into quarters and place in bowl with chopped parsley and thinly sliced shallots. Squeeze in juice of lemon and add one table spoon of olive oil. Add salt & pepper and mix well. Set aside for approximately 10 minutes with occasional stirring.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Shrimp Ceviche

This is not a true ceviche as I do not "cook" the shrimp solely in lime juice for the obvious health reasons. In addition, I add a few non-traditional ingredients but all in all, it's fairly close.


Ingredients:

1 pound of small barely cooked shrimp (I'm not sure of this amount as I usually eyeball stuff... I think this is close, you may want a little less)
2/3 pieces of garlic (diced)
5 green onions (whites and a bit of the green stem chopped)
12 key limes (8 regular if you must)
1 avocado (cut into small pieces)
.5 bunch of cilantro (chopped)
.5 cucumber (peeled, seeded and cut into small pieces)
2 bunches of cherry tomatoes cut into quarters (you can use regular tomatoes if you have to but it just won't be the same)

In a glass or ceramic bowl, mix together all ingredients except avocado and limes. Squeeze juice from limes and mix again. If you do not have a citrus squeezer then I would add four or so more limes to this receipt as it is difficult to get all of the juice out of those suckers otherwise. Cover and place in refrigerator for an hour, stirring twice during this time. After mixture has been in the refrigerator for an hour, add avocado pieces and serve immedietely.

I generally serve this in a glass as it seems to be the best way to go however, you could serve in large bowl and chips if you like.

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Bolognese sauce

I have no idea if this is any where near the traditional sauce but it tastes damn good. This recipe makes one gallon of sauce. We generally eat one quarter of the sauce when I make it and store the remaining sauce in quart size containers in the freezer. When thawing, place in sauce pan and reheat on low heat.

Ingredients:

1.25 pounds ground lamb meat
1.25 ground beef
12-15 mushrooms (diced)
3-5 piece of garlic (depending on how much you like garlic)
1 white onion chopped
3 28oz cans of whole peeled tomatos
1 can tomato paste
4 bay leaves
.5 bottle of red wine

In a very large pot fry the onion, garlic & bay leaves for a few minutes and then add meat. Fry meat until brown. Add diced mushrooms and continue to cook. squeeze, by hand, each of the tomatoes from the can. Make sure to crush each tomato as much as possible. CAUTION: the tomatoes will squirt juice everywhere if you're not careful. Drop each tomato into the meat mixture until all tomatoes are mixed in. Pour juice from cans into the mixture. Cook for .20 minutes or until mixture comes to a boil. Add the tomato paste and stir. Add the red wine, stir and lower heat to low. Cook sauce for 1.5 - 2 hours on low heat. Sauce should be meaty and thick but it not, add just a bit of corn starch to thicken.

Monday, November 20, 2006

Calabasita (Squash stew)

Calabasa can refer to almost any type of squash in Spanish and in this case I am referring to zuccini. Calabaza is probably more likely to refer to this particular squash squash but again, we will use zuccini here. In addition, pork can be substituted for the chicken I use here.

Side note, I have made this dish with various other types of squash also and usually turns out great.


Ingredients:

20 small zuccini sliced into thin rounds (about thickness of three quarters stacked) (fewer if only large squash are available).
3 pieces of garlic
.5 large white onion, chopped.
2 jalapenos
1 cube of chicken bullion (optional)
1 pouund of chicken (white, dark, combination) I often just use a whole chicken properly pieced.
1 can of corn
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
salt & pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of olive oil

In large pot fry garlic, jalapenos & onion for a few minutes, then add chicken pieces. Cook chicken until brown well on all sides. Add squash and mix all ingredients together. Cover and let cook on medium heat. DO NOT ADD WATER. Stir squash occassionaly. The squash will release water which will become the "soup" part of this dish. Once water from squash is clearly visible, add cumin, bullion, salt & pepper and corn. Stir well and cook for another 10 minutes.

Serve with flour tortillas and good salsa (see recipe below)

Arroz com Pollo (Mexican style Chicken & Rice)

Classic dish. Nothing fancy here but still one of my favorites.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken
2 medium white onions
4 pieces of garlic
2 cups of rice
1.5 tablespoons of lard (olive oil if you must, but pig add a very nice taste)
1 can of tomato paste
1 cube of chicken bouillion
salt & pepper
ground cumin
2 bay leaves
3 serano peppers (you can leave the peppers out if you don't like your food to spicy)

Preperation:

In a large stock pot boil the chick with one piece of garlic, one onion quartered, chicken bouillion, salt & pepper, and one serano pepper. Boil until chicken is well done, remove chicken and save stock. After chicken has cooled, pull meat from bones (meat should be in bite size pieces) and set aside.

In large, deep iron skillet (pot with lid if you don't have deep iron skillet) heat lard over medium high heat until melted and add onion (halved and then sliced) and serano peppers. Fry onion until slightly wilted and then add rice and bay leaves. Stir rice with wood spoon until most of the rice has become brown, add chicken and tomato paste and stir. Add four cups of the saved chicken stock, salt & pepper, and five or six shakes of cumin. Cover and lower heat to low. Cook for approimately 30 minutes. Serve with tortillas.

Note: I like this dish with a bit of extra chick stock. Not quite a soup but not just cooked rice either. Add an extra cup of stock during the step above to make this dish a bit more "soupy"

Salsa Trajan (Green salsa)

This is a salsa I make to be added to food, it should be served immediately after you make it, still hot. I suppose you could also eat it with chips, ala American but I it may be a bit much. FYI, this stuff is damn hot when made right.

Ingredients:

7-8 tomatillos (few more if they are very small) (remove leafs and rinse well)
2 jalapeno peppers (stems removed)
3 serano peppers (stems removed)
2 pieces of garlic
half of a small white onion (pealed and quartered)
1 small ripe tomato
salt & pepper to taste

Place tomatillos, peppers, garlic and onions in a steamer and steam until onion and tomatillos are slightly wilted, approximately five minutes. Place all steamed ingredients into a food processor or blender along with tomato, salt & pepper and blend until a smooth salsa is made (approximately 20-25 seconds). Place in bowl and serve immediately with food.