Our trip to Cuba

If you haven't had good Cuban food then you are missing out.  But where can it be had?  If you are in Florida you'll find it all over the place.  In Massachusetts, as I know of very few.  When I want Cuban food I'll drive to Jamaica Plain, a 4.4 square mile neighborhood of Boston.  There, you'll find a gem of a restaurant called El Oriental De Cuba.  I would highly recommend a trip here if you want to truly know good Cuban food.  When there, you have to have a Cuban sandwich.  This sandwich has been around since the turn of the century, and you won't find one better than this one.  While they have an extensive menu, my favorite item, which I have gotten many times, is Fricase De Pollo (Chicken Fricassee).  This is not like a European fricassee.  It is more of a chicken stew cooked in a tomato chicken broth.  I have always wanted to try to duplicate it at home, so here is our attempt. 

For this meal are making:


Fricase De Pollo - Chicken Fricassee
Arroz Amarillo - Yellow Rice
Plantanos Tostones - Fried Green Plantains

All of these are very easy to make, and are impressive to serve. 

Unlike last week, this meal does not need all day to cook, because of this you should prepare the items in this order:

·         Cut up Chicken

·         Cut up all items (for both chicken and rice)

·         Assemble chicken and get cooking

·         Assemble rice and get cooking

·         Prepare plantains

This is what you’ll need (but rememeber, don’t dwell to much on hitting the measurements exact.  Almost never necessary.):


Fricase De Pollo
1 chicken cut up, and cleaned
1/2 onion ( medium to large size)
1 red pepper
3 cloves garlic
3 tbs. olive oil
A bay leaf
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1/2 jar Spanish olives stuffed with red peppers or pimentos (about 4 oz.)
a pinch of cumin
1 tbsp. flour (basically enough to flour chicken)
2 cups of chicken broth

Arroz Amarillo

1 c parboiled rice (like uncle ben's)
1 red pepper
The other half of the onion
3 small cloves garlic
2 - 3 tbsp vegetable oil (less is better I found – see below)
1/2 c frozen peas
1/8 tsp ground saffron (or you can cheat)
1 tsp salt
pinch of cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
ground black pepper
2 c chicken or vegetable stock

Plantanos Tostones

Green Plantanos

Frying oil (I used Canola)

Ok, so let’s start on the chicken.  I will almost always start with a whole chicken.  It is just better.  You can buy parts, but it is never as good.  Once the store cuts a chicken up and packs it, it immediately seems to lose its freshness.  My grandmother use to make chicken most Friday (Shabbat) evenings.  She made the best chicken.  I have never had better.  For years I tried to duplicate it without success.  It just never tasted the same.  Then I started cutting up my own chicken.  I still don’t think I ever hit her mark, but it is much closer, and certainly a good meal.

So, cut up the chicken yourself.  For this dish I cut the chicken in half length-wise.  All of this is done with shears.  I then cut off the wings.  Then remove the leg/thigh sections.  Then remove the legs from the thighs.  This dish requires smaller chicken parts, so I then cut each breast into 3 or 4 pieces, then each thigh into 2 or 3 parts.

That’s it.  Next, pat dry the chicken, put it all in a big plastic freezer bag with the flour, and toss to coat the chicken.  Lay the chicken out to dry for a few minutes, and then brown the chicken in a large pan with a couple of tbls. of olive oil.  Set aside (do I have to say in the fridge?).

Next, chop up all of the vegetables from both recipes.  If the olives are small keep them whole, otherwise cut them in ½ or 3rds depending on the size.

In a good sized pot (see picture), Sauté the onion, garlic, and red pepper (not all of it, just the portions for the chicken) in a bit of olive oil.  Add the chicken pieces.  Add the tomato sauce and the 2 cups of broth.  Throw in a bay leaf, a pinch or so of cumin, and the olives.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 40 minutes (longer won’t hurt anything).

Then get started on the rice.

The Arroz Amarillo gets its yellow color from the saffron.  Traditional recipes may use something called annato oil instead, but I couldn’t find any.  So, start by prepping the saffron.  Put the saffron in a small bowl with a few tbsp. of boiling water.  This will create a deep orange mixture.  Careful, because it stains!

NOTE (this is where you can cheat): Saffron is expensive!  If you do not want to go this route then buy a box of traditional yellow rice like Goya or Vigo.  If you do this cut out all spices from the rice recipe, because it’s-a in there.

Sauté the onions, garlic, and red pepper in a bit of olive oil.  Be careful!  Only use a little.  I used a couple of tablespoons and it was to much.  The rice will come out oily.  Ours was still really good, but a bit oily.

Saute only until onions become translucent, then add the rice.  The rice needs to cook dry first.  This gives it a nice nutty flavor.  It will become brittle and a bit translucent.  Add the spices (if you didn’t cheat) and the saffron mixture.  Mix it up and cook for about a minute.

Add the broth and the peas, and mix well.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for about 20 minutes.

While everything else is cooking prepare the plantains!  I was originally going to make Maduros instead of Tostones.  Maduros are fried ripe plantains.  The sugars from the ripe plantains caramelize and produce a very sweet sticky plantain.  They are fantastic, and I do recommend them.  But… we bought the plantains the same day we cooked, so… they were green.  Tostones, fried green plantains, are not as sweet, but they are still very flavorful, and make an excellent accompaniment for these dishes!

So… remove the ends and skin the plantains (by the way, bananas work almost as well).  Slice them into 1 – 1.5 inch segments.

Tostones are sometimes called “Twice fried” plantains.  The reason for this is… well… you fry them twice!  Heat enough canola oil in a pan to cover about ½ the plantain slices (so about 1/2” – 3/4” of an inch, and put in the plantains.  You probably want to do these in batches, so they don’t have to be to close together (see picture). 

Cook a couple of minutes, the flip them.  Cook another couple, and then remove onto paper towels.   

Once they are all done you need to smash them.  Yes… smash them!  Put each piece onto a cutting board and hit them with a can of peaches (or beats, tomatoes, or any other unopened can you have in the cupboard.  This should flatten each piece, and squish the uncooked stuff in the middle out the sides.

 

After you smash each piece fry them again!  That is it.  Some people like to put salt or garlic salt on them.  I have heard that other Hispanic countries serve them with some type of sauce.  We like them plain.

Put everything on the plate and enjoy!

A Trip to Italy, Well... Little Italy...

For our first journey we are throwing together some Italian.  This weekend is fantastic for hanging out and cooking, and watching football!  We're going to be home anyways, and since the playoffs are an all-day event we may as well cook something that will take all-day, a huge heaping of Sunday Sauce.

I've heard that traditional Italian families would make this sauce every Sunday.  They would eat it that evening with a stubby pasta like rigatoni or shells, or a thick spaghetti like linguini or fettuccini (More on the pasta later).  They would then have the sauce all throughout the week.

As we impart our adventures with you we'll also try to give some of the wisdom (or lack thereof) that we fell on.  The first is that recipes are suggestions, and not law!  This is rule number 1, and it is especially true when making a pasta sauce.  Yes, you need tomatoes, garlic, etc., but the amount is purely dictated by what you have lying around, and how much you want for leftovers.  I’ll give you the “recipe” according to how we are doing it (at the time), but it is up to you.  Come close and you can’t go wrong.  Deviate greatly and it will probably still be good.

So… the Sunday Sauce…  This is going to be a huge hearty sauce with lots of stuff in it!  We are going to have meatballs, sausage, and braciole (pronounced http://www.forvo.com/word/braciole/) which is some of the most fantastic stuff on earth.

So, let's get started!  First of all, you are going to need a bunch of hours for this stuff to simmer, so start early.  There are several things to do, so preparing stuff in a particular order is helpful.  I suggest you follow the following order:

•  Prepare Base Sauce

• Brown Sausage and Add to Sauce
• Prepare Meatballs and Add to Sauce
• Prepare Braciole and Add to Sauce
• Add Anything Else to Sauce

This is what you are going to need:

Meatballs:

1 lbs. Ground Beef

1 lbs. Ground Pork

1 cup plain breadcrumbs

4 eggs

1 cup Parmaigiano and/or Romano cheese (no need to go expensive, the jarred stuff is fine)

fresh chopped parsley

salt

pepper

Sausage:

6-8 Italian Sausages (Hot or Mild, your choice)

Braciole:

I have tried different recipes for this every time.  This is the one we are using for this, and it is great.  I read that this is somewhat traditional Southern Italy.

Beef – I’ll get to this later

Pine Nuts

Raisins

Mozzarella Cheese (Just the cheap shredded stuff is good)

Parmaigiano and/or Romano cheese (no need to go expensive, the jarred stuff is fine)

Plain Bread Crumbs

Fresh Chopped Parsley

Salt and Pepper

Sauce:

I buy canned tomato products throughout the year whenever I see ridiculous sales.  Then I use whatever I have, but here is what it often breaks down to…

Tomatoes!!!  Canned are fine, I use both canned and fresh romas if they are reasonably priced.

I suggest around 86 – 100 ounces in any sized cans in either juice or purée, as well as a pound or 2 of fresh romas (I get fresh romas if they are under a dollar a pound.)

Tomato Paste (about a ½ cup or so)

Tomato Purée (a couple of cans if they are cheap)

Garlic (Fresh Cloves!!! It is easier than you think!)

Onions (Some people do, some people don’t, I do…)

Some country-style pork ribs (a pound or less)

A hearty red wine (preferably one that you would like to drink over the next few hours)

Other:

Olive Oil!!!

  Ok, so let’s start cutting up the onions and garlic.  Cut the onions up into big coarse chunks.  You can go finer if you don’t like a chunky sauce.  I use about 1.5 large onions.

You are going to want to use about 4-5 good sized garlic cloves.  Pull the cloves off the garlic bulb.  There is no need to peel the cloves!!!  God made the cloves so they can be accessed much easier than peeling them, which is a real pain in the behind by the way!  Once you have the clove out smack it hard with the flat of a heavy cleaver.  The clove will pop open and the garlic will come half out on its own.  Pull out the cloves and chop'em up.

Open the cans of tomatoes, puree, paste, etc..  Cut each tomato in half and remove the seeds.  You can skip this part if you don’t mind the seeds.  For me it is a matter of how lazy I am feeling.  Cut the tomatoes up into large or small chunks (1/4s or 1/8ths depending on how chunky you like the sauce.  I love a chunky sauce.

Put a couple of Tbl. of olive oil in the bottom of a big pot and add the onions and garlic.  Cook only a couple of minutes until the onions get a bit translucent.  We don't want them soft at this point.  Add the tomatoes etc. with all the juice and bring to a little boil.  Add the pork ribs.  These are mostly for flavor.  A friend of mine at work suggested I do this, and I have done it ever since.  However, make certain that the ribs aren't too thick, or take the meat off the bones and cut it up (but still add the bones).  If the meat isn't too thick then it will break down nicely and become part of the sauce, otherwise you will just have these big chunks or meat floating in the sauce.  Bring to a boil again, then reduce the heat and get simmering.  At this point just add about a cup of the wine and let'r sit for a couple of hours stirring every 15 minutes or so.

While the sauce is simmering make the meatballs.  Just mix together all of the ingredients, including a  few Tbls of the chopped parsley, and mix well.  Make meatballs about 1.5" - 2" in diameter.  Some people like bigger ones.  I like this size because about 15% - 25% of them don't survive the cooking, and become loose meat in the sauce.  Once they are formed, brown them in a big skillet.  This aggravated the heck out of Noah.  Until you get the hang of it, it is tough to turn them and get them browned all over without breaking a few.  No worries though, any that break just become some loose meat in the sauce.  After browning, throw them in!  Well, don't throw them in, it makes a mess.  Touch them to the top of the sauce and let them go... no splash.

Next, brown the sausages.  You want to poke holes in the sausage skins before you start.  Sausages give off a lot of liquid when you cook them, so you want a good amount to come out during the browning so it doesn't make your sauce too soupy.  I like to brown the sausages a bit more than the other meat to make certain you get more of the liquid out.  After browning throw them into the sauce (see meatballs for more on "throwing into sauce").

Lastly, we have the Braciole and the fresh tomatoes (if you chose to use them).  We save these for last for a couple of reasons.  Regarding the fresh tomatoes, you only want them in the sauce for 1.5 to 2 hours.  This gives the sauce a fresher feel and flavor.  If they are in for the whole time then you get a flavor closer to a jarred sauce (a good jarred sauce, but a jarred sauce).  The Braciole also should only be simmering for about 1.5 to 2 hours.  If it is in longer the beef will actually become tougher (not sure why).  So you cook it for the lesser time.  Braciole should fall apart when you cut into it.  This will not be the case when you initially serve the sauce (but it will still be good).  Braciole become the perfect consistency when you re-heat it to serve throughout the week.  And believe me, it gets better every time.

So, for the Braciole... 

Braciole is made using thin cuts of beef, pounded flat, then filled and rolled.  It is traditionally made using a flank steak or similar cut.  You can butterfly the flank and then pound it to about a 1/4 inch or thinner.  I pretty much never use a flank steak.... too expensive, and I am all about cheap (err... frugal).

I will usually look for a reasonably priced bottom round roast.  The Market Basket near us had one that is already sliced.  I have no idea why they sell it this way, but their local clientele must have something that they use it for.  Well, Noah separated the slices and pounded each a bit thinner.  You pound for the tenderizing as much as for the thickness, so don't skip this just because you have nicely sliced beef.

To make the filling combine all of the ingredients (about 3 oz. of each).   I then put the mixture into a food processor and get a nice coarse chop.  I read that others just use the unprocessed mixture.

Once the mixture is prepared spread a generous amount across a slice of the beef and roll it up tightly.  Then tie the roll with some twine.  Repeat with the rest of the meat and mixture.  Then brown each roll.  Brown the ends of each roll too! 

Peel and seed the fresh tomatoes.  Peeling tomatoes is a pain in the tochas if you just try to do it.  Instead, get some water boiling.  With a knife, make small Xs at the bottom (not the stem) end of each tomato.  Put them in the boiling water a few at a time until you see the skin peeling back at the X mark.  Take them out and let them cool a bit.  Now the skin should peel of easily.  Cut the tomatoes up in whatever size chunks you like.

Have the sauce simmering for about 2 hours to this point.  Then you can throw in the braciole and fresh tomatoes (see above regarding throwing).

Cover the sauce and simmer an additional 1.5 - 2 hours, again, stirring every 15 minutes or so.

Now, you’re done.  Either get ready to eat, or put the pot outside to cool.

Regarding the pasta...

Some people get hung up on carbs and diet.  Pasta is not something to get hung up about.  It happens to be one of the best things created by man, and if prepared and served right it fits into most any diet.  The main problem with carbs (in extremely simple terms) is that many of them have a habit of breaking down into sugars too quickly or easily.  This mucks with your energy and metabolism, and causes rapid storage of excess energy (as fat).  But there are good carbs and bad carbs.  Bad carbs break down too quickly.  You will experience sugar crashes and weight gain if you eat much of them.  Good carbs are carbs that the body needs to work at to digest and metabolize.  These will give you sustained energy and can actually get your body to burn calories during digestion.  So, where does pasta fit in???  Pasta by its nature is a good carb, but only in some forms.  A good hearty pasta, like penne, rigatoni, or fettuccini is dense, and the body has to work to digest it.  Cook these al dente (leaving the pasta somewhat firm, not mushy) and you have a food that the body will use for hours. 

Portion size is also important though.  Americans have a terrible habit of making a carb, like pasta or rice, and piling a ton of it on a plate then covering it with some meat and veggies.  A stir fry sounds nice and healthy, but if it lies on top of a heaping mound of rice then you are defeating the purpose.  Have about a cup of pasta, or 1/2 cup of rice for a good portion size.

Serving this Sunday sauce as a traditional Italian meal would probably have you serve the pasta in a small bowl covered with sauce first.  Then as a second course serve the meat,, and maybe another course have a salad.  By separating the courses you can control the portions better, and actually slow down the meal, which is also healthier.

So there you have it, food for an army for a week!  And the great thing about it is that it gets better every time you re-heat and serve it.  Let us know what you think!