Dominican Style Chickpeas!

So my parents went away for the weekend to an old friend's wedding in Indiana. It was actually one of my parent's college friends. So they left Friday afternoon and came back today around 3pm. So since I haven't posted anything here in the longest, and abuela wanted me to help her cook, I figured I'd post what we made today. Abuela said she didn't want to go all out cooking, that she was going to order a chicken from a Colombian chicken restaurant in the area. So I suggested to make chickpeas with white rice to accompany the chicken. We also decided to make some plantano maduros (sweet plantains). Dominican style chickpeas are absolutely delicious and made pretty much the way we make beans. We tend to add tiny pieces of ham steak and it gives it a very rich flavor. So after I finished writing up my article for one of the online magazines I write for, we decided to get started in the kitchen. Abuela was surprised to see me cooking without my new apron. She had bought us aprons a couple of weeks ago from Target. For some reason it always slips my mine that she bought those, but I was really excited to put mine on. Something about the apron just made me feel professional. We both put on our aprons and got back to work. Shortly after, mom and dad came home and we all had dinner together as a family. They absolutely loved the chickpeas! Check out abuela's chickpeas recipe below.

Ingredients:
1. 2 cans of Goya chick peas
2. 1/2 a red onion
3. 1/2 a red pepper
4. 1/2 a green pepper
5. 3-4 garlic cloves minced
6. Oregno-dry and crushed
7. Cilantro
8. Ham steak
9. Olive oil
10. Tomato paste
11. Salt to taste

Directions

1. Take 2 cans of Goya chickpeas and pour it into a pot. Then fill up one of the cans with water and pour it in the pot.
2. Then add 1/2 a red onion, 1/2 a red pepper and 1/2 a green pepper
3. Take 3-4 garlic cloves and chop into small fine pieces, then add to mortar and pestle and add a little bit of oregano. Then mash and throw into the pot.
4. Add a few pieces of cilantro, let it sit and take in the flavor.
5. On the side take half a piece of ham steak and chop into small square pieces. Take a frying pan and add some oil and start to cook the ham steak.
6. Once the ham steak starts to cook add a tablespoon of tomato paste and mix it well.
7. Once the ham steak is well marinated in the tomato paste, transfer it to the chickpeas.
8. Add salt to taste
9. And remove cooked cilantro, peppers and onion with a fork.
9. For best results serve over white rice.

Abuela's Aji Relleno y Papa Rellena (Stuffed Peppers & Stuffed potatoes)

Since abuela came back, we have discussed making gourmet meals. My mother had mentioned a few month ago that abuela used to make stuffed peppers, stuffed tomatoes and stuffed potatoes when my mother was younger. Abuela has made stuffed cabbages a few times for us, but I had never tried her stuffed peppers, tomatoes or potatoes. "It's been a really long time since I've made any of that. I'm not even sure I remember how," abuela said in spanish.

But I was determined to learn. I know how it is, if I don't watch, learn and record all of abuela's famous recipes, they could one day get lost. And this sounded like something I wanted to keep in the family for generations to come. So last night abuela and I discussed the necessary ingredients we needed to make the stuffed peppers and potatoes. She told me she was going to have someone coming over the house quickly around 10am today. So we woke up around 8:30 this morning and around 9am we headed to the supermarket. It's unbelievable how overpriced green and red bell peppers are. We needed about five and just two alone cost around three something.

The food came out delicious but since this was the first time in years that abuela has made this, there was a lot of trial and error going on. There are two things we learned from this. One if we decide to cook the peppers in the oven again we are going to leave it in there a lot longer. Our peppers were still a little too hard. It taste a lot better if you cook them until they are real soft. The other option is after stuffing them, next time we can cook them in a skillet over a medium flame. Honestly abuela said that would of been the best way to do it. The peppers would of definitely soften up quickly. Another thing we highly recommend is to sauté it in a tomato based sauce. We covered it in a white creamy sauce. It was good but I found the cream sauce too strong for this dish and the peppers don't look as pretty either. I'm really into how my food looks. So again just things to keep in mind for when you make this dish yourself. Also be aware that this is a pretty long process. We were cooking from 10:30am to almost 2:00pm.

Abuela's recipe for Stuffed peppers and stuffed potatoes

Ingredients:
-Close to 2 lbs of beef round cubes
-1/2 a lb of pork center cut chops/boneless and thin
-5 large bell peppers (we used three green and two red)
-5-6 large potatoes/peeled
-Adobo
-Oregano/grounded or dry and crushed
-2 gloves of garlic
-Cooking white wine
-Olive oil
-Vinegar
-Half an onion/chopped
-half a red pepper and half a green pepper/chopped
-tomato paste
-green olives/chopped
-1 boiled egg/chopped
-About 2 cups full of abuela's home-made Salsa Bechamel(recipe included in directions below)
-3-4 pieces of cilantro
-worchester sauce

Directions:
1.Take the beef round cubes and the pork cut chops and season them. Season them with a little bit of Goya Adobo. Then add a little bit of oregano and a cap full of vinegar. Pour a little bit of worchester sauce and a little bit of cooking white wine. Then take about two gloves of garlic and chopped them into very small and fine pieces. Add it to a mortar and pestle and crush the garlic until it gets minced.
Then add it to the meat. Place the beef and the pork together in a tupperware and let it sit in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes. You can also season the meat the night before to save time.
2. While the meat is marinating in the seasonings take about 5-6 large potatoes and wash and peel them.
3. Then fill a pot full of water and add the potatoes, let it boil on a low-medium flame until the potatoes are tender.
4. Then once the meat is seasoned take it out of the fridge. And in a large dutch oven pot add some olive oil. Once it sizzles add the meat. And wait for it to brown.
5. Once the meat begins to take in some color add some chopped onions and the chopped peppers you had aside.
6. Now take the 5 full large peppers and wash them and then let them dry.
7. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees
8. Then cover the peppers in olive oil and add to an oven pot and let it sit in the oven for approximately 20-30 minutes.
9. Check the potatoes and once they are tender turn off the flame. Remove them from the water and let them sit and cool.
10. Get back to the meat and add about 2-3 pieces of cilantro.
11. Then add about a tablespoon of tomato paste and a little bit of water.
12. Chop up some green olives and chop up 1 boiled egg. Abuela boiled the egg the night before and had it in the fridge. Leave them to the side.
13. Now once the meat is cooked take out the meat grinder.
14. Once you finished grinding the meat add the chopped eggs and olives and stir it.
15. Now take the peppers and cut the top of the pepper where the stem is off and remove the seeds inside. But be careful to not throw out any of the tops because you are going to need it.
16. Then stuff the peppers with the meat and then cover them with the tops.
17. Take the potatoes and carefully slice them in half.
18. Then very carefully carve with a spoon the inside of the potato and then stuff the meat and take the other half to cover.
19. Then prepare the Salsa Bechamel.
20. Take a small sauce pot and add 2 cups of 1 percent low fat milk.
21. Then add two tablespoons of butter and 1 teaspoon of salt.
22. Then add 3 tablespoons of Maizena(corn starch)
23. Sprinkle a little bit of grated Parmesan cheese and let it simmer.
24. Once the sauce is hot and very thick and creamy, pour it over the peppers and the potatoes.
25. Then let it sit in the oven for about 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Abuela is back and I got a cook book!

Abuela is back! She just got back this Tuesday from her very long vacation. Abuela has spent close to two months in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Today she was asking my mom where she had stored Silvia Henriquez De Pou's cook book. She was looking for volume one and the three of us discovered that we had volume one and volume three. Abuela was disappointed because she was under the impression that we had volume one and two, and came back from Dominican Republic with volume three. So she let me keep the new copy. So now I own my very own copy of the famous Silvia Henriquez De Pou's volume three. For those who don't know, Silvia Henriquez De Pou in Dominican Republic is like what Julia Childs was in the states.

What we all love about Abuela Celeste!

Today I was off due to the holiday. Mami and I decided to make Paprika Pork rib chops and some chick beans with rice. As we were cooking we both thought about abuela and how the house just hasn't been the same since she went on vacation. Mami and I thought about some of the things we love best about abuela and below are a few things we listed:

-Her positive attitude
-Her sense of humor
-Her lively spirit
-The fact that she is always so friendly and outgoing
-The fact that she is an excellent mother. Her children have always come before her.
-The fact that she is an amazing grandmother
-Her presence. Coming home to her company is always a great thing.
-The way she sneaks into the kitchen to grab some cookies when no one is watching
-Her cooking of course : )
-The fact that she always really enjoys having company over
-The fact that she's so social. She is more popular than any of us here at home.
-The way she imitates my brother
-The fact that she loves to travel and has been to Egypt, Turkey, Israel, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Canada, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic.
-The fact that every time she welcomes you, she treats you like she hasn't seen you in ages
-The fact that she sings to us ever year for our birthdays
-The fact that still at 81 she still loves to look fabulous and fashionable, she still takes care of herself as if she was 30 years old.
-The fact that she has so much faith
-The fact that she puts God before everything and every night when we say good night she says "Si Dios quiere"

Die Dreaming!

Morir Soñando literally translates to "die dreaming." That is the name of a very heavenly, tropical shake that is very famous in the Dominican Republic. Today my dad and I were in the mood for some delicious Morir Soñando. Papi is always the one that usually makes it at home. So as we prepared it together he started to tell me the story about how he came to love this delicious Caribbean beverage. Even though I've heard the story about a million times already, it's always fun to hear about his childhood. " I always used to love Morir Soñando, especially the way my mother used to make it. She used to squeeze fresh oranges, instead of using orange juice like most people do," he said. He told me how popular the drink is in the Dominican Republic, everyone has had it at some point in their lives. "When I was a kid I used to go to the juice bars in the town I lived in, in the Dominican Republic. And I always used to order Morir Soñando, one cup would be about 75 cents. But nowadays they probably sell them for like 3 dollars each," he said. We enjoyed our mouth-watering shake and cherished every sip. My apologizes for not posting any pictures, my camera has been really wacky these days. The image here I found on google image. And it usually comes out looking a lot whiter than in this photo, it depends on how much orange juice you put.

Check out papi's recipe for Morir Soñando!

Ingredients:
-1 can of Carnation-Evaportated fat free milk
-A little bit of water
-4-5 cubes of ice
-2 teaspoons of sugar (papi uses brown sugar)
-A cup of orange juice
- Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions:
-Take 1 can of Carnation-Evaporatated fat free milk and pour it in the blender
-Then pour a little bit of water to dilute the milk
-Then add about 4-5 cubes of sugar, the trick is to get the milk to get as cold as possible before adding the orange juice
-Then add about 2 teaspoons of sugar, my dad prefers to use brown sugar.
-Then start to mix it in the blender
- Pour a cup of orange juice and than mix more in the blender
-Then add 2-3 drops of pure vanilla extract, and blend a little more.

Enjoy!

Baby It's cold Outside, so stay in and enjoy a home-made Caribbean meal!

I was snowed in today. Thankfully I was off from work, because Wednesdays are my day off. But I'm pretty sure no one went to work today due to the crazy snow storm.The weather was pretty bad today, first time in years that New York City closed all the public schools including the City Universities. Oh for everyone who doesn't know, I finally started a new job. I work as a College/ Editorial assistant at a college. I'm pretty excited about it and so far everything has been pretty good. Everyone in my department is super nice and I enjoy the fact that most of my tasks include writing and editing. So it really is a blessing that this job came along my path.

I decided to make a really exotic meal for my family today. I made abuela's signature arroz con Habichuelas Negras (rice and black beans) along with my version of Cuban Coconut chicken. I found a couple of recipes for the coconut chicken, but a lot them required frying the chicken and than afterwards putting it in the oven for 45 minutes. I'm really not a huge fan of frying foods so I try to avoid it as much as I can. I only make the exception for plantains and other meals that really require it. So I grilled the chicken instead. The only problem was I was so distracted with the chicken and the beans, that my white rice dried up too quickly and wasn't rising. So mami had to save the rice, otherwise we would of had some really fluffy rice. I set the table real nice and the four of us sat as a family and enjoyed a very rich and appetizing meal.

Buen Provecho !

Abuela's Habichelas Negras (Black Beans)

Ingredients:
-2 Cans of Black Goya Beans, Premium
-1/2 an onion, red or green doesn't matter
-1/2 a green bell pepper
-1/2 a red bell pepper
-A cap full of olive oil
-Less than a cap full of vinegar
-1 tablespoons of homemade sofrito (check abuela's recipe under the asopao recipe below)
-About 3 gloves of garlic chopped and minced
-1 tablespoon of tomato paste
-1 packet of Sazon Goya seasoning (Con Culantro y achiote). Optional.
-1 cup of water
-Cilantro, cilantro Recao
-Vinegar
-Virgin Olive oil

Directions:
1. Get two cans of Black Goya beans and pour into a sauce pot.
2. Than pour about 1 cup of water into the pot.
3. Throw in 1/2 and onion, 1/2 a green pepper, and 1/2 a red pepper. Make sure not to chop them, just slice them in half and throw them in. That way when the beans are done you can take them out easily.
4. Add a cap full of olive oil
5. Than pour in a little less than half a cap full of vinegar. Just a tiny little bit.
6. Take about 3 gloves of garlic, chop and mince, and add about a teaspoon of minced garlic. No more than a teaspoon full.
7. Than add a couple of pieces of cilantro, I love cilantro so I added like 5 pieces.
8. Then add one tablespoon of tomato paste.
9. Taste it, if it needs salt add a pack of Sazon Goya seasoning (Con Culantro y Achiote). Optional.
10. Stir, bring down the flame and cover.
11. Let it sit for a couple more minutes, when it's ready turn off flame and remove onion, peppers, and cilantro.
12. Serve over white rice.

Johanna's Caribbean Coconut Chicken!

Ingredients:
- Depending on the amount of servings, use 2-8 pieces of skinless, boneless chicken breast tenders. I used 8, because the chicken tenders we had were small, so I wanted each person to have 2 each, and their are 4 of us that ate.
-1 tablespoon of Virgin Olive oil
-1 1/2 onion,chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
-1 green pepper, chopped
- 1 tablespoon of chopped, minced garlic
-1/2 (14 Ounce) can of Goya Coconut milk
-salt and pepper to taste
-Adobo
-Grounded or crushed Oregano

Directions:
-I don't usually season my meat with salt and pepper, I usually sprinkle some adobo on my meat and a little bit of grounded oregano. So first I seasoned the chicken tenders with that.
-Then In a large Skillet (I used a large electric skillet) add about a tablespoon of Virgin olive oil.
-Turn on the flame on medium, in an electric skillet put it on 350 degress.
-Add the seasoned chicken. And then add the chopped onions and peppers.
-Saute until the onions and peppers are translucent. Once the vegetables are translucent and the chicken starts to brown, add the garlic and coconut milk.
-Stir in garlic and coconut milk, once the chicken is cooked add salt and pepper to taste.

Stir Fry Chicken in Ginger Sauce!

Once again I was feeling kind of down today about the whole job hunt situation. So once again I dedicated my day to writing and cooking. I wrote an album review for QRO Magazine and decided to cook something a little different. One of my favorite cuisines is Thai cuisine. I find the taste absolutely amazing and appreciate the creativity that goes into it. One of my favorite Thai dishes is stir-fry chicken in ginger sauce, because I am absolutely obsessed with ginger!

I looked up a couple of recipes online and realized that I was missing a lot of the necessary ingredients. So I went on a whim and experimented completely with what I had. And the final product was so delicious! My mom even said it tasted like restaurant style chicken in ginger sauce. So try it and let me know what you think!

My Stir-Fry Chicken in Ginger Sauce

Ingredients:

-2 large pieces of tender boneless chicken breast
-A cup full of baby carrots/sliced in half, julienne style
-A cup full of fresh broccoli
-A cup of red bell pepper/sliced, julienne style
-Minced garlic ( I used it from a jar of fresh minced garlic I bought)
-4 White button mushrooms/sliced
- 1 large onion/chopped in wedges
-fresh ginger/grated
-Oyster sauce
-Soy sauce
-Olive oil
-Water
-Adobo
-Grounded Oregano
-Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. The first step was to season the chicken, I took the two large pieces of boneless chicken breast and sprinkled a little bit adobo seasoning and a little bit of grounded oregano.
2. Then in a large straight-sided skillet I poured about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and allowed it to sizzle a little.
3.Then I added about 2 tablespoons of minced garlic and added about 3 tablespoons full of fresh ginger/grated. I grated it with a box grater on the side with the smallest holes so that the pieces would be finer.
4. Then I added the chopped onions and let it sizzle some more
5. I took the two pieces of seasoned chicken and took a carving knife and cut the pieces of chicken into much smaller pieces.
6. Then I added the pieces of chicken to the skillet.
7. I added the sliced pieces of red pepper, mushrooms, carrots and broccoli.
8. I ended up adding more garlic, but that's because I love the taste of garlic, so that's optional.
9. I added about two tablespoons of oyster sauce
10. Poured some soy sauce to taste and about 1/2 a cup of water so it wouldn't dry.
11. And sprinkled salt and pepper to taste.
12. Once the chicken was well done and the vegetables were tender I brought down the flame!
11. Served best over white or brown rice.

Enjoy Johanna's fresh Stir-fry Chicken in Ginger sauce!

Cheers to a healthier 2010!

So yesterday mami had her friend Teresa over. We spoke about how one of our new year's resolution for 2010 is to maintain a healthier diet. That means a lot less rice, eating a lot more vegetables and cooking with a lot less salt! And believe me for a Latina cook that can be difficult. But mami and I decided that we are not going to make rice more than once a week. And you know what, beans do not always have to be eaten with rice. As delicious as it is, we can have rice and beans just once a week. And the rest of the week have our meat accompanied with some delicious steamed vegetables or beans.

Today we decided to make abuela's delicious Sopa de Lenteja (lentil soup).
She wrote down the recipe for me before she left for vacation. Mami and I decided to make it exactly the way abuela makes it only eliminating adobo and Goya Seasoning (Culantro y Achiote) completely from the recipe. As much as I love cooking with adobo and Goya seasonings, It's very high in salt and contains a lot of artificial ingredients. So we decided to look for healthier alternatives, such as squash, carrots, and potatoes. And it resulted in the same amazing sabor!

Sopa de Lenteja (Lentil Soup)

Ingredients:
-1 lb or one bag of lentil beans
-10 cups of water
-1 large onion/chopped in wedges
-4-5 garlic cloves minced
-Cilantro, and cilantro Recao
-Half a red pepper
-Half a green pepper
-3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1/2 tablespoon of dried and crushed oregano
-1 tablespoon of tomato paste
-About a cup of chopped carrots (Optional)
-About a cup of peeled & chopped potatoes (Optional)
-4 pieces of long celery (Optional)
-A cup of chopped squash
-A cap full of vinegar
-1/2 cup of white cooking wine
-Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

-So first we took a bag full of lentil beans and poured it into a large stew pot. We cooked for about 6 people so we added about 10 cups of water.
-We let it boil and waited for the lentil beans to soften
-Then we added the chopped onions
-Then the poured the minced garlic
-We put a couple of pieces of cilantro and cilantro recao
-Then we added a half a red pepper and half a green pepper
-Afterwards we added about 3 tablespoons of olive oil
-Added 1/2 tablespoon of dried and crushed oregano
-Add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
-Then we threw in the chopped potatoes, chopped squash and chopped carrots
-Add 1/2 cup of white cooking wine, let is simmer and take it the flavor
-Than we took all the seasonings, such as the peppers, cilantro, some of the onions, some of the squash, a little bit of the lentils and poured in the blender. Added about 1 cup of water to the blender. And onced it was all liquified we added it back to the stew pot full of lentil soup, This was to make it more soupy and to liquify the herbs and seasonings.
-Afterwards add about a cap full of vinegar cover and let it sit for a few minutes
-Add salt and pepper to taste.

Good news!

So I have been cooking a lot these last couple of weeks, but unfortunately the battery on my camera died. And I have to go and purchase a new one. So I haven't really been posting because I don't have pictures of the amazing meals I've been making to put up with my recipes. But don't worry I'm working on that. And on a lighter note abuela is coming back! As you all know there was an earth quake in Haiti, and she's currently on the other side of the island (Dominican Republic) and it's been kind of hectic. So as a result, she is coming sooner than she had planned. She'll be back around the first week of February and I'm really excited about it. Hopefully I'll have a job by than, since I've been applying and interviewing at places like a mad woman. But despite what happens the cooking will continue and abuela is bringing back a whole bunch of interesting recipes to try. So keep reading and stay tuned!

When you're feeling down...cook your heart away!

It has been a hard couple of weeks. I am still currently unemployed and it's become extremely discouraging. You tend to ask yourself, why did I go to college for? Why do I have bachelors for? And you find yourself settling as well. Applying for regular assistant or receptionist positions instead of those in your field. Because the assistant jobs are actually hiring and are full-time positions. And so in times like these I try to think of positive things that will lift up my spirit. You can't allow unemployment to get you down and depressed, as hard as it may be. So I do what helps me most. I write and I cook.

Last night I came home and decided to make abuela's rice and beans. And as I was cooking I thought about some of the funny stories she shared whenever we were cooking together. The night she showed me how to make her Christmas cake we spoke about cherries, since we were putting some on the cake. She told me how much she loved cherries from the jar. "When I was a little girl I didn't really like to eat a lot, so my mother would take me to an ice cream parlor and order me some ice cream but all I would eat was the cherry on top," she said in spanish. Oh abuela, she always makes me laugh so much.

I followed her recipe exactly, because I wanted it to taste like i was eating her food. And it came out delicious. I think she would be proud. Check out her recipe below!

Abuela's recipe for Romano beans

Ingredients:
-Two cans of Goya Romano beans
-Half a red onion
-Half a green pepper
-Half a red pepper
-A cap full of olive oil
-a little less than half a cap full of vinegar
-4-5 cloves of garlic
-Adobo
-Grounded Oregano
-A tablespoon of tomato paste
-salt
-Sazon Goya Seasoning (Con Culantro y Achiote)
-Cilantro
-Home-made sofrito( see asopao recipe for sofrito recipe)

1. So the first step is to take a sauce pot and add about a large cooking spoon full of olive oil.
2. Then throw in half a red onion, half a green pepper and half a red pepper.
3. Then finely cut up the garlic cloves and in a Mortar and Pestle add the chopped garlic cloves and sprinkle a little bit of adobo and oregano and crushed it all with the pestle.
4. Now add the crushed garlic to the pot.
5. Pour the two cans of beans into the pot.
5. Then take one of the cans and pour it half way with water, then add the water to the pot.
6. Add the vinegar and let it simmer for a couple of minutes.
7. Then add one tablespoon of tomato paste
8. Taste it, if you feel it needs salt add a pack of Sazon Goya seasoning (Con Culantro y achiote)
9. I felt like mines still needed some more flavor so I added a tablespoon of home-made sofrito.
10. Let it sit for about 10 minutes while covered
11. When ready to serve, take out all the cilantro, peppers, onion, etc.
15. And make sure to enjoy!

This helped so much I just might cook something tonight!

I love the food network!

Last night was an amazing night. I contribute to a magazine called QRO Magazine. And so I was sent to cover an exclusive performance by Norah Jones. And it was amazing, I can honestly say it changed my life forever. Just wanted to let everyone know how much I love her. My boyfriend and I even dedicated "Sunrise" to each other a few years ago.

But back to food and cooking. I didn't get a chance to post yesterday because my camera was acting up on me and I wanted to post the pictures along with the post. Yesterday I made a meal to die for! Like I mentioned before since abuela is gone, I am going to be cooking some of her recipes along with recipes on find while she away. I was watching the food network the other day and got this amazing recipe from Melissa d' Arabian. It's called sausage and roasted vegetable penne. It was really easy to make and it came out amazing.

When I woke up that morning mami told me that a good friend of hers was coming over for breakfast. Mami had come back from Dunkin Donuts with a bag full of bagels. It was only 11am but since I had some things to take care of in the afternoon I decided to start cooking in the morning. The meal turned out delicious and everyone enjoyed. With the exception of my younger sister who added some Ragu Spaghetti sauce on it. But for those who appreciate pasta with out sauce, I'm sure you'll love it. But if you don't, you may not want to try this one, because its not all that saucy. So check out d' Arabian's recipe below, but just warning you that I did change a few things!

Sausage and Roasted Vegetable Penne

Ingredients:
-2 red onion, cut into wedges
- 2 medium zucchinis, sliced into 1/2 lengthwise
-2 red bell pepper, cheeks removed
-1 lb button mushrooms, stemmed
-2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
-salt and freshly grounded pepper
-2 large tomatoes, chopped
-2 sweet or hot Italian sausage, thinly sliced or casings removed
-1/4 cup of white whine
-12 ounces whole-grain penne, cooked according to package instructions, 1/2 cup pasta water reserved
-Freshly grated Parmesan, for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a bowl, toss all the vegetables, except the tomatoes, with 1 1/2 tablespoons oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Arrange on a baking sheet and roast, until caramelized, about 30 minutes, turning vegetables halfway through the cooking time. In a small bowl, add the tomatoes and the remaining olive oil and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and add to the baking sheet, at the halfway point of cooking, caramelize.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat, add the sausage and saute until cooked through. Turn up the heat and deglaze with white wine. Once the vegetables are cooked, cool slightly, then coarsely chop. Add the vegetables and any pan juices to the sausage in the skillet. Toss in the cooked penne, adding reserved pasta water, if needed, to moisten. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and serve in bowls topped with Parmesan.

Abuela is going on vacation!

Hello fellow readers! My dear abuela will be vacationing in the Dominican Republic for about 2 months. She is actually leaving this Tuesday. It's getting colder in NYC, so she's heading to the Caribbean to relax, enjoy the company of family and friends and take in the beautiful warm weather over there. However, the blogging and the cooking must go on. Since abuela will not be here to show me how to make some of her yummy recipes, she has written a few of her recipes for me to make while she is gone. And to spice things up a bit I have also decided to create a few recipes of my own...lets see how that goes.

We have decided that while she is gone, the both of us will continue to research recipes to share with one another for when she comes back. She is going to bring back with her a list of recipes I have requested. And I am going to teach myself a few recipes that the both of us have been interested in learning.

Abuela said she is going to bring back some matching aprons for the both of us. I'm pretty excited about that. I'm going to try to buy some more useful kitchen appliances as well as some nice, white, contemporary plates for display. So stay tuned and see how my meals will come out with out the supervision of my dear abuelita!

What do you think I should make this week?

Sancocho!

Upon hearing we were to have guests over today for dinner, abuela and I decided to cook Sancocho. Sancocho is a very traditional stew very popular in many Latin American countries, such as Ecuador, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Argentina, Panama, Costa Rica and even in Spain. Sancocho usually consists of vegetables and various meats served in a delicious home-made broth. In the Dominican Republic there are a few kinds of Sancochos that are made. There is Sanchocho de Siete Carnes, which consists of chicken, beef, pork and other kinds of meats. There is also Sancocho de Gallina, which is a sancocho with hen. This one is extremely popular. And there are the Sancochos where you can basically mix whichever meats you want such as, Sancocho with chicken and beef or with hen and beef. Or Sancocho with chicken and Longaniza( pork sausage). You get the point here.

Abuela and I chose to make Sancocho with gallina(hen) and beef. She told me that her grandma taught her how to make Sancocho. Her abuela taught her and her mother. And than she taught my mother and my aunt Bili. And today she taught me. This is a traditional recipe that has been in the family for years!

Keep in mind that when you make this you may want to use half the ingredients that we used because we doubled the amounts of all the ingredients since we were having guests over. This was made to serve 8-10 people. So check out how we made our Sancocho!

Sancocho!

Ingredients:
-1 lb of potatoes/ cut& peeled
-1 lb of green plantains/ cut &peeled
-1 lb of Yautia/ cut & peeled
-1lb of Squash/ cut& peeled
- 1lb of Yuca(also know as Cassava) cut & peeled
-3 corns in a cob/each sliced in half
-2 lbs of Back rib beef
- A jar of home-made sofrito (see the recipe in the post for Asopao recipe)
-Vinegar
-Grounded Oregano
-Adobo
-Water
-Olive oil
- 3 whole pieces of green plantains/ peeled and cut open to make the bollos
- 2 lbs of hen meat/ washed and cut into separate pieces
-1 cube of Maggi Chicken flavor bouillon
-Tabasco hot sauce

1. We washed the hen a day before and than cut it into pieces. Then we sprinkled some adobo on it and than seasoned it with it with some home-made sofrito and had it sit in the fridge until the next day.
2. Then we took the already seasoned hen meat and placed it in a large pot to brown and soften.
3. Then we took out a large stew pot and poured in the pot 1lb of potatoes/ cut& peeled, 1lb of raw green plantains/ cut & peeled, 1 lb of Yautia/ cut & peeled, 1 lb of Yuca( Cassava) cut & peeled, 1 lb of Squash/ cut & peeled, 3 corns in a cob each cut in half, and the 2 lbs of back ribs beef.
4. Then we poured water until the water covered all the ingredients in the pot. Turned on the stove and added about 4 tablespoons of our home-made sofrito and stirred.
5. Let it simmer for a few minutes.
6. Then add 2 caps of Vinegar, and add about 1 teaspoon of Grounded Oregano and 1 teaspoon of Adobo.
7. Then add 1 cube of Maggi Chicken Flavor bouillon
8. Then we added the hen meat.
9. Then while we let that sit and cook we took 3 whole green plantains to make the bollos. Bollos are scraped, grinded and rolled up plantains.
10. We peeled open the three green plantains and than used a box grater to break them down. We used the side with the smaller holes to break the plantains into small and fine pieces.
11. Then we sprinkled some adobo and a cup full of olive oil, and mixed and stirred it well and than let it sit.
12. While that was sitting we went back to the stew and tasted it. Since we were making such a large amount it was very low in salt. So we added 4 more tablespoons of home-made sofrito.
13. Then sprinkled a little bit more adobo
14. Then we went back to the finely shredded pieces of plantain and took small portions of it into our hands and rolled them into small oval shapes. This made for about 12 bollos. Then we threw them into the stew pot.
15. We continued to stir the stew and lowered the heat a bit.
16. Keep in mind that we made a much larger amount of Sancocho than you probably will, so we needed to add some sofrito, adobo, grounded oregano and 2 more caps of Vinegar to taste.
17. Let it sit for about 5-10 minutes more, or until all the vegetables are tender and the meat is well cooked.
18. Then once it was cooked with poured 3-4 drops of Tabasco hot sauce and stirred.
19. Served best with white rice on the side.

Disfruta!

Asopao!

Today abuela and I made Asopao de Gallina. Asopao is a very traditional Dominican and Puerto Rican dish that is sort of a mix between paella and stew. Asopao de Pollo is the more traditional plate. It is made with chicken. Asopao de Gallina is made with hen. Abuela and I chose to make it with hen because it tends to have more flavor than the chicken. Not to mention we've been kind of tired of cooking with chicken. We had an amazing time making it and an even better time eating it! The trick to a successful Asopao is two things. One the sofrito. You do not buy a pack of sofrito, you have to make it. Making Latin food without creating your own home-made sofrito is like an Italian making pasta with a jar of Prego Spaghetti sauce. It's just not right. The second important thing is constantly stirring and keeping the rice moist and watery. Check out the recipe below.

Asopao De Gallina

Ingredients:
- 1 full red onion
-2 bell green peppers
-1 red pepper
-1 teaspoon of grounded oregano
-1 cup of cooking wine (Goya cooking wine, dry white wine)
-8-10 garlic gloves minced
-1 tablespoon of Adobo
-5-6 pieces of cilantro recao
-2 tablespoons of vinegar
-1 teaspoons of olive oil
-2 tablespoons of Worchester sauce
-Spanish olives
-Roasted peppers (Mancini)
-1 can of fresh cut sweet peas
-1 full hen
-1/2 tangerine (optional)
-2 teaspoons of tomato paste
-4 cups of water
-2 cups of uncooked white rice
-1 pack of Sazon Goya (Con Culantro y Achiote)
-Tabasco hot sauce

1. The first step is to prep the hen. First take a full hen and wash it then cut it and divided into separate pieces.
2. Then season the hen. We seasoned it a day before. Sprinkle some adobo, grounded oregano and pour a little bit of Worchester sauce. Then add a cap of vinegar.
3. Then we had it sit in the fridge over night.
4. The next step was to make the sofrito. We took 1 full red onion/chopped, 2 green bell peppers/chopped, 1 red pepper/chopped, and add it to a blender. Then add 1 teaspoon of Grounded Oregano, 1 cup of cooking wine, 8-10 garlic gloves minced, 1 tablespoon of adobo, 5-6 pieces of cilantro recao, 2 tablespoons of vinegar, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of Worchester sauce to the blender. And have it mix well.
5. Then pour a large cooking spoon full of olive oil to a large pot. Then pour in the pieces of hen. Let the hen soften.
6. Once it starts to soften add the home-made sofrito and stir it around.
7. Then once the meat starts to brown, take a tangerine and cut it in half. Take half a tangerine and squeeze the juices onto the hen.
8. Then add 2 teaspoons of tomato paste.
9. Then add 4 cups of water
10. And then add 2 cups of washed, uncooked white rice.
11. Taste it, if it lacks salt sprinkle a little bit of adobo and grounded oregano.
12. Constantly continue to stir it, so it doesn't stick. The trick is that the rice doesn't dry up.
13. Then add one pack of Sazon Goya seasoning (Con Culantro y Achiote)
14. Add 2-3 drops of Tabasco hot sauce
15. Constantly stir
16. Once you see that the rice is cooked cover it, the trick is that the rice stays moist.
17. Once the rice was completely cooked we took about 3 teaspoons of sweet split green beans from the can and poured it over the asopao. Then we took 2 pieces of roasted peppers and sliced them real thin and spread it over the food. Then we took about 4 olives and sliced them in half and neatly placed them over the food.

Bon Appetit!

Carne Guisada (Stewed Beef) Dominican style!

So Wednesday morning began in the kitchen once again. I woke up to the smell of home-made sofrito. "Abuela what are you making today," I asked. She said she was making Carne Guisada. Let me tell you a little something about Carne Guisda. It's basically the best way to eat beef, and like abuela says everything guisada is made the same. Carne Guisada is described as a Caribbean beef stew. But I'm not sure that's how I would describe it. Technically the beef used is beef stew meat but to me its just very seasoned beef cubes in a sauce. Abuela said she didn't ask me to join her because she had assumed that I had plans. Since I am unemployed there were no plans. So I decided to help her do some cooking. She told me to help her with the beef and start the moro de guandules (recipe included in previous post).

As we started to make the beef abuela started to talk about when she first started to cook. She said she was around 13 years old when she learned. "What made you start so young?" I asked. She said watching her grandma cook created a passion in her to learn to cook just like her. But her step mother is the one who taught her how to make gourmet foods she said. She claims that her step mom is the one who taught her how to make things like stuffed cabbage, stuffed peppers, cakes, gourmet pastilitos, pastelons(meat pies) and things of that nature. "My step mom was a gourmet chef,but my grandma taught me how to cook everything else," she said in spanish. It seems like that passion for cooking comes all the way back from my great great grandmother. How amazing is that? Generations of passionate cooks.

Let me show you a trick with the carne guisdao my abuela taught me", abuela said in spanish. When you add water always add it to the corners and not over the meat. That way it doesn't rinse out the seasonings," she said in spanish. Now I understood why she did that, I always saw her add the water to the corners but never understood why. It was just amazing to discover that the same bond my abuela had with her grandma with cooking I was now sharing with mine.
Below is our recipe:

Carne Gusiado (Stewed Beef)

Ingredients:
-2lb of round cut beef (beef stew meat)
-1 red onion/chopped
-4 garlic cloves / crushed
-1 green bell pepper/chopped
-1 red pepper/chopped
-1 tablespoon of adobo seasoning
-1teaspoon of grounded Oregano
-3-4 pieces of cilantro recao
-1 tablespoon of tomato paste
-1 cup of water
-1 packet of Sazon Goya seasoning (Con Culantro y Anchiote)
-2 cups of peeled, cubed potatoes(optional)
-salt and pepper to taste

1. Season the beef stew meat (we did it the night before). Sprinkle some Adobo, and sprinkle a little bit of grounded oregano. And than pour a little bit of Worchester sauce. And than pour a cap full of vinegar.
2. Then in a large pot pour a large cooking spoon full of olive oil and put in the seasoned meat.
3. Start to cook the meat until it browns, once it browns add the chopped onions, crushed garlic and chopped peppers.
4. Then get 1 tablespoon of tomato paste and add it to a cup of water. Pour it on the corners of the pot not directly over the meat. Than add 1 tablespoon of adobo seasoning and 1 teaspoon of Oregano. Than throw in 3-4 pieces of long cilantro recao.
5. Once the meat is really cooking lower the heat and add 1 packet of Sazon Goya Seasoning (Con Culantro y Anchiote) for more flavor.
6. (Optional) Then once the meat was completely cooked we transfered the beef cubes until another pot but left all the sauce in the original pot.
7. In the original pot with the sauce we added the 2 cups of peeled, cubed potatoes. Once the potatoes were tender we transferred the beef back into the original put.

¡ Que le Aproveche!

Spaghetti and Meat Sauce a la Johanna!

When I was little whenever my grandparents would cook, in order to motivate us kids to eat their was "La Campeona" contest. Campeona means Champion in Spanish. Sometimes it would be abuela Celeste and other times it would be abuelo Papito encouraging the contest. It really depended on which one was cooking. From what I can remember it was usually one of the two oldest that won campeona. It was either my older cousin Liza, who is the oldest out of her siblings. Or it was myself that finished first. But come to think of it, it was a really insane and unhealthy way to get the kids to eat. Basically the kid that ate all their food the fastest was the campeona. So lots of times even if we didn't like what we were eating we would gulp it all down as quickly as possible so abuela or abuelo could raise our arm and say, "La Campeona!"

The funny thing was we never actually won anything for being the campeona and we knew that. But we didn't care. Being the campeona meant our abuelos were proud of us for eating all their food. It meant we were well-fed, healthy Dominican kids. I'm 23 years old and until this day abuela still says here and there, "ponte a comer muchacha...tu esta muy flaca!" Weighing around 115 pounds and about 5'4 in height, I hardly think I'm under weight. But to a Dominican grandmother your healthy if you have enough meat on you to grab.

Today abuela was "La Campeona," and man was I proud. I have been wanting for the longest to make my own spaghetti sauce. Making spaghetti with Ragu or Prego sauce just feels like cheating. So my wonderful boyfriend who has become quite a expert with pasta himself, lent me one of his cook books. I followed some of the basic steps they had for spaghetti and meat sauce, but did a lot of improvising because I really wanted to make it my own. Hence where the title of this story came from.

After papi and I came back from the supermarket with all my ingredients, abuela came running into the kitchen. When she discovered I was making my own spaghetti and meat sauce from scratch the first thing she asked was, "lo vas a poner en el internet?"

She knows about the blog and has been just as excited about it as myself. In fact every time she sees me in the kitchen, she's like you should mention this on the internet. It's really cute. So when I explained how I was going to make the sauce she said I should name the sauce spaghetti a la Johanna! How cute is that?
So I said to make it clearer to my readers I'll name it spaghetti and meat sauce a la Johanna.

Abuela was the first to eat and the first to finish. She was my campeona today and it meant the world to me. "Johanna se esta convirtiendo en tremenda cocinera," she said. That means I'm becoming a serious cook. Those were the most meaningful words ever. To hear my abuela, one of the best cooks I know to say I am becoming a serious cook. Lets just say my eyes got a little watery.

We all sat down as a family and enjoyed the meal over a glass of white wine. Abuela looked at me while sipping her wine and gave me a wink. And I smiled back. What a great day in the house of the Ferreira's. Check out my recipe and enjoy spaghetti and meat sauce a la Johanna!

Spaghetti and meat sauce

Ingredients:
1 cup chopped red onion
1 cup of chopped green pepper
1/2 cup of chopped celery
4 gloves of garlic minced
1 tablespoon cooking oil
2 14/2 -ounce cans chopped tomatoes undrained and cut up
1 12-ounce can of tomato paste
1 tablespoons snipped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon snipped fresh basil
1 tablespoon of dried oregano crushed
1 teaspoon of brown sugar
1 tablespoon salt (optional depending on your taste)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 lb (16oz) of dried spaghetti, parmesan cheese(optional)
1 cup of water

1. The first thing I did was prepare the ground beef. Take about a lb (16 oz) of ground beef a season it. I sprinkled adobo. Than sprinkled a little bit of grounded
oregano. Than poured a little bit of Worchester sauce. Than pour a cap full of vinegar.
2. Than mold the meat around to mix in the seasoning and place it in a pot to brown.
3. while the meat was browning in a separate sauce pot I began to make the sauce.
I poured 1 cup of water.
4. Than I poured the cans of chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, parsley, oregano, minced garlic, snipped fresh basil, and stirred.
5. Than I let it take in some flavor and than after added 1 teaspoon of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper.
6. Bring to a boil, and reduce the heat.
7. Once the ground beef was browning I added the onions, green peppers and celery.
8. Once it was completely browned I drained the grease and added it into the sauce pot. Simmer, cover for about 15 minutes. Uncover: simmer for 5-10 minutes. Stir occasionally and taste. If lacks add a bit of salt. A cap full of vinegar and a cap full of olive oil.
9. In the mean time, cook the spaghetti pasta according to the package directions. Serve the meat sauce over the cooked pasta. If desired sprinkle Parmesan cheese.