Grilled Eggplant

Grilled Eggplant

I know people who said they didn’t like eggplant until they tried it done like this. Grilled eggplant can be served room temperature or chilled as a part of an antipasto, side dish or on a sandwich.

Grilled Eggplant

Ingredients:
  • 2 medium to large eggplants
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • Salt, black, and red pepper
  • 1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
  • 1 tbsp chopped fresh mint
  • 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 lemon, zested and juiced
Trim the stem ends off the eggplants and slice lengthwise, about ¼-inch thick. Grilled EggplantLay the eggplant slices on paper towels and sprinkle salt on both sides. Wait 15 minutes and blot up moisture.

Prepare the marinade:

Grilled Eggplant

Grilled Eggplant
Heat the oil in a small pan, add salt, black and red pepper and lightly sauté the chopped garlic. Add the herbs, lemon zest/juice, and the garlic/oil mixture to a blender, food processor or if you need the exercise use a mortar and pestle.
Grilled Eggplant

While you heat your grill (charcoal, gas, or a grill pan), use a brush to lightly coat each eggplant slice with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place the eggplant slices on the grill oil side down and add oil, salt, and pepper to the top side of the eggplant. After you get nice grill marks on one side, turn and grill the other side. They cook fast so watch them.Grilled Eggplant

Prepare a large serving platter with some of the marinade on the bottom. Layer the eggplant slices as they are done and spoon some of the marinade on each layer. Leave them for an hour at room temperature to marinate, then cover and refrigerate.

Click here for updated GALLERY
Portfolio and Yelp

Peri Peri Chicken

Peri Peri Chicken

The story I heard is that the Portuguese first created peri peri chicken in Mozambique, and it later became a South African staple. The name “peri-peri” is derived from Swahili. ‘Piri-piri’ means “pepper-pepper.” You can make peri peri sauce as described below and use it on any number of dishes – grilled shrimp, rotisserie chicken, pork chops, etc. You can also make it as hot as you’d like, just add more chilis to the mix.

Peri Peri ChickenPeri Peri Chicken
First, butterfly the chicken. Season it with salt and ½ of the paprika.
Peri Peri ChickenThe Marinade/Sauce – Roughly chop the shallots, garlic, chili, thyme, and roasted pepper. Place them and the oregano, the remaining paprika, salt, black pepper, lemon zest, lemon juice and olive oil in a food processor or blender.  Process until it’s a smooth consistency. You should have about 2 cups.
Peri Peri ChickenPlace the chicken and ½ of the marinade in a plastic bag and coat well. Refrigerate overnight or for at least 3 hours.
Scrape away some of the thicker marinade and place it in a pot with the unused marinade.

Get 2 heavy pans – one to cook the chicken in and the other to weigh it down. Cover the bottom of the weight pan in foil. Place the weight pan in the over at 400o for 10 minutes. Heat the cooking pan on a medium high stove burner and pace the chicken in it skin side down. Put the pr-heated weight pan on top of it and press it down using a potholder or a towel. The chicken is now starting to cook from below and above.
Peri Peri ChickenTurn the heat to low and check after 5 minutes. The skin side should be dark but not black.

After about another 10 – 12 minutes place the cooking pan with the weight in the 400o oven for 20 minutes. Then remove the weight and turn the chicken skin side up and baste with the pan drippings. Continue cooking, skin side up for 15 – 20 minutes, basting once more.
Peri Peri ChickenAdd the pan drippings and 2 pats of butter to the marinade. Heat and stir for a few minutes. Brush some on the chicken and put it back in the oven for 5 minutes to crisp the skin.
Remove from the oven and let it rest 20 minutes. Serve with the sauce on the side.

Click here for updated GALLERY
Portfolio and Yelp

Pasta al Pomodoro Light

Pasta al Pomodoro Light

Pasta al Pomodoro Light is adapted from an Eric Kim’s recipe in the New York Times. This sauce is delicate and subtle. Its appearance is very plain although very tasty. You can dress it up with a sprinkle of parsley and some grated Parmigiana cheese if you’d like.

Pasta al Pomodoro Light

Ingredients:
  • ½ cup olive oil
  • 3 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 3 lbs. plumb tomatoes roughly chopped
  • Salt and black pepper.
  • 1 lb. spaghetti
Lightly sauté the sliced garlic for 5 minutes in a large pot. Don’t brown it. Add the tomatoes and raise the heat to medium high. Stir until the tomatoes start to release their liquid and season with salt and pepper. Lower the heat and simmer for 45 minutes.Pasta al Pomodoro Light

Put the cooked tomatoes a few spoons at a time into a sieve over a bowl. Force them through with the back of a wooden spoon. You should have about 2 plus cups of sauce. Discard the tomato skins, seeds, and garlic. Pasta al Pomodoro Light

Pasta al Pomodoro Light


Leave whatever liquid is left in the pot and add enough salted water to cook the pasta. Pasta al Pomodoro Light
When the pasta is almost done drain the water and add the tomato sauce. Cook for another few minutes, tossing until the pasta has absorbed some of the sauce. Remove the pot from the heat and let it sit for 5 minutes to absorb more sauce.
Serve with parsley and grated Parmigiana.

Click here for updated GALLERY
Portfolio and Yelp



Fried Chicken Breasts

Fried Chicken Breasts

I adapted this recipe from The Cooking Foodie.  It’s a new way to make fried chicken breasts and it’s quick, easy, and tasty.

Fried Chicken Breasts

Ingredients:
  • 3 medium or 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 4 tbsp. butter divided
  • 2 cloves chopped garlic
  • 2 tbsp. honey
  • 2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tbsp. soy sauce

Fried Chicken Breasts

Allow the chicken to come to room temperature.   Score the breasts with a sharp knife (an at least 1/2-inch-deep crosshatch), season with salt and pepper, and lightly dredge in flour. Heat 3 tbsp. butter in a large frying pan and cook both sides of the breasts for 4 or 5 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness of the breasts, until lightly browned.
Fried Chicken Breasts
Remove the breasts to a plate and add the chopped garlic to the pan. Sauté for one minute and then add the honey, vinegar, and soy sauce. Stir and then return the breasts to the pan and cook on each side for another 5 minutes or until done.

Fried Chicken Breasts

Click here for updated GALLERY
Portfolio and Yelp



Sloppy Joe’s Sandwich

Sloppy Joe’s Sandwich

After my post about Sloppy Joe’s Bar in Havana I started wondering if there was any connection between the bar and the Sloppy Joe’s sandwich. I was told that the American Sloppy Joe’s sandwich is an off shoot of the Ropa Vieja (old clothes), served in Sloppy Joe’s Bar in Havana, Cuba. A friend got this Sloppy Joe’s sandwich recipe from a waiter at a restaurant in Key West, Florida. It works for me.

Sloppy Joe’s Sandwich
Ingredients:
  • 2 tbsp. olive oil
  • ½ cup onion
  • ½ cup green bell pepper
  • 1 lb. ground beef
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
  • Black pepper and salt to taste
  • 1 15 oz. can crushed tomatoes
  • ½ cup Heinz Chili Sauce or ketchup
  • 2 tbsp. brown mustard
  • 2 tbsp. brown sugar
  • ½ tsp. chili powder
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper or to taste
  • 6 hamburger buns
Roughly chop the onion and green pepper finely or place them in a food processor until well diced. Put the oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Fry the onion and green pepper until some of the moisture evaporates.

Sloppy Joe’s Sandwich

Add the chopped beef, Worcestershire Sauce, salt and pepper. Break up the beef with a spoon as it browns. When the meat is browned, drain the excess grease from the pan.

Set the pan aside and combine the crushed tomato, mustard, brown sugar, and spices in a bowl. Mix well.
Pour the sauce into the pan with the meat and raise the heat to medium-high. When it comes to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.Sloppy Joe’s Sandwich
When it’s done, serve it on a hamburger bun.

Click here for updated GALLERY
Portfolio and Yelp



Sloppy Joe’s Bar

Sloppy Joe's Bar

Sloppy Joe’s Bar

Sloppy Joe’s Bar opened in Havana in the 1930s. It was frequented by Earnest Hemingway, Errol Flynn, Alec Guinness and many other celebrities.  I recently came across their cocktail recipe book online and tried a few. They’re kind of fruity and tropical which makes them perfect on a hot day.

Sloppy Joe’s Bar

Sloppy Joe’s Bar


Sloppy Joe’s Cocktails

 Mary Pickford

Sloppy Joe’s Bar

  • 1 ½ oz. white rum
  • 1 ½ oz. pineapple juice
  • 1 tsp. Grenadine
  • 1 tsp. Luxardo
Shake with ice and serve in a flute.

Sloppy Joe’s Bar


Rumba

Sloppy Joe’s Bar

  • Juice of ½ lime
  • 1 oz. white rum
  • 1 oz. Italian vermouth
  • 1 oz. Apple Jack
  • 1 tsp. grenadine
Shake with ice and serve in a cocktail glass.

Sloppy Joe’s Bar


Green Fizz

Sloppy Joe’s Bar

  • Juice on 1 lemon
  • 1 tsp. sugar
  • 1 tsp. green crème de menthe
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 ½ oz. gin
 Shake with ice and serve in a flute. Typically, a “fizz” is topped off with some club soda, but not this one.

Sloppy Joe’s Bar


Sloppy Joe’s

Sloppy Joe’s Bar

  • 1 oz. pineapple juice
  • 1 oz. Cognac
  • 1 oz. port
  • ½ tsp. grenadine
  • 1 tsp. Cointreau or Curacao
Shake with ice and serve in a flute.

Sloppy Joe’s Bar


Havana

Sloppy Joe’s Bar

  • 1 oz. pineapple juice
  • 1 oz. Cointreau
  • 1 oz. rum
Shake with ice and serve in a flute.

Sloppy Joe’s Bar


Click here for the complete manual
Sloppy Joe’s Bar

Click here for updated GALLERY
Portfolio and Yelp



Basic Bolognese

Basic Bolognese

Different people make Bolognese differently. My recipe is for basic Bolognese. I don’t used any garlic because the sofrito (carrot, onion, celery) is enough for the aromatics. Some people use pancetta, but with a mix of pork and beef it isn’t necessary. Often recipes call for chicken or beef stock but that’s not needed with a pound of chopped meat already in the sauce. Don’t be tempted to add and basil, oregano, bay leaf or any other herbs or spices. They’re not needed. On American menus you sometimes see “Spaghetti a la Bolognese.” Spaghetti should never be served with Bolognese sauce, only broad long pasta like mafalda, pappardelle, tagliatelle, fettuccine, and sometimes rigatoni.
Basic BologneseIngredients:
  • 1 diced carrot
  • 1 diced medium onion
  • 2 diced celery stalks
  • Olive oil
  • ½ lb. each – beef and pork
  • 1 6 oz. can tomato paste
  • 1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup dry white or red wine
  • salt & black pepper to taste
Basic Bolognese
Basic BologneseDice the onion, carrot, and celery. That’s the sofrito, the base for many Italian sauces. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot and sauté until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir. Cook for another 5 minutes. Remove the sofrito to a bowl and set aside.

Basic BologneseAdd 2 tablespoons of oil to the pot and brown the meat, breaking it up with a spoon as it cooks. Return the sofrito to the pot. It’s fine if some of the meat is still a little pink.

Basic BologneseNow add the wine and deglaze the pot. Stir and cook for 5 minutes and then pour in the crushed tomatoes and 2 cups of hot water. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 2 hours. If the sauce gets too thick as it simmers add more water. While the sauce is simmering, start a pot of boiling water for the pasta. I’m using fettuccine. Drain the pasta when it’s done and save a cup of the pasta water.

Basic BologneseTo serve, put a sauté pan on low heat. Put some of the sauce in the pan, add some pasta, and stir with a little pasta water. Place in a dish and sprinkle with Parmigiana cheese.

Click here for updated GALLERY
Portfolio and Yelp



Spaghetti with Cherry Tomatoes

Spaghetti with Cherry Tomatoes

This is a simple and quick recipe similar to aglio e olio. You can make the sauce in the time it takes to cook the pasta. Spaghetti with Cherry Tomatoes has a fresh light taste so I wouldn’t recommend any cheese on this one.
Spaghetti with Cherry TomatoesIngredients:
  • 1 lb. spaghetti
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 6 cloves garlic, sliced
  • Salt, black pepper
  • Red pepper (from a pinch to a tablespoon)
  • ½ cup chopped parsley
  • 1 pint cherry tomatoes
Start a pot of water for the pasta and begin to cook the pasta.
Spaghetti with Cherry TomatoesSlowly cook the garlic in the oil in a large frying pan. Add the seasoning (salt, black and red pepper) and the parsley. Stir and then add the tomatoes (half of them cut in half). Cook over a medium heat until the pasta is almost done.

Spaghetti with Cherry Tomatoes

Add a cup of the pasta water to the sauce and then add the almost cooked pasta to finish cooking. Add additional water as necessary to keep it moist. Spaghetti with Cherry Tomatoes
Spaghetti with Cherry Tomatoes

Click here for updated GALLERY
Portfolio and Yelp

Posole

Posole

Posole is a traditional Mexican dish. It’s a thick soup made with meat and hominy.  Posole You can have your butcher cut a pork shoulder into pieces. The toppings are up to you. Use as many or as few as you like.

PosoleIngredients:
  • 5 or 6 dried ancho chiles
  • 6 cloves garlic (3 crushed & 3 finely chopped)
  • 2 pounds boneless pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces
  • Salt & black pepper
  • Olive oil for browning
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 3 15-ounce cans white hominy, drained and rinsed
Remove the stems from the anchos and shake out as many seeds as possible. Put them in a small pot and bring to a boil. Remove them after about 15 minutes, let them cool a bit and then put them and 1½ cups of the liquid in a blender. Add the crushed garlic, and ½ teaspoon salt, and blend until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pushing the sauce through with a rubber spatula.Posole

Season the pork with salt and black pepper and set aside. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the pork and cook until lightly browned on all sides. Remove and set aside.
Posole
Add the onion to the pot and cook until soft and translucent. Add the chopped garlic and return the browned meat. Increase the heat to medium high.

Stir in the chicken broth, oregano, bay leaf, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1 cup or more of the chili sauce (depending on your taste). Add enough water to cover the meat and bring to a low boil. Reduce the heat, partially cover, and slowly simmer,  turning the pork a few times, until tender – about 2 hours. Stir in the hominy and continue to simmer, uncovered, about 45 minutes more. Remove the bay leaf. Add some water if the posole is too thick. Check for seasoning.
Posole
Serve the posole with the remaining chili sauce and a topping  of fresh  diced avocado, shredded cabbage, diced onion, sliced radishes, and/or cilantro.

Click here for updated GALLERY
Portfolio and Yelp

Venezuelan Liver and Onions

Venezuelan Liver and Onions

Not everyone likes liver. I think that’s more because of the way liver is prepared than what it actually tastes like. Lots of people over cook it, giving it an unpleasant texture. The key to tasty liver is to serve it rare. Fry it quickly in a hot pan for just a few minutes until the exterior is brown. That’s all.

Venezuelan Liver and Onions
Ingredients:
  • 3 tbsps. olive oil for frying
  • 1 to 1 ½ lbs. calf’s liver cut into strips
  • Salt and black pepper
  • 2 tbsps. butter
  • 3 or 4 thinly sliced onions,
  • 3 minced garlic cloves
  • 4 ozs. white wine
  • Fresh parsley, chopped
Pat the room temperature liver dry and season with salt and pepper.

Venezuelan Liver and Onions
Venezuelan Liver and Onions
Heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of oil. When the oil is hot add the liver strips and fry until browned on both sides. Don’t crowd the pan or the liver will steam instead of brown. Remove the liver and set aside on a plate.
Add the remaining tablespoon of oil and the butter to the same skillet. Add onions and sauté until soft and translucent. Add the garlic to the onions and sauté and blend for about 1 – 2 minutes. Add the liver back to the skillet and pour in the wine. Let the wine reduce for 2 – 3 minutes. Remove everything to a serving platter, pour the pan drippings over it and sprinkle with parsley.

Venezuelan Liver and OnionsGravy for Venezuelan Liver and Onions – If you’d like, use the pan drippings to make a gravy. Add 2 tablespoons of flour to the drippings. Stir constantly for 1 -2 minutes over medium heat, then add 1 cup of beef stock. Cook and stir until thickened. Serve over liver and onions.

Venezuelan Liver and Onions

Click here for updated GALLERY
Portfolio and Yelp

Reveries and Recipes